Martha Azle (Mercer) McCall (1892-1992) – Research and Records
Update – June 5, 2010
I received the Obituary for Dewey S. Mercer in the mail today from the Tillamook Historical Society. In it it mentions a living sister “Hazel McCall, Sublimity”. This is much too much of a coincidence not to be her brother. Success! Another family member found. Now if I could only connect the pieces on John Keener’s first wife Martha Olive Johnson… that’s next.
Martha Azle (Mercer) McCall or “Miss Azle” as I knew her was the second wife of my Great Great Grandfather John Keener McCall (1 Oct 1872) and married him when he already had a large family of 8 kids. They had two more children together. Currently I have no record of who her parents were or what family she came from, but I do have quite a few guesses. I thought I’d write the trail I’ve come across thus far and see if it makes sense.
What I know:
1. I have her obituary: Sublimity – Martha Azle McCall, 99, died Jan. 7, 1992. She was born Dec. 1, 1892 in Danville, Ark. She moved to Stayton in 1938 from Carlsbad, N.M. She settled in Sublimity seven years ago. She married J.K. McCall on Sept. 22, 1918 in Gravely, Ark., he died in 1966. She is survived by her sons, Charles W. of Sublimity and J.B. of Cottage Grove; stepsons, G.D. of Stayton and Troy of Carlsbad; stepdaughter, Prue Sadler of Stayton; several grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. Services were held Jan. 10 at Weddle Mortuary, Stayton. Interment followed at Lone Oak Cemetery, Stayton.
2. I know that my Great Grandmother Etoyl (Montgomery) McCall who was married to Azle’s eldest step-son Robert Lee McCall said that they called her Dad “Pappy Mercer”, and she came from a poor, lower-class family. I also have some minor details about her life with her husband that was shared with my sister in a letter from the local historical society where she died.
3. I know she was born 1 December 1892, and died 7 January 1892 and was buried in the Lone Oak Cemetery in Stayton, Oregon on the 10th of January 1992. She married J.K. McCall 22 September 1918 in Gravelly, Yell County, Arkansas when she was 25 years old.
4. I know that her future husband John Keener lived with his first wife in Danville – her birthplace as listed on her obituary – in the 1900 Census. (She would have been 7 yrs old) The next census, however, him and his wife are living in the Herring Township.
5. In the 1920 Census, Azle lists her father as born in Mississippi, mother in Arkansas. In 1930, she lists both parents as being born in Arkansas.
What I’ve done:
Since I’m a self-taught amature genealogy researcher, I don’t always know the best place to start to find out what I don’t know on a person or family line. But this is what I’ve done.
1. I assumed that since she was born in Danville, she might have lived there as a child. I went through the entire Danville 1900 US Census for a Mercer family with no luck.
2. I did an open US Census search for a Martha Azle Mercer, and focused the search around Yell County, Arkansas where she was born. I found a Martha A. in Briggsville in the 1910 census, which is just 15 miles from Danville where she was born. Azle should have been 17 when the Census was taken at the end of April 1900. This “Martha A. Merser” was listed as 16, birthplace Arkansas. Her parents are listed as Silas W. (age 40, b. MS) and Martha A. (age 36, b. AR). They were married at 17. She had siblings Dovey, Dewey, Myrtle and grandfather Byrant.
Martha A. Merser - Briggsville US Census, 1910
I saw the difference in age of this Martha, and ended up putting my research to the side. I’ve been trying to focus on primary family lines first, and so I went back to the McCall side. While searching through some WW1 draft papers I ran across a Dewey S. Mercer, who stated that his nearest relative was C.W. Mercer. This sounded familiar, and I was excited to find another Mercer nearby all my McCalls so I started searching again.
The WW1 Registration of Dewey Sampson Mercer.
I decided to see if the family of Silas W. and Martha A. Merser mentioned in the 1910 Census appeared in other US Census records. After a couple frustrating name searches, I ended up going through the Briggsville Census records by hand and was lucky.
3. In the 1900 US Census I found a Wess Messer (age 30, b. MS) and his wife Minnie (age 26, b. AR) living in Briggsville, Arkansas with children named Martha, Dova and Dewey. This Martha is listed with a birthday of December 1893, and age 6. Still one year off from my Martha, but in the right month of December.
Martha Messer - Briggsville US Census, 1900
4. In the 1920 US Census I found Dewey S. (age 21) living with his father W.C. Mercer (age 48, widowed), but not Martha.
Martha's family (No Martha) - Briggsville US Census, 1920
5. I decided to focus on Dewey S. Mercer. After a few searches, I found that he had married Millie Ornduff (b. 1897, Oregon -1979, Oregon) and died in Tillamook, Oregon 17 Jan 1986. Could it be a coincidence that he ended up in Oregon, and met a wife there and died there? Perhaps this is my Martha in these census records, and she convinced her brother to come to Oregon where she was living, and there he married (perhaps a second wife). The local Tillamook historical society had a website where I got his death information, and so I emailed them for his obituary. We’ll see where the trail leads from there.
What’s next:
That’s where I’ve reached thus far. My next step is to keep following up about Dewey S., and to order Martha’s Death Certificate to see if she lists her parent’s names. I also seem to remember that there was an article written in the local paper about her because of her longevity, so that’s another avenue to explore. I’m hoping by putting this research out there, I may find a decedent of this family who’s interested in genealogy.
If you’re related to this family or have more information about them including stories, pictures and dates and family member names, I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below or email me directly from the About Us page.