According to the 1900 census and his death certificate, Edward Tennessee Romine arrived as the second of six children in his family on June 17, 1871 somewhere in Missouri.
I can’t be more specific on his birthplace because I don’t trust the info on Edward’s death certificate. All the names on it are wrong. His wife Luella’s name is typed Lulia, and she was the informant. His parents names are listed as William and Lillian, which aren’t even close to Samuel Romine and Sisley Scruggs.
I suspect Samuel was either an itinerant farmer or a sharecropper at this time. If he was itinerant, then Edward being born in “Slater, Mo”, as the record above states, is more likely. Slater is a town in the center of Missouri. As far as I know, the Romines had no ties there. But itinerant farmers go where the work is, so maybe they ended up there.
If Sam was a sharecropper, he more likely stuck near his parents and siblings in the northeast Arkansas and the Missouri boot heel.
In the 1870 census, the year before Edward was born, Sam and Sisley lived in Bradshaw, Greene County, Arkansas. The next child they had, Mary Cordelia, was definitely born in Stoddard County, Missouri and that’s where the family was ten years later. So I believe Edward’s birthplace is probably there. Plus it’s really easy for me to imagine that the person who heard “Sisley” and wrote “Lillian,” also heard “Stoddard” and wrote “Slater.”
Edward married Fannie Grace, a neighbor’s daughter, “at the bride’s residence” in 1894, and had two children by 1898: Delia and Albert Clayton. Albert’s records state he was born in Risco, Stoddard County, Missouri. The small family appears in Elk Township, Stoddard County, Missouri in 1900. Edward rented his house (as opposed to a farm) there, but his occupation is listed as Farmer. This renting a house but not living on a farm points to sharecropping. Not long after, Edward’s younger sister Mary married his brother-in-law Willard Grace, tying the two families further together.
Unfortunately, Fannie falls off the record after this. My theory is she died in childbirth soon after this census.
In 1910, the Romines consisted of Edward, his second wife Luella Cunningham Rayborn; their three children Ira, Iva, and Amnier; Lora Rayborn, Luella’s daughter from her first marriage; and Delia and Clayton. I’m not sure where the name Amnier came from or how to say it, but it’s consistently spelled this way on all of her records.
In addition to a new family, Edward’s status had improved in the past decade. He now owned a house without a mortgage near Parma, Missouri. This fact makes me think he was sharecropping with a family friend or relative. Itinerant farmers usually had a harder time making this kind of money so fast, especially with six children to feed.
In 1920, the family lived in Como Township, New Madrid County. So they moved once again. The youngest Romine, Thomas Rudolph, appears on this census. Edward worked in a veneer mill. His oldest children, Delia and Clayton, had married John Kindred and Minnie Lewis, respectively, and live nearby.
I cannot find them in the 1930 census. But in 1931, Edward, Luella, and Thomas appear in the city phone directory for Flint, Michigan. Perhaps they don’t appear in the 1930 census because they were moving at the time. Daughter Amnier married and moved up to Flint as well. Ira and Iva lived in Arkansas. Delia and Clayton in Missouri. That is until 1937 when Clayton also appears in the Flint phone book, which sets off a whole string of events in my family, but that is for another biography.
Edward died of heart disease (aortitis) and cirrhosis of the liver just two years later on August 2, 1933 at Hurley Hospital in Flint. His burial was in Sunset Hills Cemetery the following day.
Notable Facts
Edward’s middle name, Tennessee, is his grandfather’s name also. It seems Tennessee Romine was named after the state in which he was born.
Currently, I don’t have any photos of Edward, or any of this family. If you’re reading this and are willing to share, I would love to see pictures!
Sources
US Federal Censuses
(1870 – 1920)
Greene County, Arkansas; Stoddard and New Madrid Counties, Missouri. Accessed on Ancestry.com or Familysearch.org.
U.S. City Directories
Michigan > Flint > 1931-1932, 1938 > Flint, Michigan, City Directory; p 619, 562, 772 respectively.
Accessed on Ancestry.com. (p 312 of 533, 284 of 495, 388 of 718 respectively in database.)
Missouri, U.S., Marriage Records, 1888-1895.
Stoddard County, Missouri, E T Romine and Fannie F Gran. p 445 of 501. Accessed on Ancestry.com.
Missouri, U.S., Marriage Records, 1880-1905.
Stoddard County, Missouri, E F Romine and L E Rayborn. p 159 of 492. Accessed on Ancestry.com.
Michigan Death Records. Edward T. Romine as reported by Lulia Romine. Personal records. Certificates, 1921-1945, 130: Genesee (Flint), 1931-1934.Accessible on Ancestry.
Edward T. Romine death notice. Flint Journal (Flint, Michigan), 2 Aug 1933, page illegible, Col 1, Item 10. Accessed at Flint Public Library 16 May 2019. Personal records.
Findagrave.com
“Edward T. Romine,” ID#149562621, Sunset Hills Cemetery, Genesee County, Michigan
Northwest Journals 