Updated May 8, 2020 - My sister, Mary Rosalind, at the age of 20, left home on January 4, 1961, rather than stay in an abusive marriage. At the time, women did not have many recourses to deal with this. Fifty-seven years goes by pretty fast, but I have not stopped looking for her over the years.

Information on Mary Rosalind

Mary Rosalind was born on July 13, 1940, in Lewisville, Denton County, Texas. Her Birth Certificate is on file in Volume 14, Page 241, of the Birth Records of Denton County, Texas. Mary's Father was Woodrow (Woody) W. Morgan, who was born in Denton, County, Texas. He was 22 at the time Mary Rosalind was born and was a laborer. Mary's Mother was Eloyce Pearl (Polly) Powell (1918-), who was a 22-year-old homemaker from Oklahoma. They were living in Lewisville at the time Mary Rosalind was born. Woody and Polly divorced soon after Mary's birth. After the divorce Polly and Mary Rosalind moved to Dallas, Texas.

Once in Dallas Polly found work as a messenger at Dallas Love Field, which at the time was an Army-Air Force Base. While working at Love Field, Polly began dating a co-worker, Thomas Burlon Hood (July 7, 1911 - ) and they eventually married on December 28, 1944. Tom, Polly and Mary Rosalind lived in the Hudnall Hotel on Maple Avenue in Dallas.

In 1942, Tom went to work for the 5th Ferry Command at Dallas Love Field. Love Field was an Army-Air Force Base at the time. Tom worked in the paint department. He painted the numbers on the planes and occasionally picked up extra money by painting the pilots names on the side of the cockpit.

Tom and Polly married on December 28, 1944. Tom, Polly and Mary Rosalind lived in the Hudnall Hotel on Maple Avenue in Dallas. After the war, Polly's parents told them about a job. Tom accepted the job of managing a Magnolia gas station in Snyder, Oklahoma. In 1986 the gas station had become a grocery store. While in Snyder, the family lived in the old jack Brown House.

On January 1, 1945, Tom accepted a job as a deputy county sheriff for the Kiowa County Oklahoma Sheriff's Department. Tom, Polly, Mary Rosalind moved to Hobart, Oklahoma where they found lodging in an apartment in the basement of the County Courthouse. Tom worked as a jailer during the day and made extra money crafting and hand-tooling leather belts, holsters, and other items for the other deputies. Tom and Polly had two sons. On October 12, 1945, Polly gave birth to George William (Bill) Hood and Monty Ray Hood, born on February 2, 1948, both born at the Hobart General Hospital in Kiowa County, Oklahoma.

With three children and a wife to care for, Tom began searching for a better job. In January 1951, Tom moved his family to Lawton, Oklahoma where he worked for Osham Wholesale Grocery (now Sooner Products). The family lived in a house off Fort Sill Boulevard.

A year later, in 1952, Tom moved the family to Cedar Hill, Texas where he accepted the job of town water-meter reader. Tom's late-brother Shorty offered Polly a job as manager of his restaurant, Shorty Hood's Barbecue. Mary Rosalind worked as a server at Shorty's during her teens. The cafe, located on Highway 67 at Belt Line Road has been demolished due to the expansion of Highway 67. When the family first moved to Cedar Hill, they lived in a rent house on Houston Street for a while before moving to the old Brandenburg house on Brandenburg Street.

Mary Rosalind attended Cedar Hill High School and it was there that Mary Rosalind met fellow student Dan Stewart. Dan and Mary Rosalind married in Cedar Hill on July 22, 1955, when Mary Rosalind was 15 years old. Dan had just graduated and had a job at the Chance Vaught Aircraft plant in Grand Prairie, Texas. Dan and Mary Rosalind lived at his parent's farm on the outskirts of Cedar Hill. After a few months they moved into a small rent house in town. The marriage lasted only a short time and they divorced on November 15, 1957.

Mary Rosalind moved in with Tom and Polly while continuing to work as a server at Shorty's cafe. Within a few months Mary Rosalind deciding to attend Neilson's Beauty College on Jefferson Street in Dallas, Texas. Mary Rosalind received her Operators License in 1958 from the Texas Cosmetology Commission. Mary Rosalind worked at a beauty shop on Forrest in Dallas, then at the Balboa Beauty Shop on Balboa Street in Oak Cliff.

