Delaware County Oklahoma - Honeysuckle Farm, LLC

Belgium Calling…

This week I’m trying to ease back into blogging after a couple of busy weeks. I’ve had a couple of stories sitting on the back burner waiting on their turn so I’m telling those this week. (Actually, I have a BUNCH on the back burner! I’m hoping the summer is less busy so I can get those written and pushed out to you all!) Today I want to tell you about a sweet person I “met” via email last month. This guy’s kindness really moved me.
Around the middle of March, I received an email from a man named Koen BOLCKMANS. Koen lives in Belgium. This guy is awesome! Here’s his pic:

So, that’s Koen. He’s pretty amazing. That gravestone he’s kneeling next to? That’s our family. Let me tell you the story.
I’ve heard that many Europeans adopt the graves of American servicemen (sometimes for that person’s lifetime and then they leave care of the grave to a relative to care for when they’re gone). I didn’t know anyone who did this but I’d heard stories. I couldn’t have told you if the stories were true or not but it was a nice “feel good” story. Then Koen emailed me. For the last 23 years (plus a little) he’s been taking care of this grave. The man buried in the grave is Henry CONN- the son of Daniel and Myrtle (BAKER) CONN. Myrtle was the sister of Mary Anne BAKER. Mary Anne was married to Ervin Alonzo (“Poppy”) DRAKE and the two of them were my paternal 2nd great grandparents. Henry CONN is buried at the American War Cemetery in Henri-Chapelle, Belgium. Henry was a Private in 78th Lightning Infantry Division, 311th Regiment, Company G.
BEFORE I FORGET: IF YOU HAVE A PHOTO OF HENRY CONN OR YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO DOES AND WOULD SCAN AND EMAIL ME A COPY, I WOULD LOVE TO PROVIDE KOEN WITH A PHOTOGRAPH OF HENRY!
Koen told me that he’s tried to research Henry. (Just a note: he’s done more than try! He knew a lot about Henry before he ever contacted me!) Koen said Henry was killed in action on the second day of the assault on Kesternich, Germany inside the village clearing houses on 31 January 1945- the same day Henry’s brother, Ernest, turned 26. Koen sent me a link to Henry’s online memorial. I encourage you to go visit it at the Fields of Honor database. Like I said, I have always heard that Europeans adopted the graves of American service men who died overseas. I just never thought about them caring for one of our family members. I think Koen is doing a fabulous job, don’t you? I do need to mention that his friend, Astrid van Erp, helps him with this endeavor. Astrid had asked a question on a public forum that I answered prior to Koen’s email so I actually “met” Astrid first.
Henry Aubrey CONN was born 23 July 1914 in Reeds, Jasper County, Missouri. His parents were Daniel and Myrtle (BAKER) CONN. Henry was the fourth of six children born to Daniel and Myrtle.
In 1922, when Henry was 7 years old, he wrote a letter to Santa that was published in the Galena, Kansas newspaper:

I have had a lot of trouble following the family through the census records but I do know that in 1925, the family was living in Lafayette, Chautauqua County, Kansas. In 1925, Henry was 10 years old. He was not attending school and he couldn’t read or write.
On 19 April 1940 when the census enumerator (Benjamin RYBURN) came to the CONN home, the family was living in Beaty, Delaware County, Oklahoma. Henry was single, still living with his parents, and was working as a mechanic’s helper at a local garage. In October of that same year he completed his draft card. He listed his residence at that time as San Leandro, Alameda County, California. There are several issues with the draft card. Henry originally listed an Oakland, California address. That was crossed out in 1941 and the San Leandro address was typed in. He listed his mom as living in South West City, McDonald County, Missouri. This is only a small discrepancy because the Beaty area of Delaware County, Oklahoma connects to South West City, McDonald County, Missouri. Apparently the discrepancy between San Leandro, California and Oakland, California is also minor. Henry did state that he worked in Oakland for a man named Billy Rose.

Just over a year later, in November of 1941, Henry enlisted in the Army and eventually went to war in the European theatre in World War II.

He went missing on his brother Ernest’s birthday – 31 January 1945. Henry was 31 years old when he went missing. According to Koen, Henry was “killed in action on the second day of the assault on Kesternich, Germany, inside the village clearing houses on 31 January 1945.” Henry was awarded the Purple Heart. He was buried in American War Cemetery in Henri-Chapelle, Belgium. Koen provided me with this news article giving Henry’s MIA status.

You can read a detailed account of the battle at Kesternich, Germany in this PDF document:
kesternich germany battle henry conn week 16
The day before and day of Henry’s death is detailed beginning on the report page numbered 14 (on the PDF it is page 15 of 50).
If you’d like the Wikipedia version, go here. You can also read the historynet.com version at this link. For some great photos, try the Facebook group. You can read about the 78th Lightning Infantry Division at Wikipedia here. A booklet was published about the 78th and you can read that online here. You can find a photo of GI’s with the 78th here. There is a lot of information on the internet about the 78th and about Company G. I encourage you to Google it and take a look at the links.
Before closing, I want to provide this article from The Sarcoxie Record about Koen. He emailed it to me so I thought I would provide it here so you can learn a little more about Koen.
sarcoxie record page 1 henry conn week 16
sarcoxie record page 2 henry conn week 16
To Koen, I’d like to say thank you for taking care of Henry’s grave and for contacting me to let me know where Henry is buried. I hope someone returns the favor to you one day.
Until next week,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
Sources for this post include:
Koen Bolckmans & Astrid Van Erp; Newspapers.com; Ancestry.com; Fold3

