School has let out for the summer. Graduation ceremonies have ended and summer has begun. I am so looking forward to taking a break and getting some rest. While I’m on the topic of graduations, I do want to say congratulations to my nephew Patrick DOWDY, and to my cousin’s son, Michael LARKIN, on their graduations this weekend. Best wishes, Patrick and Michael!
2018 graduate Patrick DOWDY. I wish we’d been closer so we could have gotten a better photo.
2018 graduate Michael LARKIN. I was in a much better spot for Michael’s photo.
This week I’m going to re-post the blogs about John BATES so that next week I can continue the story of his final years and let you know what actually happened to him and where he is buried. I’ve been wanting to finish John’s story for a while now.
I hope your week is restful.
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
This blog post is about my paternal great grandfather, Ralph LARKIN. If you’d like to read past blog posts about him to refresh your memory before moving on, you can find information about him in these blog posts: Week 4- Weekend Wrap-Up (has a couple of newspaper articles) Weekend Wrap-Up for Week 2 (includes a document) Ralph Larkin and the Mystery of His Missing Sibling (includes photographs of Ralph and Bessie) Savory Saturday- The Kitchen is the Heart of the Home (includes a section about Bessie and Ralph plus a photograph) Medical Monday- Know Your Health History! (includes a document) Black Blizzards- The Second Dust Bowl, Abilene, Texas, 1954-1957 (includes photographs) Close to Home, Close to the Heart- Part 2
This past week I traveled down to Texas to spend some time. Bart and I enjoyed the beach in Galveston and I researched in a couple of different places. If you are ever in the Houston, Texas area I highly recommend the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research at 5300 Caroline Street. I barely scratched the surface of all they have there. I didn’t come away with anything I feel like I can share here on the blog yet but it was worth the trip. I had hoped to make it to the Sterling Municipal Library in Baytown, Texas but didn’t quite get there. On Thursday and Friday, in addition to visiting family, I got to go to the National Archives in Fort Worth, Texas. I had called ahead and let them know what I wanted to look at and to make an appointment so they were ready for me when I got there. I definitely recommend doing that if you get to go to the Archives. It will make your trip go much more smoothly. When you get there, you can expect to spend a few minutes getting a researcher card. You’ll have to provide state or federal photo identification and go through a short tutorial before getting your card and being allowed to research so plan your trip accordingly. Also, their last document pull is at 2:00 p.m. Anything you request after that time will have to wait for the following day. You should call ahead to confirm they will be open. While I was there they were talking about a potential shutdown as of midnight tonight due to the federal government not being able (or willing??) to finalize a budget for this country. So those types of things do affect the National Archives and you need to be aware of that. One last thing to be aware of- they do have restricted documents. Most times these documents will be removed before you get to see the files. From what I understand though, sometimes the documents are simply placed in an envelope and marked restricted but left inside the file and you are not allowed to photograph those documents. If the envelope is sealed you cannot unseal it to take a look.
Researching in the National Archives requires a different strategy than researching in a genealogical library. In the National Archives, you’re looking for records created by a government agency so you have to think in terms of how your family interacted with that agency. It takes a bit to become accustomed to the different way of thinking but it’s worth it. In this case, I went in knowing that I was looking for records created by the Bureau of Mines. Both mine and Bart’s families, as well as our daughter-in-law’s family, had miners who worked in the tri-state mining district of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. Specifically, I had seen photo identification/health records that another researcher had obtained and I believed these records were held by the National Archives. The Bureau of Mines operated a health clinic in Picher, Ottawa County, Oklahoma. The clinic had two sides. The side where they did examinations of miners for employment in the mines and for other issues (especially Tuberculosis and mining-related lung diseases) called the Picher Clinic as well as a second side of the clinic that treated venereal diseases. Apparently in the heyday of mining, Picher had a massive outbreak of syphilis and gonorrhea and the government felt it needed to bring the situation under control so they set up both a health clinic and a sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinic. The STD clinic was called the Picher Cooperative Clinic. It was called this because it was a cooperative effort between the Tri-State Zinc and Lead Ore Producers Association, the U. S. Public Health Service (office of the Surgeon General), and the U. S. Bureau of Mines, along with the help of various medical researchers. So, you’ve got medical researchers, the U. S. government, and an association that was led and governed by mine owners. What could go wrong?? Seriously though, they did a lot of good but they were also doing some experimental work on the miners. Having said that, we didn’t get where we are today in the medical field without experimental drug trials and studies, etc. Overall, I think there was a lot of good done by the Clinic and the head doctor, Frank V. MERIWETHER, whose official title was Acting Assistant Surgeon and who was appointed by the then-U. S. Surgeon General, Hugh S. CUMMING. Both Dr. MERIWETHER and Surgeon General Hugh CUMMING served under President Woodrow WILSON.
