Tombstone Tuesday – The Tale of Two Sarahs
Today I’m starting a “mini-series” for this week of all things spooky and haunting (if you’re into that kind of thing). The articles today through Friday will be about different events and places surrounding the ill-fated Donner Party. Today’s article is about the tale of two Sarahs – one who died not long after the trip’s beginning and the other who actually made it to California after being caught in Nevada in the snow storm and subsequent events that doomed so many.
Sarah (Handley) Keyes
According to the Find-A-Grave web site, Sarah Handley Keyes was born in 1776 in Monroe County, Virginia (no specific date of birth given, however, and I wasn’t able to locate more detailed information). Her parents were Major John Handley and Mary (Harrison) Handley. The grave stones of the Major, his wife and Sarah all have commemorations indicating John Handley was an American Revolutionary patriot (DAR plaques). I found conflicting information indicating that perhaps this John Handley did not serve in the Revolutionary War, but had been a Major of the Virginia Militia during the Whiskey Rebellion of 1793.
Sarah Handley married Humphrey Keyes on April 21, 1803 in Monroe County, Virginia. She and Humphrey had six children. I found one reference that seemed to indicate that Humphrey might have been a lawyer or judge. As noted in both the 1820 and 1830 United States Censuses, the Keyes family lived in Monroe County (Peterstown), Virginia. The Keyes family, according to “History of Early Settlers of Sangamon County, Illinois” arrived in Springfield, Illinois on November 10, 1830. The book also notes that Sarah was Humphrey’s second wife. With his first wife (Strider or Streider last name), he had five children before she died. Humphrey died in 1833.
Sarah was now widowed at age 57 and her daughter, Margret, was widowed that same year. In 1835 Margret married James Frazier Reed. According to the 1840 Federal Census, a female between the ages of 50 and 60 resided in the Reed household, so it’s safe to assume that would be Sarah Keyes. James Reed would be one of the leaders, along with George and Jacob Donner, of a group heading west in 1846. Reed was a wealthy businessman who had served with Abraham Lincoln in the Black Hawk War of 1832 (Lincoln with the Fourth Regiment and Reed with an Independent Company).
In 1845 Reed, along with the Donners, planned their trek to California and started from the Springfield, Illinois area on April 14, 1846. By this time, Reed’s mother-in-law, Sarah Keyes, was in poor health (consumption) but was determined to make the journey with her daughter’s family because she had hopes of seeing one of her sons, Robert Cadden Keyes, who had headed west a few years prior.
According to Daniel Brown, author of “The Indifferent Stars Above”, Reed deemed himself to be the natural leader of the group – also that those who traveled with him thought him to be quite full of himself. According to Brown, one of the reasons for the Reeds to relocate to California was to cure his wife’s migraines or “sick headaches”. He goes on to say that Margret was so frail that at her wedding she had lain in bed during the ceremony while James held her hand.
James and Margret Reed
The Reeds were quite well-to-do and set off on their journey in a wagon described by Reed’s stepdaughter, Virginia Reed Murphy, in 1891:
Our wagons, or the “Reed wagons,” as they were called, were all made to order and I can say without fear of contradiction that nothing like our family wagon ever started across the plains. It was what might be called a two-story wagon or “Pioneer palace car,” attached to a regular immigrant train. My mother, though a young woman, was not strong and had been in delicate health for many years, yet when sorrows and dangers came upon her she was the bravest of the brave. Grandma Keyes, who was seventy-five years of age, was an invalid, confined to her bed.
Her sons in Springfield, Gersham and James W. Keyes, tried to dissuade her from the long and fatiguing journey, but in vain; she would not be parted from my mother, who was her only daughter. So the car in which she was to ride was planned to give comfort.
The entrance was on the side, like that of an old-fashioned stage coach, and one stepped into a small room, as it were, in the centre of the wagon. At the right and left were spring seats with comfortable high backs, where one could sit and ride with as much ease as on the seats of a Concord coach. In this little room was placed a tiny sheet-iron stove, whose pipe, running through the top of the wagon, was prevented by a circle of tin from setting fire to the canvas cover. A board about a foot wide extended over the wheels on either side the full length of the wagon, thus forming the foundation for a large and roomy second story in which were placed our beds.
Under the spring seats were compartments in which were stored many articles useful for the journey, such as a well filled work basket and a full assortment of medicines, with lint and bandages for dressing wounds. Our clothing was packed–not in Saratoga trunks–but in strong canvas bags plainly marked. Some of mama’s young friends added a looking-glass, hung directly opposite the door, in order, as they said, that my mother might not forget to keep her good looks, and strange to say, when we had to leave this wagon, standing like a monument on the Salt Lake desert, the glass was still unbroken. I have often thought how pleased the Indians must have been when they found this mirror which gave them back the picture of their own dusky faces.
