Category: Davis

Tragedy in the Umpqua River: the Death of Orland Higginbotham

Tragedy in the Umpqua River: the Death of Orland Higginbotham

Posted on by spuddled

We have another tragic anniversary today. On this day 85 years ago, Orland George Higginbotham, my fifth cousin three times removed, died, aged 26. He was the son of George Henry and Dolly (Taylor) Higginbotham and the grandson of William Riley and Lovey Marvel (Davis) Higginbotham. He was born 11 September 1912 in Gold Hill, Oregon. He appears in the 1920 census in Lane County, Oregon, along with his parents and his older brother John. George Higginbotham is listed as a laborer in a sawmill. In 1930 George (still working in a sawmill), Dolly, and Orland appear in Cottage Grove, Lane County, Oregon.

On 23 August 1932, Orland married Versie McCoy in Lane County, Oregon. Orland was 19 and Versie was 16. Versie was born in Kamiah County, Idaho. Orland and Versie had one child, also named Orland George. He would also marry young; he was 18 and his bride, Donna Mae Miller, was 15 when they married in Medford, Oregon.

By that time Orland, Sr., had been dead for 11 years. The Eugene [Oregon] Guard from 15 July 1939 explains what happened. Orland and two other passengers were riding in a car driven by George R. Kerr when it plunged off the Drain-Reedsport Highway, down a 20-foot bank, and into the Umpqua River east of Reedsport, Oregon. George Kerr was able to assist the other two passengers to escape the automobile. Meanwhile Orland was attempting to escape from the other side of the car when it rolled over, preventing his escape. The car would eventually sink in about seven feet of water. Orland, Sr., was buried at Eugene Pioneer Cemetery in Eugene, Oregon.

The Eugene Guard,
15 July 1939

Orland’s widow would remarry in 1959, to Lloyd Terrill in Lewis County, Washington. She later worked as an antiques dealer in Kelso, Washington, passing away in June 1978 in Longview, Washington. She is buried at Fir Grove Cemetery in Cottage Grove, Oregon.

How Old Is Old?: The Death of Hannah Davis Doak

How Old Is Old?: The Death of Hannah Davis Doak

Posted on by spuddled

Today we remember the death 146 years ago of Hannah Davis, my fourth great-grandaunt. Interestingly, she is one of 15 individuals named Hannah Davis in my family tree. Her younger brother, Cornelius, was my fourth great-grandfather. They were two of the children of Joseph S. and Hannah (Sutton) Davis.

Hannah was born about 1801-1802 in what would become West Virginia. On, 8 September 1819 in Harrison County, (West) Virginia, she married James Doak, a Pennsylvania native. In 1850 (the first census which listed each household member by name), James and Hannah “Doke” were enumerated in Doddridge County, along with presumed children Marion, 15; Catharine, 7; and Alexander, 4. Sadly, in the “Condition” column next to Marion’s name is written simply “Insane.” Living in the next dwelling over is James and Hannah’s 26-year-old son, Davis “Doke” and his new wife Rachel.

In 1860, still in Doddridge County, James and Hannah Doak are listed with children Katharine, Alex, and Marion. Again using the terminology of the time, Marion is listed as “Idiotic.” James died on 18 May 1866 in Doddridge County, West Virginia. He was about 66 years old. The 1870 census shows the widowed Hannah living with her son Alexander, now 24 and married. He and his wife Charlotte had added a new baby, Loverna, to the family the previous September. Marion, still labeled “Idiot,” is living in the household with them as well. The census also notes that Marion is unable to read or write.

Eight years later, on 16 June 1878, Hannah Doak passed away in Doddridge County. Her West Virginia death record, inconveniently unable to be displayed or downloaded at the moment due to some weird technological gremlins, lists her cause of death as “old age.” She was approximately 77. Sorry, Dad!

I have yet to determine what became of poor Marion after Hannah’s death; perhaps he died sometime between 1870 and 1880. In any case, I did not see him in any of his siblings’ households in those later years. James and Hannah’s youngest child, Alexander, lived until 1920, dying in West Union, West Virginia; he is buried in the Arnolds Creek Cemetery in Greenwood. The Find a Grave website notes that Alexander and Rachel had at least five children: baby “Levernia” from the 1870 census; Walter, who died at age 4 from fever; Gilbert; James W.; and a second Walter. At his own death, Alexander was 74; his widow Charlotte survived until 1930, dying at age EIGHTY. “Old age,” indeed.

