The Mystery of Robert Lambert

Do you know how annoying it is to hit a brick wall and just keep beating your head against it until someone literally has to pull you away before you crack your head open?

Yeah - that was me the other night - trying to figure out the mystery of Robert Lambert.

Robert is my husband's Great Grandfather ...

So ...  Verna is his paternal Grandmother.  Robert and Winnie were her parents.  But see, already I am running into a brick wall.  We know that Robert's mom's first name was Mary.

So I start to check out the leaves ...

I find a 1900 Census that looks promising....  so I open it up .......

Seems right.   I see his parents were both born in Ireland.  I see he has a sister named Mary.  Also - there are a bunch of men living with them.  Interesting.   So I open up the census to get a closer look......

I actually cut the top of the page to show over their particular information.

So this is what I learned from this.  Mary Lambert owned her house free and clear, and she was housing some male boarders.  She doesn't work, I'm sure she tends to the house.  She came to the Americas from Ireland in 1860, and had been here for 40 years for this 1900 census, however, it doesn't seem as if she ever became "nationalized"..   She could neither read or write.  She didn't work; however, it looked like Robert worked on the Railroad somehow - I cannot read for the life of me what it says, and I spent hours trying to figure it out.  It looks like Eliminator but it doesn't....  ugh, I quit.  Best guess ..... "Enumerator" ... what the heck is that?

So does that mean he was a Rail Road Census Taker at the age of 19?

Mary, his sister was working as a servant at the time.  Both Robert and Mary were born in Illinois... and Mom Mary was born in Ireland, and her parents were born in Ireland.   Robert is 19, and Mary is 17.  Neither of them were going to school.  But they could both read and write English.  One of the most important things I noticed is that Mother Mary was already WIDOWED in 1900.

The next census I found him on was the 1910 one.  But now he was married to Winnie and they had their first daughter.  They had only been married a year... so they got married in 1908 or 1909 sometime.  Mother Mary is not with him, so has she died?  Is she maybe living with Sister Mary?  What happened to Sister Mary???  I cannot find ANY information on her what so ever!  Other than the 1900 census.

And who the HECK was his father????

Okay ....

 Okay .... so now Mary is from the US?   Now I found a Mary Lambert that was born in Massachusetts - so make up your ever loving mind!!!

So looking at the new census .......  They are now living at 302 Fifth Ave.  This is 302 Fifth Ave today ....

Um .......  Yeah.

So ....  in 1910 he is listed as being a Railroad Yard Clerk.   He owned but had a mortgage on his home.

In 1920 ..........

The only thing that I can think of is that either Winifred forgets?  Or maybe one of the kids is talking?  I'm just not sure how to explain this...

They are still at 302 Fifth Ave.  It's still mortgaged.   They have had a few more kids now, and he is still working as a Clerk at the Railroad.  The oldest four kids are going to school too...

The last census I found him on was the 1930 census.  I'm not sure why I didn't find them on the 1940 census ...  I may have to manually look.  But according to the record I have, he didn't die until 1950.  I'm not even sure when Winifred died.  For some reason I don't have a lot of information on her.

Notice, both of Roberts parents are from Ireland again ....

It looks like they have moved now.   To 319 South Eastern Ave.

Looking it up on Google Maps ........

This is the even side of the street ... 312, 314 South Eastern Ave ...

You look on the Odd side of the street and..........

So..... modern road systems have really taken a toll on the homes that Robert Lambert lived in....

So we are pretty sure that Unknown Father Lambert and Mother Mary Lambert immigrated here from Ireland.  And it's really really sad that this is where this line is ending, because I feel as if I should be able to figure it out.   So ...... I went to the 1880 Census.....  this is what I found ........

Mary Lambert is widowed in 1880 .....  but Mary wasn't born until 1881 or 1882 ....  and Robert was born in 1880 ... so he wouldn't be 4.  Plus, they weren't in Bloomington ... right?   And who where these older kids?  So I'm going to say this isn't them.  Things fit, but more importantly - things just don't fit.   Our Mary Lambert only had two children.  It's on the 1900 census that she had two children, and both were living, and both were on the census.

I went back to the 1900 Census ...  This is my thought process .....  the upper left corner is the street name on the page that the Lamberts are on.  WTF does that say???  The neighbor is at 117 for the house number and the Lamberts are at 188?  But it looks like a 1 was put through that middle 8, so 118?   So I go to the following page to look at the street, and it looks like "Chaes"  Maybe Chase - right?

Can I just say that a pre-requisite to being an ENUMERATOR should have been clear and NEAT handwriting.  

So I started to go through some of the other information out there, and as I was checking out a directory ... I found this......

So does that make Thomas ... Robert's father?

The year is 1891 ..... Robert would have been about 11, and Mary about 9 or 10.  Back then, I'm sure they would only list the father... or "head of household" ....   And he worked at the Illinois Steel Company.

So does that mean that sometime between 1891 and 1900 Thomas died ...  provided that this IS the correct information.   Because by 1900 - Mary was WIDOWED.  So Mother Mary's husband died prior to 1900.

So ....  looking around... one of my BFF's who jumped on the ...  lets make ourselves CRAZY with this stupid line of Robert Lambert ....  bandwagon.

And she found this Thomas Lambert on Find A Grave ...

So ....... he died about the right time, between 1890 and 1900 ...  but aged 62 years means he would have been born around 1832 ...  Mother Mary was born about 1845 (we think) ...  that's ... 13 years age difference?  And very much not unheard of then.

So could it be?  Maybe?   I think I may message Nancy (listed) and ask her if there was a matching gravemarker by this Thomas - because if there was a "Mother" gravemarker and not listed... than... maybe?  If there was, and it's not "Mary" then probably not?   I don't know... I just don't.

The search continues.

****  August 2014 Addition ****

Talking to one of my husband's cousins, I find out that there is a good chance (from her recollection) that Robert was adopted.  An Irish couple adopted him, and that could be why in some census reports that some list them from Ireland, and some from the US.  Seems we may never truly solve the mystery ...