Seth Caldwell's Birthday

My second cousin, Seth Caldwell, was born on May 4, 1911. If he had lived until today he would have been 100 years old. However, he died almost 5 years ago, so only lived to be 95. I'm sorry that I never got to know him. I did some more research on him and found that he was still living with his parents on the 1930 census in Portland, Oregon. By 1938 the Eugene Oregon City Directory shows he was married to Dorothy C and they were living at 1660 E. 23rd Ave. Seth was employed as a wrapper at Williams Bakery. This was repeated in the 1939 directory. In 1940 they had moved to Central Blvd, Floral Hill, RD 2, Box 11. Seth's parents are also in the 1940 directory in Eugene. 1941 shows Seth and Dorothy at the same address and occupation. But in 1942 the address is Central Blvd, Floral Hill, RD 4, and Seth's occupation was listed as whsmn for McDonald Candy Co. Research in the "White Pages" showed that Seth lived at Florence, Oregon from 1996 to 2002. His death was at Florence 19 July 2006. I tried and tried to find an obituary on-line for him and was unsuccessful. So finally telephoned the funeral home in Florence and discovered that they had handled the cremation and there was no obituary.

One reason for wanting the obituary was to verify that his wife's maiden name was Clifford. She died in October of 2006 and also had no obituary. But sometimes the smallest type of item can give us the clue we need. While researching newspapers on-line, I found the following item in the Eugene Register-Guard for June 6, 1939 under City News Notes: "Visit at Albany. Mr. and Mrs. Seth Caldwell and children of Eugene have been visiting at the home of Mrs. Caldwell's parents, Mr. and Mrs. C. E. Clifford, in Albany."