Find a Grave Memorial ID 37315521
Dark as a Dungeon: Coal Miner Zina Flanigan

Dark as a Dungeon: Coal Miner Zina Flanigan

Posted on by spuddled

This week’s snapshot of family history centers around the untimely death of Zina Edward Flanigan, my fifth cousin twice removed. He was a descendant of “Bottom Billy” Davis, mentioned here previously. The fifth of twelve children of William T. and Lydia Jane (Greene) Flanigan, he was born 16 December 1895 in the Coal district of Harrison County, West Virginia. This is not to be confused with Coal City, West Virginia, which is farther south in the state, in Raleigh County. Many of our relatives were from the Seventh Day Baptist strongholds of Harrison and Doddridge Counties.

In the 1900 census Zina’s father is listed as a coal dig[g]er, supporting his growing family in one of the many coal mines throughout that region. In 1910 Zina, now 15, is still listed as attending school and not employed. An interesting photograph from the West Virginia History OnView website shows a boy of 15 at work in the coal mines in 1908, so it would not have been unheard of for Zina to have been working by this time.

This reliance on the coal mines for the family’s livelihood can be readily seen throughout their census records. By 1920 Zina had married, but his siblings still at home were beginning to find employment to help out; his sister May, 24, is listed as “working out,” and Lester, 17, as a “laborer, coal mines.” In 1930 Zina’s father’s occupation had changed to “quarry man, stone quarry,” but Howard, 24, was a “loader, coal mines.” In 1940 William, Lydia, and Howard were living with Zina’s youngest sibling Glen, though Glen is a carpenter. William, now 72, is still employed in the coal mines, now as a coal loader, while Howard is listed as a “machinist, coal mine.”

Meanwhile Zina, no longer under his father’s roof, continued down the coal mining path. On 2 July 1917 21-year-old Zina married Bessie Arthelia Ash, 20 years old, at her father’s residence. At about the same time, Zina registered for the draft and noted his employer was the Clark Coal Company. In 1918 Bessie gave birth to their first child, Kenneth Bute Flanigan, but Kenneth died in 1920. His cause of death (along with that of 5 others on the same page) is listed helpfully as “complications.” Three more sons followed (in 1921, 1924, and 1931), all of whom lived to adulthood and can be found in later censuses.

Zina can be found in 1930 but not 1940, as he died 84 years ago today at the age of 44. Unlike the death certificate for baby Kenneth, Zina’s provides a bit more detail on both his life and death. His occupation is listed as Coal Miner at Katherine Mines. His parentage, birth date, and marriage to Bessie are confirmed. And according to the information supplied by his attending physician, Zina died at the Union Protestant Hospital in Clarksburg at 4:30 a.m. on the 28th, having been attending by Dr. Williams starting on the 26th. Dr. Williams indicates Zina’s cause of death as “meningitis (strep)” and then adds “A history of a head injury while working in the Mines – (a possible cause).” I didn’t realize meningitis could be caused by head injury, but a quick Google search confirmed this is a possibility. One thinks of mining accidents and black lung, but less so about injuries from which one recovers only to have them prove fatal in a circuitous way later on. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find further details about Zina’s head injury history.

The newly-widowed Bessie appears in the 1940 census as head of the household, along with her sons, then 19, 15, and 8. None are listed as having employment. According to the Find a Grave website, Bessie remarried in 1944, but that marriage soon ended in divorce. In 1954 she married again, to Harvey Kyle in Frederick County, Virginia. That marriage lasted 21 years until Harvey’s death. Bessie herself would die in 1990 in Baltimore at the age of 93, having outlived Zina by more than half a century.

Death Certificate of Zina Flanigan

Hemorrhage of the Lungs

Hemorrhage of the Lungs

Posted on by spuddled

Today’s is a sad anniversary I came across while scouring the Find a Grave website for the relatives of one “Bottom Billy” Davis, so called because he bought all the bottom land east of Salem, (West) Virginia after moving to the area in 1792. “Bottom Billy” was the grandson of my 9GG William and Elizabeth (Pavior) Davis, making him my first cousin 9 times removed.

