Eliza Emoline Bell Williams Sneary - Honeysuckle Farm, LLC

Q. A. Bell and the Radical Republican Party

I was recently reviewing old posts for a 2023 project I’m planning and I came across the blog posts about my paternal 3rd great grandfather, Quincy Adam “Q.A.” BELL and the time he was “tarred and feathered” in the local newspapers for his involvement with the Radical Republican party. To review, you can view part 1 of those posts here, and part 2 here. Part 2 does include some significant updates to the original post, just FYI. I periodically do new searches for information about this event in hopes I’ll find more, but it’s difficult to find anything. I recently landed on some different search terms that I hadn’t tried before and noticed some things that I had previously missed. Just for reference, my line of descent goes from Quincy to his daughter Eliza to her daughter Bess WILLIAMS who is my great grandmother (no relation to my husband’s WILLIAMS).

Radical Repbulicanism & the Party Platform

I came across a newspaper article with the Radical Republican party platform written out and I began to wonder what exactly Radical Republicanism was and what was included in their party platform. Republicans have been vilified in the press for a couple of decades now and the current definition of “radical”…well…things didn’t sound good so I did some research. Radical Republicanism is defined by Britannica as a political party active during and after the Civil War that believed in emancipation of slaves. Later they would advocate for the “equal treatment and enfranchisement of the freed blacks”.¹ Pretty radical. (I say that sarcastically.) Missouri was deeply divided politically both during and after the Civil War – much like political parties are today. Living through these last few years, I clearly see how a radicalized press would be able to vilify their opponents. As in the 1870’s, there is prolific and constant name-calling and libelous statements from all parties toward each other. Tensions are high as are emotions, and everything thinks their opinion is correct – just like in 1870.

Let’s see exactly what this party’s platform was in 1870. They espoused:

devotion to the Union;
endorsement of President GRANT’s administration;
reduction of taxes at the state and national government levels to a more appropriate price point;
the immediate offering of “Railroad Lands” for sale so as to make the Land Grant fair to everyone;
opposition to any additional Congressional Land Grants in territories west of Missouri in the aid of railroad companies or other monopolies unless the land was offered in the public market at the “customary government price”;
denounciation all forms of repudiation and a demand for faith and integrity from the government;
favoring the government to liberally take care of former Civil War soldiers as well as widows and orphans of deceased soldiers in exchange for the service these men (and women) gave to the country during war;
a pledge to act in accordance with the state platform of the Radical Republican party;
the granting of suffrage to the nation’s people of color as something necessary and just and never to be revoked;
support for a reduction in tariff to an amount that would still provide government revenue but also be fair to the agriculture and manufacturing industries;
and, that no one should be told or required to vote a certain way in regard to enfranchising “the rebels” (i.e. Confederates) and that party fidelity should not be based on how one votes on the issue but rather each person has the right to vote their conscience.

Below is the newspaper article listing the platform. I noticed that numbering went from 10th to 12th so I don’t know if an item was removed or if it was just an error.

Newspapers.com. Article dated 30 July 1870 in the *Buffalo Review* (Buffalo, MO).²

For these views, they were deemed radical. The Republicans (not the Radical Republicans but the more mainstream faction of the party) held the majority in both the House and Senate in 1870. The Radical Republicans could never quite get organized and eventually ceased as a political party. Although third parties existed in 1870, America had not had a third-party president since 1850-1853 when President Millard Fillmore was in office. Here is a visual representation of political parties in the U.S. from 1870-1900 (although it doesn’t show many of the smaller, more fringe political parties):

nchist_political-parties-1870-2 Download

This chart was found at NCpedia.org.³

I think this quote sums it up best along with the hashtag #EstablishmentElite:

In the election of 1872 the conflict between President U. S. Grant and Horace Greeley has been typically understood as a battle for the soul of the ruling Republican Party.
The Doom of Reconstruction: The Liberal Republicans in the Civil War Era by Andrew Slap.⁴

A battle for the soul of the ruling Republican Party. Much like 2016 was within the Republican Party, the mainstream Republican Party of 1870 wanted something completely different than the newer, smaller, and less-mainstream Republican factions. It seriously amazes me how much our current political climate mirrors that of my 3rd great grandfather Quincy’s. Will we ever learn from history? Welcome to one more reason why I do this blog. We are doomed to repeat what we do not know or understand.

