Seeking Family in Farewells

You know I can't leave anything alone. So, even though I've concluded that the Rufus Littlejohn who dies in Pennsylvania in 1934 is indeed my 2x Great-Grandfather, I still want more proof. Something closer to a smoking gun. The obituary of Rufus' brother Ed Littlejohn was so helpful in placing Rufus in Cleveland in 1923 that I've been wondering if any of his other siblings have obituaries that could do the same thing for other years. So, I guess now I'm on The Sibling Hunt.

Based on the 1870 and 1880 Census, plus death certificates that include parents' names, I've been able to pull together the following list of Rufus' siblings, children of Strap and Eliza Littlejohn. And, because I like charts, I've been using one to track information I've been collecting on their passing.

Name of Sibling	Date of Death	Location of Death	Obituary?
Emanuel (Manuel) Littlejohn	3 Feb 1920	Draytonville, Cherokee, SC	Yes
Junius Littlejohn
Jilson Littlejohn	4 Nov 1940	Atlanta, Fulton, GA
Hamlet Littlejohn	28 Sept 1931	Washington, DC
Anna Littlejohn
Franklin Benjamin Littlejohn	29 Nov 1933	Gaffney, Cherokee, SC
Edward David Littlejohn	15 July 1923	Gaffney, Cherokee, SC	Yes
Henrietta (Littlejohn) Smith	2 Jun 1960	Gaffney, Cherokee, SC	Yes
Eva (Littlejohn) Fair	30 May 1942	Queens, New York City, NY
King Littlejohn
Charles Butler Littlejohn	20 July 1940	Manhattan, New York City, NY

As you can see, though I have most of the dates of death for Rufus' siblings, I have a lot of work to do when it comes to finding obituaries. And even if I do find them, there's no guarantee they will include the names of the deceased's siblings - of the three for whom I have found obits, only Ed's named family members. Still, it's absolutely worth a shot!

Also, if I'm lucky, something in this process will also give me documentary proof of what happens to Rufus' mother Eliza after 1880, and what his father Strap is up to between 1880 and his passing in 1898.

And one final note: Take a look at the places of death in the chart above. You can see evidence of the Great Migration - and the ways in which it separated families. From a hometown (county) of Cherokee, SC, the family has spread to New York City and Washington, DC, not to mention Ohio and Pennsylvania, where Rufus himself ended up. And I know that Eva lived awhile in New Jersey, while Charles had a stint in Connecticut - imagine that kind of mobility for a family whose parents and older siblings were born into slavery!

Do you have any information on these Littlejohn siblings? Obituaries, perhaps? Let's connect - drop a note in the Comments section below!