Lisa Williams, Author at Honeysuckle Farm, LLC

Medical Monday, Part 2: Eliza Emoline Bell and Nephritis

This post is an extension of yesterday’s post about Eliza Emoline Bell Williams Sneary. You can find that post at https://wordpress.com/post/daysofourlivesgenealogy.wordpress.com/543.
This morning I woke up still thinking about Eliza. It occurred to me that I had written her post in such a hurry that I hadn’t even looked up the medical code that classifies her death to make sure there wasn’t something I was missing about her death. So I looked it up this morning.
Here’s a shot of Eliza’s death certificate again only this time I circled the death code number so you know what you’re looking at.
med code eebws
It’s actually on her death certificate twice so I circled the larger one and pointed an arrow at the smaller one. Then, I went to Wolfbane Cybernetic’s website. Click on the link and you will see that you get a list of different versions of the International Classification of Diseases (“ICD”). I chose the 1928 version since that’s what would have been in effect when Eliza died in 1934. This would be Revision 4 of the ICD. I scrolled down to 132 and found there was no classification of ‘a’ or ‘b’. Under the 132 code it stated, “Nephritis, not stated to be acute or chronic”. There was also not an ‘a’ classification of code 132 in Revisions 3 or 5. I had to go back to Revision 2 (1909 revision) to find a ‘132a’ classification but at that time ‘132a’ was used for “diseases of ovary” (excluding ovarian tumour)”.
So, all of this to say that I still can’t tell you whether Eliza’s Nephritis was acute or chronic nor what type of Nephritis she had. However, I have done a more exhaustive search for an exact cause of death. We will likely never know anything more specific than “Nephritis”. Also, I wanted to let you know that the ICD is out there on the internet for anyone to use so that when or if you ever need to look up a code on a death certificate you know how to find it and what to do with it once you have it.
Health and peace,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

Week 9 Blog Schedule

This is the second post for today because I’m trying to get caught up!
This will be short and sweet. The schedule for this week is:
Tuesday- (I hope) I will write a (very short) blog post about Hugh LARKIN and Sarah SARGENT’s (my paternal 6th great grandparents) marriage. They were married in 1773.
Wednesday- If I have time, I will try to do a Messages for Madeline post today.
Thursday- I will blog about my maternal great grandfather, Albert Lewis BATES, in honor of his birth on 1 February 1881. Somehow I marked his birthday in March instead of February on my yearly blog calendar!! It really is a February birthday but I’m going to roll with my mistake and blog about it on 1 March.
Friday- I will blog about Bart’s paternal 2nd great grandparents, David CAWYER and Mary CASE, who were married in 1883.
I think I am going to take one more week to get my information together for another post about John BATES. I have so much information that when I tried to write another post about him I just ended up confusing and frustrating myself with all the dates and details. So I’m going to get myself together this week and hopefully post next week.
While you’re waiting for the next post, enjoy this photo my mom sent me recently. In the photo are my two oldest paternal first cousins, Rick and Rob. (I sure hope that’s just a binky in Rob’s mouth!!) I never realized how much Rodney (the youngest of Rick’s siblings) looked like Rick when he was little.

Enjoy your week!
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

Medical Monday: Eliza Emoline Bell and Nephritis

Eliza Emoline BELL was my paternal 2nd great grandmother. The lineage goes from Eliza and her first husband, Samuel WILLIAMS, to their daughter, Bessie. Bessie is my paternal great grandmother. Every time I start to write a post about Eliza, I get derailed…badly. Every time. I’m pretty sure she hates me. But, I’m going to “try, try again”. I have written about her several times and you can find those posts here:
We all have secrets
Prosperity- Different Strokes for Different Folks
Eliza Emoline Bell, Independence Girl
Mentioned in Luchadors, Lawmen, and the Lost
Eliza’s death date anniversary is 25 February 1934. As I’ve said before, every time I research her I feel like I’m on the verge of a huge breakthrough. Unfortunately, my research always falls short and I never quite make that breakthrough. So today, in the interest of keeping this blog moving along, I’m going to post her death certificate which is something I haven’t given you before. Additionally, I’ll go into some detail about her cause of death. You can have a copy of her death certificate for yourself by going to this link: https://www.sos.mo.gov/images/archives/deathcerts/1934/1934_00008036.PDF

A supplement to the original death certificate was also issued:

