Sunday, January 27, 2019

Brown-Laine Obituaries

© Kathy Duncan, 2019

Obituaries are some of the most informative records in genealogy research. However, they can also be misleading. Take, for example, the children of Mary Emma (Barber) Brown Laine. Of the Brown-Laine siblings' obituaries, some of them either do not exist or have not been found yet. Those that have been found sometimes give a misleading picture of which siblings were survivors.

The older siblings were the children of John C. and Mary Emma (Barber) Brown:

1. John Robert Brown 1868 - 1946
2. Emma Arsenia (Brown) Brown 1870 - 1950
3. Thomas Jefferson Brown 1871 - 1936
4. Lenora H. (Brown) Lane 1871 - 1932
5. Toy Mansel Brown 1875 - 1953

The younger siblings were the children of Leroy W. and Mary Emma (Barber) Lain:

6. Turie Lea (Lain) Stephenson 1881 - 1967
7. Morris Cleveland Laine 1884 - 1964
8. Jewel Reese Laine 1886 - 1961

For the purpose of examining the obituaries, I am going to put them in date order by the date of the siblings' deaths.

Lenora H. (Brown) Laine: no obituary found yet.

Thomas Jefferson Brown:

Tom J. Brown died 19 Apr 1936 - Tom J. Brown, 65, a well known Franklin County citizen and prominent in Flora Bluff community life east of town was claimed by death at his home early Sunday morning after a hopeless struggle with pneumonia. He had been ill eight days. Funeral services were held Monday afternoon at the Mt.  Vernon Baptist Church by Rev. J. E. Witt, pastor, burial following in City Cemetery. Mr. Brown a faithful member of the Baptist Church for some 50 years, had affiliated himself many years ago with the local institution. The deceased had spent his life in Titus and Franklin Counties, living in the Daphne community before making his home 18 years ago at Flora Bluff, where he was a successful farmer. Surviving are his wife and five children, Mrs. John Mebane, Mrs. Herman Stinson, Mrs. Roy Fenn, Alvin T. Brown and David Brown all of Franklin County.
[Source: The Optic; Franklin County, TX; 24 April 1936]

In naming only his immediate family as survivors, this obituary might lead you to think that Tom J. Brown had outlived most of his siblings. However, the opposite is true.

John Robert Brown:




John Robert Brown's obituary lists only three siblings: Emma Arsenia (Brown) Brown, Toy M. Brown [name misspelled in obit], and half-sister Turie Lea (Laine) Stephenson. This obituary might lead you to believe that brothers Morris Cleveland Laine and Jewel Reese Laine have predeceased John Robert. However, they were both still living at this time.

Emma Arsenia Brown:


Emma Arsenia (Brown) Brown's obituary names two brothers: Toy Brown and Jewel Laine. Now we know that Jewel Laine is still living, but we might be lead to believe that Morris C. Laine is deceased. However, he is still living.

Toy Mansel Brown:

Toy Brown Buried Sunday at Engish. Toy M. Brown, farmer at Avery, died at his residence May 29 at 5 a.m.
   His funeral was conducted May 31 in the English Methodist Church by Rev. O.B. Rogers, former pastor. Interment was in the English cemetery, Clarksville Funeral Home in charge.
   Pallbearers were Charles J. William, Bryant Grant, Luther Giles, Olan Markham, Delbert Gortney and Mr. Stinson.
   Mr. Brown was born in Jacksonville, Texas, August 26, 1875, and had been a resident of Red River County forty years. He was married August 18, 1898 to Bessie Kelley at Mt. Pleasant. She survives. 
   Other survivors are twenty-six grandchildren, twenty great grandchildren and three sons and daughters: Homer L. and Nelson K. Brown, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Warner Brown, Schroup, Idaho; Mrs. W. S. Chapman and Mrs. Alma McCain, Avery; Mrs. H.H. Lane, Witchita Falls, and Mrs. Richard Hughes, Arlington, Texas.
[Source: The Clarksville Times; Clarksville, TX; Fri. 5 June 1953]

None of the Laine siblings are mentioned in Toy Brown's obituary.