Mary Rosalind circa 1958

While attending beauty college in 1958, Mary Rosalind began living with Sheeney Bailey, of Cedar Hill. Family members have been unable to find a marriage license. Sheeney was 20 years older than Mary, born about 1920. Sheeney did not have a job during the brief marriage and earned his money as a gambler. Sheeney and Mary Rosalind had troubles from the start. Sheeney drank heavily and would be gone for days. He spent most of his time gambling in various clubs and back rooms near the Dallas/Tarrant County line and in Grand Prairie. Sheeney would come home drunk frequently and physically abuse Mary Rosalind in a drunken rage. The couple lived in his mother's house on the outskirts of Cedar Hill.

On August 5, 1958, Mary Rosalind had a daughter and named her Tammy. The attending physician was a Dr. Hess, who had offices on Edgefield in Dallas. Tammy was born at the Stevens Park Clinic in Dallas.

In late 1958, Tom and Polly decided to separate. Tom moved back up to Hobart, Oklahoma to work for the Sheriffs Department. Polly moved into a rent house on Hood Drive in Cedar Hill with the boys, Bill and Monty.

After Tammy was born Sheeney spent less time with his family. Mary Rosalind and Tammy spent many nights staying with Polly in her house on Hood Drive. Sheeney's drunken rages and extended absences compelled Mary Rosalind to move her 13-year-old brother, Bill, to her house in an attempt to counter the attacks. Bill lived with them during the fall and winter of 1959. The presence of another person in the house prevented the regularity of the abuse but not the severity.

Polly went to work for Rockefeller's Restaurant on Edgefield Street in Oak Cliff (a suburb of Dallas) in the summer of 1959. To be closer to work, Polly and Monty moved into a rent house on Glenfield Street in Oak Cliff. Shortly before Christmas of 1959, Mary Rosalind took Bill to Dallas to live with Polly. Mary Rosalind had asked Sheeney for a divorce often and Sheeney let her know that he would never allow her to divorce him.

By July of 1960, Mary Rosalind was tired of being a beautician. Mary Rosalind asked Polly to give her a job as a server at Rockefeller's Restaurant on Edgefield Street in Oak Cliff where Polly was the manager.

While working, Mary Rosalind would leave Tammy at the home of Nove Carroll in Cedar Hill, Texas. Sheeney would frequently drop in at Rockefeller's and accuse Mary Rosalind of flirting with the customers and attempt to start fights with some people. Mary Rosalind decided to leave Sheeney to avoid the jealous rages and beatings. Mary Rosalind knew that Sheeney would find her in Dallas County and that the only way out was to leave the state. A mechanic at a service station across the street from the restaurant agreed to help Mary. He wouldn't have any part of taking Tammy or the 1960 Chevrolet that was in Sheeney's name.

Mary Rosalind apparently told no one about her decision to leave. Early in the morning of January 4, 1961, she left Tammy with Nove Carroll. Mary Rosalind did not inform Nove of her intentions for fear of Sheeney finding out. Mary Rosalind drove her car to a 7-11 store at the corner of Hampton Road and Illinois in South Oak Cliff. The store had not yet opened as she sat in the car waiting for the mechanic who would help her escape. On the back of an envelope Mary Rosalind hastily wrote a note to Sheeney informing him of why she was leaving and of her intentions to return for Tammy. Mary Rosalind left the car in front of the store and drove away with the mechanic. Later that morning Mary Rosalind wrote a check for some clothes at the House of Nines in Haltom City, a suburb of Dallas.

In late February or early March, Mary Rosalind called her father Tom Hood, who lived in Hobart, Oklahoma. Mary Rosalind wanted to come home and asked Tom for money to buy a bus ticket. Years later, Tom and Polly disagreed on where Mary Rosalind had called from. Tom stated that Mary Rosalind had called from Texarkana, Texas and Polly thought that it was from New Orleans, Louisiana. Tom sent the money to Mary Rosalind and though she obviously received the money, she did not return home.

In March of 1961, Mary Rosalind mailed a postcard to Polly. The card had a Coca Beach, Florida postmark with a picture of the beach in Coca Beach on the front. The message was short, stating that she was well and would be seeing Polly soon. There was no return address.

The man that Mary Rosalind left Dallas with returned to Dallas in April of 1961 without Mary, stating that he left her in Florida. The man gave the family members as much information as he could at the time. He worked at a service station in Dallas for a while, but family members were eventually informed that he was serving time in the Texas Penitentiary.