The best I can tell, the supplemental document was issued in order to add Eliza’s birthdate.
As you can see, Eliza’s cause of death was listed as Nephritis. Nephritis is an inflammation of the kidneys and can lead to kidney failure and, ultimately, death. Each different type of Nephritis has its own causes and since the doctor did not give any other detail, we will never know what type of Nephritis Eliza had. Thanks to the internet, we can review the different kinds and causes of acute nephritis though.
Interstitial Nephritis causes the spaces between the kidney tubules to be inflamed, thus causing the kidneys to swell. This type of nephritis is often caused by taking medications for long periods of time. This type can also be caused by low potassium or an allergic reaction to a medication.
Pyelonephritis is another type of Nephritis. It’s caused by a bacterial infection which often begins in the bladder and travels up the ureters into the kidneys. The bacterial infection starts from a type of E. Coli found in the large intestine. Other possible causes include the formation of kidney stones, surgery on the bladder/kidneys/ureters, or urinary exams using a tool called a cytoscope.
The last type of Nephritis listed at Healthline.com is Glomerulonephritis (historically known as Bright’s Disease). This type of acute Nephritis is an inflammation of the capillaries in the kidneys. The capillaries help filter the blood within the kidneys. The exact cause of this type of Nephritis is unknown but believed to be caused by immune deficiencies, cancer, and/or broken abscesses within your body.
People with increased risk of Nephritis include those with a family history of kidney disease/infection (that would be YOU, Drake family!), those with immune system diseases such as Lupus, those who overuse antibiotics or pain medications, and/or anyone having had recent surgery on the urinary tract.
How would your body tell you that you might have Nephritis? I’m glad you asked! Depending on the type of acute Nephritis you have, you might feel pain in your pelvic area or abdomen or kidney areas and pain or burning when you urinate. You may need to urinate frequently and your urine may be cloudy or contain blood or pus. You may experience swelling in body parts (frequently in the face, feet, and legs). You also may experience vomiting, fever, and/or high blood pressure. Nephritis is often accompanied by blood pressure and heart problems.
If you feel you may be having these symptoms be sure to make an appointment with your doctor right away. When you go, be sure to let the doctor know that there is a family history of kidney problems. This may be important for the doctor to know in order to run the right tests on you. Nephritis can be treated if you catch it early. On the flip side, if you let it go it can kill you or leave you on dialysis for the rest of your life.
Take care of you! There are people in this world who need you to be around for them.
Peace and health,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives
** Information for this post came from Healthline.com (see link above) and Missouri Digital Heritage (see link above).

Day Late and a Dollar Short

Seems like I’m running late an awful lot lately. It’s been a month – MONTH – of people behaving like it’s a full moon! Exhausting!
Today I’m posting a link to a previous blog about my great grandmother, Bessie WILLIAMS LARKIN. Bess was born 17 February 1901.
I’ve included Bess in a number of different posts with little tidbits about her life. You can follow these links to learn more about her.
Ralph Larkin and the Mystery of His Missing Sibling
Antiques
Savory Saturday- The Kitchen is the Heart of the Home
Prosperity- Different Strokes for Different Folks
Something About Apples and How Far They Fall From the Tree (in which I mention my strongest memories of Bess)
Week 4- Weekend Wrap Up
Luchadors, Lawmen, and the Lost
I don’t really remember when Bess died. In that time, kids weren’t really told much about deaths and were not brought to funerals. So my perspective at 10 years old was, she was just there at my Mam’s (Audrey’s) house one visit and not there the next. I’m sure I was told she died at some point but it wasn’t something I remember discussing or asking questions about.
Enjoy reading. If you have memories of Bess you’d like to share, I’d love to hear them.
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Week 8 Blog Schedule

So sorry I missed Bess’s birthday Saturday and John’s installment last Tuesday! The health issues continue and as we approach the end of the school year things will continue to be crazier and crazier at work but I will try to stay on top of things in spite of all this.
Welcome to week 8. Yes, I know I’m a day late on the schedule. Sorry! This is another light week for the blog. Actually, there aren’t any birthdays or anniversaries that I haven’t already written an anniversary-date blog post about so I think I’ll spend this week trying to catch up on what I missed blogging about last week and also get a head start on next week because this is about the time last year when I dropped off on the blog posts so from here on out I’m doing this year’s AND last year’s blog schedules.
Tuesday- I will post the link to a blog post about my paternal great grandmother, Bessie WILLIAMS LARKIN, since I missed her birthday post/link on Saturday.
Wednesday- I may or may not put up a Message for Madeline.
Thursday- The next installment on John BATES. I’m going to TRY to have this post up today.
Saturday- On this day I will blog about Eliza BELL WILLIAMS, my paternal second great grandmother. This is the point at which I got derailed last year so I’m determined to get past her this year. Every time I research her I feel like I’m on the verge of a huge breakthrough but I can never quite make it. I may not have any exciting news about her but I am determined to write something!
Until tomorrow,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Messages for Madeline #2