We had two wagons loaded with provisions. Everything in that line was bought that could be thought of. My father started with supplies enough to last us through the first winter in California, had we made the journey in the usual time of six months. Knowing that books were always scarce in a new country, we also took a good library of standard works. We even took a cooking stove which never had had a fire in it, and was destined never to have, as we cached it in the desert. Certainly no family ever started across the plains with more provisions or a better outfit for the journey; and yet we reached California almost destitute and nearly out of clothing.
If you’d like to read the entire account you can do so by clicking here.
The Reeds traveled on through Missouri, reaching the western side (St. Joseph and Independence) which was the commonly known jumping off point for those traveling west on the Oregon and California Trails. For travelers, it was a chance to stock up on supplies or see a doctor before heading out beyond the borders of the United States. Here are prices for various medical procedures:
50 cents – tooth extraction
$1 – seek medical advice or receive an enema
$5 – a toe or finger amputated; $10 for an arm and $20 for a leg
$5 – per baby delivered
After crossing the Missouri River, those headed west would travel into what is now known as Kansas. The Reeds and the Donners and another party (Russell Party) stopped at a bucolic site which was named by one member of the party as “Alcove Springs” and carved into one of the rocks. The Big Blue River had risen after thunderstorms and they were waiting for the level to drop so they could cross and continue their journey.
On May 29, 1846, Sarah Handley Keyes, age seventy years passed away. She had not been able to fulfill her wish of seeing her son Robert one more time. Her granddaughter Virginia wrote to her cousin in Illinois about the passing of her grandmother:
We buried her verry decent. We made a nete coffin and buried her under a tree we had a head stone and had her name cut on it and the date and yere verry nice, and at the head of the grave was a tree we cut some letters on it the young men soded it all ofer and put flores on it. We miss her very much every time we come into the Wagon we look at the bed for her.
After the river level dropped, the travelers were able to use a log ferry to cross and continue on their journey. The Donners and Reeds reached Fort Laramie on June 27, now known as the “Boggs Company” – named after it’s leader Lilburn W. Boggs, a former Missouri governor. The group celebrated the Fourth of July before continuing on their journey to Fort Bridger to meet up with Lansford Hastings who was to guide them to California. However, upon arrival at Fort Bridger they learned that Hastings had already left a week prior so they had to head out without his leadership (encouraged by Jim Bridger) – they hoped to make it to Captain Sutter’s fort in California territory in seven weeks. Just a few days out they found a note left by Hastings telling them that the road ahead was treacherous and impassable, so James Reed and two other men set out to find Hastings and get the new instructions. On August 11, 1846, just after receiving the new instructions, the group was joined by the family of Franklin Graves.
Franklin Graves had set out with his family from Steuben Township on the Illinois River on April 12, 1846. His group included: his wife, Elizabeth and their children: Sarah (and her new husband, Jay Fosdick), Mary, William, Eleanor, Lovina, Nancy, Jonathan, Franklin, Jr., youngest daughter Elizabeth and a teamster named John Snyder.
Sarah Graves Fosdick (Ritchie Spires)
Sarah Graves was born in Indiana on January 25, 1825 to Franklin and Elizabeth Graves. Sarah was their oldest child, following the death in infancy of their first child. According to Daniel Brown, the family moved to Illinois in 1831 and expanded to a total of nine children. Many people in the 1830s and 1840s began to grow restless to pick up and move to other lands in search of more prosperity and opportunities. Fueling that restlessness was a book published by Lansford Warren Hastings in 1845, called “The Emigrant’s Guide to Oregon and California”. The drier and warmer climate, along with the promise of “unexhausted and inexhaustible resources” was enticing to many. Franklin became restless too and planned a move west to seek a better life for his family. On April 2, 1846 Franklin sold his land. He had originally purchased the 500 acres in 1836 and 1838, according to Illinois Land Purchase Records, for $1.25 per acre. That day he sold the land for $3.00 an acre, a tidy sum of $1,500. Upon returning to their home, he made preparations to secure the money by secreting it away in wooden cleats (cabinets) and then nailing them to the bottoms of his three wagons. He did it in such a way as to make it look like these pieces were in place to support the wagon.
His eldest daughter, Sarah, was in love with a young man named Jay Fosdick. Sarah was torn between her love for Jay and the love and nearness of her family. On the same day that her father had gone to the courthouse to sell his land, she and Jay stood before a Justice of the Peace and were married. They would leave Illinois together headed to the unknowns of California (and everything in between) as newlyweds.
