Archive for the ‘Tombstone Tuesday’ Category

Sherry Stocking Kline
31 August 2010

055 - Myrtle Lamb Tombstone

Tombstone Reads:

Myrtle O. Lamb
Mar 13, 1881
May 27, 1939

I don’t know Myrtle O. Lamb, but she is buried near several of my family members, and a quick search on Ancestry tells me that on the 1925 Census, she and her husband, L. H. Lamb, lived at home with their children, Henry, Wilford, Earl, Clarence, Arthur, Eva, Nina, Bulah, Margret, and Mary.

Nina was my sister-in-law Nancy’s mother, and so Myrtle is the great-grandmother of my nieces and nephews.  So, she is almost ‘kin’ after all.

by Sherry Stocking Kline
19 July 2010

Many thanks to my cousin Lynne Bajuk, California, for our great-grandmother Maggie McGinnis’ obituary!

This past week, Lynne sent me a wonderful ‘genealogy care package’ with photographs and this obituary.  Happy Dance!

Fortunately, I was able to find Maggie’s husband, Thomas Jefferson McGinnis’ obituary and send it to her recently.  It has been sooo wonderful to ‘meet’ and visit with Lynne and to be able to share information and work together.  Lynne has many wonderful stories that her mother told her that I’d not heard.  Marvelous!

Maggie McGinnis, 101, Succumbed Sunday

Funeral services for Mrs. Margaret (Maggie) McGinnis, 101, were conducted at the Cedar Vale Methodist church Wednesday afternoon at 1:30 o’clock with Rev. W. E. Burdette officiating.

Mrs. McGinnis passed away at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Maud Stocking, Sunday morning at 6:15 o’clock from arterial thrombosis. Although bedfast since the first of February, Mrs. McGinnis had only been seriously ill since 11 o’clock Saturday morning.

Mrs. McGinnis had made her home in Cedar Vale with her daughter for the past nine and one-half years. She was loved and admired by all who knew her. Despite her age, Mrs. McGinnis possessed a keen and alert mind and enjoyed conversing on current topics. She frequently spoke of her childhood and enjoyed telling of her experiences when she with other girls of her community sang for Abraham Lincoln.

A trio composed of Bill House, James E. Humble and Maurice Smith sang “Abide With Me” and “City Four Square.” As a solo, Maurice Smith sang “Crossing the Bar.”  Mrs. R. D. Oltjen was pianist.

Pallbearers were Marshall Hill of Arkansas City, Herbert Stocking of Elk City, Harold and Fred Stocking of Mayfield, Bob and Jack Yearout of Wellington.

Burial was made in the cemetery at Mayfield, Kansas.

Obituary

Margaret (Maggie) E. Corson McGinnis was born January 19, 1849, in Saugamon County, Illinois (Sangamon?) and died March 26, 1950-, in Cedar Vale, Kansas at the age of 101 years, two months, and seven days.

Maggie Corson was educated in a rural school near her home and in Springfield, Illinois. In 1860 she was one of a group of children trained to sing campaign songs in support of Abraham Lincoln’s candidacy for president. The group on one occasion sang for Lincoln and received his thanks.

At the age of fifteen she united with the Methodist church of which she remained a loyal member throughout her life.

After teaching for three years in Illinois rural and village schools, she was married in 1872 to Thomas J. McGinnis, who was teaching and farming in eastern Illinois.

In 1886 they moved to Kansas, eventually living in several communities in this state.

After the death of her husband at Emporia in 1911, Mrs. McGinnis lived in Missouri, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Maryland, and California, eventually returning to Kansas, where the has been residing with her daughter, Mrs. Maud Stocking, in Cedar Vale.

Mrs. McGinnis is survived by three sons – Charles E. of Los Angeles; Eugene E. of Wichita; and Virgil H. of Denver; two daughters – Mrs. Maud Stocking of Cedar Vale and Myrta E. (Ethel) McGinnis of New Wilmington, Pennsylvania; twelve grandchildren and twenty-one great-grandchildren.

More info:

Margaret “Maggie” Corson McGinnis, daughter of Richard S. and Mary (Corson) Corson, is buried in the Osborne Cemetery, Sumner County, Kansas, near the small town of Mayfield, Kansas, with four generations of descendants.

Maggie McGinnis Sang For Abraham Lincoln

A Photo of Maggie Corson McGinnis (and me) on her 100th Birthday

Thomas J. McGinnis Obituary

Three Hundred Years With the Corson Family in America

by Sherry Stocking Kline
19 May 2010

Some time back I posted a Tombstone Tuesday photograph of Cora Pauline Walter’s tombstone.

