Diefenbach

My wife's parents are Arthur Diefenbach and Linda Garrison Diefenbach Jones. Arthur and Linda were married from 1966 to 1991. They had two daughters: my sister-in-law Denise Fimple, and my wife Diana.

Arthur Diefenbach comes from what would today be considered a larger family, although it was probably fairly average for his generation. His parents, Carl Louis Berle Diefenbach and Violet Lubaski had seven children:

I am told there were two sets of twins, making for nine births, but I have not found any records as to who the surviving twins were.

Garrison

Linda Lou Garrison was the only child of Arthur E. Garrison and Ella May Hawthorne.

Arthur's parents were Charles Emory Garrison and Minnie Almary Weethee. Arthur was the 4th of four children born to Charles and Minnie. Ida, born in 1900, apparently died very young, as she appears in the 1900 US Census (age 1 month), but is gone by 1910. Charles Garrison was born about 1902; William Garrison was born about 1903. Arthur was born 5 August 1906.

By the 1910 US Census, Minnie was remarried, to David King Wallace, and her marriage licenses reports that she was widowed. I'm not able to locate any death record for Charles Emory Garrison.

The 1910 US Census proved to have some interesting information. Minnie was married to David, but living in Columbus Ward 8 with her (divorced) mother Hannah Weethee (age 55), her brother Frank Weethee (age 20), her son Arthur Garritson (sic) (age 4), and her son Richard Wallace (age 2). David Wallace also appears in Columbus Ward 8, but as a prisoner at the Columbus Workhouse. Charles and William Garritson (sic) were living in Hare Orphans Home on Tuller Ave, as "inmates."

By 1920, the Wallace-Garrison family seems to be back together, as Charles, William, and Arthur Garrison are living in Columbus Ward 10 with Minnie and David, and their son Charles. It's interesting to note that Richard Wallace is not in the 1920 Census, and Charles Wallace is not in the 1910 Census. Charles Wallace is listed as age 12 in the 1920 Census, though.

The search continues. I have learned that the Ohio Historical Society has the records for Hare Orphans Home, and I hope to examine Charles and William Garrison/Garritson applications, to perhaps learn more about Charles Emory's fate.

I have considerably more information about Ella May Hawthorne's line. In May of 2004, I made contact with David and Dolores McCall in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. They had done much research on the McCalls and Crabtrees, who are part of Ella May Hawthorne's maternal line. As of January 2008, I have almost six generations of data on Ella's mother's side.