The Graves family and teamster John Snyder set out from Illinois on April 12, 1846. They followed much the same route and experienced much the same things that others who had traveled the route before them. On August 11, 1846 they met up with the larger Donner/Reed (Boggs) party and began traveling with them. There were even more challenges ahead with tempers flaring and exhaustion setting in, even death. Just after the first of November, the group reached Truckee Lake and spent the night – overnight it began to snow. The Donner group had earlier split but eventually they met up again and discovered they were now trapped and unable to go any further.
The winter was brutal and, as we now know, turned decent Christian people into cannibals to survive. Jay and Sarah joined a group in mid-December which left on snow shoes to try and cross over the mountains. The group became known as “Forlorn Hope”. On Christmas Eve, Sarah’s father, Franklin, died in her and sister Mary Ann’s arms. On January 7, 1847 Jay died, but Sarah and Mary Ann continued on.
Late on the night of January 18, Sarah and Mary Ann approached a cabin situated by the Bear River. The survivors who made it through were described by a young woman from England:
I shall never forget the looks of those people, for the most part of them was crazy & their eyes danced & sparkled in their heads like stars.
Sarah and Mary Ann were nurtured back to health. Their siblings William, Eleanor, Lovina, Nancy and Elizabeth were all rescued. Franklin, Jr. had been rescued and then abandoned and died on or about March 11, 1947. Their mother Elizabeth, like Franklin, Jr. was rescued and abandoned and died probably about the same time as her son. Little Elizabeth died soon after arriving at Sutter’s Fort.
The children of Franklin and Elizabeth Graves who survived went on to marry and have large families of their own. Sarah married William Dill Ritchie (one of the rescuers) in 1848. They had three sons: George, Gus and Alonzo (one died in infancy). William was hanged as a horse thief near Sonoma on May 30, 1854, even though he claimed innocence. In 1856, Sarah remarried once again, this time to Samuel Spires, with whom she had four children: Lloyd, William, Eleanor and Alice Barton.
On March 28, 1871, Sarah died suddenly and unexpectedly in Santa Cruz County, California. The following is noted on her Find-A-Grave page:
Find a Grave contributor, J.D. Larimore, has done extensive research on Corralitos Cemetery and the Graves family and has discovered that Sarah Graves Spires was probably buried in the Corralitos Cemetery first, and then removed to the Pioneer Cemetery when Corralitos Cemetery was turned into an orchard. She has also been unable to find a record or a headstone for Sarah, but believes that she is among the more than 100 unidentified graves in Pioneer Cemetery.
Two Sarahs – both determined to make the ill-fated trip west. One was old and frail and didn’t live long enough to see her son one more time. The other, young and full of life, probably had to grow up considerably because of the tragic events that ensued – and then she died much too young.
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Obscure U.S. Civil Wars – The Toledo War (1835-1836)
Here is another United States “civil war” or boundary dispute that portended a fierce and future college football rivalry. This one was between Ohio and Michigan.
Ohio became a sovereign state of the United States in 1803. Michigan, still a territory in 1835, would soon petition for statehood. As with last week’s “Honey War” between Iowa and Missouri, this conflict had its basis in another misunderstanding of geographic features – this time the Great Lakes.
In 1787 the Northwest Ordinance had been enacted which established the Northwest Territory. The Ordinance specified that at least three and no more than five states were to eventually be carved out of that territory. This part of the Ordinance was apparently misunderstood:
…if Congress shall hereafter find it expedient, they shall have authority to form one or two States in that part of the said territory which lies north of an east and west line drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan.
Without going into a lot of detail, it appears that the basis of the two states’ conflict over the border stemmed from either unreliable or outdated maps. The U.S. Congress had relied on the so-called “Mitchell Map” to map out the boundaries of Ohio. In 1802 at the Ohio Constitutional Convention, the delegates may have received reports from trappers that claimed that Lake Michigan extended further south than first thought. Thus, this would be significant to know precisely as the Northwest Ordinance had specifically mentioned the southernmost end of Lake Michigan.
In the minds of the Ohio delegates, that meant that Ohio would have more land accorded it. When Congress created Michigan Territory in 1805, they were using the Northwest Ordinance as a guideline and had actually already advised Ohio before its admission that the correct boundary was yet to be determined.
The contested border ran along an area that would eventually become the city of Toledo. Residents of that area wanted the dispute resolved so they petitioned Congress in 1812. Congress approved but the actual survey wasn’t done until 1816 (War of 1812 caused the delay) after Indiana joined the Union. As it happened, the U.S. Survey General, Edward Tiffin, was a former Ohio governor. Tiffin’s surveyor, William Harris, determined that the disputed territory was in Ohio.
