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Month: January 2017

CLARA TURK WOLF: First Generation American

Clara TURK is Bart’s maternal great grandmother. She passed away on January 13, 1968 in Deckerville, Sanilac, Michigan. Today we’re celebrating her life. I never knew Clara and I haven’t heard any stories about her so this post will probably be short and full of facts.
Clara was the first generation of the TURK family to be born in America. Her parents, Michael and Catherine KOSLOWSKI TURK were both born in Germany. Clara had 8 or 9 siblings that I know about. She grew up in Sanilac County, Michigan in the “thumb” of the Michigan mitten. In 1894 Clara’s mom passed away. Clara was about 6 years old then. About 8 months later, Clara’s dad married again. Clara’s stepmom, Wilhelmina BRANDT, raised her for 16 years.
Clara was 21 years old when she married William Charles WOLF and William was 24 years old.* Clara was working as a dressmaker (possibly in Cuyahoga County, Ohio) and William was farming in Fort Hope, Michigan. Like Clara, William was a first-generation American in his German family. William had also lost his mom about 3 years before the couple married. After marriage, they lived in Huron County, Michigan. At the time of the 1910 census, Clara and William were living in Bloomfield Township, Huron County, Michigan. They had only been married about 4 months and two of William’s brothers- Albert (age 15) and Wallace (age 13)- were living with them. Albert was helping William on the farm and Wallace was still in school.
Clara and William seemed to be the family’s caregivers from the get-go. In 1920 they were living in Wheatland Township, Sanilac County, Michigan. They were in their early 30’s and had their own family- two girls and two boys (the youngest boy being Bart’s grandfather). Living with them was William’s 56-year-old uncle, Ernest WOLF.
In 1930 they were still in Sanilac County, Michigan but they were living in Delaware Township. One daughter had moved out and another son had been born so there were still four children living at home. Clara and William reported having been married 21 years. This time, though, there were no other family members living with them. By 1940 their other daughter had moved out but the three boys were still at home. William’s uncle Ernest was living next door to the family.
Here is a photo of Clara and William in their later years together.

Portrait of William and Clark (Turk) Wolf.
Portrait of William and Clark (Turk) Wolf.

This photo was taken in 1959- about 9 years before Clara’s death.
Clara and William are buried at St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery in Minden City, Sanilac County, Michigan. I wish I knew more about Clara’s life. I did find one thing online that I would like Bart’s family’s input on. I found a photo of a “Mrs. William Wolf [Clara]” and one of the women vaguely resembles Bart’s great grandmother Clara but I don’t know her well enough to say one way or the other and I only have one photo to compare it to. The photo is dated 16 January 1961 and was labeled as a “cruise party”. It was sent to a “Mrs. Fred Schmidtt”. It’s currently housed at IUPUI University Library Special Collections and Archives in Indianapolis, Indiana. I’ll include the caption and a link to the online photo so family can try to evaluate it:
Link to photo of a Mrs. William Wolf [Clara]” in the Damenverein Collection, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Library.

Caption information for photo of "Mrs. William Wolf (Clara)" Damenverein Collection photo.
Caption information for photo of “Mrs. William Wolf (Clara)” Damenverein Collection photo.

Photo caption to linked photo.
I’ve enjoyed sitting down with a hot cup of tea to tell you a little about Clara. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about her and if you have stories about her I’d love to hear them. You can comment the stories below or send them to me in a message.


Until tomorrow,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives
*As a side note, on the marriage license application, Clara gave her mom’s name as Laura KOZLOWSKI.