It really was so interesting to read all the letters and reports and studies talking about the work that Dr. MERIWETHER did. (I’ll admit I reminisced a little about my time as a paralegal at Hawley, Troxell, Ennis & Hawley law firm in Boise, Idaho where I worked on Superfund cases with reports similar to these.) Dr. MERIWETHER was constantly conducting medical research studies and trials on various health issues, traveling around the country to conferences, observing other doctors and allowing other doctors to come in and observe his work. He was even involved in a First Aid and Mine Rescue Contest. He was one of the lead researchers on Psuedo-Military Tuberculosis which you can read about on Wikipedia. The exact photo that’s on Wikipedia is in his files at the National Archives. I held it in my hands just yesterday! He led an interesting life. But I’m not here to talk about Dr. MERIWETHER today. I’m here to tell you what I found about my family!
It was more than 3/4 of the way through the second day and I was a little discouraged. Then I opened up a hand-tabulated chart for one of the studies that Dr. MERIWETHER was working on and there it was- ‘LARKIN, RALPH’!! I was so glad to find something!
(I apologize for the photos. When I pulled out my camera to take pictures it wasn’t working so I had to resort to cell phone photos. Also, names of other persons have been marked over in case any of them are still living.) There is no title to this chart nor any letter that I could find to explain it’s existence. So, going off the general work that Dr. MERIWETHER did and including the column titles on this chart, it looks like my great grandfather (Ralph LARKIN) went to see Dr. MERIWETHER about his teeth. Or at least, on the day Ralph went that’s what Dr. MERIWETHER was concerned about. The chart tracks the following information for the patients listed: Name, Occupation (at the mines), Eye health, Ear health, whether the miner had artificial teeth, whether the teeth were dirty, whether the miner had pyorrhea (another term for periodontitis, or an inflammation of the tissue around the teeth – Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary, 25th Edition), whether the miner had any teeth missing, whether the miner needed or wanted his teeth clean (I’m guessing on this one based on the fact that he already covered whether the teeth were clean and this column basically is yes or blank; the actual column title is ‘Clean’), whether the miner’s teeth are decayed, and a column each for Silicosis and Tuberculosis diagnoses both of which were a major reason for the Picher Clinic in the first place (and both were major areas of clinical research performed by Dr. MERIWETHER). Silicosis (also called Pneumoconiosis or Miner’s Lung or Black Lung Disease for coal miners) is a lung fibrosis caused by the inhalation of dust from stone, sand, or flint which contains silicon dioxide. (Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary, 25th Edition). The study of silicosis was a major, and apparently career-long, undertaking of Dr. MERIWETHER so I would not be surprised at all if the whole reason for checking patients’ teeth was because he had learned or suspected that silicosis caused certain dental conditions.
Miners with silicosis would eventually develop a cough that would progress into difficulty breathing and sometimes sharp chest pain when breathing. It could cause death if contact was continual and long term and the condition wasn’t treated. The disease would present very much like Bronchitis and when the doctor listened to your lungs he would hear them wheezing and crackling when you breathed. Miners with silicosis had an increased risk of other problems such as Tuberculosis, lung cancer, and chronic bronchitis. (Lung.org) Chronic silicosis might eventually lead to your legs swelling, an increased breathing rate, and a bluish discoloration of your lips. Chronic silicosis created an angel wing pattern on x-rays that was called “Angel of Death”. The disease ultimately led to respiratory failure and death if left untreated and/or with continued, prolonged exposure. Remember, in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s there was no OSHA to force your employer to provide you with health protections like breathing masks. They were also still trying to make advances on controlling and healing Tuberculosis and other diseases. (Also, just a little side note that surprised me: I say “him” when referring to miners but there were female miners as well. I was surprised by this. When you see photographs it’s always men but I did see at least one woman identified as a miner in Dr. MERIWETHER’s records.)
Photo is an example of the wing formation called “Angel of Death” that is caused by silicosis. Photo was found at Learning Radiology.