The Revolution

Dear friends (and boys- because I do hope you read these stories when you get older),
I have never been more proud of my profession, my coworkers, my administrators, or my school board. But I am also tired. I am also sad. I am also angry. I am so many emotions I can hardly contain them. Sun up to sun down every day for over a week now. But real life is like that, isn’t it? You hit a brick wall (or maybe just a roadblock, but today feels like a brick wall) and you feel as if you will never get past this moment. I will get past it. I know I will but I’m talking about raw emotion right now. I haven’t written a post since…well, I couldn’t even tell you without looking. It’s been a crazy couple of weeks. My life has been turned upside down and I’ve had one singular focus with no extra time for anything else. But I’m bowing out. Just for today. I’m taking a “me day”. I feel guilty. I should be sitting in church right now and Lord knows I need to be there but I just couldn’t. There’s a lot of bitterness and hatred in the world and I’ve felt it was aimed at me (and my friends) this past couple of weeks. I need a break.
This day’s been a long time coming. You see, I am a teacher- a librarian, yes, but surprise- librarians teach, too! I had to get a Masters degree to be a school librarian. I’ve worked in several different schools and have finally found the right school, the right grade levels, and the right community for me. For far too long, professionals in teaching positions all across this nation have been paid far too little for all that they do. We are degreed, certified, professionals. I could make more money at a QT convenience store than I make to help educate your children. How sad is that!
In late February, the teachers of West Virginia had had enough. They weren’t taking it anymore. They walked out. Their strike lasted 8 or 9 days. They got a raised but the funding is questionable. They are committed to striking again if lawmakers can’t do their jobs. Their brave actions set off a chain reaction across the nation amongst teachers who were underpaid, overworked, understaffed, and ill-equipped to do their jobs. My state, Oklahoma, was next in line and Kentucky is right on our heels. Arizona is fast approaching this point as well.

Good Friday, my first day holding a sign. Jay, OK, 2018. I was taking the photo. Left, Matt Nowlin Oklahoma/Arkansas Carpenters/Millwrights Local 216 #UnionStrong. To the right of Matt are my fellow teachers. #StrongerTogether
Oklahoma teachers walked out April 2nd. It is April 8th and we will not be going to school next week unless the legislators do their job and provide funding. We aren’t even asking for all that we should. We are only asking to be funded at the levels we had 10- TEN- years ago. We want textbooks that at least include the Obama presidency. That’s how old our textbooks are- they don’t even include the 8 years of the Obama presidency. There are so few textbooks left that students can’t even take them home to study. Teachers are using textbooks that are falling apart- some duct-taped together so they can be used. Teachers have 200 students and 50 textbooks. Is this what we want for our children?? Our future?? Chairs are broken. Our high school library- my little library- has a collection of books with an average copyright date of 1996. I have books older than me and I’m not talking classics or fairy tales. Actual novels and NONFICTION books older than me! Books that were here when I was in high school here 30 years ago. Books that were here when my children were going to school here in the early 2000’s. Yet teachers go into this environment every day and we still do our jobs the best we can. We still educate and care for the students entrusted to us.
I’m not telling you all this so you pity me. Don’t pity me. What I want is for you to get angry. Get angry that legislators have gotten away with telling you that this is how little your children mean to them! It’s intimidating to call a legislator, much less go visit them. And they are rude- I get that. But sometimes we have to do hard things for the people we love. Teachers have their raises. We could have stayed in school and forgotten about the fact that your kids still need textbooks and chairs and supplies but we didn’t. We care too much for our students. So here we are. We completed Day 5 of the walkout on Friday. Day 6 of the walkout is tomorrow. I’ll be there. Wouldn’t miss it. Will you join me? Yes. Yes. I know. You have jobs. You have lives. You had bad teachers so you’ll never support us. I get it. I do. But this isn’t for “us”. We already have our money (provided they will actually FUND the bill they passed). This is for your children. You have to make your own decisions and care for your own lives. I’ll still be going. Spending my own money on your children (again) and my own time (still) but it would be so much better if you would meet me there. Those legislators need to see YOUR face. They need to see YOUR children that they are shafting. The news is reporting that it’s chaotic and dangerous. That’s a lie. The place is crawling with State Troopers (who were also included in our funding request, I might add). They have been so good at what they do and so good to us. They have said this is one of the most peaceful (and even enjoyable) rallies they’ve ever seen. Teachers are polite, courteous, and pick up after themselves. No big surprise to me. We’ve been cleaning up after ourselves and your children (and legislators) for years.
I’m tired of being called greedy (and much worse). I’m tired of the DHS workers (whom we also included in our request for more funding) saying bad things about us. Saying that we aren’t doing enough when they don’t even show up at a rally designed to get more funding for them too. We didn’t have to include state workers but we did. That’s what teachers do- they care. I’m tired of defending myself, my profession, and my friends. I’m sick at the thought of how little a few of the community members think of us and how vocal they are compared to our supporters. My friends have left Facebook. They can’t take the teacher-bashing any more. They are staying home, trying to rejuvenate going into next week. You can see I’m sitting here (alone) on my couch writing to you because I’m an introvert and writing makes me feel better. I won’t quit though. My students aren’t second class citizens and neither am I. Even with this raise I won’t be earning a lot of money for a degreed, certified professional. I don’t do it for the money though so I’ll take what I can get. It’s been over a decade since teachers got raises. What degreed professional never gets a raise? I could drive 20 minutes further into Arkansas and earn $20,000 more and get a lot more respect but I love my little community. I don’t want to leave. I love our school board and our administrators who have so graciously backed us up and supported us. I will not stop defending them because they did not have to support us like this. I am beginning to wonder whether it’s worth it but I’m going to finish this fight. That way, if my grandsons should ever move to Oklahoma it will be a better place for them to get an education.
I’m not going to edit this post a lot. This is raw. This is how I feel. I’m going to have a good cry then I’m going to pick myself up, go visit my family and then get a good night’s sleep. Tomorrow, the Women in Black show up at the capitol building. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. See you in Oklahoma City tomorrow.
Peace,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Ervin Alonzo Drake, 1940

