I received a Bredimus Family Tree created on the website, Ancestry dot com. The tree was incomplete. It is a paid site and I am waiting to join until I’ve exhausted the free genealogy sites. Bitsy did show two spellings of the McDonald clan.

She has chosen a different parents for William H. McDannald than what I can confirm. This is the missing link I wrote about. If Bitsy was correct, it means we are descended from Scottish Nobility named McDonald. More on that later. I’m surprised Bitsy showed “Elsie Jewell” instead of “Jewel Elsie”.

More about Emory. The censuses indicate he was a renter, not a home owner. He was 17 years older than Gracie which is a surprising age difference. The fact he was a Merchant indicates he could read and write and do sums. It might also mean the young family was prosperous with access to “General Stores”, at least in the beginning. His draft registration in 1918 almost certainly required some proof of identity and age. Since he signed the draft form, we can assume his name and date of birth are correct. Ancestry dot com has more resources which could shed light on Emory’s life.

You mentioned Mom being injured by a heavy iron while helping her mother take in laundry during the great depression. That was probably what destroyed the nail bed on one of Mom’s toes. It never seemed to bother her. She wore her “depression” upbringing as a badge of courage. Coca Cola was her one indulgence as an adult.