Still holding the hammer, just in case it can come down....

by Silvana
(Rockford,Il,USA)

My brick wall would be practically anything relating to my great-grandmother and great-grandfather on my mothers side. I have tons of information beyond that but when it comes to Miss Mildred Gray and Henry Jess Hayes I find basically nothing.

The story goes that my great grandfather's name was "Henry Jess Hayes" but everyone called him Jess. Supposedly, Mildred took her three girls to say goodbye to him while he was in jail in California, then got on a train and went back home to Arkansas. That is all the information I have on Henry Jess Hayes.

I do have a little bit more on Mildred (not much though) I have census records from when she was living with her parents and obituary articles for her and her parents.

In two of the obituary records it does list Mildred as "Mrs. Hayes". I had always wondered if Mildred and Henry were ever married because on 1 of her daughters birth records it lists the mother's maiden name as "Smith". Even though they all had the same mother and father (Hayes and Gray).

I know when Mildred passed away but nothing on Henry. It has been suggested that he may have remarried and there are other family members floating around that we know nothing about.

I keep hoping I will find something and eventually I know I will. So I will just hold on to my little hammer for when the time comes to knock that wall down.