Always curious, I did a little preliminary research at the Sumner County History and Genealogy Center, and when I didn’t find something easily, stopped, because she isn’t family.

But recently I was at the Osborne Cemetery, near Mayfield, Kansas in Sumner County, and another Walter’s tombstone caught my eye and my imagination.  I wonder if they are related?  Married?  Siblings?

Donovan L Walters - Osborne Cemetery

On the Stone:

Donovan L. Walters, Sr.
Oklahoma
S Sgt Army Air Forces
World War II
March 16, 1910   (cross)    Sept 24, 1972

This tombstone is located just a few feet from Cora Pauline’s stone.  There is just one stone in between the two, which leads me to believe that research will show that there is some relationship between the two.

by Sherry Stocking Kline
11 May 2010

This tombstone for George T. Hill is located between my father’s tombstone, and my mother’s great uncle’s tombstone, Evan Jones,  in the Osborne Cemetery, Sumner County, Mayfield, Kansas.

George T. Hill - buried in Osborne Cemetery, Sumner County, Kansas

On the Stone:

George T
Son of
C. E. & M. S. Hill
Died Sept  6, 1884
Aged 10 Ms, 29 Ds
(following inscription too faint to read)

If we had the name of the person who purchased the plot…

If we had the name of the person who purchased the plot, we might have many clues to our possible relationship, but the sexton who took care of the cemetery records (many years ago) had a house fire, and all the old records were destroyed, and though they were recreated as best possible, the older records aren’t 100% accurate.

My mother believes that this young person is related to our family but she does not know how.  So far, I’ve found no Hill’s in our family tree, outside of my dad’s sister’s husband, and that is a much later era.

I have to wonder if the young person that she was told was related was the young person just to the side of George, last week’s post, Myrtle Jones.  That seems much more likely.

by Sherry Stocking Kline
4 May 2010

This eight and 1/2 month old child’s stone, located in the Osborne Cemetery, Sumner County, Kansas, about 10 miles west of Wellington, Kansas, and about 1/2 mile East of Mayfield on West 20th Street  is another mystery that I would very much like to solve.

Myrtle B. Jones - Osborne Cemetery

Kinfolk?  Or Just a Lot of Coincidences?

On the Stone:

Myrtle B. Jones
Dau of W.  & M. E. Jones
Died July 5, 1890
Aged 8 Mos 18 Days
(I was not able to read the inscription below the name and date, and as I had my granddaughters with me, and no safe way to clean the stone with me, I didn’t try to clean and read it while there and am not able to in the photograph.)

Is Myrtle part of my family?   I think so, actually.  Myrtle’s parents are W. and M. E. Jones, and just two stones over is a stone for Evan Jones, and Evan’s parents were Willis and Martha Ellen (Smith) Jones, originally from the Hart & Barren County, Kentucky area.

So Who was Ten-Year-Old George T. Hill?

In between Myrtle and Evan is a ten-year-old boy named George T. Hill (photo coming soon) and while so far the Hill name is not one that has shown up in our family tree, my mother feels that he is related, but she does not know how, and both Myrtle and George died thirty-some years before my mother was born.  My family lived next door to a Hill family for (at least) two generations in both families, but the Hill child next to Myrtle does not appear (according to census, etc) to belong to any of those Hills.

Is Myrtle my great-great aunt?  I think so.  In this small cemetery, buried so closely together, and within a few stones of my father that would be a lot of coincidences for there not to be a kinship.  But before I add Myrtle to our family tree as a lost child of Willis and Martha, I’m going to be looking in area newspapers for obituaries and making sure there weren’t any other W. & M. E. Jones in this area.  And then I may just use a pencil when I add her in…

by Sherry Stocking Kline
27 April 2010

Here is a tombstone for a family member on my husband’s side, and I’ve been having a great deal of  fun lately trying to put the puzzle pieces together, and honestly, trying very hard to just shove some of those pieces in place and make them fit!  I knew they had to, I just didn’t know how.

Guy Wood Tombstone - Milan Cemetery, Milan, Sumner County, Kansas

On the Stone:

Guy L. Wood
Apr 16, 1891
Oct 11, 1947

Located in the Milan Cemetery,  just about 15 miles west of Wellington, Kansas (and a couple of miles west of Milan) on Highway 160.

But the pieces just wouldn’t fit, no matter how hard I tried.  And then one day, someone said “a Wood married a Wood” and it all fell into place.

Now what are the odds that a Wood family would live a mile away from another Wood family, that they would NOT be related (for at least two generations back), they would originate from totally different Eastern states, and that they had several children with the same name?

