VA VA - Gertrude Bishop, 27, Charlottesville, Summer 1947.

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Link to Gertrude Bishop. Not a whole lot to go on as far as height, weight, etc, but a very clear college graduation photo is posted. The photo was taken about 7 years before she disappeared. Gertrude worked as a nurse at the time of her disappearance. Her family did not report her missing immediately, as Gertrude in the past had left for short periods. They also apparently did not want her disappearance reported in newspapers of the time. This time she did not return. It appears she was born around 1920 if her estimated age is correct.

https://whereaboutsstillunknown.wordpress.com/2014/08/23/gertrude-bishop/


WS member Taramarie and I have started picking our way through a site that lists the "missing missing"- MPs that are not listed in NAMUS or other missing person databases. Many of the "missing missing" are pre 1970. A few are after 1970. If it is OK with the mods, we will begin posting them in this forum. I could not find a WS thread for Gertrude, so I am starting this one.


Side Note: before posting Gertrude, I did an obituary search and found no one that matched her background as a nurse.
 
Could you tell me the site of the "missing missing?" I look for a MP that went missing around 1970 and could use the extra info.
 
How come she is not on the charley project, namus, or the doe network?
 
Gertrude Bishop, approximately 27 years old, went missing from Charlottesville, VA in the summer of 1947.
 

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It sounds as though Gertrude would not only frequently disappear but disappear for fairly long periods of time before breezing back in. I wonder what she did in those months in NY?

https:///forum/index.php?threads/ge...m-charlottesville-va-summer-1947-age-27.6346/
 
I am pretty sure she was actually 28 or 29 when she went missing and that her full name is Gertrude Josephine Bishop, born 21 September 1918 in Albemarle, Virginia. Whilst this is the most obvious match on Ancestry, it is also corroborated at Full text of "Scarab" which is the alumni publication of the Medical College of Virginia and lists her as a member of the 1940 Class of Nursing with her full name.

There is another odd clue. In Ancestry there is a marriage in 1944 for Gertrude J Bishop to Arthur D Zuckerman in Taylor, Texas. At Abilene Reporter-News from Abilene, Texas on March 18, 1944 · Page 14 there seems to be a listing of the marriage in the Abilene Reporter, which identifies Gertrude Bishop as coming from Charlottesville. I do not have a sub to newspapers.com so can only read the OCR text. It would be useful if someone with a sub could confirm this reading. If accurate it suggests Gertrude was married (at least in 1944). If it is accurate this is likely to be the Arthur D Zuckerman listed in a 1943 yearbook for.............Medical College of Virginia, on Ancestry.

Ancestry also has records (in City Directories) for Arthur D Zuckerman MD in Manhattan from 1948 to 1953 (he may have been there in other years but not listed in Ancestry). I note the comments about Gertrude regularly heading off to New York and later reappearing. Is it possible she married without her family knowing and was visiting her husband?

I am not 100% sure of the above, but it may offer a bit more to investigate.
 
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An update on my previous post above.

A closer search on Ancestry has identified the Arthur D Zuckerman who married Gertrude J Bishop in Taylor, Texas in 1944. Ancestry has a naturalisation record dated November 9, 1944 in Dallas, Texas for Dr Zuckerman. This record confirms the name of his wife (and that there are no children) and gives his birth details as May 27, 1910 in Toronto, Canada. His second name is David and he is serving as a Captain in the US Army Medical Corps at Camp Barkeley, Texas (explaining the location of the marriage). He was enrolled in the US Army in November 1943 (presumably after graduating from the Medical School of Virginia) and has a home address in Brooklyn.

Other records on Ancestry show him entering the USA from Canada in both 1940 and 1943, so it seems his family were still in Canada and he visited them.

I cannot (at present) find any more records linking Arthur and Gertrude (but 2 seem enough). It is possible that Arthur later went back to Canada as 1972 and 1974 voter lists from Toronto show an Arthur Zuckerman, who is a physician. However, the only relative listed is Mrs Minnie Zuckerman - so it may not be our man.

It is worth noting that Arthur D Zuckerman is Jewish. This may help those who are familiar with Jewish genealogical sources, which can provide leads not available through other sources.

I do feel there is a real lead to be followed in the link between Gertrude and Arthur. It seems beyond coincidence that a Gertrude Bishop from Charlottesville would marry an Arthur Zuckerman, and that both studied at the same college. The naturalisation record explains the Texas location of the marriage.
 
An update on my previous post above.

A closer search on Ancestry has identified the Arthur D Zuckerman who married Gertrude J Bishop in Taylor, Texas in 1944. Ancestry has a naturalisation record dated November 9, 1944 in Dallas, Texas for Dr Zuckerman. This record confirms the name of his wife (and that there are no children) and gives his birth details as May 27, 1910 in Toronto, Canada. His second name is David and he is serving as a Captain in the US Army Medical Corps at Camp Barkeley, Texas (explaining the location of the marriage). He was enrolled in the US Army in November 1943 (presumably after graduating from the Medical School of Virginia) and has a home address in Brooklyn.

Other records on Ancestry show him entering the USA from Canada in both 1940 and 1943, so it seems his family were still in Canada and he visited them.