One journal article described the Marshfield Convention as “[t]he first convention of significance…in the Fourth Congressional District.”⁵ This was exactly the convention that Quincy BELL attended. The very convention where he was selected to be a permanent officer for the Radical Republican Party Convention in the Fourth Congressional District of Missouri. Tensions were high, and arguments were frequent and emotional. It was a mess to say the least.

“Marshfield Convention”, *Buffalo Reflex*, 30 July 1870.²

Final Thoughts

I know this isn’t much new information but this information combined with the updated information in the part 2 post linked above at least gives us some more insight about the situation that Quincy walked into in Marshfield in July of 1870. I feel like, in a roundabout way, it also gives us more insight into why a left-leaning newspaper would post an article about him being involved in legal troubles when there is no other information I can find to back that up. To be clear, I did look for me. I was able to schedule a research trip to Columbia, Missouri, to the State Historical Society of Missouri. I looked through the older newspapers that aren’t online and I looked through some books showing court records of Texas County, Missouri, and still haven’t found anything that corroborates that Quincy was in legal trouble of any kind. For now, I’m leaning toward saying Quincy never got into a “scrape” in Texas County and did not flee that county to avoid arrest. These unsupported accusations from a left-leaning newspaper opinion piece leveled against a right-leaning citizen, well…sounds like a pretty standard political hit piece to me. So, until supporting evidence is found regarding Quincy’s alleged criminal activities I’m going to withhold my judgment of him.

I hope you’ve enjoyed learning a little more about our Union Quartermaster Sergeant, Quincy Adam BELL. He’s still a work in progress for me.

Enjoy your weekend, friends!

Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Resources

Britannica.com – Radical Republican. Accessed online on 1 August 2022.
Newspapers.com; 30 July 1870, Buffalo Reflex, Buffalo, Missouri; Vol. 1, #48, Page 2. Accessed on 2 August 2022.
NCpedia.org. Accessed on 1 August 2022.
Slap, Andrew L., The Doom of Reconstruction: The Liberal Republicans in the Civil War Era, Reconstructing America (New York, NY, 2007; online edn, Fordham Scholarship Online, 10 Mar. 2011), https://doi.org/10.5422/fso/9780823227099.001.0001, accessed 1 Aug 2022.
Barclay, Thomas S. “The Liberal Republican Movement in Missouri”. Missouri Historical Review; Vol. 20, p. 515-564; 1926. Accessed on 1 August 2022 at Google Books.
The State Historical Society of Missouri. Accessed 3 August 2022.
Chronicling America. Accessed on 3 August 2022.

The Single Most Favorite Double in the World

1979 Doublemint twins ad from YouTube.

This week the theme is ‘multiples’. This theme was almost too broad for me to decide what to write about! After some debate I narrowed it down to two topics. After looking at the 2021 weekly topics list I felt the other story would fit into an October theme and this particular story for this week didn’t really fit anywhere else. So, this week we’re talking about multiple births. I’m going to look into something I’ve always wondered: how many sets of twins did my direct-line ancestors have? I’ll be going back as far as my 2nd great grandparents. I chose that as a stopping point so this blog doesn’t get too lengthy. Out of the 8 pairs of my 2nd great grandparents, 3 of the couples had twins.

Dad’s Family: Double Your Sentiment

90’s Doublemint twins ad.

In the 21st century the statistical probability of having twins is about 3%, or 3 in 100. That is a higher probability than previous generations. In my family (in that 2nd-great-grandparent generation) mixed sets of twins were more popular (mixed meaning a boy-girl set of twins versus same-sex twins). Out of my dad’s great grandmothers, he had one who had twins. Eliza Emoline BELL WILLIAMS (and her husband, Samuel Morris WILLIAMS) had a set of twins in 1900- two boys named Lorenzo Dall and William Sherman WILLIAMS. Neither baby survived. I’m guessing the babies are probably buried in Oakland Cemetery in Success, Texas County, Missouri since the family lived in that area and other family members are buried in that cemetery but I can’t say for certain where the babies were buried. I’m not going to spend a lot of time on this family today because I’ve written about them quite a bit. You can find previous posts at:

Mom’s Family: Double Good

Early iteration of the Doublemint twins ads.

