Found after 7 Years and 100 Years (Continued)

The experienced genealogists know from my previous post, Found after 7 Years and 100 Years that there was much more research to be done regarding finding information on John Scramlin, the adopted boy. Since that post, I spent much of one afternoon trying to track down where I could get help explaining the legal notice which appeared in the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper Feb. 9, 1978. I was led on a wild goose chase, 4 helpful people tried to connect me with the right person at the First Judicial District Court. At last, I had Jill, since she was the one who could help me. Within minutes, she found the record, his probate. Yes, the probate! After giving her the information and asking a few meek questions as I held my breath, were, can I get a copy? Yes. How much are the pages? Each page was .25. The next day I called, and I was told she had printed the 32 pages and it came to $11.55 (she was certain I wanted them). I had to get a money order, and send a self-addressed stamped envelope. All easy, the worst part was the waiting for the record. I love doing business in New Mexico.

I called my cousin and shared this with her. My imagination went wild. Why would a state ward have a 32 pg. probate. Jill, the employee told me she thought if John, the adopted son, was in her family she would want the papers. So naturally, I thought he must have murdered his father, not his natural, nor his adoptive, but his step-father. Of course, that is why he was in the hospital. Finally, when my envelope arrived, I couldn't even open it, it was so tight, picture 32 pages in a #10 envelope, taped on 3 sides, and with a large stamp saying postage due, I owed $1.66.

After going through the nicely typed pages, I discovered a few interesting things. The state of New Mexico wanted to be reimbursed for John's care for 40 years, because he had an estate of $12,981. He was hospitalized from 1934 to 1974...40 years, and it took three years to get to probate. There were no known heirs. (He had a living sister and quite a few nephews and nieces.) John died August 11, 1974, there was no will, personal property valued at $1,751 and real property valued at $6,000. I learned where John's property (2 lots) on Candelario Street was, and looked up the site on Google Earth. The month following his death, his home was rented for two years at $25 per month. John's two lots were sold for $12,100 to Albert Gonzales and John Tena of Santa Fe.

Upon further investigation, I found discovered his step-father, William G. Hockman, was the father of three sons, Marvin Hockman, Edward Hockman and Albert Hockman. His adopted son, John Scramlin was the same age as Edward. There are things I don't know, like where did John receive his money to buy the lots, did his step-father die and leave him some money? But one thing I do know, is, he didn't kill his step-father.

Found after 7 Years and 100 Years

Did you ever have the desire to help a friend find somebody? How about trying to locate a young child who was adopted? That is what I did, and my quest began in February 2006 when I responded to a query from Linda, she was looking for her great-uncle, John Scramlin, born on March 2, 1904, in Michigan, the youngest of eight living children. When his father died in 1908 (in a sawmill accident), young John was adopted by Charles and Susan Shoemaker, and John then became George Shoemaker and the new family moved to New Mexico. Not long after, Charles died, and Susan remarried a Mr. Hockman. This is pretty easy to follow, and it is basically what my friend and 6th cousin told me 7 years ago. In her initial letter to me, she said, "For 90 years our family has wondered about and prayed for John/George. We could like to know if he was happy, did he marry, did he have a family and where is he buried?"

Over the seven years, I tried to find George Shoemaker or George Hockman, and even George Scramlin in the 1940 census. Linda and I stayed in contact, even though there wasn't anything new to give to her. Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I rediscovered newspaper collections online. My blog post explains several sites HERE.

One of the first searches I did was for all the above names, then I threw in his original name of John Scramlin. Wow, a legal notice appeared From the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper Feb. 9, 1978. That indicated to me he had gone back to his original name, and was still living in New Mexico. Through Ancestry, I found him in the 1930 and 1932 city directories for Santa Fe. Three new sources within 1/2 hour! I've never done research for New Mexico, so went to the San Miguel County site, and what a page that is...the top 3 tabs provided everything I needed...where John died, the date and his listing in the 1940 census! Why couldn't I find him in the 1940, well his name is spelled incorrectly, instead of Scramlin, it was Scromlin, now 34, single, and living in a state hospital.

I mailed the information to Linda, and even called her to discuss the next step. In her email to me, she wrote, "Miracles of Miracles!  This time it came through. THANKS!!!!!! Our family has looked for him for over one hundred years. At least now we know, even though it appears he had a pretty difficult life. He must have had some functioning skills because he had been a laborer and janitor at the hospital.  I hope he was content there.  Thank you so much for all your work.  We've been wanting to know what happened to him for over a century.  I’m very disappointed, not for me, but for him.  We had hoped better for him."

But, I wanted to know more....so, stay tuned for the next post.