Burt on Family Tree Circles

" Looking For Arthur, Arther Family, Cambria, Clearfield Pa "

My Grandfather, C.B, Clayton Burleigh, Bert Arthur b.1876/1879, my Fathers father...

My name is Burt Kinney Arthur of Spanaway, Washington. To my knowledge I am the last living male adult of our family name and having resourced all I can to find my Grandfathers past have found nothing further back than 1907 in Washington State, other than what was written on official documents there has been no physcial evidence to prove he came from Pennslvania. I have hit the preverbial wall.

Perhaps he was born in a differant family, perhaps and it has been suggested that he may have been adopted, I have not been able to verify either.

From his Obits from 1951 when he passed on it states that amoung his living family here he had a sister in Salix, Pa who survived him, a Mrs Silas Miller...I believe her name was Missouri ( Mazie ) Bell Arthur but again the trail of connecting material never visualizes, I have spoken via E-mail with a long linage family member who is numerious generationn remove ( Varner Family ) from their Great Great Great Grandmother but they too have no knowlege of her maiden name or other family contacts, She died years later then he brother Clayton in Ohio but is buried near her husband in Salix Pa.

I am going to be 57 years old this year...I have been happily married since 1982 and my wife and I were blessed in 1998 with a son who now appears to be all that is left. As I get older it has become most important to me to connect my son to his Heritage...I have run out of options. There have been many wonderful people who have assisted but like myself their resources have dryed up too. Thanks to all of you who cared enough to contact me but now I am asking again for others help.

Because I work and am the sole provider for my family I don't have alot of spare time, it just so happens that today I am home from a healing back injury and have been able to tolerate sitting this long to write this passage.

If you find inspiration to contact me concerning what I have eluded to the most I can say is a heart felt thank you in advance. If I can help you as well please let me know, I don't know to what capacity that would be but time will tell.

Sincerely , Burt Kinney Arthur

"Cont." Arthur, Arther Looking for fsmily of C.B, Clayton Burleigh, Bert, Arthur

Relitvely speaking, no pun intended even though it is a little bit funny, I need to add that the two cousins that I remain in contact with here in Washington State have told me many times that family history may be connected to Texas but no one knows any details...I can't imagine where I would start looking?

I am the last known male adult of my fathers family, My Grandfather, Clayton Burleigh Arthur b.December 16th 1879 was supposedly from Clearfield Pa. I have no knowledge of my grandfathers exsistance prior to 1906 when the first records here in Washington State have him registered as a National Guard Volunteer during World War I. Other records show some about where his parents were from, Father from Pa, Mother from Ohio but that is where it ends.
I have written to and spoken with many people and reseachers to no avail mostly due to the lack of records in reference to the time of his birth and things that happened with national records i.e 1880 Census record distroyed in a fire and basement flood.
Grandpa had a sister who servived his death in 1951, Her name was Mazie Belle Arthur Miller, married to Silas Miller of Salix Pa in Cambria County but...having tried to connect through my great Aunts family comes to a dead end. I was able to meet a cousin five times removed of the Varner Family ( Dean Varner )who is related to my Great Aunt through one of her daughters but to this date there is no new discoveries.
I have since then sent a request by letter to the Pennsulvania Office of Open Records to request any information they might have concerning Marrages, Land Doc's Will's and the like...and still it.s a wait and see.
Supposedly there is Arthur family in Texas, but untill I flesh out where Clayton came from and where his parents lived and I can follow our family history this is where I will be.
My wife and I, we have been married 28 years were blessed late in our relationship with a son in 1998. I am doing this for him and as equally for me. We deserve to know our Heritage.
The path is long, scattered with the past and a belief in the future.

Dec 24th 2011...
Well here I go again, Knowing now that Grandpa was born out of wedlock, his mother, Mary E Bryan her father George W Bryan...the trails gone numb in regard to the Arthur name so now I'm trying to find Grandpa's biological father which if I am on the the correct track his name might be Jefferson Clayton...most of my certainity is a guess but by deduction it seems possible because of the simularity I found in the Databases I checked.
Grandpa was born in Becaria, Clearfield county, Pennsylvania December 16th 1879...all the records round up the year to 1880. In the 1880 census he listed by name Bryan Clayton, Grandson of George W Bryan...later when given up for adoption in 1882 shows up as Clayton Bryan with his name being changed to Clayton Arthur.
My thought focuses on the possibility that purhaps his mother though not married at the time to the father wanted to have her son have a family connection to his father so named him with Clayton as his second name.
I started following a lead in Ohio at the 1880 Census that shows a J. B. Clayton with a young baby, only named Clayton...now I realized there are alot of loose ends but so goes the search...lots a loose end but the simularities are the focus. Gleaning down the improbabilities and the possibilities.
At this point I have nothing that connect Grandpa to J.B. Clayton but a search...what I'm hoping for is someone to come out of the wood work a someone who knows how to find a Genome Reasearch website connected to 'Clayton' because I think the only way I'm going to connect is to send out a DNA sample kit and see what happens...
Wish me well and You all have a very Merry Christmas...From my Mom's side of the family, GodYul! (Norwegeon for Merry Christmas)!

...I have spent the last 10 years, countless conversations on the internet and many web connections trying to find my grandfathers home and or family history...after taking time from the activity and on a whim went a direction I had never thought of and in doing so found a connection to possibly the one thing I had never thought...that he was adopted and that is why I could not find him.
He had retained his birth name when he arrived in the state in which he raised his family and where he pasted but prior to that no connection except from his Obit and family conversation the name of the state were he was born.
So I wrote a letter and recieved information, without going into too much detail here is basically the 'Law'.
In the State of Pennsylvania Adoption Documentation is SEALED BY the COURTS. It states that only the Adopted indivigual may have the right to request to have the Seals opened. Heres the Oxyimoron...
My Grandfather died in 1951, I was the the only grandson and am the only Adult surviving male of our family. Thers is no way he can request the seals to be open...obviously!
I am waiting for a response to my personnel request, wish me luck!
***by the way, thanks for the uplifting 'Laws'
Sincerely BKA

...Having contacted the Department of Open Records in Ebensburg over the last couple of weeks in Pennsylvania, received documentation pointing in a substantial direction.

On July 19th 1904 in an official document states...that C B Arthur, of Niles Ohio, adopted son and only heir to the late John T Arthur of Johnstown Pennsylvania...recieved compensation from the Administratrix Annie Arthur. This is only a small part of the statement.

It is a rather sterile document lacking any personal or emotional points but...its something I never had before...a real connection.

I'm not sure where this this will lead, obviously in a direction I had not anticipated...it appears my grandfather was adopted which brings into play a whole different set of circumstances.

I am awaiting response to my request to have the seal opened on the files concerning the Adoption in regard to my families history.

I am waiting in nervious antisipation...