Josie Lena (Moore) Erickson (1874-1956)

The day that I discovered Josie Erickson's maiden name was one of the happiest in my life as a genealogist. For decades, my great-great grandmother sat on my pedigree chart as simply "Josie". During those early years of my genealogical family-gathering, I was also raising a young family and working full time. Certainly, had I devoted more time, I may have made the discovery much sooner. Regardless, the joy that I felt that day is unforgettable. I recall that it went something like this:


Me: (jumping up and down) Oh My God! Oh my God! I found her! She's Josie MOORE!! This is so exciting!
My husband: that's nice.

He totally doesn't "get" the thrill of crashing through a genealogical brick wall. A trip to Iowa to look for even more information is on our future-vacation-trip wish list. (Whether he likes it or not!)


The discovery that led me to Josie's maiden name and down her family line was made in 2006. I had contacted the Central Washington branch of the State Archives and obtained copies of my grandparents (Bill Cavanaugh and Helen Allen) and great-grandparents (Art Cavanaugh and Katie Erickson) marriage licenses. I had seen images online of the marriage licenses themselves, so no surprises there, but I had not seen the "marriage return" that was included with each license. The return was a page of questions, including the full names of bride and groom, their age, residence, and birthplace, and their parents names. The little gem pictured below is page 2 of Art and Katie's marriage license and it names their parents. Bingo! Katie's parents were listed as Albert Erickson and Josie Moore.

Arthur V. Cavanaugh and Sarah Katie Erickson Marriage Return, 12 July 1915, 
Ephrata, Grant County, Washington. 
Copy from Washington State Archives Central Region, Ellensburg, Washington, 24 March 2006.

A few months later, in January of 2007, my Uncle Terry Cavanaugh sent me a large envelope of his mother's papers. Most were copied poems, stories, and such, but some of the papers were her recordings of the family history. Of course, I don't know who supplied the information to her, but she wrote it down and I saved it as another clue that I was on the right track.

An excerpt from the handwritten notes of Helen (Allen) Cavanaugh, 
daughter-in-law of Katie (Erickson) Cavanaugh. 
From my personal collection.

Searching since then, I have uncovered some of the details of Josie's life. Genealogy is always a work in progress and there are still many places to look for more information. This is what I have found so far.

Close-ups of the Moore family from the 1880 Federal Census living in 
Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa. 
Image from Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. 
Accessed 5 Aug 2016.

The two images above, from the 1880 census, show us the Moore family. The first image lists their names, sex, age, and relationship to the head of household. Further along the line for the family, in the second image, we have entries for place of birth, place of father's birth and place of mother's birth. From this we know that John Moore was born in Ohio about 1843, Sarah was born in Iowa about 1848, and Josie was born in Iowa about 1873. John's parents were both born in Germany, Sarah's look like maybe Indiana but it's hard to read. (I also know that they were not born in Indiana, but we don't know who gave the enumerator the information.) And then for Josie, it gives us evidence that John and Sarah are her parents since she is listed as daughter to the head of household and their birthplaces match those listed under the "father birthplace" and "mother birthplace" columns.

Josie's mother died in 1882 and her father remarried the following year. In 1885 the family was living in Garfield, Mahaska County, Iowa where John was working as a carpenter. In 1887, Josie's half-brother Leo Moore was born. He was her only known sibling.

On 2 March 1892, Josie married E. Albert Erickson in Mahaska County. They initially made their home in Mahaska County and were listed in Garfield by the 1900 census taker. That year three daughters were shown with the family; Eda (Eda Mae), born in 1892, Kate (Sarah Katie), born in 1895, and Rosie (Rose Valeria), born in 1899. A few years before that census, the couple lost a son, Walter Dewey. He was born and died in 1898 at only a few months of age and was buried in Oskaloosa.

Photocopy of Obituary clipping of Walter Dewey Erickson,

dated 10 Sept 1898, as published in the Oskaloosa Saturday Globe.

Two more children were soon welcomed in Iowa, Pearl Goldie in 1902, and Albert Roy in 1905. Sometime between 1905 and 1910, the family migrated to Grant County, Washington, where they settled in the newly incorporated city of Ephrata.

In this part of central Washington, the land is mostly flat and full of sagebrush with a semi-arid desert climate. Ephrata was just springing up out of nothing but a few sparse farms, so to develop a property would have been a major undertaking. In 1910, the census that year tells us that Albert was working on his farm and the two eldest girls, Eda and Kate, were working in a local restaurant. Eda was waitressing and Kate was the dishwasher. Josie had her hands full with the younger children and a new baby, Leo Earl, who was born that year. In 1910, the population of Ephrata was only 323 people.

Farming in the desert didn't work out like Albert and Josie had planned, and by 1920 they had moved to the big city of Seattle where Al found work as a boilermaker. Again, the two eldest children in the home were working. Rose and Pearl were employed at a factory, packing candy.

Cropped image of the Erickson family in the 1930 Federal Census, 
Seattle City, King County, Washington. 
Image from Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. 
Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002. 
Accessed online 10 August 2016.       

             

                           
The image above shows the family in 1930. Albert was working for the City of Seattle Water Department, Earl was employed at a sheet metal shop, and Rose, now married to Harold Muzzy, was still working as a packer at the candy factory. By 1940, Albert and Josie had moved to a more rural area of King County with son Earl and his wife, Margaret, where I believe they lived the rest of their lives.

E. Albert and Josie (Moore) Erickson.

Copy of a photo from Lavera Cavanaugh

labeled "Katy Erickson Cavanaugh's parents, the Ericksons. Bills grandparents."

Albert passed away in July of 1952. Josie followed a few years later, on 29 August 1956. They were buried together in Mount Olivet Cemetery, Renton, King County, Washington.

Grave of Albert and Josie Erickson, Mount Olivet Cemetery, Renton, King County, Washington.

Image from www.findagrave.com, Memorial # 135716388, 

added 10 Sep 2014 by user GenealogyJenny. 

Accessed online 10 August 2016.