When the results were made public the governor of Michigan Territory, Lewis Cass, was none too pleased. Cass commissioned his own survey, which was done by John A. Fulton. Fulton’s survey was based on the 1787 Ordinance and he found the Ohio boundaries to be south of the disputed area (mouth of the Maumee River). This disputed region then became known as the “Toledo Strip”.
Ohio refused to cede the land, but that didn’t stop Michigan from quietly occupying that territory, even collecting taxes. The area was, and still is, significant. At that point in history, the railroads weren’t in wide use yet so most of the transport of goods was done via rivers and canals. During the conflict over the Toledo Strip, the Erie Canal was built, completed in 1825. This event opened up all kinds of possibilities for transportation, trade and agriculture, so it’s easy to see why the conflict heated up – it largely became a matter of economics and which state or territory would benefit the most.
By the early 1820s, Michigan had reached the minimum population to begin the process of applying for statehood. In 1833, Michigan wanted to hold a state constitutional convention but their request was rebuffed by the U.S. Congress because the issue of the still-disputed Toledo Strip had not been resolved. Of course, Ohio still claimed that the disputed area was within their legal boundaries.
Acting Michigan Territory Governor, Stevens T. Mason, decided to move forward with the Michigan constitutional convention to be held in May of 1835 – despite the ongoing stalemate (Congress was still opposed). Meanwhile in February of 1835, Ohio passed legislation to set up county governments in the Toledo Strip. To add insult to injury, the county where Toledo was situated was named “Lucas” after the sitting Ohio governor, Robert Lucas.
Michigan’s governor was young (24) and said to be “hot-headed”. Six days after Lucas County, Ohio was formed, he responded by passing a bill called the “Pains and Penalties Act”. The Act made it unlawful for Ohioans to carry out governmental activities in the Toledo Strip; the fine was up to $1,000 and/or a five-year prison sentence. Mason, acting as commander-in-chief of the territory, sent Brigadier General Joseph W. Brown of the U.S. Brigade to head the state militia, instructing him to be ready to act against any trespassers in case the need arose. Mason also received approval for a militia of his own and sent them to the Strip. The Toledo War was on.
On March 31, 1835, Governor Lucas sent his own troops (600) to the area, encamping in an area about ten miles southwest of Toledo. Not long after, Mason arrived with his troops numbering around 1000 men. Meanwhile, President Andrew Jackson was determined to avoid an armed conflict, so he asked his Attorney General, Benjamin Butler, to look into the matter and write an opinion regarding the border dispute.
Politically speaking, Ohio was a powerhouse at the time, having nineteen representatives and two senators in the U.S. Congress. Michigan, still a territory, had only one non-voting delegate. As the case is today, Ohio was considered a swing state, too crucial for the Democratic Party to lose in a presidential election. Jackson, of course a loyal Democrat, sided with Ohio in the dispute. But, his attorney general had a different opinion – in his opinion the disputed land should remain as part of Michigan Territory until Congress resolved the issue.
Jackson’s response was to send two representatives, Richard Rush of Pennsylvania and Benjamin Howard of Maryland, to arbitrate the conflict. Their recommendation was to let the residents of the Strip hold an election to decide on their own which side would govern them. Governor Lucas reluctantly agreed to the proposed compromise and ordered his militia to begin disbandment. The elections were held a few days later but Governor Mason would not back down and continued to prepare for armed conflict.
Governor Lucas sent out surveyors to again mark the original Harris line survey. However, on April 26, 1835 the surveyors were attacked by General Brown’s militia in what was called the Battle of Phillips Corners. Each side disputed whether actual shots were fired, but it did “up-the-ante” considerably. Governor Lucas responded by officially establishing Toledo as the county seat of Lucas County. In the meantime, Michigan’s legislature funded a budget of $315,000 for its militia (after Ohio had approved its own militia funding of $300,000). The legislature also drafted its constitution, even though Congress was still not willing to allow entrance to the Union because of the dispute.
In the month of June and into July minor skirmishes occurred, each side trying to “one-up” the other. On July 15, the one and only wound and bloodshed was incurred in the conflict, the result of a Michigan Sheriff being stabbed with a pen knife. By August, President Jackson intervened and removed Mason from his office as Governor of Michigan Territory, replacing him with John S. Horner. Up until the end of his time in office, Mason still tried unsuccessfully to prevent the county government of Lucas County, Ohio from proceeding.
Horner’s tenure was unpopular and short – he was burned in effigy! During the 1835 Michigan election, the people returned the feisty Mason to office. On June 15, 1836 President Jackson signed a bill admitting Michigan to the Union, provided they cede the disputed strip of land to Ohio. As a consolation, Michigan was offered land in the Upper Peninsula which was perceived as worthless and ultimately rejected.
