Gene Notes

Some random and some not-so-random thoughts on family history.

Thursday, March 31, 2011

Thriller Thursday - Charles Herr and the Conveyor Accident

Charles Herr was married to Mathilda Elisabeth Irr, sister of Victor Frederick Irr husband of a Zimmeth descendant.

From the Buffalo Express. Buffalo, New York, obituary, 2 April 1924:


PENNSYLVANIA YARD WORKMAN IS KILLED.

Charles Herr of No. 1240 South Park avenue was fatally injured yesterday while working in the Pennsylvania railroad yards when a large conveyor which a gang was loading on a flat car crashed through the planking and crushed him. He died in the Victory hospital.

Medical Examiner Long issued a certificate of accidental death.

Charles is buried in Fourteen Holy Helpers Cemetery, in West Seneca (Gardenville), Erie county, New York.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Wedding Wednesday - Percival and Banks

On March 30, 1848 in Rising Sun, Ohio county, Indiana, Egbert D. Percival, son of Dr. John Stearns Percival and Matilda Goodridge Percival was married to Fanny Banks, daughter of Sarah Banks. By the time of the 1850 census, Egbert and Fanny were living in Memphis, Tennessee. On October 6,1851, there is a notice in the Memphis Appeal about the death of the child of Mr. Percival. By April of 1852, Egbert and Fanny have arrived in San Francisco via San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua and Acapulco, Mexico. Once in California, Egbert and Fanny split their time between Auburn and Rocklin, where Egbert mines and then takes to restaurant-keeping. Egbert died June 11, 1870 in Rocklin, California. Egbert left his wife, Fanny and son, Henry. Fanny remarries July 27, 1873 in Rocklin to C. W. Humphreys.

Egbert was the second-great-granduncle (half). His mother was my great-great-great grandfather's first wife; I am descended from the second wife, Sarah Ann Kirtley.



Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Projects are Piling Up!

1. Photo organization project - not started.
2. Older daughter's scrapbook - started - but barely.
3. Census project - piling up 440 and counting.
4. Death Certificates - piling up 178.
5. Marriage Records - piling up 253.
6. Birth Records - 22.
7. Letter Transcription project - holding pattern.
8. Lexington Cemetery - down to 96 burials.

New projects:
1. Double checking that Lexington Cemetery plots are correctly entered in Place details in burial fact in my genealogy project. 


Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Monday, March 28, 2011

Who Were You Elizabeth Edge?

In leafing through some probate records, I came across this probate entry in Lafayette county, Missouri:

January term 1869 7th day January

Estates of Joseph W. Bowman, Edwin Bowman, Frank G. Bowman, & Clifton Bowman, minor heirs of Elizabeth Edge, decd. and children of John P. and Mary E. Bowman. }

        Now at this comes

Mary E. Bowman, guardian of the persons and Estates of said minors and makes 1st annual settlement of said Estates as follows:

Mary E. Bowman, guardian                                    To Said Estates             Dr.
   
Contra                                                Cr.
No. 1    By amt of Drs bill paid to P and J B Temple for Clifton Bowman        12.00
No. 2    By paid Wm H Ruffin           7.50
       By paid Doct. Smith Do             3.00
        To Edwin Bowman
No. 3   By amt of Drs bill to Dr. to Doctor Smith           1.00
No. 4   By amt of Tuition to G. M. Catron
No. 5   By amt paid for pair boots to Porter and Graves      4.00
No. 6   By amt paid G. M. Catron for tuition             10.00

Voucher to Frank G. Bowman
No. 7   Paid Porter and Graves for Boots              4.00
No. 8   By amount S____ of Clagett                    10.00
      By amount fees of Probate for all to date          5.00

Pretty interesting, but who the heck was Elizabeth Edge. I think she might be a Parker/Todd descendant, which would make her an aunt or cousin of John Parker Bowman. This is high on my to-do list for my next trip to Lexington, Kentucky. Can't wait!

