Cedel Harris

When I first started working on this genealogy in late 2000, I found myself fascinated with the wealth of information I was finding on my wife's side of the family. More precisely, it was her mother's paternal ancestors. Those ancestors were from Oklahoma, and played a major part in the shaping of the Chickasaw Nation.

My mother in law's maiden name was Harris, and her 3rd great grandfather was a man by the name of Cyrus Harris, who happened to be the first Governor of the Chickasaw Nation. Now, Cyrus himself was a direct descendant of another family within the Chickasaw Nation named the Colbert's and the first known ancestor of that family was one James Logan Colbert who was born in 1721.

As I dug further into the Harris family history, I was constantly drawn back to my wife's grandfather, Hindman Cedel Harris. Hindman (or Cedel, which is what he went by) was the epitome of what you would call a family mystery. I had heard stories about him from his sister, Johnnie, and from others within the family, but the story always came back to the fact that none of them knew what had ever happened to Cedel. You see, sometime in the early 1960's, Cedel walked away from his family and wasn't ever heard from again. There had been rumors that he had moved to the southern end of the central valley in California, but no one ever knew for sure. Some had said that he might have gotten himself into a bit of trouble since he was known to be quite the drinker in his time, but again, no one was sure. Even his father, Hindman Sr., passed away in 1991 without ever knowing what had happened to him.

My wife and I had spoken to Aunt Johnnie, and she gave us a bunch of papers that pertained to her ancestors. Included in the paperwork was a paycheck stub for Cedel which included his social security number. With that information, I logged onto the website Ancestry.com and put Cedel's social security # into what they call the "social security death index" It's a morbid title, I know, but it is quite useful when you are trying to find out when someone died, or if they might still be alive. Anyway, doing so came back with a match. According to Social Security, Cedel had passed away in February of 1976. Unfortunately, I could not get any more information than that. I talked to them on the phone, but they were unable to provide me with more information as Cedel had died at the age of 51 and therefore, had not drawn from the account. At least, with that little bit of information, the family could finally know if he was alive or dead.

Over the years, every once in a while, I would run Cedel's name through genealogy sites, just to see if anything new was on there about him. Each time, I came away disappointed. I wanted to find out more about what had happend to him, where he died, and maybe find out what made him up and leave. But, no matter what I tried, the stars were not lining up. Since I didn't know where he died, I couldn't order a death certificate, or for that matter, find an obituary. So, I would set it aside for a while, only to be drawn back to him a few months later.

About 3 weeks ago, Cedel came to mind again. So, being the stubborn person I am, I ran his name again through Ancestry. I tried all variations of his name: Hindman Harris, Cedel Harris, and Cy Harris, which was the name that Social Security had in its records. This time, however, a match did come up for the name Cy Harris that I had not seen before. The record that I was looking at now, was for the death of a Cy Harris in Washington State. The age of this Cy Harris matched with the Cy Harris that I was looking for. There was no more information, other than that the new Cy Harris had died in Wenatchee Washington. So, I looked up the local newspaper out in Wenatchee and they did have an obituary on file. I had them make me a copy and send it, so I could see who the new Cy Harris was.

Last Monday, I recieved the obituary, and lo and behold, I had finally found Cedel Harris. According to the obituary which ran in the Wenatchee World, Cedel had moved up there in 1970 and married a lady by the name of Elsie Rains on November 3, 1971. It went on to state that he had passed from a sudden illness on September 15, 1975. The obituary, however, made no mention of the family he had left behind in California or Oklahoma. After one more phone call to the local genealogical society in Wenatchee, I was e-mailed a picture of Cedel's final resting place.

Even though we now know where he spent the last years of his life, a part of me feels empty, as the one person in this world who really wanted to know what had happened to him (Aunt Johnnie) had passed away back in March. I remember one of the last times my wife and I visited Johnnie, we gave her a restored version of an old photo of her and her brother Cedel on the front porch of their home in Oklahoma in 1930 or so. I think a large part of her always missed her brother and longed to know what had become of him. I just wish I could have found this information 8 months sooner, so she could have known then what we know now.

Whether Cedel, belived it or not while he was alive, he was missed by those who loved him.

