The three California daughters in the 1967 notices
| Printed name | Reported location | What remains open |
|---|---|---|
| Ethel Boisclair | South San Gabriel | Connection to the later Ethel Schwab memorial. |
| Lucille Blasingame / Blassingame | Baldwin Park | Original vital records and earlier residence. |
| Nena Bradley | Los Angeles | Connection to Geneva Joyce Wood Bradley. |
Mollie’s household
The 1957 newspaper account of Mary Jane “Mollie” Newman Wood recalls fireplace cooking, feather-and-shuck bedding, handmade soap and lye from ashes. It reports a 1919 move from Glen Rose to the Shamrock vicinity. These are attributed published recollections.
Evidence:
Nova’s wartime work
Nova’s obituary reports jig-building at the “Northrup Air Craft Factory” in Los Angeles. Its “first woman jig builder” distinction, exact plant and employment dates require employment records. Community notices also preserve teaching, WMU and PTA roles with their original caption limits.
Evidence:
Dan’s land
A 1956 feature describes 700 acres, half owned and half rented, with terracing, contour planting and crop residue for soil and moisture conservation. It records 25 acres of mung beans. Newspaper coverage documents his 1959 conservation-district recognition. His death and burial dates still require reconciliation.
Evidence:
Nova: precise archival targets
Huntington’s mssNorthrop inventory, pages 35 and 44–45, identifies Coleman’s 1946/undated workforce manuscript and Northrop News for 1942–1945. Wyoming’s Coleman collection, accession 6300, guide page 3, lists issues dated October 6, 1942; March 16, 1943; and March 15, May 10, September 27, October 25 and November 8, 1944. These are holdings descriptions, not records naming Nova. [NOVA.INVENTORY; NOVA.COLEMAN]
Evidence:
How to test the factory story
Establish Nova’s wartime surname and residence window, then search employee profiles, captions and tooling-department notes under Nova, Ovilla, Wood and Cary. Her known Darsey marriage was in 1947. A named employment item could confirm her work; a claim of being first requires separate evidence about the department, plant and period. The underlying archive items remain unread, so the obituary is still the identified source for that distinction.
Evidence:
Nova at Northrop: a contemporary record
A family-supplied photograph of a Northrop Aircraft, Inc. vacation earnings statement names N W CARY, department 11, for the period ending June 20, 1945. The form prints Hawthorne, California as the employer location. The initials, surname and recorded Wood/Cary history strongly connect the employee with Nova; the document does not print her full name. This is contemporary support for her employment, beyond the later obituary. The original remains private; only the relevant printed historical fields are summarized here.
Evidence: E195
What the statement does not establish
The statement supplies neither a job title nor the distinction of being the first woman jig builder. That distinction remains an obituary claim awaiting company records. Department 11 is a specific archive question, not a decoded occupation. June 20 is the period end, not a hiring date, final workday or resignation date. Hawthorne identifies the employer location, not a proved residence or particular shop. Undated handwriting cannot fix the travel chronology.
Evidence: E195
Dan at Camp Carson in 1944
An original Matador Tribune notice describes Lt. Dan Darsey of Camp Carson, Colorado, returning after a visit to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. T. J. Darsey, and relatives near Flomot and Matador. The family context makes this a strong identity match. The front masthead and catalog date are June 1, 1944, but the notice page retains a May 25 header. A stale header or a misassociated digitized page remains possible. Use 1944 or late May/early June; an exact departure day has not been established. The notice gives no unit, overseas service or promotion date, and Lt. alone does not distinguish grade.
Evidence: E190
Vera’s separate wartime notice
The September 21, 1944 Matador Tribune separately names Lt. Vera Darsey of Camp Carson visiting her parents-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. T. J. Darsey. Robert Darsey and Tom Nell Darsey also appear. It strengthens the family-and-place connection, but does not identify Dan’s unit or show that the spouses served in the same organization. A service number, separation paper and matching personnel records are still needed.