This past Sunday (18 March) was Ervin Alonzo DRAKE’s birthday. He was better known as Poppy, or Lon.

Above is a photo of Poppy and Annie with three of their children.
It seems Poppy was named after his grandfather, Ervin Alonzo DRAKE. I used to think Poppy’s name was Alonzo Ervin since he was sometimes called Poppy Lon but I’ve since come to think his name really is Ervin Alonzo and he was, perhaps, called Poppy or Lon to distinguish him from his grandfather. Poppy Lon was born in 1875 in McDonald County, Missouri, to William and Hester Ann Eglentine (MITCHELL) DRAKE. He was the first of 10 siblings. It was a known fact that back in the day the DRAKE’s liked to drink and fight. If you want to know just how rough some of them were, take a look at my series about his brother, “Red”, starting with part one. It’s quite a story!
I’ve written about Ervin, or Poppy Lon, here:
Poppy Makes a Comeback and mentioned him here Live by the Sword, Die by the Sword, Part 4- The Finale.
Today I’m going to highlight the most recent released census that includes Poppy.

Screenshot from Ancestry.
The year was 1940. Poppy was living in Beaty Township in Delaware County, Oklahoma. Beaty Township includes the area of Delaware County East of Jay, Southeast of Grove, West of South West City, McDonald County, Missouri, and Northwest of Maysville, Benton County, Arkansas – exactly the area I would expect him to live at. It’s a rural area with no present-day towns. You can find it on this map.

The original of the above map was found at OKGenWeb.
I’ve circled the name Beaty in red to make it easier to find. Also notice in the upper left corner of the map I’ve circled (in green) the town of Echo in Bernice Township. This is where Poppy Lon’s grandfather, Ervin Alonzo, lived before that area was flooded to make Grand Lake. I’ve written a little about that in this blog post. (This was one of my earliest blog posts about my family so it will be a little different than what you might read from me currently.)
In 1940, Poppy Lon was listed as the head of household. He is listed as Ervin L. Drake. Living with him were his wife, Annie (Mary Anne BAKER), his married son Roscoe, and Poppy’s grandchildren (Roscoe’s children) – Lulla Bell (age 14) and James E. (age 12). (Note: Even though he is listed as “married son”, the same entry says he is a widower.) I’m not sure where Roscoe’s wife was at the time. Just a quick glance at records looks like possibly the wife left Roscoe and the children and moved to California and remarried but I’m not certain and I haven’t asked. Interestingly, Nancy wasn’t living with Roscoe in the 1930 census either.
I did find this photo (sorry for the quality) of Nancy and hers and Roscoe’s children. Lulla Bell and James Ervin William are both in the photo. James is on the back row and Lulla Bell is the girl with the darker hair and white blouse on the far right next to her mother. The other girl in the photo is identified as Jolene Lavinia DRAKE (her middle name probably being given in honor of Poppy Lon’s grandmother, Lavina (PILGRIM) DRAKE) and the young boy is James Woodrow LANG and he looks to be from mom Nancy’s second marriage (after Roscoe). Additionally, Lulla Bell’s name is spelled “Lulu Belle”, contrary to the 1940 census.

This photo was shared publicly on Ancestry by Tori Hobbs. I have tried over the years to get in touch with Tori without success.
This is what the 1940 census tells us about Poppy Lon. He was the 79th (and last) family to be censused on 15 April 1940 by enumerator Ben F. Ryburn. Poppy Lon owned his home. When asked the value of the home, the response recorded was “3.50”. I don’t think that meant $3.50- possibly $3500 instead? I’m not sure. Poppy Lon’s place was a farm. His race was listed as “White” and he was 65 years old at the time of this census. He was born in Missouri. He completed 4th grade in school. He was farming that year as his employment and was working 40 hours a week on the farm. He worked 45 weeks out of the year. He earned more than $50 but an amount was not specified. He is person #68 on the farm schedule. Unfortunately, I have not located the farm schedule and it may not exist anymore. In 1940, Roscoe was a laborer with WPA. About this time last year I wrote for WPA records for my grandpa, Troy BATES, and their response was that there was no employment record for Troy even though I know he was hired by WPA. I may decide to write for Roscoe’s employment records to see what type of work he did but I haven’t done that yet. Roscoe was unemployed 20 weeks in the year preceding the census before he gained employment with WPA. That’s almost half the year so I’m sure he was very happy to get a job with WPA given he had a couple of children to support and was living with his parents.
A final note about the 1940 census. Living near Poppy Lon was Raymond Hubbard. Raymond was the brother of Edith (HUBBARD) DRAKE. Edith was married to Mark DRAKE- Poppy Lon’s son and my great-grandfather. So while Raymond wasn’t technically a relative, I’m sure Poppy and Raymond knew each other and had visited each other at Edith’s and Mark’s home. Living next door to Poppy Lon was Poppy’s brother, Henry Arthur (who went by “Ned”) and Henry’s family. You can find a photo of Ned in one of my blog posts here.
I’m going to leave Poppy Lon right here in 1940, farming and taking care of his family. He has another 24 years of life ahead of him. I think that’s a good spot to leave him in.
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

