Alva Wilbourn

WILBOURN, HERRON, WILKINS, KALE

Posted By: Deb Semmens (email)
Date: 6/20/2016 at 15:09:17

Alva Wilbourn was born 5/2/1889, unsure of birth place. He is my great grandfather, and my brick wall. I have him on the 1900 and 1910 census as a step son of Thomas Wilbourn and Cynthia Francis Herron in Anita Iowa. Also on the 1895 and 1905 Iowa State Census. He drowned on 7/15/1916 in Brown County, South Dakota.

Originally I thought that Alva was the biological child of either Thomas or Cynthia. But with the assistance of a cousin we discovered that Alva was placed with Thomas and Cynthia.

There is an article in July 1916 of a local paper that tells of Alva being brought home after his death. The last paragraph of the article states "he was born Mar 2, 1889 and was the son of Oscar Wilkins who lived near Cumberland at the time. He was adopted by Thomas when he was 3 years old."

Another newspaper article from the area dated March 2, 1893 stated that "Oscar Wilkins has given away the little boy he had taken to raise."

Which leads me to believe that Oscar was not Alva's biological child. The article further states that they trust that Thomas will make the little fellow a pleasanter home than what he had, as Tom has no children of his own. We believe he will treat the boy kindly.

I am trying to figure out who Alva's biological parents might be, and why he wasn't being raised by them.

Would there be court records? It sounds like Alva was in an abusive home prior to coming to live with Thomas and Cynthia.

Any suggestions on my research would be appreciated. Thank You.

Deb Semmens