Jewel Reese Laine:

Spur Pioneer, J. R. Laine, Buried Sunday - Funeral services for J.R. Laine, 74, were held Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. in the First Methodist Church, Rev. William McReynolds, officiating.
   Mr. Laine, who had been ill for some time, died January 7th.
   Born October 12, 1886, he came to Spur and Dickens County in 1910, shortly after the town was founded. He married the former Miss Willie Dee Montgomery in McCauley, Texas in 1907. He was a member of the Methodist Church. He worked for many years as a painting contractor and was retired at the time of his death. 
   Survivors include his wife, Mrs. J.R. Laine; one daughter, Mrs. Horace Wood, Spur; two sons, Tanner Laine, Lubbock, and W.J. Laine, Fort Worth. One brother and one sister also survive. They are Morris Laine, California and Mrs. Turie Stephenson, Houston.
  Pallbearers included D.J. Dyes, Frank Watson, Clarence Foreman, George Link, Dr. Bob Alexander and Bill R. Barrett.
   The Roundup SS Class served as honorary pallbearers.
   Interment was in Spur Cemetery.
[Source: The Texas Spur; Spur, TX; 12 January 1961]

Jewel Reese Laine's obituary accurately names the last two surviving siblings: Morris C. Laine and Turie Lea (Laine) Stephenson.

Morris Cleveland Laine: no obituary found yet.

Turie Lea (Laine) Stephenson:

Mrs. Stephenson of Austin Dies. Mrs. Turie Lea Stephenson of Austin died Monday at 3 p.m. in Austin. Mrs. Stephenson was born January 13, 1882 in Titus County.
   Funeral services were held Wednesday at 10 a.m. in the Smith-Bates Chapel with burial in the Masonic Cemetery.
   Survivors include two daughters, Mrs. Ladye Madge Johnson, Houston and Mrs. Maurine Lee, Miss., and two sons, Woodrow and J.P. Stephenson of Houston.
   The Rev. George H. Harris officiated.
[Source: The Mt. Pleasant Times, Wed. 18 June 1967, p. 3]


One lesson here is that the obituaries of all family members need to be sought out. It is too difficult to draw valid conclusions from just one obituary. If I had stopped my research with my great-grandfather, Toy Brown's obituary, and if I had not known better, then I might not know that there were additional half-siblings. 

The other lesson is the wealth of information that can be drawn from the obituaries as a group. For instance, these obituaries put the Brown family on a rough timeline. The Browns were still in Alabama in 1868 when John Robert Brown was born. They were in Titus County, Texas by 1870 when Emma Arsenia Brown was born. However, by 1875 they were near Jacksonville, Cherokee County, Texas when Toy M. Brown, the youngest, was born. By 1882, Mary Emma (Barber) Brown had remarried to Leroy W. Laine and was back in Titus County, Texas. There may turn to be some inconsistencies in this information, but it provides a rough framework for the family's movements.


























































Monday, January 21, 2019

Jack Pope Had Killed Before

© Kathy Duncan, 2019

I always thought it was odd that Jack Pope decided that the solution to his problems was to slaughter his wife Lydia (Hansell) Pope, their baby, and members of her family. His motive was to collect insurance money.

But how does a man, who has known the personal tragedy of losing his first wife in a horrible tragedy and who was operating a small farm, become a man who cold-bloodedly wipes out most of a family? That has always bothered me. What is it that turns a man into a monster?

It turns out that Jack Pope had killed before in 1899. Papers across the state of Texas carried small notices about the crime:








There is little doubt that the Jack Pope of  English, Texas who committed this crime is the same Jack Pope who murdered his wife in Oklahoma. It's hard to pin down an accurate surname for his victim. The papers variously report him as being Lewis Lover, Louis Dover, and Louis Dorer. My suspicion is that he was Louis Dorer.