But, back to Ralph LARKIN. Ralph’s exam gave the following information about his health. He was a machinist. Ralph’s eyes and ears were “ok”. Ralph didn’t have any artificial teeth. His teeth were dirty (as were the majority of miners’ teeth according to this chart). He had pyorrhea. According to how I’m interpreting the chart, he was missing one upper tooth and 3 lower teeth. His teeth were not marked to be cleaned. There is no notation why they weren’t cleaned. He had several decayed teeth including 2 upper and 2 lower teeth. He had Late Stage 1 Silicosis. He was Class C for Tuberculosis. I’m not sure what Class C means. In regard to the silicosis diagnosis though, this is what I learned. Silicosis.com is a lawyer’s website for both Silicosis and Mesothelioma. Even though this is a legal and not medical website and their goal is to make money, it really put it into perspective for me when a site coupled Silicosis with Mesothelioma. I hadn’t realized that Silicosis was in the same class of disease as Mesothelioma. Although I haven’t been able to find stages of Silicosis, the Silicosis/Mesothelioma site did list stages of Mesothelioma and that website makes it seem as though the two diseases are extremely similar- enough so to be able to compare stages of the two diseases. Stage 1 of Mesothelioma means the disease is still “localized” or confined to the area of origin. Ralph was late stage 1. I’m guessing it was still localized to one small area of his lungs but he was on the verge of the first advanced stage of the disease. He would have experienced shortness of breath with physical activity. Possibly a fever and possibly some chest pain when breathing. Ralph had to have already had large amounts of silica dust in his lungs just for the disease to even be detectable. If Ralph smoked, the effects of the disease would have been worse. My dad always told me that Ralph had a lung disease. I really didn’t realize the extent of the lung disease until I found him on this chart this week and started researching silicosis.
The work that Dr. MERIWETHER did was so important to miners. He not only was expert enough to be appointed by the U. S. Surgeon General to a clinic specializing in diagnosing and treating miners, he was educating his peers all across the country and doing specialized trips to other mines across the country to help diagnose other miners. Even so, it wasn’t until the 1960’s that miners started demanding protections for their health. In 1973 (some 55 or so years after Ralph was diagnosed and 10 years after his death), coal miners received their protections via the Black Lung Benefits Act of 1973. Those who mined something other than coal were apparently not covered under these protections. (Black Lung Benefits Act of 1973)
Here are a few short YouTube videos on the subject.
If you’d like to learn more, I’ve read that you can look for a 2006 documentary by Shane Roberts that features interviews with miners suffering from silicosis as well as footage shot in the mines. I haven’t been able to find that documentary myself. NPR did an episode on this topic. If you prefer lighter entertainment, you might try watching the 1939 movie Four Wives in which actor Eddie Albert plays a doctor studying pneumoconiosis- much like Dr. MERIWETHER. I’ve tried to locate some of Dr. MERIWETHER’s studies and journal articles that were published but I’ve been unsuccessful. Quite a few recent researchers cite his work in their papers but I haven’t been able to find any of his actual published studies for you to look at.
Ralph’s family always believed it was the lung disease that killed him even though his death certificate does not bear that out. I’m sure the lung disease was never treated and did give him trouble since he was on the verge of the disease moving from Stage 1 to the initial advanced stages of the disease. Ralph was diagnosed with late stage 1 silicosis around October of 1927 as best I can tell. He had been working in the lead and zinc mines of Ottawa County, Oklahoma since at least 1918. My guess is he was probably already working there earlier than 1917. In 1918 he was working for Black Hawk Mining Company in Picher, Ottawa County, Oklahoma.
The screenshots below were found at Schehrer at homestead.com. This is a great website for learning about old Picher mining history. You could spend hours here just looking at photos.
On the same website I took a screenshot of the photo below of Quapaw, Oklahoma. The photo was taken about 1920 when Ralph and Bessie LARKIN would have been living there.
I believe the section of a Superfund government report below gives a better description of where Black Hawk Mine was located based on a more recent geographical description of Picher. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to find the business ‘Picher Express’ without the help of someone who knew what the town looked like before it was demolished. The last time I was there, there was practically nothing left of Picher Express except the shell of a building and an old pay phone. However, for those who remember Picher, it’s a good description of the location of Black Hawk Mine.
You can get your own copy of this report at the DEQ Superfund website.
Ralph left mining work sometime around late 1929 to early 1930. I’m sure 10-15 years in the mines without any kind of health precautions or proper medical care took a toll on his health. I’m going to leave you with a couple of photographs of some minerals found at Black Hawk Mine.
These photos were found on Minerals.net. Enjoy your weekend.
Peace and health,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
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 Comebackand 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
This post has been updated as of 2 August 2022. I’ve been able to decipher some more of the content of the second newspaper article and have updated the text portions that I’ve figured out. Additionally, if you’ll scroll to the bottom you will find Update, Final Thoughts, & Resources sections with new information.
I hope you read part 1 because we’re jumping right into part 2, no introduction!