Mary Rosalind wrote a letter to Polly in May of 1961, from Salt Lake City, Utah. Sheeney apparently took the letter from Polly's mailbox. In July of 1961, Sheeney brought Mary's daughter, Tammy, to visit with Polly at her home on Glenfield Street in Oak Cliff. Mary's brother, Monty, and Tammy were playing in Sheeney's car while Sheeney and Polly visited in the house. The letter fell from the back of the glove box onto the floor. Monty noted Polly's name and address and the return address. He kept the letter until Sheeney and Tammy had left and then gave the letter to Polly.

The following day, Polly and Mr. Glasscock, the district manager of Rockefeller Restaurants attempted to get in touch with Mary Rosalind in Salt Lake City. Mary Rosalind had given the name and address of Mary Boyes, 167 South Main, Salt Lake City, Utah. The address was that of the Little Hotel; located in the downtown area of Salt Lake City. The manager stated that Mary Boyes had lived at the hotel, before leaving unexpectedly. The manager did not have a forwarding address for this Mary Boyes. Family members are unsure if this Mary Boyes was another woman named Mary that Mary Rosalind has befriended or if Mary Rosalind had assumed another last name. Mr. Glasscock failed to ask for a description of Mary Boyes, as he assumed it was our Mary Rosalind.

By July 1962, Mary's brother Bill had joined the Navy and during a leave went to Salt Lake City in an attempt to find Mary. The individuals Bill spoke to at the hotel stated that they did not know Mary Boyes and were generally uncooperative. Bill went to the Salt Lake City Police Department to request some assistance. The police informed Bill that as Mary Rosalind was of legal age there was nothing they could do. The City of Salt Lake has since demolished the hotel as part of a downtown revitalization project.

It is possible that Mary Rosalind somehow changed her name to Mary Boyes and could have used this name to establish herself somewhere. Of course she would have to had identification with this name. There are no clues that are known why Mary Rosalind would have picked the name Boyes, if she did.

Polly asked Sheeney about the letter and he denied having ever seen the letter or knowing how the letter got in his car. Polly did remember that Sheeney had disappeared for a week following the arrival of the letter in May of 1961. Sheeney would never say where he had been during this time.

After Mary Rosalind left, Sheeney asked Nove Carroll to keep Tammy full time. Nove treated Tammy as her daughter over the years and even made Tammy her beneficiary in her will. When Nove died, Tammy inherited the house. Tammy married and divorced Clay Paramore of Cedar Hill, Texas.

Sheeney Bailey eventually remarried. He lived in Fort Worth, Texas, with his wife for sometime. Sheeney passed away from natural causes (heart problems) in 1992.

In late summer of 1961, Polly got in touch with the Social Security Administration and requested help in locating Mary. They informed Polly that without a Social Security number they could not do much. They did agree to forward a letter if they could find Mary. Polly wrote the letter and mailed it to the Social Security Administration. Months later the letter came back to Polly marked "Moved, Left No Forwarding Address"; with a Venice Beach, California address. Polly was unsure that the Venice Beach Mary Rosalind was her daughter or another woman with same name.

Over the years, Bill wrote many letters and called many women listed as "Mary R.” in the Salt Lake City telephone directory. In May of 1986, Bill found a listing for Mary Boyes in the Salt Lake City directory. Mrs. Boyes had moved to Salt Lake City recently with her husband and knew nothing of our Mary Boyes. Mrs. Boyes wrote a letter to Bill and it is in his files. Her name is Mary W. Boyes and her husband is John M. Boyes. They lived at 5340 Armenta, Salt Lake City, Utah 84117.

In January 1986, Bill went to the Texas Department of Public Safety Driver License Division located in Austin, Texas. Bill was told that the Department only keeps records on file for two years after the expiration date of the current license. Records from 1960 were on paper and have been destroyed.

On February 23, 1986, Bill wrote to the County Clerk in Denton County, Texas where Mary Rosalind was born. Bill was in hopes that Mary Rosalind had requested a copy of birth certificate for legal reasons and that they might have an address in their files. On March 5, 1986, Bill received a letter from Mary Jo Hill, the County Clerk of Denton County. Ms. Hill stated that they did keep copies of requests for birth certificates but in checking they found no record of Mary Rosalind having ever made such a request. They even checked the voter registration list in Denton County.

In May of 1986, Bill checked with the Texas Cosmetology Commission in Austin, Texas. Their records show that Mary's Beauty Operator License expired in 1961 and that she never renewed her license. Mary Rosalind could have transferred those hours or license to another state and since that was before microfilm or computers it would not show on their records today.

In July of 1986, Bill contacted the Austin offices of the Social Security Administration about the possibilities of them forwarding another letter to Mary. A Mr. Zuckro agreed to forward the letter, but he would need as much information about Mary Rosalind as possible to help him in finding her. After four months Mr. Zuckro wrote back, stating that with so little information they were unable to locate Mary Rosalind in their computer.

