The Mystery of the Mischievous Daisy Starnes

My Great, Great Great Aunt, Daisy Starnes, left a bit of a mystery. For certain, she appears in one census record as a child.

Name:	Dasie L. Starns [Dasie L. Starnes]
Age:	2
Birth Year:	abt 1878
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1880:	Rocky River, Cabarrus, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Female
Relation to Head of House:	Daughter
Marital Status:	Single
Father's name:	F.F. Starns
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's name:	Mary L. Starns
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Neighbors:	View others on page
Cannot read/write: Blind: Deaf and Dumb: Otherwise disabled: Idiotic or insane:	View image
Household Members:	Name Age F.F. Starns 51 Mary L. Starns 43 Margaret A. Starns 23 Thomas M. Starns 19 Dalphia A. Starns 10 Georgia A. Starns 7 Fredrick L. Starns 5 Dasie L. Starns 2 Martha Byram 70

Then, barely more than a child, she marries a Stanly County scoundrel, Joseph Marshall Herrin, at the young age of 15. Her father, F. F. Starnes, signed a consent for her to marry the man, and this has puzzled me. It does not appear something he would do.





After that, Daisy's story is told by way of newspaper articles.




First, they announce her marriage, then shortly afterwards, how it goes sour.







Daily Concord Standard
(Concord, North Carolina)6 Jun 1894, Wed • Page 2



According to the above article, the marriage of Joseph Marshall Herrin and Daisy Starnes really did not last very long. Young Daisy, who was only 15 when she married Joe Herrin, was tired of waiting on a convict husband to get out of jail and took off with her cousin Josephine Starnes Wallace's husband James.

The Evening Visitor
Raleigh, North Carolina)7 Jun 1894, Thu • Page 3


The Story was reported around the state.

Two years later, in 1896, the couple went to court and were found "Not Guilty".


The Concord Times
(Concord, North Carolina)
30 Jul 1896, Thu • Page 3

And that is the last I've found of Daisy Starnes Herrin. Her wayward husband, however, left more of a trail, and mentions her in abstract.


In the following article, it mentions that Joe Herrin had a living wife in either Mecklenburg County or Township 10, where Frederick Fincher Starnes lived, in Cabarrus County.


The Standard
(Concord, North Carolina)28 May 1896, Thu • Page 2

In this last off-handed mention of Daisy, she was "leading a life of ill fame" and at least alive in 1897. Joe Herrin divorced her and went on to marry 3 more times and his is a story of its own.



And what about Jim Wallace, the man Daisy took off to Gaston County with?

He at least went back to his wife Josephine "Josie " Starnes Wallace by 1900.

Name:	Josie Wallace [Jora Wallace]
Age:	28
Birth Date:	Apr 1871
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1900:	Poplar Tent, Cabarrus, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Female
Relation to Head of House:	Wife
Marital Status:	Married
Spouse's Name:	James Wallace
Marriage Year:	1887
Years Married:	13
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother: number of living children:	1
Mother: How many children:	2
Occupation:	View on Image
Neighbors:	View others on page
Household Members:	Name Age James Wallace 40 Josie Wallace 28 Beulah B Wallace 1/12

The census record tells us that the couple had a newborn daughter Beulah, and that Josie had been the mother of a second child that had already passed away. So Josie took him back. She was the daughter of Allen McDaniel (or A. M. D.) Starnes, son of Nathan T. Starnes. Josie, like her cousin Daisy, married early, and was only 14 when she married Jim Wallace. The marriage did not last long.

I have not yet discovered whether or not she divorced Jim Wallace or whether he died. He is hard to trace. Their marriage license gives his year of birth as 1867 and his parents as Robert D. and Elizabeth Wallace. The 1900 census gives his year of birth as 1850 and his place of birth as South Carolina and his parents as South Carolina. Wallace was a very common name in Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, Union Counties, NC and the northern counties of South Carolina. With the wide range of his possible birth date, it is difficult to determine which James or Jim Wallace he was.

What we do know is that Josephine married again, to the Rev. William H. Willeford on June 21, 1906. She may have been a widow, and her daughter had also passed away, because there is no other record of Beulah B. Wallace.

Name:	Josie Willeford
Age in 1910:	38
Birth Year:	abt 1872
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1910:	Township 11, Cabarrus, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Female
Relation to Head of House:	Wife
Marital Status:	Married
Spouse's Name:	William Willeford
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Neighbors:	View others on page
Household Members:	Name Age William Willeford 32 Josie Willeford 38

The couple lived in Burke County in 1920. The Rev. Willeford is buried in Davie County and passed away in 1927. 

Name:	Josephine Willeford [Josephine Williford]
Age:	47
Birth Year:	abt 1873
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1920:	Lovelady, Burke, North Carolina
Street:	South Main Street
Race:	White
Gender:	Female
Relation to Head of House:	Boarder
Marital Status:	Married
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Able to Speak English:	Yes
Occupation:	Cook
Industry:	Boarding House
Employment Field:	Wage or Salary
Neighbors:	View others on page
Household Members:	Name Age Ula Biggerstaff 36 [26]  William H Willeford 37 Josephine Willeford 47

Josie returned to Cabarrus County to live with family  and passed away in 1938.

