Contents
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family's ancestors; Earl, Kristin and their three children stay on either way.
Person · Howard Lee Caffey
The record
- HHomethe fan · what changed · open questions
- MMigrationbirths and deaths on a map, by decade
- TTimeline609 entries · 5 eras
- PPeople290 cards, by generationHoward Lee Caffey
- LLines13 surname pages
The evidence
- DDocuments896 thumbnails, filterable
- SSourcesS1–S1207, with where each is cited
The findings
- How the wall came downProeger line
- The glass patentsProeger line
- How the Caffey half was closedCaffey line
- What the DNA saysits own page
- Four routesMigration
- The asymmetryLines
- Open questions20 questions
- Add to this recorda form, read by Earl
How to read this record
Every claim is tagged
Most family trees flatten everything into the same confident typeface. This one does not.
The three research tags below are the whole point of the exercise: they say what a document
proves, what the weight of evidence suggests, and what nobody has found yet. A fourth marks
what the family stated directly, where no document has been retrieved at all — it is kept
separate on purpose and is never quietly promoted to confirmed. A fifth, added on
13 September 2026, marks biological evidence: a DNA result is not a document, and it is not
testimony either. Two further labels mark where this page withholds information
rather than lacking it.
ConfirmedAttested by a document that was actually retrieved and read — a census sheet, a
government index, a grave marker, a family-written obituary.
ProbableStrongly supported but not nailed down: a user-contributed tree, a masked index field,
or a chain of consistent circumstances. Believable, not proven.
Not foundSearched for and not located. This is a statement about the search, not about the
person — the record may well exist somewhere unsearched.
Family testimonySupplied by the family and recorded on their word — no document has been retrieved for
it. Note the diamond rather than the dot: this is provenance, not proof, and it stands
apart from the three record tags above S24.
DNA evidenceBiological evidence consistent with a claim. It corroborates origins; it does
not by itself establish a person or a link. Note the bar rather than a dot or a diamond:
no DNA result on this page is ever counted as confirmed, because no document
was read for it S46.
Living — withheldThe person is living. By the privacy rule for this page, name and relationship are
shown, and at most a year the family has already published. Full dates of birth, ages,
places of residence and record identifiers are held back.
Research in progressA branch that is actively being worked on. The node exists in the structure so the
shape of the family is honest; the detail is simply not in yet.
- Born
- 28 September 1917
- Died
- 9 July 1988
- Parents
- Thomas Walton Caffey Sr. & Medie Owens
- Married
- Marian Zelphia Clawson
- Sources
- 11
Research status
Research status: CONFIRMED — added 24 September 2026 from a record that names the parents; entered in the family tree the same day.
Life in the order the records give it
Birth1917
Born
28 September 1917, Salado, Bell County, Texas; his delayed birth certificate of 1944 names both parents
S233Census1940
In 1940 at 84 East Avenue, Austin, working for the Owl Taxi Co.
S234Death1988
Died 9 July 1988, Travis County, Texas
Census1940
🆕 In 1940 he and Marian lodged at 2115 Willow St., Austin; he drove an ice-cream route
S547. added 25 September 2026.
Record1939
🆕 The state birth index names him and
Marianne Zelphia Clawson as the parents of
Jessie Lee Caffey, born in Travis County in 1939
Confirmed S1122. It is the same Jessie Lee who is in his 1950 household. It also names him and
Dorothy Maye Mangum as the parents of a son,
Howard David Caffey, born in Travis County in 1950
S1123. That gives Dorothy’s maiden name as Mangum, the surname of the parents proposed for her above, though the index does not name her parents.
Family parents, marriages, children, siblings
Marriage1937
🆕 He married
Marian Zelphia Clawson on 24 October 1937 at Calvary Baptist Church, Austin
S519. In 1950 he was a cab driver and watchmaker in Austin, with his wife Dorothy M., Jessie Lee and two Piland stepsons
S520. added 25 September 2026.
Marriage1946
🆕 On
5 October 1946 in Travis County he married
Mrs. Dorothy Piland, the Dorothy M. of the 1950 household
S681. added 26 September 2026.
Parents1921
🆕 Marian's birth certificate records a daughter of
Jess Clawson, 26, a labourer, and
Lillie Reeves, 23, both born in Texas, born on
28 November 1921 at 3201 San Gabriel Street, Austin, their first child; she was not yet named
S732. added 26 September 2026.
Marriage1940
🆕 His wife Dorothy's parents were probably
Page S. Mangum and
Arlene Mangum Probable confirm or correct →: the 1940 census of Austin, read from the image, lists
Dorothy M., 19, daughter, single and in college, born Texas, at 1802 Pearl Street in the household of Page S. Mangum, 52, and his wife Arlene, 41, both born Mississippi, with a younger daughter Kathleen G.