Michigan was facing increasingly more financial problems due to its excessive funding of the militia – they were near bankruptcy. But, they had heard that the U.S. government was soon to distribute a $400,000 surplus to states. Michigan, still a territory because they had rejected Jackson’s stipulation, would not be eligible. Well, well …. there’s nothing like the promise of a “government bailout”!
On December 14, 1836, delegates in Ann Arbor passed a resolution agreeing to all the terms set forth by Congress. There was some controversy at the time as to whether the convention was even legal, but Congress decided to accept their resolution and move forward with statehood. On January 26, 1837, Michigan was officially the 26th state admitted to the Union (sans the Toledo Strip).
As it turned out, the settlement of the conflict was a win for both sides. Even though Michigan had initially rejected the land in the Upper Peninsula, it was later found to be an area rich in natural resources. The port of Toledo probably benefited as well from the mining boom and subsequent commerce. Today, Michiganders and Ohioans just duke it out on the football field!
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Ghost Town Wednesday – Dawson, New Mexico
In 1869 John Barkley Dawson purchased 250,000 acres of land on the Vermejo River from Lucien Maxwell (Maxwell Land Grant). For the next twenty years, Dawson developed the ranch land and built a ranch house.
Coal was discovered and the deposits laid under much of Dawson’s range. The Maxwell Land Grant and Railway Company, an English corporation, purchased the remaining part of the original Maxwell Land Grant and then proceeded to remove squatters and lease tenants of the original grant. All through the 1880s the company was successful in removing many occupants. In the early 1890s, the company filed suit against Dawson. The case processed through the court system and was eventually settled in Dawson’s favor by the U.S. Supreme Court.
This tragic story has been updated and published in the March 2018 issue of Digging History Magazine. Preview the issue here or purchase here. I invite you to check out Digging History Magazine. Since January 2018 new articles are published in a digital magazine (PDF) available by individual issue purchase or subscription (with three options). Most issues run between 70-85 pages, filled with articles of interest to history-lovers and genealogists — it’s all history, right? 🙂 No ads — just carefully-researched, well-written stories, complete with footnotes and sources.
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Tombstone Tuesday – The Immigrant Miners of Dawson, New Mexico
One hundred years ago today, on October 22, 1913, a massive coal mine explosion occurred in Dawson, New Mexico at the Stag Canyon Fuel Company’s Mine No. 2. Today’s “Tombstone Tuesday” pays tribute to some of the immigrant miners who perished on that horrific day. This story was a bit heart-wrenching after going through the immigration records and wondering had these men known what was ahead would they have come to America after all.
In looking for the grave records for that fateful day (what little there are), I found name after name listing October 22, 1913 as the date of death. Above that would be a notation regarding birth as “Unknown”. Most were buried with only a Miners Cross and no grave stone. A memorial has been erected in the cemetery listing the names of the dead. The list of immigrants killed included those from Greece, Italy, Russia, Hungary, Austria, Slavic nations, Ireland, Mexico and Bohemia.
This article was enhanced, complete with sources, and published in the March 2018 issue of Digging History Magazine. Should you prefer to purchase the article only, contact me for more information.
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Military History Monday – Obscure U.S. Civil Wars: The Honey War of 1839
Tweren’t really nothing much this little “war” — just a misunderstanding (maybe a little blown out of proportion), which was eventually settled by the U.S. Supreme Court, over the interpretation of the Louisiana Purchase and various treaties in ensuing years.
The disputed land was an approximately 10 mile-wide strip — was that land part of northern Missouri or southern Iowa? In 1820, Missouri entered the Union with the northern boundary being the so-called “Sullivan Line” or “Indian Boundary Line”. In 1816, surveyor John Sullivan conducted a survey in order to delineate the space between Osage Indian Territory and what was then just called Missouri Territory (new treaties had been drawn up with the Indians after the War of 1812). Sullivan erected markers along the way, but by the late 1830s those markers had more or less disappeared, making it unclear where the boundary lines laid.
I ran across one person’s theory relating to Sullivan’s line that I found interesting. I’m not sure who the author is, however. This person had gleaned from other web sites the theory of “magnetic declination” or the difference between what the compass indicates is north (magnetic north pole) and what is really north (geographic north pole). He/she postulated the following:
From where he started in western Missouri, the (21st-century) declination is approximately 4 1/2 degrees; at the Des Moines, the declination is 2 degrees. Thus, as Sullivan worked east, the “straight” line angled to a decidedly east-north-easterly direction, especially in the eastern third, and he reached the Mississippi in what is now downtown Fort Madison, approximately three miles north of where he should have been. Whoops. The problem was compounded when the southern boundary of the Wisconsin Territory was stated to be the northern border of Missouri, locking the two in an endless loop.
