On 1 January 1976, the Copyright Revision Law was signed so I thought the anniversary of that signing would be an appropriate day to cover my requests for my blog posts and pictures. I’m pretty lax about copyright. I don’t mind if people repost my materials. I only ask that you do the right thing by giving credit to me/my blog and linking back to my blog so other readers can find me. Thank you for using information respectfully.
This week I’ve been researching my paternal 2nd great-grandfather, Alford Allen HUBBARD. As I was looking through the records I have, his employment is what stood out to me. Before Alford ever even married, he was working on the railroad. I wrote a brief piece about this in a 2015 blog post I did. You can find that blog post at https://honeysuckle-farm.com/two-men-and-a-passel-of-huntin-dogs/. You’ll have to scroll down since I also talked about another grandpa in that post as well. Today’s blog post will include a little of the 2015 information plus some new information I found.
Before I get into it, though, I wanted to address his name. I realize that many of his records spell his name Alfred. However, my great-grandpa Mark always told my dad that the name was spelled Alford so that’s the spelling I’m using here and the one I use on all my records relating to Alford HUBBARD.
One more thing…just so you can get something of a mental picture of Alford in your head, here’s a description of him from his World War I draft card:
Brown hair
Blue eyes
Medium build
Medium height
As a bonus, this photo has Alford in it. I believe Alford is the man to the far right. His sister, Julia, is standing next to him. To the left of Julia is her husband, John PRUETT and on the far left is Nadine PRUETT. For a younger version of Alford, you can go to my previous blog post linked above and see the different image that I included in that post.
Alvah Pruett’s daughter Nadine, John and Julia Pruett and Uncle Alfred Hubbard, about 1940
This photo was first posted to Ancestry by user oriem_1.
Now that you’ve got a mental image of Alford, let’s look at him as an employee.
1900, Teamster for Cordz-Fisher Lumber Camp
In 1900, Alford HUBBARD was 21 years old, single, and had the world before him. His first recorded job is listed on the 1900 census record. It records him as living in the Cordz-Fisher Lumber Camp with the WOODS family. His job was documented as “Teamster (Ties)”. I found a video that talks about the teamsters and the work they did. The video is just under 25 minutes and the older footage was recorded by a now-defunct large tie company out of Missouri, the T. J. Moss Tie Company. The T. J. Moss Tie Company footage was taken in the 1920s. The Missouri Conservation Department took the original footage and compiled it into a video and posted it on their YouTube channel. Although the footage was taken a couple of decades after Alford worked as a Teamster, I thought it was interesting to see what the Teamsters did. If you aren’t interested in watching the whole video, the Teamster section starts at the 8:13 mark and goes to the 9:15 mark. If you don’t watch the whole video, I recommend at least watching the Teamster section and then fast forward to about the 10:05 mark and take a look at that sweet steam-powered Barnhart loader they were using to remove the ties from the river. Here’s the video:
The 1900 census was taken in June that year. In September of the same year, he turned 22 years old and on his birthday he married Laura BUTLER. I don’t know how long he worked at Cordz-Fisher lumber camp, but just four years after the 1900 census, the Cordz-Fisher Lumber and Mining Company shut down their mill in Birch Tree, Shannon County, Missouri, where Alford worked.1
I highly recommend you go to Shiloh Museum of Ozark History’s website to their online exhibit called, “Timber!”. If you don’t want to read it all, at least look at the images and then open the sections on ‘Rail Transport’ and ‘Ties, Staves, and Wagon Bows’. Toward the end of the section called ‘Ties, Staves, and Wagon Bows’, there are a few paragraphs that talk about the daily life of both men and women in a lumber camp. It was interesting to think what Alford’s life was like while living in Cordz-Fisher lumber camp with the WOODS family. You can find Shiloh Museum’s exhibit at https://shilohmuseum.org/project/timber/. I always love the work they do!
1910, Sawmill Laborer
In 1910, Alford was living in North Marion Township, Christian County, Missouri. He was renting a farm there where he, his wife, and their three children lived. He was working as a laborer in a sawmill. According to the Christian County Library’s website, there were only 2 sawmills operating in Christian County during that time period. One was the Hoover Mill (also known as the Ozark Mill) in Ozark, Missouri. The following is a picture of the mill around 1908.2
The other sawmill listed on Christian County Library’s website was McHaffie Mill in Bruner, Missouri. I did find one sawmill not listed on their website. It belonged to Marion WORKMAN and was located near Sparta, Missouri. It burned in November of 1910. Burning seemed to be a common demise for the mills in Missouri. WORKMAN’s sawmill was mentioned one time in the 24 November 1910 edition of the Christian County Republican newspaper on Newspapers.com.3 Both of the first two mills (Hoover/Ozark and McHaffie) were water-operated. The Hoover Mill was on the western edge of Christian County and part of the mill was situated in the adjoining county. The McHaffie Mill was all in Christian County.4 Because of where the HUBBARD family lived in North Marion Township (a township that no longer exists but was in the area of Sparta, Nixa, and Keltner) in Christian County, I find it more believable that Alford worked at the McHaffie Mill or the Workman Mill, provided the three mills listed above are my only choices. The Keltner, Missouri, area is close to the county line so it’s always possible that Alford could have worked in the county to the east of Christian County, but I doubt it.
1917-1918, We Interrupt This Life for a War
This is like a side note in Alford’s life. He listed himself as a farmer on his draft card so I don’t know if he wasn’t working for the railroad at this time or if there was some benefit to saying he was a farmer, or something else was going on. In any case, for this time period he was living in Seymour, Webster County, Missouri, and listed his occupation as ‘farmer’. To my knowledge, Alford was never drafted and never served in the military. The image of his draft registration card below came from Ancestry.com.5
1920, Post-War Tie Yard Inspector
At age 42, Alford was moving up in his work life. He was working in the position of Tie Inspector at a tie yard near Finley Township, Webster County, Missouri, where he lived. I believe he lived in what is now known as the city of Seymour, Missouri. He, his wife, and his five children lived on Summit Avenue. Unfortunately, his house number wasn’t recorded by the census taker. I’ve been unable to determine a specific tie yard where Alford was most likely to have worked. In order to determine what Alford did all day as a Tie Inspector, I looked at the Railway Tie Association’s website. This information seems to be current information but does give some idea of what Alford’s life was like in 1930.
The Railway Tie Association’s website linked a document produced by University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service. You can find the PDF file at the link listed in the Resource section at the bottom of this post. The document states that, “…the rigor of the inspection is determined by the size of the tie yard, the number of available personnel, the kind of working relationship the tie buyer has with his suppliers, and the requirements of the treating plant.”6 The reason the treating plant matters is because once the ties were purchased they were sent out for treatment and drying before being used.
As a tie inspector, Alford was looking at the length and dimensions of each tie. He was looking to see if the heartwood of the tree was centered in the tie, if the tie was structurally sound enough to support the weight of of what was being hauled on the track, whether the tie was structurally sound enough to withstand and support the rail spikes, what type of wood the tie was made of and whether the wood could absorb the wood preservative that would prolong it’s use. Alford would also be looking at coloring of the wood that would indicate decay, signs of previous fire damage, insect damage, knots in the wood that would cause problems, bark seams, wood grain slope, manufacturing defects, and more. He was categorizing the ties as ‘grade’ or ‘industrial grade’. Industrial grade ties were not good enough to be used in building the railroads. Industrial grade ties had some sort of defect but weren’t bad enough to be completely culled from the group. These industrial grade ties were used in freight yards and in short line track systems. I recommend you look at the PDF. I was surprised at how much Alford was doing as a tie inspector. Some of the things he was looking for are things I never thought would matter in a rail tie. It was interesting to learn about what he did. One additional resource that I highly recommend is Shiloh Museum’s online exhibit ‘Working on the Railroad’. You can find it at https://shilohmuseum.org/project/working-on-the-railroad/. If you don’t do anything else, at least scroll down to the section called, “Who profited?” and look at the photograph on the right side of the screen. It’s an image of a tie yard. It was interesting to me to see what Alford’s work environment might have looked like during this period of his life.
1930, Tie Buyer
Now in his early 50’s, Alford had moved into the role of Tie Buyer. He was living in Southwest City, McDonald County, Missouri, with his wife and three of their children. No street address was given so there’s no way for me to know exactly where they lived. It’s notable, though, that the census shows they were not living on a farm.
