Tag: tragedy

Death in Iowa: the Drowning of Leolin Van Horn

Death in Iowa: the Drowning of Leolin Van Horn

Posted on by spuddled
Des Moines Tribune-Capital,
1 July 1929

Today is the anniversary of another sad death in family history. This time the deceased is Leolin Van Horn, my fifth cousin once removed. He was the son of Lewis Alexander and Mary Aldie (Knight) Van Horn and was born 26 October 1907 in Tama County, Iowa. Leolin’s mother was the granddaughter of Mary “Polly” (Davis) Knight, a descendant of William “Bottom Billy” Davis, who has appeared in this blog in the past.

Leolin was one of 10 children born to Lewis and Aldie, though by 1910 two of the children had passed away. In that year’s 1910 census, 2-year-old Leolin appears with his parents and siblings in Carlton, Iowa. The family was still in Carlton in 1920, the household consisting then of Lewis and Alda; Lewis’s mother Mary (then 81 years old); and children Orel, Leolin, and Alvin. Lewis would die on 12 June 1924 at age 63, followed by Leolin five years later.

According to the Des Moines Tribune-Capital of 1 July 1929 (a Monday), the previous weekend had been a tragic one for many across the state. Twelve individuals had died in various incidents in Iowa: five in automobile accidents, four in drownings, and two by suicide. The article then goes on to detail each of the twelve deaths. Regarding Leolin, it is noted that he was swimming with three companions near LeGrand; exactly what happened is not clear, but one of the friends rescued the two others but was unable to save Leolin. His death certificate notes that he died of “drowning or possibly heart failure” at 4:10 p.m. He was 21 years old and working as a butter maker.

A letter uploaded to Leolin’s Find a Grave memorial, written by Zelma Peterson, who appears to have been the older sister of the companion who was unable to save Leolin, tells of the effects the tragedy had not only on Leolin’s own family but those of the others involved in the incident. Leolin is buried at Garwin Union Cemetery in Garwin, Iowa.

Another loss would take place less than a year later when Leolin’s older sister Martha Inez died in Janesville, Wisconsin, at age 36. She had married her fourth cousin Luen Lippincott in either 1914 or 1915, and they had had three children together. Her cause of death is unclear, but must have been a sad blow coming so soon after the loss of Leolin.

Aldie herself died unexpectedly 14 years later at age 77. She had been visiting Janesville and was preparing to return home to Iowa when she passed away. Her body was taken back to Iowa where she was interred at Garwin Union Cemetery. The other Van Horn family members lived on for quite some time; the next of the siblings to die was Frank, in 1964. Most of the others lived into the 1970s, and the youngest would not pass away until 1991.

“Drove to Death”: The Fyfe Railroad Tragedy

“Drove to Death”: The Fyfe Railroad Tragedy

Posted on by spuddled

Today’s grim tale concerns William Edwin Fyfe and his daughter, Dora Josephine Plummer, my fourth cousin 5 times removed and fifth cousin 4 times removed, respectively. William’s 3G-grandfather, Jerimiah Willson, was my 8G-grandfather. William was born 10 August 1837 in Bolton, Massachusetts. He appears with his parents in the 1850 census in Clinton, Massachusetts. His father is listed as a yeoman.

By 1860 William’s father (also named William) had died, and the younger William was living with his mother Sarah in the household of William and Nancy Snow. The 22-year-old William’s occupation is listed as “cracker peddler,” which is fun. Sarah died in 1862, but a year before that William married Mary Josephine Carruth on 7 November 1861 in Cambridge, Massachusetts. William’s marriage record lists his occupation as “grocer,” which I assume is a step up from peddling.

By 1870 William and Mary are living in Cambridge with their 7-year-old daughter Dora Josephine, as well as a domestic servant from Prince Edward Island, Canada. Dora had been born 25 October 1862 in Cambridge. William’s real estate value is listed as $6000, and his personal estate as $2000. If the inflation calculator I used is accurate, the total value of his property would be about $200,000 today.

In 1880 the family was enumerated in Clinton, Massachusetts. William is now listed as a real estate agent. In the household with William, Mary, and Dora is a nephew, Walter Rivers, 14. On 7 November 1886 in Clinton, 24-year-old Dora married 26-year-old Edward L. Plummer, a merchant who had been born in Sandwich, New Hampshire.

Since nearly all the 1890 census was destroyed by fire, this is the last time we will see William or Dora in a census enumeration. The bare facts of their deaths are given in their Massachusetts death records. There, listed one after the other, we learn that on 23 June 1899 in Lancaster, Massachusetts, both William and Dora died of shock from a railroad accident.