William Larkin: Farmer, Mine Owner, and Road Paver

Today we’re celebrating William LARKIN’s birthday which is actually on the 13th but as I said in Sunday’s post, writing about three people on one blog post is just too much- for you AND for me. So here I sit (with my cup of coffee flavored with a little caramel syrup) to write another story for you. William is my 2nd great grandfather and the father of Ralph LARKIN about whom I blogged on Monday.
William was born in 1868 in Ohio to Joseph and Mary LANE LARKIN. Theodore Clay LARKIN (the one with the penchant for baseball bats that I wrote about here) was William’s uncle. William’s family moved to Kentucky about 1870 and then on to Arkansas by 1872. Between 1876 and 1880 they moved to McDonald Township, Barry County, Missouri. It was in Barry County, Missouri that William married Minerva Jane UNDERWOOD in 1889. They stayed in Barry County for a decade or so. This is where most (possibly all) of their children were born. After William’s mom passed away in 1899, William and Minerva moved to Aurora, Lawrence County, Missouri. I’m not sure if it’s coincidence, but on the 1900 census (and only on this one) he gave his occupation as mine owner. So did he inherit a mine from his mom or her family? Did he inherit money and that’s how he bought a mine? Did it just happen to all fall into place about the time his mom died? Or, did he hope to get in on the gold that was discovered in Barry County in 1910? So many questions, so few answers. (If you’re interested in the 1910 discovery of gold in Barry County you can read about it here. You’ll have to scroll almost to the bottom of the page or use your search function. Hey Becky, is this your RICH family mentioned in this gold article??)
William and his family stayed in Aurora for the decade between 1900-1910. 1910 is a little confusing where this family is concerned because the census shows they were living in Hulbert, Cherokee County, Oklahoma (near Tahlequah). But later on down in this post you’ll see a city directory entry that shows them living in Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma. My opinion is that their residence was in Hulbert but during the work week William lived in a tent in Tulsa. You’ll see a newspaper article toward the end of this blog post that will make this theory more clear.
I lost William and Minerva after 1910 and they were “missing” for a very long time until I found a researcher who told me Minerva died about 1917 or 1918 and is buried in a plot in a cemetery in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The plot was meant for someone else but when Minerva died and they needed a place to bury her, they used the plot they had. It is, as far as I know, an unmarked grave. To be clear I can’t verify whether or not Minerva is there. I can’t verify her death date or place either. Oklahoma just came out with a database yesterday to search births and deaths in Oklahoma and I couldn’t find Minerva on there by her name. There was, however, an unidentified female with the last name LARKIN who died in March of 1917 in Cherokee County, Oklahoma so this could possibly be Minerva. I’ll be checking this out soon.

Unnamed Larkin female on OK2Explore.
Unnamed Larkin female on OK2Explore – Oklahoma’s online vital records index.

If you have Oklahoma ancestors you’re researching you can find the database here. (Thanks to Becky for the link! After she linked me, I got the same link from my cousin Denise LARKIN. Thanks to both of you!)
As for William, he disappeared after 1910 and I haven’t been able to find him. Becky did make this discovery just this week that I want to share with you.

1910 Tulsa City Directory entry for William and M. Jane Larkin.
1910 Tulsa City Directory entry for William and M. Jane Larkin.

1910 Tulsa City Directory entry.
Based on images I can find online it looks like 121 N Nogales is now an empty lot:

121 N. Nogales, Tulsa, Oklahoma on Google Maps.
121 N. Nogales, Tulsa, Oklahoma on Google Maps.

(Thanks, Google maps!)
Along with that new information Becky sent a link so I could learn more about the company William worked for- Tulsa Vitrified Brick and Tile Company. You can learn about it too by going to Tulsa Gal’s blog.
I did not know William was ever in Tulsa so this is a new area to research. I checked the new Oklahoma database I linked to above and found one entry for a William Larkin.

William Larkin entry on OK2Explore.
William Larkin entry on OK2Explore – Oklahoma’s online vital records index.

I will definitely be checking this out further and, if it looks promising, I’ll be ordering a certificate. I’m crossing my fingers and hoping that after all these years I have finally found him (and Minerva, too).
Becky found one more little tidbit that I’d like to share with you from Newspapers.com because I believe there is a strong possibility that this article is about our William LARKIN:

16 September 1906 newspaper article in The Morning Tulsa Daily World about William Larkin.
16 September 1906 newspaper article in The Morning Tulsa Daily World about William Larkin. Found on Newspapers.com.