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

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

Happy birthday, Minerva!

Minerva Nancy BRINCEFIELD is my paternal 3rd great grandmother. She was born in North Carolina in February of 1813. One researcher believes her parents were Anderson BRINSFIELD and Francis DYE. I have nothing to prove or disprove that theory. My line of descent from Minerva goes through Minerva’s daughter Minerva, and the younger Minerva’s son (and my great grandfather) Ralph LARKIN. Since I haven’t talked much about Minerva (the elder one and the subject of today’s post) on the blog, I’m going to stick with introducing her through the census records today. That gives a background of her life and also fits in with this week’s blog theme of “in the census”.
I know nothing of Minerva’s younger years. The first record I pick her up on is her marriage to Bartlett Yancey UNDERWOOD. Minerva and Bartlett’s marriage bond was dated 4 May 1843 in Rockingham County, North Carolina. The bonsdman was Edward WHITT. The witness was Sampson L. CRYER. I don’t know at this time how these men are related to Minerva and/or Bartlett or even if they are related at all. At the time of their marriage, Minerva was 27 and Bartlett was 25. It’s within the realm of possibility that this was not Minerva’s first marriage.
Next, I found them in the 1850 Federal census for the state of North Carolina. They were living in the Eastern District of Rockingham County, North Carolina with three children- a girl and two boys. The only clarification I can give on the location is that in 1850 there were to North Carolinian districts- Eastern and Western. So take from that what you will. Bartlett gave his age as 35 and Minerva was 33. Bartlett was farming but I was unable to find an agricultural schedule that would describe their farm. Although Bartlett could read and write, Minerva could not. Everyone in the family was born in North Carolina. If you scroll down the page you will find Anderson and Fanny BRINSFIELD living with two adult males and two adult females- possibly their children (or two of their sons and their sons’ wives). In an effort to cover all the bases, I browsed many census schedules including agriculture, manufacturing, slave, tax rolls, mortality, etc. to see whether Bartlett or Minerva were listed there and they were not listed on any other schedules, censuses, or rolls available on Ancestry for the 1850 time period.

By 1860, Bartlett and Minerva have moved to Thomasville, Woodside Township, Oregon County, Missouri. Bartlett was still farming and Minerva was listed under the name Nancy. Both were listed as being 45 years old. Bartlett gave the value of his real estate as $200 and his personal property $200. Minerva was still the only one in the home who could not read or write. In 1860 Minerva and Bartlett had seven children living with them ranging in age from 1 to 14 years old. The children’s names were Jefferson, Mary, Worth, Dallas, Jane (my 2nd great grandmother whose name was Minerva but who went by Jane when still living with her mother), Brown, and Missouri. Again, after reviewing a variety of different census schedules, Bartlett and Minerva weren’t on any other schedules besides the US Federal Census for the state of Missouri.

The map above shows you the location of Thomasville as well as Alton- both were places that Bartlett and Minerva and their children lived. Thomasville Post Office was closed down in the 1970’s. One blogger calls the old Thomasville post office building “the goose”. You can find out why by reading her blog post at Claudia’s Surf City blog. (And that flood she’s talking about? Yeah- we got that one, too! It was terrible! We had to evacuate. I’m thinking maybe that story should be a future post for the “Stories for the Boys” series on my blog!)
By 1870, the family had moved to Alton, Piney Township, Oregon County, Missouri. I’ve marked Alton on the map above. In 1870, Bartlett is no longer living with the family. Minerva gave her age as 52. T. J. was marked as the Head of Household and Minerva along with her children (George, Minerva, James, Francis, and Washington) were living with T. J. The siblings (including T. J.) range in age from 7 to 22. I don’t know for sure what the ‘T’ in T. J. is short for but the ‘J’ stands for Jefferson. Worth A. UNDERWOOD and Missouri Ann UNDERWOOD are no longer living with the family in 1860. George is George Dallas UNDERWOOD; Jane is Minerva Jane UNDERWOOD (my 2nd great grandmother); James is James Brown UNDERWOOD. Francis is Francis Elizabeth UNDERWOOD and Washington is Washington Davis UNDERWOOD. Both Francis and Washington were born after the previous census was taken. T. J. was farming and Minerva was keeping house in 1870. T. J. listed his real estate value at $700 and his personal property at $400. On this census, the entire family is marked as unable to read or write which conflicts with previous census data on this family. Neither T. J. nor Minerva were in any other census schedules in the 1870 timeframe that I could find.