One of his other relatives (and also part of that massive migration of Seventh Day Baptist congregants mentioned here before) was Clarence Manly Whitford, son of Asa Maxson Whitford and his wife Catharine Coon. Clarence was the first cousin three times removed of “Bottom Billy,” and the fifth cousin 5 times removed of…me.

Clarence was born 14 August 1854 in Adams, New York. He is enumerated there with his parents and brothers (S.C., Edward Maxson, Asa Adelbert, and J. Myron) in the 1860 Federal Census and the 1865 New York State Census. By the time of the 1870 Federal Census, however, the family had moved to La Clede, Fayette County, Illinois, as they were enumerated there that year. Six years later, on 5 September 1876, Clarence married Orpha M. Crandall. I suspect she is also a cousin, as Crandall is another name common among the Seventh Day Baptist adherents, but I haven’t tracked her down as yet. Sadly, Clarence would not live to be enumerated with this new family in the 1880 Federal Census.

The Find a Grave entry for Clarence quotes The Sabbath Recorder, a Seventh Day Baptist newspaper started in 1844:

“The Sabbath Recorder,” Vol 36, No 8, p 3, Feb. 19, 1880.

At North Loup, Neb., Jan 14th, 1880, of hemorrhage of the lungs, Mr. Charles [sic] M. Whitford, in the 25th year of his age. Mr. Whitford’s home was at Farina, Ill. For many months previous to his death he had been steadily declining in health from the effects of diseased liver and lungs, and in July last, he left his home and family and came here, hoping to regain his health by a change of climate; but his disease had already too firm a hold on him. Learning that he could not long survive, he sent for his wife and little daughter; but they arrived twelve hours too late, and he expired at the residence of Dr. Charles Badger, under whose care he had placed himself, with only one relative, his brother-in-law, Mr. Alfa Crandall, to comfort him in his last hours; but brethren and friends assisted Bro. Crandall in doing all that could be done to provide for his comfort. The funeral service was held with the Church here on the Sabbath-day following, the attendance being very large. He was a member of the Church at Farina, and at the hour of parting he told his brother-in-law that ‘he was satisfied with his hope.’
O. B.

It is not mentioned in his obituary, but Clarence is buried at Hillside Cemetery in North Loup, Nebraska. And though Clarence does not appear in the 1880 Federal Census, he does appear in another type of census from that year: the 1880 U.S. Census Mortality Schedule. These schedules, enumerated in conjunction with the 1850-1880 Federal Censuses, listed information for those who had died the 12 months prior to the established census date. In looking at the record for Clarence in this schedule, I noted that (as I expected), his “hemorrhage of the lungs” was defined there as “consumption” (tuberculosis). What I was not expecting was the entry immediately after Clarence’s:

Ancestry.com. U.S., Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1885 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Horace M. Whitford, five months old and born in Illinois, had died, also of consumption, in July, six months prior to Clarence’s death. I confirmed my suspicions that little Horace was Clarence and Orpha’s son with a search of my own through the Sabbath Recorder archives:

Sabbath Recorder, 7 August 1879

It is even more poignant to note that Clarence’s obituary states that he left his family behind in Illinois to try to improve his health in Nebraska “last July.” This suggests that Orpha was on her own when baby Horace died at their home in Illinois at the end of that month. Her own obituary on Find a Grave notes that she and Clarence had had three children in total, two of whom died in infancy, so there is another lost baby I still need to identify.

However, happier times would come for Orpha, in spite of this latest tragedy that struck her 144 years ago today. The “little daughter” who traveled with her but was too late to see Clarence before he died was Lena Louise Whitford, 2 1/2 years old in January 1880. She would marry Theodore Byington Davis in 1900, and they would raise seven children. Lena would die in San Fernando, California, at the age of 77.

And what about Orpha? Nine years after Clarence’s death, she married his older brother Asa, who had been widowed the previous year. Asa and his first wife had had two children, then 17 and 9, so the family home was filled once more. Orpha died in April 1919 in Milton, Wisconsin and is buried in the Milton Junction Cemetery. She shares a headstone with her second husband, who outlived her by 15 years. I’d like to think that at the end she, like her first husband, was “satisfied with [her] hope.”

