My mistake...there is a Paul Flemming Column online, but it's not the one about his historic house. You can read a column about why people come to the Ozarks here... http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com/opinions/overstreet100800.html by Sarah Overstreet Vonda

Hey-dy, (it's my day to be perusin' the papers...) Springfield News-Leader is posting obituaries online now. There is also an excellent section about "Progress 2000" and "Preservation Springfield", 2 groups working to define Springfield by past and present for the future. (Sound familiar?) Paul Flemming, in today's edition, has a column about the demolition of his former 114 yr old home that brought tears to my eyes...are all genealogists/historians as deeply moved as I am by this stuff? Go here: http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com/ Vonda

>>If a site is not available, I think one should be and Im thinking about starting one. I would appreciate any ideas or information on this subject.<< Jackie, There are lists at Rootsweb dealing with this subject, and I'm sure there are as many sites for records and research as there are for Indian records and research. However, a White River Valley specific site is not something I'm aware of, and it's not something I'd ever thought of, unfortunately. If my ancestors owned any, I've not found record of it, and I have to admit, starting such a site should be a very important part of our research and providing information about it. I would encourage you to start a site with this information; I would be more than happy to make it a main link off the WRV homepage. Greene Co. MO had a booming middle-class black population until about 1906, when 3 black men were lynched in Park Central Square (if I'm remembering right). There weren't many people of African-American descent in the White River Valley, even during pre-Civil War days. But you are right in thinking that some descendants of those who were here are looking for information, and it should be provided. I can help you some with this, but there are others who know much more. Vonda ListMom for MOTANEY and MO-AR-WRV at Rootsweb http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~moarwrv

A follow up on recently requested info on a site to post slave info. This is exactly what I needed. I hope all of you who decend from slave owners and have document nameing slaves will post that info to this site. Jackie ----- Original Message ----- From: Brenda King Finch <kingfinch@hotmail.com> To: <THOMAS-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, October 08, 2000 12:00 PM Subject: Re: [THOMAS] I need information on Slave sites. Research on establishing a site to post info on slaves found in many of our ancestors records. > Here is a National Collection place for Slave Data: > > We would certainly encourage and support all researchers to share any and > all slave data you encounter in your genealogical pursuits. We, African > Ancestored Researchers (aka: Afrigeneas), have a project of some 9 year > duration to gather, compile and make available slave data to the African > Ancestored researcher. Records kept by the slaveowner are frequently the > only clue to our ancestors, particularly during the period 1619-1870. > > > Records Sought include: > > Advertisements > Apprenticeship > Bible Records > Bills of Sale > Birth Records > Census Schedules > Church Records > Cohabitation > Court Records > DayBooks/Logs > Death Records > Diaries-Journals > Inventories > Legislative Acts > Letters > Litigation > Manumissions > Marriage Records > Military Records > Misc Records > Pension Records > Plantation Records > Run-A-Ways > SlaveOwners > Slave Sales > Tax Records > Wills > > _____________________ > > Such information provided is available to all researchers at our FTP site > and at the Afrigeneas HomePage. It is also available in the AOL Genealogy > Forum Libraries. > > > What format would we want the data? > > Well in the final analysis, whatever is best for you, the Sharer. > > A preferred format follows: > > > Slaveowners Name: > Name of Slave: > Parent(s) of Slave: > BirthPlace of Slave: > Age of Slave: > Sex of Slave: > Color of Slave: > Other Physical Description: > Other Information: > Source Document: > State: > County: > Year of Source Document: > How to Access Source Document: > > ================================ > > This information may be submitted on line > To: slavedata@aol.com > or By US Postal Service > > To: Anniston-Calhoun Public Library > Alabama Room-SlaveData Collection > Post Office Box 308 > Anniston, AL 36202 > > Browse The Collection As It Builds > > http://members.aol.com/slavedata/Public/ > > Thanx for your attention and for your help! > > Valencia King Nelson > National Coordinator > > > Browse AfriGeneas Archived Messages On-Line > > http://www.msstate.edu/listarchives/afrigeneas/ </fontfamily> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > - African Ancestored Genealogy Discussion > - To unsubscribe, email: Majordomo@MsState.Edu > - In body of message: unsubscribe afrigeneas > - > - Afrigeneas archives: http://www.msstate.edu/listarchives/afrigeneas/ > > > > > > > ----Original Message Follows---- > From: "Jackie" <tanimara@townsqr.com> > To: THOMAS-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [THOMAS] I need information on Slave sites. Research on > establishing a site to post info on slaves found in many of our ancestors > records. > Date: Sun, 8 Oct 2000 11:13:18 -0500 > > I have recently been involved in a discussion about how to find information > on slaves. People that are trying to track their genealogy back to slaves > have limited resources for that information. As a decendant of slave > owners, I find listed in the Wills of my ancestors the names of many slaves. > This information just sets there and I feel it needs to be listed > somewhere. Does anyone know of a site that deals with this type of > information? (slave research). Specifically a site that lists slave names, > dates and locations. I feel a responsibility to the decendants of slaves to > provide this information as I come across it. If a site is not available, I > think one should be and Im thinking about starting one. I would appreciate > any ideas or information on this subject. > > Jackie > tanimara@townsqr.com > _________________________________________________________________________ > Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. > > Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at > http://profiles.msn.com. > > > ==== THOMAS Mailing List ==== > Did you know that only 7% of Rootsweb subscribers support Rootsweb? > Thank you for your generous financial support of Rootsweb! > RootsWeb Gen. Data Coop. Box 6798 Frazier Park, CA 93222 > http://www.rootsweb.com/rootsweb/how-to-subscribe.html >

I have recently been involved in a discussion about how to find information on slaves. People that are trying to track their genealogy back to slaves have limited resources for that information. As a decendant of slave owners, I find listed in the Wills of my ancestors the names of many slaves. This information just sets there and I feel it needs to be listed somewhere. Does anyone know of a site that deals with this type of information? (slave research). Specifically a site that lists slave names, dates and locations. I feel a responsibility to the decendants of slaves to provide this information as I come across it. If a site is not available, I think one should be and Im thinking about starting one. I would appreciate any ideas or information on this subject. Jackie tanimara@townsqr.com ICQ# 16519574 Yahoo Messenger ID Tanimara_2000 Surnames: THOMAS, TOWLES, POPE, BRIDGES, ROBB, HARRINGTON, MOORE, RILEY, PETTY, HARMAN, MADDOX, HILL, BURTCHETT "A people without a history is like wind on the buffalo grass" Crazy Horse - Oglala Sioux "Yigaquu osaniyu adanvto adadoligi nigohilvi nasquv utloyasdi nihi!" ("May the Great Spirit's blessings always be wih you") Cherokee Addresses: Post message: harringtongen@egroups.com Subscribe: harringtongen-subscribe@egroups.com Unsubscribe: harringtongen-unsubscribe@egroups.com List owner: harringtongen-owner@egroups.com URL to this page: http://www.egroups.com/group/harringtongen website for dogs and native heritage http://www.fortunecity.com/greenfield/twyford/461/index.html

