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There is no scheduled blog post today but I do have a mystery for you to solve. Mam (my paternal grandmother, Audrey) gave me a copy of this photo a couple of years before she passed away. The inscription on the back said “Emily Hennig” and was written in cursive and in pencil. It is HENNIG and not Henning. We had a discussion about that name.
Portrait of mystery ancestor, Emily Hennig.
Mam said she thought Emily was a grandmother somewhere back down the line but she couldn’t place the woman in our family history and that’s all Mam knew about her. More than a decade later I still have not been able to identify or place (or exclude) this woman in our family history (although I do have theories about who she is and where she goes on the family tree). If you have the answer, please speak up. I’d love to know about her. Enjoy your Friday and don’t forget to come back here this weekend for the wrap-up on Saturday (it’s going to be a good one) and next week’s schedule which will be posted on Sunday.
Before we get started, I want to share a photo with you and some additional information. First, I don’t think I included Mam’s middle name which is ‘Marguerite’. I thought I had written a blog post about how I think she got the name Marguerite but apparently I just shared that privately with a few people. I will add that to the list of stories to tell on weeks that are slow. Second item: I’ve been looking for this photo for a while and finally found it. This is Mam as a child with her classmates at Poynor School. I have written down somewhere what year it is but when the picture was digitized that information wasn’t included. When I find the information again I’ll be sure to pass it along. I have marked Mam with a red arrow above her head. She’s on the top row on the left side. There are other relatives (DRAKE’s and LARKIN’s) in this photo and I will identify them as I can- again, I need to find the written documentation and the physical photograph in order to pass along that information.
Audrey Larkin with her schoolmates at Poynor School in Delaware County, Oklahoma.
Poynor School students, Delaware County, Oklahoma near the Missouri state line (near Southwest City, McDonald County, Missouri). Today, some stories from those who loved Mam. (If you missed yesterday’s post, go back and read it first here.) Before I pass along these stories though, I want to make a small correction to what I posted yesterday. I made the statement that she raised grandchildren, nephews, and a brother-in-law. I should have been more clear. She helped raise these people. There is one grandson whom she raised and adopted. The other three grandchildren, nephews, and brother-in-law were people who lived with her when other options were not optimal or not available. On to the stories. From her son, Roy: Mom was born, raised and lived with very little in things but was rich in love. Her life was spent working for/in the church and in helping others. She helped raise four children, three nephews, four grandchildren and one brother-in-law; and, became care giver for both her mother and mother-in-law! She was always cooking for someone in need (sick) and taking it to them. She’d clean and wash for them. She always showered them in love. And, these things were acts of love as much as being a good neighbor. She’d take old folks to town and back for groceries. Hers was a life of service. She practiced God’s love and lived it. I don’t know how she did it; and, to the extent that he had time, dad did the same. I have no doubt that her reward in heaven will far exceed mine – and, I suspect, many others. My greatest asset will always be the examples they set for me and the rules they set and enforced. From her grandchildren: Mam was good about writing notes to her grandchildren. Mine and my brother’s notes are packed away but my cousin Angela was able to put her hands on her treasured note from Mam and shared it with us. Thank you, Angie! We each received notes like this but each one was tailored to the specific grandchild so while we all received her standard, timeless advice, the personal notes to each of us were slightly different. In
From her granddaughter, Angela- the note Mam wrote to her:
A handwritten note from my grandmother Audrey (Larkin) Drake to her granddaughter (my cousin), Angela.
My own experiences with Mam: Mam spent so many of her years teaching Sunday School classes to the younger generations. When my children were young and we attended Poynor Baptist Church near Southwest City, McDonald County, Missouri, Mam was still there teaching the little ones. I’m grateful for her life of service, for the lessons she taught me both inside and outside the church, and for the lessons she taught my children. I appreciated her openness. She was always willing to share her own life lessons in order to help teach me ways to confront various situations in my own life. I won’t go into details but she rarely hesitated to give examples of situations from her own life to show how to (or how not to) respond to a particular situation. Like Angie’s note above, Mam was always directing us back to scripture for answers to problems as well and quick to remind us that maybe we needed to pray about a problem. Any time I had questions to ask, she was willing to take the time to answer them and if my behavior got a little off track she wasn’t afraid to set me straight even if I didn’t appreciate it at the time. Thank you to those of you who shared some stories with me and if I missed anyone’s story please message me and let me know so I can include it in the weekend wrap up.