During July of 1986, Bill contacted the Stevens Park Clinic in Dallas in an attempt to locate Mary's Social Security number. He learned that all records are at the Dallas Family Hospital. He spoke with a Ms. Carol Stanford in Medical Records. She informed Bill that all medical records are strictly confidential and could only be obtained by court order through an attorney's request.

Bill has contacted various information sources with computer databases in an attempt to locate Mary Rosalind. Among these are Friendfinders International, Information Sources, Information Resource Service Company, National Data Research Center, Information on Demand, Database, Inc. and Infosearch, Inc. While all of these databases are able to search by Social Security Numbers, none of them could help without the number or Mary Rosalind's current last name.

Bill contacted Mary Rosalind's daughter, Tammy in 1992 and flew her to Austin to meet and discuss strategy concerning the finding of Mary Rosalind. Tammy has conducted some investigation and thus far has been unsuccessful in her attempts.

In 1993, Tammy eventually married has a son. She lives in the Dallas, Texas area.

Details:

Mary Rosalind has blue eyes, brown hair and is approximately 5' 7" tall. She has no birthmarks, but did receive a scar on her right forearm as a teenager about 1954. This scar is crescent shaped and measures approximately 3 to 4 inches in length. A Dr. Crawford at his office in Cedar Hill, Texas treated the wound.

Mary Rosalind has used the following names: Morgan, Hood, Stewart, Bailey and perhaps Boyes.

Full Name: Mary Rosalind (Morgan, Hood, Stewart, Bailey, Boyes)

Gender/Descent: Female / Caucasian

Vital Statistics: Born 13 July 1940, Lewisville, Denton County, Texas

Social Security Number: The Social Security number that Mary Rosalind gave at the beauty shops and to Rockefellers differed and Polly doubted that either were her actual number. Polly gave these numbers to a private detective in Dallas who was to have looked for Mary. Polly lost contact with the detective and the social security numbers.

Physical: 5 ft. 7 in. tall, weight unknown, blue eyes, brown hair, glasses, crescent shaped scar 3-4 inches in length on right forearm received as teenager about 1954.

Last address: Cedar Hill, Texas 75104 (1960)

Education: Cedar Hill High School, Cedar Hill, Texas. Neilson Beauty College, Dallas, Texas, Received Beauty Operators License from the Texas Cosmetology Commission in 1958.

Occupation: Unknown. She was employed as beautician (1959) and waitress (1960).

Organizations: Unknown

Religion: Raised Methodist

Military: None

Licenses: Texas Drivers License (1960) number unknown

Hobbies: Art, drawing and painting

Possible Location: Utah, Colorado, Nevada, or California

Law History: No arrests prior to 1/4/1961

Mother: Eloyce Pearl Powell (Married Names: Morgan, Hood, McGee, Putman)

Date of Birth: 1-11-1918 Oklahoma, Deceased: 7-5-1991

Interred at Restland Mausoleum, Abby Chapel, Dallas, Texas

Father: Woodrow (Woody) W. Morgan

Date of Birth: Unknown, Circa 1918, Denton County, Texas, Deceased: Date Unknown

Adopted Father: Thomas Burlon Hood

Date of Birth: 6-5-1911, Duncanville, Texas, Deceased: 29 Dec 1997

Daughter: Tammy

Date of Birth: 8-5-1958, Steven's Park Clinic (became Family Health Clinic), Dallas, TX

Current Address: Dallas County, Texas

Mary's brother, Bill Hood, is keeping a file of all information on her. If you have any information to add to this file please send to:

Bill Hood
Calle Teopanzolco 107B
Col. Vista Hermosa
Cuernavaca, Morelos 62290 MX
World Cell Phone: (0011) 512.807.8222
email: Click Here

Update:

February 4, 2018: After 57 years of searching for my sister, Mary, I received a message on Facebook from Donald Max Taylor, Jr.

"Hello Bill, this is regarding Mary Rosalind. I do not want to get your hopes up but my grandmother was named Mary Rosalind Hood and married my grandfather Kermit Walter Bays. She was born in 1940 and passed in 1966. I have one picture of her holding my father that I can send to you. I do not have a Facebook I am using my wifes profile. I read your story, not sure it could be coincidence, but there are a lot of similarities. I'm trying to find more information myself on my family tree."

As it turns out, Donald Max Taylor's grandmother was my sister Mary Rosalind Hood!