October 23: Disappearing Act

Jenny's husband Edward was from Kansas City, the son of two Irish immigrants who were married in KC by a famous itinerant priest who founded the diocese. He had 2 siblings: Mary and Richard. I wrote to the diocese and got the marriage record and the baptismal records of Mary and Richard, but not Edward. All I had was census snapshots, though, so I wasn't worried. As the censuses go along, things happen to them. The parents, Edward Blake and Bridget Kidney, disappear and then show up in East St. Louis. The children drop from 3 to 2. Then Edward moves to St. Louis and Richard is living with Bridget’s relatives in KC, the Cronins. And then he disappears entirely.