In some areas of Missouri, tie buyers would scout around their areas for ties. They’d buy them from individuals (farmers who would make extra money by cutting rail ties once their crops were all in for the year), from merchants, or even from tie yards that had an overstock of ties and were willing to sell.7 I’m not sure how long Alford worked as a tie-buyer. A short blurb in the Seymour, Missouri, newspaper, Seymour Citizen, dated 21 August 1930 stated that tie-buyers had stopped operations in southern Missouri. The article commented about how the lack of tie-buying would hurt the area farmers. So I’m not sure if they stopped for the season, or were ending the operation in southern Missouri.8
1940, The Caretaker and His Wife
By 1940, Alford and his wife, Laura, were in their early 60’s. They were living with Alford’s elderly widowed cousin, Alice GANN, in Beaty Township, Delaware County, Oklahoma. This is the area east of Jay all the way to the state/county line where it meets Arkansas and Missouri state lines. It’s the same area I discussed in my last blog post about my paternal 2nd great-grandfather, Ervin Alonzo DRAKE.
The 1920 census lists Alford as the ‘caretaker’ and lists Laura as the ‘caretaker’s wife’. I’m not entirely sure of what the real relationship between Alford and Alice was, but I know that Alice married a GANN and GANNs intermarried with DRAKEs, also the HUBBARDs intermarried with DRAKEs and I’m certain they all knew each other. In any case, this is how it was listed in the census and I don’t currently have time to chase down the exact relationship of the two. I know that Alice married Nathan GANN. One of Nathan’s and Alice’s sons was Jesse Alvin GANN. Jesse married Pearl Belle DRAKE. Pearl was my great-grandaunt and the daughter of Ervin Alonzo “Poppy” and Mary Anne “Annie” (BAKER) DRAKE. I wrote about Poppy in my previous blog post. My parents once told me that everyone is related to everyone around here. This about sums it up! Whatever their true relationship was, Alford and Laura took care of Alice in her old age after she lost her husband. I love that this one act of caretaking is a hallmark of my ancestry. It seems like on both sides of my family, we all took care of each other.
In case you’re interested, I actually included Pearl Belle (DRAKE) GANN in a blog post back in 2016. You can read about it here if you’re interested. Her story is sandwiched in the middle of two other stories and is just a few paragraphs long right in the middle of the blog post.
1941, War Time Again
In 1941, at 63 years of age, Alford had to register for another draft. On this draft registration, he marked himself as self-employed. I don’t know if he was still caring for Alice GANN. I do know Alice was still alive in 1941 so it’s possible.
Alford listed his residence as being in Delaware County, Oklahoma, but his mailing address was in Southwest City, McDonald County, Missouri. This makes sense for the area in which he was living at the time. Alford died when my dad was very young but Dad remembers Alford living on top of the hill by the old rodeo grounds just before you drop down the hill into Southwest City. It’s the same property that my maternal grandparents lived on when I was little.
1950, The End of a Railroad Life
Alford was part of one last census in 1950. He was living in Beaty Township, Delaware County, Oklahoma, with his wife, Laura. In the ‘Occupation’ column there was a notation that said ‘old age assistance’ and then it was crossed out. Laura’s said the same thing and was also crossed out. They were living next door to the now-82-year-old Alice GANN.
Around 1947, Laura had what I believe was a stroke. From that point forward, she was unable to care for herself. I’m assuming Alford was taking care of her at this point since they were still living together and on their own. Just three years after Laura’s stroke, on 31 July 1950, Alford passed away. Laura lived another ten years after the stroke and, after Alford’s passing, she was cared for by her daughter, (my great-grandmother) Edith (HUBBARD) DRAKE.
Final Thoughts
Shiloh Museum of Ozark History has a nice piece on the timber industry right now and it includes a section on the railroad industry. I found it interesting and recommend you check it out. I love that my posts sometimes track with Shiloh Museum’s exhibits. The last time this happened, they curated my blog post as part of their exhibit. That was a highlight for me! You can find Shiloh Museum’s current work on the timber industry at https://shilohmuseum.org/project/timber/. Don’t forget to visit their online railroad exhibit as well. It’s linked at the beginning of this post.
As a side note, one thing I like about the 1940 census is that it lists the amount of education the person had. From this record, we know that Alford went to school through the 4th grade and then dropped out. That seems to be fairly normal in this area for this time period.
Follow-up tasks that I’ll be working on in the next few weeks include ordering official death certificates for Alford and Laura. I’m working with photocopies right now. I’m also going to try contact the Railroad Pension office and see if there are any railroad pension records for Alford. I’m not holding out much hope for that though, so don’t get too excited. Also, the 1950 census gives exact directions for how to get to each person’s house. I’ll be following those directions in the near future to see where Alford and Laura lived in 1950.
One last thought. I wanted to give you a better idea about where Alford and Laura and their families lived in the early years. I made this map to help show you.
On this Google map, Springfield, Missouri, is circled in the upper left corner of the map. Most of you will know where that is. The eastern-most circle in the lower right quadrant of the map is Ava, Missouri. This is where Alford and Laura were married. To the southwest is Little Beaver Creek. Alford and Laura both claimed this area as their residences when they applied for a marriage license. To the northwest of Little Beaver Creek is Keltner. Laura’s family was from this area. To the northeast of Keltner is Dogwood, Missouri. This was the area that Alford’s family was living. To the north of Dogwood is Seymour, Missouri, where Alford and Laura lived briefly. For those of you who don’t know, Southwest City, Missouri, where Alford and Laura lived in later years is about 2 hours southwest of Springfield. Beaty Township in Delaware County, Oklahoma is south and west of Southwest City. Some of these places no longer exist so this map may help some of you picture where everything is.
I hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know the work that Alford HUBBARD did for a living. I hope you all have a good week at your own jobs.
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
Resources
“Ozark NSR: A Homeland and Hinterland (Chapter 9).” National Parks Service. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/ozar/hrs9.htm.
Glenn, Wayne. The 1,093 original land owners of Christian County, Missouri, to 1870: Including four stories from the county’s history. Ozark, Missouri: Wayne Glenn, 2017.
“Historical Newspapers from the 1700’s-2000s.” Newspapers.com. Accessed January 18, 2025. https://www.newspapers.com/.
Christian County, Missouri, Mines and Mills. Accessed January 18, 2025. https://sites.rootsweb.com/~moccl/Places/ccmmines_page3.htm.
Ancestry® | Family Tree, Genealogy & Family History Records. Accessed January 18-19, 2025. https://www.ancestry.com/.
Conners, Terry. “Producing and Inspecting Railroad Crossties.” Railway Tie Association, Basic Tie Info. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://www.rta.org/assets/docs/basictieinfo/for108 final revised 2012 acrobat 6 or later.pdf.
Bradbury, John F. “Tie-Hackers, Tie-Rafting, and the Railroad Crosstie Industry At …” Old Stagecoach Stop Museum. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://www.oldstagecoachstop.org/webgeezer/Gazette05/tiehacking.pdf.
“Historical Newspapers from the 1700’s-2000s.” Newspapers.com. Accessed January 18, 2025. https://www.newspapers.com/.
“Stamp of Character.” YouTube, Missouri Department of Conservation Channel. Accessed January 18, 2025. https://youtu.be/jNstKvUUVGE.
“Timber!” Shiloh Museum of Ozark History, May 15, 2021. Accessed January 18-19, 2025. https://shilohmuseum.org/project/timber/.
“Working on the Railroad.” Shiloh Museum of Ozark History, July 1, 2021. Accessed January 18-19, 2025. https://shilohmuseum.org/project/working-on-the-railroad/.
Google maps. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://www.google.com/maps.
I searched for Poppy Lonzo over the weekend but didn’t make anymore progress. I found some maps of Southwest City, McDonald County, Missouri online. I was unable to find Poppy’s name on either map and I didn’t see his butcher shop. I did find the slaughter house on the 1909 map. It was out by the cemetery. That’s the closest I could come to finding a butcher shop. So, unless some older members of the family remember where Poppy’s butcher shop was, the location may be lost forever. Here are the 1902 and 1909 maps I found.
This is the 1902 Sanborn map I found at Library of Congress website. There is a hog and cattle pen in the southeast corner by the Honey Creek Distillery. It would be a convenient location for a butcher shop. I don’t know if Poppy had a butcher shop as early as 1902, though.
Here’s a 1909 map of Southwest City from Historic Map Works website. This is within one year of when Poppy said he had a butcher shop. I still didn’t find Poppy or a butcher shop listed. This is the map where the slaughter house is in the northwest corner near the cemetery.
In the last week, I’ve ordered Poppy’s WPA records and I’ll be ordering his death certificate this week. I have a copy but not a certified copy so I’m sending off for that. I’ll share those records when they come. If you have information or stories about Poppy you’d like to share, I’d love to hear what you know. I’ve enjoyed my week of researching Poppy. Next week I’ll be researching his wife, Mary Anne BAKER.
