My wife’s maternal grandmother, Eva Lucille Coleman, was born on 29 March 1906 in Graydon, Fayette Co., WV to Henry Walter Coleman (1875-1948) and Rebecca Willis (1876-1963).  Eva was born a twin, but not identical.  Throughout the family, Eva’s twin was known as Ada. Cheryl’s mother called her “Aunt Edie”.  It was also known that there was a rift between Eva and Ada but as with most of these types of family matters, they are personal. 

Recently, my wife asked me if I could find a photograph of her grandmother’s sister, Ada.  I told her I’d see what I could find.  I began my search looking for an Ada Coleman on Ancestry and right from the start, I wasn’t finding very much.  I realized I needed to change my way of thinking.  My first thought was it’s possible that Ada was just a shortened name or a nickname.  Secondly, I needed to realize that I’m dealing with twins here so I could use Eva as a “life line” in finding out more about her twin sister. 

I went back to Ancestry and found Eva in the 1910 Census in Fayette Co., WV: 

Courtesy of Ancestry© 

Okay, so there is Eva and her sister, Eda. I noticed Ada’s name was spelled differently which is a typical thing that happens when censuses are taken, but we can never assume that a misspelling is what’s going on here. I knew there was more to discover, so I looked for Eva and Ada in the 1920 Census.  I began really having problems finding either of them in the 1920 Census, so I did the next best thing.   

I began looking for Henry Coleman, their father.  He was born in 1876, so off I went on the hunt and I found them in the 1920 Census in Fayette Co., WV: 

Courtesy of Ancestry© 

Now I see the twins as Edith and Edna Coleman.  The census taker even marked them down as twins.  Now which one is which.  I wasn’t sure, but I knew where my next search was going to take place.  I went to the West Virginia Culture Births, Marriages and Deaths. 

I decided to make it a more generalized search so that I could “cast my net” across a wider area to “catch” more records: 

Courtesy of West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History 

Bingo! 

Courtesy of West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History 

Based on this discovery, I now know that Ada’s real name was Edith, and her shortened name was more than likely Eda or Edie.  Either way, the following 2 records clearly show Eda and Eva as twin sisters, the daughters of Henry and Rebecca Coleman. 

The delayed birth record for Edith I. Coleman: 

Courtesy of West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History 

The delayed birth record for Eva L. Coleman: 

Courtesy of West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History 

I noticed on Edith’s birth record that her married name was Grayam, so I went looking for a marriage record and found one for Edith Coleman and Charles Grayam, 11 Sept. 1944: 

Courtesy of West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History 

Notice the ages of Charles Grayam and Edith Coleman.  Edith was 38 years old, so I wondered what the actual age of Charles Grayam was. 

I did a quick search and found this: 

Courtesy of West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History 

Sure enough, Charles was 26 years old when he married Edith.  Obviously, they gave incorrect ages to hide the fact that there was a 12-year difference in their ages, but this was not anything new to me.  I’ve seen this multiple times before. 

At this point, I had not yet found any photographs of Edith and I had extensively searched all my familiar places to search.  I still felt like I wasn’t done yet though.  I decided what would I find if I just used Edith’s shortened name of Eda.  Well, that got me this. 

15 April, 1926 Marriage Record for Eda Coleman and Wesley Holliday: 

Courtesy of West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History 

Now, in searching for Edith Holliday, I found the following records. 

1930 Census – Charleston, WV: 

Courtesy of Ancestry© 

The birth of Wesley and Edith’s daughter, Patricia: 

Courtesy of Ancestry© 

The death certificate for Patricia Holliday in 1928: 

Courtesy of West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History 

So now I know that Edith was married twice, she had a daughter and lost that daughter within 2 years of her first marriage. At some point, between 1930 and 1944, Edith was divorced from Wesley Holliday.  I wanted to see if I could find one more thing…where did Edith end up? 

I found her obituary in The Palm Beach Post, 07 Jan. 2004, as well as Charles Grayam’s obituary for 27 May 2004:

Courtesy of Newspapers© 

My wife had told me that “Maw Maw” (Eva) had mentioned a baby brother and that all she ever called him was “Baby Brother”.  Nobody really knew anything about him or even his name.

I did a search for any Colemans born between 1906 & 1910 in Fayette County, since I knew Eva and Edith were born in 1906 and in the 1910 Census, they only had a younger sister named Audrey who was 1-1/2 yrs. old and born about 1908.  Obviously, something had happened to Eva’s baby brother.  Was it possible that baby brother and Audry were twins?  Here is what I found out.

I did a search on the West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History Births web page and sure enough here is Audry and her twin brother Andy with the same birth date:

Courtesy of West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History 

The birth record for an Andy Coleman:

Courtesy of West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History 

Audry’s delayed birth certificate:

Courtesy of West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History 

This is something that not everyone in the family knew about.  Two sets of twins born one right after the other.  Eva and Edith and Andy and Audry. Eva also gave birth to twins (not identical), my wife’s aunts.

It’s now obvious to me that twins run in the family.  It would be interesting to do further research to see how extensive the Coleman Twin Effect really is.

Remember, family stories that are kept quiet don’t necessarily mean you can’t find out what happened to family members and the lives they led.  Now get out there and uncover those family stories, or at least the records for those among your family members that seem to be hiding. 

One last note – my wife’s Coleman family traces back to Seaton Coleman (1794-1853). It is believed but not proven that Seaton’s parents were James Coleman and Nancy Childress.  I noticed that Charles Grayam’s middle name was Adolphus. James Coleman’s middle name was Adolphus. I just find that interesting. 

 Sources: 

Ancestry© 

Newpapers© 

West Virginia Department of Arts, Culture and History 

Featured Image: Scenic ride along US 60 through Fayette Co., WV – Courtesy of the
Library of Congress

Acknowledgements: 

My wife Cheryl for allowing me to uncover the life of Edith Coleman Grayam and making additional discoveries about her family. Cheryl, you continue to inspire me and give me the love and support I won’t find anywhere else!