16 September 1906, The Morning Tulsa Daily World
Anybody in the Tulsa area feel like taking a trip over to the old fair ground district to take some photos for us??
So there you have it. Our farmer, mine owner, and road paver summed up in one story. The next time you’re driving around in Tulsa, I hope you’ll think about William. You may be driving on a road he once paved.


Until tomorrow,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

James Butler and a Plea for Help

I’m not going to lie- this post is a cry for help.
I worked off and on through the last few weeks to come up with something to tell you about this man that you would find interesting. I sipped my hot peach tea yesterday and contemplated where else I could search, what search terms I might not have tried yet. I’ve got nothing, folks. I don’t know much about James and all my years of research have only served to confuse me more in regard to him. There is literally not ONE researcher I can find who has this family tree correct and that includes me! Every single one of us has errors. Part of the problem is that my James married my Nancy. But a different James BUTLER married a different Nancy in Grove, Delaware County, Oklahoma (This second couple is not our couple.). (And you wouldn’t believe how many other James Butler’s married how many other Nancy’s in Missouri, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.) To top it all off, I’ve even seen Nancy’s name as Elizabeth Caudill (which actually IS the name of the woman I think is her mom). I’m just going to start with the facts and see where the facts take the story from there. James BUTLER is my paternal 3rd great grandfather.
WHAT I KNOW
When I first started working on the family history as a teen my Mam (paternal grandmother Audrey) told me that Laura BUTLER HUBBARD’s parents were James and Nancy CAUDILL BUTLER. I’ve had a lot of starts and stops and do-overs in finding information about James and Nancy. I would think I’d found the family and I’d connect them on Ancestry and then find information that changed my mind and I would disconnect that family from James’ tree- not once, not twice, but multiple times. This is what I know about James- or at least what I think I know! James BUTLER was born 10 January 1854 (I’m more certain about the year than the day/month) in Missouri (possibly in Arkansas- Laura listed both places on different census enumerations).
James married Nancy CAUDILL on 26 August 1877. I think they had five children. Those children being Laura (my 2nd great grandmother), Emmaline, Charley, Cora, and Estella. One researcher says there is a sibling named Bessie and not a sibling named Cora. Charley is buried in an unmarked grave in Southwest City Cemetery in Southwest City, McDonald County, Missouri as is his son, John Henry.
I know the family lived in Douglas County, Missouri and I’m not really sure how many of them made it down to Southwestern Missouri. That’s it, folks. The end of the line for everything of which I can be certain. If you can help, please do!
And just to assuage your sadness at this meager posting today, I offer you a screenshot of the marriage certificate of Alford and Laura BUTLER HUBBARD.

Marriage License for Alford Hubbard and Laura Butler.
Marriage License for Alford Hubbard and Laura Butler.

And a screenshot of Cora BUTLER BARNES’ death certificate.

Cora Butler Barnes' death certificate.
Cora Butler Barnes’ death certificate.

And a tiny little news clipping in The 16 September 1948 edition of The Sikeston Herald Newspaper out of Sikeston, Missouri courtesy of Newspapers.com. I *think* this article is talking about two of James and Nancy’s children- Charley BUTLER and ESTELLA BUTLER ROBERTS. (I could be wrong on this one but here it is- feel free to disprove it.)

Article about Charles Butler and Estella Butler Roberts, possibly.
Article about Charles Butler and Estella Butler Roberts, possibly.

Until tomorrow (when I will have a better blog post),
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Ralph Larkin and the Mystery of His Missing Sibling