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Sympathy Saturday - Lucie Mountjoy Atkinson

Lucie Belle Mountjoy was a daughter of George Morton Mountjoy and Isabelle Bowman and was born August 21, 1872 in Lexington, Missouri. On October 14, 1891, she was married to Robert Atkinson in Lexington. She died on March 26, 1893 in Ottawa, Kansas at the age of 20. 





Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Friday, March 25, 2011

Waiting is NOT My Strong Point

Yes, I am impatient. I'm sure family members reading this are saying "No crap*." But honestly, months ago I reported a missing image on Ancestry. Actually 6 months ago and let's change that to missing images. March 10th, after reporting these messages for something like the third time, I finally got a response from them. You can see they jumped right on it. Really, Ancestry, you call this customer service?

Click to enlarge



*Actually THAT is not what they would say. But close enough.




Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Thriller Thursday - Alfred W Stanhope - 1936

This Alfred W. Stanhope was a grandson of Alfred Wheeler Stanhope (see Thriller Thursday here) who was shot and killed at the polls, not due to his vote, but was shot by the father of a boy Alfred's son was feuding with. Alfred, the grandson, was shot and killed by a policeman on March 24, 1936 in Louisville, Kentucky and was shot in the back and abdomen. Unfortunately, I've not found anything that explains this tragic and terrible death of a 27-year-old man. Alfred's father, Also Alfred W. Stanhope in a space of 36 years lost his father and son to cops with guns. It's intriguing and maybe someday I will find out why.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Wedding Wednesday - Chinn & Clay

On this day in 1892, Thomas S. Chinn and Gertrude "Girty" Clay were married.

Marriage Record of Thomas & Girty Clay Chinn



Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

A Little Genealogical Serendipity

Many years ago, as I’ve mentioned, my mother’s brother, Jack, interviewed my grandfather, to get as much family information on record as possible on the paternal side of their family. I’ve always been really glad he did that. Through that recording, I was able to glean a little about their mother’s side of the family and from a wonderful cousin-in-law who loves the hunt as much as I do.

Shortly before she died, my mom’s sister told me a little about her childhood. My mother, her brother and her sister were split up among relatives due to their mother’s tuberculosis. My mother didn’t actually remember her mother not being sick. So while my mom was fortunate to be fobbed off on one relative who didn’t pass her around, my aunt and uncle were not so lucky.

Aunt Margie lived with, among other people, her Uncle Elmer & Aunt Mildred Meyer. That is until Aunt Mildred left Uncle Elmer.  Uncle Elmer died in 1955, and I knew that due to my cousin-in-law who has always been great about sharing information. I only hope I share as much with her.

Anyway, we've been plugging along on this Meyer line, with my c-i-l locating a death record and death notice for my grandmother's brother, Victor, me discovering which plot he is buried in Mount Olivet Cemetery in Detroit, and then us both wondering about what Celia's daughter's name was, as she was only referred to in Elmer's death notice as Mrs. Anthony Carollo. Well, isn't that funny, I went to high school with a Carollo. It turns out that it is indeed a really small world and Mrs. Anthony Carollo was Barbara, Celia's daughter, which was proven in the death notices two of my Wild One friends dug up for me in Lansing. I'm still wondering just how that was possible, but hey, stranger things have happened. I have removed the names of anyone I think is still living.

From the Detroit News, March 4, 1955:
MEYER- Elmer L. Feb. 26. In Tampa, Fla. beloved husband of Celia, dear father of Mrs. Anthony Carollo, brother of Mrs. Fred Jones, the late Andrew, Fred and the Rev. Alfred Meyer. Funeral Saturday at 9:15 a.m. from the Wujek Funeral Home 19301 Van Dyke Avenue at 7 Mile Road. To Sweetest Heart of Mary Church at 10 am. Interment, Mt. Olivet Cemetery. [My grandmother isn't even mentioned in this death notice, she died 24 years prior to Elmer.]

