Grandma & Grandpa Myers

Grandma & Grandpa Myers are my Mama’s parents. They are the grandparents I spent many summers with. I miss them both so very much!

I'm not sure how old they are in this picture, or where it was taken, but it is one of my favorites of them. Young and having fun! Even though you can't see Grandma's face, you can tell she is smiling!

Grandma is Lou Singleton Clyburn, born November 10, 1918 in Camden, South Carolina. Grandpa, Charles Hazel Myers, was born two years later, on September 2, 1920. I could not locate birth certificates for either of them, so I do not have documented proof of their birth dates. I applied for copies at the SC Vital Records Office and obtained statements for both that certificates could not be located based on the information I provided. 

They were married in 1938. While trying to find marriage documentation for them, I assumed they were married in Camden. With no luck at the Kershaw County Probate office, I started searching for a newspaper announcement. I was amazed when I did find a notice, and it said they were married two counties away, in Newberry. I would have never checked in Newberry! I would love to know how it came to be that they were married there. The announcement also says the marriage, “comes as a surprise to their many friends”.  Why was this a surprise? 

With this new information, I was able to order a record of the marriage from Newberry County. This indicates they were married March 26, 1939. If the information on this certificate is accurate, then Grandpa was the older one, not Grandma, as we have always thought. It states he was 21 and she was 20 when they married. That would mean he was born September 1917, not September 1920.

Without a birth certificate for him, or some other documentation, we may never know for sure. Is it possible they deliberately stated he was older on the certificate, or did the probate office make an error?