Today’s blog post is about Ralph LARKIN. I’ll be going off the information I have available to me online (and not digging out my records or any additional information online) as well as going off stories from my Dad to create today’s blog post. Ralph LARKIN is my paternal great grandfather. He died on this date in 1963. I wasn’t born for another 6 years so I don’t have any personal stories about him to tell. Any stories I have come from others and from records.
RALPH’S CHILDHOOD
I have tried to stick with Ralph’s childhood but a big part of childhood is siblings and Ralph has a sibling that’s a big mystery so today I’m going to talk a little about the siblings.
Ralph was born in 1898 in Barry County, Missouri to William and Minerva UNDERWOOD LARKIN. By 1900 (just two years later) the family was living in Aurora, Lawrence County, Missouri. Ralph had two siblings that I can name with certainty- Emily and William. (Alice is another child that some researchers assign to Minerva. We’ll talk about Alice in a minute.) In the 1900 census Ralph’s mom was 48 years old and she stated she gave birth to four children and all four were living. There are only 3 children living in the home, though- Emily (who later goes by Emma; 10 years old), William (who later went by Jess or Jesse; 8 years old), and Ralph (2 years old).
Ten years later in the 1910 census, Ralph’s mom says again that she gave birth to four children but in 1910 she says one child is deceased. The children listed in her household in 1910 are Emma, Jesse (spelled ‘Jessie’), and Ralph. I did a search of pre-1910 Missouri deaths at the Missouri archives database for a possible record of the baby that died but couldn’t find anything that seemed to fit with the information above.
Now let me throw another kink in things. Jess died in 1956. His obituary lists the following siblings: Mrs. Emma SPILLERS of Southwest City, Missouri; Mrs. Alice EDENS of Tulsa, Oklahoma; and Ralph LARKIN of Southwest City, Missouri. So, were there actually 5 children total and one died? Did they think Alice was going to die and told the census taker she was dead but then she pulled through? Was there a misunderstanding on either the census taker’s part or the part of the person giving answers to the census taker?
Let’s go ahead and talk about Alice now. Some researchers have Alice listed as Minerva’s sibling (Ralph’s aunt) and some have Alice listed as Minerva’s child (Ralph’s sibling). On the FindAGrave website Alice is listed as belonging to Minerva’s parents. I believe this is incorrect for a couple of reasons including Alice being listed as a granddaughter of Minerva’s mom on the 1880 census and the fact that Minerva’s mom would have been approaching 60 when Alice was born so biology would make it improbable that she gave birth to Alice.
On the records I’ve found for Alice, she had UNDERWOOD as her last name. So was Alice the illegitimate daughter of Minerva or one of Minerva’s sisters? Was she Minerva’s niece that Minerva ended up raising (a daughter of one of Minerva’s brothers)? Minerva’s brother just happened to get married the year Alice was born so maybe something happened to Alice’s mom and Minerva’s brother couldn’t care for the baby? Allow me to tell you what I think. I think we can safely rule out all of the brothers because in the 1880 census Alice’s father’s birthplace is not given but her mother’s is and her mother’s birthplace is North Carolina. If one of Minerva’s brothers had been the dad, the family would have been able to answer the question of Alice’s father’s birthplace so I think we can safely rule out all of the brothers (Ralph’s uncles). Minerva was approximately 19 when Alice was born so I think it’s most likely that Alice is either Minerva’s or one of the sisters’ illegitimate child. Minerva and Mary are the only ones I’m showing as being born in North Carolina so I think we can safely narrow it down to one of those two women. In looking at these two women, I notice that in 1874 (when Alice was born) Mary was married and going by the name BUTLER. So I think we can finally narrow it down to Minerva as being Alice’s mom. That equals four biological children for Minerva so you would think that would solve the problem, but it doesn’t because Minerva said one of her children was deceased by 1910 and yet Jess’s obituary shows there were four siblings and all were still alive in 1956.
I have yet to figure out this mystery. If you get it figured out- please let me know! It’s difficult for me to imagine that Alice and Ralph were ever very close. Alice had her first two children before Ralph was ever born and she had her third child the same year Ralph was born. We’re going to stop right here with Ralph’s childhood and move on but first, I want to show you some photographs of two of Minerva’s children.
This is Ralph:

This is Ralph’s sister, Emma LARKIN SPILLERS:

RALPH’S ADULTHOOD
In 1918, at age 20, Ralph married Bessie WILLIAMS STEELEY.

