Now hard at work in the loft, Stephanie looked closely at the screen of her computer where she had typed a version of the almost completed family tree, compiled from her scribbled notes on the butcher paper hanging over her drawing board. When she began the project she only had a few names listed; her own, Jason's, the kids', her parents, Jason's parents, her brother Charles, her Uncle Emerson and her great grandparents, Marie and Charles Livingston.
However, during the past several weeks, she had been quite successful at completing her side of the family tree. The private investigator Washburn hired had done an incredible job of compiling his data. She learned from the report, the investigator had been a man named Jake Malone. His name sounded more like that of a gangster than a private investigator, but she supposed with Emerson Washburn paying the bill, anything might be possible.
With the hopes of supplementing Malone's investigation, Stephanie signed up for several different genealogy web sites. Although they were chocked full of great information, she never learned anything above and beyond what she had found in the large box of photos and documents, which Malone had compiled. She suspected he too must have utilized the same web sites she had found.
She looked carefully at her family tree on the computer screen, examining it for what must have been the thousandth time. Her side of the tree started at the top with the Livingstons and ended with her present family. It also displayed the dates of birth and death for those who had passed away; at least those whose dates could be confirmed.
She likewise had completed most of Jason's family tree back to his grandparents, and although she had identified his great-grandmother, she was unable to find anything about who his great-grandfather might be. This was causing a particular degree of frustration for her. It was like she had a puzzle waiting to be completed but the final piece was missing. She knew this single missing bit of information was the thing that was bothering her the most. But for the moment, she decided to put that particular missing link out of her mind and go back to reviewing her own side of the family tree.
Chapter 28
During her research, she discovered the Livingstons, Dwight Charles Livingston and Marie Louise O'Hara Livingston, had produced three offspring, two boys and a girl. The family tree notations for the parents read as follows:
Dwight Charles Livingston born July 23, 1890
died December 19, 1922
Marie Louise O'Hara Livingston born June 6, 1892 died December 19, 1922.
Stephanie was troubled by the fact that both of her great-grandparents died on the exact same day. Nor was she able to miss the connection between their deaths and the deaths of their two sons as she reread the next entry on the tree just below that of the Livingston parents.
Matthew James Livingston born June 12, 1916
died December 19, 1922
Charles Edward Livingston born July 2, 1918
died December 19, 1922
Sarah Louise Livingston born August 15, 1920
died October 16, 1975
Stephanie wondered what might have happened to cause the deaths of four family members on the same day. She was particularly bothered by the fact that December 19, the day they all died was the very same day little Sammy had been born, only it had been eighty-eight years earlier. She hated coincidences, and they never failed to cause her discomfort. Yet over the past six months her life had seemed to become a series of never ending coincidences, and this was yet another one to add to the list.
Sarah Livingston, the only child to survive, had been the grandmother she had never known. Sarah passed away the year before Stephanie was born. She realized as she read the entry how close her family lineage had come to ending on that fateful day in 1922 when four of the five members of the Livingston family somehow perished leaving her grandmother, Sarah, an orphan at two years old. Whatever tragedy had befallen the Livingston family must have somehow spared the toddler.
"Unbelievable!" Stephanie thought to herself. "She was only as old as my own little Sammy." Then she realized she had stumbled upon yet another coincidence. A cold chill raced down her spine as she shivered thinking about the young child Sarah. She could not imagine her own baby boy growing up without his family. How horrible that must have been for her grandmother.
Stephanie had recently made an additional notation to the section on Sarah Livingston, when she had found a note among the piles of paperwork explaining how Dwight Livingston's younger sister, Amelia Livingston Miller had taken young Sarah to live with her and her family in Ashton, eventually adopting the child and raising her as her own daughter. The girl had taken the surname Miller, and the family had moved sometime later to the suburbs of Berks County.
Continuing to follow the family tree downward, Stephanie read the next entry; the one indicating when her grandmother married her grandfather.
Sarah Louise (Livingston) Miller married
Stephen Edward Washburn June 8, 1943.
Stephen Edward Washburn died May 15, 1968.
The couple had two sons.
This was how the Washburn name entered the picture. The next entry on the tree showed the births and deaths of her father, her mother as well as her uncle Emerson.
Emerson Charles Washburn born August 7, 1945
Died April 12, 2012
Nathan Edward Washburn born September 3, 1948
Died July 20, 1994
Marie Stephanie Jacobs Born August 18, 1949
Died July 20, 1994 - wife of Nathan.
There it was again; another coincidence. Stephanie couldn't help but notice the strange twist of fate in how the Livingston family not only lost four relatives in one day, but then many years later, her own parents died when struck by a drunk driver, resulting in a second listing on the family tree of multiple deaths occurring on the same day.