At age 22, Jack Pope probably did not own any property yet. Eventually, he would own the Old Home Place. I know that the Old Home Place was just down the road a short distance from Alfred Dorer's farm. Alfred Dorer had married my grandfather Chapman's first cousin, Tish Chapman, daughter of John Thomas Chapman. Tish and Alfred married in Red River County, Texas on 17 October 1893.  My grandfather moved to Red River County from Titus County to work for Tish Dorer when she was widowed, but that was after Alfred's death in 1912. I do not remember my grandfather ever talking about the killing of Louis Dorer.

Alfred Dorer was born in 1870, so he was much too young to have had a son old enough to have tangled with Jack Pope. However, Alfred Dorer had a brother named Louis Dorer, who would have been of the right age to have died in an encounter with Pope. There was also a Lewis Dorer who married A. F. Petty in Red River County on 11 December 1887. This Lewis is not found on the 1900 census in Red River County nor is his wife A. F. This, then, might be the Louis Dorer who was killed.

So far, no news items have turned up that reveal exactly who Louis Dorer was or what happened between him and Jack Pope. The Clarksville Times would have been expected to run a more detailed article, but if it did, it was not picked up by other papers. Most of The Clarksville Times from that period were burned.

Jack Pope was at home with his brother's family on the 1900 census because he had made bail. 

Pope was received at the prison on 11 July 1900 with a sentence that was to run through 27 June 1902. Prisoner #19483 was 22 years old, 5'7", 134 lbs, dark complected with grey eyes and dark hair. He had a scar between his shoulder blades and one on the calf of his left leg. He had no marital relations and used tobacco. He was poorly educated with only four years of school, but he could read and write. He was born in Tennessee in 1878 and did not know the birthplaces of his parents. He had been employed as a laborer.

The record states he was incarcerated in Spiller although this is in the Huntsville records.

The prison record reveals that he had been convicted of manslaughter. That is why he received such a light sentence. He only served part of his sentence and was released early. He was pardoned by the governor on 22 December 1901 with full rights of citizenship restored, including the right to vote.














Saturday, January 5, 2019

Sarah Ann (Duncan) Knight

© Kathy Duncan, 2019

This is a long overdue post about one photograph and two women, who are strangers to each other, but who both had the same generous impulse.

Several years ago I came across a photograph of Sarah Ann (Duncan) Knight on Findagrave. Sarah was my great-grandfather, Richard E. Duncan's elder half-sister. Born 7 January 1859 in Arkansas, she was the daughter of Isaac and Martha (Sales) Duncan. On 22 January 1880, she married Joseph Oliver Knight in Sebastian County, Arkansas.

Immediately, I contacted LaDonna McKelvy who had posted the photograph to Joseph Oliver Knight's memorial. I made the false assumption that she must be a family member. She told me that she had seen the photograph in an antique shop while on vacation. She was tempted to buy it because there was enough identification on it that she thought she could track down the family of Sarah and Joseph Oliver Knight. Instead, she asked the owner if she could photograph it, and then she did the research when she got home. She found the memorials for Sarah Duncan and Joseph Oliver Knight on Findagrave and added the photograph. She thought that the photograph was in a shop somewhere in Oregon.

Well, that was both exciting and disappointing. There was another photograph of Sarah Duncan out there somewhere. But where? I couldn't help but wonder what other Duncan/Knight goodies might be in that shop. Where ever it was. But I had to let it go...

Recently, the same photograph surfaced on FamilySearch.org. I figured it was the same photograph, copied from Findagrave. Then I thought it could be a duplicate, and the contributor just might be a family member. Boy, was I wrong. The contributor was Rebecca Hammond. She told me that she bought the photograph in an antique shop in Crescent City, California, which is very near the Oregon border. There was enough identifying information on it that she thought she could research the couple. When she saw the photograph of Sarah (Duncan) Knight that I had contributed to FamilySearch, she realized that it was the same woman. Rebecca's ultimate goal was to return the photograph to Sarah and Joseph's family. I gave her the address of a descendant so that the photograph could make its way home.