--part1_ce.b84d4a3.270f4636_boundary Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello List, I know that sometimes we never think how we are coming across to others. When I read this, I thought about all the times I have been helped with information on these lists and never took the time to say, Thank you for your help! Thank you for encouraging me! Thank you for helping me get past some brick wall because you had already been there, done that! Everyone on these lists seems to be so caring and I do want to tell you all just what treasures you are!!! Thanks for everything you do to help! I wanted to share what had made me think about this! Please enjoy and I hope it touchs you as much as it did me. And for all you who have the opportunity to teach anything to anyone, I hope you see this value and use it wherever and whenever you can to uplift those you touch! Thanks! Beth Peck Cooper * * He was in the first third grade class I taught at Saint Mary's School in Morris, Minn. All 34 of my students were dear to me, but Mark Eklund was one in a million. Very neat in appearance, but had that happy-to-be-alive attitude that made even his occasional mischievousness delightful. Mark talked incessantly. I had to remind him again and again that talking without permission was not acceptable. What impressed me so much though, was his sincere response every time I Had to correct him for misbehaving -"Thank you for correcting me, Sister!" I didn't know what to make of it at first, but before long I became accustomed to hearing it many times a day. One morning my patience was growing thin when Mark talked once too often, and then I made a novice teacher's mistake. I looked at Mark and said, If you say one more word, I am going to tape your mouth shut!" It wasn't ten seconds later when Chuck blurted out, "Mark is talking again." I hadn't asked any of the students to help me watch Mark, but since I had stated the punishment in front of the class, I had to act on it. I remember the scene as if it had occurred this morning. I walked to my desk, very deliberately opened my drawer and took out a roll of masking tape. Without saying a word, I proceeded to Mark's desk, tore off two pieces of Tape and made a big X with them over his mouth. I then returned to the front of the room. As I glanced at Mark to see how he was doing, he winked at me. That did it!! I started laughing. The class cheered as I walked back to Mark's desk, removed the tape, and shrugged my shoulders. His first words were, "Thank you for correcting me, Sister." At the end of the year, I was asked to teach junior-high math. The years flew by, and before I knew it Mark was in my classroom again. He was more handsome than ever and just as polite. Since he had to listen carefully to my instruction in the "new math," he did not talk as much in ninth Grade as he had in third. One Friday, things just didn't feel right. We had worked hard on a new concept all week, and I sensed that the students were frowning, frustrated with themselves, and edgy with one another. I had to stop this crankiness before it got out of hand. So I asked them to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then I told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down. It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed me the papers. Charlie smiled. Mark said, "Thank you for teaching me, Sister. Have a good weekend." That Saturday, I wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and I listed what everyone else had said about that individual. On Monday I gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. Really?" I heard whispered. "I never knew that meant anything to anyone!" "I didn't know others liked me so much." No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. I never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it did not matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another again. That group of students moved on. Several years later, after I returned from vacation, my parents met me at the airport. As we were driving home, Mother asked me the usual questions about the trip -- the weather, my experiences in general. There was a lull in the conversation. Mother gave Dad a sideways glance and simply said, "Dad?" My father cleared his throat as he usually did before something important. "The Eklunds called last night," he began. "Really?" I said. "I haven't heard from them in years. I wonder how Mark is." Dad responded quietly. "Mark was killed in Viet Nam," he said. "The funeral is tomorrow, and his parents would like it if you could attend." To this day I can still point to the exact spot on I-494 where Dad told me about Mark. I had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. Mark looked so handsome, so mature. All I could think at that moment was, "Mark I would give all the masking tape in the world if only you would talk to me." The church was packed with Mark's friends. Chuck's sister sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Why did it have to rain on the day of the funeral? It was difficult enough at the graveside. The pastor said the usual prayers, and the bugler played taps. One by one those who loved Mark took a last walk by the coffin and sprinkled it with holy water. I was the last one to bless the coffin. As I stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to me. "Were you Mark's math teacher?" he asked. I nodded as I continued to stare at the coffin. "Mark talked about you a lot," he said. After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates headed to Chuck's farmhouse for lunch. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting for me. "We want to show you something," his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket. "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it." Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper That had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. I knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which I had listed all the good things each of Mark's Classmates had said about him. "Thank you so much for doing that," Mark's mother said. "As you can see, Mark treasured it." Mark's classmates started to gather around us. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have mine. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home." Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album." "I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It's in my diary." Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. I carry this with me at all times," Vicki said without batting an eyelash. "I think we all saved our lists." That's when I finally sat down and cried. I cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again. The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don't know when that one day will be. So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and important. Tell them, before it is too late. * * * "If this story has touched your heart please copy and paste and send to your email list. Joe Stout" [Weakley County, Tennessee List] >> --part1_ce.b84d4a3.270f4636_boundary Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Disposition: inline Return-Path: <ARIZARD-L-request@rootsweb.com> Received: from rly-zd02.mx.aol.com (rly-zd02.mail.aol.com [172.31.33.226]) by air-zd03.mail.aol.com (v75_b3.11) with ESMTP; Sun, 10 Sep 2000 23:42:51 -0400 Received: from lists5.rootsweb.com (lists5.rootsweb.com [63.92.80.123]) by rly-zd02.mx.aol.com (v75_b3.9) with ESMTP; Sun, 10 Sep 2000 23:42:29 2000 Received: (from slist@localhost) by lists5.rootsweb.com (8.10.1/8.10.1) id e8B3g7F03393; Sun, 10 Sep 2000 20:42:07 -0700 Resent-Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2000 20:42:07 -0700 X-Original-Sender: Pjkingtru@aol.com Sun Sep 10 20:42:06 2000 From: Pjkingtru@aol.com Message-ID: <73.6a83dac.26edae8c@aol.com> Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2000 23:42:04 EDT Subject: Re: [ARIZARD-L] Off Subject-Teacher & Student Old-To: ARIZARD-L@rootsweb.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: AOL 5.0 for Windows sub 119 Resent-Message-ID: <xlHe0D.A.n0.PSFv5@lists5.rootsweb.com> To: ARIZARD-L@rootsweb.com Resent-From: ARIZARD-L@rootsweb.com Reply-To: ARIZARD-L@rootsweb.com X-Mailing-List: <ARIZARD-L@rootsweb.com> archive/latest/26375 X-Loop: ARIZARD-L@rootsweb.com Precedence: list Resent-Sender: ARIZARD-L-request@rootsweb.com My Grandmother King, nee RIDGWAY, was born in Weakley County, Tennessee. This was on the Weakley List tonight. Peggy in Tulsa * * * He was in the first third grade class I taught at Saint Mary's School in Morris, Minn. All 34 of my students were dear to me, but Mark Eklund was one in a million. Very neat in appearance, but had that happy-to-be-alive attitude that made even his occasional mischievousness delightful. Mark talked incessantly. I had to remind him again and again that talking without permission was not acceptable. What impressed me so much though, was his sincere response every time I Had to correct him for misbehaving -"Thank you for correcting me, Sister!" I didn't know what to make of it at first, but before long I became accustomed to hearing it many times a day. One morning my patience was growing thin when Mark talked once too often, and then I made a novice teacher's mistake. I looked at Mark and said, If you say one more word, I am going to tape your mouth shut!" It wasn't ten seconds later when Chuck blurted out, "Mark is talking again." I hadn't asked any of the students to help me watch Mark, but since I had stated the punishment in front of the class, I had to act on it. I remember the scene as if it had occurred this morning. I walked to my desk, very deliberately opened my drawer and took out a roll of masking tape. Without saying a word, I proceeded to Mark's desk, tore off two pieces of Tape and made a big X with them over his mouth. I then returned to the front of the room. As I glanced at Mark to see how he was doing, he winked at me. That did it!! I started laughing. The class cheered as I walked back to Mark's desk, removed the tape, and shrugged my shoulders. His first words were, "Thank you for correcting me, Sister." At the end of the year, I was asked to teach junior-high math. The years flew by, and before I knew it Mark was in my classroom again. He was more handsome than ever and just as polite. Since he had to listen carefully to my instruction in the "new math," he did not talk as much in ninth Grade as he had in third. One Friday, things just didn't feel right. We had worked hard on a new concept all week, and I sensed that the students were frowning, frustrated with themselves, and edgy with one another. I had to stop this crankiness before it got out of hand. So I asked them to list the names of the other students in the room on two sheets of paper, leaving a space between each name. Then I told them to think of the nicest thing they could say about each of their classmates and write it down. It took the remainder of the class period to finish their assignment, and as the students left the room, each one handed me the papers. Charlie smiled. Mark said, "Thank you for teaching me, Sister. Have a good weekend." That Saturday, I wrote down the name of each student on a separate sheet of paper, and I listed what everyone else had said about that individual. On Monday I gave each student his or her list. Before long, the entire class was smiling. Really?" I heard whispered. "I never knew that meant anything to anyone!" "I didn't know others liked me so much." No one ever mentioned those papers in class again. I never knew if they discussed them after class or with their parents, but it did not matter. The exercise had accomplished its purpose. The students were happy with themselves and one another again. That group of students moved on. Several years later, after I returned from vacation, my parents met me at the airport. As we were driving home, Mother asked me the usual questions about the trip -- the weather, my experiences in general. There was a lull in the conversation. Mother gave Dad a sideways glance and simply said, "Dad?" My father cleared his throat as he usually did before something important. "The Eklunds called last night," he began. "Really?" I said. "I haven't heard from them in years. I wonder how Mark is." Dad responded quietly. "Mark was killed in Viet Nam," he said. "The funeral is tomorrow, and his parents would like it if you could attend." To this day I can still point to the exact spot on I-494 where Dad told me about Mark. I had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin before. Mark looked so handsome, so mature. All I could think at that moment was, "Mark I would give all the masking tape in the world if only you would talk to me." The church was packed with Mark's friends. Chuck's sister sang "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Why did it have to rain on the day of the funeral? It was difficult enough at the graveside. The pastor said the usual prayers, and the bugler played taps. One by one those who loved Mark took a last walk by the coffin and sprinkled it with holy water. I was the last one to bless the coffin. As I stood there, one of the soldiers who acted as pallbearer came up to me. "Were you Mark's math teacher?" he asked. I nodded as I continued to stare at the coffin. "Mark talked about you a lot," he said. After the funeral, most of Mark's former classmates headed to Chuck's farmhouse for lunch. Mark's mother and father were there, obviously waiting for me. "We want to show you something," his father said, taking a wallet out of his pocket. "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it." Opening the billfold, he carefully removed two worn pieces of notebook paper That had obviously been taped, folded and refolded many times. I knew without looking that the papers were the ones on which I had listed all the good things each of Mark's Classmates had said about him. "Thank you so much for doing that," Mark's mother said. "As you can see, Mark treasured it." Mark's classmates started to gather around us. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have mine. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home." Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put his in our wedding album." "I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It's in my diary." Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn and frazzled list to the group. I carry this with me at all times," Vicki said without batting an eyelash. "I think we all saved our lists." That's when I finally sat down and cried. I cried for Mark and for all his friends who would never see him again. The density of people in society is so thick that we forget that life will end one day. And we don't know when that one day will be. So please, tell the people you love and care for, that they are special and important. Tell them, before it is too late. * * * "If this story has touched your heart please copy and paste and send to your email list. Joe Stout" [Weakley County, Tennessee List] ==== ARIZARD Mailing List ==== For the threaded Archives for ARIZARD-L@Rootsweb go to: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/ARIZARD-L/ --part1_ce.b84d4a3.270f4636_boundary--

Anywhere or anyone I can put some photos out to that may recognize some of the people? Jus come across some pics and old picture postcards postmarked from Springfield 1913. Pics are of my Gram's matrilineal side Mooney, Wallace, Gordon side. Thanks! Tamara Unger-Peterson