This is going to be a two-part series with the shorter part being today. Yesterday was full of emergencies, car repairs, computer repairs that didn’t fix the problem, internet issues, more sickness…you get the picture. So today I will basically introduce Audrey (“Mam”) as a helping person and will continue with more stories on Wednesday. Yesterday was Audrey’s birthday. Audrey is my paternal grandmother. I think I miss my grandmas more and more as I grow older.
Audrey (Larkin) Drake, November 1956 in Texas (probably Amarillo).
A photo of Audrey about 4 years before the newspaper article below was written. I wasn’t sure which direction I wanted to take with this blog post until I found this article yesterday on Newspapers.com:
9 November 1960 article in the Miami Daily News Record (Miami, Oklahoma) about Audrey (Larkin) Drake and her father-in-law Ervin “Alonzo” Drake.
Wednesday, 9 Nov 1960, Miami (Oklahoma) Daily News-Record Mam (Audrey) always was a helper. She raised her four children but then she also raised four grandchildren, three nephews, and a brother-in-law. I knew about her grandchildren living with her- they were my cousins and one of the reasons I enjoyed going to Mam’s house often. I had no idea that she had raised three nephews and a brother-in-law, though. So there is a lot to find out about Mam and all the ways she helped people. I’m still gathering stories if you’d like to send me yours. I apologize for the brevity of this post but real life gets in the way sometimes. I promise to deliver lots of stories on Wednesday to go with this theme and the newspaper article I found. I’m looking forward to it. I hope you are as well. (On Wednesday I was planning to tell you about new information I’ve received on people I’ve blogged about in the past. That will be pushed back to later in the week- maybe Friday.)
Heinrich WOLF is Bart’s maternal 3rd great grandfather. Heinrich went by Henry.
Portrait of Heinrich “Henry” Wolf.
Henry immigrated from Prussia in April of 1874. He departed Hamburg, Germany, traveled through Liverpool, England, and on to New York, USA. He brought his son, Ernst, with him. They sailed together on the ship Minerva with Captain BLOHM. The shipping clerk was, once again, M. Otto W. MöLLER. Henry’s residence in Prussia was in Crimmitschau – a place I blogged about last week when talking about other Prussian immigrants in my husband’s family. On the passenger list, Henry gave his occupation as shoemaker (Schuhmacher, in German). Henry was 46 years old and Ernst was only 8.
Hamburg Passenger List showing entries for Heinrich and Ernst Wolf.
I’m not completely certain but I think this is the ship Minerva:
Possibly the ship ‘Minerva’.
This ship was much more difficult to find information about online than the other ship was. If this really was the ship they came over on it seems awfully small to take out on the ocean. I am certain that this next piece of information really is the ship Minerva that the WOLF’s sailed on:
Information about the ship ‘Minerva’.
This information comes from The Ships List website. Heinrich (who went by Henry) and Ernst (who went by Ernest) came to American in April of 1874. If you remember back to last week, Henry’s wife Christiana (who went by Sophia) and two of their children- Charles (who went by Carl) and Ferdinand (who went by Fred) made the journey later that same year in October. It would be natural to assume that Henry came over first to get a place ready for the family although I’m not sure why he would bring the youngest son with him as opposed to the oldest who could help clear land and build a home. In any case, I believe Henry came over with a group called Colony Saxonia. I’m still trying to find out information about Colony Saxonia but here’s a snippet from the Joint Documents from the State of Michigan for the Year 1872, Vol. II:
1872 Joint Documents from the State of Michigan, Vol. II. Government documents discussing the recruitment of Germans to Michigan.
This was a group approved by the government that recruited Germans to come to Michigan. Once here, the German families were given the opportunity to buy 40 acre pieces of land from the group. This land was in Forestville, Sanilac County, Michigan. Many Germans did move into Sanilac County, Michigan but many decided to stay in the Detroit area where they first disembarked in Michigan. You can read a little more about Colony Saxonia here and here. I still don’t know much about Henry and Christiana but just the little bit I’ve learned while searching today is more than I knew before. I hope you’ve enjoyed learning a little more about the immigration experience for these Michigan ancestors. I know I’ve enjoyed letting you in on a little more of their story. Uncle Bob sent me some photographs but I’m going to save those for the next few posts I write about Henry and Christiana later this year.