Madeline,
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!
So last week, I talked about old friends and new friends. I want to expand on that a little this week. When I was a teenager, I was eager to get out of this small town and see the world. I wasn’t very good about keeping up with old friends. Now, 30 years later, I really regret that.
My best friend when I was growing up was Jenni. She lived about a block and a half away from me and if I wasn’t at her house, she was at mine. Always. We would play weeks-long games of Monopoly. We loved playing the game Life, too. Her mom was our Girl Scout leader- I talked about that a little last week. I miss Jenni.

This photo was taken at Girl Scout camp one year, if I remember correctly. Top row left to right: Kim C., Karen H.. Bottom row left to right: Me, Jenni P..
In the last few years of high school I let our friendship slide in favor of hanging out with my boyfriend. After graduation, we went our separate ways. There were a few letters and a couple calls over the years but life happens and we lost touch.
Around 13 years after high school I found out she lived near Saint Louis. I was traveling through there once so I called and arranged a visit with her. It was so great to see her after that many years. But again, we each had our own lives that didn’t intersect and we tried to keep in touch (with email this time, which was much easier). We were in touch more often but still, after a few years the emails dwindled to yearly Christmas cards with family photos and eventually there was no contact again. I searched for her occasionally on Facebook since that is by far the easiest way to keep in touch but I could never find an account for her. Then a few days ago I received a notification on Facebook that she had created an account. I was so excited to finally have the option to keep up with her life and stay in touch with her. But, she has her account locked down and isn’t even receiving messages.
I’m telling you all this so you don’t make the same mistakes I did. Sort of like an older sister who’s “been there, done that” trying to help you navigate all the parts of life that you don’t really think about.
Anyway, I hope to hear from you again soon, Maddie. I don’t have any messages for you but I think you’ve probably heard from everyone already. So, have a great week!
Your friend,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

Week 7 Blog Schedule

This week will most likely be a light week on the blog. Never fear, though. In a couple of weeks things will be very busy around here.
Monday- We will celebrate the life of Milo DEWITT. He died on this date in 1911. Milo is Bart’s 2nd great grandfather. If I find some new tidbit of information I may write a new blog post about him. However, if things get too busy today may just be a link to the old blog post since I have previously written about Milo’s death.
Tuesday- The next installment in the John BATES’ story.
Thursday- I may decide to do an extra blog post today. I’m not sure. With recent health problems and issues at work, I may not have time.
Saturday- Today we will celebrate Bessie Larkin’s birthday. She was born on this day in 1901. Bessie is my paternal great grandmother. I will try to write a new post about her but if I get too busy this week, this may be another day where I post a link to an old blog post since I’ve posted about Bessie several times already.

Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

William Chambers and Rhoda Allen, 1844

William and Rhoda are my paternal 4th great grandparents. Line of descent goes from William and Rhoda to their daughter Nancy, Nancy’s son Alford HUBBARD, Alford’s daughter Edith (my great grandmother). William and Rhoda were married on this date (9 Feb) in 1844. They were married by Justice of the Peace George PRESTON in Van Buran County, Missouri. The JP didn’t file the marriage at the courthouse until 9 July of that year and the Recorder didn’t record it until 24 July of that year. I’m so glad it didn’t fall through the cracks!
Chambers marriage cert
I have only spoken of this couple in passing in posts I’ve done about their daughter, Nancy. You can find the posts here:
Nancy Jane Chambers: the Girl with Two Names (This post talks about the breakthrough I made that helped me get past Nancy to other generations further back.)
It’s a Wrap! Weekend Wrap-Up (This post provides a little bit of additional information about Nancy and her parents that I didn’t have in time to disclose it in the other post about Nancy.)
Since I haven’t blogged specifically about William and Rhoda, this post will give general background information about the couple. I will go through the end of their marriage and stop there. The rest of the story I will save for a later date this year.