Transcription of the first newspaper article:
From Texas County. Still Another Spurious Delegate at Marshfield – A Fugitive from Justice turns up in a Representative Capacity. Houston, Texas Co., Aug. 4. To the Editor of the Daily Leader: Springfield papers, containing an account of the Marshfield convention, have just been received here. From them we learn that one Q. A. Bell was in that convention as a delegate from Texas County. No Radical convention has been held in this county to appoint delegates to the Marshfield convention, nor for any other purpose. Mr. Q. A. Bell got into a scrape here, and left the county to avoid being arrested by the officers of the law. He ran away from Texas county- a fugitive from justice- went into Webster county and stayed with some relatives until the Marshfield convention came off. He has just got back, and I understand he says he is ashamed of what he did, and would not have gone into the convention but that some of Havens’ friends at Marshfield “fixed up his papers,” and insisted that he act as a delegate – that they assured him “it was all right enough, and nobody would ever find it out. Suffrage Radical
It was alright enough. You ever told yourself that about something? Maybe next time, just say no! I wish I could tell you that I understand everything that happened but I don’t. I’ve sat on this story for about a year, maybe a little longer, because I was trying to figure out the whole story. I’m not going to hold out any longer. In trying to figure it all out there is another article we need to read but it is in such poor shape that it’s nearly impossible to read. I’ve transcribed as much of the article as possible, and as well as possible, below.
Daily Leader Thursday, August 11, 1870 Was the nomination of the ten dollar, hundred day hero* by the Marshfield convention a cut-and-dried affair or was it not? Was the convention which made the nomination a body representative of the real contingent of the Radical party in the district, or did it represent only that Eternal Hateite(?)** “ring” in that party? It now appears that the two individuals admitted to the convention as delegates authorized to cast the vote of Ozark county, were not only spurious and self-constituted, but in no manner reflected the sentiment or wishes of the majority of the party in that ???. One of them, in fact, had not been in the county or the State three months, and was not therefore a qualified voter. It appears that McDonald county, which no primary convention was held and no expression whatever of choice as to candidates was had, was in like manner misrepresented in the person of W. H. Goody ????. And now it further appears that Texas county, failing to send a delegation found herself honored in the convention by being accredited in that body with a fugitive from justice, Q. A. Bell, who was picked up in the streets of Marshfield and clothed with representative honors by an agent of the Havens clique. Here, then, we have three ??? casting their votes at Marshfield for a candidate and the representative of principles notoriously ignored by a large majority of the party whose views they assumed to represent. Add to these Christian county, in which the friends of the amendment outnumber the malignants(?) two to one, and also add Greene, the ac??? to ??? from hold(?) of suffrage, and does not the question become one worthy of the party whether they have not been imposed on, their real sentiments misrepresented, and their wishes overridden in the action of the Marshfield meeting! Does it not become even a more serious question whether they will abide by and submit to the usurpations of a mere clique, bent upon carrying out the will and the wishes, not of the majority, but the barest minority of the party?
That’s where the article ends. I can hardly make heads or tails of it other than Quincy wasn’t alone in this mess and there was a clique known as the Havens clique that was a minority in the Radical Party of 1870. So I Googled it, of course! Apparently, in the five years following the Civil War, Missouri was deeply divided. The conservatives had split into several factions over a variety of issues and they couldn’t seem to agree on anything. In this void rose up the Radical Union Party (aka Radical Republican Party)***. They wanted to get rid of slavery as well as Missouri’s reputation of being a state overcome with guerilla warfare. The party was progressive in their thinking. You can learn more here.
Suffice it to say, Quincy got sucked into all this- whether willingly or through cajoling- and it didn’t end well for him. I really can’t tell you much more than that right now but there is at least one more article I need to transcribe. Unfortunately, it’s taking a lot longer than I thought it would. So, over the next week or two I’m going to be transcribing and reporting to you about the Marshfield Convention and the craziness that went on there and maybe when I’m done we’ll have this all figured out. So enjoy your stay right here in the middle of a big old political, legal mess for Quincy. I’ll catch up with you soon with the rest of the story.
Until then, Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog Clippings are from Newspapers.com
UPDATE:
*”Ten dollar hundred day hero” refers to Captain Harrison HAVENS. The Hundred-Day portion is sort of explained with this political cartoon:
Political Cartoon from the Springfield Leader and Press, 26 July 1870.6
The Ten-Dollar portion is explained in this short article:
Springfield Leader Press, 31 July 1870. Newspapers.com.7
**Eternal Hateites was a name given to the Radical Republicans by the mainstream media of the day and by their political opponents. Interchangeable terms include “eternal haters”, “eternal hate-ring”, and “eternal hateism”.1, 4 This sect apparently included supporters of Captain HAVENS and Governor McCLURG.2 I’m not knowledgeable enough on the subject to say this was undeserved but from what I’ve read up to this point, it certainly seems like the Radical Republicans’ opponents were using the media as an arm of destruction to do their bidding against the Radicals.3 In fact, at this point, I’m not even certain I believe that Quincy was a “fugitive from justice”. The Radical Republicans were being called “anti-constitutional” and I certainly don’t see anything in their platform or in the newspapers that leans toward anti-constitutional. It seems their opponents had no problem conducting an effective smear campaign. Again, after the last few years I can certainly see that going on today in politics and in the media.
