December 14

 Elizabeth Audrey Treat died 14 December 1897, age 1y 9m 2d

Audrey was the firstborn child of my great-grandmother Massie Parker Treat

Here is an excerpt from my book Secret and Resolute that tells Audrey's story --

EPILOGUE

Late in the process of writing this book, I was finally able to solve a puzzle that has lingered in my mind for many years. In doing so, it feels as if I have suddenly acquired a new and precious loved one.

AUDREY TREAT

NOTES FROM WATHADA THOMAS:

More than 50 years ago my mother-in-law, Christie Treat Thomas, mentioned Audrey to me. I asked who Audrey was and Chris told me she was her sister. I had been in the family for less than a year, and I had not heard her name before. Chris and I were the only ones in the house that afternoon, and she said she had a picture of Audrey and she wanted to show it to me. She got out her box of pictures and we sat on the bed and went through them. We had gone almost through the entire box of pictures when she found the one of Audrey. The picture was of a sweet looking little girl, dressed in a white or light colored dress and she had her little hands almost clasped together in front of her, but not quite. She wore what looked like little black patent leather Mary Jane shoes. I asked Christie about Audrey--where she was, why I hadn't heard her mentioned before, etc. Chris said Audrey had died when she was a little girl. She hadn't even known her. I think she said Ray was the only of the children who had been born before Audrey died. I asked another question or two, but it became obvious that Chris was uncomfortable with the subject so I dropped it.

Another time, maybe two or three years later, Chris mentioned Audrey again. Again, we were the only ones in the house. That time when I asked questions about Audrey, Chris seemed ready to talk about her. In fact, I think that's why she mentioned her in the first place -- I think she wanted to tell me about Audrey. So she did. Somewhere at the beginning of it, she seemed to have difficulty starting and I asked her why she hesitated to talk about Audrey and she said it was embarrassing. And I cannot remember the details of all she told me. I only remember the main points of Audrey's story.

Chris told me that Audrey was not Marcus Treat's daughter. She told me that her mother, Massie Parker and the man she was planning to marry were planning to get married in three weeks time. She didn't tell me the man's name, or if she did I don't remember it. She said he had an opportunity to get work for three weeks, but he had to leave home for those three weeks because the job was some distance away. He and Massie thought this was a good opportunity for them to have money to enable them to set up housekeeping to start their life together. So he left and they were going to get married as soon as he returned at the end of those three weeks. I don't remember what happened. I know it was an accident. As I think I remember it, it was not an accident on the job. I believe Chris said something happened after he had started on his way home--some kind of accident and he was killed.

He didn't know Massie was expecting a baby. Maybe Massie didn't know it herself, I don't know. But I thought it was such a sad story, and I only could imagine what Grandma Treat (Massie) had gone through in those days -- having a baby but no husband! It couldn't have been easy for her.

I told Chris I didn't see anything embarrassing about that. Just to think what a strong and courageous woman her mother had been must make you proud of her. She didn't have to keep that baby girl. I think most people in that circumstance would have 'gone away' for a while to visit a relative who lived elsewhere, and would have come home without the baby and tried to never let anyone know it had been born. But Massie didn't do that. She stayed right where she was and had her baby. It was her baby and she didn't want to give it away, so she kept that little girl and loved her. That was the only child she would ever have of the man she had loved and planned to spend her life with. So she kept his baby girl.

--Source: Wathada Thomas, May 25, 2007

 

PHOTO: Massie and Marcus Treat

AUTHOR’S NOTE:

This first child of Marcus and Massie Parker Treat has been something of a mystery to me. Massie Parker married Marcus Treat 08 April 1896. In November of 1897 a son (Ray) was born, and another son (John) in January of 1900. I was able to find in the 1900 census where Massie was listed as being the mother of 3 children, two of whom were living at the time of the census. Ray and John are identified by name. This is consistent with the oral family narrative that their little girl died at a young age.

The only time or two that I ever heard anyone in the family speak of this child, she was called Audrey. I searched all over the internet for further documentation of her existence. Then finally I found on the FamilySearch website, a listing of the firstborn child of Marcus and Massie Treat, a girl named Bessie. To verify, I checked the official Ohio birth records. Sure enough, a child named “Bessie O. Treat” is recorded there, born to Marcus Treat and Massie Parker on 12 March 1896. (I now have a photograph of the original handwritten entry from that record book.) Her birth date was one month before Marcus and Massie’s marriage. Then I searched Ohio death records and found an “Elizabeth Treat” who died 14 December 1897, documented age of 1 year 9 months and 2 days. The death record does not list her parents, but the specific location in Ohio matches where the family was living at the time (same location as the birth record), and the age is an exact match for the recorded birth date of Bessie O. Treat. “Bessie” being a plausible nickname for “Elizabeth”, I feel relatively certain this must be the same child. Cause of death was diphtheria.

Why the family calls her “Audrey” is still an unanswered question. I suspect the person who recorded the name on the birth record might have heard "Audrey" and thought it started with "O" (if you've ever looked at census records and birth and death records, spelling is a very inconsistent part of the process). At any rate, putting the birth and death information together, I have arbitrarily decided that the child's name was supposed to be Elizabeth Audrey.

Whatever her name was, I will carry this elusive lost-and-found child in my heart, and hope to meet her some day at the great family reunion on the other side of the veil.