Wade & Webb Family History

Elba Bell Linch1900–1975

Tallapoosa · Birmingham · Same House · Fairfield

On this page
  1. Family Record
  2. Life
  3. Open questions
  4. Searches made
  5. Sources
  6. Notes

Birth

  1. 1 Jul 1900 Tallapoosa, Alabama 1

Marriages

  1. 24 Jul 1919 Joseph Forney Walden, at Tallapoosa, Alabama 3

Death and burial

  1. Dec 1975 Death: Columbiana, Shelby, Alabama

Family

Parents
Not recorded
Spouse, 24 Jul 1919
Joseph Forney Walden 1900–1971
Children
Harold Eugene Walden 1927–1996

Line of descent Webb line

  1. Elba Bell Linch
  2. Wife of Joseph Forney Walden
  3. Lila Walden
  4. Hilda Webb, daughter
  5. William Albert Webb Wade, son

Wife of granduncle of Webb Wade, from whom this history is traced. Why Webb Wade?

Life

Elba Bell Linch was born in Tallapoosa County, Alabama, on 1 July 1900, a date and place the FamilySearch tree gives without an attached source.1 The federal census of 1910 lists her as Elba Linch in the household (the people living together at one address, as the census-taker recorded them) of Joe H. Linch; the tree does not yet name her parents.2 On 24 July 1919 she married J. F. Walden, that is Joseph Forney Walden, in Tallapoosa County.3 The census of 1930 recorded Elba B. Walden in Birmingham, Jefferson County, and those of 1940 and 1950 list Elba Walden in her husband's household, at Fairfield in 1940 and at Kimberly, Jefferson County, in April 1950.4 The tree names one son, Harold Eugene Walden (1927–1996), whose Social Security file gives his mother's name as Elba B. Lynch.5 Her husband died at Tuscaloosa on 16 November 1971, and his death record names her as Mrs. Elba Walden.6 She died at Columbiana, Shelby County, Alabama, in December 1975, according to the tree, which gives no source for her death.7 Searches of the Chronicling America newspaper collection for Alabama under her maiden and married names found no mention of her.8

Open questions

  • Her parents are not in the tree. A Linch family of Dadeville, Tallapoosa County, appears in the Montgomery Advertiser 1917-12-18 p.10: J. H. Linch, former sheriff of Tallapoosa County, and his son Jesse Linch, a road contractor (shot by Fred Little of Alexander City c.1913–14; shot Jesse Dansby at Lineville, Dec. 1917). Elba was born in Tallapoosa County in 1900 and married there in 1919: check the 1900 and 1910 censuses for her household and whether J. H. Linch is her father or uncle.
  • The pilot's "Mrs J F Walden" search is really "Mrs Walden"; a useful follow-up when Fairfield/Birmingham papers for 1927–1950 are searchable is "Walden" with "Fairfield" (Harold Eugene Walden born there 1927).

Searches made

  1. 2026-11-08Chronicling America: "Elba Linch", Alabama, 1918–1920no matches
  2. 2026-11-08Chronicling America: "Elba Linch", Alabama, 1915–1963no matches
  3. 2026-11-08Chronicling America: "Elba B Linch", Alabama, 1915–1963no matches
  4. 2026-11-08Chronicling America: "E B Linch", Alabama, 1915–196399 pages; first: [The Montgomery advertiser (Montgomery, Ala.), 1917-12-18, p. 10](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84020645/1917-12-18/ed-1/?sp=10); [The Birmingham age-herald (Birmingham, Ala.), 1916-04-15, p. 06](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn85038485/1916-04-15/ed-1/?sp=6); [The Birmingham age-herald (Birmingham, Ala.), 1917-12-19, p. 11](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn85038485/1917-12-19/ed-1/?sp=11)
  5. 2026-11-08Chronicling America: "Mrs Joseph Walden", Alabama, 1919–1963no matches
  6. 2026-11-08Chronicling America: "Mrs J F Walden", Alabama, 1919–196370 pages; first: [The Montgomery advertiser (Montgomery, Ala.), November 27, 1921, (SOCIETY SECTION), 1921-11-27, p. 17](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84020645/1921-11-27/ed-1/?sp=17); [The Montgomery advertiser (Montgomery, Ala.), November 13, 1927, (SECOND SECTION), 1927-11-13, p. 23](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84020645/1927-11-13/ed-1/?sp=23); [The Montgomery advertiser (Montgomery, Ala.), August 28, 1921, (SOCIETY SECTION), 1921-08-28, p. 17](https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn84020645/1921-08-28/ed-1/?sp=17)
  7. 2026-11-08Assessment: Chronicling America: "E B Linch", Alabama, 1915–1963 (99 pages)With the initials dropped this is a search for "Linch"; the first ten pages were read, the other 89 were not reviewed. None names Elba. (1) Montgomery Advertiser 1917-12-18 p.10 and Birmingham Age-Herald 1917-12-19 p.11: Jesse Linch, a young road contractor, shot Jesse Dansby at Lineville (Clay County); "Jesse Linch is the son of J. H. Linch of Dadeville, a former sheriff of Tallapoosa county". Not Elba, but a Linch family of Dadeville, Tallapoosa County, where she was born in 1900 and married in 1919; the tree gives her no parents, so this is a FAN lead (see Open questions). (2) Birmingham Age-Herald 1915-06-13 p.27, 1916-04-09 p.26, 1916-04-13 p.6, 1916-04-15 p.6 and 1916-04-23 pp.25 and 30: society items for Miss Allie Linch of East Highlands / Pratt City, Birmingham, daughter of E. A. Linch, with Miss Vera Linch, who married Willis T. Kent in April 1916 — a Birmingham family; Elba was 15 and living in Tallapoosa County. Not her. (3) 1922-03-16 p.8: a Mrs. F. M. Linch among guests at the Henagan–Vann wedding, Birmingham — Elba was Mrs. Walden by then; not her. (4) 1924-01-23 p.4: Sheehan and Linch, sand shippers of Dothan — a firm; not her.
  8. 2026-11-08Assessment: Chronicling America: "Mrs J F Walden", Alabama, 1919–1963 (70 pages)Effectively a search for "Mrs Walden"; the first ten pages were read, the other 60 were not reviewed. None is Elba (Mrs. Joseph F. Walden of Tallapoosa County, then Birmingham and Fairfield from 1927). Montgomery Advertiser 1919-08-17 p.18, 1921-08-28 p.17, 1921-09-25 p.17, 1921-11-24 p.6 and 1921-11-27 p.17: Mr. and Mrs. R. C. Walden of DeFuniak Springs, Fla. (and Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Walden of Dothan), formerly of Montgomery; 1920-03-14 p.19: Mrs. J. C. Walden of Dothan; 1925-04-07 p.9 and 1927-04-24 p.23: Mrs. G. A. Walden of Montgomery and Mrs. O. W. Walden of Birmingham visiting a daughter Mrs. P. A. Goldsmith; 1927-11-13 p.23: Mrs. G. W. Walden of Birmingham and Mr. and Mrs. Gary W. Walden of Cleveland, Ohio, visiting Mrs. G. J. Thrasher; Birmingham Age-Herald 1920-04-16 p.8: a "Mrs. Walden" at a party at Center (Cherokee County). Different initials or places in every case; not this person.
  9. 2026-11-08Chronicling America: "Elba Walden", Alabama, 1919–1963no matches