In 1880, Minerva was living in Elk Horn Township, McDonald County, Missouri. She gave her age as 64. Living with her were her children Jane, Washington Davis, and her granddaughter Alice (see note at the end of this paragraph). Living next door was Minerva’s daughter, Francis Elizabeth who was married to George BOWEN. Minerva was listed as being widowed. I’m assuming she had been widowed since at least 1870 when Bartlett was no longer living with the family. Minerva was keeping house. Washington was working as a laborer. No one in the family could read or write. I’ve blogged about whether or not Alice is the elder Minerva’s daughter or granddaughter. You can find more information about Alice and an explanation as to whom I think Alice’s mother is here and here (at this second link you’ll need to scroll down about ¾ of the page to find the section on Alice). The family was not on any other extraneous census schedules that I could find for the 1880 time period.

In 1900, at 87 years old, Minerva shows up in her final census record. She is living with her son, George Dallas UNDERWOOD and George’s family. They lived in Township 24 Range 23 East, Cherokee Nation, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). This area was “West of the Grand River”. Looking at a map, this would be the area west of Monkey Island- between Monkey Island and the Bernice/Cleora area in what is currently Delaware County, Oklahoma. No extra census schedules were found for the family.

Minerva passed away in 1905. She is buried in an unmarked grave in Oaklawn Cemetery in Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma. If I’m remembering correctly, the grave was meant for her daughter (Francis BOWEN) or son-in-law (George BOWEN), but they buried her there first. The BOWEN’s ended their life in the state of Washington and are buried there.
I’m looking forward to future stories about Minerva and her family. I hope you are, too. I hope your week is fantastic!
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

Stories for the Boys: Space Shuttle Challenger, Touching the Face of God

“We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of Earth’ to ‘touch the face of God.” ~ President Ronald Reagan

Dear Reader,
If this is the first post you’ve read in the “Stories for the Boys” series then there is a little information you need up front. This series is written to and for my grandsons (and granddaughters, should I ever have any). The stories in this series come directly from mine and my husband’s lives and are told with the hope that one day my grandchildren will read and treasure them and get to know who we were as people and learn what events shaped our lives as well as our perceptions of those events. You’re welcome to read them and I hope you enjoy them, but the intended audience is my grandchildren.
Read on, friend.

Reach for the Stars

“Sometimes, when we reach for the stars, we fall short. But we must pick ourselves up again and press on despite the pain.” ~ President Ronald Reagan
This past Sunday was the 32nd anniversary of the NASA Space Shuttle Challenger launch and subsequent shuttle failure/destruction. On board was Christa McAuliffe. She was a history teacher and was chosen from more than 11,000 applicants. Christa had dreamed of traveling in space since she was young. By the time she got the opportunity, she was 37 years old, married, and had two young children. Christa liked to teach her students that ordinary people impact history and “they were as important to the historical record as kings, politicians or generals.” (Wikipedia) I think I would have really liked her. (In fact, I know someone a lot like her – a teacher in my school district who also taught my daughter in 5th grade, Jennifer Daftari. And I do really like her.) Through this program, President Ronald Reagan hoped to remind U.S. citizens of how important teachers and education are. Christa would have been the first teacher in space (and the first civilian) as part of NASA’s Teachers in Space project had the shuttle not exploded shortly after launch. NASA cancelled the Teachers in Space program after the Challenger explosion. It would be another 12 years after the explosion before NASA would institute a similar project and it wasn’t until 2005 that the Teacher in Space program would be revived in the private sector. (Wikipedia)

Christa McAuliffe. NASA.gov photo.

Cut to Jay High School (Jay, Delaware County, Oklahoma), Mr. Netherton’s Computer Class

Most people can tell you about a defining moment in their life that had nothing to do with them personally yet they can remember exactly where they were and what they were doing. An early “defining moment” for me was the explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger. I was a junior in high school in January of 1986. Bart was in his first year of college at Oklahoma State University. It was mid-morning. I remember it being about 9:30. (Looking at the internet I see it was 11:38 EST which would be 10:38 here in Oklahoma so my memory was a little off.) I was in Mr. Tom Netherton’s computer class and we were learning computer coding to make banners (likely on Apple IIE computers- WAY back then). I can’t remember exactly what was on my banner but I remember I was working on it and we had the television on watching the shuttle launch. I’m assuming most classes had a television on in their room. It was a big moment in history for educators.
The shuttle launched and a little over a minute into flight, the shuttle exploded. It was confusing at first. I knew there were objects that were supposed to disconnect from the shuttle and fall away at some point and yet that didn’t seem quite right for what I was seeing on television. A vague feeling of fear was pervasive even though the event didn’t directly affect anyone I knew. As the announcers kept talking and the shuttle fell down toward the ocean, confusion and fear gave way to sadness and disbelief. The only positive thing I can say is that Christa died fulfilling one of her lifelong dreams- pursuing space travel and another opportunity to broaden the horizons of her students.
There are many sad parts to the Challenger story. One of the saddest parts of the shuttle disaster is that Christa’s parents, sister, and son were present and watching the launch (as were other astronauts’ families). I tried watching the video of her family watching the launch. I saw them slowly coming to the realization that Christa was in danger and they could do nothing to help her. I’m going to be honest, I couldn’t finish the video. My heart broke for her family and for the other families watching on in horror.
The Challenger launch was rescheduled so many times due to many different problems. It was originally schedule to launch on January 23rd, then the 24th, then the 25th, 26th, and 27th for a variety of reasons including mechanical issues and weather. NASA received many warnings from engineers not to launch on January 28th but they were determined to do it anyway. From the very second of liftoff, there was one failure after another that ultimately led to the explosion and subsequent loss of life. Once the explosion occurred, NASA locked all their doors and cut communication with the outside world. This was, apparently, their written procedure. There was no way for the crew to escape the shuttle. Several times escape capability was discussed but the top NASA officials in charge decided against it each time. The crew was conscious and apparently uninjured by the explosion. You can hear that in the video below detailing the on-flight voice recordings. There is evidence that at least three of them were conscious for at least part of the fall from sky to ocean and some investigators believed the crew were conscious right up to the point of their 207-mile-per-hour impact with the ocean surface. And then there are others who believe they survived impact and were alive for several hours on the ocean floor.

