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Ralph Livingston Woodhurst was born in Maquoketa, Jackson Co. in Iowa in January 1908 to parents William Roy (1) Woodhurst and his wife Ella M. (nee) Hudson.
The US 1920 Census finds him at age "12" living with his father, step-mother Margaret and step-siblings in Erie township, Whiteside Co., Illinois.
He first married in Moline, Illinois on July 6th 1929 to Nellie Hendricks, as reported two days later in The Dispatch (Moline) on July 8th.
Neither he nor Nellie has been found in the US 1930 Census.
During the next few years at least two children were produced by him, but it is uncertain whether Nellie was their mother. The earliest appears to have been a daughter Gayle L. Woodhurst, doubtless named after Ralph's sister, born in Clinton, Iowa in 1930. This child died in November 1930. Another child Dale Eugene was born in Clinton on April 26th 1933, his birth certificate suggesting that he was illegitimate and naming his mother as Edna (nee) Comstock.
An unknown newspaper in Davenport, Iowa reported on October 5th 1934 that Ralph had filed for divorce from Nellie on the grounds of [her] desertion.
A few weeks later he married Edna Mae (nee) Comstock at Freeport in Stephenson Co., Illinois as reported in the Freeport Journal-Standard on November 17th 1934. She had been born on July 31st 1911.
A city directory for Clinton in 1935 lists them as living at 331, 13 Avenue S., where they had been living for at least a year before getting married; his occupation is given as sheet metal worker.
The US 1940 Census finds him living with Edna and three children (Raymond, Anna and William) at 1214, South 3rd Street, Clinton where he was occupied as a shipper clerk in a factory.
His WW2 Draft Registration Card, issued in about 1940, gives his birthdate as January 14th 1908 (although the American Social Security Death Index [SSDI] gives it as January 24th) and confirms the address of himself and Edna in South 3rd Street. His employer is stated to be Curtis Companies Inorporated at 114, 12th Avenue S., Clinton.
He died in Clinton in March 1979 and an obituary for him was published in the Quad-City Times (Davenport) on March 24th. He was buried at the Evergreen Cemetery in Delmar, Bloomfield township, Clinton Co.
The SSDI gives his SSN, issued in Iowa, as 480-05-5765. He had been residing in Elizabeth township, Jo Daviess Co. in Illinois. His death benefits were recorded in various townships in Clinton Co., Iowa besides various others in Jo Daviess Co., Illinois.
The SSDI further records that his wife Edna died in December 1966. Her SSN, also issued in Iowa, was 485-50-5846. She had been residing in Sabula township, Jackson Co. in Iowa.
Edna was also buried in the Evergreen Cemetery.
Gayle was born in 1930 and died that same year on November 29th. She was buried in the Oakland Cemetery in Clinton. No birth or death certificates have yet been found for her.
Dale Eugene's birth certificate states that he was born on April 26th 1933 at 331, 13 Avenue S. in Clinton, naming the parents as Ralph, described as a labourer, and Edna (nee) Comstock (she may not have been his natural mother, however). The certificate's field headed "Legitimate?" contains the typed answer "No", subsequently struck out. The certificate also indicates that this had been a multiple birth of which Dale had been the second child to be born. Dale died, at the same address, two months later on July 2nd. His death certificate names the parents identically to the birth certificate. The cause of death was given as "acute Bright's disease", of which a contributory cause had been "under nourished". Ralph was recorded as being out of work; this was the period of the Great Depression and the family may have been in poverty and lacking sufficient food. Dale also was buried in the Oakland Cemetery.
Anna Elizabeth (referred to as "Lena" in her father's obituary) was born on July 9th 1937. She graduated from Sabula High School in 1955. In April 1958 she married Lloyd Robert Haas at the St. Paul Lutheran Church in Clinton. They settled in Elizabeth township in Jo Daviess Co., Illinois. In 1995 they were living at 20483 IL Route 40 # A, Mount Carroll in Illinois.
William Roy (2) was born on December 2nd 1938 in Clinton, Iowa and married Violet E. (nee) Johnson on April 19th 1958 at the Zion Lutheran Church in Clinton. The celebration of their 40th Wedding Anniversary was reported in the Quad-City Times (Davenport) on April 12th 1998. He died on June 26th 2013 and she died aged "74" from Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma in Erie, Illinois on October 4th 2014. An extensive obituary for her was published in the Clinton Herald on October 6th.
Edward Charles was born on May 21st 1940 in Clinton, Iowa. He worked as a printer for a packaging company and was a keen sportsman. He died at the Samaritan South Hospital in Clinton on November 20th 1991 and was interred with full military honours at the Evergreen Cemetery in Delmar, Iowa [The Dispatch (Moline, Illinois), issue of November 21st 1991].
Ella Mae was born in Clinton on April 20th 1942. She married Lester Rittmer.
Kay Frances was born in Clinton on January 24th 1944. Her birth certificate states that her mother Edna had previously given birth to a total of 5 other children all still living. This, if correct, raises the question of who had given birth to Dale Eugene: perhaps Nellie was his natural mother and Edna registered him as her own. The certificate describes Ralph Livingston as a trucker aged "36". In 1975 Kay Frances married Robert F. Gehl who was born on September 24th 1937. He died on September 25th 2002 and an obituary for him was published on September 27th 2002 in the Quad-City Times.
Judith Marie was born on February 1st 1946 and married Marvin Ernest Weets.