*** The Radical Union Party is synonymous with the Radical Republican Party. There were many, many small and very short-lived political parties that sprang up between the midterms in 1870 and the presidential election of 1870. This included the Liberal Republican Party (which was not the same as the Radical Republicans or State Republicans (which would become what we know as the Republican Party of today). The Liberal Republicans would later be known as Rockefeller Republicans and would eventually merge with the Democrat Party as we know it today. Quincy was not affiliated with this party. The Radical Republicans would eventually merge with the Republican Party. This is, in part, why it has been so difficult to parse out what really happened. Despite the Radical Republican Party affiliating as Republican, they could expect no help at all from the mainstream Republicans. In fact, the Radical Republicans received the name-calling, etc. from all sides including the “friendlies”. The last third party president was President Millard Fillmore in 1850-1853. By 1870, I’m sure it was much like today where people were harassed and discouraged from voting third party.
You know how I always say that everything “comes back around full circle”? While researching all the players and events connected to the Marshfield Convention, I came across this article that was written a little over one year ago referencing the 1870 Missouri events stemming from the Marshfield Convention. The headline and sub-headline read, “Missouri Democrats Brace for Electoral Disaster Not Seen in 150+ Years: Republicans will be favored to hold all statewide offices in Missouri after the 2022 midterms for the first time since 1870”.5 Like I always say, it all comes back around eventually. This is, in part, why I write this blog – so my grandsons can see how cyclical life is and how resilient their ancestors were (and maybe so they’ll see where bad decisions will take them in life).
Final Thoughts
Keep in mind that, just like today, the newspaper articles seem to be very slanted toward one side or the other. The most neutral paper I found (in regard to their reporting on the Radical Republican Party) was the Buffalo Reflex, a small paper out of Buffalo, Missouri. In 1870, Buffalo had a population of 278 people. Like today, the majority of newspaper articles about politics included name-calling and libelous-sounding statements. Just like today, emotions were high, opinions were plentiful, and everyone believed they were right. Tensions were so high and the articles were biased enough that at this point I’m even questioning whether Quincy really did anything wrong. I’m wondering if the people in control of media just didn’t like the side he chose. This tactic is so prevalent today and it gives me a whole new perspective on the situation for Quincy. I do wonder if he was doing a favor for an old military friend (John PHELPS, from part 1 of this story) or if a group of people perhaps coerced Quincy to do this. I say this because I’ve never found any other stories of Quincy being in legal or criminal trouble. In any case, I may never know the truth but I keep searching. To my boys (and my new granddaughter that will arrive in the Spring!) I say, be careful with whom you associate. Your friends matter. Be careful when making decisions in haste. Always try to take time to think through the consequences of your decisions and actions. And, always keep your behavior above board so no one can coerce you to do something by saying they’re going to tell things about you that you don’t want others to know.
One more note: I used a political cartoon as the new featured image for this post. It’s the only derogatory cartoon I found on the Liberal Republican candidate while researching this post. (I didn’t look too hard but most of the newspapers were left-leaning and were attacking HAVENS and MCCLURG rather than SCHURZ. This cartoon didn’t come out until 1872, the year of the presidential election. I found the image at Wikipedia.8 It’s a public domain image and originally appeared in Harper’s Weekly. The artist/creator was Thomas NAST.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the update. Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives
Resources
Newspapers.com. Warrenton Banner, 6 September 1870, Vol. 6, #3, Page 4; Warrenton, Missouri. Accessed on 1 August 2022.
Newspapers.com. Nodaway Democrat, 12 October 1870, Vol. 1, #48, Page 2; Maryville, Missouri. Accessed on 1 August 2022.
Newspapers.com. Buffalo Reflex, 24 September 1870, Vol. 2, #4, Page 4; Buffalo, Missouri. Accessed on 1 August 2022.
Newspapers.com. Buffalo Reflex, 8 October 1870, Vol. 2, #6, Page 5; Buffalo, Missouri. Accessed on 1 August 2022.
