On This Day in Family History - May 25

Ida Mae Sandefur married Ceilco Weatherford 25 May 1925

Ida Mae (I think she was called "Mae") was the daughter of Nancy Ellen Hicks Sandefur. Nancy Ellen was a sister of my great-grandfather Ulysses Hicks.

Photo: Top Ida Mae and Charlotte Viola Sandefur. Bottom Malisa Hicks and Nancy Ellen Hicks Sandefur (Malisa is Nancy Ellen's mother)

Ida Mae married a man by the name of Ceilco Weatherford in 1925. That's all the information I had about her. So I went to FamilySearch and tried to find out more. I found 2 records. One was the 1940 census, in which Ida Mae is reported to be a widow, with a 4 year old son. I dug around some more and found a death certificate for a Carter Lewis Ceilco Weatherford. He was near the same age as Ida Mae. He died of a gunshot wound -- officially deemed a homicide -- in 1946. On the death certificate his wife is listed as "Gracie." Now, since I've started researching family history I have learned that information gleaned from census takers is not always reliable. So I'm wondering if Ida Mae was not, in fact, a widow in 1940 -- although that's likely what she told the census taker -- but maybe she was divorced, or her husband had left her at that time. I mean, how many Ceilco Weatherfords could there have been in Arkansas? (He was killed in Tennessee, but on the death certificate his residence was listed as Wilson, Arkansas.) Ceilco's full name was Carter Lewis Ceilco Weatherford. Ida Mae's son in the 1940 census is named Carter W. Weatherford. So I'm relatively certain the murdered man was her husband. 

Here is the death certificate for Carter Lewis Ceilco Weatherford

Alan actually found a Carter W. Weatherford II currently living in Arkansas. He would be the right age to be Ida Mae's grandson. I'm tempted to write him and ask if he is related to Ida Mae, and if he knows any more about this story.