Barlow in Washington

I just received the copy of the application my grandfather, Edward Leitz, filled out for his social security card. His mother's name is listed as Nellie Barlow. I'm not sure if she was his biological mother or step mother. His father's name was Jacob Letiz from Bridgeport, Connecticut. He dismissed my grandfather's real mother and remarried someone else due to family problems that had arisen. He was German and she was Irish.

My grandfather ran away at the age of 11 in search of his biological mother. He made it out to Washington State a month after his mother and sister's drowned in a rip tide. It took him about 10 years to get out here so we are guessing that it occurred in about 1918 or later. We had always thought his mother drowned on the east coast and did not know that it had happened out here. It was obviously painful for him to talk about. He had told a good friend and he advised us of this after he passed away.

His father's side of the family was prominent. His father hired private detectives in an attempt to find him. My grandfather did not see him again until he was ready to be found. He was approximately 40 or more at the time. We found a letter he had written to my grandmother while he was in Bridgeport visiting. He said his step mother was in a mental institution at the time. We later found out she died there. He also mentioned that she and his father had other grown children.

I'm not sure if Nellie is the person who drowned in Washington or died in the mental institution in Connecticut. I am sending for my grandfather's birth certificate. Hopefully it will verify if Nellie was the name of his biological mother or step-mother. I have searched the Internet trying to find something about a drowning during that time period but haven't found anything. Since there were 3 sisters involved, one would think that would have made the headlines.

Note: Several updates have been made since this query .... see:

Edward Frederick Leitz

My great-grandmother is Beatrice Hawkins; she was born in Kansas. She married John Lynn Jennings in Wilbur, Lincoln Co Washington.. She died 11 January 1908 in Wilbur 9 days after giving birth to my Grandfather Robert Leland Jennings. Cause of death is listed as Typhoid Fever.

On her death certificate her parents are listed as:
Father: R.B. Hawkins born in KY .... I don't know what the initials are forMother: Rose Barlow born in Ohio

I know at some point after Beatrice's death, R.B. and Rose were living in Spokane Co Washington.

My gr-grandfather, Daniel Barlow, was the son of Alfred Barlow and Martha Gilbert. He is listed in the 1880 census of Lincoln Co Arkansas, at age 19, living with his parents. It shows him to be born in Tennessee, and Alfred, born in North Carolina is of the Wilkes Co bunch.

Daniel married Rosanna Carnley/Conley in Lincoln Co Arkansas on September 21, 1884 or 1885. Their children include: John, Selma, Georgia Ann, Austin, and Samuel Emmett...aka Emmett.

Rosanna is said to be born in Lincoln Co Arkansas, but I am told court records as well as the federal census for 1900 were burned.

Rosanna wound up in Washington, and then Oregon, and is shown to be married to a Thompson. What happened to Daniel is not known. Did they divorce, did Daniel die? I have put out several queries, but Daniel seems to be a lost sheep...