Think, Pray, THEN Act

To my boys: let this be a lesson to you. If God makes something so difficult for you that you have to defy logic, morals, and established procedures to make it happen, you need to take a step back and really think and pray about what you are wanting to do before you go ahead with it. Only God knows if it should happen or not. Seek His wisdom. Between prayer and God’s wisdom that He gave us in the form of the Holy Bible, you have any answer you will ever need. I’ve found that in my life if something is becoming that difficult it may be because it isn’t what God wants me to do. Think. Pray. Read your Bible. As my Papa DRAKE always said, choose to do the right thing no matter what.
I’m going to leave you with a few YouTube videos and a couple of photos now so you can get a feel for what I experienced that day in 1986. The first video is a news channel showing the launch live so you get a feel for what I saw, heard, and felt that day.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSTrmJtHLFU
The second video is the launch live on CNN.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfnvFnzs91s
The third video details what was going on inside the cockpit through the launch and explosion. It was business as usual and not a word from Christa.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQV-DrpReeQ
Watching these videos still takes my breath away and makes my tummy feel queasy. I could not bring myself to post (or even finish watching) the video of Christa’s (and the other astronauts’) families watching their loved ones die in front of them. You’ll have to find that on your own if it still exists when you read this and if you have the desire.
The third video is the speech President Ronald Reagan gave after the explosion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq1jr7UntFw

The first photograph is the image I remember when I think of that day and it is of the Challenger exploding. (Photo from LATimes.com)

The second photograph is the second image I think of when I think about this day and it is the Challenger crew in uniform. Christa is the woman next to the flag- top row, second from left. (Photo from NBCNews.com)

One more site I appreciated for Challenger history is at Mashable.com. It’s worth taking a look.
Learn from history, boys. That’s why I write these blog posts. The people before you have made the mistakes and paid the price. All you have to do is learn from it. I’m not saying be afraid to take chances or do things. I’m saying there is a time to take chances and there is a time to use caution. I pray that you will allow God to lead you in the right direction as you live out your life. I love you, boys.

Love,
Grandma

Stories for the Boys: About Libraries and Self-Esteem

Note to reader: These “Stories for the Boys” posts are specifically written for my grandsons- Ashton, August, Theodore, and Foster- so they will have stories about my husband and I. You may read on, but my intended audience is four little boys who stole my heart.

Banned Books Week is coming up next week. I’m a high school librarian and I’m celebrating our freedom to read at my high school library.

Banned Books Week signs jay high school library
Banned Books Week signs in Jay High School library- made by me and your Papa Bart and two students who helped me.
My mom (your Nanny Kay) was a school librarian. My dad (your Poppa Roy) was also an educator and loved to read, too. When I was a child it was a normal occurrence for my mom to read a few chapters of a book to my brothers (your great-uncles, Cortney and Jared) and I at bedtime. I don’t know how old I was but I was old enough to remember. I’m guessing I must have been about 11 or 12 because I remember my youngest brother (Jared) being about 5 or 6. Anyway, I loved those years. I had a favorite reading place for when I read by myself (in between the couch and wall- oh to be THAT skinny again!). I don’t remember our school library at Jay Elementary School but I’m sure we had one. I must have had plenty of books at home since I don’t remember using the school library.
When I had kids, I read to them at bedtime, too. The last time I read to my kids, my son (your dad/uncle Derek) was in high school and my daughter (your mom/aunt Shaina) was in middle school. We read A Barrel of Laughs, A Vale of Tears by Jules Feiffer. We laughed and we cried. It was the perfect book for that moment in our lives. I have two copies of that book sitting on my bookshelf just waiting for you boys to grow up enough that we can read it together. And speaking of banned books, when my kids were in elementary school we started reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn together.