We’re another year down. It was a stressful one for me. I’m hoping for a more peaceful year in 2025. Typically I do a report card post as my last post of the year but I’m not doing that this year. It was a hard year and I’m choosing to be happy with how things went. I got my 12 blog posts in so I was happy about that. I was fortunate in that I got in a lot more research time this year despite all the extra garbage going on. I didn’t finish my books but I made some progress. It’s enough.
In 2025, my goal is peace, organization/structure, and less – less stuff, less stress, less negativity. I’m paring down, streamlining, and organizing. I’m planning my research and writing into my year instead of just hoping it happens. We’ll see how it goes. Researching and writing are how I relax so planning it in (for me) is the same as planning in a spa day or a retreat. I’m looking forward to it.
I hope you reach all your goals in 2025 as well. I’m wishing you peace and happiness.
Sometimes I feel like I’ve researched an ancestor and discovered most all of the information that’s available about them. I’ve researched the records available to me, talked to people who may know more, written the stories, and figure I’m pretty much done. My paternal 2nd great grandfather, Ervin Alonzo “Poppy” DRAKE, is one such ancestor. I felt I knew all that was ever going to come out about him but then, he decided he wasn’t done with me yet. On a quiet day this week I decided to make another round of searches online. As I was looking through the information, I began noticing his variety of occupations over the years so we’ll start there.
If you want to catch up on previous stories about Poppy before you move on, you can see those here:
(Just for reference, Poppy went by a number of names including Poppy, Lon, E.N., and Ervin. For the most part, I’ll call him Poppy.) In Poppy’s younger years, he farmed. I wish non-population schedules existed for Missouri for the years I can find Poppy but they don’t so I can only guess at what he farmed. Hogs might be a good guess, as you can see from previous blog posts I did about him (linked above). Poppy’s occupation was farmer in 1900 and notes indicate he’s also on a farm schedule for that year but again, no farm schedule for 1900 is available at this point. We’ll get back to farming in a bit, but for now let’s look at his next occupation.
Constable Drake
In August of 1908, Poppy became a nominee for constable of Prairie Township, McDonald County, Missouri. Just as a reference for where Prairie Township is, Southwest City is located in Prairie Township. The notice below appeared in The Pineville Democrat on 14 August 1908:
In October of 1908, he was identified as the Republican nominee. He was running against Democrat S. P. TUCKER. I’m not sure if Poppy was elected or appointed. I do know that about a year later, in late August or early September of 1909, Constable M. P. MILLER resigned. The County Court met and decided to appoint Poppy as MILLER’s replacement. Poppy was notified and he accepted the appointment. All this happened between 7 September 1909 and 9 September 1909. On 11 September 1909 Poppy was sworn in and assumed his duties. The notice of his swearing-in appeared in The Pineville Democrat on 17 September 1909:
To confuse matters more, the public minutes of McDonald County, Missouri (published in the 7 May 1909 edition of The Pineville Herald) state that in May of 1909 Poppy was paid for services as a constable in McDonald County, Missouri. That date was prior to his being appointed and sworn in. So perhaps he won in 1908 and was already serving, but then why would he need to be appointed later? I’ll have to do more research to figure this one out.
Whatever the case, Poppy was involved with a big arrest in October of 1909 and got a write-up in the paper for it. He also received part of a reward that was offered for the capture of the escaped inmate he helped arrest. This article appeared in The Pineville Democrat on 1 October 1909:
After this article, I haven’t found any further definitive information about Poppy’s time as a constable. I do know he was paid some money in April and May of 1912 by McDonald County (or, it appears he was paid money) that was classified as “Criminal Costs”. Since it appears the money was paid to him (and not by him) it would seem he was doing some kind of work for McDonald County. Possibly he was serving warrants and things like that.
A couple of notes about Poppy’s life prior to his becoming a constable. Poppy helped local law enforcement recover some stolen property in the area in November of 1906. This article was found on Newspapers.com and is from the 30 November 1906 edition of The Pineville Herald. The Jess BAKER mentioned in the article was Poppy’s brother-in-law, I believe.
In April of 1908, Poppy was a Grand Jury witness.
This notice appeared in the 3 April 1908 edition of The Pineville Democrat and was found on Newspapers.com. My guess is possibly he was a witness in regard to the theft that he helped with in the article above this one. I can’t say for sure, though.
These events may have sparked his interest in being a constable. There’s no way to know. In any case, it seems he was known to local law enforcement and the court system in a good way and perhaps that played a part in the County feeling comfortable enough to appoint him as Constable. Remember this when you get to the 1930s section of this story.
In between the big arrest in 1909 and the criminal court payments in 1912, the 1910 census happened. The 1910 census didn’t list farmer or constable as Poppy’s occupation. Instead, Poppy was into something new.
Poppy the Butcher
In 1910, while Poppy was transitioning from being a constable to doing other work, Poppy lived on the East side of Main Street in Southwest City, McDonald County, Missouri. Unfortunately, the census taker didn’t record Poppy’s house number so I’m not sure where in that area he lived exactly. For reference, that’s the same side of Main Street that the police station is on today. It’s also the same side of the road as Nichols Brothers store which is now Dave’s Supermarket. According to the census, Poppy owned and operated a butcher shop in Southwest City in 1910. I haven’t found a single ad or newspaper article talking about Poppy’s butcher business. Had it not been recorded on the 1910 census, I would have ever known about this venture of his. I did notice that the 1910 census references a farm schedule entry for Poppy so I’m assuming that, in addition to his butcher shop, he was also still farming.
Laborer
By the 1920 census Poppy seems to have been rid of the law enforcement role and the butcher shop. The census states his occupation as ‘Laborer’ and he seems to be working for someone else. I haven’t found any information stating who he worked for or what type of work he did. He wouldn’t have been working for the WPA yet since the WPA wouldn’t exist until 1935. So, for the decade of 1920, I only know that he was a laborer.
Farmer and Laborer
By 1930, Poppy had returned to farming. Again, the accompanying farm schedule no longer exists as far as I know. Poppy’s farming either didn’t last much longer, or he took on a job in addition to farming. In January of 1931 Poppy (and other close DRAKE relatives) received payment from Delaware County, Oklahoma, for “road work”. He received two more payments in the spring of 1931 for “hauling gravel” for Delaware County. Payments for road work and hauling gravel continued through at least Autumn of 1932. In 1935, President Franklin D. ROOSEVELT opened up the WPA projects and one legal notice in a newspaper confirms that Poppy worked for the WPA. You’ll see the legal notice below. I’ll be sending a letter of this week requesting Poppy’s WPA records. I’ll share that information if/when it comes.
From Good to Bad
In the spring of 1936, Poppy was working for WPA on the roads when circumstances took a turn for the worse for him. In the 19 March 1936 edition of The Grove Sun, this legal notice appeared:
I asked my dad if he know about this incident and he said he didn’t. Just a side note, County Judge Winfred Fulton HAMPTON, was a fairly new county judge in Delaware County in 1936. I’ve been unable to find any information at all about Henry ALPERS. I can’t say exactly what happened with the assault and battery charges, but about three weeks later another legal notice appeared. This time, Poppy wasn’t included but his son (and my great-grandfather), Mark DRAKE, was still being charged. This notice appeared in The Grove Sun on 9 April 1936:
This time, only Mark was being charged and he entered a guilty plea. I never knew my great-grandpa to be a violent or ill-tempered person so I was a little surprised to find assault and battery charges being brought against either my great-grandpa or my 2nd great-grandpa. Unfortunately, no further articles or notices appeared so it will take a little more research to see if I can bring you any more of the story. I hope to make a trip to the courthouse next week to see if I can find more information.
Back to Work
In the 1940 census, Poppy’s occupation is listed as farmer. However, in September of 1943, Poppy received another payment for road work done for Delaware County. In 1950 (the final census record available for Poppy at this time) he is listed as a farmer but also listed as receiving an “Old Age Pension”. I know he wasn’t receiving a military pension because in the 1930 census he told the census taker he was not a military veteran. In the fall of 1952, Poppy received his last recorded payment for road work done for Delaware County, Oklahoma. If there were other payments, I haven’t found them yet. Poppy was 77 years old in 1952.
I asked my dad about Poppy working on Delaware County roads and about him working for the WPA. He said Poppy worked on the road from the Maysville (Arkansas) junction into Southwest City (Missouri) where the west side of the road is in Oklahoma and the east side of the road is in Arkansas and then in Missouri as you get closer to Southwest City. Dad said Poppy walked to work every single day. It would have been about 5-7 miles one way through the woods from where Poppy lived to the road he was helping to build. Dad did mention that Poppy owned a Model A or a Model T pickup at some point which dad remembers riding in. However, driving either the pickup or a wagon with horses would have been a problem as far as where Poppy would leave his transportation while he was working all day. That’s why Poppy walked to work.