Once again, she wondered about the original Livingston family tragedy and what might have happened. She found herself both wanting to know and at the same time not wanting to know. She somehow understood the answers to her questions could be answers she might not really want to learn. She followed the chart further downward finding the listing for both herself and her brother Charles under her parent's names.
Charles David Washburn born Feb. 17, 1973
Stephanie Sage Washburn June 12, 1976
Stephanie had originally had the word "Died" with a blank space next to their names, but no matter how many times Stephanie looked at the entries, it bothered her to see that empty space next to the word "Died". So, she chose to eliminate it instead. She understood the idea was silly, superstitious and maybe even a little paranoid, but she felt better with it gone. She had the same opinions about cemetery headstones, which often had the name of a living person along with their date of birth and a blank for date of death. Although Stephanie knew she, like everyone else would die someday, the idea of having a spot waiting like a hotel reservation gave her the creeps.
She looked again at her brother Chuck's name above hers. "Charles" had been part of the male family members’ names since Dwight and perhaps earlier. If they had been aware of Dwight Charles and the rest of the family lineage she might have understood, but she suspected her grandmother may have had little knowledge of her own history, yet somehow the name Charles had nonetheless traveled down three generations. It was yet another coincidence, and once again one, which did not make her feel comfortable whatsoever.
Stephanie hadn't been able to find anything about her family earlier than her great grandparents so she was unsure how far back the naming tradition may have existed. She looked at the next entry.
Stephanie Sage Washburn married
William Joseph Sanders on June 2, 1998
Cindy Marie Sanders Born December 12, 2001
Stephanie and William divorce March 22, 2003
She hated having this entry in her family tree because of the bad memories it dredged up, but she knew if this were to be an accurate historic representation, she had to post the bad right up there with the good. Th
is was especially true since someday Cindy might want to conduct her own research and trace her father's genealogy back several generations, since his family history was hers as well.
Then she looked at the final piece of her side of the tree, her marriage to Jason and the birth of their son, Samuel.
Stephanie Sage Washburn Sanders married
Jason John Wright (born May 22, 1974) on May 16, 2009
Stepson Jeremy John Wright born October 21, 1999
Son, Samuel Jason Wright born to Stephanie and Jason
December 19, 2010
She hesitated again for a moment seeing Sammy's birth date. How strange it made her feel, realizing the date of his birth matched the date of the Livingston family tragedy. That was how she had begun to think of the mysterious event, the Livingston family tragedy. She had no idea what catastrophic series of situations might have resulted in the deaths, but understood they likely had been bad ones.
Stephanie got comfort from knowing her side of the tree was finally completed and Jason's side was on the way to being finished as well. She knew he was starting to lose patience with her and the amount of time she was putting into her project but it had become very important to her. Perhaps she would agree that she might have been a bit out of sorts at times and may be even somewhat scatterbrained, but it was only because she had been so intently focused on completing her work. Jason simply had to learn to understand that. And besides, Jason had no right to complain since she tolerated his absence all summer long, while he was busy settling into his new job.
One might argue that Jason's work brought in an income whereas hers was just a research project, a hobby of sorts. But she knew it was much more than that. It was her family, and it was her family history. And it had been her relative who had died and left them the inheritance, so in Stephanie's mind her work was equally as valuable as Jason's if not more so. Besides, she was not just working on her own lineage, but Jason's as well. And since her family tree was complete, she was now trying to find the final frustrating piece of his side of the family. She was sure when he saw the completed work he would be very happy and would better understand why she had such a desperate need to finish it.
She moved her view over to Jason's side of the family tree and starting with Jeremy's birth, traveled back through Jason's first marriage and then continued to work backward in time.
Jeremy John Wright born October 21, 1999
Jason John Wright married
Sarah Cynthia Jones June 4, 1996
Couple divorced April 13, 2006
Jason John Wright born May 22, 1974
Cheryl Elizabeth Wright born July 25, 1976
died July 25, 1986
There were several other strange coincidences. Sarah Jones Wright, Jason's first wife, had the middle name Cynthia and Stephanie had named her own daughter Cynthia. His ex also had the first name Sarah, which was Stephanie's grandmother's first name. Perhaps this coincidence was just another random happenstance and didn't really possess any particular significance whatsoever, but she couldn't help but make note of it.
Then Stephanie thought for a moment about Jason's sister Cheryl. She died when Jason was just twelve years old and she was ten. She apparently had some rare form of bone cancer and fought the valiant fight for several years until finally succumbing to the disease on her tenth birthday. Then she thought of another coincidence, it was her friend, whose name was also Cheryl who helped she and Jason get together. Jason often talked about his sister and recounted many fond memories for Cindy and Jeremy. He tried to stress the importance of family and having siblings. This was especially important in the blended family situation they had created. She followed the tree back further.