From the Detroit News, October 7, 1976:
MEYER, CELIA, October 5, Beloved wife of the late Elmer; dear mother of Mrs. Anthony (Barbara) Carollo, sister of Irene Fisher, Dorothy Flannery and Leo Klein; grandmother of two. Funeral Saturday at 9:15 a.m. from the Wujek Funeral Home, 19301 Van Dyke to St. Leonard at 10 a.m. Interment Mt. Olivet. Rosary Friday 7 p.m.

Detroit News March 8, 1995:
CAROLLO, BARBARA. Beloved wife of the late Anthony. Dear mother of two daughters. Dear grandmother of two. Visitation Wednesday 1-9 p.m. at the S. K. Schultz, a Truss 100 Funeral Home, 21705 Gratiot at 8-1/2 Mile Road, Funeral Thursday 9:30 a.m. to St. Leonard Church for 10 a.m. mass. Rosary Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Detroit News August 2, 1983:
CAROLLO, ANTHONY P. July 30. Age 55. Beloved husband of Barbara. Dear father of two. Grandfather of one. Survived by two sisters and two brothers. Funeral Thursday 9:15 a.m. at Bagnasco Funeral Home 25800 Harper (bet. 10-11 MI), St. Leonard Church 10 a.m. Rosary Wednesday 8 p.m.

I was lucky to find the burial plots of all of them in Mount Olivet.


Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Monday, March 21, 2011

Chasing Frederick Hebel and His Wives

Maybe a more apt title would be Chasing Urszula Lyskawa Kowalski Klijewska Hebel!  I first came across this family quite by accident while searching Polish church records for my DH's Klijewski family. I came across a marriage for Leon Francis Klijewski and Urszula Kowalski, and birth records for three of their children. I was amazed because I didn't know that Leon had married again. You see he was my husband's great-great grandfather and he never came to America. His first wife was Appolonia Pilarska and she was the mother of DH's great-grandfather Maksymilian Klijewski. Maks did come to America where he married into the Siekierski family and their oldest daughter, Mary married into the Kruszka family.

But back to this Hebel line. Leon Klijewski married Urszula about 1875 in Poland, and he died in 1881. After that she sailed to America with several children in tow, none of whose name I recognize, but she does indeed end up in Detroit. And it is possible that one of the female children traveling with her is her daughter Leocadia. Her son, Leon comes later in 1904 via Baltimore and lists Fred Hibel as his step-father.

Family Search is a wonderful site. One of the reasons for its wonderfulness is the availability of birth, marriage and death records for the state of Michigan from 1867-1897. With images. I found the marriage record for Fred & Urszula with a date of September 7, 1896. His first wife was Mathilda Kuptz, and they were married in 1888. They had at least one child, August, born May of 1893. Mathilda died - according to Mt. Elliott Cemetery (I've blogged about their website in previous posts and see link at bottom) in March 23, 1896. Fred married Urszula 6 months later, probably for help raising his three-year-old son. In 1900, Fred & Urszula are nowhere to be found on the census but are still living in 1910 and 1920. Fred is buried in Mt. Elliott Cemetery, although no section or plot is listed for him. Urszula is buried with her daughter Leocadia's family, the Turowskis in Mount Olivet. DH doesn't realize I am keeping a list of grave sites to visit and photograph next trip into Michigan.

If you have Michigan and/or Detroit area relatives, visit these two sites: Mt. Elliott Cemetery Organization (there is a genealogy link at the bottom of the page) and Family Search. I was really surprised at the results I got searching at the cemetery site. My list just keeps getting longer and longer.


Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Sympathy Saturday - John R. Bowman

In WWI Kit
John R. Bowman was the only son of my great-grandparents, Frank G. Bowman and Elizabeth Webb. He was born February 11, 1888 in Lexington, Missouri. During World War I he was in the Quartermaster Corps.  John never married. My dad used to spend summers in Missouri when he was a young teen after his mother died. Uncle John would take him down to the Lexington, Missouri battlefield and they would look for minie balls or walk over to the cemetery. The picture of Uncle John in his WWI kit was probably taken at Camp Joseph Johnston in Florida. John died March 19, 1958 in Lexington, where he lived and worked most of his life, except for briefly during World War II, when he worked in St. Louis.He was buried in the family plot in MachPelah Cemetery, Lexington, Missouri.


.


Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Friday, March 18, 2011

I Guess I'm Not THAT Distracted!

I've done very little of a genealogical bent since completing the Missouri death certificate search project. Lately, I've been trying to clear my desk and I noticed there is this HUGE stack of Find-A-Grave records, death records form other states, SSDI, etc. They're all waiting to be entered into my database, and I have been working on them, but I swear that pile is just getting bigger.

Today I gave up trying to work on anything as it was grocery shopping day, and such a beautiful spring day that DH and I played hooky for a bit this afternoon. However, no little elves came in and entered that stuff into my database while we were gone. Good genealogy elves are hard to find.

One of DH's line is Fryczynski. As in DH's great grandfather was married to Jozefa Glowska who was first married to Andrzej Fryczynski. After his death, she married Michael Kruszka. By her first husband, she had four
children that I know of: Jan, Michaelina, Eleanora and Joseph. Joseph moved on to Michigan and married Salomea Franckowiak who was married to Frank Singer prior to her marriage to Joseph. If you understand that, then you will understand that I was glad to find a bunch of Singers also buried in the same section in adjacent lots at Mount Olivet Cemetery in Detroit. It was a great find!

Now, if I could just find a genealogy elf, that would really be a good thing!

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Thriller Thursday - Accidental Death of Antoine Hall

I was not raised on a farm. Or a ranch. My family are not shepherds. So excuse me if I try to imagine the death of Antoine Hall who died from being struck by a sheep.

He was the son of William Hall and Sarah Estes, and was born May 21, 1846 in Clinton county, Missouri. He died October 20, 1928 at the age of 82.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Wedding Wednesday - Another Percival & Fuller Wedding

On March 16, 1804, Thomas Percival (son of Thomas Percival & Mary Ryder) married Mary Fuller (daughter of James Fuller & Hannah Bursly) in Sandwich, Barnstable county, Massachusetts. Thomas is my third cousin six times removed. I suspect if I were to attempt to follow Mary Fuller's line back I'd discover she too is related to me by more than marriage. Maybe someday!



Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Excuse Me for Being Distracted, But ...

I am sure I am no different than people everywhere, who are shocked and dismayed by the recent events in Japan. Lately, I have found it difficult to tear myself away from the horror, let alone the possible meltdown of 4 nuclear reactors in the tsunami zone.

When I am not working on my family history, cleaning house, scrapbooking, sorting photos or reading a book on my Nook, I am glued to the videos of those damn nuclear reactors hoping and praying that there isn't a huge nuclear disaster in Japan. Is disaster inevitable? Should countries build nuclear power plants when they experience earthquakes that frequently? I don't know, but I am glued to the news.



Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Monday, March 14, 2011

Pulling It Together

I am finally starting to enter information gathered during the recent Missouri Death Records Search that I spent so much time working on thanks to my GenSmarts program.

In retrieving the 132 death certificates I also came across:

  44 Missouri cemetery records on Find-a-Grave
 72 Missouri marriage records
108 Missouri Census records

for a grand total of 356 records. I am sure by the time I am finished I will have found even more. Some of the records led me out-of-state and I didn't count those in the above records. I think I have enough to keep me busy for the rest of 2011, possibly until the 1940 census is released in 2012!