Another New Leaf: On This Day

Posted on by spuddled

I’m trying something new this year…again. Maybe I can make it past January with this blog this time around. For a while there I was making “On This Day” Facebook posts noting several events that took place on that day, selected at random from the pages of our family history. For 2024, I’ve decided to do something similar here. You may get a birth, marriage, death, baptism, graduation, or clambake, but you’ll get the details on the anniversary of the event.

So for the first entry of 2024, you’re getting the birth of Ann Gifford, my 6G-grandmother. Not to be confused with the Ann Gifford mentioned in this post (a 2nd cousin 9 times removed), this Ann was born 7 January 1742 in New Jersey. She was the oldest child (at least according to my records) of Joshua Gifford and his wife Hannah Dean. On 20 January 1761 in Monmouth Beach, New Jersey, Ann married Nathan Davis, one of the long line of Seventh Day Baptists in our family history. Like many in this line, Nathan had been born in Rhode Island before migrating to New Jersey and then moving on with his family to what would later become West Virginia. Ann would give birth to at least 13 children, all apparently in New Jersey, but most of the marriages of that next generation took place in Harrison and Doddridge Counties, (West) Virginia.

Nathan died in Salem, in Harrison County, in 1814, and Ann died on 14 October 1820, also in Salem. Both are buried in the Seventh Day Baptist Cemetery there, which I visited a number of years ago, though Nathan and Ann were not among the many family graves I saw that day. Their 13 known children were William G., Joshua Gifford, David, John, Hannah, Joseph S. (my 5G-grandfather), Nathan, Tacy, Ann, Mary, Stephen C., Ananias, and another John. Joseph’s line would eventually make its way west, and Ann and Nathan’s great-great-granddaughter Lucinda Blanche would marry Wellington David Wilson, grandfather of my paternal grandmother Blanche Wilson.

So there you have it – a glimpse into an event that took place 282 years ago today. It’s always intriguing to think of all those family events that had to happen just so in order for me to be sitting here typing this today. But then, that’s the beauty of genealogy.

Salem Seventh Day Baptist Church
Salem Seventh Day Baptist Church

Tombstone Tuesday – The Curse of the Chaneys

Posted on by agnette

The Sunday Oregonian, August 8, 1920

Some families seem to have more than their share of tragic deaths. One such family is that of Phineas Benjamin Chaney and his wife, Josephine Welsh. Phineas was my fourth cousin 5 times removed through the Davis line. Phineas was born 8 January 1854 in Illinois, the son of Phineas, Sr., and Mary Jane (Berry) Chaney. Even before Phineas, Jr., was born, his parents had endured their own share of tragedy; of their eleven children, four died before their second birthday.  Another child, Emma, died shortly before she would have turned 22.

At least Phineas, Jr., did live long enough to marry; he and Josephine had a son, Fred Russell Chaney, born in March 1885, apparently in New York. At some point the family moved to Portland, Oregon; there, on 9 April 1895, aged 41, Phineas died of appendicitis. The Sunday Oregonian of 12 April 1895 reports the sad events:

“The funeral of Phineas P. Chaney, who died at the Portland hospital, on April 9, took place yesterday afternoon from his late residence at 1193 East Yamhill, a short distance from the Rosedale station, Mount Tabor railway. There was present a large concourse of the friends of Mr. Chaney. The services were conducted by C. B. Reynolds, of the Secular church. At 2:15, the choir began the services by singing the beautiful song, “Sweet Bye and Bye,” when Mr. Reynolds arose and delivered an eloquent address. The remains were buried at Lone Fir cemetery. Mr. Chaney had lived in his present home about four years, coming from Brooklyn, N.Y. He was 41 years old. He was an accomplished millwright, and constructed most of the gearing and machinery in the docks along the East Side. Only a week ago, he was taken sick, and was removed to the Portland hospital, where it was found, as a last resort, that the vermiform appendix would have to be removed. The operation was performed, but he was too far gone to recover, and inflammation ensued, which terminated his life. He leaves a widow and a little son.”