At this point, from about 1930 to his death in 1964, Poppy lived in various locations within Beaty Township in Delaware County, Oklahoma. Beaty Township is bounded on the east side by the road that Poppy was building. I believe in the 1930s and 1940s he was living closer to Southwest City, Missouri, and to the road he was working on. Here’s a map I posted in a previous blog post (linked above) that shows where Beaty Township is located within Delaware County, Oklahoma. Beaty Township has a blue circle around it. The map comes from OKGenWeb. A larger version of this map is available in the blog post linked above entitled “Ervin Alonzo Drake, 1940”.
In 1950, Poppy lived on Whitewater Road between Jay and Grove in Delaware County, Oklahoma. The census taker recorded detailed notes about the locations she visited. Regarding the general area around Poppy’s residence she wrote,
One mile north of White Water School House / Then retrace back to school and go east on what is known as White Water Road.
On Poppy’s specific entry, she wrote,
2 3/4 mile on right.
I’m hoping to get over to that area soon and see if I can figure out approximately where Poppy lived. I was excited to get some specific information about the various places he lived. I believe it was later in the 1960s when Poppy lived near Poynor Baptist Church where the cave and spring were. That location has been mentioned in previous posts I wrote about Poppy.
Final Notes
If I haven’t told you before, a physical description of Poppy is given on his World War I draft card. Poppy had a medium build, was of medium height, had gray hair, and dark brown eyes. I’ve posted pictures of Poppy in some of the links at the beginning of this post if you’re interested in seeing his picture.
For further research, I’m hoping to find some time to take my dad out for a drive and have him show me some of the places he remembers Poppy living. I have some other follow-up that I’d like to do regarding Poppy’s life. As I said, I’ll be taking trips to the courthouse in Delaware County, writing for Poppy’s WPA records, ordering his social security records, and traveling to the Whitewater area. I also will be researching various people that were connected to him that I don’t know much about. For instance, an adopted sister named Perlie A. CALVIN, a cousin named Samuel BAKER who lived with Poppy in 1900, and Raymond HUBBARD who lived with Poppy in 1930.
I hope you’ve enjoyed learning a little more about Poppy. If you have more stories about Poppy, put them in comments or email me. I’d love to hear them!
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
Resources:
Oral interview with Roy Drake on 26 and 29 December 2024.
Newspapers.com articles were accessed on 26 December 2024.
Ancestry.com search was conducted on 26 December 2024.
ODCR, accessed on 30 December 2024. No records found about the WPA assault and battery charge.
As soon as I hit the ‘Publish’ button on my previous post, I found more information about the McFARLANDs (of course!). I wanted to share with you what I found. For this post though, I’m backing up to Bart’s paternal 6th great grandparents, John and Mary (KINDER) McFARLAND, the parents of George McFARLAND who married Sarah JACK (whose family we learned about in the last post). John and Mary’s children were some of the first settlers in Missouri. Below are little bits of information I discovered about them. (Before you get started, please note that the children are not listed in their birth order.)
John McFarland, Senator from North Carolina & His Twin Sister Mary
John and Mary’s son – John – became a state Senator in North Carolina representing Buncombe County in 1808. Kudos to Mary Helen HAINES for every having found this information. It took me a lot of searching to back up what she stated. She was a stellar researcher so I didn’t doubt what she said but I can tell you that you won’t find this information in a Google search, you won’t find it at Newspapers.com, and even on Ancestry I had to dig through their card catalog and databases to find this. You can find his service listed in the History of Buncombe County, North Carolina.1 It appears he only served one term.
John and his family did eventually come to Missouri but they were not in the first wave of McFARLANDs to arrive. They came in the second wave, arriving sometime after April of 1815. They didn’t make it as far west as the first wave of McFARLANDs.2 John died in St. Genevieve County, Missouri.3
John had a twin sister, Mary, about whom I know little. I don’t know if Mary made it to Missouri or not.
George and Jacob
John and Mary’s son George – Bart’s paternal 5th great grandfather and whose family was the subject of my previous post – was the first to move his family to Missouri Territory. He and his wife, Sarah JACK (who went by Sally) moved with their family and initially settled in St. Genevieve/St. Francois Counties in Missouri, then moved to Cooper County, Missouri, then to Lafayette County, Missouri, and then to Johnson County, Missouri. Researchers believe he was responsible for encouraging the rest of the family to move west. This first group of McFARLAND emigrants (including siblings George, William, James Ray, and Anna) chose a precarious time to move to Missouri. They arrived just in time for the 1811 earthquakes along the New Madrid fault line. These were intense earthquakes estimated to be between 7.7 and 8.2 on the Richter. There were two large earthquakes that followed this one in early 1812 along with many smaller earthquakes (some say as many as 2000 in the 5-month period following the big one) along this fault line. William’s son John reminisced about the New Madrid earthquakes shortly before his death saying,
“In the winter of 1811 and 1812 the great earthquake occurred at New Madrid. The first shock was about the first of January, 1812. We were then living in a half-acre camp in the woods. The first shock was before day and the next was about daylight. It continued at intervals pretty much all the winter of that year. The family continued to reside in Cooks Settlement until the fall of 1816 when we removed to what was then called the Boonstick County, and settled about five miles south of Boonville in Cooper County, Missouri, about one half mile above where Rankins mill now stands…”4 George died in Johnson County, Missouri.5
I don’t know whether Jacob came in the first wave of McFARLANDs or the second, but I do know that once the second wave arrived, their brother George (same one as above) immediately sold out and move west to Cooper County, Missouri, and Jacob went with him. Jacob was married twice. Once in Tennessee to Elizabeth WEBB with whom he had one child. The second marriage was in North Carolina to Nancy CATHEY with whom he had six more children. Jacob died in Cooper County, Missouri.6
James Ray and William
James Ray also accompanied his brothers George and Jacob to Cooper County, Missouri. James arrived in New Lebanon, Cooper County, Missouri, sometime during the fall of 1819 and was one of the first settlers there.7 While in Cooper County, James ran for office as a Congressional Representative. He lost his election. I was unable to support this information with a newspaper article but as I said before Mary Helen HAINES’ research is solid. You can find more information about James at the Clan MacFarlane website at the link listed in the previous paragraph. Some of the McFARLAND family moved from Missouri into Texas. James was one of the ones who went to Texas. He’s said to have died in Grayson County, Texas.8
Like his brother George, William arrived in Missouri just in time to experience the New Madrid earthquakes. It was William’s son John who gave the description of the New Madrid earthquakes that I quoted above. In the years 1814-1817, William was appointed each year as a township Justice of the Peace in St. Michael’s Township, St. Genevieve County, Missouri.9 William moved west when the second wave of McFARLANDs arrived in the St. Genevieve/St. Francois County, Missouri, area. In 1818 he was living in Howard County and served as a member of the Territorial Legislature representing the southern district of Howard County. In 1819, he moved farther west with his brother George to Cooper County, Missouri. In 1819 William became the first sheriff of Cooper County, Missouri. The following year he was elected as a judge in Lamine, Cooper County, Missouri. In 1822, 1824, and 1838 he was elected to serve in the legislature representing Cooper County.10 William died in Cooper County, Missouri.11
Reuben and David
Reuben was a devout Presbyterian. His friends and family called him “Old Uncle Reuben”. Reuben organized the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in the McFarland Settlement and he and his family took care of the church throughout his lifetime. He and his brother John both owned property that straddled both St. Genevieve and St. Francois Counties in Missouri. The place where all the McFARLANDs settled in St. Genevieve/St. Francois Counties was called McFarland Settlement in the early days. It was located about 7 to 8 miles southeast of the town of Farmington, Missouri. Reuben remained in St. Francois County when other members of his extended family began to push west. Reuben was described as “a natural mechanic, as well as being a good blacksmith, gunsmith, carpenter, cabinet maker, etc., and used tools of his own making. He was also a man who made friends of every one with whom he came in contact. He made a clock that kept perfect time, and the violins of his making were equal to any purchased from dealers.”12 The McFarland Cemetery is located on what used to be Reuben’s land and various McFARLAND family members are buried there including Reuben.13 There was also a clay pit on Reuben’s land where they made bricks used in building the first brick houses in the McFarland Settlement area.14
David moved to Cooper County, Missouri with his brothers when they moved. He died there in 1835. I don’t know when David came to Missouri Territory but I know he was in Cooper County, Missouri, by 1830.15
Jesse and Benjamin
In regard to Jesse, I’m not sure if he came to the St. Genevieve/St. Francois County, Missouri, area with the first or second wave of McFARLANDs. He doesn’t seem to have gone farther west into Missouri with other family members. He died in St. Francois County, Missouri.16
Unlike his brothers, Benjamin didn’t move west into Missouri Territory with other family members. He lived to be 91 years old and died in Kentucky.17
Rachel, Catherine, and Anna
Their sister Rachel made it as far as Cooper County, Missouri but I don’t know much about her or her life. Their sister Catherine is a complete mystery for me. Anna, however, did come to Missouri Territory with the first wave of McFARLANDs. She was married to a man named George CATHEY. Like her brother George and other family members in the first wave, Anna would have been present for the New Madrid earthquakes. Although Anna and her family moved west, they didn’t stick with her brothers. Anna and George CATHEY moved to Pettis County, Missouri and were there in 1840 and then by 1850 they were in Cass County, Missouri.18
Mom and Dad – John & Mary
I want to circle back to the parents of all these children – John and Mary (KINDER) McFARLAND – for a minute. John served in the militia in Montgomery County, Virginia, during the Revolutionary War and his service qualifies his descendants for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution or Sons of the American Revolution. John’s father, also named John, was too old to fight but is considered a Patriot because he gave food for the Continental Army. However, the younger John who married Mary KINDER had a brother named Joseph who was tried for treason in 1779, so apparently not everyone in the family was on the same side in that war. He came to an agreement with Virginia and avoided death for treason but he was later killed in a duel.19, 20
Final Thoughts
If the McFARLANDs are your family, I encourage you to go check out Mary Helen HAINES’ work on the various websites listed below. The first Clan MacFarlane link listed in the Resource List below has photographs and maps that I don’t have permission to include in this blog post. Mary did a lot of very detailed work on this family history. I hope you find this family to be as interesting as I’ve found them to be.