S888. The Texas birth index records a son of Logue Taylor Piland, born in 1942, with his mother entered as
Dorothy May Mangum S889, and she married Howard as Mrs. Dorothy Piland in 1946
S681. What is weak: the identity runs through an index and a licence rather than one document; the census does not say Arlene is Dorothy's mother; Arlene's maiden name, given in family trees as Furr, and both parents' birth days and death dates are on no document read. Accepted by Earl on 28 September 2026 pending more evidence. added 28 September 2026.
In the record
Generation 3 — Kristin's grandparents and their siblings
- S233Texas delayed (correcting) birth certificate No. 37973, filed 3 February 1944 — Howard Lee Caffey, Salado, Bell County. Ancestry record 121590938. Read from the image at full resolution, 22 September 2026. Howard Lee Caffey, born 28 [or 23] September 1917, Salado; father Thomas W. Caffey, 43, born Bastrop County, farmer; mother Medie Owens, 30, born Williamson County; two children born, two living. Informant Mrs. J. W. Stobaugh, 84 East Avenue, Austin. 🔑 Medie herself, under her second married name, on one document with both surnames. ⚠ Her sworn birthplace (Williamson County) differs from Salado on her death certificate; not settled.
- S234WWII draft registration card, 1940 — Howard Lee Caffey, 84 East Ave., Austin, Texas. Ancestry record 140719001; serial 4672. Read from the image at full resolution, 22 September 2026. Age 23, born 28 September 1917, Bell County, Texas; employer Owl Taxi Co., 300 Congress Ave.; the person who will always know his address: Mrs. Medie Stobaugh, mother, 84 East Ave. 🔑 His own statement of the mother–son link, and Medie's Austin address c.1940.
- S519Texas, U.S., County Marriage Records — Travis County: Howard Lee Caffey and Marian Zelphia Clawson, 1937. Ancestry record 40716204. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Licence 20 October 1937; Howard Lee Caffey and Marian Zelphia Clawson married 24 October 1937 at Calvary Baptist Church, Austin.
- S5201950 U.S. Federal Census — Howard L. Caffey household, Austin, Travis County, Texas. Ancestry record 187608271. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Howard L., 32, cab driver and watchmaker; wife Dorothy M., 30; Jessie Lee, 10; two stepsons named Piland.
- S5471940 U.S. Federal Census — 2115 Willow St., Austin, Texas. Ancestry record 159948768. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed “Howard Coffey”, 22, lodger, ice-cream route man; wife Marian, 18.
- S681Travis County, Texas, marriage licence no. 2190, 1946. Ancestry record 130649039. Image examined, read 25 September 2026. Confirmed Howard Lee Caffey to Mrs. Dorothy Piland, married 5 October 1946.
- S732Texas birth certificate no. 73457, Austin, Travis County, 1921. Ancestry record 300840. Image examined, read 26 September 2026. Confirmed A daughter, not yet named (“X Clawson”), born 28 November 1921 at 3201 San Gabriel Street, Austin, the first child of Jess Clawson, 26, labourer, and Lillie Reeves, 23, both born in Texas. The same parents head Marian's 1930 household; she was 18 in 1940.
- S8881940 U.S. Federal Census — Page S. Mangum household, 1802 Pearl Street, Austin, Travis County, Texas (ED 227-35, sheet 1B, lines 59–62). Ancestry record 158521487. Image examined, read 28 September 2026. Confirmed Page S. Mangum, head, 52, born Mississippi, living in Bryan, Brazos County, in 1935; Arlene, wife, 41, born Mississippi, the informant; Dorothy M., daughter, 19, single, in college, born Texas; Kathleen G., daughter, 16. An earlier reading of the head's name as “Lige S.” was a misread.
- S889Texas birth index, 1942 births, p. 1866 — Logue Taylor Piland Jr. Ancestry record 303490927. Read from the index, read 28 September 2026. Probable Born 16 August 1942; mother Mangum, Dorothy May; father Logue Taylor Piland. A state index, derived from the certificate.
- S1122Texas Birth Index, 1939 births, p. 281 (Texas Department of Health) — Jessie Lee Caffey. Ancestry record 303019494. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 25 September 2026. Confirmed “CAFFEY, JESSIE LEE”, county 227 [Travis], 1939, female; mother Clawson, Marianne Zelphia; father Caffey, Howard Lee. An index line, not the certificate itself. The index spells the mother Marianne; her marriage record gives Marian. The child may be living, so only the name and year are given here.
- S1123Texas Birth Index, 1950 births, p. 457 (Texas Department of Health) — Howard David Caffey. Ancestry record 153559488. Image examined in the Stage 2 reading, 25 September 2026. Confirmed “CAFFEY, HOWARD DAVID”, county 227 [Travis], 1950, male; mother Mangum, Dorothy Maye; father Caffey, Howard Lee. An index line, not the certificate itself. It gives Dorothy’s maiden name as Mangum. The child may be living, so only the name and year are given here.