Phineas’s widow, Josephine, was 35 years old and became a schoolteacher. Later young Fred entered medical school at the University of Oregon. After completing his medical training, he moved to Alaska to practice medicine there. In September 1908, while he and three other men were climbing a mountain near the Valdez glacier, he slipped and fell 200 feet. He was apparently not killed instantly but was taken into Valdez, where he died. He was 23 years old; his body was returned to Portland and buried near his father.

Josephine, having lost both husband and only child, continued to teach. She appears in the 1900, 1910, and 1920 censuses, listed as a schoolteacher. In that final census, her address is listed as 415 Yamhill Street. There, seven months later at the Elton Court Apartments, the family’s final tragedy occurred.  At five o’clock in the morning, perhaps caused by a careless smoker, a fire started in the lobby of the apartment building and spread quickly, up both the elevator shaft and the stairs. Josephine was trapped on the fourth floor and, as firemen attempted to rescue her, fell from a window to the sidewalk below.  She died en route to the hospital. Two other women were killed after jumping from the second and fourth floors. Josephine, aged 60 according to some records, 54 according to the Sunday Oregonian, was buried in what is now known as Portland’s River View Cemetery with her husband and son.

Tombstone Tuesday – Knox to King

Posted on by agnette

 

Pearl Ethel Wilson, my 2nd great aunt, was born 18 June 1892 in Creighton, Knox County, Nebraska.  She was the fifth child of six born to Wellington David and Lucinda Blanche (Davis) Wilson. Lucinda died, aged 35, when Pearl was only two years old. Her younger brother, then ten months old, was raised by his maternal aunt, while Pearl is found living with her maternal grandparents in Iowa in 1900.

By 1910 Pearl was 18 and living in Centerville, South Dakota. She was a boarder in the Turner Hotel run by Edward Mudie and his wife Jennie.

 

By 1920 Pearl had moved to Hobson, Montana.  There, boarding with the family of Floyd McCowan, Pearl was employed as a schoolteacher. About 1921 Pearl married Ray Edward Ramaker. Ray and Pearl had three children, all born in Montana:  Mary Jo, Shirley E., and Nancy R. By 1930 the family had moved to Missoula, Montana, where Ray worked as a dentist. The home at 315 Daly Avenue where they lived in 1930 still stands; it was valued at $6500 in 1930 and $5500 in 1940. It was assessed at $165,877 last year. In 1940 Pearl and her daughters were still living in the Daly Avenue home, while Ray was living in Seattle.

By 1946 when their youngest daughter graduated from high school, it appears the entire family had moved to Seattle’s King County. Here, on 18 December 1969, Ray died, followed a decade later by Pearl, on 16 March 1979. Both are buried in Evergreen Washelli Memorial Park, Seattle’s largest cemetery.

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Thriller Thursday – Winston Churchill

Posted on by agnette

There is always a thrill in discovering a famous relative. In this case, the relative in question is Winston Churchill – can’t you see the eerie resemblance?! Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, born November 30, 1874 at Blenheim Palace, was my half eighth cousin three times removed. I even visited Blenheim in 1994 while on a semester abroad program during my junior year at Sewanee (The University of the South). This was long before I discovered my familial connection to the Prime Minister through his American mother, Jeanette (Jennie) Jerome. Jeanette’s 6G-grandparents were William Gifford and Elizabeth Grant. William and his wife Patience Russell were my 10G-grandparents (William – Hananiah – William – Joshua – Ann – Joseph Davis – Cornelius – John – Lucinda Blanche – Carl Ozro Wilson – Blanche – Theodore Montgomery – me). Interestingly this means that Winston Churchill was also 6th cousin twice removed to another of my famous relatives: Lizzie Borden.

