Looking for great-great grandparents in 1920 census & marriage certificate

I found the listing in the 1930s Census that you reference. It gives ages at first marriage of both William and Rosalie Davis which would put their marriage as being well before 1920.

I spent some time playing around in Ancestry and the only married African American Rosalie Davis anywhere near the right age who was born and living in Virginia in the 1920 census I can find is the following:

Name: Rosalie Davis

Age: 25

Birth Year: abt 1895

Birthplace: Virginia

Home in 1920: Mercer, Loudoun, Virginia

Residence Date: 1920

Race: Black

Gender: Female

Relation to Head of House: Servant

Marital status: Married

Father's Birthplace: Virginia

Mother's Birthplace: Virginia

Able to Speak English: Yes

Occupation: Cook

Industry: Private Family

Employment Field: Wage or Salary

Household Members: Name Age

• Eva Galt Neville 36
• Harry R Neville 5
• Sue R Elgin 69
• Rosalie Davis 25
• William Davis 2  (listed as Black)

I then cross referenced for married African American males named William Davis living in the the same city and came up with the following.

Name: William Davis

Age: 28

Birth Year: abt 1892

Birthplace: Virginia

Home in 1920: Mercer, Loudoun , Virginia

Residence Date: 1920

Race: Black

Gender: Male

Marital status: Married

Father's Birthplace: Virginia

Mother's Birthplace: Virginia

Able to Speak English: Yes

Occupation: Stable Boy

Industry: Private Stable

Employment Field: Wage or Salary

Able to Write: No

Neighbors: View others on page

Household Members: Name Age

• Archie C Randolph 34
• Eva R Randolph 32
• Dorothy W Randolph 8
• Dulaney Randolph 7
• Archebald C Randolph 4
• Sarah W Warner 19
• Irene Colbert 17
• Claud Warner 24
• William Davis 28

I did note that the date of births given for each of them are a few years different from the dates of birth given for the Mr. and Mrs. Davis living in Baltimore, MD that you located in the 1930 census.  However, if these are the same people, one possible explanation is that all their vital information was given to the census taker by their employers, who were ignorant of their precise ages.

Unfortunately these records leave young Beatrice unaccounted for. If we were to go with the theory that husband and wife were servants living in separate households, one possible explanation is that she spent time with both father and mother and neither employer thought to list her as a member of their household.

Of course, it is only a guess that these might be the right folks.

This is the 1930 census you referred to. It lists William's marriage age as 21 so I assumed they were married in 1914-1915. The second record is a marriage record but it lists the spouse as Rose so it may not be correct. Since all but the youngest children were born in Virginia as are William and Rosalie, most likely they were living in Virginia in 1920. However, I could not find them in the census.

Best of luck,

Henry

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9R4T-ZNY?i=3&cc=1810731&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AX3W3-SRK

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XR92-VZ2

Taking it one back one step further for Rose aka Rosalie,  1910 census, accessed through Ancestry, give the following.

Name: Roselie Gaskins

[Rosalies Gaskins ]

Age in 1910: 11

Birth Year: abt 1899

[abt 1900]

Birthplace: Virginia

Home in 1910: Mercer, Loudoun , Virginia

Race: Mulatto

Gender: Female

Relation to Head of House: Granddaughter

Marital status: Single

Father's Birthplace: Virginia

Mother's Birthplace: District of Columbia

Native Tongue: English

Attended School: Yes

Able to Read: Yes

Able to Write: Yes

Neighbors: View others on page

Household Members: Name Age

• William Gaskins 63
• Rose Gaskins 58
• Mary Waters 27
• Berta Waters 2
• Hallie Waters 1
• William Gaskins 17
• Roselie Gaskins 11

And for her father:

Name: Richard Gaskins

Age in 1910: 41

Birth Year: abt 1869

Birthplace: Virginia

Home in 1910: Mercer , Loudoun, Virginia

Race: Black

Gender: Male

Relation to Head of House: Head

Marital status: Married

Spouse's name: Emma Gaskins

Father's Birthplace: Virginia

Mother's Birthplace: Virginia

Native Tongue: English

Occupation: Hostler

Industry: Private Stables

Employer, Employee or Other: Wage Earner

Home Owned or Rented: Rent

Farm or House: House

Able to Read: Yes

Able to Write: Yes

Years Married: 18

Out of Work: N

Number of weeks out of work: 0

Neighbors: View others on page

Household Members:

Name Age

• Richard Gaskins 41
• Emma Gaskins 42
• Wilton Gaskins 17
• Lucius Gaskins 16
• Marie Gaskins 9
• Teressa Gaskins 8
• Anna Gaskins 6
• Richard Gaskins 3
• John Wesley Gaskins 2

However what Ancestry lists as "Wilton" looks to me, when I look at the scan of the handwriting, a lot more like "William" that "Wilton."   So it looks like Rosalie had an a 17 year old brother who was counted twice on the census!  It may also interest you to know that Richard is listed as Black and Emma is listed a Mulatto. 

Anyway, that's all from me.  I'm sure you can take it there. 

Dear Ms. Ntchombou,

Thank you for posting your request on History Hub!

We searched Ancestry and located All Marriage & Divorce Results for William Davis but were unable to locate one specifically for William and Rosalie. You may wish to search How to Find Virginia Marriage Records Genealogy; and and How to Find Maryland Marriage Records Genealogy websites for more information.

We hope this is helpful. Best of luck with your research!

Hello -

And... going back a little further to the 1900 census, you will find Rosalie listed with her siblings, and her mother Emma, as well as her maternal grandparents (Emma's mother and father) William H. Peters and Nellie. So with the 1900 and 1910 censuses, you've gotten the names of both sets of Rosalie's grandparents!

1900 Census, Loudoun County, Virginia

Other records, such as the transcription of Rosalie's parents' marriage, show Emma's maiden name to be Peterson, rather than Peters. If there was a way to see the actual certificate, it may show that to be a transcription error, or else the clerk mis-heard the name. But on her son Dudley's 1967 death certificate, her maiden name is also given as Peterson. Going forward in research (or backwards, I suppose!) keep in mind that you could be looking for either Peters or Peterson.

Source Information

Ancestry.com. Virginia, Select Marriages, 1785-1940 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2014.

I hope this information is helpful. It does seem that there's a gap in the records for marriages in Virginia covering the dates that Rosalie and William Davis married (assuming it was Virginia). But earlier Virginia marriages seem to be found more easily.

Kathy J. Blacklock