I'm going to consolidate several messages here that I've received from Glenn Kennedy. If you recognize any of these folks, you can e him at bobhil@home.com These folks were apparently all in the 1840-1860 Taney County MO Census. Vonda > > Samuel and Margaret [Reed] Lawrence ... > > > > 1840 Benton/TaneyCoMO: m 10001 f 1001. > > > > The 1850 Taney County census is almost completely just initials for given > > names. > > 1850 Campbell/Taney: 652 Samuel LAWRENCE 39 Tenn, Margaret 29 Ky, F [f] 12 > > Ind, Randolph 10 Mo, William 7, Elizabeth 5, Henry 4, Reede [m] 2, Mary > > 9/12. > > > > 1860 Buchanan/Taney:569 Samuel LAWRENCE 49 Tenn, Margaret 38 Ky, William > > 17 Mo, Elizabeth 15, Henry 13, Reede 11, Mary 9, Samuel 7, Margaret 5, > > George 3, Thomas 1. > > [next door] 570 Randolph LAWRENCE 20 Mo, Sarah 20 Tenn, Thomas 1 Mo Have History on this Family Will be glad to share . Family Arrived About 1840 . Left After Cival War . . Went to Texas And Ark , Okla Samuel Lawrence Dob 1810 Tenn Wife Margarett Reed Dob 1821 Ky. William lawrence Dob 1817 Ky Married Nancy Alllen Randolph Lawrence Dob 1812 Tenn Wife Sarah Bowles Henry Lawrence Dob 1810 Tenn Wife Elizebeth Calvin 1820 Samuel Lawrence And Margarett Reed Family Sarah 1838 Ind, John Randolph 1839, William Lawrence 1842 , Elizebeth dob 1845 , Henry dob 1846 Reed 1849, Mary 1850, Samuel 1852 Margarett1854, George 1856, Thomas Dob 1858 , William Lawrence Dob 1817 , Wife Nancy Allen . Children Sarah 1841, Elizebeth 1842, Margarett 1844, Randolph 1847 Rachell Lawrence 1848,Alice 1851, Nancy Ann 1854 Frances Lawrence 1856 Randolph Lawrence M.D Married Sarah Bowles Children , Richard 1835, John 1839, Nancy Lawrence 1839,Sarah Lawrence1841, Thomas Lawrence 1844, Robert Lawrence 1846 Mariah Lawrence Dob 1848, Henry 1850,J Samuel Lawrence 1852 William Lawrence 1855, Clarissa Lawrence 1855, Daniel lawrence 1860 . Randolph Lawrence And Second Wife Sallie Baker Children : James Lawrence 1867, Grant Lawrence 1869, Elizebeth Lawrence 1872, Layrawood Lawrence 1878 Henry Lawrence And Wife Elizebeth Calvin Children: Clarrisa , Luther , Mary Louise, Lawrence, 1838 Mariah Lawrence 1845 Margarett Lawrence 1847, Sarah Lawrence 1849 Sa,muel Lawrence 1851, William Jackson Lawrence 1855 Sylvania Lawrence 1858,Elivira Lawrence 1859, Nancy Lawrence 1862, John Lawrence 1864, Unknown Lawrence 1866 Died 1866

Here's the link to Garber again. http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.asp?S=10&T=1&X=2365&Y=20303&Z=15&W=2 We drove off the road you see in the bottom right hand corner of the picture. Those buildings up toward the middle right are about 50 feet up from the bank of Roark Creek. Although my folks say I've been there before, I don't remember it. Grandma's sister Juanita and her husband George HURSH used to own that place, and 500 acres along with it. They sold it back in 1970, thereabouts, bought it in the early 60s. Aunt Juanita ran a beauty shop in downtown Branson during those years, Uncle George was a truck driver. The main house, the big building you see here above the creek from what I can tell, was a restaurant during part of its existence. The building next to it is a concrete-block garage that Uncle George had built. The 3rd building is now an artist's studio, but it was a barn. The fourth building, which you can hardly see, just up from the 3rd, is an old barn built of white oak logs and it has a tin roof. The building below the creek is a hay barn. If you don't know how to get there, you can't find it. There are a bunch of old foundations here. Before they had closed on the place, Aunt Juanita took my dad and grandma down there. One building was stuffed full of furniture and books, they could see through the window, but Aunt Juanita wouldn't let Daddy go in until they signed the paperwork. Daddy was living in Kansas City at the time, and as soon as he could, came back down to go through all the stuff there. By that time, Uncle George had burned all the extra buildings down--and hadn't bothered to go inside to look at what might have been there. No telling what mysteries we have now that might have been solved if Daddy had gotten to it first. This was the old Hardin COX place. (I'm not even going to tell you what they called him for short, but trust me, it's weird to hear your grandmother say those two words together...) Apparently a lot of extended family lived on the place as well, and that's the reason for the extraordinary number of buildings. Hard (b 1875 MO) was married to Martha FRONABERGER (b Feb 1878 AR) 11 Oct 1895 in Taney County. Their daughter Walsie (b Jul 1897) was married to the brother of my g grandmother Sarah, George BULL (b 15 Feb 1894, on Roark). Hard's brother Newt (b Aug 1871 MO) was married to Permilia "Millie" Garber (b 1873 MO), who was a postmistress of the Garber Post Office/General Store, apparently before John Ross re-plotted the town. Their sister Alice (b 1853-1857 IL or MO) was married to Collet McCAULEY (b 1851 MS). Oldest brother William R.'s (b 1854-1856 IL) son William (b 1880 Taney Co. MO) was my step-great grandmother, Dacie JONES's first husband (she was b 1884 MO). Most of these folks are buried down in Gretna Cemetery. On 26 Jul 1919, William and Daisy's daughter Dacie was swimming, and got caught in a whirlpool. William went after her, and got caught as well; neither of them survived. This happened on Roark. You'd never know Roark could have a whirlpool to look at it now. Dry as a bone in lots of places. Dacie JONES COX married Pleasant Andrew WYRE (b 1852 NC), who lived just a short distance away, in 1920. It was a marriage of convenience, apparently. In 1928, Dacie married John Woodrow WILSON (b 1881 Grundy Co. MO), my great-grandfather. She was his 2nd wife, Sarah Elizabeth BULL (b 1885 MO) being his first. And who I got the picture of yesterday... It makes the people real, seeing these places. I never knew any of them, Grandpa John having passed away in 1963. I attended "Daisy's" funeral about 1973, but she'd lived in CA after John died. Grandma Sarah passed away in 1955. When we pulled up, a cowboy-looking fella came walking up, to see what we were doing there. My dad explained it to him, and boy, when you get a bunch of folks talking this kind of thing...we were there 2 hours. The man is Barry Johnson. He is a sculptor, working with bronze and doing Western Art, but that's not all he does. I don't think there's anything he can't do, in the way of repair and building on houses. He designed and built a bridge across Roark Creek in front of his house, and from what we can tell, I don't think that bridge will get washed away like the one Uncle Jim and Uncle George built in the mid-60s, come a flood. Barry's bridge is 82 feet long, built of steel and iron, embedded in rock and concrete. So if you ever see bronze scultures of Western Art, and it's got Barry's name on it, you know...it was designed right here in Taney County. There's much more to Barry's story, but it's not mine to tell. He is not from Taney County, despite the fact he fits right in and has even made good friends with Willard JONES. He is a SD native, but I betcha we get to talkin' someday, and I'll make a connection to MO, better yet, the WRV of southern MO. About Willard JONES. He has been all over the world, building custom log homes. I've not had the pleasure of meeting him yet, but Grandma says he is the son of that Leonard JONES, the one who lived in the place by the trestle downstream. Several of the cabins out at Silver Dollar City were built by Willard. His son works with my dad. So, after all that, I got to see the road leading into Garber, and Barry has said I can come back anytime to go to the old Post Office, a stone building that is supposed to be all that's left. We had to get back to town, and didn't get there today. But you know what? It was a good day, anyway... Y'all have a great week. Vonda ListMom for MOTaney and the White River Valley http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~moarwrv/

