On June 19, 1907, Lloyd/Loyd Crouch, the son of Joseph and (Rebecca
Petro/Pedro) Crouch, married Maymie/Mayme Belcher, the daughter of Joseph A.
and Minnie Belcher. In 1910, Joseph and Mayme were enumerated together at
1313 Charles Street in Indianapolis. He reportedly worked as a salesman in
a liquor house and Mayme as a saleswoman in a millinery. They had no
children. Ten years later, in 1920, Mayme was living with her 5-year-old
son at the home of her parents in Bloomington, Monroe County, Indiana. It
was noted that she was a widow. But was she?
In a family tree available on Ancestry, it is noted that Lloyd/Loyd died
about 1920 and was buried in Rose Hill Cemetery. According to the first
edition index to Rose Hill Cemetery in my library, I could not verify
Lloyd's burial at Rose Hill or elsewhere in Monroe County. On the other
hand, efforts to locate him in census records for 1920, 1930 and 1940 have
been unsuccessful. He seems to have fallen off the face of the earth. But
he wasn't dead. In 1942, as required by law, he registered for the draft.
At that time he was living with Weber Crouch at 448 S. Meridian Street. He
was 60 years old; Weber was 56. He reportedly was born in Brown County,
Indiana, on August 5, 1881.
In 1910, Rebecca Crouch, the widow of Joseph Crouch and Lloyd's mother,
died. Among those children noted as her survivors were Lloyd and Webber
(sic) Crouch. So the Weber who resided with Loyd at 448 S. Meridian can be
identified as a brother, and Lloyd/Loyd Crouch as one and the same
individual who was married Mayme.
The draft registration is the last evidence I can find of Lloyd/Loyd.
My reason for researching Lloyd/Loyd and Mayme (Belcher) Crouch is to write
a brief history of their son, Joseph, born in 1914, who married Thelma
Vonderschmitt, the daughter of Harry Vonderschmitt, the owner of the Indiana
and VonLee theatres. Joseph was a successful businessman, a pioneer and
developer in the evolution of coin-operated laundry facilities in
Bloomington and a property owner/manager of numerous real estate holdings.
He left behind a number of letters written to his mother now among the
collections of the Monroe County History Center and an oral interview from
1998 at the Center for the Study of History and Memory at Indiana
University.
If anyone, maybe someone who has access to Indianapolis City Directories,
can shed more light on Lloyd/Loyd, it would be most appreciated.