Ostermeier, Dr. Eric. “Missouri Democrats Brace for Electoral Disaster Not Seen in 150+ Years”. 7 June 2021. Smart Politics, University of Minnesota. Accessed 1 August 2022.
Newspapers.com. Springfield Leader and Press, Vol. 1, #73, Page 4; Springfield, Missouri. Accessed on 2 August 2022.
Newspapers.com. Springfield Leader and Press, Vol. 1, #77, Page 2; Springfield, Missouri. Accessed on 2 August 2022.
We can all be different people at different times. No one is static. So can someone be both a hero and a thug in different circumstances? I’m going to explore that question today in the life of my paternal 3rd great-grandfather, Quincy Adam BELL. He was married to Elizabeth Emoline STEPHENSON (possibly spelled STEVESON, STEPHESON or STEVENSON). The line of descent is from Quincy through his daughter Eliza, and Eliza’s daughter Bess WILLIAMS who was my great grandmother. Quincy was born on this date (13 March) in 1825. I have not written about Quincy before. Normally I would take the time to introduce him to you but today I have a story to tell you that my sister-in-law has been asking me to tell for over a year. (By the way, you should visit her blog over at Down in the Root Cellar.) I will give you an abbreviated introduction but mostly I want to get right into his story.
Quincy was born in Tennessee but he lived the majority of his life in Missouri. He came to Missouri with his parents and siblings sometime around 1836. I want to skip ahead, though, to Quincy at age 36. The year was 1861 and America was barreling toward a civil war. Quincy volunteered to serve for the Union. On 28 August 1861, Quincy enrolled as a Private in Captain Coleman’s Company, Missouri Infantry for a period of 6 months. One of his fellow Privates was John Smith PHELPS who had served both in the Missouri House of Representatives and in Congress (including serving on the House Ways and Means Committee) since 1840. (I think it was this connection with PHELPS that caused Quincy to end up in a situation that got him in trouble later in his life.) They fought in the Battle of Wilson’s Creek after which the company retreated to Rolla, Phelps County, Missouri (which was named after John Smith Phelps when it was created).
It was during this time that, in a special arrangement with President Abraham LINCOLN, John Smith PHELPS organized an infantry regiment – Phelps’ Infantry Regiment. By November of 1861, Quincy had enrolled as a Private in Company A, Phelps’ Infantry Regiment in Rolla, Phelps County, Missouri. They spent most of the winter of 1861-1862 at Fort Wyman in Rolla, Phelps County, Missouri. In March of 1862, the Company fought a fierce battle at Pea Ridge, Benton County, Arkansas. The battle lasted two days. Pea Ridge Battlefield maps found on Wikipedia. Sketch of the Last Hour of the Battle of Pea Ridge found on Wikipedia.
Quincy’s muster-out date from Company A, Phelps’ Infantry was 11 April 1862. He mustered out in Springfield, Greene County, Missouri and was given $26.62 for “clothing in kind or money advanced”. He was marked as Present. I don’t know the succession of events but I have found an index card showing that Quincy mustered in to Company M of the 16th Missouri Cavalry as a Private and before he mustered out he had been promoted to Quartermaster Sergeant. A Quartermaster Sergeant is in charge of supplies, as I understand it. I know that he was in this company in 1863 but that’s as close as I’ve gotten so far.
You can read a short couple of paragraphs about the 16th Missouri at NPS.gov. One thing I know this company was doing in 1863 other than fighting in skirmishes was fighting Confederate Guerillas in the Springfield, Greene County, Missouri area. You can read a short snippet about Phelps’ Regiment also at NPS.gov.
Other researchers have listed him as being in Berry’s Battalion Cavalry, Cass County Home Guards Cavalry, Stewart’s Battalion Cavalry, and Van Horn’s Battalion Cavalry during 1863. I have not found documentation to support these claims yet.
Now, I want to skip ahead a little. The year is 1870 and very politically charged- much like the current political climate. It’s 11 August in Missouri- hot, humid, nearly unbearable. Quincy is 45 years old. I’m going to leave you right here for the night and finish the story tomorrow. Be sure you come back because this is where he runs into trouble!
Today’s blog post is about my paternal 3rd great grandfather, Jehue BAKER. Jehue died on this date in (10 March) in 1924. I have mentioned Jehue before in a blog post about his daughter but I haven’t specifically blogged about him so today I just want to introduce him to you. The line of descent is through Jehue’s first child Mary Anne (who went by Annie), Annie’s son Mark DRAKE, and Mark’s son Eugene who was my grandpa.