Ralph and Bess
Bessie had been married already once at the age of 14 to Otis STEELEY and that marriage ended in divorce almost as soon as it began. I think for Ralph, this was his first marriage. Ralph’s mom signed the application for a marriage license and Bess’s mom signed the marriage certificate as a witness to the marriage.
Ralph and Bess had 10 children together that I know of. The stories of their children are interesting but I’ll get to those another day. Ralph worked as a mine laborer and then later as a miner in Miami, Oklahoma. He was also a farmer. He always lived close to his family as far as I can tell.
When my Dad talks about Ralph he often recalls that Ralph was very devout in his faith and was of the Pentecostal faith. Ralph loved to fish and was a hard worker.
food and memories blog post ralph bess larkin fishing.jpg
Ralph and Bess fishing.
Dad says Ralph died when my dad was only 19 so he doesn’t have a lot of memories, but as he recalls it Ralph died of miner’s lung disease from all his years working in the mines. He says Ralph wasn’t a coal miner. My thought on this is that given that Ralph mined in the Miami, Oklahoma area, Ralph would have worked in the zinc or lead mines. Dad said he always thought one contributing factor to Ralph’s death was lead poisoning. Dad says he’s never seen Ralph’s death certificate but basically Ralph suffocated to death. Ralph moved to Arizona on the doctor’s advice in hopes of restoring his health. He didn’t feel like the dry climate helped him so he moved back after a few years. Dad recalls that at the time, it seems the doctors thought Ralph might have asthma.
Ralph was also very strict. Dad says he loved and respected Ralph but always kept his mouth shut around him! Ralph was stern, but not mean. Dad says Bess was somewhat irreverent and opinionated and was a handful for the strict and devout Ralph.
RALPH’S DEATH
Ralph died in January of 1963. Bess, whom my cousin has affectionately called ‘the serial bride’, remarried in August of the same year. She married James R. BRIGGS of Joplin, Missouri. I’m going to end Ralph’s story here since I’ve previously written about Ralph’s official cause of death. His birth date is in April so we’ll be visiting him again in April and hopefully we can flesh out his story a little more then. Until then, click on over to Becky’s blog. She’s posting a photo a day that is genealogy related.
Until tomorrow,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

Lucretia Hutchison Mitchell Hartman- A Celebration of Her Life

Today we’re honoring the life of Lucretia HUTCHISON MITCHELL HARTMAN.
Lucretia is my paternal 4th great grandmother. Her first husband was Mordica Elias MITCHELL, my 4th great grandfather. Lucretia was born in 1813 in Polk County, Tennessee. She married Mordica in Monroe County, Tennessee. Sometime between 1840 and 1850 the family moved to Missouri. Together Lucretia and Mordica had 8 known children. Lucretia outlived Mordica by 35 years. About 7 years after his death Lucretia married a second time to William HARTMAN. They each brought children from previous marriages into their own marriage. They were married for 14 years until William’s death. Lucretia outlived William by another 14 years. I don’t know if she married a third time or not.
I believe that about 1879, Lucretia moved out to California where some of her children lived. Some researchers say Lucretia did not move to California and died in McDonald County, Missouri. I believe it to be more likely that she died in California while living with some of her children out there. However, I can’t prove either theory. Lucretia’s children moved out to California in the late 1850’s. That was too late for the 1849 California Gold Rush but it was about the time of Pony Express and the installation of the railroad so it’s possible they went to California for those reasons.
Lucretia outlived not only two husbands but most of her children as well. Three are known to have survived her. The three known to have survived her are James Harrison MITCHELL, Mary Louisa MITCHELL POTTER THOMAS, and Hester Ann Eglentine MITCHELL DRAKE. James and Mary both went to California. Hester stayed in Missouri.
I haven’t been able to find a lot of information about the family. What I have found includes this death certificate for her son James MITCHELL:

Death Certificate for James Mitchell, son of Mordica and Lucretia (Hutchison) Mitchell.
Death Certificate for James Mitchell, son of Mordica and Lucretia (Hutchison) Mitchell.

