On February 8th, 1936, my grandmother Geneva Barnett married my grandfather, Darrel Cravey. Sounds typical, right? It wasn’t.
When I learned about the existence of my biological grandparents from a box of photographs my late mother had under her bed, my research eventually came around to proving these two were married. I found a First Lutheran Church document that confirms Darrel Cravey, 23, and Geneva Barnett, 18, were married.
Document courtesy of Ancestry.com
The only problem is that Geneva wasn’t 18 years old. She’d just turned 15.
Somebody lied. Was it Geneva, lying to get out of a house full of half-siblings, all younger than her; anything being better than caring for six children that weren’t hers? Or was it her step-father’s idea to lie and marry off Rosie Lee’s illegitimate daughter as one less mouth to feed? What did Geneva really think about it all?
Photo courtesy of Mary Jones
She looks happy in the photograph, which I’m assuming is her bridal photo. She also looks like she was just 14 a month earlier, but I can see how she passed for 18.
Regardless of the lie, a marriage license was obtained the day before the wedding.
Document courtesy of Ancestry.com
And the marriage record was published in the Galveston Daily News looking as legit as possible.
Document courtesy of Newspapers.com
But the 1930 Census says otherwise. If she were truly 18 years old on February. 8, 1936, then the census from six years earlier would say she was 12, right? It doesn’t.
Document courtesy of Ancestry.com
Here you see Geneva, listed under the Jones name (which made this census very difficult to find since her name was Barnett) with her mother, step-father and three of her half-siblings. She was seven years old, which is also inaccurate, but a far cry from 12.
I’m leaning toward this marriage NOT being legitimate.
For a long time, this was all the information I had on their marriage. Later, I was searching for records of my mother in her first given name, a name she never told me; Geralda Cravey. She had that name for eight years before she was abandoned by Geneva, adopted by farmers, and her name changed to Patricia. But that’s a story for another day. While looking in the Galveston Daily News, the Craveys came up again in December of 1940. This time, it’s a record of marriage for Darrell Cravey and Mrs. Geneva Cravey.
Document courtesy of Newspapers.com
Mrs. Geneva Cravey is marrying her husband? Again? Well, yes. Below is the newer messier copy of a marriage license from December 21, 1940.
Document courtesy of Ancestry.com
They could have divorced and remarried, but this is likely an act of making their marriage legal. Too bad it didn’t last.
Today, ninety years later, I’m celebrating the illegitimate marriage of grandparents I was never given a chance to meet; Geneva and Darrell Cravey. 🥂
My only question now, is if their first marriage wasn’t legal, and they had children in 1937 and 1939 before making it legal in 1940, was my mother illegitimate too? I guess that’s a question I’m willing to let go, for now.
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