Evidence: E191
Dan’s death date: an explicit source, a remaining conflict
Nova’s April 13, 2006 obituary explicitly reports that Dan died March 20, 1965. This is a newly noticed statement in an already known source, rather than a new death certificate. The inherited tree gives March 18. Both claims remain distinguished pending the original death record; no tree date has been silently changed.
Evidence: E192
Three Wood daughters in California
John Andrew Wood’s funeral notices in the October 15, 1967 Bailey County Journal and October 19 Sudan Beacon-News name daughter Nova Dorsey and three daughters in California: Ethel Boisclair in South San Gabriel, Lucille Blasingame or Blassingame in Baldwin Park, and Nena Bradley in Los Angeles. Sudan explicitly reports his death on October 12; both papers are dated 1967. The notices name ten surviving children. Their similar wording may come from one family account, so two publications do not automatically mean two independent informants. These are 1967 locations, not evidence of where the sisters lived during World War II.
Evidence: E196
Later names are candidates to verify
Contributed memorial pages group Lucille Birdie Wood Blasingame, Ethel Lorene Wood Schwab and Geneva Joyce Wood Bradley with Nova. Lucille plus twelve linked siblings gives a candidate thirteen-child roster, not independent proof of the total. Connecting Ethel Boisclair with Ethel Schwab, or Nena Bradley with Geneva Bradley, still requires original marriage or other dated identity records. Burial locations do not prove residence or date a move. The printed names have not been silently corrected or merged.
Evidence: E197
Company archives and the limits of negative searches
The Huntington Northrop inventory identifies wartime Northrop News issues for 1942–45, Theodore C. Coleman’s company-history drafts, and an August 1945 Monthly Company Directory on inventory page 192. That directory covers administrative and supervisory personnel, not all production workers. The directory and wartime issues remain unread. A catalog query examined 27 metadata records and found no 1942–45 issue in that result. Full OCR of two postwar issues, May 1, 1946 and October 5, 1949, had no exact whole-word Nova, Nora, Cary, Carey or Wood. OCR and catalog coverage cannot disprove employment. The next useful company evidence is a department 11 classification or a dated employee item naming Nova’s role.
The earlier marriage and the next records
The supplied tree carries an inherited January 30, 1937 marriage at Clovis, New Mexico, and a 1945 divorce. Neither is an independently obtained certificate. Against the obituary’s June 1920 birth, the marriage chronology is compatible with age sixteen, but does not verify the event or spouse identity. Curry County’s published recording FAQ says the general online index begins in 1986, so a 1937 record requires a historical-register or copy route. No historical register or matching license has been obtained. Also seek the sisters’ original marriage records and dated California residences before using later surnames for wartime searches.
Evidence: E198
How much of the new sources was checked
The Dan investigation screened ten selected wartime issues totaling 44 pages, with the positive notice and date discrepancy visually checked; a separate September page supplied Vera’s notice. This was not a complete wartime newspaper run. For the Wood notices, the catalog returned 117 metadata hits, the first 100 were retrieved and seven selected local issue texts were screened. The two positive obituary passages and dated headers were visually checked. Company work used the finding aid and two provider OCR texts, rather than an inspection of every newsletter image. These limits matter when a record was not found.
Sources & further reading
- MW01Shamrock Texan, 14 March 1957, pp 1 and 8
Original pages previously visually checked; obituary and published recollections, not vital certificates
Open source - NOVA01Muleshoe Journal, 13 April 2006, p 5
Original obituary scan previously visually checked; source-reported biography and unverified wartime distinction
Open source - NOVA02Muleshoe Journal, 15 April 1965, p 6
Original PTA photograph/caption previously checked; caption/photo count conflict retained
Open source - NOVA03Muleshoe Journal, 21 May 1959, p 2
Original Bible-school notice previously checked; planned assignment only
Open source - NOVA04Bailey County Journal, 3 November 1963, p 2
Original WMU report previously checked
Open source - DAN01Muleshoe Journal, 25 October 1956, p 7
Original farm feature and photographs previously checked
Open source - DAN02Muleshoe Journal, 19 February 1959
Archive text transcription; individual announcement image not separately checked
Open source - DAN03Muleshoe Journal, 26 February 1959, front page
Original award photograph and caption previously checked
Open source - DAN04Muleshoe Journal, 25 March 1965, pp 1 and 4
Original obituary pages previously checked; death/funeral dates inferred from weekday wording
Open source - NOVA.INVENTORYHuntington Northrop detailed inventory
Institutional finding aid inspected; no record naming Nova recovered
Open source - NOVA.COLEMANWyoming Theodore C. Coleman Collection guide
Institutional finding aid inspected; underlying newsletters unread
Open source - NOVA.PAY1945Supplied photograph of Northrop Aircraft vacation earnings statement, N W CARY, period ending 20 June 1945
Contemporary earnings statement supplied directly by the family; safe printed fields read. Original retained privately.