Cause of death was “old age” and subsequent “gradual breaking down of all the organs”
I also do have one photo of her daughter (and my 3rd great grandmother) Hester MITCHELL DRAKE:

Portrait of Hester (Mitchell) Drake, daughter of Mordica and Lucretia (Hutchison) Mitchell.
Portrait of Hester (Mitchell) Drake, daughter of Mordica and Lucretia (Hutchison) Mitchell.

In researching her children I discovered that a couple of the daughters married into the POTTER family. I also discovered one very interesting connection that I had not previously made. Please note that this is someone else’s research and I haven’t had decent internet to double check the information. But if it checks out it will be the biggest breakthrough I’ve made on this family in a long time. According to what I found, Hester had a sister-in-law, Elizabeth J. BECK MITCHELL. When Hester’s brother (Elizabeth’s husband) died, Elizabeth remarried to Hester’s father-in-law, Ervin Alonzo DRAKE (Poppy’s grandfather, not Poppy Lonzo). Ervin had lost his first wife. He was quite a bit older than Elizabeth (20 years older) but they stayed together until Ervin’s death in 1900 (24 years of marriage). So Hester’s sister-in-law became her step-mother-in-law in 1876. And William’s sister-in-law by marriage became his stepmother. Very…awkward. But I guess it worked out for them. At least, I hope it did. Again, I still have to verify all this but I wanted to share with you in case any of you have time to check it out and share with the family.
I wish I had more to offer you about Lucretia’s life. Given the difficulty of this line, I feel pretty good about the discovery of Elizabeth BECK’s maiden name (or maybe it’s a previous married name? I don’t know.). That in itself is a new discovery as is (at least for me) the fact that she had two separate relationships to William and Hester MITCHELL DRAKE. So that’s better than finding nothing at all. I hope you’ll join with me in lighting a candle today to celebrate the life of Lucretia and it’s trickle-down effects on our lives today. If you make any discoveries about her, I hope you’ll share them here. In the meantime be sure to head on over to Down in the Root Cellar where Becky has written a blog post (“Trapped”) about my maternal grandma, Jessie. It’s a great read!


Until tomorrow,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Nancy Jane Chambers: the Girl with Two Names

When I First Learned About Her
When I first started working on my family history back in my teens 3/4 of my grandparents were living and I went to my grandmothers often for information. My paternal grandmother (Mam) told me (always and consistently) that my HUBBARD-line 3rd great grandmother was Nancy Jane STONE and she married John Allen HUBBARD and this couple gave birth to my 2nd great grandfather, Alford Allen HUBBARD (mother of Edith HUBBARD DRAKE). She was eerily accurate on 99% of the family history but this one- well, she was right, but she wasn’t right.
This “right and yet not right” information caused me some grief over the years and it took me a long time to get anywhere with this line. You see, Nancy was really born Nancy Jane CHAMBERS. She was the one and only baby born to William C. and Rhoda A. (ALLEN) CHAMBERS. Nancy’s dad died sometime within a year after Nancy was born. When Nancy was about 2 ½ years old (sometime within the year after William died), Rhoda remarried to James J. STONE, a local widower. Rhoda and James had 10 more children in addition to the children he brought into the marriage and the child Rhoda brought into the marriage. With that many siblings and her mother having remarried when Nancy was so little, it’s not surprising that in the family history her name was passed down as Nancy STONE as opposed to Nancy CHAMBERS. James raised Nancy, not William. So you see- Mam was right and not right all at the same time. Everything else I found out about Nancy I had to learn on my own but at least my Mam got me started with a name and I’m grateful for that and for having had an interest when I was young enough to ask the questions.
All the Other Information I Learned
My biggest breakthrough on Nancy came fairly recently (within the last several years) when I connected with someone on Ancestry who was able to provide that missing piece- the information that Nancy was actually a CHAMBERS and how it came to be that she was known as a STONE. Sadly, I’ve only made it back one more generation. Still, that’s progress and I’ll take it.
Nancy married John Allen HUBBARD when she was only 16 years old. John was 23 years old at the time they married. Nancy and John lived in Harrison County, Missouri for around 20 years. They had most of their children (possibly all of them) while living there. By 1900 they were living in Douglas County, Missouri. There is lots to be learned from each census. For instance, I know that when Nancy was 11 she and her family were living in Polk, Taylor County, Iowa and her stepdad was claiming to be a doctor (this is one of at least 3 different professions he claimed over the years). At that time, she was censused as Nancy STONE. In both the prior and the subsequent federal censuses (1850 and 1860) the family lived in Harrison County, Missouri. I have no idea why they moved to (or from) Iowa. Particularly interesting in Nancy’s case though is the 1900 census. In 1900 women were asked how many children they’d given birth to and how many of those children were still living. Nancy told the census taker she had given birth to 8 children (this count of 8 remained the same in 1910). As of now, I can only account for 6 of those 8 children. Only 4 of the 6 that I can account for lived past 1900. John and Nancy’s daughter Rhoda died at age 29. Their daughter Sedanie died before age 11. That leaves Julia (who married a PRUETT), Sereptia (who married a HARVILL), Alford (my 2nd great grandfather who married Laura A. BUTLER), and Sylvia (who married a STAFFORD). Out of those 4, only my 2nd great grandfather moved down into Southwestern Missouri/Northeastern Oklahoma area. I don’t have any photos of Alford with his mom Nancy but I do have one photo of Alford with his sister Julia and her family.