The Early Years

I know very little about William. He was born in Tennessee according to Nancy’s census records but I don’t know when or exactly where. William died about 1846 so William and Rhoda only had two years together. Nancy was raised by her stepfather.
I only know of one photo of Rhoda. This is her:
Rhoda Allen photo
Rhoda was born 16 April 1826 in Cocke County, Tennessee, to Thomas and Louvina “Lena” (HAMPTON) ALLEN. She had six siblings- one sister and five brothers.
Rhoda shows up on the 1830 census in her parents’ home but if you’ve done much research you already know that the 1830 and 1840 censuses don’t give much information. In 1830 the family was living in Cocke County, Tennessee. Living in the home were one 5-10 year old male, one 15-20 year old male, one 20-30 year old male, and one 40-50 year old male. Also living in the home were a female under the age of 5, a 15-20 year old female, and a 40-50 year old female. Rhoda would have been the female child under the age of 5. It’s interesting to note that the census enumerator was Joseph ALLEN. Other ALLEN families living close to Thomas and Louvina were William ALLEN and James ALLEN.
Sometime between 1830 and 1840, the family moved West. In 1840 the family was living in Jackson County, Missouri. Living in the home were a 15-20 year old male, a 40-50 year old male, a 10-15 year old female, and a 40-50 year old female. I’m guessing the 10-15 year old female was Rhoda. Living next door was Thomas and Louvina’s son, Callaway, and his family. Also living nearby was the John HAMPTON family. Rhoda’s mom, Louvina, was a HAMPTON. I don’t know if this Hampton family belongs to Louvina, but I’m going to guess they probably do.
Finally, in 1850 there is a census that lists the names of everyone in the home with Rhoda. William CHAMBERS has already passed away. Rhoda is married to James J. STONE. The children living in the home include my 3rd great grandmother- Nancy J. CHAMBERS- who is 5 years old, and the STONE children: James J., Mary J., Eli C., Alma O., Martha C., Sarah E., Nancy V., Charles C., Dervis C., and Willard T. STONE. There is one ALLEN family on the same page- the Isaiah ALLEN family. All the children except my Nance were born in Missouri. My Nancy was born in Arkansas. Rhoda was born in Tennessee and the stepfather, James, was born in Kentucky. Mary, Eli, Alma, and Martha attended school within the year that the census covered. Both the elder and the younger James’ were farming.
James was first married to Elizabeth McHANEY. Elizabeth died in March of 1847. James and Rhoda married in June of that same year. To be fair, it looks like Elizabeth either died in childbirth or very shortly thereafter. James needed someone to care for his infant. Rhoda would have had a very difficult time providing for her two-year-old daughter, Nancy. This situation benefited both of them. I don’t think they would have had the luxury to grieve much before remarrying. The STONE children that belong to James and Rhoda include the younger Rhoda (born in 1848; it appears that James and Elizabeth’s first daughter was also named Rhoda but she was born in 1830), Lewis, Willard, Sidania (a girl), Sidney (a boy), Cynthia, Priscila, Thomas, Robert, and Lucy. Rhoda brought the elder Nancy (William’s daughter, born in January of 1845) into the marriage. James brought quite a few children into the marriage with him including the elder Rhoda, William, James Jr., Mary, Eli, John, Alma, Martha, Elizabeth, the younger Nancy (also born in 1845 but born in April rather than January). I imagine this was very confusing at first trying to decide what to call the two Nancy’s who were only 2 months apart in age! Not to mention the two Rhoda’s, but at least there was a considerable age gap between the two Rhoda’s.) In case you weren’t keeping count, they had 21 children between the two of them! The majority of the children ended up in California where most of them lived out their lives.
I’m really looking forward to telling you the rest of Rhoda’s story later this year. If anyone reading this has any idea about William CHAMBERS, I’d love to receive any information no matter how insignificant you think it is. I’ve had a hard time researching him. I’m thinking possibly he died in the Mexican War or maybe he went by a different name and had a different life! I don’t know at this point. I just know he has been very difficult to research.
Until next week,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

Messages for Madeline

Welcome to the first blog post, Madeline and friends! These posts will always go up on Wednesdays. I’ll try to keep them fairly short since I know you all don’t have a lot of time to read. For this starter post today I wanted to put up a poem I learned when I was in elementary school. My best friend and I were Girl Scouts. Her mom was the leader. We learned this poem together in Scouts. I think it’s appropriate for today:

Make new friends,
but keep the old.
One is silver,
the other is gold.

