Aunt Annette Buschick Stapleton

My aunt Lydia's great granddaughter who lives in California said she would go to some cemeteries to take pictures of headstones to share with me. She contacted me one day and asked why there was a wife "Eva" on the Find A Grave memorial for uncle Cluese Stapleton and not our aunt Annette? That got me to wondering also. I knew my aunt married Cluese, but I didn't know if she was his second wife or not. I went searching Ancestry.com and FamilySearch for answers. I came across a family tree and contacted the owner. Turns out the owner is a descendant on the Stapleton side. She told me Eva Groover was older than Cluese and they were married in 1905, but it lasted only for a short time. Eva is buried in Georgia not California.

Aunt Annette was one of my mom's older sisters; aunt Lydia was the oldest, then came Annette. I don't remember too much about her. I think I only met her a few times, but I was very young. She lived in California so we didn't see her very much. Mom would talk about her often though. I wish I could remember some of the stories. There is no one left to ask.

I don't have any pictures of aunt Annette because all of mom's family pictures were destroyed in a house fire. The pictures in this post of aunt Annette were given to me by a Stapleton descendant from Georgia with permission to use them in this post.

 Aunt Annette is on the left, I don't know who "Mama" is, but believe she is a Stapleton. This picture is with permission from a descendent of the Stapleton family in Georgia.
 I am not at the liberty to give the name.

Annette Matilda Buschick was born 30 Jan 1893 in Chicago, Illinois, to Edwin L. and Laura (Voigt) Buschick. On the 1900 US Census she is listed as "Anna," second daughter age 7. The family was living in Lake View area possibly on Belle Plaine Ave. My grandfather Edwin was 35 and listed as an Order Clerk. Annette's other siblings were all girls, Lydia 9 yrs., Florence 3 yrs., Ruth 6 mos. Annette's middle name was probably for her great aunt Matilda Fowler the sister to Annette's grandmother Susan (Fowler) Buschick.

The 1900 was the first census I saw Edwin and Laura and family. They were married in 1889, and the 1890 census doesn't exist for Cook County, Illinois. By 1908 there were more children in the household -- eight in all, seven girls and one boy. Eleanor was the only one to die very young. All the rest became adults with families.

1900 US Census, Chicago, Illinois / source: Ancestry.com

On the 1910 US Census, Laura was asked how many years she was married - 20; how many children were born - 8; how many were still alive - 7. That account of children holds true with what I have found. On that census, Lydia 19 had married and was living in the same house with the Buschicks at 1931 Belle Plaine Ave. Annett[e] was 17 and working as a "Helper" in a printing company. Florence was 13, Ruth 10, my mother Edna was 5, Edwin, the only brother was 2, and Alice 16/12 or 1 yr 4 months. Lydia's husband, John Helstrom, was shown as a printer in a printing company, presumably the same one Annette worked at. (Brother Edwin would become a printer after World War II, also.)

In 1919, Annette married Cluese Isaac Stapleton. I found them on the 1920 census in Baltimore where Cluese is shown as 29, born in Georgia, and he's a labourer in the ship yards. Annette was 26.  They spelled her name as I always knew it to be -- Annette. I think there is a little fibbing going on here. Cluese's first marriage was in 1905...fifteen years later he was divorced and married a second time. If Cluese is 29 in 1920, he would have been 14 when he married Eva. Do you think that is why they weren't married too long? Well, with a little more research I found he was born 1885, thus bringing his actual age to be 35 in 1920. That's more like it. See how accurate these censuses are?

Later that year, the Stapletons would become parents of Juanita A. She was born in Illinois October 1920.

I don't know how long they were in Illinois after the birth of Juanita, but by the 1930 census we find the Cluese Stapletons in Los Angeles County, California: Cluese is 44 and retired (In this census, his age is more inline with when he was born.); Annette is 39 and a saleswoman for patent medicine; daughter Juanita is 9  b. Illinois; and son Robert C. who is 6 and was born in California which puts them out of Illinois sometime before 1924.

Cluese Isaac Stapleton on right with a World War I buddy.
This image is from a public family tree on Ancestry.com

The 1940 census shows Juanita is no longer in her parents' household. She could have gotten married. They lived at 2017 Camden Ave., Los Angeles. Cluese is 54; Annette is 47 and a postal clerk in the post office; Robert is 16 and is shown to be a "Little Merchant" selling newspapers. I found Cluese and Annette at the bottom of one page and Robert on the top of the next.

Juanita married Harry Stockwell sometime before the 1940 census. They had three children. The first child was born Oct 1940. I don't know much more about this family although do I remember their visits in the summer. A big, beautiful trailer pulled by a beautiful shiny car with California license plates would be down in our backyard and parked there for several days. We lived in Mundelein, Ill. and had a big house and yard. A day or two later, mom's siblings and their families would come out from Chicago and suburbs for a big family gathering in our yard. Sometimes there would be a carnival in the school yard behind our house and fireworks.

This picture probably taken in the early '50s was also given to me by the same Stapleton descendent from Georgia. The handsome man on the left is unidentified...he looks like Rock Hudson but I don't think he is, but who is he? Next to him is aunt Annette Stapleton & family (Bob, Juanita, Harry, Bob, & children). 
What is the doggie's name?

Even looking at the pictures of aunt Annette, I really don't remember her that much. I was 15 when she died in 1960. I don't know how long it was before that when she had visited last...I wish I would have paid more attention.

If anyone can tell me more about this picture and the family, please contact me at my regular email address found in my profile to the right. If anything needs to be corrected... I would love to hear from you, too.