There was mention of “Des Moines Rapids” in the survey as being some point of delineation. Then in the late 1830s when Iowa was ready to join the Union, “Des Moines Rapids” became a point of contention. Apparently, these rapids were actually located in the Mississippi River, just above where the confluence of the Des Moines River and the Mississippi is located (I guess they took the phrase literally that the rapids were in the Des Moines River).
Another survey, conducted by J.C. Brown, was commissioned by the state of Missouri. Since the Sullivan markers are now missing or difficult to locate, and he doesn’t seem to know that the rapids are located in the Mississippi, he sets out to find the rapids in the Des Moines River. He assumes he finds them (wrong assumption) in an area now known as Keosauqua. His survey results in adding a wider strip of land across the northern border than Sullivan’s original survey.
Missouri is satisfied with the results (of course) and wants to levy taxes in that newly acquired territory. However, most people in that soon-to-be-disputed strip of land considered themselves Iowans and didn’t take kindly to being taxed by Missouri.
One anecdote told is that Samuel Riggs and Jonathan Riggs were cousins and both sheriffs of their respective counties. Samuel was sheriff of Davis County, Iowa and Jonathan was sheriff of Schuyler County, Missouri. Jonathan arrested Samuel for breaking the laws of the state of Missouri and, in turn, Samuel arrested Jonathan for holding the office of sheriff in Missouri while living in Iowa. Samuel kept Jonathan in jail for two months.
With the arrest of Jonathan Riggs and the cutting down of three honey bee trees by a Missourian as payment for taxes, hundreds of Iowans and Missourians rushed to the disputed area to defend their claims in December 1839. Since Iowa was such a young state, they didn’t have much of a militia. One story relates that the Iowa militia was armed mostly with antique shotguns, flintlocks and ancestral swords — not exactly a fierce-looking military force. According to one author (Tales from Missouri and the Heartland, by Ross Malone), the Missourians were armed with a variety of weapons, including a sausage stuffer that one man planned to use (?!?). I can just imagine that there was plenty of whiskey brought along too!
The governors of both states then engaged in a war of words. After a month-long standoff, a committee of men from both militias met and and asked the two governors to submit the matter to Congress to resolve. Eventually the case known as State of Missouri v. State of Iowa was referred to the U.S. Supreme Court to decide. Ultimately, the “war” was won by Iowa, deciding that the original “Sullivan Line” was indeed the correct boundary.
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Ghost Town Wednesday: Bethsheba, Oklahoma — No Roosters Allowed!
Today’s ghost town (spelled either “Bethsheba” or “Bathsheba”) may or may not have existed, according to some. Purportedly, in 1893 an all-female village was established in Oklahoma in an area called “Cherokee Strip”. These women so vehemently scorned men that they didn’t even allow male animals in their settlement.
Some historians believe that the “myth” of this all-female village (which only lasted three weeks) was fabricated by a Kansas reporter. However, it seems no one has ever been able to pinpoint just exactly where Bethsheba was located.
This humorous and informative article has been enhanced and published in the May 2018 issue of Digging History Magazine. Preview the issue here or contact me to purchase the individual article. I invite you to check out Digging History Magazine. Since January 2018 new articles are published in a digital magazine (PDF) available by individual issue purchase or subscription (with three options). Most issues run between 70-85 pages, filled with articles of interest to history-lovers and genealogists — it’s all history, right? 🙂 No ads — just carefully-researched, well-written stories, complete with footnotes and sources.
Want to know more or try out a free issue? You can download either (or both) of the January-February 2019 and March-April 2019 issues here: https://digging-history.com/free-samples/
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Tombstone Tuesday – S.A. Applin
I was at the hair salon chatting with my stylist about “Tombstone Tuesdays”. She mentioned that there were some cemeteries in Muleshoe, Texas (Bailey County) that might be interesting. So, I looked up Bailey County and clicked on one of the smaller cemeteries (60 marked graves).
I clicked on the very first name on the list, S.A. Applin – not knowing whether this was male or female because only initials were on the grave stone (hand-etched it appears).
I had to enlarge the first picture by clicking to another page and was finally able to read the etching. There was only a birth year and death year… hmmm. This makes it a bit challenging to find information, and again I wondered whether this was a man or a woman.
I noticed also listed on the page were three children, so I surmised that S.A. must have been their mother:
Luther Applin (1915-1915)
Floyd Applin (1916-1916)
Ira Applin (1918-1918)
Now I knew there must REALLY be a story to tell … three successive infant deaths! These children, however, were buried in a cemetery in Sharp (Milam County), Texas.