On this day in 1957 my maternal great grandmother Dettie GIBSON BATES passed away. On this same day in 1828, Bart’s maternal 3rd great grandfather, Heinrich Wolhelm WOLF was born. As for the blog, I’ll celebrate Dettie’s life today and celebrate Heinrich’s tomorrow. I can’t wait to get started! I’m going to tell you a secret. I don’t always know what story I’m going to tell when I sit down to write. Sometimes I sit down and I’m stuck because I just don’t see the story. Dettie was one of those. I was surprised that I’d never written specifically about her and yet I really didn’t know what story to tell you about her. When I’m stuck I have a formula to get “un-stuck”. Usually by the time I’m done with the formula, I’m able to keep writing and finish the story. With Dettie, I pulled through the formula and by the time I was starting the second paragraph I knew what I was going to write. Except, I didn’t write it. This is one of those stories that hijacked ME. I was going to go one way and the story said, “Nope! THIS is the story that’s going to be told today!” I have to tell you, I never would have chosen this story line about siblings but this is the one that was dying to get out today so here it is. I hope you enjoy it. Dettie was my maternal great grandmother. She was born in 1883 in Kansas to James Thomas “JT” and Lucinda DOW GIBSON.
Portrait of sisters Dettie and Barbara Gibson.
Dettie is sitting and her sister, Barbara Myrtle, is standing. My mom doesn’t recall much about Dettie but says what she remembers is that Dettie was a small woman. One of Dettie’s legs was shorter the other. Dettie also lost a finger in a canning factory accident. If you look closely you can see that she has only 3 fingers in this photo of she and her husband, Albert Lewis BATES.
Portrait of Albert and Dettie (Gibson) Bates.
Albert and Dettie GIBSON BATES’ wedding photograph. I wanted to tell you stories only about Dettie but her mom (Lucinda) kept poking her head into the story. You can go here for background about Dettie’s mom but long story short- she couldn’t keep a man…or maybe the men couldn’t keep her! I’m not sure which way it was but every time- and I mean EVERY time- I research Lucinda I find a new record. Her background lays the foundation for Dettie’s story. The first census that Dettie was enumerated in was the State of Kansas census of 1885. Dettie was one year old. The census is interesting to me not because of Dettie but because Dettie’s mom is listed as ‘Mulatto’. I have not found any evidence of her being Native American nor that she is any race other than Caucasian but I am still searching. By the time the next census rolled around Dettie’s mom had remarried to David JONES. Other minors in the home in this 1900 Federal census for Arkansas were Dettie’s sister Barbara and her half-brother Leander. Dettie also had two other half-siblings through her mother plus at least one child borne by her mother that I cannot account for yet), at least 10 half-siblings through her father, at least four additional step-siblings through her stepfather David, and at least two additional step-siblings through her stepfather Robert GATEWOOD. By those numbers this family should have exactly ZERO secrets! We should be floating in information! And today, once again, I found new information about Lucinda. That information provided the two GATEWOOD step-siblings I just told you about. The other thing I discovered today is that unlike what Lucinda told public officials, she wasn’t a widow of Robert GATEWOOD. All that time I spent looking for his death certificate circa 1910-1920 in Missouri was in vain. Just today I located him. He lived until at least 1920 and was living in Oklahoma at that time. He outlived Lucinda by at least a year. THE SIBLINGS Siblings are such an important part of life and Dettie had an abundance of them! Since she had so many, I want to close by giving you a list of the ones I know about. Dettie’s full sister: Barbara Myrtle GIBSON (married Frank FISHER) Dettie’s half-siblings through her mom (and mom’s several husbands): Mary Rebecca ALBIN (married Ulyssus GOSSETT) William Edgar (ALBIN) GIESE (he was adopted out at a very young age) Leander B. JONES (one of only two known siblings younger than Dettie) Dettie’s half-siblings through her dad: William Lafayette GIBSON Jane Lucinda GIBSON (married a HENRY) Mary E. GIBSON (married James McHALEY) James Melvin GIBSON Martha GIBSON Oscar GIBSON Samuel Luke A. GIBSON Eliza J. GIBSON (married Issacher KELLUM) Reed Isiah GIBSON Ella Amanda GIBSON (married Shorty LONG; I wrote a blog post about this couple here) Dettie’s step-siblings through her mom’s several husbands: Emma JONES (married Charles KROPP) William JONES John H. JONES Samuel L. JONES Felix GATEWOOD Harry Monroe GATEWOOD (one of only two known siblings younger than Dettie) If you count the children that George ALBIN had after his marriage with Dettie’s mom ended (before Dettie was born) you would have to include these step-siblings on top of the ones already named: Clara Lula ALBIN Clyde Emmerson ALBIN Ethel Eliza ALBIN (married Ray F. GLENN) In addition to all of these children, there is one child I have been unable to account for and am assuming either this baby was adopted out or was born and died in between census years. On the 1900 census, Lucinda stated she had given birth to 6 children. I have only been able to account for 5 of these children. I’m still holding out hope that one of us finds this child. I hope you’ve enjoyed getting a peek into Dettie’s childhood. It would be interesting to know what kinds of relationships she had with all these siblings. Perhaps one day I’ll find out. Hug your siblings tight today. Whatever squabbles you have between you, set them aside- it isn’t worth losing a sibling over.