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Sympathy Saturday - Mary Fuller Percival

There have been articles written about my great-great-great-great-great grandmother, Mary Fuller Percival, and her humanitarian efforts during the American Revolution, you see, Mary's husband Timothy Percival and two sons were held prisoner by the British, Timothy and one son aboard the Dartmouth, a prison ship and Jabez Percival (my own great-great-great-great grandfather) in the Sugarhouse Prison. Mary even had an NSDAR chapter named for her in Arkansas, where some of her descendants lived.

There is some conflict on the year of her birth, some say 1731, some say 1737, but her death occurred on March 12, 1819 in Boone County, Kentucky. Unfortunately no trace of her headstone survives but it is thought that Mary and Timothy Percival were buried in Petersburg, Kentucky.


Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Friday, March 11, 2011

Finally, Friday!

Boy, am I glad this week is almost over. I have been so scattered that my blogs have all been done on-the-fly and almost at the last minute. Finally, the Missouri Death Certificate project is done, for now. I'm sure once I get the 130 death certificates I found entered, I'll be back in there looking for more.

We're still working on clearing out my father-in-law's apartment in the assisted living facility where he was residing. For the amount of space and time he was there, there is a lot of stuff. The room in the nursing home has little room for storage, so now comes the arduous task of figuring out what gets stored at our house and what will fit there.

Older daughter, who was the recipient of some of the furniture, returned a 4 foot long narrow table to us, and I have put it to good use in the store/craft room. Now I have some place to start sorting her pictures for her album. I hate doing that kind of stuff at the dining room table.

Today was the 32nd anniversary of DH's and mine first date. It was a wedding. That marriage didn't last more than a year or two, unfortunately, but ours has weathered the test of time. We celebrated by going out for lunch.

Over at Geneablogger's site, Thomas has posted Family Tree Magazine's 40 Best Blogs. While my blog was nominated, I did not make the final cut. But it was so awesome being considered. If you haven't seen the 40 Best yet, click on the link above and see if any of the ones you voted for were included. Congratulations to everyone on the list.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Thriller Thursday - Trains ALWAYS Win!

On July 15, 1927, James Buckley's car was struck by a train in Armstrong, Missouri, and he died as a result of the accident. His wife was Cora Kirtley, daughter of Gilbert DeMarcus Kirtley and Mary Ann Dugan. 

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Wedding Wednesday - Percival & Crocker

This is just one of the marriages between a Percival and a Crocker on Cape Cod, the ancestral home of my Percivals. This particular couple, Timothy Percival (b. 1792 - d. 1869) and Hannah Crocker (b. 1790 -  d. 1830) were married March 9, 1816. Timothy was one of the sons of Benjamin Percival & Lydia Goodspeed, who bought his ancestor's home on Ashumet Pond in Falmouth, dismantled it, and re-assembled it on a piece of property on Hog Pond in South Sandwich, where it still stands today. Timothy was a third cousin six times removed to me.




Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Some Day This Project, Too, Will End

 I am STILL working on those deaths that occurred in Missouri, using GenSmarts as the vehicle by which to search. I forget how long it has been, but any project that lasts longer than a week is taking forever. You might recall that I started at somewhere north of 1300 people to search for death records on. As of today, I need to check 53 more people. I would say two-thirds of them either died before their county kept records or died elsewhere.

Last week, while working on the project, I don't know what happened, but all of a sudden all the designations - found, not found, ignore, plan to search, etc., were removed. With the help of Aaron at GenSmarts, I was able to load a backup file made the day before which restored everything but the last 24 hours that I had searched. I found out then, that the number had grown to 1554. Yes, I found lots of census, family, marriages to inflate that number. Which explains why that number is going down so slowly. Maybe tomorrow I can go back to my letter project.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Monday, March 7, 2011

Who Do You Think You Are? - Lionel Richie

Okay, maybe I am a sucker for the "stories" but I do enjoy WDYTYA? immensely. Even this episode with Lionel Ritchie was not so bad, and portrayed a young man who grew up sheltered by his family against the realities of life in the south.

