Individual 521: Marion Viola Hicks

Individual Record 521

Name} Hicks, Marion Viola (Mazie)

Family History} Hancock

Title}

Race} White

Sex} Female

Birth: Date} Fam 25 Mar 1892

Place} , , France

Marr.: Date} Exa 25 Dec 1911

Place} 419 Seymour Street, Napa, Napa, California (Link)

Death: Date} Exa 29 Mar 1983

Place} , Sacramento, California

Burial: Date} Exa 4 Apr 1983

Place} East Lawn Cemetery, Sacramento, Sacramento, Calif.

Adopted: } Yes

Grave Marker} Yes

Source 1}	903 = 1900 USA cen
Source 2}	84 = Town directy
Source 3}	25 = 1910 USA cen
Source 4}	135 = Newspaper
Source 5}	284 = Marriage Rec
Source 6}	820 = 1920 USA cen
Source 7}	821 = 1930 USA cen
Source 8}	541 = Death record
Source 9}	905 = Obituary
Source 10}	899 = Letters
Source 11}	907 = Letters
Source 12}	911 = Photograph
Source 13}	1124=Letters

Parents: } Henry J. Hicks & Carrie L. Lovejoy (Adoptive)
Relationship No.} 161

1st Household No.} 57 = 418 Wilson Street, Napa, Calif.

Occupation 1} Apprentice in leather factory
Occupation 2}

Religion/Church}

Spouses: Prime} Murphy, Walter Hamilton
Total Number of} 1

Notes: Marion's natural parents are unknown. Marion was adopted by the age of 7 by Mr. & Mrs. Henry J. Hicks. The 1900 Census shows her birthplace as "Unknown" and her birth month as March 1893. Later sources, however, indicate that she was born in March 1892.

Massachusetts was given as her birthplace in the 1910 Census and her 1911 marriage record.

The amendment of the United States Constitution in 1920 gave women the right to vote. With that came the need for women to prove their citizenship. The U.S. 1920 Census was the first source that we found to give an immigration date for Marion (1892) and that records that she was a naturalized citizen of the U.S. This evidence indicates that she came to the U.S. in 1892 while she was an infant, and that she was naturalized before 1920.

Both the 1920 and 1930 Census indicate that she and her mother were born in France. Although the 1920 Census records that French was their native language, Marion would have left France when she was age 1 or less and hence would not have been old enough to have actually learned the language. Her father was either born in France (per the 1920 Census) or the U.S. (per the 1930 Census).

Since Marion was adopted prior to June 1900, it is likely that she did not have a birth certificate and an "official" birthplace. By 1920, this would have become a problem that necessitated the creation of a birth and naturalization certificates. Four fields in the 1920 and 1930 censuses cast serious doubt on the accuracy of the birthplace fields in the 1910 and 1911 sources noted above. Accuracy would have been less important in 1910 and 1911. These earlier documents now suggest the possibility that Marion may have (a) been adopted from Massachusetts and/or (b) immigrated to the U.S. via the port of Boston.

Marion's daughter-in-law Anne Murphy wrote that Marion put different places on the [birth certificates of her] other children: In one she had that she was born on a ship coming from France; another Boston, etc. I have always felt she had a great imagination and since she was adopted as an infant really didn't know where she was born. I wrote to many townships and Catholic churches years go and they had most of the orphanages and all responded that they couldn't help.

The photo at the right shows Marion in 1911 on her wedding day.

Time of Birth}

Time of Death}

Fraternal/Social}

Baptism Date}

Place}

Confirm. Date}

Photo} Marion in the 1950s

Immigr'n Date} 1892

Port} Possibly Boston

Education: Grade} or Top 2 Degrees}

Military: Service} for the State of}

Health Condition}
Cause of Death}

Last Updated
by} Dan Hancock

Date Updated} 3 Mar 2009
Date Created} 6 Dec 1998

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