I intended to go on with storytimes this week but I’m running a fever and hurting all over so I’ll probably just be giving you quick snippets this week. It was almost exactly two years ago that I made a huge discovery about John C. BATES (also spelled BAITS) who was my 3rd great grandfather- Civil War prisoner of war and killed in action. Later in the year my cousin guest-wrote a post for my blog about the prison this John was in. The POW John BATES is the grandson of the John BATES we’re talking about today. Today’s John BATES is my maternal 5th great grandfather. When I wrote those posts about the POW John BATES, I didn’t even know about today’s John BATES yet! In September and October of last year I was fortunate to get to spend a few weeks in Georgia with Bart while he was working a job there. I spent a lot of time in libraries, archives, courthouses, cemeteries, etc researching my POW John BATES. While there I discovered the people I believe to be POW John BATES’ parents and grandparents. I base this on records I found in the courthouses there. I believe that POW John BATES’ parents are Jesse and Delila AARON/ARENT BATES and his grandparents are John and Frances L. BURNETT BATES. I base this, in part, on land records I found in Cherokee County, Georgia. The elder John BATES’ family had ties in the land records to POW John BATES’ wife’s (Mary Jane MOBLEY BATES) family. I’m going to post some photos today of the land records I found on John BATES including one where he witnessed a land record for Mary Jane MOBLEY BATES’ dad, Burwell MOBLEY. Here are the photos and I hope that later in the year I can tell you a more complete story about the elder John BATES. Today, however, I need to rest and get well.
Land record for John Bates.
Earliest John BATES deed I found- 1833 Cherokee County, Georgia.
Mobley deed witnessed by John Bates.Mobley deed witnessed by John Bates.
I had a great story written for you all about Morris MITCHELL but the more I researched the less comfortable I felt about posting. I am not posting the story today because I’m not convinced it’s the right ancestral line. After I started really looking critically at the data I don’t feel it’s solid enough to post here. Once I straighten out the research I will certainly post what I feel is a correct and true genealogy but I don’t want to post incorrect information. So I’ll leave you today with photo and an apology that there is no story today.
My Mam’s kiss print on the back of her photo.
A kiss print from my Mam on the back of a photo (paternal grandmother, Audrey LARKIN DRAKE)
Clara TURK is Bart’s maternal great grandmother. She passed away on January 13, 1968 in Deckerville, Sanilac, Michigan. Today we’re celebrating her life. I never knew Clara and I haven’t heard any stories about her so this post will probably be short and full of facts. Clara was the first generation of the TURK family to be born in America. Her parents, Michael and Catherine KOSLOWSKI TURK were both born in Germany. Clara had 8 or 9 siblings that I know about. She grew up in Sanilac County, Michigan in the “thumb” of the Michigan mitten. In 1894 Clara’s mom passed away. Clara was about 6 years old then. About 8 months later, Clara’s dad married again. Clara’s stepmom, Wilhelmina BRANDT, raised her for 16 years. Clara was 21 years old when she married William Charles WOLF and William was 24 years old.* Clara was working as a dressmaker (possibly in Cuyahoga County, Ohio) and William was farming in Fort Hope, Michigan. Like Clara, William was a first-generation American in his German family. William had also lost his mom about 3 years before the couple married. After marriage, they lived in Huron County, Michigan. At the time of the 1910 census, Clara and William were living in Bloomfield Township, Huron County, Michigan. They had only been married about 4 months and two of William’s brothers- Albert (age 15) and Wallace (age 13)- were living with them. Albert was helping William on the farm and Wallace was still in school. Clara and William seemed to be the family’s caregivers from the get-go. In 1920 they were living in Wheatland Township, Sanilac County, Michigan. They were in their early 30’s and had their own family- two girls and two boys (the youngest boy being Bart’s grandfather). Living with them was William’s 56-year-old uncle, Ernest WOLF. In 1930 they were still in Sanilac County, Michigan but they were living in Delaware Township. One daughter had moved out and another son had been born so there were still four children living at home. Clara and William reported having been married 21 years. This time, though, there were no other family members living with them. By 1940 their other daughter had moved out but the three boys were still at home. William’s uncle Ernest was living next door to the family. Here is a photo of Clara and William in their later years together.
