Lester B. Rheuble and Bernie L. Rheuble

So I wrote in my last post about weighing evidence and making deductions.  Here is a current puzzle that provides a more complex example of what a researcher sometimes is faced with.

Here is the question:  Are Lester B. Rheuble and Bernie L. Rheuble brothers or are they the same individual?  They are both identified as a child of Joseph M. Rheuble and his wife, Louisa V. Sherman.

Note:  The name is found as both Ruble and Rheuble on various records.  In each case, I will use the spelling found in the document I cite.

The data follows:

Bernie L. Rheuble is found in the birth records for Grant Co., West Virginia with a birth date of 9 November 1897 and born in Medley.  The information was given to the recorder by his father, Joseph M. Rheuble.

On the 1900 census, the Ruble family is found in Grant District, Grant Co., West Virginia.  The son born November 1897 is listed as Vernon L., age two years and the youngest member of the family on that census.  I believe this must be the Bernie L. found in the birth records.

On the 1910 census, the Ruble family is found in South Fork District, Hardy Co., West Virginia.  Son, Bernard L. is twelve years old, making him born ca 1898.  There is no Lester shown in the family.  At this point, the 1910 census is the last mention I have found of Bernard/Bernie L.


Lester B. Rheuble (known to the family as "Les") is not found on the West Virginia birth records, though all the other children in the family except the eldest, Overton, are found.  Here are the children:

     Overton L. Rheuble, born 6 June 1891, not found in West Virginia birth records
     Cleveland Rheuble, born 16 May 1894
     Lulu Ruble, born 15 November 1895, twin
     Ollie Ruble, born 15 November 1895, twin
     Bernie L. Rheuble, 9 November 1897
     Annie Rheuble, 6 August 1900
     Geo S Rheuble, 17 September 1903
     Jos W Rheuble, 19 October 1905, twin
     Lemuel Rheuble, 19 October 1905, twin (still born)
     Alberta Virginia, 11 September 1907

Now there are gaps in the sequence with enough time for there to be other children that are not listed, but since all but Lester and Overton are there, including the stillborn Lemuel, the family seems to have been pretty good about recording the children's births.

So, I've not found a birth record for Lester B. Rheuble, but have a variety of sources for a birth date:

       An obituary says he was 41 in May 1940 = born ca 1898-99
       Other family research says =  born 5 November 1900
       Gave age as 19 when enlisted in military in April 1916 = born 1897
       Gave age as 31 on 1930 census = born ca 1899
       Find-A-Grave Memorial says born = 5 November 1900 (no source for this date)
       Death Certificate (informant was Veterans Records) says born = 5 November 1900

If, however, you look at the birth dates of Lester's siblings, you see that Annie was born in August 1900 making it impossible for Lester to have been born in November 1900.

All the military related records I've found for him so far show his name as Lester.

His death certificate shows his name as Lester B. Rheuble.

His obituary says he was Lester Rheuble.

Lester was married to a Louise and had a son, Douglas.  I have not found the marriage record for them or anything about their son.  There might be clues there.

I asked a niece of Lester/Bernie if she knew whether they could be one person.  She said she remembered stories about Les, but had never heard of Bernie.

My working hypothesis (certainly not proven) is that this is one person, not two, named Bernard Lester Rheuble, born in November 1897 and died in May 1940.  However, I still have the records as two separate people in my database while I seek further clues.

So what do you think?  Is my deduction correct?  Any suggestions of ways to prove or disprove that Lester B. Rheuble and Bernard L. Rheuble are or are not one and the same?

If I ever solve this puzzle, I will report it.