Alford Hubbard with his sister Julia and her family.
Alford Hubbard with his sister Julia and her family.

Far right is Alford HUBBARD and standing next to him is his sister Julia and Julia’s husband John. I think the young girl is either John and Julia’s daughter or granddaughter.
The other thing I found interesting about Nancy’s children are the death certificates I found for 2 of her children- Julia and Sylvia. Sylvia’s death certificate says she died from Consumption (Tuberculosis). The person giving the information must have been trying to make a point because the exact cause of death the person listed on her certificate states:
Consumption
Used Patent Medicine
Had no physician

I’m thinking this person had a particular dislike for the snake oil salesmen and for the people who refused to go to doctors. I wonder if health care costs were high back then, too?
Sylvia died at 10:00 p.m. on 27 February 1912. I’m betting they had a long night ahead of them. Julia’s death certificate was much less wordy. Julia died at 12:30 a.m. on 17 June 1946 from Cancer of the Liver. Another long night for the HUBBARD family and another long, drawn out death.
The End of the Line
I wish I could tell you what happened to John and Nancy at the end of their lives but I can’t. The last record I can find for them is the 1910 census. They were living in Lincoln Township, Douglas County, Missouri. All the children had moved out and they were by themselves. His age was listed as 71 and hers as 65. They were living in between Julia and her family and Sylvia and her family. So we’ll leave them there, nestled between people they loved and people who loved them back.
I do want to make a sort of endnote. Those of you who carry the Allen name that was handed down through the HUBBARD generations (like my cousin Richard), I believe that ultimately your Allen name came from Nancy’s mom, Rhoda ALLEN CHAMBERS STONE. So you carry more than a middle name of previous ancestors (like Alford and his dad, John). You carry the surname of Rhoda and those who came before her.
In case you’re making cupcakes with me, you can refer back to this past Sunday’s blog post for the link to the cupcake recipe I’m making to honor our birthday girl, Nancy Jane CHAMBERS HUBBARD. You can also click on over to Becky’s blog at Down in the Root Cellar. I hear she’s planning a fabulous blog post coming soon.


Until tomorrow,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Laura Ann BULLOCK RITER- The Consummate Mom and Grandma

Laura is my maternal great grandmother. Hers is the first death date anniversary I’ll be honoring this year. So if you’re lighting a candle with me today, now would be a good time to go do it while you’re thinking about it.