Last night, we made plans to go find Garber again today--Grandma was mad that I went without her again yesterday. When my grandma gets mad, a steel rod goes right down her spine, and she grows from about 4 ft 11 in to Mad-Tall. You can imagine her totin' a shotgun sometimes, depending on what she's mad about, but I've not seen her actually do so... My uncle Jim Wilson, his son Chad, and another cousin, Vernon, were sitting outside waiting for breakfast when Greg and I pulled into Grandma's this morning. After me being antsy for a while, we hauled Daddy in the Blazer with us, and Uncle Jim--Daddy's youngest sib--followed in his late-model Chrysler. I knew we wouldn't be going as far as I'd've liked to--Uncle Jim's been living in the Kansas City area an awful long time, and you just don't take some vehicles up some roads...<BG> Drove down "Church" Road again, this time with commentary from Daddy. One of the oldest houses you see is just before you hit the steep part of the hillside; it is a 2 story, with the bottom story rock, and the front-to-back slant-roofed 2nd story wood (an addition after the original was built). My great-grandfather and his 2nd wife had lived in this house in 1934, and Grandma and Grandpa had lived at the same time, in a log cabin across the road from it. Across the road from the house now is a subdivision. This same house was up for sale not long ago, and Ingrid and I had talked about it when we went gallivantin' last week. I forgot to tell you--all the buildings on the Jones place, if I'm remembering correctly--were of plank wood construction. None of them were logs. I don't know where the nearest saw mill was to Garber, but it'd be interesting finding out. Went past the trestle again, and on up the valley. There's a small creek running in the area of the Jones' Place, but Daddy and I couldn't agree on its name. Too far north to actually be Roark. It was totally dry, too. Went on past the backside of the Henning State Forest, crossed the "crick"--Roark--and come on around. By this time, we're on a narrow dirt road. What y'all may not be understanding...there were apparently 2 Garbers. The early one was closer to the Jones' Place, and the gravel road that Terri and I walked yesterday was the old road between Gretna and Garber. The second one, the one that John K. Ross ("Old Matt" from "The Shepherd of the Hills", according to local legend) plotted about 1907 was a bit farther west and north. Step by step, so you can see what I'm talking about... Go to http://www.terraserver.microsoft.com/ and type in "Branson". Click on the aerial photo. The picture you'll get then will have Lake Taneycomo snaking through the right side. Off to the lower left-hand corner you'll see where "back-up" is from Table Rock Lake--the dam is not in view. In roughly the center of the picture, you'll see a valley snaking away to the upper left--that's Roark Valley. BTW, there are NO straight roads here--LOL--what those lines are, if they aren't super-imposed latitude-longitude lines, are where the powerlines for electricity run through the hills. There's a big ole' white spot in the upper 1/3 of the picture. To the right of that is Hwy 248. To the left is Roark Valley. If you click on that, you'll see it's a rock quarry. Play around some, go south, and you'll see in the Valley a long building alongside the railroad track--if you use Royal Oak Charcoal, that's where it comes from, the Keeter Charcoal Factory (I think they actually call it Royal Oak now.) There's where the town of Gretna was. Gretna Cemetery is at the north end of the factory building. If you're on the 4 km view, up the hill to the right of the Charcoal plant is Branson Meadows Factory Outlet center--it kinda looks like a wagon train circled for the night. The road running along it is called Gretna Road...4 lanes. This picture is http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.asp?S=12&T=1&X=595&Y=5071&Z=15&W=2 Getting back to Garber...keep traveling, clicking on the arrows outside the picture, northwest. http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.asp?S=12&T=1&X=593&Y=5073&Z=15&W=2 should get you to where the quarry is in the right center of your picture. Dewey Bald is the lower left hand corner, with a corner of Hwy 76 (the trail no one knows how old) snaking through. Sycamore Log Church Road is on the upper right, coming down and making a sharp turn to the left. The Sycamore Log Church is in that corner, if I'm not mistaken, and there are still worship services held there (they were in services this morning as we went through). Follow the road down to where it veers up again, turning right. That's the railroad trestle at the Jones place. Click on that trestle until you get to the 1 mile view. (It says Zoom on the upper left corner of the map, then what view you're on.) Now click here. I can't tell you how I got here....LOL http://terraserver.microsoft.com/image.asp?S=10&T=1&X=2365&Y=20303&Z=15&W=2 There is a trestle there, crossing the East Fork of Roark Creek (which goes north, I'm not even going to try to figure that out). The houses down to the right from the 2 branches junction comprise a ranch called "Peaceful Valley". Garber, the one my grandmother knew, was just to the west of the trestle. Up over the incline of the railroad, and back down... The ledge rock/shelf rock road that I took the Cavalier up back in August is at the bottom, going up over Cox Bald. You keep clicking that direction, and you won't be able to see it for the trees, hardly, but it comes out on a loop of Hwy 76. These maps are old, for that loop has been cut off, in preparation for the Ozark Mtn. Highroad. Enough geography. I gotta story to tell. Vonda

Howdy! I don't know about y'all, but the changing of the seasons is always an exciting time for me. Of course, I live here in Taney County, where each season gets its just due, if Mother Nature and El Nino/Nina don't fight too much...we haven't had a real winter now for several years. And the White River (the lakes that now ARE the White--Beaver, Table Rock, Taneycomo, Bull Shoals, and Norfolk--5 I believe) is lower than anyone remembers; the creeks can be easily walked across, water appearing and disappearing in shallow pools at will. This weekend was my Wilson Family Reunion. About 50 of us were present Saturday, with folks visiting from all over. A distant cousin, Rod Bias and his wife Suzanne even drove in from Phoenix, AZ, to attend this year. Pama Nash Wilder, one of my double/triple cousins LOL, came down and met her Wilson cousins for the first time ('ceptin' me, of course), and had herself a blast. I found out I'd gone to school with even more cousins (Don, are you listening?), the children of Georgine Boswell Cummings. LOL I don't know if it happens to y'all or not, but I've met folks at funerals and weddings both, after seeing them for years around Branson (likely as customers at WalMart), never knowing we are cousins until those events, when we get to asking how come the other one is there...<BG> My cousin Judy Boyd JOHNSON--her husband's JOHNSON family are from the Ava, Douglas Co. area--gave me a picture of our g grandparents, Sarah Elizabeth BULL and John Woodrow WILSON. Her grandmother, Martha Annis (she md William McKinley "Bill" JONES) was about 3 in the picture, and our g uncle Franklin Sherman WILSON is still a babe in arms. This is the first decent picture of Sarah I've ever seen--and boy, between her and my g grandmother Lula May OVERSTREET MACOMB, you know where I get my looks. Made my day for a week, getting that picture, which was taken about 1906. Most of y'all know, I'm bound to go out "gallivantin'". Just hop in the car and go, seeing what there is to see. Best kind of day there is, far as I'm concerned, is when Greg and I can get up and just jump in the car with my notepad, chalk for any tombstones we might find, and hiking boots, and take off. Well, yesterday, another Wilson cousin, Terri Tindall, and I went lookin' for Garber. Now, I know I've been out lookin' for it before, taking my little Cavalier up the shelf-rock/ledge rock road from Roark Valley to an old part of Hwy 76, close to Silver Dollar City. Don't know what the road is called now, but back when the Railroad first came to Taney County, tourists would ride down to the small village of Garber, get off, and then get a wagon ride up this road to visit Marvel Cave. That was in the early 1900s, and after the book "Shepherd of the Hills" was published in 1907 (if you haven't read it, you really need to), the number of visitors to the area exploded... Anyhow, Terri and I got to talking yesterday, and we kinda snuck out of the Reunion--Greg and my parents had run home for this and that, the kids were visiting friends for the day. Now, if you've seen my picture at the WRV site (click on "About Stuff" if you haven't), you know I'm not much on doodads, and for some reason this year, I've started wearing long broomstick skirts and flats. Which I wore yesterday. Go figure. We went driving out Hwy 248, and just west of where the Old Boston Road meets 248, turned south again down Sycamore Log Church Road. This road, another old road, leads down from an area called Skyline. You can see this if you go to http://www.terraserver.microsoft.com/ , type in "Garber, MO", and it'll come up with 2 maps. Neither are real recent, but you get some idea from the aerial photo of the land we're dealing with. There are a few old rock houses with some excellent rock work along the road. The road travels down, down, down, into the valley; you cross at the bottom under a nearly 100-year-old railroad trestle. Before the trestle, there's some old buildings--a barn, a couple of sheds, an outhouse, a gate with a stile--right alongside the road. Went on past to the backside of the Ruth and Paul Henning State Conservation Department Forest, where there's the 4 mile hiking trail that goes past some other old buildings and glades the Con. Dept is working on. We parked there, and walked to the ford there at Roark Creek, an old cement slab. Then we turned around and went back to the buildings at the trestle. Remember now, I'm in an ankle-length long skirt, with a denim vest and flat shoes, no socks. Terri was smart and wore blue jeans yesterday. We parked at the foot of a gravel road that climbed the hill--it's an extremely narrow "cut" in the valley--the road is blocked off by a cattle gate. First, we went around the gate and walked up the gravel road, and we see the buildings from above. See more that we want to get to, but there's a "bob-wire" fence. So we went back down and walked along Sycamore Log Church Road to the gate, and took the path up this hill. Overgrown with brush, the path had been delineated--not a word most hillbillies use, BTW--with field stone, and steps were laid, again with stone. Wooden hand rail still standing. On the steep part of the bench--we're looking at the buildings all the while--the steps were overgrown with brush, but you can see iris beds and that someone had spent an enormous amount of time landscaping. The bench, while a natural part of the hill, kinda like a pause in the downhill aspect, had been "terraced" with natural stone. The part we were standing in front of, someone had taken flakes of limestone and covered the foot of this part of the bench--it was about 3 ft in height. We climbed it. We were standing on an old roadbed. Didn't appear to have ever been graveled, and right in front of us was what appeared to be an old small barn--but I'm not sure. The front was open, and it was roughly 16 ft tall, built with the hill rising at its back. Two stories, with the bottom part having been built of rock, the top floor of planks. Some of the rock had caved in, but you could make out a short doorway into the bottom floor. Inside this floor, which wasn't tall enough to stand in unless you're under 5 ft tall, there was a crib. Top floor could easily have been hay storage, or maybe it was a corn crib, I don't know. I didn't see a hole in the top floor for hay to be pitched down, but I didn't go inside--the wood was not safe. The floor of the top story was above our heads, and the door on the right led onto a path which met the road we were on some 15-20 more to the right. I would say it might have been a cow barn, maybe for an expectant cow to be penned up. More rock work and iris beds. We turned right, and an old foundation of rock, with 2 concrete porches was on the right side of the road. The path we had been on apparently had led to a door in this house, which was pretty good-sized. Weeds in the roadbed were about knee-high as we walked along, trying to figure out if this was the original site of Garber. Awful lot of buildings--there was an old cabin to the left of the house foundation, with a rock fireplace. Across from it was another shed-type structure, this one open-fronted as well. There wasn't any wood lying there to tell if it had a front. You could tell the big house had burned. A water pump was in the concrete of the front porch, and there were holes in the concrete where the logs had supported the roof. The railroad trestle was not more than 50 feet behind this house, and a path from it led down to the trestle. Made me think it had been a store, with the owner living in the cabin next to it. Even though my grandma has about 8 sheds on her place for storage, she's not a farmer and her buildings are full of stuff. I couldn't see how this wouldn't have been a small village, with the rock work along the old road bed, and the many buildings. The roadbed ran parallel to the graveled road Terri and I had walked up, and went past the cabin into a turnaround. By this time, I realized that my skirt was covered with burrs. Of many kinds. Now, I've never seen a burr plant, don't have any idea what burrs come off of, but I was covered from ankle to about 3 feet high. Made it worse that my skirt is extremely full-cut--lots of fabric. Terri had burrs on her legs as well, and the denim shirt she'd tied around her waist was coated with them. Realizing we needed to get back--Mom had made chili for the clan, and we hadn't told anyone where we were going--we started to go back down the way we came up. Nope. That limestone flake was NOT the way to get back down. There's a couple, three buildings between the old roadbed and Sycamore Log Church Road. An outhouse, a probable chicken coop, something else I couldn't tell you the use of. A really big barn was across "Church" Road, and a couple more smaller sheds between it and the pavement. The front of that big barn appears to be right on the train track. We didn't go look. We followed the roadbed down to the fork where we'd parked. What appeared to be poison ivy blocked the way going around the cattle gate on the left end; dense brush and "bob-wire" was between the right end and the gate that blocked the gravel road. The only thing to do was climb over the gate. These gates neither one had fencing attached, and stand at least 6 feet high. Terri went first, me holding her camera. Then I handed it and my ever-present Diet Dr. Pepper to her, and started up. Heard a car coming, and I honestly don't remember the last time I moved so fast--but I flew over the top of that gate, skirt flyin' as well. Landed with a nice thud, and had gathered my ladylike facade by the time the truck came rollin' by. Terri was still laughin' when we got into the car. The Empty Gas Tank light came on--my gallivantin' buddies know it's always an adventure when I get to goin'--and we made it back to civilization and a gas station just fine. Everyone was rather jealous when we got back to the Reunion late, but they'd left us some chili just the same. Grandma says that that place was the old Leonard Jones place. In the 1910 census, he is 14, living with his parents Calvin age 37 b MO (parents b KY) and Clara Siegal/Siegel age 34 b OH. They were md 4 Dec 1892 in Taney County. There was a brother Lonny age 16, and a brother Elmer, age 1 1/2. This was Branson Twp, although it's not far from the boundary shared with Jasper Twp. Since Grandma was born about 2 miles west of the Jones place in 1915, I'm suspecting she never knew Leonard's parents. The buildings are all, but for the burned house, standing where they were built; some have some roofs fallen in somewhat. The rock work...man, it's something to see. However--I don't advise going onto folks' places unless you know the owner, or if you get permission. There's no one living within 2 miles of this place--can you imagine?--and I knew, because of the good condition it was in, that a native owned it. Not that I'm special, but my Daddy is, and if he isn't related to someone in this area, he knows them! I figured if someone came haulin' after us with a shotgun, seeing 2 women--one wearing a skirt in the woods, for idiocy's sake--we'd just do like always, and ask if they know about this place. Most of the time, that'll get you all kinds of stories, and the natives, if you can't tell, we like to tell stories. I spent the rest of the evening picking burrs from outside and inside my skirt--retaining my facade--and listened to kin singin' blue grass and "Rocky Top". That was Saturday. Boy, wait till you hear about today. Vonda Wilson Sheets ListMom for MOTaney and MO-AR-WRV http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~moarwrv/

