Betty (Meaning; God is my Oath)

Betty (Meaning; God is my Oath)

Betty and her first Husband at their marriage. She's the one in white near the dog. 

Hello!

This post is a victory post! We have finally found out more about my mystery ancestor, Essie (Meaning; Star)! 

This is how it happened. My family found a social security number with the name of "Betty Pitts Lam"(Meaning; God is my Oath, Hollow Forest) on it. She was from Lander WY, had Elijah H. Pitts as father, and Jennie Black as mother. It was Essie! So we sent the number to Dan (Meaning; Judge) , one of her grandson's who could use the number to find out more about her.

A few weeks later, he got back to us with exciting news. He had her death date, and even the address where she lived! It looks like it was a boarding house. Essie had died in Chicago, in 1947 at age 55. We did a search of the graves there, but not one had a Betty Lam, or Pitts in it. Another dead end, but what a breakthrough! We had found out where she actually had lived, and that was amazing enough. 

Essie has been found, at least more so than a couple of months ago. It's always fun to find out more about your relatives. 

I wonder why Essie changed her name from Eliza (Meaning; God is my Oath), to Betty. Somehow, I think it was because she didn't want to be found. Her first marriage was a bad one, and she had divorced her second husband by the time she died. I think she just needed a new start. After her dad, and both husbands didn't work out, she moved to Chicago and started a new life, with a new name.

I hope Essie did find her new life in Chicago. She seems to have lived in one of the better neighborhoods. The lake was not too far away, and her home looks nice. Even if we find her grave, she will always have an air of mystery around her. I think that's why I like her. I won't ever know a lot about her, and I will never know her as a person. I'll always wonder how she felt when her kids were taken away, the way she felt when she divorced her two husbands. What did she feel when her father shot at her mother and sister? I don't know. I just hope, once again that she was happy when she was laid to rest. 

Another thing I've thought about is, as we search for her, she has so many names. Her full name, Eliza Elsie Pitts, was a nice one, but she had the nickname of Essie. Then, she shows up as Betty. That leaves a lot of names she could go by. Beth, Bethany, Elizabeth, Lizzy, Liz, Ella, Ellie, Bess, the list goes on and on. She could be almost anyone. Exciting really. I could very well be writing quite a bit about Essie in the years to come.

Are you named Essie? Do you know someone named Essie? What were the names of your ancestors? If you know of someone named Essie, or are one, let me know about your name below. Essie, you are a star. You keep on shining, like my Essie shined to me from about a hundred years ago. Whether or not it seems this way, you are a beautiful work of art that defines a new meaning for your name. What is that? Tell me below, and let us celebrate together. You and your name are stars in the world, and deserve to be celebrated. 

Until Essie gives herself a new nickname!

Maximilian M.