banned books week huck finn book jhs library
The Huck Finn book on display at Jay High School library for Banned Books Week (along with the reason it was banned/challenged).
We didn’t finish this book but we had a good time. To be honest, we didn’t get past the first use of the ‘n’ word. They were aghast that a book would actually use that word so we had a good long discussion about how society changes and what was once okay is no longer fine. We talked about tolerance and what we should and shouldn’t do or say. It was productive and it was enough for elementary-aged kids. My kids grew up with a fondness for Mark Twain’s dry sense of humor.
Although I don’t remember my school library, I do remember using the public library. I remember way back when we got the books by mail-order. Man, I loved browsing through those book catalogs! I bet my parents never got to see one because I always had it. When I was older and the public library expanded I remember going to Delaware County Public Library in Jay, Oklahoma. I remember my mom taking me and I remember the librarian. She was quite intimidating. I have one strong public library memory from those years that affected my life. My mom and I had gone to the public library. I picked out a book the public librarian thought was inappropriate. She told me I couldn’t check out that book. My mom, God love her, stood up to that librarian. My mom told her I could check out any book that woman had in her library. That did a lot for my self-esteem. I have no idea what book I checked out that day. What I do remember is that my mom stood up to that librarian and her censorship. Also, my mom trusted me to select my own books. As a school librarian, I always keep her actions in mind and do my very best not to censor a student’s reading choices. I try to always trust the student. If a child checks out a book that’s too hard, does it really matter? What if that child wants to read that book so badly that they sit down with the book and a dictionary and they learn new words and keep learning new words until they understand what that book is saying? Wow! And if they don’t want to read it that bad? No big deal. They’ll soon bring it back and get another. What if a child picks up a book with themes above their head? Still no big deal. As an adult I’ve re-read enough of the books I read as a child/teen to understand that I did not fully realize what I was reading. The things that needed to go over my head, did go over my head and I was no worse for reading the book. Kids are smart. We need to trust them to choose their own books and let *them* decide when they’re in over their head.
One more library story for my boys and then I’m done for now. My husband (“Papa” to you boys) never read as a child. He just wasn’t interested. When he was in high school he heard about the Lord of the Rings series by J. R. R. Tolkein. He wanted to read those books. He went in to his high school library (Jay High School where we both graduated) and he told the librarian he wanted to check out the first book in the series. She told him it would be too hard for him and he needed to choose an easier book. But once Papa Bart gets something in his head he doesn’t back down. He found that book, convinced her to let him check it out, and he read it. Then he went on to read the rest of the series. The way he’s always told me the story is that those were the first novels he ever read. No one can say when another person will learn to love reading. You learn to love it when you find books you’re interested in. He just didn’t find “his” book until high school. I hate to think what would have happened if he’d listened to that librarian.
So boys, if you ever have someone in your life who doesn’t believe in your abilities enough to let you read what you want to read, then believe in yourself. All of you boys are so smart. Some of you like to read more than others but as long as I’m around I’ll keep finding you books you love until you learn to find them on your own.
I believe in you, Ashton!
I believe in you, August!
I believe in you, Theodore!
I believe in you, Foster!
Now go read so you can learn amazing things and take on the world!
Papa and Grandma love you boys so much.

Until next time,
Grandma Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

Silver and Gold

In all the craziness of the last few weeks I haven’t posted a farewell blog post here. I need to let all of you know that this will be the final blog post on Livejournal. I love Livejournal but I’ve been wanting to include audio and video with my blog posts so I have moved the blog over to WordPress. One of the advantages of WordPress (other than audio and video capability) is that the URL now includes the name of my blog. You can find the new blog at Days of Our Lives Genealogy at WordPress.
After 10 years with Livejournal I feel a little sad about leaving. It’s been a good run here and Livejournal was a great host to begin blogging with. But we all grow and growth brings change and change…well, it isn’t always a bad thing. There will be a few growing pains along the way but there will also be some great new adventures that we couldn’t have had with Livejournal. So I’m looking forward to the future of the blog and I hope you’ll join me over at WordPress for the NEW posts. All of the old posts will remain here at Livejournal and will always be available and searchable.
I’ll close with an old poem that I learned in Girl Scouts with my childhood best friend. This is also a poem that I memorialized in a quilt block that went into a quilt for her on her 30th birthday.
Silver and gold,
Silver and gold,
Make new friends,
But keep the old.
See you at the new site,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Case #13218, Carl Burleson, b/n/f vs. William J. Drake, et al: Update on the Death of C. J. Drake

In my previous blog post I told you that I had made a new discovery about the events surrounding the death of C. J. DRAKE. If you’d like to catch up on C. J.’s story you’ll have to look at a couple of different posts since his story is intertwined with my great grandma Edith’s story. You can find out about C. J. here and here.
I was doing some online research last week and was shocked to find a newspaper article saying there had been a judgment entered against C. J.’s dad in the amount of $2500 in favor of one of the young adults who was injured in the wreck with C. J. You can read the same article here:

Neosho News, 1956 article about a legal judgment resulting from the wreck that killed C. J. Drake.

(A few notes: the original cause of the accident was said to be that C. J. accidentally hit the gas instead of the brake when he was trying to slow down to negotiate a curve. In the BURLESON’s lawsuit they claimed C. J. was speeding when he crashed but seemed to say nothing about the gas vs. brake pedal incident. Also, the reporter had his facts mixed up. C. J. was not William’s son. This is what caused so much confusion for me last week.)
For reference, here is one of the original articles about the accident.