My father was from Sulphur Springs AR. Now before I get a map or check a history book, Is this area part of White River Valley? Vonda, I loved reading your message! Charles ==== MO-AR-WRV Mailing List ==== Visit the White River Valley web! http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~moarwrv/ ============================== Search over 64,000,000 records in the Social Security Death Index: http://ssdi.rootsweb.com/

>>Sulphur Springs AR. Now before I get a map or check a history book, Is this area part of White River Valley?<< Charles, According to my topographical map, there are at least 4 towns in AR named Sulphur Springs. One in Benton County (extreme NW corner, borders MO, OK, and waves hello to KS). One in Yell County, not far from the AR river. One in Jefferson County, near Pine Bluff, further down the AR. And the 4th is in Ashley county, not more 'n a hoot from Lews-ee-anna. That's in order, from northernmost to southernmost. I bet AR post office folks get real confused, and hafta look at the zip code. Since I don't know which Sulphur Springs your father's from, I can't tell which watershed fer shure...but I'd be more 'n happy to make ya an honorary hillbilly (and technically speaking, none of them are White River Valley), 'specially if you're from that southernmost one...pore fella. Some folks on this list could fill you in on hillbilly language, and the rest of us can chip in and buy you a corncob pipe. But if you're from that Benton County Sulphur Springs (someone spelled them names wrong, they used that "ph" thang instead of a plain ole "f" and fancified it), you'd qualify as a hillbilly anyhow, and we'd just let you come on home to the White River Valley. And thanks for the nice words! Vonda Wilson Sheets ListMom for the MOTANEY and MO-AR-WRV lists at Rootsweb http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~moarwrv/

Bravo Vonda! You really can paint a pic. WONDERFUL

Hello! Well...we have new folks aboard, and hardly any posts lately. Nothing new, but don't go figuring I'm going to let y'all rest on your laurels. The Taney Co. Cem pages have gone out in the mail, and hopefully, we'll have them online this winter. Thanks in advance to all who volunteered to transcribe! The White River Valley Historical Society will be celebrating its 40th anniversary next year (2001). Many of the folks who started the society, or became members early in its existence, are still out there, writing and documenting and doing what they can to preserve our past. As the years have crept up on them, the ability to do as much as they did in earlier times has slowly gotten away from them. They are still energetic, knowledgeable, and excited about history and genealogy. It is time to honor them, the Jerry Gideons, the Bob Mileys, the Pauline Layton Bartons, the Viola Hartmans and Phyllis VanderNaalds, the Ruth Ashers and the others whose names I'm not as aware of. They've kept the society going in times of apathy and seeming disintegration, writing articles and books, finding cemeteries and transcribing them, attending any and all historical conferences and gatherings--staying involved. They've quietly gone about their passions and obsessions, and should be able to look with pride on their work and feel a deep satisfaction that it was important. For it is due to them that we have the wealth of material available to us, the younger generation coming up behind them. There are meeting minutes with Elmo Ingenthron; quarterlies with interviews with those who actually settled the White River Valley; and the memories of this Banner Generation are a gold mine in themselves. Plans are in the works to make some noise next year. Expansion of Law Day, in conjunction with the annual Bass Roundup in Forsyth. Membership drives. Community activities, aimed at involving the younger families. A Trail and brochure marking historical places in Taney county; plans to do the same in other counties eventually, which we'll need help from everyone on. Marking where the old cemeteries, cabins, stores, roads, and other spots of historical interest are located. Other parts of the USA might be in danger of losing their pasts to "progress", new building and new residents. I only know about this part of the US, the White River Valley of Missouri and Arkansas. The new folks move here because there is still an aura of the ages, an essence of timelessness, even while the latest technology is available in the hospitals and homes. But they don't know about the Bald Knobbers, Murder Rocks, the old newspapers, the teamsters being trapped in one camp for days on end because the White and its tributaries were flooded. They don't know about free range hogs, Harold Bell Wright, Bonniebrook, bushwhackers, shelf-rock roads, Kimberling and Hensley and Moore ferries, the first bridge across the White, moonshining, cabin fires that destroyed the family Bibles and pictures that we wish we had today. They don't know, and we tend to not tell them, jealously guarding our past without making it visible that we are proud of the fact our people were tough enough to eke out a living here for a time. Some of us had people who only stayed here for one or two generations; the land and the frontier drew them here, and when another place called them to move on, they did so, leaving parts of themselves behind in the rough hills and narrow valleys that later generations "remember". I met a lady at the Forsyth Library a couple of weeks ago, in the genealogy department. I was there for another reason, but reasons sometimes get lost in events mysteriously taking place in a pattern you only see in hindsight. This lady was the age of my parents, maybe a bit older; she had been born and raised in CA, I believe, and had moved to Taney County 10 years ago because she and her husband decided to retire here. She said she had been gratified to feel like she was coming home. In recent years since, she started doing her genealogy, and was shocked to discover that her grandfather had been born and raised in Taney County, not far from where she currently lives. She had never known, and marveled at the fact she had, in effect, come full circle. Totally unaware. I've never lived anywhere but Missouri, and I haven't traveled much. I've talked about that before, and I've talked about "primitive memories", the kind Jack London attributes to Buck the dog in "The Call of the Wild". I believe that our bodies retain, somehow, "memories" that pull us to live in certain places, in a certain manner, and act/react in a certain way to certain events in our lives. Those of you who haven't been able to come back--and I say come back, because a part of you "knows" this place, even if you've never been here--when you are finally able to, I believe you will also feel like you are coming home. There are places--the lookout just north of Forsyth, where you can see the former resort community of Long Beach across Taneycomo and DOWN--straight down, almost; the bridge over the James River at Galena in Stone County; marveling at Berryville, down in Carroll County, set on a small hill in the middle of a valley, surrounded by much higher hills; traveling the ridge roads, and hearing the teamsters' yelling at their mules and the creaking of the wagons as they rock over the ruts and the shelf rock. Many more places, the old fords and the ridge tops, the cemeteries, the ruins of cabins and ghost towns like Denver; War Eagle; others I'm not mentioning for space, and because they all speak to that part of us that remembers. The founding members, and members who joined in the early years, of the WRV Historical Society, they know what I'm talking about. Yes, it's mystical, heart-rending, magical, and obsessive...but it's home. Even if you've never been here, or if it's been years since you grew up swimming in the numerous creeks called Bear and Beaver and Indian and Turkey, it's home if you had people here. I invite you to get involved by submitting a couple of paragraphs of family lore to the WRV quarterly, telling the story of how your people came here, and why they might have left. By doing so, you get involved--heavy word until you think about it--and you preserve a piece of yourself, and honor those who came and went before you. Tell your stories here, on this list, and let me know if you'd like it submitted to the quarterly--I'll do it for you. Join the society, and read about others who might have known your people... I invite you, if you ever get the chance, to come home. Vonda