Still I didn’t know what “S.A.” stood for, nor her maiden name. You can barely see the inscription of the parents’ names so I just did a Google search of “S.A. Applin” and also a search at both Ancestry.com and Family Search. I finally found some census records with her name as Sadie and a death certificate for one of the children which listed her maiden name as “Brown”.
Her husband was Lee C. (Cisero) Applin. Now I had enough information to do some deeper digging. However, I didn’t have to search long before I found a large amount of family research already done on this family, including stories from one of their other children, Verna.1
I found out that Sadie (Sarah was here birth name) was one of three children of Charley Brown (who had been born in 1850 in France) – John, Charley and Sarah. Very interestingly, all three of the Brown children married three Applin children – all grandchildren of the same grandfather, George Applin. So, they were first cousins.
When I read that, I thought maybe those three babies died because of complications of a first cousin marriage (first cousin marriages were common). I subsequently found some information on the children:
Luther was born on June 5, 1915 and died on June 10, 1915 of blood poisoning. Floyd was born on April 26, 1916 and died on May 8, 1916 of infant death (there’s a certificate number but I didn’t try to locate that). The source stated that Ira was born on July 24, 1918 and died on November 19, 1918 with no death record. However, I found a death certificate for Ira on Family Search and his cause of death was listed as “gastro-enteritis”. “Heredity Luco” (whatever that is) was listed as a contributing factor …. which again makes me wonder about the first cousin marriage angle.
I came across some posts on a message board on Ancestry which were discussing the Applin family. One person commented that the Rh factor would explain the early deaths of these children – something that was probably common with first cousin marriages and a medical fact unknown to them at the time. (Backing up just a bit – Lee was married three times. He married Ranie Nelson on March 6, 1910 and one child, Annie, was born on January 30, 1911. Ranie died not long after the birth of her child – because Lee married Sadie in 1913. Sadie died in 1932 and Lee married Winnie Harris in 1933.)
Subsequently, Lee and Sadie adopted two children Luella and Jack Lemmon and had a another child of their own, Verna Lee (born after the death of the three babies).
The Browns and Applins were originally from Milam County, so I’m not sure why they were in Bailey County in 1932. In the 1920 Census they were still living in Milam County, but by the 1930 Census they had relocated to Bailey County. I’m not sure why the Applin family moved to Bailey County. According to a family source:
Apparently there were originally 550 acres owned by John Marion Applin. After he died the land was divided amongst his heirs. Lee inherited 80 acres. Lee’s land had a very low section where beautiful Willow trees grew. This is the area where the well was placed. The water was only about 5 feet below the surface. Verna remembers that when their neighbor’ wells would dry up during the summer, they would come to this well to get water.2
According to a granddaughter, Lee and Sadie were living in Baileyboro when his mother died in 1926, so sometime between 1920 and 1926 the family had moved to Bailey County. The granddaughter relates that Lee picked cotton in Progress, Texas (Bailey County) and then on to Baileyboro, where Sadie died in 1932.
According to Verna, her mother was a kind, hard-working woman. Here is Verna’s account:
I only remember my mother at a very young age since I was only 9 when she died. Sadie died of food poisoning 4-12-1932. The story is that Sadie, and others at that time, were trying a new method of “canning” using cans rather than jars. This proved to be fatal for some. Sadie was apparently tasting food as she was preparing dinner. The home-canned corn contained botulism, which made her sick immediately. This prevented others in the family from becoming ill. My Dad never forgave the doctor who attended Sadie that night. He was known as a drunk and he was apparently drunk when he tried to look after Sadie. Her death certificate contains evidence of this, as he was apparently so drunk he made a mess of the information. The certificate shows he scribbled over another woman’s certificate and put information in wrong. He put Lee Applin in the area marked for Sadie’s father, etc.
She was a very hard working woman, very kind, but could be strict when disobeyed. I remember my adopted sister, Luella, and I trying to keep Jack, Luella’s brother, from entering a room through a window. My mother had told us to stop and we disobeyed. I was pushed through the window and cut my back. However, that didn’t keep me from getting the strap along with Jack and Luella.
Another time I remember coyotes were trying to get the chickens out of the chicken house. Mom took the shotgun and went banging at them. I still don’t know if she killed a coyote or some of the chickens. Since my father was sick (gallbladder), she did all of the planting of cotton, maize, and corn. She also rode the cultivator that was pulled by a team of horses. We all picked cotton and cut the maize with a “hook bill” knife, then threw it onto the wagon that the horses pulled. I still have a scar on my thumb I received from a “hook bill” knife when I was carving something to shoot rocks with (a sling shot).
When mother had a bit to rest, she sat in a rocking chair and her dog “Brown Skinner” would jump in her lap. She loved to pet him. After she died, the dog walked through the house continually searching for her. He wouldn’t eat and he eventually grieved himself to death.
