Hicks Ancestors - Generation 4 - Ida Mae Sandefur

Ida Mae Sandefur was born 25 December 1901, and died 13 October 1961, age 59. 

Ida Mae (I think she was called 'Mae') was the daughter of Nancy Ellen Hicks and George Woodson Sandefur.

PHOTO: Back - Ida Mae and her sister Viola. 

Front - Malisa Burns Hicks, Nancy Ellen Hicks Sandefur (Malisa is Nancy's mother) 

This is the only picture I have of Ida Mae.

Ida Mae Sandefur married Carter Lewis Ceilco Weatherford (called Ceilco, apparently) 25 May 1925.

Family records state that 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, and she had a 4 year old son - Carter W Weatherford. 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, 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 -- but maybe 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 and he was buried in 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. 

Children of Mae Sandefur and Ceilco Weatherford -- well now, that's a bit of a conundrum... On the FamilySearch website I found documentation for two sons:

i. William Allen Weatherford 1926-1985, married Reva Dell Walker

William (if this is in fact her son) was born 10 months after she married Ceilco. However, he is not listed as living with her in the 1940 census. He would have been 14 years old. It's possible he was living with his father, or elsewhere.

ii. Carter Wayne Weatherford 1935-2006

In the 1940 census Ida Mae is listed as head of household, widowed, with her son Carter W Weatherford, age 4. No one else is listed in the household.

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Ida Mae Sandefur Weatherford died 13 October 1961. 

She is buried in Pine Grove Cemetery, Floral, Independence County, Arkansas.