Richard Meredith McDole or McDowell and his Son, Charles H. McDole

Does anyone know the parents of Richard Meredith McDole? He was living in White County, Tn  in the mid-1800's with children born in the 1870's. Sometime he is listed as Meredith. I don't know it he connects to John and Andrew McDowell or if he comes from the line of Luke and Curtis McDowell. Of course, Meredith may have been independent of these other families.

I have come across Meredith's name several times as I have read through census records, but I never felt a connection to who him until I found his grandchildren in the 1940 census.

During the night of the 4th of July I stayed up working on a McDole family that I found living in Sparta in the 1940 census. This is what I found:
1. on page 6.  E. McDole, 36, and Leta Mae McDole, 30.
June     born abt 1926
Jimmie born abt 1928
Bobbie born abt 1930
Dean born abt 1934
Caroline born abt 1939

2. on page 18. Martha McDole wd 58
    Lula McDole    daughter, 34, single, works as a cashier and bookkeeper
3. on page 19. M.R. McDale, 32, and Beulah McDale, 31.
Willa Jean born abt 1933

When I saw the ages of the young adults were all in their thirties, I realized they could be siblings, and looked up Martha's family. I was not surprised to find a 58-year-old widow in 1940, but I found Martha had ben a 28-year-old widow in 1910. Her oldest listed son was named Earnest. Martha was working, but I couldn't make out her profession. Lula and Ray were the younger children. In one census Ray's name is listed as Rheas, but in two others it is listed as Ray.

I get caught up in the story of a family as I research them, so I wanted to find out Martha Mcdole's story, and then I stayed up until 4:00 am looking up Earnest's story. Martha Ellen Stults (1881-1952)had married Charles H. McDole, the son of Richard Meredith McDole. Charles died young; he had been born in Tennessee in 1875, and passed away in Sparta in 1909. In the 1900 census, Martha and Charley had been married long enough to have a baby boy named Walter who was 3 months old on census day. They may have married in 1898 or 1899. Charley was listed as an engineer at a flour mill. That sounds like a good, steady job, and maybe Martha thought her life would not have the financial hardships other women faced. Sadly, it looks like Walter died before he turned 10 years old.

From the following censuses, Martha married second to a Casto Brown before 1920. Martha and Casto had a son, Elbert Brown, born in 1918. The blended family is living togther in 1920. In 1930 Martha is listed with the last name of Brown, but she is divorced. Her children are living with her and are old enough to be working. In 1940 Martha used the name of McDole and said she was a widow.

When I recorded the information about Earnest from the 1940 census, I noticed that three of his children were born in Florida, but the younger children were born in Tennessee. When I looked up Earnest and his family in 1930 Florida, I wasn't sure at first that I had the same family, but it was the right family. Earnest was married to a lady named Virginia who was born in Virginia, and they had an oldest daughter named Virginia born in TN. June, Bobbie and Jimmie were there having been born in Florida in the last five years.

This sounded like a sad situation. I was able to find the death record of the daughter, Virginia, in Tennessee Death Records. She was born in TN on July 19, 1924 and died in Sparta on December 21, 1932. She was 8 years, 5 months and 2 days old. Cause of death was lobar pneumonia. Virginia's mother was listed as Ida Payne.
When I saw Virginia's mother was Ida, I was worried that Ida had died at childbirth, and Earnest had married Virginia afterwards. But it wasn't as heart-breaking as I feared, Virginia Ida Payne of Roanoke, Va was Virginia's mother. I found a marriage record for Earnest and Virginia Ida in Ohio marriage records. Earnest listed his vocation as an automobile mechanic and said he was 21. Ida was 16 (her birthday was the day before), and her father signed for her. His name was George W. Payne.

I do not know when Ida Payne McDole passed away. She was alive in the summer of 1930, and she had died by September 4,1932, the day Earnest married Leta Mae Stephens in Sparta. I suppose Ida may have died in Florida, and Earnest returned to Sparta to be with his family. Sadly, he married Letta Mae, and then Virginia became ill with pneumonia later that year. It must have been a very hard two years. 

Earnest and Leta Mae lived a  long time after their marriage. By 1940 they had Dean and Caroline. They may have had other children, and they were married over 55 years.
Everybody has a story.