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
Resource List
Ancestry.com. History of Buncombe County, North Carolina [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Accessed 19 November 2024.
“McFarlands in Missouri.” The Home of Clan MacFarlane Worldwide. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://clanmacfarlane.org/public_html/index.php/genealogy/genealogical-histories/144-ch-4-mcfarlands-in-missouri-2.html.
“Clan MacFarlane Worldwide Genealogy.” The Home of Clan MacFarlane Worldwide. Accessed November 28, 2024. https://genealogy.clanmacfarlane.org/getperson.php?personID=I30026&tree=Mac1.
“McFarlands in Missouri.” The Home of Clan MacFarlane Worldwide. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://clanmacfarlane.org/public_html/index.php/genealogy/genealogical-histories/144-ch-4-mcfarlands-in-missouri-2.html.
Find a Grave. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14656973/george-mcfarland.
“Clan MacFarlane Worldwide Genealogy.” The Home of Clan MacFarlane Worldwide. Accessed November 28, 2024. https://genealogy.clanmacfarlane.org/getperson.php?personID=I29575&tree=Mac1.
“Townships Formed.” Cooper County Historical Society. Accessed November 26, 2024. https://www.coopercountyhistoricalsociety.org/townships-formed.
“Fannin County, TXGenWeb, A History of Our McFarland Family.” Accessed November 18, 2024. https://sites.rootsweb.com/~txfannin/mcfarlandour.html.
“Clan MacFarlane Worldwide Genealogy.” The Home of Clan MacFarlane Worldwide. Accessed November 28, 2024. https://genealogy.clanmacfarlane.org/getperson.php?personID=I29522&tree=Mac1.
“Townships Formed.” Cooper County Historical Society. Accessed November 26, 2024. https://www.coopercountyhistoricalsociety.org/townships-formed.
“Clan MacFarlane Worldwide Genealogy.” The Home of Clan MacFarlane Worldwide. Accessed November 28, 2024. https://genealogy.clanmacfarlane.org/getperson.php?personID=I29522&tree=Mac1.
“McFarlands in Missouri.” The Home of Clan MacFarlane Worldwide. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://clanmacfarlane.org/public_html/index.php/genealogy/genealogical-histories/144-ch-4-mcfarlands-in-missouri-2.html.
“Clan MacFarlane Worldwide Genealogy.” The Home of Clan MacFarlane Worldwide. Accessed November 28, 2024. https://genealogy.clanmacfarlane.org/getperson.php?personID=I30555&tree=Mac1.
“McFarlands in Missouri.” The Home of Clan MacFarlane Worldwide. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://clanmacfarlane.org/public_html/index.php/genealogy/genealogical-histories/144-ch-4-mcfarlands-in-missouri-2.html.
“Clan MacFarlane Worldwide Genealogy.” The Home of Clan MacFarlane Worldwide. Accessed November 28, 2024. https://genealogy.clanmacfarlane.org/getperson.php?personID=I30555&tree=Mac1.
“Clan MacFarlane Worldwide Genealogy.” The Home of Clan MacFarlane Worldwide. Accessed November 28, 2024. https://genealogy.clanmacfarlane.org/getperson.php?personID=I29482&tree=Mac1.
“Clan MacFarlane Worldwide Genealogy.” The Home of Clan MacFarlane Worldwide. Accessed November 28, 2024. https://genealogy.clanmacfarlane.org/getperson.php?personID=I29618&tree=Mac1
“McFarlands in Missouri.” The Home of Clan MacFarlane Worldwide. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://clanmacfarlane.org/public_html/index.php/genealogy/genealogical-histories/144-ch-4-mcfarlands-in-missouri-2.html.
“Fannin County, TXGenWeb, A History of Our McFarland Family.” Accessed November 18, 2024. https://sites.rootsweb.com/~txfannin/mcfarlandour.html.
“A History of Our McFarland Family – Part 2.” Fannin County, Texas, USGenWeb. https://www.txfannin.org/family-page/038/mcfarlandafamilyahistory.
For the months of October and November, I’ve been focusing on Kansas and Missouri families. One county of interest is Johnson County, Missouri. I was fortunate enough to visit both the Midwest Genealogy Center in Lee’s Summit, Missouri, as well as the Mary Miller Smiser Heritage Library in Warrensburg, Missouri. (Shout out to Joyce who was very helpful at the Mary Miller Smiser Heritage Library!)
This week, the information I found filled in some blanks about a family that I haven’t had much success in researching in the past. The family in today’s post is Bart’s family. Specifically, his paternal 5th great grandparents – George William and Sarah (JACK) McFARLAND. The line of descent goes from George and Sarah to their daughter Sarah who married John BARKER. Then to Sary’s daughter Bethena BARKER who married Francis DEWITT. Then to Bethena’s son Milo (more about Milo), and Milo‘s daughter Lucille who married Dee Barton WILLIAMS and on down through the WILLIAMS’ family to my husband. I’ve linked each person to blog posts I’ve written about them so if you want to know more, click on an individual’s name above and you will be magically transported to other blog posts about this family. Don’t forget to make your way back here and read this post, though!
Before Johnson County, Missouri
George McFARLAND and Sarah JACK married in Jefferson County, Tennessee. I certainly don’t know everything about this family and am still sorting out what I do know. However, I have some very reliable and well-researched information from a website that indicates that the couple’s first child was born in December of 1792 and the couple married in January of 1793. I’m not sure if the baby was actually born out of wedlock, or the year is wrong on the baby’s birth, or perhaps George was married to a woman who died shortly after giving birth and he quickly remarried to Sarah. The website I mentioned also doesn’t say one way or the other how it all went down.1
In any case, the website has tracked the family from Tennessee, through North Carolina, into Missouri. The family settled in Missouri sometime between 1804 (when George sold his land in North Carolina to a family member) and 1819. What I found this past weekend while researching helps to nail down a little bit more of their migration pattern. I found two of George and Sarah’s children in the Missouri, History of Johnson County, 1881.2
George and Samuel McFarland
George is mentioned first and the history gives his birthdate so I know I have the right George. This is important because the McFARLANDs tended to re-use first names and they moved from state to state in a group. The text also specifically states that we’re talking about the George who is the brother of Samuel. The most valuable information comes in the detailed migration pattern of the family. It states that both George and Samuel were born in Tennessee. George and Samuel came to Missouri Territory in 1816 with their parents and siblings. The family settled near Otterville in Cooper County, Missouri. About 4 years after they arrived, the moved again to Sni-a-bar Creek in Lafayette County, Missouri. In 1843, the entire family migrated to Centerview, Johnson County, Missouri. The family settled about 2 miles east of the depot in Centerview. The location is specified as the depot location in 1881. I don’t know if the depot changed locations but the book was specific as to the “current” depot location.
