May 16, 2018

Is his name Tom or Edgar? Another name changer in the family.

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My great uncle Thomas Woodrow Campbell had another name at birth. His life was a mystery to me for a long time.  I would search and search and couldn't find anything regarding this man. I found him with his parents William Elbert Campbell and Amanda Massey in the 1920 Census in Grundy County, Tennessee, 1930 Census in Walker County, Georgia, and the 1940 Census in Hamilton County, Tennessee.  He was listed as Tom or Thomas on each Census record.  Tom was the only child of my great-grandparents that was born in Kentucky.  My great-grandfather was a coal miner, so, this meant that they moved around a lot. William (Elbert) tried farming, but that didn't work out so well for him and he kept going back to coal mining.


Tennessee didn't start keeping birth and death records until 1910. I was hoping that Kentucky was a bit better about this issue. I put in as many combinations I could think of on Ancestry.com and nothing came up. Then I decided to omit the first name of the child but include the parents names. Et voila! I found a birth index. 



You ask why he changed his name. I asked the same question and will never know.  The thing is, this man was able to get into the army, obtain a Social Security card, and a driver's license without a valid birth certificate that matched his name.  How can people do this?  I was able to find his marriage information eventually but I still cannot find when Uncle Tom passed away. I have hope that I will someday. 



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