2026 #52Ancestors - Week 4: A Theory in Progress

 

Back to tangential Pearsons this week.  I've written about this fellow before, but it's probably time for an update.  When I first wrote about Pierson McClure/Joseph Marion Miller, I was only able to track him from his birth in 1914 until the early 1940s.  During those 26+ years, Pierson McClure became Joseph Marion Miller, moved with his mother and various stepfathers from Illinois to Michigan, and was eventually employed in the merchant marines. Considering he experienced a name change (and his mother's last name changed four times) during that period, I consider it a blessing I was able to track him at all.

Receiving his merchant marine file filled in a few more blanks.  I was able to determine that he moved with his mother back to Mattoon, Illinois, (a place familiar to them, as they lived there in the early 1920s). I learned that, while living in Mattoon, he got into an altercation with a neighbor; this article also identified Joseph as being blind. That information allowed me to identify him in another newspaper article, this time in East St. Louis, but there was still plenty about Pierson/Joseph that I didn't know. For example, why did he and his mother move back to Mattoon in the late 1940s, and when/why did they then make the decision to move to East St. Louis?  What was the extent of his previously mentioned blindness?  Oh...and where/when did he die?

So, here is my theory in progress.  Nettie-of-the-many-marriages must have divorced/been divorced by husband #5 some time in the mid-to-late 1940s (I haven't found a divorce record yet). Because she was now caretaker to her disabled son, she wanted to move somewhere that felt familiar. Maybe she had some friends in Mattoon and wanted a fresh start for herself and Joseph.  

Unfortunately, I'm willing to bet Joseph was more than a little difficult to handle.  The altercation referenced in his merchant marine file and the article about assaulting his neighbor lends credence to that theory, and various articles about Nettie indicate she was no shrinking violet.  On top of their strong personalities, Nettie probably realized she needed to get Joseph closer to services for the blind.  After all, she wasn't going to live forever. Somehow, she found out about The St. Louis Society for the Blind.  They offered classes on life skills, and assisted the blind with transportation, resources, and access to social workers.  She and Joseph didn’t necessarily need to live in St. Louis.  East St. Louis was just over the river, and she thought she might still be able to find her way around based on the time she spent there with her 1st and 3rd husbands.  

I like this theory because it explains why Joseph and Nettie had different addresses in East St. Louis at the time of Nettie's death in 1968; he had learned the skills necessary to function autonomously thanks to The St. Louis Society for the Blind. The above theory offers at least a partial answer to all my questions...except where/when Joseph died.  All I have to go on is his last known address in 1968, and it is now an open field.