Sources

Every FamilySearch record attached to Elba Bell Linch.

  1. 1910Elba Linch, "United States, Census, 1910"
  2. 24 Jul 1919Elba Bell Linch, "Alabama County Marriages, 1711-1992"
  3. 1930Elba B Walden, "United States, Census, 1930"
  4. 1940Elba Walden, "United States, Census, 1940"
  5. 1950Elba Walden, "United States, Census, 1950"
  6. 1971Mrs. Elba Walden, "Alabama, Deaths, 1908-1974"
  7. Elba B Lynch, "United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007"

Notes

  1. FamilySearch Family Tree, profile G86J-D9N: birth 1 Jul 1900, Tallapoosa, Alabama, no source attached back to the text
  2. "United States, Census, 1910", FamilySearch, Elba Linch in entry for Joe H Linch, 1910. Record: Elba Linch in entry for Joe H Linch, 1910 FamilySearch Family Tree, profile G86J-D9N: no parents in the tree back to the text
  3. "Alabama County Marriages, 1711-1992", FamilySearch, J F Walden and Elba Bell Linch, 24 Jul 1919. Record: J F Walden and Elba Bell Linch, 24 Jul 1919 FamilySearch Family Tree, profile G86J-D9N: marriage 24 Jul 1919, Tallapoosa, Alabama back to the text
  4. "United States, Census, 1930", FamilySearch, Elba B Walden, 1930. Record: Elba B Walden, 1930 "United States, Census, 1940", FamilySearch, Elba Walden in entry for Joseph Walden, 1940. Record: Elba Walden in entry for Joseph Walden, 1940 "United States, Census, 1950", FamilySearch, Elba Walden in entry for Joseph F Walden, April 19, 1950. Record: Elba Walden in entry for Joseph F Walden, April 19, 1950 FamilySearch Family Tree, profile G86J-D9N: residences 1930 Birmingham; 1940 Ward 5, Fairfield, Election Precinct 53, Jefferson; 19 Apr 1950 Kimberly, Jefferson back to the text
  5. FamilySearch Family Tree, profile G86J-D9N: child Harold Eugene Walden (1927–1996) "United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007", FamilySearch, Elba B Lynch in entry for Harold Eugene Walden. Record: Elba B Lynch in entry for Harold Eugene Walden back to the text
  6. FamilySearch Family Tree, profile LH7N-RZW (their page): death 16 Nov 1971, Tuscaloosa "Alabama, Deaths, 1908-1974", FamilySearch, Mrs. Elba Walden in entry for Joseph F. Walden, 1971. Record: Mrs. Elba Walden in entry for Joseph F. Walden, 1971 back to the text
  7. FamilySearch Family Tree, profile G86J-D9N: death Dec 1975, Columbiana, Shelby, Alabama, no source attached back to the text
  8. Research log, searches made: Chronicling America, Alabama: Elba Linch, Elba B Linch, Elba Walden, Mrs Joseph Walden: no matches; Linch and Mrs Walden results reviewed, none her back to the text