When it was revealed that his great grandparents were divorced, I thought it was going to be the usual story of abandonment for another woman, or drink or drugs. I was therefore pleasantly surprised to hear that Mr. Richie's great grandfather was early on involved in the fight for civil rights. The other woman, it appears, was a cause.

The sad part is that his great-grandfather was buried in a pauper's grave. I was appalled at the condition of the cemetery in Chattanooga. I think it was we all fear, that an ancestor's final resting place disappears into obscurity.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Saturday, March 5, 2011

Sympathy Saturday - Joseph Garland Chinn

Joseph Garland Chinn, my great-great granduncle was the eldest son of Dr. Joseph Graves Chinn and Barbara Garland Graves. He was born in Bourbon county, Kentucky June 4, 1823 and died March 5, 1914, which was ten years and one week later than his oldest sister, Mary Elizabeth Chinn Bowman, subject of last weeks Sympathy Saturday.

Joseph married Nannie Shelby, a relative of Confederate General Jo Shelby. They had four children, Orra Ella who married Griffin Buford. Orra died in 1875; William who died in childhood; Buford who married Willie Donaldson, Willie died in 1888; and John who died in Boyhood.


At one time Joseph was a police judge. The picture dates from that time. It was pasted into a scrapbook my uncle kept. I used an old hand scanner to scan the photo.

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Friday, March 4, 2011

OCFRD* Attack!

Did someone say letters? Yes, I am still working on them, if not actively right now. I am just so afflicted with OCFRD (Obsessive-Compulsive Family Research Disease) that I just HAD to get the 1960 Missouri Death Certificates while they were HOT! I retrieved all the ones I could think of off the top of my head and then cranked up my GenSmarts program and started searching.

While I've come across a few weird results, I've added 108 Missouri death certificates to my file, countless census reports and many, many marriage records for people who lived and/or died in Missouri and many people who are buried there that I found on Find-a-Grave. When I started this project GenSmarts had about 1358 results for Missouri deaths. As you can see, it is not just about the death certificates. Now I have about 383 people yet to check out. The number varies, because I add the spouse and children when I find them.

Then to further complicate matters, I got a Nook for my birthday, so I have been reading a lot more. And since my father-in-law has been transferred to a nursing home on a permanent basis, we are cleaning out his apartment. And there are photos calling my name begging for sorting. And letters ...

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Thriller Thursday - Frank Zimmeth's Untimely Death

Frank (L) & Charles Zimmeth
Every so often when researching, you might come across something inexplicable. Frank Zimmeth was my mother's uncle. He was born in East Tawas, Michigan July 10, 1874 and died around December 27th 1909 of "accidental freezing" according to his death certificate. The newspaper account is below, which doesn't really tally with the death certificate.

From Iosco County (Michigan) Herald, Friday, December 31, 1909, page 1 column 4:

"The remains of Frank Zimmith, son of Mr and Mrs August Zimmith, of Tawas Township, were found by the side of the railroad track near Maltby, (Michigan) Wednesday, where the young man had evidently dropped dead from heart failure.  He left home Monday for a camp near South Branch.  We have been unable to learn further particulars."



Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Wedding Wednesday - Percival & Geddings-Replogle

On this date Arthur Cullen Percival and Anna Replogle nee Geddings married in Battle Creek, Michigan. Arthur was a son of George W. Percival and Mary Ireland and a grandson of Cullen Percival and Rachel Quigley.

Click on the image



Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Mary Elizabeth Bowman nee Chinn

Last Saturday for my Sympathy Saturday topic, I spoke of my great-great grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Chinn Bowman and that she never remarried. One of my readers commented on that and wanted to know why.

Well, I can think of a few reasons, the first being a lack of men of a certain age after the war was over. Also, g-g grandma Mary Bowman had some children she was raising, Joseph who by the end of the war was 16, Edwin age 13, Frank 11 and Clifton age 7. Mary was named guardian of her minor children (daughter Isabelle was married prior to the war to George Mountjoy) and set about the task of raising them without a father.