Portrait of William and Clark (Turk) Wolf.
This photo was taken in 1959- about 9 years before Clara’s death. Clara and William are buried at St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery in Minden City, Sanilac County, Michigan. I wish I knew more about Clara’s life. I did find one thing online that I would like Bart’s family’s input on. I found a photo of a “Mrs. William Wolf [Clara]” and one of the women vaguely resembles Bart’s great grandmother Clara but I don’t know her well enough to say one way or the other and I only have one photo to compare it to. The photo is dated 16 January 1961 and was labeled as a “cruise party”. It was sent to a “Mrs. Fred Schmidtt”. It’s currently housed at IUPUI University Library Special Collections and Archives in Indianapolis, Indiana. I’ll include the caption and a link to the online photo so family can try to evaluate it: Link to photo of a Mrs. William Wolf [Clara]” in the Damenverein Collection, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Library.
Caption information for photo of “Mrs. William Wolf (Clara)” Damenverein Collection photo.
Photo caption to linked photo. I’ve enjoyed sitting down with a hot cup of tea to tell you a little about Clara. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about her and if you have stories about her I’d love to hear them. You can comment the stories below or send them to me in a message.
Until tomorrow, Lisa @ Days of Our Lives *As a side note, on the marriage license application, Clara gave her mom’s name as Laura KOZLOWSKI.
Today we’re celebrating William LARKIN’s birthday which is actually on the 13th but as I said in Sunday’s post, writing about three people on one blog post is just too much- for you AND for me. So here I sit (with my cup of coffee flavored with a little caramel syrup) to write another story for you. William is my 2nd great grandfather and the father of Ralph LARKIN about whom I blogged on Monday. William was born in 1868 in Ohio to Joseph and Mary LANE LARKIN. Theodore Clay LARKIN (the one with the penchant for baseball bats that I wrote about here) was William’s uncle. William’s family moved to Kentucky about 1870 and then on to Arkansas by 1872. Between 1876 and 1880 they moved to McDonald Township, Barry County, Missouri. It was in Barry County, Missouri that William married Minerva Jane UNDERWOOD in 1889. They stayed in Barry County for a decade or so. This is where most (possibly all) of their children were born. After William’s mom passed away in 1899, William and Minerva moved to Aurora, Lawrence County, Missouri. I’m not sure if it’s coincidence, but on the 1900 census (and only on this one) he gave his occupation as mine owner. So did he inherit a mine from his mom or her family? Did he inherit money and that’s how he bought a mine? Did it just happen to all fall into place about the time his mom died? Or, did he hope to get in on the gold that was discovered in Barry County in 1910? So many questions, so few answers. (If you’re interested in the 1910 discovery of gold in Barry County you can read about it here. You’ll have to scroll almost to the bottom of the page or use your search function. Hey Becky, is this your RICH family mentioned in this gold article??) William and his family stayed in Aurora for the decade between 1900-1910. 1910 is a little confusing where this family is concerned because the census shows they were living in Hulbert, Cherokee County, Oklahoma (near Tahlequah). But later on down in this post you’ll see a city directory entry that shows them living in Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma. My opinion is that their residence was in Hulbert but during the work week William lived in a tent in Tulsa. You’ll see a newspaper article toward the end of this blog post that will make this theory more clear. I lost William and Minerva after 1910 and they were “missing” for a very long time until I found a researcher who told me Minerva died about 1917 or 1918 and is buried in a plot in a cemetery in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The plot was meant for someone else but when Minerva died and they needed a place to bury her, they used the plot they had. It is, as far as I know, an unmarked grave. To be clear I can’t verify whether or not Minerva is there. I can’t verify her death date or place either. Oklahoma just came out with a database yesterday to search births and deaths in Oklahoma and I couldn’t find Minerva on there by her name. There was, however, an unidentified female with the last name LARKIN who died in March of 1917 in Cherokee County, Oklahoma so this could possibly be Minerva. I’ll be checking this out soon.
Unnamed Larkin female on OK2Explore – Oklahoma’s online vital records index.
