Thank you SO much for your help! He indeed returned at some point because they went on to have many other children, but all of these children remained living in Grafton, WV with Lena (the wife) and her father. They all have William listed on the birth certificate, however, and he dies somewhere around 1929, so he is not on the 1930 census. Their last child was born around that time as well, so it would seem he was indeed the father of the others. (For a time, I thought perhaps the other children came from other men and her husband was just listed on the birth certificate to "save face". It would seem, however, that he really was their father, because the timing of her last child being born, and his death, coincides.)I know that on the 1930 census, she is, for the first time, listed as a widow. Also, my mother told me that his children talked about how he wasn't home for a long stretch of time, and then would "come and go". I thought perhaps a prison stint might explain why 2 of their first children ended up in an orphanage. The only child they had at the time who didn't go to the home was a daughter (it was a boys home only) who later died. I thought perhaps after he returned from wherever he was he may have been working out of town, living with relatives, and sending $ back home to her. I am trying to check census records for his many brothers and sisters to see if he is listed in their homes but have found nothing yet. Again, I thank you for your help. I swear I'm gonna figure this out one day! lol My mother who is now 73 has wondered her entire life why her father had to be put in an orphanage at 5 years old, but of course they didn't speak about things like that back then. :/