Somehow I always remembered it as saying, “Silver and gold,/ Silver and gold,/ Make new friends/ But keep the old.” I actually made a quilt block on my friend’s 30th birthday that said this poem (as I remembered it) and included a photo of our Girl Scout troop from elementary school. I miss her lots these days. Old friends are the very best!
I had no idea (or if I did, I don’t remember it now) that this was part of a longer scout song. I found the longer version at the Scout Songs website. It goes like this:

So I wrote all this to say, don’t forget your old friends, Madeline! We already miss you. Hopefully next week some of the other friends will have a message or two for you. I will post them here next Wednesday and once you get settled in in your new place you can come back here and read the messages. If you want, you can even post a comment with messages back to us.
Your friend,
Lisa

John Bates, Confederate POW, Part 2

Note: I was quite a ways along on this post on Sunday evening. The plan was to finish it up Monday and let it post on Tuesday. Instead I ended up in the ER Monday afternoon and am not feeling well enough to finish this. I am choosing to let it post as-is. I didn’t quite make it to Shelbyville. I’ll pick up that part next week. I also had photos I wanted to add but those will also have to wait. Hopefully you will enjoy it despite its unfinished state.
This is part two of the final years of John BATES’ life. For those of you just getting here, I’ve posted several times about John. My initial post about John is here and it gives you the background you’ll need about John’s life. My cousin visited Rock Island (where we thought John had died) and he guest-wrote a blog post that you can find here. On a trip to Georgia I found some documents related to John and wrote about some of those here. Recently I made another discovery that initiated this blog series about John and you can read that post here. The initial timeline for the final years of John BATES is included in that post however, I was able to create a more accurate timeline that will serve as the outline for this series and I posted that here. Lastly, you’ll find part one of the final years of his life here. Each installment of his final years will be posted on Tuesdays. Next stop, Tennessee.

Before Shelbyville, Tennessee

Before I get into Shelbyville, Tennessee, I want to talk about the Battle of Fort Donelson. The Battle of Fort Donelson happened in Tennessee between February 11th and 16th, 1862. Initially I thought John was in that battle due to a regimental history I found online. However, with the discovery of the pay records, I am not sure what to think. I’m going to briefly discuss the Battle of Fort Donelson with the caveat that I don’t know if John was really there or not. According to Wikipedia, this is the battle that catapulted the Union’s Ulysses S. Grant into Major General status and earned him the nickname “Unconditional Surrender” Grant. (Wikipedia) So you can imagine the battle didn’t go well for John’s regiment. Fort Donelson was a Confederate fort and an important target for the Union to capture if they wanted to win the war. Don’t make the mistake, though, of thinking the Confederates didn’t try to hold the fort. Despite a snowstorm that rolled in the night of February 13th, the Confederates put up a valiant fight. The storm brought 3 inches of snow overnight and the strong winds that accompanied the storm brought the wind child down to the teens. The wet, muddy ground froze. Guns and wagons were frozen to the ground and the troops couldn’t start campfires for cooking or heat due to the close proximity of enemy lines. Many troops had arrived with no coats or blankets. It was a miserable night. During the early morning hours of February 14th, Confederate Brigadier General Floyd had a meeting of leaders during which one of his top aides was picked off by a Union sharpshooter. Later that day, “Union gunboats…attempted to reduce the fort with gunfire” and “were forced to withdraw after sustaining heavy damage from Fort Donelson’s water batteries”. (Wikipedia)
The following day (the 15th) the Confederates attacked Union forces in a surprise attack. Grant was not with his troops at the time but he did come back in time to launch a counterattack. Brigadier General Floyd apparently lost his nerve and didn’t follow through with a planned attack on the Union soldiers. I’m sure that Floyd watching his top aide die in front of him in the early morning hours of the 14th, coupled with the fact that Floyd was a wanted man in Union territory influenced his decisions and actions heavily that day. For whatever reason, the top two Confederate Brigadier Generals (Floyd and Pillow) left the fort in the command of a lower Brigadier General and escaped the fort with a few troops. The fort was unconditionally surrendered on February 16th to Grant by the Brigadier General later that day. Fort Henry had been surrendered just days earlier thus giving the Union a huge advantage in Tennessee. I recommend going to the Wikipedia link above and reading about the battle, about Grant’s relationship with the Confederate Brigadier General that surrendered Fort Donelson. I also recommend reading up on the battle at https://www.civilwar.org/learn/civil-war/battles/fort-donelson.

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