Searching for possibly adopted great aunt?

Question

I'm searching for my great aunt, Wanna Evans #L2B8-VDJ.

She is listed on the 1910 US Census as living with her uncle Orval Evans and his sister also lives in the household and shows having 1 birth and 1 living.

After 1910, Both Wanna and her mother, Ethel Evans #LK29-327 are not listed anywhere. I have found Ethel Evans, my grandmother implying previously married as Ethel Ferguson, when married my g-grandfather and have 3 children 2 living in 1940.

How would I be able to find Wanna Evans as I have no idea if she was even actually named "Evans" at birth?​

Answer 1

I would start by looking at the 1920 Fayette Co., OH census:

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RXB-7TD?mode=g&i=6&wc=QZJR-16M%3A1036474301%2C1037452601%2C1038441001%2C1589332401%3Fcc%3D1488411&cc=1488411

Ethel is not listed, but her mother Betty is, and living with Betty is a "step-daughter" named Nancy Ferguson, the same age as Wanna. She would be worth looking into as a possibility, since you said Ethel married a Ferguson. The 1910 census you mentioned was interesting- I would guess Ethel is the mother of Wanna, and Wanna appears to be illegitimate. But the Ferguson name in the 1920 census could mean Wanna/Nancy was adopted by Ethel's husband, or maybe her birth father was a Ferguson. More research needed, but that's a start anyway.

I would look for an obit for Ethel or Betty to see if this daughter is mentioned. I searched Ohio birth records in Family Search, but I wasn't seeing anything that quite matched.