Daniel Wilburn Malone of Mobile, Alabama
Dec 8, 2019 22:04:31 GMT -8
Post by Uncle Buddy on Dec 8, 2019 22:04:31 GMT -8
I research inventors who made unbelievable claims about compressed air powered cars and power generators. Basically this is a bit of lost technology in the form of solar energy, a technology which is today considered impossible or against the laws of physics, but at one time hundreds of inventors were working on an air car. I've found a couple hundred of them just from old newspapers online.
Recently I found another inventor. Daniel Milburn Malone--that's "Milburn" with an "M"--was supposedly living in Paterson, New Jersey when a local reporter published an article about his amazing compressed air engine invention. I couldn't find hide nor hair of this guy in spite of having his full name. So often the newspaper just gives us initials, but here I had his place of birth (Alabama), his military experience (Army, World War I), and all three names spelled out, and still couldn't find him.
Repeated searches through the records of Daniel Malones born in Alabama turned up only one possible person, but the middle initial was wrong. I briefly wondered if the newspaper reported could have written "Milburn" for "Wilburn", but dismissed this as wishful thinking after a brief search turned up nothing.
A week passed and the possibility was still bugging me. I even had a great photo of this Daniel W. Malone, so wouldn't it be awesome if he turned out to be my inventor?
I spent a couple days looking into this Daniel W. but found nothing for a middle name. He was easy enough to find in the census; his dad had died young and Daniel can be found living with a foster family and then back to his mother.
Finally I gave up, and that's when the magic happened. As I was about to slam the door behind me, I decided to look, in desperation, at an online family tree. I hate to do this because most of them are unsourced and half of the data is just guessing, but look I did. I found Daniel W. Malone on a tree, and it turned out the poor fella had died young, and lucky me, his probate file was online.
It was 41 pages long, and after downloading 33 pages I could think of plenty of other things I could be doing with my time. But it turned out that Daniel had some property in Denver, Colorado, and there on page 33 were two receipts from the Denver land office made out to DANIEL WILBURN MALONE.
I literally fell on the floor laughing.
The weird part is that this doesn't prove he's my inventor. But I'm pretty sure he is. He's the only Daniel Wilburn Malone I could find.
Recently I found another inventor. Daniel Milburn Malone--that's "Milburn" with an "M"--was supposedly living in Paterson, New Jersey when a local reporter published an article about his amazing compressed air engine invention. I couldn't find hide nor hair of this guy in spite of having his full name. So often the newspaper just gives us initials, but here I had his place of birth (Alabama), his military experience (Army, World War I), and all three names spelled out, and still couldn't find him.
Repeated searches through the records of Daniel Malones born in Alabama turned up only one possible person, but the middle initial was wrong. I briefly wondered if the newspaper reported could have written "Milburn" for "Wilburn", but dismissed this as wishful thinking after a brief search turned up nothing.
A week passed and the possibility was still bugging me. I even had a great photo of this Daniel W. Malone, so wouldn't it be awesome if he turned out to be my inventor?
I spent a couple days looking into this Daniel W. but found nothing for a middle name. He was easy enough to find in the census; his dad had died young and Daniel can be found living with a foster family and then back to his mother.
Finally I gave up, and that's when the magic happened. As I was about to slam the door behind me, I decided to look, in desperation, at an online family tree. I hate to do this because most of them are unsourced and half of the data is just guessing, but look I did. I found Daniel W. Malone on a tree, and it turned out the poor fella had died young, and lucky me, his probate file was online.
It was 41 pages long, and after downloading 33 pages I could think of plenty of other things I could be doing with my time. But it turned out that Daniel had some property in Denver, Colorado, and there on page 33 were two receipts from the Denver land office made out to DANIEL WILBURN MALONE.
I literally fell on the floor laughing.
The weird part is that this doesn't prove he's my inventor. But I'm pretty sure he is. He's the only Daniel Wilburn Malone I could find.