Hindman Cedel Harris

March 9, 1924 - September 15, 1975

The DeMartini Family

Back Row: John DeMartini,John's wife Louise Nicolas, Elmer Agrella and their daughter Lou. Front Row: Uncle Jack, Anne Corica, and on the far right, my grandmother Mildred

The story of the DeMartini family is a hard one to trace. The descendants of Augustino and his wife, Celestina, scattered after the death of Augustino. Much of the information I have run across comes from distant cousins who have heard stories from the past and, in turn, related it to me.

Here is what I have heard (or found) so far. Augustino and his wife were immigrants from Lorsica, Italy. It is not known for sure who their parents were, but if they named their children according to Italian traditions, then the first born son and daughter would have been named after Augustino's parents. The second born son and daughter would have been named after Celestina's parents. From all the information that I have on their children, the first born son was named Antone and the first daughter was Rose, So it is quite possible that Augustino's parents were Antone and Rose. Celestina's parents, according to the naming tradition, would have been John and Minnie Cereghino. This is, however, in contradiction to Cousin Annie Smith's research that names Augustino's parents as Joseph and Angie DeMartini, while Celestina's father was supposedly named Charles (or Carmelo in Italian). More research is needed to solidify the actual names of their parents.

Augustino and Celestina had 8 children according to census reports, of which 7 of them are known to me through various sources. Those children were Rose Ann, Antone, John Edward, Minnie, Albert Joseph and Katherine. Another daughter, Eleanor, was from all accounts adopted. That fact is stated on the census records for San Jose when it lists her relationship to the head of house as "adopted daughter".

Of all the DeMartini children, Katherine (who went by the nickname of Nina,) was the one who stood out the most. It appears in photographs that Katherine suffered from Downs Syndrome. This has been verified through various family members who knew the family at the time. Katherine died at the age of 22 and was buried next to her cousin in an unmarked grave in the Catholic Cemetery in Santa Clara, California. Also buried at that cemetery is Katherine's brother John Edward and his wife Louise Nicholas.

At one time, Augustino and his family lived near San Carlos Street and Auzerais in San Jose, California. Living behind his house was a family by the name of DeChicco. As the story goes, the DeChicco house was destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and had to be rebuilt. A few years after that, Katherine DeMartini managed to set fire to her families barn, which in turn managed to destroy the DeChicco house, once again. Needless to say, after that the DeMartini name was not welcomed in the DeChicco house. To further make matters worse, Anne DeChicco (grand-daughter of the home owners) fell in love with Augustino's grand-son, Ray DeMartini and when she announced to her family who she was going to marry, the news was not taken well at all.

Augustino and Celestina had what would be described as a turbulent marriage. Augustino was an alcoholic, a womanizer, and an abusive husband, by all accounts. From my research alone, it does appear there is some credence to this story as Augustino could be found in the 1900 census of Martinez, California taking up residence in the County Jail. What his offence was, is not known at this time. Cousin Anne DeMartini (Ray DeMartini's wife) has verified alot of the information I am writing about. She has said that Augustino had red hair, blue eyes, and a handle bar moustache and was known to hit on plenty of women in his time.

According to Anne, there came a night that Celestina went out for a walk through the neighborhood and happened to walk past this one lady's window, and was shocked to find that her husband was busy cavorting with the unknown woman. From that sight alone, Celestina deduced that Augustino was having an affair and she kicked him out based on what she saw. According to the 1920 census, Celestina stated that she was divorced, although it is doubted by all who knew of the situation, that she had actually divorced him. Church rules, as well as societies, wouldn't have looked upon a divorce too kindly in the early 1900's. It is my belief that she did not divorce him, because according to the 1930 census, she states her marital status as "widowed". Augustino had died on October 28, 1928 in San Jose.

It was apparently also common knowledge around town that Augustino regularly beat his wife, although, at the time, it was only whispered about.

After Augustino's death came the infighting between the family over who would take care of Celestina until it was her time to go. This infighting caused the family to splinter and drift away from one another over the years. This infighting becomes clearer with the World War I Military Draft Cards for John DeMartini and his brothers Antone and Joseph. Antone lists his dependants as his father, mother and son (Ray DeMartini ). John DeMartini lists his wife as his family, but not his parents. And the other brother, Joseph, only lists his mother, and ignores listing his father, even though he was still alive at the time of the draft.

According to the 1930 census of San Jose, Celestina was living with her son Antone and his family near the corner of Park and Kearney.

Celestina lived to the age of 91, and died in San Jose on March 6, 1950.