My 2nd great grandmother, Sarah C. DAVIS REITER, and her husband Nicholas Wilhelm REITER had a set of twins in 1864. My mom thinks Sarah’s twins were mixed – one boy and one girl. She can’t remember their names but is going to try to find that information for me. I’ve not found their names anywhere but if mom locates that information I’ll be sure to let you know. The babies did not survive. I don’t know where they’re buried but I’m sure it’s in Illinois, in the area of Perry, Pike County, Illinois since that’s where the family lived. This is another family I’ve written about quite a bit so I won’t spend a lot of time on them today. You can read more about Sarah and her family at:

My 2nd great grandmother, Druziller Mahala LATTY BULLOCK (and her husband James Mathaniel BULLOCK), also had a set of twins born in 1892. For this grandma though, both twins survived – one girl named Alice May and one boy named Oscar Morris.

1982 Wrigley’s Doublemint gum twins ad.

Alice May and Oscar Morris BULLOCK were born 17 April 1892 in Benton County, Arkansas. They remained in Benton County, Arkansas until after they married. Alice married Martin Rotramel when she was 17 years old. Together, Alice and Martin and had 8 children – and no twins. Here is Alice in her later years with her dog, Major. I love this photo.

Alice BULLOCK ROTRAMEL and her dog, Major.

Alice lived to be 92 years old! The last 52 years or so of her life she lived in Delaware County, Oklahoma. Alice passed away on 1 December 1984 in Jay, Delaware County, Oklahoma. She’s buried in Hillcrest Cemetery beside her husband in Gravette, Benton County, Arkansas where her parents are buried.

Oscar Morris BULLOCK grew up with his family in Benton County, Arkansas. He served as a Private in the U.S. Army as evidence by the Army transport document below.

I don’t fully understand that document. It looks like perhaps he was transported to a Veterinary Hospital. It would be interesting to know what he did in the Army. Oscar fought in World War I. I do know he arrived in New York in June of 1919 on his way to fight in France.

According to military records, Oscar was serving with Veterinary Hospital #16 MR. as a Private V.C.. Oscar served in France in 1919. During that time, the final US deaths of the war happened and the Treaty of Versailles was drawn up. The treaty was signed the day after Oscar arrived back on US soil. Oscar shipped out from Marseille, France on the ship Taormina and arrived home at New York, USA on 27 June 1919.

Some researchers say that at age 27 Oscar married Stella BROWN. He lived in California at the time but the marriage certificate was in Arkansas. I haven’t done extensive research on this line so I can’t say what really happened. I know that in his obituary no children or wife were listed. Oscar passed away at 80 years of age. He died on 17 February 1973 in Fayetteville, Washington County, Arkansas. He was buried in the Fayetteville National Cemetery in Fayetteville, Washington County, Arkansas.

Doing the Numbers

So, let’s bring this all together. I looked at all my direct line ancestors from my parents up through all of my 2nd great grandparents. The only generation that included twins were my 2nd great grandparents’. Out of 8 sets of 2nd great grandparents, only 3 couples (2 on my mother’s side and 1 on my father’s side) had twins. The paternal set of twins passed away or were stillborn; their names were Lorenzo and William. One set of maternal twins also passed away or were stillborn and included one girl and one boy; I don’t know their names but they were given names. The final set of maternal twins (Alice and Oscar) lived to adulthood and at least one of them had their own offspring but did not have their own set of twins.

According to official statistics:

The gender chances of a fraternal twin pregnancy are; 25% chance that a mother will have two boys, 25% chance that a mother will have two girls, and 50% chance that a mother will have a boy and a girl. On the other hand, identical twins are always the same gender.
https://healthresearchfunding.org/24-interesting-fraternal-twins-gender-statistics/, accessed 28 Feb 2021.

So, according to Health Research Funding, Alice and Oscar were fraternal twins as were the DAVIS twins. Only the paternal twins- Lorenzo and William WILLIAMS- had a chance at being identical twins. I found that very interesting.

