Flew The Coop

#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 31 Prompt:

“Flew The Coop”

 

          William Milo Rollins

        17 June 1879-18 Jan 1973

and

Florence Mae Rollins

7 July 1889-25 March 1946

Which one will fly?

 

At first glance it may appear that this writer neglected to correctly name Florence because her   maiden name is missing.  As a matter of fact her maiden name is Rollins.  Imagine all the red tape she was able to skip because she married her cousin.  Not only is this couple cousins, they are husband and wife and they are my great grandparents. 

They fell in love and presumably married (not verified) before the birth of my grandfather William Richard Rollins, their first born.  They went on to have 3 children together.  William Richard in 1907, Elizabeth Mary 3 years later in 1910 and finally Helen Barbara born in 1913. 

 

It is not clear what happened to these kissing cousins but at some point around the 1920 census Florence had  “Flown The Coop”.  It is not known when she had taken her daughter Helen and married Jack Armitage.  It is not known if she and William Milo divorced, or married for that matter. 

 

  

A few interesting things occurred that are seemingly unusual. First of all  a woman flying the coop,  and even more so when she left she took her young daughter Helen with her.  AND she left her son William Richard and daughter Elizabeth Mary to be raised by her cousin/husband/father of the kids.  

 

She and Jack Armitage eventually find their way to California where they raise Helen.  Helen is born a Rollins but they change her name and raise her as an Armitage.  

 

During her lifetime she is reunited with her son William Richard and her daughter Elizabeth.  They all live near each other in California.  There is a home movie where Elizabeth’s children call Jack “grandpa Armitage”.  

 

Now for the rest of the twisty story!

 

While making my very first cemetery scouting trip in 2021 to find my grandmother Ruth (Squire) Rollins it is discovered that Florence (Rollins) Armitage is buried next to her daughter Elizabeth (Rollins) Welchly, and her daughter Helen (Rollins/Armitage) Johnston and her son William Richard’s first wife Ruth (Squire) Rollins. Awe, but that’s not all.  

Her son is also buried in the same cemetery in a crypt with his 3^rd wife AND remember her cousin/husband.  Yeap, he is buried on a small slope with direct line of sight to the burial sites of his estranged wife Florence, his daughter’s Elizabeth and  Helen and is laid to rest right under the crypt of his son William.  

 

So Florence may have flown the coop and raised their daughter under a different name than her fathers, in the end she didn’t get very far. 

 

If the dead could speak I would love to hear the rest of their story. But they can’t so I will keep digging for facts and will continue to imagine the story based on the facts I do have.  Until then…..another story may be brewing.  

 

And that's a wrap 

The Family Historian

Barbara Fueston Grandon

 

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