Samuel purchased 400 acres of land and stayed in the area until 1850 when he moved to Texas. The book says Samuel died in 1861 but it doesn’t say where. (Just for your information, there are some sources that state he died in 1851 and some say 1861. There are also differences in his death/burial location. The differences being some sources say Texas and some say Missouri. His burial appears to be in Sluder Cemetery and a photo of his stone from Find-a-Grave is below.3) Toggling back to the Clan MacFarlane website, they show that Samuel died 11 March 1861 in Burnet County, Texas. An interesting tidbit that I found in the Johnson County history book states that Samuel McFARLAND was one of 2 men to make the first improvements in “the old town of Chilhowee”. Chilhowee was laid out in 1857 and was a “thriving” town up until the Civil War. Just as a point of reference, Johnson County, Missouri is on the Kansas-Missouri state line and just across the state line during the late 1850s to early 1860s were the massacres and other events that led up to Kansas being nicknamed “Bleeding Kansas”. For that history, see my previous blog post, Bleeding Kansas. It was a tumultuous time in that general area.
George was with the family in 1843 when they came to Johnson County. He settled about 2 miles south of the then-present day (1881) site of Centerview. The book states George died “sometime before the war”. Elsewhere in the book it states he died in 1862 in Chilhowee Township in Johnson County, Missouri. Again, toggling back to the Clan MacFarlane website, it says George died 23 April 1863 at Post Oak, Johnson County, Missouri. The Clan MacFarlane website lists George as being buried in Sluder Cemetery in Centerview. The Find-a-Grave website confirms this and has a photo of the stone.3
George’s stone above and Samuel’s stone below.
One of things I most loved about the piece on George was that it described his personality. The 1881 book stated,
He was given to quaint, dry expressions, which were wont to produce great merriment among his friends.4
I took a quick drive around Centerview this past weekend. I saw no sign of the depot. I did drive down Depot Street to check it out. I have no idea if the depot was in town or farther outside of town. I also haven’t looked at plat books so I wouldn’t be able to figure out where exactly George lived.
NOTE: After getting home from my trip I found some maps I wasn’t able to find while I was on the road. Here is a map of Centerview, Missouri, from early on – likely around the time the McFARLANDs were there. The maps were found on a blog post by the Johnson County, Missouri Historical Society. The post even mentions the McFARLAND family. If you want to read it or you want to see unmodified copies of the maps, you can click the line in the Resource section at the bottom of this post.5
The section of the map above has the old depot circled in red at the top of the map. It was located in between the two tracks. The two tracks are in between North Depot Street and South Depot Street. Below is a larger map showing all of Centerview. The location of the old depot is marked with a red arrow.
A couple of additional bits of information in the Johnson County, Missouri history book are the fact that for the family whose religious persuasion was mentioned, they were Presbyterian. There was also the mention of a white sulphur spring “on McFarland’s farm near the mouth of Post Oak, in Warrensburg Township. This seems to be somewhat close to where the McFARLAND brothers owned property so it’s possible this is describing a spring on their property but I can’t prove whether it is or it isn’t. The white sulphur springs were described in two different places. One description states the springs are 3 miles north of Warrensburg on Mr. McFARLAND’s farm and the spring, “boils up from the bottom lands one-half mile west of Post Oak.”6
If this is George or Samuel McFarland’s land, that at least gives us a little more information about where to look for his place. The brief article goes on to describe the white sulphur and how the sulphur water affects the land.
To recap, my initial find was the 1881 History of Johnson County, Missouri. Once I began writing this blog post, I found other resources listed below. One of the things that was so exciting about this find is that it may also help unlock the movements of Bart’s paternal 4th great grandparents, Dr. John BARKER and Sarah (McFARLAND) BARKER. Sarah was the sister of George and Samuel. I believe John went to Texas with his brothers-in-law and was gone a similar amount of time. I believe he also probably returned with part of the family group. I’ll be looking into that next.
Before I close this post though, I want to encourage you to go to the Johnson County Historical Society blog and look around. There are several of their posts that mention the McFARLAND family. The Chilhowee post explains a lot about why and how George McFarland (the son) went to Chilhowee. Be aware that it only calls him “McFarland” so you have to go in with the knowledge that it’s talking about George based on the evidence presented here in my blog post. I also discovered that as of 2024, the original McFARLAND home is still standing! I can’t wait to go back and find it.7
The Historical Society’s blog post about the history of Johnson County mentions George McFARLAND. Number 8 on the resource list will give you the link to that post. There is one other of their posts about the community of Knob Noster that mentions a McFARLAND but I can’t place that person yet in the family. You can find the link to that post at number 9 on the resource list below.
Final Thoughts
So…welcome to Clan MacFarlane. Embrace your Scottish heritage. Use it as an excuse to go to a Scottish Highlands event next fall. This line also extends back into Ireland so keep that in mind the next time St. Patty’s Day comes back around. Mark your calendars now and celebrate your heritage.
Based on my research this week into this family, it appears they were well connected with influential people including governors, senators, and local wealthy businessmen. This research find energized me. I’ve been researching so long that it’s a lot harder now for me to find new information, so something that moves me forward a little bit is definitely welcome.
I hope you enjoyed the post. I’m hoping to get a photo of the McFARLAND home soon. I’ll share it when I get it.
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
Resource List
“Clan MacFarlane Worldwide Genealogy.” The Home of Clan MacFarlane Worldwide. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://genealogy.clanmacfarlane.org/getperson.php?personID=I29599&tree=Mac1.
Kansas City Historical Society. The History of Johnson County, Missouri, Including a Reliable History of the Townships, Cities and Towns. Salem, Massachusetts: Higginson Book Company, 1995.
Find a Grave. Accessed November 18, 2024. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/14656973/george-mcfarland.
Kansas City Historical Society. The History of Johnson County, Missouri, Including a Reliable History of the Townships, Cities and Towns. Salem, Massachusetts: Higginson Book Company, 1995.
“Centerview.” Johnson County (MO) Historical Society, January 9, 2024. https://jocomohistory.org/centerview/.
Kansas City Historical Society. The History of Johnson County, Missouri, Including a Reliable History of the Townships, Cities and Towns. Salem, Massachusetts: Higginson Book Company, 1995.
“Chilhowee.” Johnson County (MO) Historical Society, August 12, 2024. https://jocomohistory.org/chilhowee-2/.
“The Story of How It Was and How We Got Here.” Johnson County (MO) Historical Society, September 16, 2024. https://jocomohistory.org/the-story-of-how-it-was-and-how-we-got-here/.
“Knob Noster.” Johnson County (MO) Historical Society, November 14, 2024. https://jocomohistory.org/knob-noster/.
I recently had the pleasure of touring around Linn County, Kansas – a place where I believe two lines of my husband’s family briefly lived. The trip was interesting, but relatively unproductive. I didn’t gain any new information but met some lovely people and toured some wonderful places.
Linn County, Kansas
Linn County, Kansas, was no stranger to battle and bloodshed. In 1854, the Kansas-Nebraska Act called for a vote of the people to be held upon statehood to determine whether Kansas would be a slave state or a free state. This kicked off a decade of political killings and election fraud. Pro- and Anti-Slavery groups battled back and forth, killing each other, burning houses and buildings, etc. throughout the 1850’s. This was followed up by the Civil War in the 1860’s. Union and Confederate soldiers clashed at the Battle of Mine Creek outside of Mound City, Linn County, Kansas. It was this two-decade long bloody mess that Bart’s family chose to move into.
William PAGE and Rebecca DUKES
This is the only image I have of William PAGE:
I also only have one image of his 2nd great grandmother, Rebecca DUKES:
Bart’s 2nd great grandfather, William Benjamin PAGE, moved westward into Kansas Territory. The earliest I’ve located him in Kansas Territory was in 1859 where he was living in Paris Township in Linn County. I haven’t found him in Kansas in 1860. However, it was common (due to the Border Wars over slavery) for people to leave and come back and sometimes to leave and never come back). William PAGE did come back, though. On 10 August 1861, William enlisted in the 5th Kansas Cavalry, Company D. He mustered in on 11 February 1862 and he mustered out on 5 September 1864. He fought for the Union. Just over a month after he mustered out, Union and Confederate troops went head to head at the Battle of Mine Creek near Mound City, Linn County, Kansas.
North of Mine Creek about 6 miles was the area where the soon-to-be-widow Rebecca (DUKES) WORKMAN lived with her parents, Henry and Martha (TATUM) DUKES. Rebecca was married at the time to Private Francis WORKMAN. Francis was taken as a prisoner of war and died before he could get back home. I’ve never found any evidence that Francis and Rebecca had children together. After the war, Rebecca married William PAGE. I can’t pinpoint the exact year they were married. Three separate years from 1866 to 1867 to 1873 have been floated by various researchers but I’ve yet to find a marriage certificate or any definitive source for their marriage. I know they weren’t married as of 23 August 1865. On that date, the census enumerator marked Rebecca as living with her parents, under her married name of Rebecca J. WORKMAN, but listed as a 21-year-old single woman. This is accurate since her first husband, Francis WORKMAN, died in February of that year as a prisoner of war. The DUKES were living in Brooklinn, Scott Township, Linn County, Kansas. William Benjamin PAGE was living with the Jeremiah and Margret FARRIS family south of the WORKMAN-DUKES family. He was living in Paris, Paris Township, Linn County, Kansas. The census enumerator marked that William was 33 years old and single. William was working as a “farm hand”.