Blenheim Palace

Census Sunday – Life and Times of Lucinda Blanche Davis

Posted on by agnette

Eldest 5 children of Wellington and Lucinda Wilson

On this Mother’s Day it seemed fitting to take a look at the life of Lucinda Blanche Davis, my great-great-grandmother.  A mother of six, she died at age 35 when her youngest child was ten months old. Lucinda was born March 16, 1859 in Allenville, Missouri, the oldest child of John H. and Celia (Murphy) Davis.  She appears in the 1860 census in West Union, Iowa:

June 25, 1860 West Union Twp., Fayette, Iowa
John Davis 19 M Farmer 50 Do [born in Ohio]
Celia Davis 19 F Missouri
Lucinda Davis 1 F Do [born in Missouri]

I haven’t located John and Celia’s family in the 1870 census; on August 31, 1879, Lucinda married Wellington David Wilson in Brush Creek, Iowa.  Lucinda was twenty years old, and Wellington just shy of that.  In 1880 the new family was enumerated in Eden Township, Iowa:

5th June 1880 Eden Twp., Fayette, Iowa 
Wilson Wm D.W M 21 x [married] Mail Carrier N. York N. York N. York
—Blanche L. W F 21 Wife x [married] Illinois Ohio Ill

Wellington and Lucinda’s first child, Maud Ethel, was born May 31, 1881; five more children followed over the next twelve years: Jerry Erving, Carl Ozro (my great-grandfather), Caroline Blanch, Pearl Ethel, and William David. Sometime between the births of Maud and Jerry the family moved to Nebraska; in the 1885 Nebraska status census, the family is enumerated in Niobrara, living next door to Wellington’s father Charles:

June 1 1885 Niobrara Precinct Knox Nebraska Page 2 Enum 467
13 13 Wilson Chas. W M 52 x [married] Farmer New York NY NY
—Lucy B W M 48 wife x Keeps house New York NY NY
—Eddie W M 19 Son x [single] Iowa NY NY
—Samuel W M 12 Son x x [school] Iowa NY NY
Barbara Anderson W F 20 x servant 3 Canada Can Can
14 14 Wilson David W M 26 x [married] servant New York NY NY
—Lucinda W F 26 wife x keeps house x [can’t read] Missouri O O
—Maud W F 5 Daughter x [single] x [school] Iowa NY Mis. [looks almost like Wis.]
—Jerry W M 1 Daughter [sic] x x x [can’t read/write] Nebraska NY O [?]
Davis Lizzie W F 19 x servant 6 Iowa NY NY

Nine years later, on September 29, 1894, Lucinda died in Bloomfield, Nebraska. Shortly thereafter Baby William David was adopted by Lucinda’s sister Anna and her husband Irwin Hubbard. Around 1895 Wellington David was remarried, to Betsey Olsen; at about this same time he moved from Nebraska to Sisseton, South Dakota.  He and Betsey had three children of their own: Beulah, Warner, and Gladys. Wellington died in Sisseton June 17, 1923.

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Surname Saturday – Nimrod Canterbury Murphy

Posted on by agnette

You have to love a name like Nimrod Canterbury Murphy, but to date, my information on our Murphy branch of the family is limited.  Nimrod was born about 1809 in Kentucky. On June 24, 1830 in Jacksonville, Illinois, he married Cassandra Waters. Between 1831 and 1832 he served in the Black Hawk War.  In 1840 he is enumerated in census records in Carlinville, Illinois, and in 1850 in Gentry County, Missouri. He and Cassandra (born probably January 8-9, 1814 in Casey County, Kentucky) had 13 children: Lucinda, Joseph, Celia C., Margaret, Richard, Elizabeth, Nimrod, Paulina, W. Jackson, James Henry, Louisa, Greenill, and William Waters. Nimrod died September 11, 1860 in Allendale, Missouri, and is buried either there or in Morgan County, Illinois.

Cassandra lived nearly 40 years more. In 1860 she is enumerated in Washington, Missouri, listed as a weaver. In 1880 she is living in Franklin, Illinois. She died June 3 or 4, 1896 in either Murrayville or Pisgah, Illinois, and is buried in Pisgah’s Union Cemetery.

Nimrod and Cassandra’s daughter Celia, born May 16, 1842 in Illinois, married John H. Davis sometime between 1857 and 1860 and moved to West Union, Iowa.  They would remain in Iowa; according to the 1910 census Celia had given birth to 12 children, only 5 of whom were still living.  Their oldest child, Lucinda Blanche Davis, was born March 16, 1859 in Allenville, Missouri, and married Wellington David Wilson.  Lucinda and Wellington’s son Carl Ozro, was my grandma Blanche Wilson’s father.