It has been so quiet that I hope you all do not mind me sending this to more than one list ...... I am definitely hitting a brick wall here, and several other folks are also researching this same couple. William and Isabella Mitchell were tied to several local families via their children and spouses; these tie to the Roberts, Workman, Shipman, and other families in the area. > > > I am trying to find the burial place for William C. Mitchell. He was > born > > in 1801 and died in about 1861 or so, after drowning in the Sak River. > > > > He was married to Mary Isabella Bennett, who was a midwife in Greene and > > then Christian Co, after she moved there with her second husband, Isaac > > Peacock. > > > > If anyone has any idea about these folks, please let me know. We are > trying > > to find Isabella and Williams' burial places. > > > > Thanks! > > > > Jerry Johnston > > > > Gerald Hankins "Jerry" Johnston > > > > Researching the following families: Adkins, Austin, Bills, Caudle, > Coulter, > > Covington, Elledge, Ferguson, Forrester, Foster, Frank, George, Greenback, > > Hankins, Hess, Higginbotham, Hutson, Johnson, Johnston, Kicenski, > Mitchell, > > Mustain, Narramore, Reece, Roberts, Schell, Schwegler, Self, Stacey, > > Stephens, Tinsley, Traylor, Van Der Grift, Watts, and various and sundry > > others! > > >

This came to me from Bob Doerr, who has done great work with MO family history. Take out the MO part, and except for TX and CA, which have their indexes online, send it to your own candidates in other states, if you see a need for it. And pass it on! Vonda Genealogical Researchers in Missouri: Let's really push for opening of the Missouri vital records 72 years or older. This will require legislative action. Let's get it passed in the up-coming session! Surely, it would be beneficial, during the present campaign, to present this issue to the candidates for state legislature and state senate. The following may help you in your contacts with the candidates in your district. Keep it non-partisan. Dear Legislator Candidate: Many, many Missourians are keenly interested in family history. However, some are impeded by a problem that exists with regard to the State Vital Records Office and which, indeed, would exist in any similar situation. The time has arrived for microfilm copies of the Missouri vital records (72 years old or older), and indexes at the State Vital Records Office in the Department of Health to be made available to the public at the State Archives. A 72-year interval is not arbitrary. Owing to the Federal regulation that census data remain closed for 72 years, that interval has become a de facto standard in the USA. A 72-year interval suffices for privacy. Justification: Family Historians must be enabled to study record after record, not just seek one record at a time, and especially not have to work through an intermediary person or to depend on an index. That is essential, because of the many problems in interpretation of hand-written records, many typos, many spelling variations in names, even many variations in names themselves. There are many entries in which the surnames are mis-spelled. Here is an example. One researcher's great-grandma's married name was Zakrzewski, a name that, with the silent 'k', is more often butchered than not. She died in St. Louis some time after May, 1910. Surely, her death is recorded in the State Vital Records office The only practical way to find her death data would be to search all the surnames that begin "Za", "Ze", "Sa" or "Se" in that time period. Repeated tries thru the Vital Records Office have been costly, but not successful. In another case, a researcher submitted formal requests and fees to a vital records office (not Jefferson City) for his aunt's birth and death dates. He knew, and stated, that she was born and had died in the 1890s. They reported finding neither birth nor death records. As it happens, those older birth and death records are open. When he reviewed the microfilms, he found both her birth and death data. And he found that her birth name differed from her baptismal name and from her name at death! The latter had been the only name that he had known for her. Perhaps that vital records office's index cards were out of sequence. More likely, they had her recorded by only one of her names. Because hand-written capital letters are the most troublesome, it often happens that indexes are severely deficient. Yet a governmental office can only check via an index. The Soundex system is similarly deficient, for it, too, depends on the surname initial. All that is needed is to add to Sect. 193.245 of RSMO 1994 a new sub-paragraph as follows: (4) The department shall provide microfilms of all vital records that are 72 years old or older, and microfilms of indexes to such records, to the State Archives for study by the public. Please note that this would in no way interfere with the present practices of the vital records office. In the most-recent legislature, different bills were introduced into each house, and hearings were held, but no action has yet been taken. Will you support family researchers in this effort?

