Innis Family Tree
While I’m here I’m going to have a look for the rest of the family. I had to search for Elizabeth using her birth date and finally found her indexed as Elizabeth Temis. Her last name on the certificate is pretty messy, but we now have the following information:
Elizabeth Innis, born 26 May 1843, TN, died 13 Feb 1930 Whitewright, Grayson, TX, father: John Davis, mother: unknown, informant Mrs. L. H. Taylor, buried Randolph Cemetery.1 A mother would have been nice, but I’ll take a father to start!
Chasing the children proved to both easy and frustrating all at once.
Louisa Christine Shelley, born 10 Sep 1864 KY, died 28 Sep 1929 Bells, Grayson, TX parents T.H. Ennis & Elizabeth Dories, informant J. B. Shelley, buried Randolph Cemetery.2
Tabitha Alice Parrigin, b.15 Apr 1874, Clinton Co. KY, d. 13 Apr 1947 Sherman, Grayson, TX, parents Tom Ennis & Elizabeth Davis, informant Virtel Parigin, buried Whitewright TX.3
John H. Innis, b. 6 Sep 1872, KY, d. 13 Nov 1918 Yowell, Dallas, TX, Father John Innis, KY, informant Mr. J.H. Innis, buried Shiloh Cemetery.4 While this certificate lists a father of John, I’m fairly confident that it is actually the son of Thomas H. and Elizabeth, but until I can check the other John’s this will remain a “highly probable.”
I was looking for Minerva and put in her name as Minerva Innis and found a death certificate for her daughter Tommie Alta Howlett, which listed a father of William Guyam Parrigin.5 I didn’t find Minerva’s record, but when I looked for William G. Parrigin I found him listed as a parent for William H. Parrigin with a mother listed as Catherine Innis, but I found no death certificate for a Catherine Parrigin either.
Looking for Mary T. Innis I found a death certificate for Eula J. Shelley with parents of J. W. Shelley and Mary Innis born in 1885 in Kentucky, but no death certificate for Mary herself.6 I believe J. W. will probably be the brother of the Shelley that Louisa Christina is married to.
In summary you have to be very creative in your searches. Try searching by first name, middle name, initials, and alternate spellings of each of the names. The other thing is to use the advanced search function and try searching the death records by a birth date. Try every field, try every option!
Thank you to all those hard working indexers for FamilySearch!
I’m going back to the census records to look at some of these new names and create family groups. Once I have done that I will come back to the Texas Death Records and search for the spouses and children. Perhaps I will find more clues along the way to help with the missing children. With the names I have I’ll also be checking local cemeteries to try to find more information.
1. Texas, death certificate no. 8220 (13 Feb 1930), Elizabeth [Davis] Innis; digital image, FamilySearch, “Texas Deaths, 1890-1976,” FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 19 Jan 2010).
2. Texas, death certificate no. 44673 (28 Sep 1929), Louise Christine [Innis] Shelley; digital image, FamilySearch, “Texas Deaths, 1890-1976,” FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 19 Jan 2010).
3. Texas, death certificate no. 16530 (13 Apr 1947), Tabitha Alice [Ennis] Parrigin; digital image, FamilySearch, “Texas Deaths, 1890-1976,” FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 19 Jan 2010).
4. Texas, death certificate no. 48857 (13 Nov 1918), John H. Innis; digital image, FamilySearch, “Texas Deaths, 1890-1976,” FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 14 Jan 2010).
5. Texas, death certificate no. 53397 (30 Aug 1965), Tommie Alta [Parrigin] Howlett; digital image, FamilySearch, “Texas Deaths, 1890-1976,” FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 16 Jan 2010).
6. Texas, death certificate no. 2204 (1953), Eula J. Shelley; digital image, FamilySearch, “Texas Death, 1890-1976,” FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org : accessed 19 Jan 2010).