Here is what I know about her children:

1. Isabelle Bowman born August 26, 1838 in Bourbon County, Kentucky, died April 23, 1912 in St. Louis, Missouri. She married George Mountjoy on November 1, 1857 in Lexington, Missouri, they had 11 children, 4 of whom died during infancy or childhood. George was born September 1836 in Mason county, Kentucky and died June 5, 1904 in Lexington, Missouri.

2. John C. Bowman, born about 1840 in Kentucky and died August 13, 1858 in Lexington, Missouri.

3. Joseph W. Bowman was born July 1849 in Lexington, Missouri and died December 10, 1919 in Kansas City, Kansas. He married Susan A. (maiden name unknown). Joseph appears on the 1880 census living with his mother and brothers. However, the 1900 census states that Joseph and Susan were married for twenty-five years, that would be 1875. They had 3 children, Robert T., Daisy & Leroy. Robert and Daisy were both born before 1880. Joseph had an uncle Robert Todd Bowman, possibly his son was named for his uncle.

4. Edwin F. Bowman, born January 28, 1852 in Lexington, Missouri and died August 5, 1930 in St. Louis. He married Alice V. Robinson February 16, 1882 in St. Louis. She was born March 1, 1864 in Ashtabula county, Ohio and died August 31, 1947 in St. Louis. They had 4 children. Edwin and his brother Frank established the Lexington News.

5. Frank G. Bowman, my great-grandfather, was born September 4, 1854 in Lexington, Missouri and died there on February 24, 1930, after a stroke. Family pictures show that Frank had suffered a stroke prior to the one that finally killed him. Frank married Elizabeth "Lizzie" Webb April 3, 1883. Lizzie was born June 12, 1861 in Waverly, Missouri and died October 8, 1949 in Lexington, Missouri. She was the daughter of John "Garland" Webb and Elizabeth Custis Carter. They had four children, Bessie, John, Frances and Mary. Bessie married James Rankin, John never married, Frances married Hugh Rogers and Mary married John Percival. Both Frances and Mary died young, Frances in 1932 at the age of 42 of complications from scarlet fever and Mary died at the age of 45 while on vacation in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

6. Clifton, the youngest child is 2 years old and listed as Cliff on the 1860 census. In 1870, Cliff becomes Peter and he and Frank are in reverse birth order, with "Peter" born in abt 1855 and Frank in 1858. In 1880, Clifton now is listed as age 20 and as a brakeman on the railroad. This is also the last time he is heard of. However, on the 1900 census, his mother is listed as the mother of 6 children with 5 living. If indeed, Clifton were still living this would be correct. Unfortunately, however, he disappears from records.

Even though my father would sometimes spend summers with Maw-Maw Bowman (Elizabeth Webb Bowman) he only knew what we found in the newspaper articles my uncle had saved. Dad was 13 when his own mother died in the waning years of the depression. So any stories she had to tell were gone. Aunt Bessie, my grandmother's oldest sister lived in Claremont, California with her son, James Rankin, Jr. who had been seriously crippled in a diving accident when he was 18. He never walked again and whatever money had been earned and saved by her husband was spent caring for her son and later his wife, Amelia, who was a polio victim. James Jr died in 1958, his mother two years later. Bessie never recovered emotionally from the devastation of James' accident. John Bowman, grandson of Mary Elizabeth Chinn and John Parker Bowman, never married. When dad would spend part of the summer with him after his own mother died, Uncle John and he would scour the battlefield of Lexington, Missouri for minie balls.

Why weren't Mary Chinn Bowman's children mentioned in the obituary? I have no idea. Her son, Frank was still editor of the paper in 1900, maybe by 1904 he wasn't and they didn't want to spend the extra money to pay for a decent obituary? So often, a woman's life is ignored. However, if it weren't for this woman, what would have become of her children after their father's death?

Copyright 2011, ACK for Gene Notes