I was wondering about what my chances of having twins might have been in my childbearing years. Since 3 out of 8 couples in my 2nd great grandparents’ generation had twins, I felt like statistically I stood a better chance of having twins in my child bearing years. MedlinePlus.gov confirms it as does Washington State Twin Registry. Turns out, fraternal twins- especially if they occur on the mother’s side- are associated with an increased likelihood of twins being hereditary in families. I searched some more and I hit some good information:

A family history of identical twins does not necessarily make it more likely you’ll have multiples, although the offspring of male identical twins may be more likely to have their own identical twins. However, if you have fraternal twins (non-identical) in your family, your chances of conceiving twins rise. If there are fraternal twins on both the mother and father’s side, your odds for twins goes up even higher.
Lazarov S, Lazarov L, Lazarov N. Multiple pregnancy and birth: Twins, triplets and high-order multiples. Overview. Trakia J Sci. 2016;1:103-107. doi:10.15547/tjs.2016.01.015

There are other factors that play a role as well. As it turns out, having children when you’re older increases your odds of having multiple births from one pregnancy. So I went back to my charts to check ages of the mothers. Eliza Emoline was 28 years old when she had Lorenzo and William. Sarah C. was 27 years old when she had her twins. Druziller Mahala was 34 years old when she had Alice and Oscar.

Final Thoughts

One last statistic about twins from Health Research Funding.

A woman named Mary Jonas, who died in 1899 had 15 sets of fraternal twins.
24 Interesting Fraternal Twins Gender Statistics – HRF (healthresearchfunding.org)

I found that tidbit interesting since two sets of the twins I talked about today were born during the 1890’s. I will spare you one last Doublemint commercial. Hopefully the song is now stuck in your head so I don’t have to suffer that fate alone now.

If you’d like to learn more about the BULLOCK family, you can find more of my posts at:

If you’re looking for more blogs to read later in the week, you can go to:

If you’re interested in joining me on this family history writing adventure, well…the more the merrier! You can join at Amy Johnson Crow’s website. There’s a Facebook page that goes along with the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge. The only rules are the rules you make up for yourself on this writing adventure. Anything you get down in writing is more than you had before so get writing! Don’t miss out on Amy’s blog and podcast either. Both are very good.

Enjoy your week and make the most of it!

Until next time,

Lisa @ Days of Our Lives Genealogy blog

Quincy Bell, Civil War Hero or Political Thug?, Part 1

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!

Update:

You can find part 2 by clicking here.

Until tomorrow,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

Resources

NPS.gov; Wikipedia; Fold3; Ancestry; https://www.civilwar.org/learn/civil-war/battles/pea-ridge (I like CivilWar.org’s battlefield photos better). I encourage you to explore CivilWarTalk.com’s website as well.

Medical Monday, Part 2: Eliza Emoline Bell and Nephritis

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

Medical Monday: Eliza Emoline Bell and Nephritis

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

A supplement to the original death certificate was also issued:

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

Eliza Emoline Bell, Independence Girl

This time last week we were celebrating Independence Day in the U.S.. I planned this post for that date but I was having internet problems last week. Eliza is the ancestor I was working on back on February when my posts got derailed. She is my paternal 2nd great grandmother. July is Eliza’s birthday month. Her death date anniversary was 25 February 1934. I’ve written about Eliza here with a follow-up to that post here and I published a photo here that I believe might be Eliza if you’d like to refresh your memory about her before going on. Eliza was born in Roubidoux, Texas County, Missouri in July of 1871. Her dad, Quincy, was 46 years old and her mom, Elizabeth (Quincy’s second wife) was 26 years old.
Roubidoux doesn’t exist as an official place anymore but before it became a ghost town, it was located in the Salem Plateau region of the Ozarks at the confluence of the east and west forks of Roubidoux Creek, about 12 miles northwest of Houston, Missouri (the county seat).