There are about 6 miles’ distance on current roads between where Brooklinn was and where Paris was. Brooklinn is the top yellow circle, Paris is the bottom yellow circle. Although the two towns were in different townships, they were close together.
I’ve marked both on this Google map screenshot. Once you arrive at Polly Road and E 1450, if you look East, you’ll see a field that used to be the town of Paris.
Both Paris and Brooklinn are extinct towns in Linn County, Kansas. The only identifying feature left of Brooklinn is the cemetery (shown below) and there is no identifying feature left of Paris to my knowledge. It’s currently being used as farm land. I’m not sure what crop is being grown but I’ve seen a lot of soybean fields here so I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the crop they’re growing there.
Both Brooklinn and Paris were founded as pro-slavery towns. However, by 1859 when William PAGE was in this area, the anti-slavery groups had mostly won out over the pro-slavery groups. (Side note: Why the town and the cemetery spelled the names differently I don’t know, but each is spelled as it should be in this blog post. The town was named after the founder of Linn County. I suppose the cemetery name was either misspelled to begin with or it morphed over time to become what it is now.) Here is a picture of Brooklyn Cemetery the day I visited:
It’s a one-way-in, one-way-out cemetery with no place to turn around. It dead-ends at the back. In order to get out, you have to back up through the very narrow front gate and it empties you onto a highway. I don’t recommend driving in there. Just a word of warning… It’s a lovely, peaceful place though. I don’t know of any relatives buried there. I only went because it was the one place left of the now-defunct town of Brooklinn.
As I said, I haven’t been able to document William and Rebecca’s marriage. Their first known child was born in April of 1868 so probably they were married at least by July of 1867 (definitely an assumption my part). In 1870, the family was enumerated for the census on the 26th of July. They were living in Jackson, Paris Township, Linn County, Kansas. I’ve found no record at all outside of the census that would indicate where Jackson was located. The people living in the home were William and his wife Rebecca, their children Henry and Charles, and Arthur DUKES (a 50 year old male). This same man (Arthur) was living with Rebecca’s family in 1865 when Rebecca was a new widow. The logical assumption is that he’s a relative – possibly a brother to Rebecca’s dad Henry, given his age. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to prove who he is or how he’s related/connected to the family yet.
This is the last time I can place the DUKES-PAGE family in Linn County, Kansas. From here, they moved westward into Chautauqua County, Kansas.
On Location
As I said, we were recently able to visit Linn County, Kansas and see some of the places close to where Bart’s family lived. Those places included the Mine Creek Battlefield State Historic Site where they have a small battlefield tour, library, and museum. We were also able to visit the Marais des Cygnes Massacre State Historical Site. It was a tasteful and interesting memorial to some of the people who were killed in the fights between pro- and anti-slavery factions during the Bleeding Kansas era. In addition to these two places, I visited Brooklyn Cemetery as noted above.
Finally, I visited the Linn County Historical Museum and Genealogy Library in Pleasanton, Kansas. Never underestimate a small town historical museum/library! I highly recommend them. (Quick plug for Mariee Wallace Museum in Jay, Delaware County, Oklahoma!) My visit to Linn County’s museum put me in touch with the Linn County Historical Society President, Theresa Miller, who helped me dig through their files for records on Bart’s family, gave me tips on places to visit, and talked about projects she’s working on for the Linn County museum. Although Theresa’s Linn County marriage records skipped the years I needed to look at, she was able to help me find a potential military record for William PAGE as well as a much-appreciated, detailed history of the now-extinct town of Brooklinn, Kansas. Thanks, Theresa! Below are a few of the wonderful things Theresa has on exhibit. If you ever plan a trip to/through Pleasanton, give Theresa a call at the museum and make an appointment to visit it.
Above is the Muster Register for the 5th Kansas in which William PAGE was enlisted.
Above are possessions of Harlan JACKSON who was a 6th Kansas volunteer and fought at the Battle of Mine Creek. Both of the above images are on exhibit at the museum as part of their military collection.
One additional item from the museum was the plat map for the town of Brooklinn which I was very happy to find.
I thoroughly enjoyed exploring Linn County and hope this isn’t my last trip there. I encourage Bart’s family to get out and explore the area, do some research, and have fun!
My summer goal this year is to learn all I can about my maternal 3rd great grandfather, Jefferson LATTY. Jefferson’s daughter was Druziller LATTY who married James BULLOCK. They had a daughter, Laura Ann. Laura is the mother of my grandmother.
UPDATE: I came across a document today that I had set aside at some point rather than filing it. (Note to self: always file your documents!) The document is Felix LATTA’s Eastern Cherokee application #10748 signed on 8 January 1909. In his affidavit, Felix names his family members including his brother Jefferson LATTA. He also explains in a letter that the surname was spelled both ways – LATTA and LATTY – and that in 1851, it was spelled LATTY. This is confirmed with actual records. He states in his testimony that his brother Jefferson died in 1893. Later in the affidavit, he states Jefferson died in 1889. His application has tied up several loose ends and I was glad to find it again. I’m going to leave the original blog post as I wrote it other than this update paragraph. I think it’s value is in showing the research process and how the conclusions a researcher makes can change as each new piece of information is found.
As I worked with the information I have about Jefferson and tried to make a timeline for his life, I began to question what I thought I knew about him. It started with his date of death. All the information on Ancestry and on Find a Grave says he died in 1892 and is buried in McDonald County, Missouri. Up until now, I never questioned this information even though I could never prove it either. I’ve been to the cemetery in McDonald County and there is no marked grave there for him. Even so, this isn’t uncommon and I didn’t question it.
When I started putting together a timeline of his life though, new possibilities began to form. I can only document his life from 1850 (when he was about 23 years old) until he was listed as AWOL on 14 December 1862 on his Confederate military service records. He was in Tennessee with his parents in 1850. He appears again in 1851 in Saline District, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory (now the areas of Delaware and Mayes Counties, Oklahoma) with his mother and someone I presume to be his sibling. By 1860, he’s married and living in McDonald County, Missouri. This location matches with witness testimony given in later applications for Dawes Roll numbers by other family members. The next records are his Civil War military records.
Looking at the documents, I realized I couldn’t place him anywhere at all after his Civil War service. There are no records for him anywhere I’ve looked. In 1870, his wife and daughters are living with another family in neighboring Benton County, Arkansas. By 1880, his wife has declared herself a widow and she’s living with their now-adult married daughter, Druziller. I began asking myself a lot of questions and looking at my research with a new perspective.
My First New Hypothesis
Initially, I thought perhaps he’d gone back home to visit his wife and children. I’ve been told many men did that. They’d take a “break” from the war, go home, and then return to the battlefield. In 1870, Irena had a young girl in her household who most researchers say was born in October of 1862. If the girl were Jefferson’s daughter, perhaps Jefferson snuck off after the battle of Prairie Grove to go see his newborn daughter. (I say ‘if’ because this family frequently took in each others’ children and raised them, and Jefferson had at least one child in his home that fit this scenario. Also, there are some discrepancies about her birthdate.)
Many online trees on Ancestry list 5 children as belonging to Jefferson and Irena. In the process of trying to determine which of the children actually belonged to Jefferson and Irena, I came to some conclusions. Here’s a breakdown of each child attributed to them and what I believe about each child.
James Monroe LATTY
I know that James did not belong to Jefferson, but rather to Jefferson’s sibling. I don’t know the backstory as to why Jefferson and Irena were raising James. He shows up in their household in 1860 at the age of 12. By 1870, he’s out on his own. This is a photo of James Monroe LATTY:
Sarah Ellen LATTY
I don’t know who Sarah’s parents were, but I don’t believe Jefferson and Irena were her parents. Some have claimed that the daughter who went by ‘Elen’ in the 1870 census was Sarah. I don’t believe this is true. Sarah is alleged to have been born in the same month and year as Druziller and I know for a fact Druziller is the biological daughter of Jefferson and Irena and she is not a twin. Druziller was born in McDonald County, Missouri which is exactly where Jefferson and Irena were in that time period. Sarah has both Georgia and Tennessee listed as a birthplace. Sarah isn’t listed on the 1860 census with Jefferson and Irena like Druziller is. All of this data indicates Sarah was born to a different family. As far as records go, I don’t have any record that ever lists Sarah as living with Jefferson and/or Irena.
