Virgie May Burns was born in Mason County, West Virginia, a daughter of Daniel Burns and Minnie A. Denny. She married Melvin J. Fetty at Point Pleasant on 14 May 1917, at seventeen, and her mother went to the courthouse to consent. The clerk wrote it on the return: "Mrs. Minnie Burns, Mother of Bride, present and consenting."
The 1930 census has the family at Huntington, Gideon District, sheet 9B: Melvin J. Fetty, 35, first married at 22. Virgie M., 29, first married at 16. Dorford H. is eleven, Minnie L. is seven and Emerson L. is one year and three months. They are in Huntington again in 1940, and her son Emerson's West Virginia death record of 1963 names her as his mother. She died in July 1987 at Huntington, the city she raised her children in.
Her birth year is not settled. Her Social Security file gives 18 January 1900, and her marriage return, at seventeen in May 1917, agrees. The censuses of 1910 and 1930 point to January 1901, and her parents' 1900 census, taken that June, has two children and no Virgie.
The 1920 census of Mason County has a Virgie, eighteen and single, at home with Dan and Minnie Burns and Lawrence, Howard, Maggie, Walter and Catherine. By then Melvin's wife had been married three years and had a son born in January 1919. The marriage return, written on the day with her mother present, outweighs that census sheet.
Sources
West Virginia, Deaths, 1804-1999, Emmerson Lee Fetty, Cabell County, 30 May 1963. West Virginia, Marriages, 1780-1970, Emerson Lee Fetty and Grace Lee Leonard, Cabell County, 1953. West Virginia World War II Draft Registration Cards, Guyandotte, 23 December 1946. Find a Grave, White Chapel Memorial Gardens, Barboursville
Find a Grave memorial 107603690, Emerson Lee Fetty, White Chapel Memorial Gardens, Barboursville, Cabell County, West Virginia, headstone inscription and burial date. West Virginia, Deaths, 1804-1999. West Virginia World War II Draft Registration Cards, Guyandotte, 23 December 1946. United States Census, 1930 and 1940, Huntington, Cabell County
United States Census, 1930, Huntington, part of Gideon District, Cabell County, West Virginia, ED 6-38, sheet 9B, lines 68-72, household of Melvin J. Fetty, image 974 of 1159. United States Census, 1900, Arbuckle district, Mason County, West Virginia, ED 49, household of Daniel Burns. United States Census, 1910, Robinson district, Mason County, West Virginia, ED 112, household of Daniel Burns. United States Census, 1920, Mason County, West Virginia, household of Dan Burns. United States Census, 1940, Huntington, Cabell County, West Virginia, household of Melvin J. Fetty. United States Social Security Death Index, Virgie Fetty, born 18 January 1900, died July 1987 at Huntington.
West Virginia, Mason County, Marriage Records, page 386, Melvin J. Fetty and Virgie May Burns, licence and marriage 14 May 1917, Point Pleasant, by O. H. Jackson. West Virginia State Archives, Vital Research Records, film 567397 image 247.
West Virginia Vital Research Records, Mason County General Index and Register of Births, page 221, Burns, Daniel W., 25 September 1873, film 567386 image 162. West Virginia certificate of death 12983, serial 1164, Daniel W. Burns, 30 October 1954, Cabell County, film 1984372 image 1001. United States Census, 1900, Arbuckle District, Mason County, West Virginia.
West Virginia, Mason County, Marriage Records, page 376, Daniel Burns and Minnie A. Denny, licence 2 September 1895, married 3 September 1895 at Point Pleasant by W. C. L. Carroll. West Virginia State Archives, Vital Research Records, film 567393 image 222.
West Virginia State Department of Health, Division of Vital Statistics, Certificate of Death 58 002107, district 270, serial 14, Minnie Gusta Burns, died 7 February 1958, Point Pleasant, Mason County. West Virginia State Archives, Vital Research Records, film 2074140 image 111.
Cite: Heirology, "Virgie May Burns (1900-1987)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/virgie-may-burns-1900-1987-410004.