Thelma Pauline Church

Thelma Pauline Church, daughter of Donald Roy Church and Fay Rhoda Heater, was born in Clarksburg, Harrison County, West Virginia on October 24, 1924. She was the oldest child of three—Thelma Pauline Church, Donald Kenneth Church, and Garry David Church. She went by Pauline and is my husband’s 1st cousin 1x removed. Their nearest common relatives are Robert Church and Lucinda Murphy.

At the time of her birth, Pauline’s father (age 24) worked as a carpenter. Her mother Fay (age 19) was a telephone operator.

On April 19, 1930, Pauline and her family lived on Charles Street in Clarksburg. Her father paid a $25 monthly rent for the house they lived in. Pauline, age 5, was the only child in the family at this point. Her father, a welder at a carbon factory, was 25 and her mother 19 when they married. By 1931, the Church family had moved to a home at 139 Haymond Highway in Clarksburg. Sometime after this move, the family moved to Niagara Falls, Niagara County, New York where brother Donald was born. 

By April 11, 1940, the Church family had moved back in Clarksburg, and lived in a home on Haymond according to the census record. There does not appear to be a Haymond Street in Clarksburg so I assume they lived on Haymond Highway. The address is 412 and is a different house than the one in 1930. The rent had not changed in 10 years—still $25 monthly. The highest grade Pauline’s father had completed in school was the 8th. He still worked as a welder at a carbon plant. The 1940 Clarksburg, West Virginia, City Directory listed the Church family living at 314 Maryland Avenue in Nutter Fort, a suburb of Clarksburg. Pauline was listed separately, as a student. She would have been 16 years old at the time.

Pauline, her mother Fay, and brother Donnie Church

On September 30, 1944, Pauline and John Edward Wiant, son of Harry Bantz Wiant and Florence Lawson, filed a marriage license application in Harrison County. They were married at Clarksburg by John E. Hanifan, a minister of the Methodist church, on November 4, 1944. 

John Wiant and Pauline Church marriage license (click to enlarge)

As far as I can tell, Pauline and John had one child, a son. Because I believe he is still alive, I will not share his name in this post.

The marriage did not work out and Pauline and John separated. When the census was taken in Clarksburg on April 1, 1950, Pauline was enumerated as 25 years old and separated. She was a lodger in the Denham Street home of Erma Radcliffe (age 63), working full time as a meat packer in a retail grocery store. Others living in the home were Loraine Heater (age 31) and Mary A. Stoneking (age 18). Both worked as a maid in a private home. Since Loraine’s last name was Heater, it is a good possibility she was a family member on Pauline’s maternal side but I have not determined that yet. Pauline’s son was not living with his mother. Instead, I found him living with his grandparents (Pauline’s parents), Donald and Fay Church, in Sardis, Harrison County, West Virginia, on April 24, 1950. He was three years old. They lived next door to Fay’s widowed mother Belle (Sandy) Heater and sister Edith. Pauline’s (ex-)husband John was living with his parents in the Grant District of Harrison County. He was enumerated as divorced and working as a truck driver in the strip coal mines. The 1950 Clarksburg, West Virginia City Directory shows that Pauline lived in a rental home at 128 Denham Street and that she worked as a clerk at the A&P grocery story, both reflected in the 1950 census record.

Pauline and her mother Fay

Pauline’s divorce was finalized by July 31, 1950, when she and Earl Ladonier Williams, son of Hobart Ladonier Williams and Mary Evaline Ash, filed a marriage application in Harrison County. Pauline and Earl, both 25 years old, were married on August 3, 1950, by the Rev. Philip W. Horne, a minister of the gospel, in Bridgeport, Harrison County, West Virginia.

Earl Williams and Pauline Church Wiant marriage license (click to enlarge)

Sometime after they married, Pauline and Earl moved to Kansas City, Kansas. They were both listed in the Kansas City and County Census Records on March 1, 1956 and 1957, living at 633 Washington Boulevard in Kansas City. By 1959, they had moved to 729 Orville Avenue in Kansas City. They still lived there in 1960 and 1961. Earl worked as an assembler at Owens Corning Fiberglass while Pauline worked as a saleswoman at the Elko Camera Store. They lived there in 1963 as well. 

Pauline’s father, Donald Church, died in Clarksburg on November 10, 1983. He was buried at Floral Hills Memorial Gardens in Harrison County. Pauline was living in Kansas City at the time according to his obituary.

Pauline died in Kansas on September 22, 2010. She was buried beside her husband at Leavenworth National Cemetery (section 53-A, row 32, site 9) in Leavenworth, Leavenworth County, Kansas. Earl had served as a sergeant in the U.S. Air Force during World War II.

Photo used with permission of Dwaine Desselle, Find A Grave ID 48810583

Pauline is a descendent of Henry “Old Hundred” Church for whom the town of Hundred was named.

References

• Clarksburg, West Virginia, City Directory, 1940.
• Earl Ladonier Williams and Pauline Thelma Wiant, Marriage License Application (July 31, 1950) and License (August 3, 1950), Harrison County, West Virginia.
• Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/64871405/pauline-t-williams: accessed 29 January 2023), memorial page for Pauline T Williams (24 Oct 1924–22 Sep 2010), Find a Grave Memorial ID 64871405, citing Leavenworth National Cemetery, Leavenworth, Leavenworth County, Kansas, USA; maintained by GBern.O (contributor 46539202).
• John Edward Wiant and Thelma Pauline Church, Marriage License Application (September 30, 1944) and License (November 4, 1944), Harrison County, West Virginia.
• Pauline T. Williams, Kansas City Census, U.S., City and County Census Records, 1956.
• Pauline T. Williams, U.S., Veterans' Gravesites, ca.1775-2019.
• Pauline Thelma Wiant and Earl Ladonier Williams, West Virginia, Marriages Index, 1785-1971.
• Pauline Wiant, Clarksburg, West Virginia, City Directory, 1950
• Stone photo by Dwaine Desselle, Find A Grave ID 48810583.
• Thelma Pauline Church and John Edward Wiant, West Virginia, Marriage Index, 1931-1970 and 1786-1971.
• Thelma Pauline Church, Register of Births, West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History.
• Thelma Pauline Church, West Virginia, Births Index, 1853-1969.
• U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Cemetery Administration
• U.S. Federal Census, Clarksburg, Harrison County, West Virginia, 1930, 1940, 1950.
• U.S. Federal Census, Grant, Harrison County, West Virginia, 1950.
• U.S. Federal Census, Sardis, Harrison County, West Virginia, 1950.
• Pauline T. Williams, Kansas City, Kansas, City Directory, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963.
• Donald Roy Church obituary, newspaper unknown, November 1983.