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- Donald was the son of Marion Flaugher (Mary Jane on Donald's Birth Certificate) and Harold Edwin Obenland. He was born out-of-wedlock on July 15, 1925 in Oakland, California.
Donald's real last name was Obenland. However, sometime during his life, probably when he was a child, the name was misspelled and inadvertently changed to Oberland. This is the name he used throughout his life. (This happens sometimes with Obenlands.)
I'm Donald's half sister; we had the same father. In 1979 I sent to Sacramento, California for birth records of any children born to my father, Harold, and his first wife, Mildred. This was a shot in the dark, because I didn't really think my father had any more children. As far as I knew, Harold's only children were myself, my brother Michael and half-sister Laurie. Imagine my suprise when I received a birth certificate for a child born to my father and Mary Jane Flaugher, a totally different woman!
This birth certificate was for a son, Donald, who was the illegitimate child of my father, Harold Edwin Obenland. The certificate states that Harold was a resident of Richmond, California and his age was 17. Harold did live in Richmond at that time, but he would have just turned 20 years old a couple of weeks prior to Donald's birth. Maybe they lied about his age for legal reasons...Mary Jane was only 16 years old when Donald was born.
Since that birth certificate arrived in 1979, I had been looking for Donald, to no avail. It was almost like he had dropped off the face of the earth. I even called the Vital Records Department in Sacramento, California and cajoled the lady into at least telling me if he had been adopted in this state. She indicated that he had never been adopted, not even in another state. I then started looking for a Donald Flaugher, but never found him under that name either. At that point, I figured his mother might have gotten married and Donald had used his step-father's name even though not formally adopted.
On February 6, 2009, I was researching another Obenland on the Social Security Death Index and there I found my long-lost brother listed. He had just died 3 1/2 months previously. Interestingly, his last residence is listed as Monrovia, California. What makes that interesting is that Monrovia is the city adjacent to Arcadia, where my brother and I grew up.
Donald died on October 23, 2008 in Arcadia, California.
On June 10, 2009, I received Donald's death certificate. I was hoping that the informant listed on the certificate would be either his wife or an adult child, with whom I could make contact. Unfortunately, just about everything on the certificate was "unknown." In fact, the coronor's office had been investigating, looking for a member of the family. The only new information gleaned from the death certificate besides his last residence is the fact that Donald's middle name was Lee. As you can see from his birth certificate, no middle name was listed.
UPDATE #1: After visiting with Donald's roommates on June 12, 2009, I learned that Donald went to the Arcadia Public Library on a regular basis. He would sit in the library and read cowboy books. He didn't drive, so one of his roommates drove him and picked him up later. On the day Donald died, he was waiting on the bus bench outside the library. When his ride showed up, she found him dead on the bench. He had suffered a heart attack. His death certificate states he suffered from arteriosclerotic cardio vascular disease.
His roommates also told me that Donald's mother took off with a man and left Donald to be raised by his
grandfather. I don't know how long he stayed with his grandfather, because Donald also said that he never knew his family. Maybe he was with his grandfather for a short time and then raised by strangers.
As per his roommates, Donald never married and never had any children.
I was lucky to receive a photo of Donald from his roommates. If I ever questioned his relationship to my father, those questions were dispelled when I saw Donald's photo. He looks just like our father! See for yourself.
Even after receiving the news of his death, I've continued to search for any historical record of Donald's life. Unfortunately, the only mention of Donald is in his birth certificate and his death certificate. I can't find any mention of him in the 1930 federal census, nor in any WWII military records. And his mother is just as elusive!
UPDATE #2: During a sleeples night, I got on my IPad and did some new searches. I found Donald listed as Donald Abenland in the 1940 Census, living with his grandparents, Julius and Nellie Flaugher. Then I found a Marion Hubbard born in 1909 in Illinois, whose maiden name was Flaugher. I found her listed in the 1920 Census in Richmond, California with her parents. Marion's death records state that she died in San Diego County, California in 1981. I have added her to Find A Grave, with "Burial Unknown" and have linked her to Donald.
After finding this out, I REALLY couldn't sleep. I checked NewspaperArchive.com and came across three articles about Marion. One was a story she had written when she was 11. The other two were about her running away and deserting her baby. In one, the baby is even identified with the first name of Donald.
Please read the article on here and on her memorial. I feel so sorry for this young girl! She ran away once and they found her. She ran away a second time. I don't know yet if she was eventually found or not. (More research is needed.) And I'm mad at my father for being a part of such turmoil in her young life.
UPDATE #3: I received an email in August, 2013 regarding Donald's mother. A distant relative gave me the information that her father was not Julius Flaugher, even though that last name was used in all of the newspaper articles and on Donald's birth certificate. Whether Julius Flaugher adopted Marion is unknown at this time.
Marion's real father was Stacy Honor Pigott. He and Nellie, Marion's mother, were married in Kane County, Illinois on June 21, 1899. At first I was skeptical, but then I remembered that one of Donald's roommates told me that Donald talked about a sister with the last name of Pigott, who lived in the bay area of California. I want to thank Cheryl Rene for the information and for the two other newspaper articles on Marion and her abandonment of Donald. Look at that, I now have a picture of Donald as a baby and one of his young mother.
More research is needed. I'm interested in finding out if this sister had any children who might still be around.
If anyone out there knows anything about Donald or his mother or family, please contact me!
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