Thanks to helpful family hints from a cousin, research I’ve done, and the records that I’ve found at the Sumner County History & Genealogy Center in Wellington, I’ve added some good branches to this tree, and firmed up some of the other connections.  More to come!

by Sherry Stocking Kline
26 April 2010

Last week I wrote the exciting news that during a short conversation with my dad’s sister I learned that my great-grandfather had not died in Sumner County as I believed, but in Emporia, Lyon County, Kansas.  A quick call to the Emporia State Library, Emporia, Kansas on Saturday and and early Monday morning e-mail to the genealogy librarian and by mid-afternoon, the scanned image of my Great-Grandfather Thomas J. (I think it stands for Jefferson, but I haven’t seen that on official documents yet!) McGinnis’ obituary, and burial info was in my e-mail inbox!

Thank you, Ms. Sundberg!

Woo Hoo!  Monday Happy Dances are always awesome!  I learned a lot of great info, but the one thing I wanted to learn wasn’t in his obituary.

Who Were His Parents?

I did learn the exact address of where he lived when he passed, that his funeral was in his home rather than the church, even though the obituary mentioned him being a faithful worker in the Methodist Church, and I learned that his body was brought by Santa Fe Train No. 13 to Sumner County, where he was buried in the Osborn Cemetery, Mayfield, Sumner County, Kansas. (I did know where he was buried, and have photographs of his stone.) But the obituary did not mention Thomas’ parents. So far, no death records have been located, and Thomas passed away TWO months before Kansas’ State-wide death records were mandatory.

Here is Thomas J. McGinnis Obituary Transcript – Emporia Gazette May 12, 1911

T. J. McGinnis Dead

T. J. McGinnis died this morning at 5:45 at the family home, 1309 State Street.  He had been sick with a complication of diseases since last July.  He was born in Westville, Ohio, August 17, 1842, where he grew to manhood and taught in country schools for a few years before going to Illinois, where he continued to teach school.

He was married near Springfield, Ill to Miss Maggie E. Carson (my note: should be Corson), and lived there until 1886, when the family moved to Kansas, locating first in Barbour County. (this may actually be Bourbon County)

He taught in several of the high schools in the southern part of Kansas before coming to Morris County, from which place the family moved to Emporia four years ago.  Mr. McGinnis’s failing health preventing from further work.

He was a man of exceptionally strong personality, and many lives have been made stronger by his uplighting influence in the class room.  As a young man he served a short time in the Civil War before leaving his native state.  He was a member of the Masonic lodge and of the A.O.U.W., and was for years as active and efficient worker in the Methodist Church.

Besides his wife he leaves five children.  They are Charles E. McGinnis, an attorney to Pueblo, Colo..   Eugene McGinnis of Ford County, Kansas; Virgil McGinnis, of Pueblo, Colo; Mrs. Maud Stocking, of Mayfield, Kan.; and Miss Ethel, who lives at home.
No definite arrangements have been made for the funeral, but the body will be taken to Mayfield for interment.  The funeral arrangements will be announced later.

Notes:

Maud Stocking was my grandmother, and she used to tell me wonderful stories about my father’s childhood.  I wish someone had told me that by the time I was thirty, those memories would fade like a quilt beyond repair…

Miss Ethel a.k.a. Myrta Ethel, became Dr. Myrta Ethel McGinnis, and taught at Ft. Hays University in Western Kansas, and later at a small college in Pennsylvania.
I don’t recall meeting Gene, Charles, or Virgil.

Thomas J. McGinnis Funeral Information Transcription
13 May 1911 Emporia Gazette

The McGinnis Funeral Tomorrow

The funeral services of T. J. McGinnis will be held at the home, 1809 State Street, at 10 o’clock, sharp, tomorrow morning.  The services will be conducted by Rev. H. W. Hargett, of the First Methodist Church.

Thomas J. McGinnis
15 May 1911 Emporia Gazette

The McGinnis Funeral

The funeral of  T. J. McGinnis was held yesterday morning at 10 o’clock from the home on State Street.  The services were conducted by Reverend Henry W. Hargett, of the First Methodist Church, of which church Mr. McGinnis was a most faithful member.  The floral offerings were abundant and showed the wide circle of friends Mr. McGinnis had made during his few years of residence in Emporia.  The pall-bearers were D. A. Dryer, H. A. Tibbals, J. W. Shawgo, Newberry, William Jay and T. O. Stephenson. 

The body was taken on Santa Fe train No. 13 to Mayfield, Kansas, where the interment was made today.

18 May 1911 – Emporia Weekly Gazette

The funeral of T. J. McGinnis was held yesterday morning at 10 o’clock from the home on State Street.  The services were conducted by Reverend Henry W. Hargett, of the First Methodist Church, of which church Mr. McGinnis was a most faithful member.  The floral offereings were abundant and showed the wide circle of friends Mr. McGinnis had made during his few years of residence in Emporia.  The pall-bearers were D. A. Dryer, H. A. Tibbals, J. W. Shawgo, Newberry, William Jay and T. O. Stephenson. 