Kinney and some of his companions were hanging around Forsyth on 2 Mar 1886, swearing they knew all about the meeting of the ABK the day before, and its purpose. They made open threats against them, stating they knew all involved and that "revenge is ours." Judge REYNOLDS alone traveled to Jeff City, for BURDETTE and Pastor Jurd HAWORTH decided not to go. On 5 Mar, REYNOLDS presented the petition to Gov. MARMADUKE, and told him what was going on in Taney County. He said that the citizens who'd signed the petition were in hopes of avoiding open warfare, and begged for the gov. to send the state militia to Taney County. The gov. declined, but said he would send a representative to investigate matters by accumulating facts from both sides and analyzing the situation. Lingering at the state capital a few more days, Reynolds told a reporter for the Jefferson City Tribune that he knew the people of Taney would organize their own militia, at least those who weren't involved with the BK. He claimed they did not want to fight "mob-to-mob", for they opposed taking the law into their own hands. He also said the BK knew of his involvement, but that he could protect himself. Marmaduke being a Democrat, the ABK had assumed he would jump right in the mess, being glad to get rid of the Republican BK. Investigation of the cabins that farmers had claimed were shot at during the night after Coggburn's death showed that at least one didn't have any bullet holes in it. But John HAWORTH found spent ammo in one of children's beds, and this prompted another meeting, this time of ABK who were more extreme in their beliefs and actions. No petition, but action. It was suggested that BK names be put into a hat, and drawn out one at a time, in order of killing. Then a list was made of BK leaders, and they discussed going straight down the list. According to an article in the Kansas City Journal printed in April 1886, Lewis Robinson told a reporter the order of men, the first one, of course, being Kinney. "Deputy Sheriff [Galba] BRANSON, William P. HENSLEY, next; then Rube ISAACS, West BROOKS, Alexander C. KISSEE, John T. Dickenson, and Colonel PRATHER (Alonzo--vks). Then Deputy [Arter] KISSEE, and Sheriff McHaffie were to be corralled, the former to by lynched and the latter to be the first one given any clemency, provided he agreed to hunt down the Bald Knobbers." Robert SNAPP, brother to the hunted Sam, disagreed. He told the others that to do murder was to bring themselves down to the level of the BK. He wasn't saying that the BK didn't need to be dealt with, but he did think there had to be a better way. Other counties under "BK protection" learned of Taney's petition to the gov. and citizens submitted their own. Kinney and his minions heard about this, and by 10 Mar, met and signed resolutions claiming their commitment to bringing justice to their county, and sent their own deputation to Jeff City to tell Gov. Marmaduke that they didn't need the state to "help" them. During the meeting with the Gov (who had already begun assembling troops of the state militia), the deputation, consisting of Sheriff McHaffie, T. W. PHILLIPS and B. B. PRICE, assured the gov that bringing the militia in to knock out the BK would assuredly result in open warfare. That would lay the entire county to waste. They then produced a copy of the county's tax rolls, allegedly comprised of ABK in entirety, and allegedly proved the ABK members either didn't own property or owed back taxes. The gov was convinced to stay out of Taney county, and disbanded his troops. Of course, Reynolds was right, and several groups of ABK militia were in training when he returned to Taney county. The gov. had ordered them to disband, but they bought uniforms and continued enlisting and training. Anonymous letters, penned by ABK, appeared in newspapers outside the county, especially in Springfield. Most letters detailed crimes and terrors perpetrated by the BK. Public calls for the governor to intervene became nation-wide. The TAYLOR family, whose members Frank and Jubal had been the first "victims" of the BK--they were hung in retaliation for attempting to murder John T. DICKENSON--had moved to Lawrence County, MO since the hanging. Shortly before Andrew COGGBURN's death, Frank and Jubal's brother Wm. hired a slightly retarded young man by the name of DIMMOCK to "carry" him to Taney County for a visit. Dimmock owned a horse and buggy for hire, and left with TAYLOR from Marionville. Five days later, Taylor returned alone, with the horse, buggy, and Dimmock's overcoat; he proffered a bill of sale for the horse and buggy, plus assorted other goods for $120, claiming to have paid half to Dimmock, and signed a promissory on the other half. He also claimed Dimmock had left him at Camp Spring (?-vks) to walk to Springfield to catch a train to IL, where his mother lived. At the end of March, a detective found Dimmock's body in a ravine, and returned to Marionville to charge William Taylor with murder. Since the murder took place in Taney County, it was expected to jail Taylor in Forsyth, but Taylor supposedly begged officials not to take him to Taney County. He claimed he wouldn't be alive any longer than it took to put a noose around his neck. Word of this got out, and apparently both the ABK and BK became obsessed with the idea. The ABK threatened to "deal out death and destruction if the BK interfered" with Taylor's stay in the Taney Co. Jail. The BK wanted to be sure Taylor received a fair trial, and that Taney County would deal out a legal execution if Taylor was convicted. 7 Apr 1886, MO Adjutant General James Carson JAMISON left Jeff City at the behest of Gov. Marmaduke, to conduct an investigation into Taney County's troubles. On 9 Apr, his first meeting was with Kinney and a large number of prominent citizens, both BK and ABK. While the session was going on, all the argument resulted in nothing, since, as John HAWORTH claimed, Kinney "butted in all the time." Jamison was a "forty-niner", having panned for gold in CA. He served in Nicaragua (according to Ingenthron and Hartman) under General William Walker. And he fought for the Confederacy under Sterling Price. He'd been a POW, and afterwards, a newspaper editor. After hearing from both sides, including hearing the BK Oath from Joe McGILL, who'd brought 27 men from his company, Jamison stated that he believed the people of Taney county to be good citizens with good motives. He also stated that any organization without state charter was unlawful, and that he found 2 unlawful organizations (referring to the ABK which was then known as militia). He told both sides that if they would disband and go home, the state wouldn't get further involved. But if they didn't, the state militia would come in, and bring peace and order at COUNTY expense. Neither group wanted that. Kinney was given 48 hours to disband. Jamison felt that if Kinney did follow through, the militia would have no further reason to be active, and would also disband. Within a short time after the meeting was over, Jamison arranged to see Kinney alone, for he felt Kinney wouldn't even bother calling his followers in. He assured Kinney that the state militia was already assembled, and only awaited his word to mobilize. If that was to happen, he told Kinney that Kinney would be imprisoned in less than 48 hours. The threat worked. Supposedly. 10 Apr 1886, Kinney called a meeting. Counts of over 300 men showed up in Forsyth, assembling without their masks on the courthouse lawn. Jamison reminded the men, who represented all occupations and classes within the county, that they owned property and that their families lived in Taney County. He didn't find it likely that they wished for the violence to continue, and if it did, it would be setting a terrible example for their children. After Jamison's short speech, Kinney then reiterated the BK Oath and purpose, claiming victory since Taney County was now peaceful. He counseled his shocked men to disband, and stepped down as chieftain. He also appointed a committee to draw up resolutions of dissolution, naming Alonzo PRATHER in charge. Jamison then returned to Jeff City. The document was unanimously approved on 11 Apr 1886 by the BK, and was sent to the governor on 12 Apr. He also sent copies to many of the newspapers which had been reporting the trouble in Taney. From Ingenthron and Hartman--(caps mine--vks) "The committee signing the document included Alonzo PRATHER, chairman; J. B. RICE, T.W. PHILLIPS, J. R. VAN ZANDT, and P. F. FICKLE. The only signer from the initial committee appointed by Kinney on Saturday was Prather. The original committee consisted of W. H. POLLARD, Elverton C. CLAFLIN, W. G. CONNOR, T. W. PRICE, and Kinney's stepson, James DELONG. We can only speculate why this change took place. Perhaps all the appointees but Prather refused to accept the obligation because one, they detested the idea of disbanding the Bald Knobbers; or, two, their signatures would constitute perjury since they knew Kinney had no intention of calling a halt to Taney County's vigilante activity." For the floggings, shootings, and threats continued. Some of the BK apparently did disband. Those that did believed that the later acts of violence were done by the ABK or other enemies, never by any of their former companions. Many of the acts of violence during the open BK reign were also attributed to enemies, in later years, by these men. Kinney himself never openly acted as chieftain after the meeting in front of Jamison, and never called another open meeting. Despite being "disbanded", enrollment continued; it was said that Kinney enlisted more men of questionable character in an effort to get himself voted sheriff. Charter members, including George BRAZEAL, dropped out when they realized Kinney's plans, not wanting to associate with the newer members. Again from Ingenthron and Hartman-- "Disaffected Taney Countians lost all hope for peace and prosperity, and several well-to-do families shipped their children away to school so they needn't associate with the "Sunday school crowd"--an ironic euphemism for Kinney and his friends. Other settlers tried to sell their properties and move away, never to return. But publicity about the strife in Taney County made it almost impossible to find buyers... Those who didn't sell took extended trips to other counties and states, planning to saty away until the hatreds and vengeances died down... Joe MCGILL left after arsonists destroyed the gristmill he'd built south of the White River. Assuming that an ABK had lit the torch, the embittered Taney County pioneer moved to Oklahoma Territory.... Judge REYNOLDS sold his interest in the family's water-powered mill and cotton gin located up Swan Creek from Forsyth....afraid that the BK would burn down his mill to avenge MCGILL's, the anti-vigilante moved his family to Washington Territory." The Prather family also moved away, going to St. Clair Co. MO for a couple of years after Alonzo and Kinney almost came to blows in an argument in Prather's front yard. Prather's daughter, Mary Elizabeth Mahnkey, a well-known newspaper columnist and writer (and mother of Douglas Mahnkey, an early 1900s lawyer who has written several books on Taney County and its family) in adulthood, recalled watching the argument. Both men, although big, were aging, and Mary Elizabeth's mother, Ada Maria, supposedly stepped between them despite her petite size, and called them "two old gray-headed fools." No fight, but the Prathers moved. A group of businessmen offered to buy Kinney's land if he would leave Taney County forever. He refused. Prayer meetings were held in which God was requested to strike Kinney dead with a bolt of lightning. Kinney grew less adventurous as his awareness increased of a price on his head amongst certain individuals. Then, George Washington MIDDLETON volunteered to become his body guard.

