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Dee Anna, I believe I have found James A. ROARK in the 1900 Sumner Co. TN census; his widow and children in the 1910 Greene Co. AR census; and his son in the 1920 and 1930 Missouri censuses. I'll give you the entries I found and you can judge for yourself.
JAMES A. ROARK IN 1900 CENSUS
To understand why I think the 1900 census entry is James A. ROARK, you should start with the 1880 census, which shows James ROARK, 18, in the household of his mother and stepfather and their young son, Henry:
1880 TN Sumner Co. 11-Dist (1282 173B), hh 8-8
HOLMS, Robert head 43 m TN TN TN farmer
--Julia A. [*] 37 TN NC NC
--Henry son 3 s -- -- --
ROARK, James [*] 18 s TN TN TN works on farm
(*) Left blank in census.
In 1900, either the census-taker or transcriber got mixed up or the informant did. Robert and Julia HOLMES are still in Sumner Co. TN in hh 152-156. However, the entry says that their son, James, 23, is living with them. That is the first error: their son, Henry, would be 23 in 1900. Julia's son, James ROARK, would be 38.
Which leads me to what I believe is the second error in the census. Immediately after Robert and Julia HOLMES's entry is, in hh 153-157, the household of Roark HARRY, 38. I feel sure that the census-taker reversed the first and last names: it should be Harry ROARK. And Harry should be James ROARK. I am guessing that the name Harry may be a name by which Henry HOLMES was known by the time he had reached adulthood, or else the census-taker had written Henry but the census-transcriber had misread it as Harry.
You wrote that James A. ROARK was born in 1862. Roark HARRY was born in 1862.
You wrote that James is said to have married Ellie DORRIS in 1888. Roark HARRY is married to Ella, and they have been married for 12 years; that is, they got married in 1888.
Those similarities, plus the fact that the HOLMES and HARRY/ROARK families live next to each other, are enough to convince me that James HOLMES, 23, is in fact Henry (or Harry) HOLMES, 23; and that Harry ROARK, 38, is in fact James ROARK, 38. The census switches the names of the half-brothers.
JAMES ROARK'S FAMILY IN 1910, 1920, AND 1930
I found James ROARK's family in 1910 Greene Co. AR, but his wife (whose full first name is Elzira) appears to be a widow. (There is some fiddling about with her marital status, but it does seem to be W and James is absent. You can check it to form your own opinion.)
The reason you couldn't find them is because the family is indexed at Ancestry.com as ROORK or ROOTH--and I still can't find how Genealogy.com indexed it. But it definitely is James's family; both children, Luther and Mary, have the names they had in the 1900 census.
1910 AR Greene Co. Charles? twp 1-Wd Paragould (51 116a), hh 225-227
ROORK/ROOTH,* Elzira/Elzina head 40 wid 2ch/2liv TN TN TN none
--Luther son 21 m [?] TN TN TN none
--Mary dau 14 s TN TN TN none
(*) ROORK or ROOTH in ancestry.com index; haven't found by any spelling in genealogy.com index.
I realize that Julia HOLMES's obituary indicates that James was still living in Arkansas in 1918, when the obituary was written; but I surmise that the person who gave the obit information was not up to date on James's situation. (It's even possible that James was still living, but not with his family; many divorced or abandoned wives in that era chose to call themselves widows.)
I suspect Elzira remarried by 1920 and Mary got married; at any rate, I haven't found them in the 1920 and 1930 census. However, I think I found Luther:
1920 MO Scott Co. Kelso ( 32), hh 117-119
ROARK, Luther head owns 31 m TN TN TN conductor, railroad
--Irene wife 24 m MO GER MO
LIPPMAN, Caroline mother-in-law 69 wid MO GER GER
1930 MO Ste. Genevieve Co. Ste. Genevieve ( 163b), hh 163-193
ROARK, Luther V. boarder 41 div TN US US confectionery salesman
ELLIE DORRIS'S PARENTS
Since I knew from the censuses that Ellie's name was actually Elzira, she was easy to find in the 1880 census:
1880 TN Sumner 11-Dist (1282 172C), hh 15-15
DORRIS, James A. head 32 m TN TN TN farmer
--Laura wife 26 m TN TN TN
--Elzira/Elzina dau 10 s TN TN TN
--Allice dau 8 s TN TN TN
--Minnie dau 4 s TN TN TN
I enjoyed the search. I'm fairly sure now that James A. ROARK descends not from the William ROARK who married Sarah DORRIS but from a near relative of that ROARK, the line known as the "Goose Creek Roarks." If you want to follow up on Elzira or Mary, you might try the Arkansas records for marriages.
Alma Johnson
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