For the specifics of the accident we have to turn to contemporary newspaper accounts. The Boston Globe of 24 June 1899 calls the railroad accident “one of the most shocking tragedies in this community [Clinton] in years.” It also notes that William was the “wealthiest citizen of the town and one of the most influential men in the community.” According to the article, William and Dora had gone to Lancaster, starting back home about 4:30 p.m. On the way William began to cross the B&M railroad tracks but never made it to the other side. A woman living near the tracks indicated that William’s horse either stopped directly on the tracks or was pulled, and then she heard a train strike the Fyfes’ carriage.

William and Dora’s bodies were thrown 250 feet and the carriage was destroyed. Somehow the horse was unscathed and ran home. Similarly William’s body was “very little bruised,” though Dora was unrecognizable. The medical examiner who had been quickly summoned stated that both had been killed instantly. Investigation into the accident found that the engineer saw the carriage on the tracks and tried to reverse the train but was unable to do so in time to prevent the accident. A warning bell had been rung, but according to the newspaper article William was slightly hard of hearing and may not have heard it.

The Globe also detailed how Dora’s husband came racing to the scene after hearing of the accident, only to be overcome when he realized the extent of the tragedy. Others went to notify Mary (described as an invalid) of the death of her husband and only child. At the time of her death Dora was the mother of three children, listed in the newspaper as ages 3, 5, and 7. The Plummer family were then living with the Fyfes in their “mansion at the corner of Prescott and Water Streets,” which had just been built.

The newspaper account had harbored fears for the invalid Mary’s life after the tragedy, but she would live another 15 years. In the 1900 census Mary is living at the “mansion” at 237 Water Street in Clinton. This house still stands (though broken up into apartments) on the corner of Water and Prescott. Only a few households away from Mary on the census form, though at 133 Prescott Street, Dora’s widower Edward is enumerated, along with with Dora and Edward’s three children. It seems the newspapers account got the ages of the two youngest Plummer children right but not the eldest; in 1900 George was 4, Josephine was 7, but Helen was 12.

By 1910 Edward has moved in to the house at 237 Water Street. He is listed as a retail merchant of groceries. With him is a new wife, Susan; they are listed as having been married for two years. Edward and Dora’s children Helen, Josephine, and George, are still living at home. There is also a son named Richard, age 14. It’s possible he is the son of Susan from a previous marriage. Mary is still here, too, in the same house, though she is enumerated as the head of her own household with her own income.

In July 1915 Mary made out her will. She appointed Helen Plummer as her executrix. She bequeathed “the cottage house and land numbered 18 William St. Clinton, Mass” to her grandson George. She bequeathed $300 to her granddaughter Josephine, and gave to Josephine and Helen “the home place at the corner of Water and Prescott,” as well as two house lots and part of a lot on Beech Street in Clinton. Helen was to distribute Mary’s personal property. Mary died about six weeks after making out her will, and she and William are buried at the West Burying Ground in Bolton, Massachusetts.

William and Mary Fyfe Gravestone
Find a Grave Memorial 69329737
Right Eye Is Out: The Grim Tale of William Jay Claton

Right Eye Is Out: The Grim Tale of William Jay Claton

Posted on by spuddled
William J. Claton Gravestone
Find a Grave memorial #74488863
Photo by Linda T

It’s time for another gruesome family history installment. Today’s victim is William Jay Claton, my fifth cousin four times removed. He had more than his fair share of terrible events befall him; the title of this post is not even related to his horrific death

William was born 19 June 1877 in Illinois, the son of William H. and Sarah E. (Cline) Claton. In 1880 the family was living in Tazewell County, enumerated one household away from the elder William’s sister, Florence, and her family. Also living with Florence was her and William’s mother Elizabeth (Hawkins) Claton, as well as their paternal grandmother, Margaret (Gaston) Claton.

The entire Claton family seems to have suffered from incredibly bad luck (or health). Of the five family members in the household that year, three had entries made in the “Sick” column by the census enumerator. William, Sr., 36, has “Flesh Wound” recorded by his name. Lewis F., 13, has “Hip Disease” recorded, and the “Disabled” box checked. Frank E., 10, also has the “Disabled” box checked, along with a cryptic “Ruptured” in the “Sick” column. William, Sr., is not marked as “Disabled,” so perhaps his flesh wound was only a recent injury. “Willie,” aged 2, appears also, with no sickness or disability noted (yet). Lewis would live to the age of 73, but Frank would die at age 46.

The 1900 census shows William and Sarah, still in Tazewell County. Sarah’s enumeration notes that she had given birth to four children, three of whom were still living. In 1882 another child had been born and died, a daughter, Anna Alida. Also with William and Sarah were the younger William and his new bride, Magdalena (born Magdalena Snyder on 31 August 1881). William and Magdalena were married 31 May 1900, just in time to be shown as a married couple as of the Census Day enumeration date of 1 June.