Thank you, LaDonna and Rebecca, for recognizing that this photograph might have some family who would value it and for taking the time and making the effort to share it.

My best guess is that since several of Sarah and Joseph's grandchildren have died in California in recent years, one of them had the photograph. When their possessions were disposed of, it ended up in an antique shop. I can't help but wonder if Sarah had other pictures of her siblings and her father. Are they languishing in the same shop? Perhaps they are and lack identification.




Thursday, January 3, 2019

Matilda E. (Mason) Roberts

© Kathy Duncan, 2019

Matilda E. (Mason) Roberts is my best candidate for the daughter of Ann (Kenney) and Wesley Randolph Mason.

In 1860, she appears on the census as Emma Mason:

4 July 1860, Williamson Co., TX, P.O.: Georgetown, p. 28:

174-181          
W.R. Mason    31 M    Brickmason b. AL
Ann --- 21 F b.TX
Ema --- 5 F b. TX
Catherine --- 2 F b. TX

In 1870 she again appears as Emma Mason with her father, Wesley Randolph Mason, and her step-mother, Mary (McCullough) Harrison


13 July 1870, Beat No. 3, Bell Co., TX, P.O. Belton:

148 - 148
Mason, W.R. 39 M W Farmer b. TN
--- Martha 37 F W Keeps house $600 - $3,000 b. AL
--- Emma 15 F W b. TX
--- Jenny 6 F W b. TX
Groves, Mary  20 F W b. TX
Harrison, A.E.  14 F W b. TX
---Martha 9 F W b. TX
Mason, Georgia 2 F W b. TX
--- Nancy 1 F W b. TX
Harrison, T. 23 F B Servant b. TX
--- Hettie 3 F B b. TX

--- Liddie 1 F  B b. TX


Seven years later  “Matilda E. Mason” of Bell Co., TX  married G.S. Roberts on 7 Apr 1877 in Bell Co., Texas. 

[Source: Bell County, Texas Marriage Records 1850- 1882 by Linda B. Allie and Weldon I. Hudson]




It is not unreasonable to think that Wesley Randolph Mason named his daughter Matilda after his mother Matilda (Lewis) Mason.

Matilda and George S. "Roberds" appear on the 1880 Bosque County, Texas census:

4 June 1880, Dist 9, Bosque Co., TX:

231-231
Roberds, George S. W M 31 Husband Farming b. MO
---Matilda E. W F 25 Wife b. TX
---Hettie W F 2 Dau b. TX fb. MO mb. TX
---Robert R. W M 3/12 Feb Son b. TX fb. MO mb. TX

This Matilda E. Roberds is the same age as Wesley R. Mason's daughter Emma Mason. Subsequent records indicate that this was G.S. and Matilda E. Roberts not Roberds. Although Wesley R. Mason has not been found in Bosque County, Texas in 1880, he filed for his pension from Bosque County in 1899. Matilda's son's full name was Robert Randolph Roberts, yet another indication that she was Wesley's daughter.

When George S. Roberts next appears on the census, it is with his second wife Ollie Sherman, who he had married in Hamilton County, Texas on 19 February 1888.

7th & 8th June 1900, West Part of Duke Twp., Geer Co., Oklahoma:

72-72
Roberts, George Head W M b. Sep 1847 52 M-2 b. OH fb. unk mb. unk farmer
---Ollie Wife W F b. Sep 1871 28 M-2 7-3 b. TX fb. MO mb. TX
---Hattie Dau W F b. Feb 1878 22 S b. TX fb. OH. mb. TX
---Madie Dau W F b. Jan 1782 18 S b. TX fb. OH. mb. TX
---George O. Son W M b. Dec 1889 10 S b. TX fb. OH. mb. TX
---Delia A. Dau W F  b. Feb 1894 6 S b. TX fb. OH. mb. TX
---Germy Son W M b. June 1899 1 S b. TX fb. OH. mb. TX

George O. Roberts, Delia Roberts, and Jeremiah Roberts are the children of Ollie Sherman since they were born after her marriage to George S. Roberts.