Northrop Aircraft, Inc., Hawthorne, California; N W CARY; department 11; period ending June 20, 1945; marked VACATION.
Retained family source - DAN.MATADOR1944.CARSONMatador Tribune issue catalogued 1 June 1944, PDF page 2, Boys In The Service: Lt.Dan Darsey at CampCarson
Contemporary original newspaper scan, positive passage and issue/page dates visually inspected
Item d0378d0b-9521-41d6-9838-cd001fe8e92d; original ttu_motley_000634.pdf; PDF page 2. Front masthead 1 June 1944; page 2header 25 May 1944; pages 3–4header 1 June 1944.
Open source - DAN.MATADOR1944.SEPMatador Tribune 21 September 1944, PDF page 4, Visitor Here: Lt.Vera Darsey
Contemporary original newspaper scan, positive page visually inspected
Handle20.500.12255/116563; original ttu_motley_000650.pdf; PDF page 4, Visitor Here.
Open source - NOVA.WOOD.OBIT1967.SUDANSudan Beacon News - October 19, 1967, John Andrew Wood funeral notice
Original contemporary newspaper scan, positive obituary and dated page header visually inspected
PDF page 1, Wood Funeral Rites Held; handle20.500.12255/276110
Open source - NOVA.WOOD.OBIT1967.BAILEYBailey County Journal - October 15, 1967, John Andrew Wood funeral notice
Original contemporary newspaper scan, positive obituary and dated page header visually inspected
PDF page 4, Funeral Service For Father Of Local Residents; handle20.500.12255/1888
Open source - NOVA.SISTER.LUCILLE.MEMORIALLucille Birdie Wood Blasingame — derivative Find a Grave mirror
User-contributed memorial data mirrored by third party, complete rendered text read; no original vital/census record
Open source - NOVA.SISTER.ETHEL.MEMORIALEthel Lorene Wood Schwab — derivative Find a Grave mirror
User-contributed memorial data mirrored by third party, complete rendered text read; no original vital/census record
Open source - NOVA.SISTER.GENEVA.MEMORIALGeneva Joyce Wood Bradley — derivative Find a Grave mirror
User-contributed memorial data mirrored by third party, complete rendered text read; no original vital/census record
Open source - NOVA.NEWS1946.OCRNorthrop News Flying Wing Bomber special issue,1 May 1946, provider OCR
Public provider OCR searched, original newsletter images not visually inspected
Open source - NOVA.NEWS1949.OCRNorthrop News10YearAnniversary souvenir issue,5 October 1949, provider OCR
Public provider OCR searched, original newsletter images not visually inspected
Open source - NOVA.NEWS.IA.INDEX2026InternetArchive exact Northrop News title-query metadata,27records
Bounded public catalog query; metadata only except the two separately catalogued OCR files
Open source - NOVA.CURRY.ACCESS2026Curry County Clerk Recording & Filing FAQs
Official published access guidance, relevant PDFtext directly read
PDF page 1, online index availability question
Open source - DAN.MATADOR.WARTIME.SCREENMatador Tribune targeted wartime scan/OCR screen,10issues44 pages
Bounded public catalog metadata survey and local OCR screen of selected original newspaper scans
Open source - NOVA.WOOD.1967.SCREENBounded October 1967 Wood newspaper metadata/OCR screen
Partial public catalog metadata and selected provider OCR screening
Open source