If you have Oklahoma ancestors you’re researching you can find the database here. (Thanks to Becky for the link! After she linked me, I got the same link from my cousin Denise LARKIN. Thanks to both of you!) As for William, he disappeared after 1910 and I haven’t been able to find him. Becky did make this discovery just this week that I want to share with you.
1910 Tulsa City Directory entry for William and M. Jane Larkin.
1910 Tulsa City Directory entry. Based on images I can find online it looks like 121 N Nogales is now an empty lot:
121 N. Nogales, Tulsa, Oklahoma on Google Maps.
(Thanks, Google maps!) Along with that new information Becky sent a link so I could learn more about the company William worked for- Tulsa Vitrified Brick and Tile Company. You can learn about it too by going to Tulsa Gal’s blog. I did not know William was ever in Tulsa so this is a new area to research. I checked the new Oklahoma database I linked to above and found one entry for a William Larkin.
William Larkin entry on OK2Explore – Oklahoma’s online vital records index.
I will definitely be checking this out further and, if it looks promising, I’ll be ordering a certificate. I’m crossing my fingers and hoping that after all these years I have finally found him (and Minerva, too). Becky found one more little tidbit that I’d like to share with you from Newspapers.com because I believe there is a strong possibility that this article is about our William LARKIN:
16 September 1906 newspaper article in The Morning Tulsa Daily World about William Larkin. Found on Newspapers.com.
16 September 1906, The Morning Tulsa Daily World Anybody in the Tulsa area feel like taking a trip over to the old fair ground district to take some photos for us?? So there you have it. Our farmer, mine owner, and road paver summed up in one story. The next time you’re driving around in Tulsa, I hope you’ll think about William. You may be driving on a road he once paved.
I’m not going to lie- this post is a cry for help. I worked off and on through the last few weeks to come up with something to tell you about this man that you would find interesting. I sipped my hot peach tea yesterday and contemplated where else I could search, what search terms I might not have tried yet. I’ve got nothing, folks. I don’t know much about James and all my years of research have only served to confuse me more in regard to him. There is literally not ONE researcher I can find who has this family tree correct and that includes me! Every single one of us has errors. Part of the problem is that my James married my Nancy. But a different James BUTLER married a different Nancy in Grove, Delaware County, Oklahoma (This second couple is not our couple.). (And you wouldn’t believe how many other James Butler’s married how many other Nancy’s in Missouri, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.) To top it all off, I’ve even seen Nancy’s name as Elizabeth Caudill (which actually IS the name of the woman I think is her mom). I’m just going to start with the facts and see where the facts take the story from there. James BUTLER is my paternal 3rd great grandfather. WHAT I KNOW When I first started working on the family history as a teen my Mam (paternal grandmother Audrey) told me that Laura BUTLER HUBBARD’s parents were James and Nancy CAUDILL BUTLER. I’ve had a lot of starts and stops and do-overs in finding information about James and Nancy. I would think I’d found the family and I’d connect them on Ancestry and then find information that changed my mind and I would disconnect that family from James’ tree- not once, not twice, but multiple times. This is what I know about James- or at least what I think I know! James BUTLER was born 10 January 1854 (I’m more certain about the year than the day/month) in Missouri (possibly in Arkansas- Laura listed both places on different census enumerations). James married Nancy CAUDILL on 26 August 1877. I think they had five children. Those children being Laura (my 2nd great grandmother), Emmaline, Charley, Cora, and Estella. One researcher says there is a sibling named Bessie and not a sibling named Cora. Charley is buried in an unmarked grave in Southwest City Cemetery in Southwest City, McDonald County, Missouri as is his son, John Henry. I know the family lived in Douglas County, Missouri and I’m not really sure how many of them made it down to Southwestern Missouri. That’s it, folks. The end of the line for everything of which I can be certain. If you can help, please do! And just to assuage your sadness at this meager posting today, I offer you a screenshot of the marriage certificate of Alford and Laura BUTLER HUBBARD.
Marriage License for Alford Hubbard and Laura Butler.
And a screenshot of Cora BUTLER BARNES’ death certificate.
Cora Butler Barnes’ death certificate.
And a tiny little news clipping in The 16 September 1948 edition of The Sikeston Herald Newspaper out of Sikeston, Missouri courtesy of Newspapers.com. I *think* this article is talking about two of James and Nancy’s children- Charley BUTLER and ESTELLA BUTLER ROBERTS. (I could be wrong on this one but here it is- feel free to disprove it.)
Article about Charles Butler and Estella Butler Roberts, possibly.
Until tomorrow (when I will have a better blog post), Lisa @ Days of Our Lives