The body was taken on Santa Fe train No. 13 to Mayfield, Kansas, where the interment was made today.

Related Posts:

52 Weeks to a Better Genealogy – Letter to the Emporia State Library, Emporia, Kansas

Margaret (Corson) McGinnis (Thomas’ widow) on Her 100th Birthday!

by Sherry Stocking Kline
February 23, 2010

When I snapped the photo of this stone in the Caney Fork Cemetery at Temple Hill I knew from our KY cousins that they were part of our family, but we didn’t get into just how, and census research this week along with other previous research has shown exactly how he ties into the family.

039 - James L. & Nancy J. Hawley - Caney Fork Cemetery, Barren Co, KY

On The Stone:

HAWLEY
James L
24 June 1850
09 January 1929

Nancy J.
09 March 1849
03 August 1925

James is the son of John and Mary (Whaley) Hawley, and John is my great-great grandmother Virginia (Hawley) Smith’s brother.

John and Virginia Hawley are the children of James Hawley.  James was  born 11 AUG 1781 in Stafford County, Virginia, and died about 1842 in Falls Creek, Sullivan County, Tennessee.

Nancy J., James L. Smith’s wife  may also be a part of our Smith family.  Her father’s name was W. W. Bell, and her mother was Margaret Smith, but digging into Margaret’s family will have to wait for another day!

What fun it is to put together the puzzle pieces, then double check and make sure they ‘fit’ where I’ve placed them!

by Sherry Stocking Kline
13 April 2010

I snapped this Tombstone for a couple of reasons. One, I hoped he was family, and Two, it just caught my eye.  It stood there, and though it said  “Gone, but not forgotten,” it seemed, well, lonely.

And like some tombstones that you see, it just made me wonder, who was he?  Why is he buried there all by himself?  What did he  do for a living? What did he die of?

All those questions ran through my mind, but I guess first and foremost, was the question, is he part of my family?

Julian Jones - Caney Fork Baptist Cemetery

On the Stone:

Julian Jones
1863 – 1932
Gone But Not Forgotten

Today I don’t have those answers, and even though he is buried near my Smith family stones, I don’t have the answer to the  “is he family” question.

But it’s a puzzle that I plan to solve!

by Sherry Stocking Kline
10 April 2010

Here is this week’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun Challenge from Randy Seaver!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1) Tell us: Which ancestor or relative do you readily identify with? Which one do you admire? Which one are you most like, or wish that you were most like? Which one would you really like to sit down and have a heart-to-heart conversation with?

2) Write your response in a blog post on your own blog, in a Facebook note or response to this post, or in a comment on this post.

Oh my, which ancestor or relative do I most identify with?  I think my ancestors, especially the women, were brave and courageous, so in some ways I wish I were more like them.  My great-grandmother Frances Hitchcock Stocking picked up her life, packed up their belongings, and followed the man she loved, Roderick Remine Stocking, here to Kansas, a flat prairie with tall grass and no trees for firewood (read they used buffalo chips to heat their homestead with) or they drove their wagon about 15 miles south into Oklahoma’s Indian Territory (which was illegal, mind you) to pick up firewood.  They also lived within a few miles of the Chisholm Trail, and those who still traveled up and down it, even after the cattle drives ended.

And then there is my other great-grandmother on my mother’s side, Salinda Rose Breneman, who lived out on the prairie in Nebraska, where Indians might (and did) poke their heads in the window wanting food.  And Indians wouldn’t have been their only danger.  They would have lived in fear of prairie fires as well as rattle snakes, and her children, even at a young age, were sent out on horseback, sometimes with their lunch in a pail to herd the cattle, often being out of site of the homestead for the whole day.

Could I do what they did?  I don’t think so.

Who would I most want to sit down with?  My great-great grandmother, Elizabeth Laird Jones Crabb!

I would ask her what her first husband’s name was and thereby break down that brick wall!  I would learn first-hand from her what her husband died from (or if they were divorced!) and I would ask her what brought them here to Kansas, and did they miss their home state of Kentucky and their daughter who stayed there?

And maybe I would just ask them how they ‘managed?’  How did they cope with the hardships, water that came from a well and wasn’t the clear liquid that we’re used to today, growing and canning and preserving much of their food, and sewing many of their clothes?

And particularly, where did they find the courage to go on when they had to bury their young children because their lives were cut short from disease and farm accidents?

So many questions that I would ask these courageous women!