Stranger solves family mystery

John Maddocks lived through the Depression and two world wars. At 97, he's been around long enough to know that time answers many questions: Will there ever be a cure for polio? Will man land on the moon? Will the Mets ever play in the World Series?

But not every question.

Since he was a boy, Maddocks has wondered what happened to his Uncle Edwin, a Civil War veteran and a wanderer. Edwin was born in 1829, fought for the Union, farmed in Michigan and North Dakota. One day he left for Seattle, leaving behind his wife and two sons.

The rest was a mystery.

For years, at reunions and on long-distance phone conversations, the Maddocks family has clung to clues and speculated. Maybe Edwin traveled from Seattle to Alaska to mine for gold. Civil War records indicate he was ill, so he could have languished in a veterans hospital in Seattle instead.

The mystery of Edwin Maddocks became family lore.

"I never knew him, but my dad said he never stayed put. He was an adventurer," John Maddocks said. "That's been a family probe for years. Since I was a small boy, the folks talked about it. They never could find out just what happened."

But late last month, Maddocks traveled from his home in Colorado to personally visit the place where his search ended: Lake View Cemetery in Seattle. There, amid the other gravestones and markers, was one which bore the name Edwin R. Maddocks and the years of his birth and death: 1829 to 1888.

"I'm happy as can be," he said after visiting Edwin's grave at Lake View. Exactly what transpired to bring Maddocks to Seattle, to finally bring closure to his search for Uncle Edwin, could also become the stuff of family lore. After all, it was a family member who initiated the happy ending, with an assist from a Seattle resident.

Leslie Maddocks, John Maddocks' daughter-in-law, is the family's genealogy fanatic — a title she proudly embraces.

Every night at 10:30, after watching the news, the Niceville, Fla., resident retires to her office, shuts the door and scours the Internet for names. They are names of the dead, some her ancestors and some mere strangers that — who knows? — might end up being her ancestors.

Naturally, she tried to hunt for Edwin Maddocks, scanning online databases and posting questions on newsgroups, where genealogy buffs work collectively to solve such mysteries. She paid $27 to obtain his Civil War pension file and confirmed Edwin was buried in Seattle. When and where were the next question.

She paid about $15 to a researcher in Seattle to check library archives, and she called local cemeteries.

Nothing, and nothing again.

After several years, she set aside the hunt for Edwin. With acquired restraint, she moved on to other cases.

"You get frustrated, and so you start working on another one," she said.

But genealogy is a tightening circle. There's a limited number of dead people, and a growing number of researchers and resources. Those odds, and her persistence, worked in her favor.

In 2004, she typed Edwin's name in a search engine one last time — an afterthought before turning in for the night. A message popped up from a woman named Denise Ottoson, who had come across a newspaper clipping from Jan. 24, 1888, that indicated a man named Edwin Maddocks was buried at Lake View Cemetery.

A dam could have burst. Leslie Maddocks shot back a torrent of questions by e-mail: "Do you know if he has a headstone? ... The death date you list for Edwin is 2 Jan 1889; however, in [Edwin's widow] Helena's [Civil War] widow's pension it shows his death date as 23 Jan 1888. Did this date come from his headstone or from the records of the cemetery?"

Ottoson, who lives on Capitol Hill, volunteered to look for the grave. She didn't spot a headstone, but the cemetery records said he was buried there, not far from late actor and martial-arts expert Bruce Lee. The date of his death was Jan. 23, 1888.

For Ottoson, who has a degree in history, genealogy is a passion second only to being a grandmother. She routinely scans records to piece together information that might, one day, help someone.

"The purpose has become to provide enough context so that people like Leslie can recognize their long-deceased relative and go from there," Ottoson said.

Fast forward to Memorial Day. The Maddocks family gathered at Lake View Cemetery to celebrate Edwin's new headstone, which was provided by the Veterans Association after Leslie Maddocks filled out a form. The family paid Lake View for the stone to be placed and for perpetual care.

Members of Civil War history groups wore period costumes. Everyone sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," and "Taps" played on a boombox.

Afterward, John Maddocks, who flew in from Colorado, hugged family and joked about hanging out in a cemetery at his age. Asked what it was like to see the gravestone finally in place, Maddocks sported a grin the size of Montana.

"We knew he was out here, but to get the exact history, that was nice," he said.

Roxana Popescu: 206-464-2112

or rpopescu@seattletimes.com