19 May 1910, Pct #1 Outside Portales, Roosevelt County, New Mexico:

256-257
Roberts, George Head W M 62 Wd b. OH fb. OH mb. Eng/Scot
---Hattie Dau W F 30 S b. TX fb. OH. mb. TX
---Adelia Dau W F 16 S b. TX fb. OH. mb. TX
---Jeremiah Son W M 10 S b. TX fb. OH. mb. TX
---O.K. Son W M 9 S b.OK fb. OH. mb. TX
---Addley B C Son W M 7 S b. OK fb. OH. mb. TX

Of the children of Matilda Emma (Mason) Roberts, Hattie Roberts married John Mathis Langston in Harmon County, Oklahoma on 2 July 1912 and moved to Texas eventually settling in Cleburne, Texas.

Robert Randolph Roberts died 29 July 1951 in Orange County, California. His death records indicate that his mother's maiden name was Mason. He was born 6 Feb 1880.

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Happy New Year, 2019

© Kathy Duncan, 2019




Happy New Year to you.

Last year I promised myself that I would keep better records on my blog's progress. Here are the numbers. This year's page views ended with 76, 943. There were 20,306 page views over the year. I wrote 58 new posts. 

The most popular blog posts in order of popularity:

Nathaniel Holcomb's Wife, Hannah?  This post was about searching for more information on my newly proven ancestor Nathaniel Holcomb who died in Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri prior to 1817. That search turned up an indication that his wife may have named Hannah. Early Nathaniel Holcombs are associated with women named Hannah, so this seemed strangely coincidental.

Matilda (Lewis) Mason, Daughter of John Lewis  This post is really more about John Lewis than his daughter Matilda (Lewis) Mason. At long last, I found documentation that Matilda's father was John Lewis. This is the same John Lewis who purportedly married Susan Daniels and died in Hardin County, Tennessee. Documentation, however, reveals that he died in McNairy County, Tennessee and that he had a second wife. At this time, there is no documentation for Susan Daniels, but John Lewis and family have heavy interaction with the Daniels and DeSpain families. My feeling is John Lewis was not in Pulaski County, Kentucky. Will need to put my Lewis, DeSpain, and Daniels research together in the new year. In any event, this was a breakthrough in one of my major brick walls. Last year's big brick wall breakthrough was locating Matilda's father-in-law Joseph Mason.

Nathaniel Holcomb of Ste. Genevieve County, Missouri  This was my other major breakthrough of the year. I was able to successfully link my ancestor Azariah Holcomb to his father Nathaniel Holcomb. Nathaniel died prior to 1817, and Titus Strickland became the guardian of Nathaniel's younger children. Because Azariah's siblings were already successfully linked, I was able to connect the younger children to Nathaniel. Now the identity of their mother needs to be revealed. I suspect, but cannot prove, that Nathaniel Holcomb is Nathaniel VI, son of Nathaniel Holcomb V and wife Hannah Holcomb - a daughter of Deacon Azariah and Hannah (Loomis) Holcomb.

The Heirs of John Kelly of Kershaw County, SC  This research revealed a previously unknown daughter of John Kelly which led to information about a new set of grandchildren. I think that this will enable me to strengthen the link between John Kelly and his father John Kelly Sr. of Fairfield District, South Carolina. This unknown daughter was a huge surprise. This side of my family has the strongest oral tradition, but no information about this particular daughter was passed down in the family.

May the new year lead to breakthroughs in your brick walls!