Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Where did Moffitt & Willis live after Joel's move to Indiana?


Unanswered Questions

Historians in Fort Wayne had reported that Joel’s parents moved to Indiana following her wedding, however, there is definitive evidence to the contrary. First, a Mobile newspaper clipping from 1905 mentions Mrs. Willis Roberts as a victim of a Mobile pickpocket. Second, census records and city directories show that Willis maintained an apartment at the St. Andrew Hotel from 1911 to 1916. A third piece of evidence is Moffitt Roberts’ Fort Wayne obituary, “Mrs. Roberts, prior to the death of her daughter Joel, spent summers in Fort Wayne and had a wide circle of friends”. [i] Fourth, Joel Ninde’s father died in 1917, a year after his daughter, and is not listed in the Magnolia Cemetery, Mobile, Alabama nor the Fort Wayne archives. Recently Willis's grave was found in Pensacola. Joel’s mother died at the age of 83 on November 23, 1921 at the home of her daughter, Lillie, at 422 North Palafax Street, Pensacola, Florida. .[ii]

[i] “She (Mrs. Roberts) is survived by two daughters, Miss Lillie Taylor and Mrs. Kate Goodloe. Mrs. Roberts was an exceptionally intelligent and cultured woman and her friends in Fort Wayne will be pained to learn of her demise.” “Obituary of Mrs.Willis Roberts”, Fort Wayne News Sentinel, Thursday November 24, 1921. p. 7 col. 2.[ii] Angie Quinn, Executive Director, has compiled extensive genealogy of the Nindes, dating back to the Mayflower. Pictures of Judge Lindley Ninde and wife Beulah and Ninde-Trone Chart, a gift to Roy Isbell by descendant Kristen Trone, are now in possession of ARCH, Fort Wayne, Indiana and Isbell records, Mobile, Alabama.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Willis Roberts & wife Moffitt continued to be listed in the city directories of Mobile, Alabama:
1892-1900 - bkkpr Dr. George A. Ketchum, res 50 S. Jackson
1901-9 n Jackson
1902-200 N. Conception
1903-no listing
1904&1905 - bookkeeper, res. 411 St. Francis
1906-bkkpr Home Tel. Co.
1907&1908-bkpr Spiro & Pinchus, bds 108 S. Joachim
1910-1916 - bkpr, St. Andrew Hotel

Willis died Oct. 1918 in Pensacola, Florida. His death certificate listed him as a two-year resident, living at the Old Mill Inn. Wife Moffitt Peacock Roberts also died in Pensacola, November 1921.