The above map shows the location of Roubidoux, Missouri.
Their post office was established in 1850 and was in operation until 1953. The town was named after the creek but the creek was named after Joseph Robidoux, a French explorer. The township of Roubidoux does still exist and has since 1845 which happens to be the same year that Ashley County was renamed as Texas County, Missouri. Texas County was the largest county in Missouri and was named after the state of Texas which was the largest state in the Union. Before Eliza was born her dad fought in the Civil War for the Confederacy. Most men in Texas County were Confederates and were more concerned with the question of secession than that of slavery since there were very few slave owners in Texas County in the 1860’s.
Eliza married at a very young 16 years old to Samuel Morris WILLIAMS. I haven’t yet found proof of what happened to Samuel but theories abound from the oft retold family story that he was killed by a train in 1905 to the theory that he abandoned Eliza and their children and ended up marrying another woman. In any case, Eliza had been single (or widowed) about 3 years when she married John Charles F. SNEARY in 1908. John was a local widower who had been married twice before he married Eliza. In 1910, John and Eliza were living at 1300 North Monroe Street in Enid, Garfield County, Oklahoma. I wanted to give you a map so you could see where they lived but my internet still isn’t up to par so I’ll let you Google that on your own.
Another interesting thing I found in the 1910 census is that Eliza said she had given birth to 11 children and only 9 were living at that time. My grandma always named 12 children that were born before 1910 and then she named one being born after 1910. I also have information saying that Eliza and John had a baby together. I think the two deceased children Eliza was referring to were the twins, Lorinzo Dall and William Sherman. I am uncertain what happened to Ruel, the baby born after Martin. He lived to at least age 2 when he was listed in a census entry in 1915 in the state of Kansas. I do know that in 1915, Ruel was censused with the last name of WILLIAMS even though family oral history says Eliza and Samuel were not together after 1905 and I have documentation showing that Eliza married John SNEARY in 1908. I suspect that Ruel was the baby that Eliza and John had together and that the census taker made a mistake. However, I have no proof of that. The family did live in Iola, Kansas in 1915 with Ruel and the other children and Ruel doesn’t show up on any more census entries with the family after that 1915 census. One additional fact is that their SNEARY baby is buried in Iola, Allen County, Kansas.
Infant Sneary Obituary
When the SNEARY baby died, the family was living at 625 S Second St in Iola, Kansas. Again, I wanted to give you a map but the internet isn’t cooperating so you’ll have to Google that one on your own again.
The last thing I recently discovered about Eliza was in a census entry that was taken when Eliza was about 5 years old. This census was an 1876 Missouri state census. It is the one piece of documentation that I can find that connects Eliza’s mom with the surname TYREE (spelled many different ways including TIRY). My grandma always gave four surnames for Eliza’s mom- TYREE, MOODY, STEVESON, and BELL with the BELL name being her married name from her marriage with my ancestor, Quincy BELL (Eliza’s dad). (Don’t forget there is also that pesky photo with the last name HENNIG that I believe may belong to this family!) I have never been certain which is a maiden name and which are married names or even if all these names belong to the same family. In any case, back to my discovery- the 1876 census showed a Mary A. TIRY living with Eliza’s mom. The census does not say whether Mary is Eliza’s half-sister, cousin, other relation, or no relation at all. I am assuming that Mary is closely related though since the TYREE name is a name associated with Eliza’s mom.
1876 census Independence Girl blog post
Above, the 1876 Missouri state census showing a Mary A. TIRY living with Quincy and Emely BELLE (a misspelling of the BELL name).
Over the 1910’s and 1920’s, John and Eliza moved around and slowly worked their way back to Upton Township in Texas County, Missouri where Eliza died in 1934. She is buried in Oakland Cemetery in Success, Texas County, Missouri with John SNEARY. My grandma always described John as a good man- very kind and loving- and a good grandpa to her. I’m glad to know that after a hard life full of loss that Eliza was able to end her life with a good man who took care of her and the children and grandchildren.
Hopefully it won’t be much longer before I finally make a breakthrough on Eliza’s mom’s family and get all those names sorted out.
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog

Tag: Eliza Emoline Bell Williams Sneary

Q. A. Bell and the Radical Republican Party

Radical Repbulicanism & the Party Platform

Final Thoughts

Resources

The Single Most Favorite Double in the World

Dad’s Family: Double Your Sentiment

Mom’s Family: Double Good

Doing the Numbers

Final Thoughts

Quincy Bell, Civil War Hero or Political Thug?, Part 1

Update:

Resources

Medical Monday, Part 2: Eliza Emoline Bell and Nephritis

Medical Monday: Eliza Emoline Bell and Nephritis

Eliza Emoline Bell, Independence Girl