Jehue Baker was born on 27 September 1850 in Bolivar, Polk County, Missouri. According to his death certificate his parents were Bets BAKER and his mother’s last name was BAIR but her first name was unknown. I have never been able to find either of his parents. Some researchers have speculated that her name was Judy or Judith. The children I know that belong to this couple are Mary Anne, Cora Belle, Jesse Washington, Myrtle, John Henry (who died as a toddler). Jehue’s siblings were Martha (who married a POWERS) and Thomas. I haven’t found any census records for Jehue prior to 1900.
Jehue and Annie
Jehue married Mary Jane LITTRELL in 1876 in Jasper County, Missouri. I’m assuming she died around 1890 due to Jehue’s remarriage in 1891. I have not found an 1880 census record for them.
Jehue and Lillie
STOP THE PRESSES!! It’s 3:45 a.m. on Sunday March 11th. Yeah- I’ve been up all night. And yes- I’m still hoping to make it to church. But I have to tell you- I think I’ve made a breakthrough on Jehue!! I now believe I know who his parents are and if I’m correct, we’ve found a whole slew of new siblings. Folks, it’s been a few decades since my Mam first told me about Jehue. That’s a long time to search and never find anything. This is one reason I love this blog so much! But I digress….
I now believe Jehue’s parents are Jesse BAKER and Mary BAIR (possibly spelled BEAR). Many researchers still maintain that Mary is Native American and while I would believe that, I can’t prove that yet. Here’s what I know about his parents.
In 1850 they were living in District 47, Lawrence County, Missouri at census time. This does NOT match the fact that on Jehue’s death certificate his birthplace is given as Bolivar, Polk County, Missouri. I can’t explain that but bear with me. In 1850 the family consisted of Jesse, his wife called Polley in 1850, and children: William, Ellen (first name is Sarah), Robert N., (later called Newton), Daniel, and James. There was also a woman named Judith Newlis living in the home and I have not been able to place her yet.
In 1860 the family is living at Dunkles Store (later known as Lawrenceburg), Ozark Township, Lawrence County, Missouri. At that time the family consisted of Jesse, his wife now called Mary, and their children: William, Sarah E., Newton, Daniel, James, John (later called Jahue), Thomas, and Judy (whom I believe to be Jahue’s sister, Martha Judith).
In 1870 the family is living in Lostine (later called Petersville and now no longer in existence), Cherokee County, Kansas. The family consisted of Jesse, Mary, Sarah E., Newton, Daniel, James, Jahue, Thomas, and Martha.
I believe this is the correct family due to the ages and successive birth order of Jahue, Thomas, and Judy. I’ve searched so many families over the years and this is the only family that fits. I’m going to continue my research and hopefully have updates but I couldn’t wait to tell you.
I know I don’t have any photos in this blog post so I’m going to include one here of my Mam and Pa- Audrey and Eugene Drake. Eugene is in my direct line back to Jehue BAKER.
Jehue will have a birthday coming around later this year so I’ll finish telling you about him then but for now, I need to get to bed!!
Until tomorrow (um…I mean later today),
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
Albert BATES was my maternal great grandfather. I’ve written about him several times. You can find those posts here: Looking for Land in All the Wrong Places I Know What You Did That Day Dettie Louisa GIBSON BATES and the Sibling Melting Pot (Although this one is about Dettie, you will find a photograph of a young Albert BATES included in the post.) Not Breaking, But Succeeding- Lum’s Apple Orchard (You can find a photo of Albert as a child here.)
Albert was born 1 February 1881 in Hiwasse, Benton County, Arkansas to George and Mary (SEELY) BATES. He was the first of four children- 3 boys and a girl. When Albert was born, the family lived in Hiwasse, Benton County, Arkansas. He was 6 years old before his little brother Charlie came into the world. He was 10 when his brother Herman was born and 13 when his sister Vesta was born. As far as I know, Albert lived in the same area for these first 13 years. Because the 1890 census was destroyed, the first record I’ve found for Albert is the 1900 census. The census enumerator came by the BATES’ home on 5 June 1900. Albert was 19 years old and single. He was living at home with his parents and siblings. He was working as a photographer. This information about his job supports family stories that he worked as an itinerant photographer when he was young. I would absolutely love to have a photograph he took although I’m not sure how I would identify his photographs.
Family stories say that he would travel around, take photographs and play his fiddle at barn dances. It was on one of these “fiddle and photograph” trips that he met his future wife, Dettie Louisa GIBSON. Dettie was living in Dickson Township, Benton County, Arkansas in 1900 so maybe Albert didn’t venture out too far to do his job. My mom and granny used to tell me that after Albert and Dettie met they wrote letters back and forth to each other until they married.
