On June 10, 1903, my husband's grandparents were married in a small family ceremony at a relative's home in Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Brice Larimer McClure (1878-1970) was a master mechanic working on major railroads, and Floyda Mabel Steiner (1878-1948) was a plucky 25-year-old who had divorced her abusive first husband two years earlier.
Looking at Brice, I thought again about a conflict surrounding his date of birth. He himself gave two different dates for his birth. On his World War I draft registration, he told the draft board he was born on December 29, 1878. But for his World War II draft registration, he told the draft board he was born on December 25, 1878. Also, the Social Security death index shows his birth as December 29, 1878.
So I looked at the only original document available for his birth: A ledger from Little Traverse, Michigan, where his birth was recorded in late June of 1879. As shown above in the entry with the star, the date is clearly noted as Dec 25, 1878.
Since that documentation was closest in time to Brice's birth, I'm sticking with it and showing the birth date as Christmas Day, 1878.
Also, using FamilySearch's full text search, I discovered that Brice L. McClure was the witness on several US naturalizations as well as at least one last will and testament. I already knew that Brice and Floyda were the joint executors of the will of Floyda's sister, Minne E. Steiner Halbedel. And when Floyda died in 1948, her devoted husband Brice, married for 45 years, was executor of her estate.
Happy 123d anniversary to my husband's maternal grandparents, a couple who were close, happy, and devoted to their only daughter, my hubby's much-loved mother.
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