Name:	Josie Willoford [Josie Willaford]
Birth Year:	abt 1873 [abt 1893]
Gender:	Female
Race:	White
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Marital Status:	Widowed
Relation to Head of House:	Aunt
Home in 1930:	Township 2, Cabarrus, North Carolina
Map of Home:	View Map
Dwelling Number:	187
Family Number:	187
Age at First Marriage:	25
Attended School:	No
Able to Read and Write:	No
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Able to Speak English:	Yes
Neighbors:	View others on page
Ho	Name Age Lawson C Carter 37 Maggie Carter 33 James Carter 16 Raymon Carter 14 Louise Carter 11 S Francis Carter 3 Bertha M Carter 0 Josie Willoford 57 [37]

Birth:	Apr. 16, 1872 Stanly County North Carolina, USA
Death:	Jun. 21, 1938 Cabarrus County North Carolina, USA

Josie's Starnes fate was fairly clear, but what of her cousin, the mysterious and mischeivous Daisy?

The Search Continues. 

Mystery Monday: Martin L. Lambert

In the 1880 census of Almonds Township, Stanly County, North Carolina the family of William "Buck" Lambert is enumerated next to the family of Allen (Allen Mack Daniel or A. M. D.) Starnes. Also close by are Herrins, relatives of Buck's wife Talitha (or sometimes called Matilda) Herrin Lambert and other Lamberts, relatives of Buck. 

In Buck's home is 7 year old Martin, listed as his youngest son. In Mack (or Allen) Starnes's home is 6 year old Rosa. 

1880 census showing Starnes and Lambert families

These two children, Martin L. Lambert and Rose Etta (known alternately as Rosa or Etta or Etty or even Rosetta) Starnes grew up to marry. The wedding took place in Stanly County and the license recorded at the Stanly County Register of Deeds in Albemarle, North Carolina. 

In the old Lambert Community of Stanly County, in the Almond's township is Lambert  Cemetery #1, an old family cemetery. This is where William Buck Lambert  b 10 May 1824 d 19 April 1897, was laid to rest. He was one of my 3rd Great-Grandfather's. His son Rufus A. Lambert had a son named Elias Marion Lambert who had a son named Burley Melvin Lambert, who was my paternal grandfather, or...my Dad's Dad. 

Lying next to Buck is his youngest son Martin, born March 5 1873 and died November 18 1892. 

Profile of William Buck Lambert

Martin was only 4 months shy of his 20th birthday. He did however, leave descendants. He and Rose Etta married on January 18, 1891. Martin was 18 and Rose Etta 16. A year and a half later, on July 18, 1892, their daughter, Lotha Elizabeth Lambert was born. Martin saw his daughter. She had just turned 4 months old when he died. Of what the still teenaged Martin died from is unknown. But otherwise, cut and dried, sad story of a too short life. 

But no, and herein lies the mystery. On the above marriage license, it lists Martin's mother as Julia Ann Eudy and no father. 

Lambert researchers have all assumed that Martin's mother was Talitha Herrin Lambert, Buck's wife, as the boy is enumerated in their household and buried next to his father. Could the Martin who grew up next door to Rose Etta Starnes in Lambert be the wrong Martin? 

There was another Martin Luther Lambert who lived in Stanly and Cabarrus Counties during the late 19th century. But he married someone else and lived a fairly long life. He was not the right Martin. 

On November 18, 1893, exactly one year to the day that Martin Lambert died, his 20 year old widow, Rosetta Lambert, married Columbus Monroe Kiser. 

Name:	Lathe E Lambert [Latha E Lambert]
Age in 1910:	17
Birth Year:	abt 1893 [1893]
Birthplace:	North Carolina
Home in 1910:	Bethel Church, Cabarrus, North Carolina
Race:	White
Gender:	Female
Relation to Head of House:	Step Daughter [Stepdaughter]
Marital Status:	Single
Father's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Mother's Name:	Rosa E Kiser
Mother's Birthplace:	North Carolina
Neighbors:	View others on page
Household Members:	Name Age Columbus M Kiser 36 Rosa E Kiser 36 Ida B Kiser 15 Cleveland Kiser 13 Floid Kiser 11 Buela M Kiser 8 Parker D Kiser 6 Robert L Kiser 4 Lena E Kiser 2 Lathe E Lambert 17

By the 1910 census, Rose Etta and C. M. Kiser have had 7 children and are living in the Bethel Church area of Cabarrus County. Seventeen year old Lotha E. Lambert is living with them. 

Rose Etta's sister Alice also marries a Kiser.

And so does her daughter Lotha Lambert. Eugene C. Kiser, the son of C. M's uncle Jonah, returns from Sylvester Texas to marry his step-cousin Lotha in 1910, and take her with him back to Texas where they raise a large family of their own. The marriage license erronously lists her father as "Dick" Lambert and her mother as C. M. Kiser. They may have meant "Mrs." C. M. Kiser, as C. M. was a male and her stepfather. Perhaps Martin Lambert was known as Dick, but his middle initial was L. 

Lotha's death certificate was correct in listing her father as M. L. Lambert and her mother as Rose Etta Starnes. 

Death Certificate of Lotha and E. C. Kiser's youngest daughter  Dorothy Sue.



So now on to solve the Mystery of Martin L. Lambert. Who was Julia Ann Eudy? Did  Buck Lambert have  an illegitimate son and bring him into his household to raise? I am in search of answers.