By 1910 William, Jr., and Magdalena were living in Pekin, Illinois, at 360 S Capitol Street, a house built in 1902 that still stands. William is listed as being the owner of a saloon. With the couple are their children Louisa, 8, and “Wilber,” 2. In 1912 the family is still living at 360 S Capitol; they appear in that year’s Pekin City Directory as “Wm. J., lab[orer], and Mrs. Maggie Claton.” The same directory lists a number of different saloons in operation, but William’s name isn’t specifically associated with any of them.

The next appearance of William I have found is his World War I Draft Registration Card, dated 12 September 1918. Here his full name is listed, along with his birthdate and an address of 608 Derby, Pekin, Illinois. This house no longer appears to be standing. William is listed as a laborer at the Corn Products Refining Company on South 2nd in Pekin. He is described as tall, with a medium build, gray eyes, and light hair. All pretty standard fare until the section where the registrar is asked to describe any physical disqualifications in detail. Here the registrar has written, with bland understatement, “None except right eye is out.” There must be a story here, but unfortunately, I have yet to find any details. I did learn that the Corn Products Refining Company was created in 1906 through a merger of a number of U.S. corn refiners. It produced both Argo corn starch and Mazola corn oil. It has undergone a number of mergers and name changes since that time and is now known as Ingredion.

In 1920 William and Magdalena were enumerated in Spring Lake, Illinois, one household away from William’s brother Lewis. With them were Wilbur, now 11, and William E., 8. It appears that by this time daughter Louisa had married (or had at least moved out on her own), as she would live on until 1989. William is listed as being a farmer by occupation.

Less than two years later, however, William seems to have changed careers again, leading to his tragic demise. The Metamora (Illinois) Herald of 24 March 1922 describes the event of 102 years ago today in grisly detail in an article titled “Meets Horrible Death.” Some of you may want to skip ahead to the next paragraph. According to the author, William was at the Liberty Yeast Corporation plant in Pekin and was helping to unload coal with an elevator when his foot was caught in a belt. He was dragged into the machinery and “terribly mangled.” The article describes how both feet were torn off and his limbs “crushed into a pulp up to the hips,” and added, almost as an afterthought, “he also received internal injuries.” Mercifully, the article also states that he died instantly. One wonders if having only one eye might make an individual more susceptible to missteps in situations like this one.

William was laid to rest in Lakeside Cemetery in Pekin, leaving his widow Magdalena to raise two young boys on her own. In 1930 she was enumerated as “Margaret Clayton,” 48, at 1009 Summer Street in Pekin, along with both Earl and Wilbur, then 19 and 21. They were living in this still-extant house along with the owners, Alexander and Leone Anderson (and their three children), who listed the home’s value as $4500. Magdalena’s occupation is listed as leather worker at a saddlery.

The passage of another ten years finds Magdalena living at the Oak Knoll Sanitorium in Mackinaw and working there as a cook. She would survive a further 7 years before being buried beside her husband at the age of 65. However, according to her obituary, the last five of those years she spent as a house mother in a sorority house in Colorado Springs. I have yet to iron out those details, but it sounds like she continued to find purpose until the end of her life.

Son Wilbur died at age 58 and is buried in Pekin’s Glendale Memorial Gardens, and William Earl served in the U.S. Army and died at age 66 at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington State. He is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Lacey, Washington. When William’s sister Louise died in 1989, she was also buried at Woodlawn Cemetery. One hopes that William Jay Claton’s “horrible death” really was instantaneous, and that his widow and children were able to overcome this tragedy as they moved forward with their own lives.

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.

Thriller Thursday – Death by Musket

Posted on by agnette

Any family history will have its share of tragedies. One of ours was that of Polly Waters, eldest child of Joseph and Celah (Sweeney) Waters, my 5G-grandparents. Polly was born 28 August 1799 in Lincoln County, Kentucky; thirteen or fourteen more children would follow later. I have limited information on William Waters, so it’s possible he may be the same individual as the youngest, Charles W., born 25 November 1825.

Sometime between 1803 and 1812 the family moved from Lincoln to Casey County; it was there my 4G-grandmother, Cassandra, was born in January 1814. She would never know her eldest sister, however. Sources for the date differ, but according to both the Waters GenCircles database and the research of Jay Sweeney, on either 26 September 1805 or 20 September 1808, young Polly was shot and killed when her mother attempted to start a fire using a musket, and the weapon misfired. Was this a common means of starting fires? My quick Google search didn’t help answer this question, so I’ll need to do further research. Regardless, one can only imagine Cassandra’s horror and grief as well as that of the rest of the family. Polly, aged either six or nine, was buried somewhere in Kentucky. Shortly after the birth of the last Waters child, the family moved to Morgan County, Illinois. There, in Pisgah, Joseph and Celah would eventually be buried, many miles from their first lost child.