Druziller Mahala LATTY
Druziller is the biological child of Jefferson and Irena. This is documented with vital records and backed up by census records. DNA research also backs up this relationship.
Lucinda Cynthia LATTY
To be honest, I don’t know why some list Lucinda as a daughter of Jefferson and Irena. There is never a child by this name in the census records with Jefferson or Irena. I have no documentation that shows her to be a daughter. This same child is also listed with the TYNER family. So is she a TYNER? Did she ever live with Jefferson and/or Irena? Did Irena have a child she couldn’t keep that she gave to the TYNER’s to raise? Did the TYNER’s give Lucinda to the LATTY’s for a time? I don’t know. The TYNER family was closely related to the LATTY family so it could have gone in any of these directions. For now, I don’t believe Jefferson and Irena had a daughter named Lucinda.
Martha Ellen LATTY
This is the child I believe is listed as ‘Elen’ and as Irena’s daughter in the 1870 census. She is the only one other than Druziller and James who shows up on a record with Jefferson and/or Irena.
Most people show Marth Ellen being born in October of 1862 even though the 1870 census indicates she was born in 1858 or 1859. If she were born in 1862, the timeline would have looked like this: Irena got pregnant in January of 1862, Jefferson enlisted in August of 1862 and his muster-in date was September of 1862. Elen was born in October of 1862. Jefferson fought in the Battle of Prairie Grove in December of 1862 and then disappeared from records and was counted AWOL by the military.
This is why my initial “new” hypothesis was that he snuck away after the Battle of Prairie Grove and went to see his newborn daughter.
My Current New Hypothesis
My new current hypothesis has become this: Jefferson LATTY died in, or shortly after, the Battle of Prairie Grove.
In December of 1862, Jefferson fought for the Confederacy at the Battle of Prairie Grove in Prairie Grove, Washington County, Arkansas. According to Wikipedia, this battle “secured the Union control of northwestern Arkansas”. (Wikipedia) The Confederacy lost a lot of men in this battle. Wikipedia says:
The Confederates had to leave many of their dead on the field, in piles and surrounded with makeshift barriers to keep feral pigs from eating the corpses.
So in the middle of winter, the surviving Confederate soldiers quickly piled up the bodies of their fellow soldiers – friends, and some of them family – and put a barrier around as many of them as they could before retreating to save their own lives. Sounds horrifying! Even worse, I’ve come to believe Jefferson was one of many left on that battlefield either dead or dying soon after the battle. Jefferson’s military records list him as AWOL from 14 December 1862 on.
By March of 1863, the Confederates were fighting the Union at the Battle of Pea Ridge but during that time period (March-April, 1863), Jefferson’s military records reveal that he was still AWOL and had not been seen since the Battle of Prairie Grove.
Considering that Jefferson never shows up in another record after that, I have to assume that he either died in the battle or shortly thereafter (within a week). IF he ever made it back home, I believe he died shortly after getting there – maybe even before he made it all the way home. The lack of records is so complete as to paint the picture that he didn’t survive the Civil War. Of course, my hypothesis could be proven wrong with the discovery of more military records or some other record that has yet to be found.
Future Research
This summer I’m planning to take research trips to the Cherokee National Research Center in Tahlequah, Oklahoma to delve into the Drennan Roll that Jefferson was on and to look for more LATTY records in witness testimonies given on tribal citizenship applications.
I’m planning to go to the courthouses in McDonald County, Missouri, and Benton and Washington Counties in Arkansas to look for records. Beyond that, I’d like to get to the Missouri State Archives to research the Missouri Confederate service records that are kept there. I also plan to call the Midwest Genealogy Center in Kansas City, Missouri, to see if they may have records I won’t find elsewhere.
Hopefully, by the time summer is over I will have solved some of the mysteries of Jefferson’s life. If I do, I’ll be sure to update you.
A couple of years ago I wrote a post about our newest dog’s pedigree. Major Wheeler’s pedigree was fun to look at and I hadn’t really thought about animals having pedigrees. At the time, I thought Major was the only dog whose pedigree we knew. Writing that post got me thinking about our doxie Ginger’s pedigree. Ginger was such a beautiful dog. I fell in love with her as soon as I saw her. This month, she’ll be 13 years old so I know we don’t have much more time to spend with her and the curiosity about her pedigree has stuck with me ever since I wrote the post about Major.
I’d tried contacting Ginger’s breeder before but was never able to reach her. Two years ago, after I wrote Major’s post, I tried again. I heard back from her and she seemed willing to help but couldn’t do it that day. So that evening, I began researching the breeder to see if perhaps I could figure out which dogs she was breeding at the time Ginger was born. Of course, I wasn’t able to put anything together. I pulled Ginger’s paperwork out of the file cabinet to look at it and to my surprise, her parents were listed right on the paperwork! I was able to track most of Ginger’s mom’s line but not her dad. He was a total mystery. Then the next day, the breeder emailed me a copy of Ginger’s pedigree. Here are a few of Ginger’s ancestors.
Ginger’s Dad
Ginger’s dad was Judy Kay’s Sundance Kid V Jomardox. Sadly, two years later I still haven’t found a photo of him. Judy agreed to send me pictures of Sundance but I never received them. Sundance Kid’s Sire and Dam were Garlin’s Black Prince of Jomardox and Jomardox Sweet Lil Goldie Locks from a now-defunct kennel in Georgia. The nearest paternal ancestral photo I could find is for Ginger’s 3rd great-grandfather, Rose Farm’s Palomino:
It’s always fun to look at the ancestral dogs. Ginger is not a longhair and I wouldn’t have guessed she had a longhair in her ancestry. None of Palomino’s black comes through in Ginger either.
On Ginger’s paternal line, she has ancestors from Canada, Australia, Japan, Switzerland, and Germany, in addition to the U.S.. One line traces back as far as 1880! One of her oldest traceable ancestors is Dachs 16 – a black and tan.
This is Dachs 16. This is also the oldest known image of the dachshund breed according to Dach Pedigrees website. He was born 25 May 1886 – 125 years almost to the exact day before Ginger was born.
One of my favorites in Ginger’s paternal ancestry is her Japanese ancestor, Madam-Mona JP Luke:
I love the cream dachshunds and Ginger’s cream color was one of the first things that drew me to her.
Ginger’s Mom
Ginger’s mom was Judy Kay’s Shades of Ivory. She was called Ivory. Ivory‘s Sire and Dam were Judy Kay’s Jack Daniels and Judy Kay’s Spiced with Rum. Using the Wayback Machine, I was able to find pictures of Ivory on Judy’s website from around the time we got Ginger. This is Ginger’s mom throughout her youth:
Like Ginger, Ivory was beautiful. I’ve been able to find more photos of Ginger’s maternal line than of her paternal line.
Here is Ginger’s maternal grandma, Judy Kay’s Spiced with Rum:
This is the only picture I have of her and it was found on the breeder’s old website that was cached on the Wayback Machine. I’ve been unable to find a picture of Ginger’s maternal grandpa, Judy Kay’s Jack Daniels.
In the great-grandparent generation, I found quite a few pictures of Dachsiedowns Klasicharm – Ginger’s great grandfather – online two years ago when I started writing this post. I’m glad I saved them when I did because they’re not online now.
Klasicharm was an Australian dog. Like Ginger’s father’s line, her mother’s line also has dogs from different countries. In addition to the U.S., Ginger’s mother’s line includes Australia, New Zealand, England, Switzerland, and Germany. One of her maternal lines traces back to 1862. Her mother, like her father, has a line that descends from the dog named Dachs 16 (see above).
Happy Birthday to Ginger
On Ginger’s birth record, she’s recorded as Puppy #5. She was born on 16 May 2011. She was about 6 weeks old when we got her. This was her first day with us:
Ginger fit inside my purse. We took her to The Gingerman bar in Dallas. She was a hit with both the waitress and the other customers. She tended toward a cream color when we got her but over the years she turned more red.
Ginger has done a lot of traveling over the years. Here she is on a beach in Galveston, Texas, with Bart.
And here she is with me in Tunnel Hill, Georgia, leaning against a tree that’s old enough to have seen our ancestors do battle there.
Ginger and I leaning against the Chinquapin Oak tree at Tunnel Hill, Georgia. The tree saw battle during the Civil War. It’s possible my ancestor also leaned up against this same tree – it’s that old!
Ginger’s lived a good, long life and we love her so much. Happy birthday, Ginger!
On this date in 1783, Washington IRVING was born. He wrote The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. I love that Bart’s family has a connection to Sleepy Hollow and the VAN TASSEL family. Here’s the post I wrote about it. I’d love for you to read it (or re-read it, whichever).