Hmmm. Family's in bed, I have NO new books to read at the moment and I'm not in the mood to re-read a whole bunch...what SHALL I do? Keep a promise made a month ago. Here's more Bald Knobber stuff. Remember, the sources I use are Ingenthron and Hartman's book "The Bald Knobbers: Vigilantes on the Ozarks Frontier" and a few other smaller sources. The book cited above is the only book by Ingenthron still in print--I believe you can still buy it at barnesandnoble.com. While it is fairly accurate, mostly due to Elmo Ingenthron, I suspect, he really didn't write it so much as he was the main source of info--he'd written extensively over the years about the Bald Knobbers. Many of his writings can be found in the WRVHQ, which you can access off the WRV website. While on the subject of his books, if you ever, EVER run across Elmo Ingenthron books at a yard sale, book shop, or what-have-you, email me and plan to buy them. I will reimburse you. This goes for all parts of the country, for none of Elmo's own books are still in print. I've been on waiting lists in 3 book shops for over a year, and I've only been able to nab one, "Indians of the Ozark Plateau". He also wrote "Land of Taney." Of course, now that I'm thinking about it, I can't remember his other titles. Doesn't matter. I want the books, and I know others who are looking. BK is short for Bald Knobbers, ABK, the Anti Bald Knobbers. I believe I've discovered 10 ways to mistype both. Here we go... Taney County was a morass of fraud and corruption in its elected offices. When the courthouse burned in Oct 1885, there was no money to build a new one. No one had much in the way of hard cash--the barter system was dominant, professionals, merchants and farmers trading what they had in exchange for what they could get in supplies and services. Men paid poll taxes by working on the county roads--I believe it was for a certain amount of time every year, but I don't know that for sure. The BK, by stating they were going to clean up the county, managed to get their people elected into office. Nat Kinney was a strong leader, and the number of men who joined the BK rose as folks grew afraid--it seemed you had to either declare for or against them. If you were a member of a family that was prominent, yet still against the BK, you ran the risk of being visited by the night riders. Ingenthron and Hartman's book states that if the ABK had someone as strong and "charismatic" as Nat Kinney to organize them and keep them in line, Taney County would have "exploded into one of the most deadly factional wars ever witnessed in the United States." But those who were strongly against the BK were unable to agree on how to combat them, so they remained unable to stop them. But they tried. The ABK counted the number of BK victims, folks who they felt either were bullied or who missed out on getting a fair trial. A good number of the ABK were Democrat in their political beliefs. This included the SNAPP family, the LAYTONS, the COGGBURNs, and others. There were at least 15 men dead, killed by the Bald Knobbers; 3 men and 3 women shot and wounded; 2 women and too many men to count who had been whipped. Some thought the number of dead was over 30, not including 4 women. Yet there had been no arrests of any night rider, let alone a trial or conviction. And this was in Taney County alone. Christian County and Douglas County also had organized bands of the BK. Kinney helped those bands organize, as well, but he remained in Taney County, except for quick visits. Newspapers from around the state and the entire nation printed articles about the BK, haranguing Kinney for his tactics. Accounts were often exaggerated, detailed enough about attacks and visits made by the night riders, that MO's governor and other state officials finally noticed. Kinney, enjoying the attention, increased his followers' activities. However, some people remained undaunted. Andrew COGGBURN was one. In 1879, COGGBURN's father, James, was murdered by men who later became BK. They ran the widow an dher children off their farm, located near Mincy, and the family was soon split up. Andrew remained in the vicinity of the Oak Grove schoolhouse, where Kinney was a preacher, and often heckled Kinney for preaching a 3 hr sermon, then going out to kill someone. Descendants of Sam SNAPP say that he wasn't good friends with Andy COGGBURN, but accounts vary. Some say they were very close, sneaking up to BK hideouts and watching the secret rituals, then sneaking away, making fun of the motions and solemnity to friends and family. Others say SNAPP was in the wrong place at the wrong time. COGGBURN was beaten by the BK one night for singing a song called "The Anti-Bald Knobber Song". It still didn't deter him from making fun of the BK, and from all accounts, he was both brave and foolhardy. I'll post the lyrics in another e. COGGBURN also nicknamed KINNEY "The Old Blue Gobbler" and began cackling like a tom turkey whenver he was near any known member of the BK. COGGBURN did more. He and family members interrupted KINNEY's church services; they attended them all, even though they claimed to not want a church/Sunday School in their neighborhood. They would make ribald responses back to KINNEY's sermonizing, and other church members began demanding that the law do something about it. Andy was arrested and charged with concealed weapons, but he paid his $25 fine and continued his harassment. The prosecutor at the time swore out a warrant a short time later, charging Andy with disturbing the peace. Kinney asked to be deputized, and when given the warrant for Andy's arrest, said he would "try to arrest Coggburn" at the first opportunity. 28 Feb 1886, Andy was in Kinney's church, attending services. Galba BRANSON, who was Sheriff, saw Andy and immediately left to find KINNEY, to warn him of Coggburn's presence at the church. Shortly after KINNEY's arrival, a large number of his followers pulled up on their horses as well. KINNEY, who for some reason wasn't preaching that night, waited until services were ended before approaching the building with gun in hand. SNAPP and COGGBURN had heard the commotion outside, and figured someone had slipped out to warn KINNEY that COGGBURN was present. SNAPP and COGGBURN walked outside, according to Ingenthron. Some SNAPP descendants say that Sam happened to walk out a short time after COGGBURN, just in time to see KINNEY and COGGBURN meet in the pathway to the horses. Kinney demanded that Coggburn surrender for arrest by throwing up his hands. If you go by Ingenthron, Sam Snapp immediately complied, but Coggburn reached into his hip pocket for his revolver. Kinney, who had already set his gun on Andy, fired instantly, shooting Coggburn in the area of the heart; Andy died instantly. Accounts of Andy's gun varied, depending on whether it was a BK or not testifying. John HAWORTH, who also apparently saw the shooting or was there immediately afterwards (again, accounts differ), claimed that Coggburn had both arms in the air. HAWORTH, a highly respected citizen by all, was also ABK, but few messed with him, either way. SNAPP claimed that Andy was unarmed, and that Kinney shot him in cold blood. Immediately after shooting Andy, Kinney turned to Snapp and asked what he intended to do. Snapp replied that he was unarmed and Kinney made him stay inside the schoolhouse until a law officer arrived. Of course, the sound of gunfire brought everyone. The BK immediately took charge, bringing the benches out of the building and arranging them in a circle around Coggburn's body. Sam Snapp claimed to see one of Kinney's men place a pistol in Andy's hand, and when he asked why, was told that "Cap'n Kinney told me to." Some said that when officials arrived--it must have been a while, we're talking pre-telephone and pre-vehicle days, and Oak Grove School house was across the river from Forsyth--that the gun was laying on the ground beside Andy. Others said the gun was tightly gripped in his right hand. Snapp left as soon as he could. As the only eyewitness to Andy's murder and since he wasn't affiliated with the BK, he knew he was in mortal danger. Other ABK members and Coggburn's relatives left, but met up not far away. The coroner's inquest was held the next day, 1 Mar 1886. Various newspapers reported that the coroner's jury was made up entirely of BK. The jury agreed that Kinney had tried to arrest Coggburn on the warrant, and that Coggburn was attempting to shoot Kinney. A clear case of self-defense, or justifiable homicide. Only one "eye-witness" testified, a John DAVIS. It is unclear what his relationship to either Kinney or Coggburn was. Snapp could not be found, and Kinney's stepson Paul, who saw it as well, was not called to the stand. The morning of 1 Mar, before the inquest, several farmers rode into Forsyth from south of the White River, claiming that their cabins had been raked with gunfire the night before. Wisely staying away from the inquest, enemies of the BK met that same afternoon of 1 Mar, and took a vote on a motion for open warfare. It didn't pass. Nineteen men were present, including Alonzo PRATHER, who was a lawyer and had been an original member of the BK. His presence would indicate his "disenchantment" with the BK, and he was put on retainer by the ABK. Coggburn's murder and the gunfire at citizens' homes the night before demanded action, and PRATHER guided the men on procedure to establishing a home guard militia, with Judge REYNOLDS and William Miles, Sr. commanding. The group also drafted a petition, asking Governor MARMADUKE of MO, to "declare martial law, arm the local home guards, bring in the state militia, and drive out the BK." After it was signed by all present, a committee consisting of REYNOLDS, Jurd HAWORTH, and Dr. BURDETTE was appointed to go to Jefferson City, the state capital, and submit the petition to the governor. Andy COGGBURN's body, after the inquest, was taken by his relatives to Vanzandt Cemetery, just south of Kirbyville on a knoll, and buried in an unmarked grave. More to come. Vonda

Since Vonda added something to the very extensive and interesting CUPP-BEARDON family data, and stated toward the end of her message below that Lorea BEARDON married Albert COMPTON but she didn't have anything further, here is (as Paul Harvey would say) THE REST OF THE STORY about Lorea and her husband: LOREA LAURA BEARDEN (spelling given me was BEARDEN--I don't know which is correct) b.14 July 1912 in Chestnut Ridge, Taney Co., MO d.31 Jan 1990 Springfield, Greene Co., MO md 27 June 1931 in Branson, Taney Co., MO JAMES ALBERT COMPTON s/o John Thomas COMPTON & Daisy Mae SHAWLEY McKINNEY b.5 Oct 1910 Branson, Taney Co., MO d.21 Sept 1999 Branson, Taney Co., MO they were parents of 2 children: 1) Betty Mae COMPTON who married Archie PLUMMER and still lives in Branson 2) Albert James COMPTON who married Lynn Conway b.12 Aug 1935 Branson, Taney Co., MO d.2 Jan 1977 In order for Vonda to add to another name to her list of those having Cherokee roots, the above-named Daisy Mae SHAWLEY was a Cherokee orphan raised by Benjamin & Sis McKINNEY and hence took their name, as did some others whom they took into their home since Benjamin & Sis had no children of their own. Who Daisy's Cherokee line was unfortunately wasn't ever identified prior to her death so I guess it will never be known. Daisy and her husband John Thomas COMPTON were married in Forsyth 3 July 1897 and lived to celebrate their 71st wedding Anniversary in 19 68 prior to John's death in Calif. that year & Daisy's death in 1969. Above-mentioned Benjamin Franklin McKINNEY is mentioned in numerous early Taney Co. stories but I have no other info on his ancestry except that shown below, and therefore wonder if anyone else knows about his line since he left no descendants: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN McKINNEY b.18 Sept 1837-TN d.5 Feb 1926 Taney Co., MO md about 1860-1861 Taney Co., MO BELVERETTA CATHARINE "Sis" CASEY (d/o Levi CASEY & Mary "Polly" HAGGARD) b.2 Dec 1844 Greene Co., MO d.26 Apr 1921 Taney Co., MO Benjamin & Sis had no children of their own but helped raise a number of orphans or at least opened their home to a number of less fortunate young people in the Taney Co. area throughout their lives. Don Houk E-mail: dghouk@email.kline.co.jp -----Original Message----- From: Vonda Sheets [mailto:vonda@peoplepc.com] Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2000 2:49 PM To: MOTANEY-L@rootsweb.com Subject: Cupp & Beardon & Hensley & Long & Wilson & Nash, etc. Hey, Ideana, >>3 Florence Beardon 1909 -<< Florence Beardon married Chester Hensley, s/o Benjamin Hensley and Maggie Long. She died 27 May 1970, here in Branson. They lived up by the Berry Cemetery, on land that is just south of the current Branson High School. I posted about this back in June, when our cemetery hopper group was featured in the Springfield paper. There were tombstones taken from the cem and used in the rock porch and outbuildings. You can see them quite clearly. There is a small building out of the rock, once used by George Beardon as a house. I don't imagine he had more than a cot and maybe a cabinet in it--if memory serves me right, Grandma said that it was also a chicken coop. If you want to get really twisted up....(gosh, a person shouldn't have so much fun being cruel...LOL) Are you "listening", Pama? Maggie Long was the daughter of Franklin Long and Susan Charity Wilson. Susan was the daughter of David William Wilson and Catherine Ann Brant. David and Catherine were my ggg grandparents. David and Catherine's son, John William, was my gg grandfather. His first wife was Millie Wilson, who was the daughter of Johnathon Wilson and Mary Ann Chrisman. Johnathon and David Wilson were brothers, so John William married his first cousin (this was not an Indian marriage; these folks were probably Irish). John William Wilson and Susan Charity Wilson Long had a sister, Ruth, who married Thomas Jefferson "Jeff" Nash, who were Pama's great-grandparents. Catherine Ann Brant Wilson is buried in Renshaw Cemetery. Please forgive me for forgetting...but someone else onlist is looking for Beardon info. Florence's father was Louis F. Beardon, as Ideana stated. Louis' father was Frances Marion Beardon. The last child you have under Louis and Laura Cupp Beardon, was Lorea Beardon. Her husband was Albert Compton. I don't have any information on them other than that. So you are cousins, at least by marriage--I'd be afraid to figure the exact degree out--to both me and Pama, possibly Don H., my husband Greg (who is a Blansit/St. Clair descendant), the whole Bilyeu shebang, and most of the folks who lived in Bear Creek Valley. Hee hee. Gawrsh, dat wuz fun... Congrats on your new info...way to go! Vonda ==== MOTANEY Mailing List ==== ============================== Search ALL of RootsWeb's mailing lists in real time. RootsWeb's Personalized Mailing Lists: http://pml.rootsweb.com/