Hello Nora!
You might want to get in touch with my mother, Esther Palmer, at
esmaruine@yahoo.com. She has most of the family records, her brother, my Uncle Bill has more. I have forwarded your message to her, put my name in the subject line. (Mom is not terribly "fond of computers" (...!) so, please have a little patience with her replies.)
I don't know who Paul married, he was "persona non grata" in grandmother's house. Ethel never spoke to Paul after a dispute concerning an inheritance and her marriage (there is a letter that still raises a few eyebrows at this end).
Ethel married a doctor named Roberts who died when my mother was a child. Ethel had several children – Maude, (John, William?) and an unnamed baby — in the Kansas City area, and also in Ohio, all of whom died during the influenza epidemic. Later, she had four more who survived, and are documented herein.
She went onto study religion, but never received her degree as she was a woman, and because of this, became an advocate of women’s rights.
Mother says she remembers an "Aunt Katharine" (called Kit) that her mother cared for, as she was (as they said in those days:) "mad as a hatter" and who may have been Paul's widow. This was in Colorado near the turn of the century. We cannot find her in the family bible...but there is a letter to a physician about her condition. Ethel hated Colorado with a passion, and they returned to Kansas City. She settled in Seattle in the 1950s and died there in the 1960s. Ethel had three surviving children: Alan (Married Jean, has two children, Robert and Bonita, they have children), Robert (died in 1991—married Virginia) they had two daughters (twins), and Billy Joe (married Ruth), there are many "youngers" my age and many daughters and even great-grandchildren. Ruth & Billy Joe have four children: Linda Grace (never married), Lois (married Beath), Barbara (married Borstad) and Charles who just got married and moved to Crete (of all places). Lois and Barbara have children, and one, Jennifer, Barbara’s daughter, has a new baby. I can put you in touch with Linda.
My mother, Esther Maurine Roberts (b. Kansas City, no accurate date or birth cert.) married Ellis Kinyon, my father (d. 1958; 2nd husband, Wm. Palmer, divorced, one child, William.) I married Malcolm Brenner, we have one child, Thea Artemis Kinyon-Brenner. b. Seattle WA 1984. (Malcolm and I parted ways many years ago. She uses Kinyon only.) Oh, I was born in Olympia WA, 1956. (There is a mistake in the spelling of my name on the birth cert. that no one ever bothered to fix. The OB was a very odd man...)
I am a human science researcher in the San Francisco Bay Area and a poet. (Google me: Lezlie Kinyon, for works). No one is particularly close—although Linda and I stay in touch – we’ve scattered to the four winds. I think this takes you up to the present day. Mother can give you the names and birthdays of the younger generation.
Jessie never spoke to any of the Probascos after heading west. (You can imagine why.) This is the tale as it has been pieced together by us from family records and from Grandmother (mother's mother):
I can find no Belle (surviving or otherwise) except to a vague reference to a maid in California who had to be sent home. The Paul in your reply is too young. I am afraid g-grandfather's name was not Frank (on his portrait & other papers). Other names are not spelled correctly, dates are not right. But, you see the closeness of it all.
There are photos, letters, and other records to corroborate— most importantly, we discovered upon her death, that Grandmother never became a citizen of the US and as she spoke Italian fluently, we were not terribly surprized. She actually remained somewhat Catholic, despite her marriage to a Protestant. They spent a good deal of their married life in Kansas City, MO and in Mt. Vernon, MO. She died in the late 1960s and left part of "her father's" papers (regarding inheritance – they are worthless) and gem collection. We have immigration, baptismal, birth & death records of all members of this branch of the family and a pretty clear picture of the family's history. What we don't have is contact. Alan Roberts, my uncle (who is terribly ill and fragile these days) did a "history" of the family back to Italy about ten years ago, so the timeline is pretty clear. He says there may have been a half-brother somewhere in No. Carolina, but we never found a clear record.
Jessie always told Ethel that it was "the upstairs maid" that her husband left her for (whose name was not recorded in her journal). There was a child born before the divorce was final, and the reason for Jessie's flight westward. (If the rest of her journals were “stretched a bit†perhaps this would be “Belleâ€.) She went, first, to her parent’s home in Montreal, where she wrote several rather – shall I politely say – angry – letters (that we still have) concerning the child. She also had photos taken of herself and her children. (Two, a boy - older, and a girl, a baby; dated 1850.) Her first name was not Hannah. She remarried a doctor name "Leon" (who died, probably Dr. Lyons) but had no children by that marriage (too late in life). She finally settled in the Seattle area where her needlework became rather well known. She did other things as well, and was, by all accounts, a somewhat colorful character. There was a cousin (who I remember as an old lady) named Ila Roberts who was related by marriage and blood to both sides of the family, but you would have to ask mother *how.*
If the portrait of G-grandfather is indeed of him, I inherited his coloring and much of his likeness. They say he was adopted by the Probasco family under very unusual circumstances. He was very light, white haired even as a young man. There is much more about Jessie in the journals, if indeed, we are related, I will gladly share them.
I have several of G-grandmother's paintings and needlework examples. (They are lovely examples of 19th century style and design.) Her photos and portrait show a very stern *tiny* woman of dark complexion. Ethel looked very much like her, as well: olive skilled, black hair, and very dark, almost violet eyes. I'm told Paul looked like his father.
I have always wondered about Jessie's maiden name, as Ethel said Jessie was French, and her parents were in Montreal ... well, she doesn't look terribly French, either.
Second wife – we have no records (of course) as Jessie moved west and never spoke to any Probascos again (naturally). My mother was contacted some time ago by that branch of the family, and she says they settled in California—as I am in California, I would like to renew contact, find my lost cousins, and bury that rusting and decomposing hatchet. My Roberts cousins feel the same way.
We are also looking for Paul's family, and… well... the "scandal" happened a long, long time ago and it's time to reunite.
BTW: Jessie 's great-great Granddaughter, Thea is presently on the Gulf Coast visiting her father, and we are all sending good wishes her way. Lezlie