Edmund Walter Wright born September 8, 1946
died January 3, 2005
Married to Linda Celia Jensen born March 15, 1947
died February 26, 2007
From discussions with Jason after they had met, Stephanie learned that his father, Edmund, had died the year before Jason and Sarah were divorced. He had a massive heart attack at home and was gone before the ambulance arrived. Jason had been visiting at the time and had seen everything. It was quite traumatic for him and the stress probably did little to help them deal with their troubled marriage. His mother had been suffering with dementia prior to his father's passing and had to be placed in an assisted living facility where she eventually simply faded and died, lost in that incomprehensible world of confusion the disease often brings with it.
Stephanie followed the family tree back to the last few entries she had been able to locate for Jason's family.
Walter Stephen Wright born November 29, 1919
died April 11, 1973
Married on June 21, 1944 to Elizabeth Jane Jefferson
born May 22, 1921, died July 2, 1982
This is where Stephanie had hit a dead end. She could find nothing more about the Wright side of the family. She found no information on Walter Wright's parents whatsoever. She suspected his father might have been an immigrant and perhaps had a completely different name upon his arrival. He might have taken the name Wright upon landing in the United States to make him sound more American, as so many immigrants did in those days. She could only guess, as there were literally no records and no information about him whatsoever.
She had a little bit more luck with the grandmother, Elizabeth Jane Jefferson in that she was able to identify Elizabeth's mother, but was unable to identify her father.
Agatha Jane Jefferson born August 3, 1897, died 19??
That was pretty much the end of it. She had no idea when Agatha died, who her husband was, if she had one. Stephanie suspected Jefferson might be her married name as the concept of having children out of wedlock in that day and age was virtually unheard of. But if there was a Mr. Jefferson, there was not a trace of it recorded anywhere.
Stephanie looked across the room and saw Sammy sitting slack-jawed staring at the television, a steady stream of drool dripping from his lip. She could smell the foul stench of his soiled diaper. She suspected the boy might end up with a severe rash if she didn't tend to him soon. She knew she should go to him, she knew she was doing her son a great disservice by ignoring him, but she also knew she was almost finished with her work. She was so close. She just needed to find out the final piece of the puzzle.
The problem was, she had been through every single bit of information in the box from the investigator, Malone, and had exhausted all of her Internet resources as well, yet the death of the Livingston family members remained a mystery, as did the identity of Jason's great-grandfather. She knew she could not rest until she solved this final part of the story.
Stephanie looked one last time into the empty box. She had no idea what prompted her to do so. It was one of those strange feeling she sometimes had, an obsessive compulsive type of situation, which suggested if she just looked one more time maybe there just might be something she missed; the final piece to her puzzle. She knew it was an exercise in futility as the box had been empty when she checked only a few moments earlier. But she could not stop herself from looking inside the box one last time nonetheless.
However, instead of seeing an empty box, she found an old, tattered yellowed envelope lying in the bottom. She could not believe her eyes. Stephanie was certain the box had been empty, yet there it was. She reached down into the box and withdrew the envelope, hoping against hope to find the final answer. She found much more than she had bargained for.
Chapter 29
Stephanie sat staring at the strange envelope she held in her quaking hands. Where had it come from? She was certain it hadn't been in the box previously. She was reminded of that day almost half a year ago when she held another envelope in similar shaking hands; the day she received notice of her inheritance. But somehow, she knew the information in this envelope was not going to be a letter notifying her of impending good fortune but would be one leading to nothing but tragedy and sorrow. Still, she had to open the envelope. She had
to know what was inside.
The envelope was actually a brand new manila envelope; the same type she had been using to catalog her discoveries since the start of the project. She had personally purchased the box of envelopes at a local stationary supply store. But none of that prior knowledge seemed to matter to Stephanie. Because when she looked at the envelope, it appeared to her to be old, yellowed and tattered, as if to suggest it might have come directly from one of her ancestors. And in a true and very horrifying sense, it actually had. That is to say, the illusion of the aged envelope had been planted in her mind. The entities inhabiting her home and controlling her thoughts needed her to finish the story and wanted her to discover the horrible truth. Stephanie had to believe she was finding this secret for herself in order for the evil creatures to complete the final portion of their unholy scheme.
Stephanie slowly slid open the top flap of what she saw as a brittle envelope, carefully and gingerly folding it backward in order to withdraw its contents. What she found was a letter, several pages long, which appeared to be written in longhand in an elaborate calligraphic style. Like the envelope, the paper appeared to be an ancient and fragile type of yellowed stationary stock, likely expensive in its time and was personalized with a watermark in the shape of a stylized "L", which she assumed, must stand for Livingston.
As Stephanie stared down at what was actually several blank sheets of modern typing paper, she began to read the contents of the mysterious ancient document; written in words only she could see.
From the personal journal of Marie Louise O'Hara Livingston Nov. 16, 1922.
Fallen Stones Page 32