On the far right is Jessie RITER BATES and to the left of Jessie is Jessie’s mom, Laura BULLOCK RITER. To the left of Laura are two of her other daughers, possibly Bertha (second from left) and Myrtle (far left).
When I was younger I asked Granny to tell me about her mom, Laura. What she recalled the most was that Laura always went outside and played WITH her kids instead of sending them outside to play alone while Laura took care of chores and household business. Granny also recalled Laura being a good cook. When I asked my Mom about her grandma Laura, my Mom also remembered Laura’s cooking. She remembers going to Laura’s house on Sunday’s for meals and Laura almost always fixed Angel Food cakes with sprinkles inside for dessert. I talked about those cakes in this blog post. Mom loved those cakes! In spite of Laura’s good cooking, she was always a thin, petite woman. My mom didn’t recall ever hearing Laura yell or get loud.
Laura lived in several different houses in Sulphur Springs, Benton County, Arkansas. Laura’s brother, Uncle Ed, always lived near Laura all his life. I don’t think he ever married. I remember Mom telling me once that it was almost like he stayed to take care of Grandma Laura.
Just before Laura’s 23rd birthday, she married William Sherman RITER. They had five children together. Granny always told me there was another baby that didn’t live but I have no proof of that. This baby that didn’t live was Laura’s first baby which would make a total of 6 children that Laura gave birth to. When Laura was just 41 years old, William passed away and left her to raise those five children alone. She raised them well and never remarried. Granny recalled that it took Laura almost a year to get William’s military pension started. That year was very difficult as the family didn’t have much money to live on.
In the mid-1950’s, Laura’s daughter Bertha was diagnosed with cancer. In the fall of 1957, when Laura was 70 years old, Bertha died due to the cancer. That left Bertha’s children with their stepfather with whom they did not have much of a relationship and while he loved them, he had no way to raise them on his own. Laura moved those five children back from California and finished raising them. In January of 1970 at the age of 81, after raising 10 children, she passed away. She died on a Saturday. At the time of her death her son William lived in Panama City, Florida. Her daughter Myrtle (RITER) PENDERGRAFT lived in Sulphur Springs (as did Laura). Laura’s daughter Jessie (RITER) BATES live in Southwest City, Missouri. Her daughter Faye (RITER) STEVENS lived in Anderson, Missouri. Her brother Ed BULLOCK lived in Sulphur Springs, Arkansas near Laura as I talked about earlier. He is also buried in the same cemetery as Laura (Butler Cemetery near Sulphur Springs, Arkansas).

William "Ed" Bullock's gravestone.
William “Ed” Bullock’s gravestone.


I’m leaving a photo of Ed’s gravestone here since the name on the stone is different than what they called him. He doesn’t have any descendants to remember him or clean his gravesite and leave flowers. If you’re ever in the area, you might stop by and leave flowers for he and Grandma Laura and clean off the stones.
Laura’s brother Oscar BULLOCK lived in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Oscar was a World War I veteran and when he passed away he was buried in the Fayetteville National Cemetery in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Her sister Cynthia (BULLOCK) BATY lived in Gilroy, California. Another of her sisters, Alice (BULLOCK) ROTRAMEL, lived in Southwest City, Missouri. At the time of her death, Laura had 29 grandchildren (5 of whom she finished raising as noted above) and 53 great grandchildren (of whom I was one of the newest, being less than a year old at the time of her death).

Portrait of me as a baby.
Portrait of me as a baby.

Me at approximately the time Laura BULLOCK RITER passed away.
If you have any memories of Laura I’d love to hear them. If you have any photos to share, I’d love to see them.


Until tomorrow,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Baby

On days when I’m not scheduled to do a blog post I’m going to try to post photos. This month I’ll use the current Genealogy-Photo-a-Day Instagram challenge as a theme guide. Today’s theme is ‘baby’. Today I’ll post a photo of me taken just after I was born. My paternal great grandfather, Mark DRAKE, is holding me and my paternal great grandmother, Edith (HUBBARD) DRAKE, is standing beside us. If you have photos you’d like to share just send them to me and I’ll be happy to post them with a caption that you provide and with credit to you.

My great-grandparents, Mark and Edith (Hubbard) Drake. Mark is holding me.
My great-grandparents, Mark and Edith (Hubbard) Drake. Mark is holding me.

Until tomorrow,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives


Down in the Root Cellar

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