1955 Neosho Daily News article about the wreck that killed C. J. Drake.

I was so shocked and saddened (and somewhat offended) that someone would have sued my great grandparents (who were grieving the loss of their son) over a car wreck that seemed to have been just a freak accident. If you recall, C. J. and the others riding with him were headed to a revival. They weren’t partying or drinking or participating in risky behavior. They didn’t seem to be making poor decisions. I was intrigued about the lawsuit and wanted to know more.
I called my Dad and asked him if he knew Mark had been sued over the crash (because at that time I was trying to interpret the mixed up information in the article and was going on the assumption that it was Mark who was the primary Defendant). Dad was as shocked as I was. He said he always thought there were only four people in the vehicle- C. J. and Henry DRAKE (I’m pretty sure they were cousins- not brothers as stated in one of the newspaper articles) and their girlfriends, Lynda CONDUFF and Betty ARNOLD. Dad had never heard before that there was a fifth person (Carl BURLESON) in the vehicle and didn’t remember any BURLESON’s being connected to the DRAKE family. So we talked for a while and he said he had never heard anything about Mark being sued over the crash and couldn’t help me. I asked about older family members who might have known about all this but he didn’t think there would be any who could help me. Our ties to the Bill DRAKE line of the family ceased to exist a couple generations back. I did try to contact someone in that branch of the family via Facebook but have not received a response. So, we decided a trip to the courthouse would be necessary to sort this all out.
This week I was able to go with my parents to the Newton County courthouse and get a copy of the docket entries which are all that is left of the case. So let me walk you through what I know of Case #13218, Carl Burleson, b/n/f vs. William J. Drake, et al. (The “b/n/f” stands for “best next friend”- a legal term for the adult male representing the plaintiff- Carl’s dad, Sherman BURLESON, in this case; “best next friend” was a legal requirement for minors and women in that era.) Before starting, let me tell you that I don’t know to whom the “et al” refers. Et al is a legal term indicating there were other people being sued along with William. I suspect that Mark was included and he was indeed having to deal with this lawsuit while also grieving the death of his son. The William DRAKE (whom everyone called “Bill”) named as the primary Defendant in this lawsuit was the son of Henry Arthur “Ned” DRAKE. (Ned played a part in another blog post story of mine about Ned’s and Poppy’s brother, Red.) Bill was also the nephew of my 2nd great grandfather, Poppy Lonzo (Alonzo Ervin DRAKE) and the cousin of my great grandfather Mark DRAKE (the father of C. J.). You might be wondering how Bill got involved. (I know I was!) It turns out that C. J. was driving Bill’s truck when C. J. crashed and died.
Case #13218 was filed in Newton County, Missouri in the Circuit Court on 27 April, 1956- 4 months and 2 weeks after the accident in which Carl BURLESON was burned on his face and hands, Lynda sustained a broken leg, Betty and Henry received cuts on their faces, and C. J. died. It appears that everything was worked out very quickly because on the same date the Complaint was filed by the BURLESON’s, the case was also settled and a Judgment Entry made by Circuit Court Judge Robert Stemmons, Sr. The DRAKE family waived a jury and a trial on 27 April 1956 and the Judge entered a judgment in favor of the Plaintiffs (BURLESON’s) in the sum of $2500 plus court costs. For my family in that time frame, that was a ton of money. However they did it, it appears they had the money ready on that date and gave it to the BURLESON’s in court because the docket entry header states, “Judgment acknowledged. Satisfied in open court.” The docket entry also states further down that “…the plaintiff acknowledges satisfaction of said judgment in open court.”

Circuit Court case record Burleson v. Drake, Newton County, Missouri.

This lawsuit was never mentioned in the presence of my father. But then, my DRAKE family was pretty tight-lipped about personal matters. In doing some additional research on the key players in this lawsuit, I found a little more that I want to share with you- like this photo of Sherman BURLESON. Some of you reading this may have known him.

I also found a photo of Bill’s dad, Ned. Ned is my 3rd great uncle.

Bill Drake's dad, Ned Drake (my 3rd great grand uncle). — Bill Drake’s dad, Ned Drake (my 3rd great grand uncle).

I haven’t found a photo of Carl. I’ve read documents and family accounts of the BURLESON family that show that several members of the BURLESON family died in car accidents in the years following this lawsuit. I also learned of one other DRAKE-BURLESON connection. Bill DRAKE had a brother named Edward Ervin DRAKE- he went by Eddie. Eddie married Carl BURLESON’s sister, Edna “Ginger” BURLESON. They later divorced. I’m not sure Eddie and Ginger had any children together.
All of this extra information made me wonder if this series of events- the car wreck in the borrowed truck, the subsequent lawsuit, and then Eddie marrying into the family who sued my family- is what caused the rift amongst the DRAKE family between Ned’s branch and Poppy Lonzo’s branch. Maybe not. It just makes me wonder. How much can two brothers take before they part ways? (Both Ned and Poppy, as well as Bill and Eddie.) How long before their kids- the cousins- stop talking to each other? Before their grandkids know of each other but don’t know each other…before their great grandkids- like me- don’t even know if the other branch still exists? How long does it take for a family to disintegrate? How much can a family take before they call it quits? Just some things I wonder about. I’m probably being way too dramatic about it, but these are the things I think about.
If you’re reading this and you have more information about the wreck, the lawsuit, the family’s split, or anything else about the family- I’d love to hear about it. Like my ancestors, I DO know how to be tight-lipped. If someone tells me something and asks that I NOT post it to the blog or social media- I honor that 100%.
I wish your family peace this week. I wish you strong family relationships that weather the troubled spots. I wish you siblings that speak to each other and cousins that love AND KNOW each other. Tell the people you love how important they are to you. Time is so short and tomorrow is not guaranteed. I’m sure C. J. had plans for December 14th and other days and weeks beyond the day he died. You never know. Live AND LOVE like it’s your last day.

Peace.
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

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Category: Delaware County Oklahoma