By 1900, photography had been in existence for about 60-70 years or so. Even so, in the early 1900’s photographers were still trying to legitimize photography as an art form. Also in 1900, the Kodak Brownie camera was finally reaching the middle class in America. Kodak had been a brand name for 13 years and the x-ray was only 5 years old. Tintypes were still prevalent in those days and along with developing tintypes came the use of extremely hazardous chemicals like mercury chloride. I don’t know what types of photos Albert took nor do I know if he would have had to use mercury chloride but the possibility was there.
ca. 1900 photographer (not Albert) with a folding plate camera; photo found at Antiquecameras.net.
Now back to that fiddle…I wish I had a picture of it. Sadly, I don’t. Like I said before, Albert played at barn dances. The purpose of a barn dance was to get people together and have fun dancing, of course! It was a social gathering for people in the community. A way to spend the evening with friends and meet new people. Just like dances of today. The Library of Congress website has a great page where you can listen to old fiddle songs being played. Here is one from their page: Arkansas Traveler
I definitely recommend you take some time and visit their site and listen to a few of the songs. Close your eyes and imagine them there- Albert playing, Dettie dancing. And then, maybe, let someone else take over the fiddle playing and imagine them dancing together. Two people, falling in love, before you were ever even a thought in someone’s mind. I think that’s where I want to leave my great grandparents today. Dancing the night away in someone’s Arkansas barn, just happy to spend a little time together, long before I was ever a thought in their minds.
Love,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
Hugh LARKIN and Sarah SARGENT were my paternal 6th great grandparents. Hugh and Sarah were married on 25 February 1773. To put this date in perspective, the United States would not be founded for another three years after their marriage! The line of descent from Hugh and Sarah goes through their son Elisha LARKIN; through Elisha’s son James; through James’ son Joseph; through Joseph’s son William; through William’s son Ralph- who is my paternal great grandfather and the husband of Bessie WILLIAMS whom I wrote about a few days ago.
Hugh was born in 1745 in Maryland. His father was John. I don’t know who his mother was. I can’t seem to find much information about Hugh at all. I do, however, know that the extended LARKIN family was very involved in the underground railroad in Ohio and I’ve written about that in posts on the old section of the blog at Livejournal. If you want to review a little of the LARKIN family history including their underground railroad involvement you can click on the links below: A Larkin, a Wedding, and a Wedding Take Me Out AT the Ball Game?!
Sarah was born in 1751 in Frederick County, Maryland to James SARGENT and Eleanor TAYLOR. I want to jump back to Sarah’s father for a minute so you can understand a little about the history of this family. Sarah’s dad, James SARGENT, was the younger brother of Snowden SARGENT. Snowden owned a 300-400 acre estate about 10 miles outside of London, England. Ownership of an estate this large meant that Snowden was considered to be of the “landed gentry” – a social class just below the aristocracy. His estate was called Snow Hill Farm. Snowden did eventually immigrate to America. If you ever get to Pike County, Ohio, you should definitely try to stop by the home Snowden built in 1799. You can read a little about the interesting history of the home here and view this photo of the home taken by Don O’Brien:
After studying this photo, I’m wondering if this wasn’t the house that Bart and I thought about stopping to look at when we were touring the area a few years ago. It was for sale then and it was a beautiful old house. I would have loved to go through it. It sat on the banks of the Ohio river. It’s probably not the same one, but who knows.
James himself immigrated from England to America prior to 1735 and settled in Frederick County, Maryland near Sugar Loaf Mountain. (Vol. III, Colonial Families of the USA, 1607-1775; Ancestry.com)
“‘Sunset over Sugarloaf Mountain – Maryland’ with black border removed. By Scott Robinson from Rockville, MD, USA [CC BY 2.0] license, via Wikimedia Commons”; accessed at Snipview.com on 27 February 2018. Gorgeous, isn’t it?
James married Eleanor TAYLOR and together they had 10 known children including my 6th great grandmother, Sarah. According to Colonial Families of the USA (cited above), Sarah’s brother James was very prominent in the early days of Ohio. James was “a member of the Constitutional Convention of Ohio, and was Senator of the State a number of times. With a man named Gatch, was founder of the “Underground Railway” for fugitive slaves.” (p. 475) Her brother John was the first Trustee of Washington Township in Clermont County, Ohio where much of the extended Larkin family settled. Sarah’s brother William fought and died in the Revolutionary War.
Hugh and Sarah and the larger LARKIN family were, in my opinion, quintessentially American. Every time I write about them I learn something new and interesting. The family was very involved in politics, religion, and current issues of their day. I love this about them. I hope you have also enjoyed learning a little about them.
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