I cannot (at present) find any more records linking Arthur and Gertrude (but 2 seem enough). It is possible that Arthur later went back to Canada as 1972 and 1974 voter lists from Toronto show an Arthur Zuckerman, who is a physician. However, the only relative listed is Mrs Minnie Zuckerman - so it may not be our man.

It is worth noting that Arthur D Zuckerman is Jewish. This may help those who are familiar with Jewish genealogical sources, which can provide leads not available through other sources.

I do feel there is a real lead to be followed in the link between Gertrude and Arthur. It seems beyond coincidence that a Gertrude Bishop from Charlottesville would marry an Arthur Zuckerman, and that both studied at the same college. The naturalisation record explains the Texas location of the marriage.
 
Wow, this is a great lead!! I will dig around and see if I can find anything with this married name. Thanks for posting this, I will come back and post if I find anything. If not, maybe the 1950 census will have something.
 
I took a quick look, and strangely, I can't find a death record for either, even though they'd likely be deceased by now.

I did, however, find an Arthur and a Gertrude Zuckerman who both died in Palm Beach County (Or West Palm Beach, I forgot which) but his middle initial is showing as L.

I'm finding Arthur D in NYC up til 1953.
I only was able to do a quick search, but will look some more later.
 
Ok, I did some more digging and was able to locate a niece of Arthur Zuckerman. Arthur and his siblings are all deceased, but this niece does remember hearing that Arthur was married to a nurse, but they had divorced. She didn't know her name but remembered that she used to stay with Arthur's mother (Rebecca Zuckerman) in Brooklyn while Arthur was away.

She believes Arthur returned to Canada in the 50's and remained there for the rest of his life. He didn't bring Gertrude to Canada.

So I think the question is whether they divorced before her disappearance or after, being that they married 3 years before she went missing. Unless they aren't remembering the year of her disappearance correctly. Gertrude's niece who spoke to the media was just a child so it could have been a guess.
 
I've been going through all the Gertrudes in the SSDI with her birth date, trying to look for obits and rule them out. (Her DOB is 9/21/1918)

I've been unable to eliminate

Gertrude Cooper d. May 1983. Danville IL


I didn't look into the ones with a middle initial since none were B, J, or Z.
 
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Odyssey said:
I've been going through all the Gertrudes in the SSDI with her birth date, trying to look for obits and rule them out. (Her DOB is 9/21/1918)

I've been unable to eliminate

Gertrude Cooper d. May 1983. Danville IL
.
Click to expand...

Really good work on the research and I agree with your earlier post that information about the Zuckerman divorce could be very helpful. Unfortunately I think Gertrude Cooper is a rule out. Ancestry has a Find A Grave Index entry for Gertrude H Cooper, who died 10/5/1983 in Catlin IL. Whilst it says 22/9/1918 rather than 21st, and Catlin rather than Danville, I am confident this is the same person. Catlin is 5 miles from Danville and I find it hard to think there were 2 deaths with the same name and age in such a small area in the same month. The rule out comes because the index gives Gertrude Cooper's maiden name as Shepherd, and details of spouse, parents and a daughter. The only thing I find odd about this lady is that her Ancestry entry in the US Social Security Death Index says she was issued with her SSN in Illinois in 1970. Why would a 52 year old need a new SSN?
 
Part 1

After work, the lady vanishes

In the early summer of 1947, Gertrude Bishop left her parents’ home on Market Street in Charlottesville, and vanished.


To this day her family has no idea what happened to the attractive young woman. In all the ensuing years they have never received a letter or even a telephone call from her to ease their worry.

“In my heart of hearts, I’m inclined to think something happened to her,” said Barbara Bishop Sethmann, whose father was the missing woman’s brother. “My mother and Gertrude were good friends.

Part 2

A lady vanishes, part two

Days and then weeks went by without a word from Gertrude Bishop.

When the attractive nurse failed to return home from work, her family hoped this was just another one of her escapades. A year or so before, she had up and left Charlottesville without a goodbye to anyone.
 
Coffee56 said:
Part 1

After work, the lady vanishes

A lady vanishes, part two
Click to expand...

Thanks Coffee56. Unfortunately a lot of US sites are currently making themselves unavailable to anyone with an EU IP address due to recent data privacy changes over here (although it seems a case of not bothering to look into it properly since the main sites in the US seem to have no problem!). Since I cannot see this content (unless I go down the proxy IP route) are you able to say whether the articles add new information, particularly about whether the family knew she had married or whether they were aware of a divorce. These seem like the crux of focusing in on what may have happened. Thanks.
 
No mention of any husband or being married. Beaus and boyfriends mentioned but just possible reasons for leaving. None are mentioned and no relationships are mentioned.

“Notifying the authorities was unthinkable. Heaven forbid such a thing might find its way into the newspaper. What if she had eloped with one of her beaus, or left for other reasons of her own?

“Or perhaps she met with mischance — or, worse, was attacked by a stranger or jealous boyfriend. Whatever happened in the summer of 1947, it doesn’t seem likely that I, who was her favorite niece as a small girl, will ever know.”
 
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