Around 1/16/95, Dicy mentioned that she thought her biological father may have been a man named Paul Appleman. Mr. Appleman was an engineer. He worked probably for state and not city. He was handsome, tall and big (not fat) always dressed up, nice hat, coat, always smoked a cigar. Her mother would sometimes send her to a tavern/saloon/restaurant where he was every evening for dinner. Women were not allowed in saloons then so Dicy would stand outside and clear her throat or do whatever it took to get his attention. Dicy would be given a note and instructions not to tell her father. The man would make over her when she was there and would usually give her money. He would "show her off" to others. Mother told Dicy that he never married.
Dicy said one day when her mother was out, she went through an old trunk and found the copy of the marriage certificate. She wondered why her mother didn't ask her what was wrong because she figured her face must have shown how confused and upset she was. She never confronted her mother about the 3 years between when she was born and when they were married. The father she knew, didn't marry her mother until (May ?) 1915 when Dicy was 3 years old; however, his name was on the birth certificate. Dicy doesn't know if that was the birth certificate from when she was born or if it was the one she went and got when she was 14 and wanted to go to work. Her mother went with her and told the clerk the father was John Shelton. Dicy said she felt John Shelton's family never was very fond of her and actually ignored her. Dicy also said her mother told her several times on her death bed that she had something to tell Dicy but somehow, she never did. Either someone else came in the room or she lapsed back into a coma-like state. Dicy wonders if this is what her mother was referring too.
Dicy said Paul Appleman was born in Belgium. He had an accent. Her mother talked about him quite a bit. She could tell that both Paul and her mother cared a lot for each other.