She always canned fruit and vegetables for us. I remember going to church in a wagon. I must have been real young. Later Dad drove a school bus and owned a Model T. Mother milked several cows. We separated the milk and sold the cream to buy groceries. She also raised baby turkeys. She treated them like babies. She was gentle and kind, and loving. She was really one of a kind.3
This article wasn’t much of a challenge to write, with all the recorded histories of family members, but a memorable one. As Verna relates, Sadie “was really one of a kind” – much loved wife and mother.
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Military History Monday: The History of Obscure U.S. Civil Wars (a.k.a., Border Conflicts)
I ran across an article written in 2010, somewhat facetiously, about some lesser known “civil wars” which were largely the result of border conflicts between states or territories. These conflicts loosely come under the topic of military history in some respects, but they all involved disputes which required intervention either by state or local militias or police and/or National Guardsmen.
One of the amusing aspects of some of these stories is that they were between states which today are fierce college football rivals.
The Red River Bridge War
I’ll write about this little month-long war today because it is said to be the basis of an intense college rivalry between Oklahoma and Texas, and they actually call it the “Red River Rivalry” (or “Red River Shootout”). Today is a good day to write about this little “war” because two days ago the annual “shootout” was held at the Cotton Bowl.
In July 1931, a controversy erupted over the opening of a free bridge which paralleled the span of a toll bridge operated by the Red River Bridge Company. The free bridge had been built jointly by both Texas and Oklahoma.
On July 3, Red River Bridge Company filed an injunction to stop the Texas Highway Commission from opening the bridge, claiming that the state had agreed to purchase the toll bridge for $60,000 and then pay $10,000 a month for fourteen months (for an unexpired contract). On July 10, a temporary injunction was granted and the Governor of Texas, Ross S. Sterling, ordered barricades to be placed on the Texas side of the newly constructed bridge.
Now, it’s Oklahoma Governor William “Alfalfa Bill” Murray’s turn to fire a shot. On July 16, Murray declared the bridge open by executive order, claiming that the bridge ran north and south across the Red River and that Oklahoma held clear title of both sides of the river by virtue of the boundaries set by the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Also, the state of Oklahoma was not named in the Texas injunction.
The Oklahoma highway crews crossed the bridge and destroyed the barricades on the Texas side, which prompts the Texas governor to send in the Texas Rangers (well, three of them, accompanied by an Adjutant General of the Rangers and Texas National Guardsmen) to rebuild the barricades, protect the highway crews and enforce the injunction.
On July 17, Governor Murray orders his highway crews to tear up the northern approaches of the toll bridge. Traffic over the river comes to a screeching halt. Meetings (heated ones I’m sure) were held July 20 and 21 in Sherman and Denison, Texas, demanding that the bridge be re-opened. By July 23, the Texas Legislature had passed a bill allowing the bridge company to sue the state. Satisfied that their interests were addressed, the bridge company joined the state in asking that the injunction be vacated. On July 25, that occurred and the free bridge was opened on the Texas side.
Now you would think this should have settled everything because the new bridge could be opened and used. However, Governor Murray was still blocking the northern approaches of the toll bridge, and the bridge company had subsequently filed a petition in federal district court in Muskogee to stop the blockage. Murray claimed that his authority as the commander of the Oklahoma National Guard superseded that of the federal district court. So he ordered a National Guard unit to the bridge and even went down there himself “armed” with an antique revolver (the papers called it a visit to the “war zone”).
The injunction against the state of Oklahoma wasn’t being enforced but on July 24, since the free bridge was to be opened, Murray ordered his Guardsmen to allow access over the toll bridge they had been blocking. Then, on July 27 Murray claimed to have heard of an attempt to shut down the free bridge forever, so he extended martial law to the Oklahoma boundary marker on the south bank of the river. Consequently, Oklahoma Guardsmen were posted at both ends of the free bridge and Texas now claimed an “invasion” (or the papers did at least).
By August 6, the whole controversy was over when the injunction was vacated and the Oklahoma Guardsmen were withdrawn. War over. According to this web site, Oklahoma claims to have won the “war”:
http://www.okhistory.org/about/transcript.php?episodedate=2010-07-10
In 1995, the bridge was blown up and replaced by a new one (no controversies this time).
Did you enjoy this article? Yes? Check out Digging History Magazine. Since January 2018 new articles are published in a digital magazine (PDF) available by individual issue purchase or subscription (with three options). Most issues run between 70-85 pages, filled with articles of interest to history-lovers and genealogists — it’s all history, right? 🙂 No ads — just carefully-researched, well-written stories, complete with footnotes and sources.
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Ghost Town Wednesday – Hawaiian Ghost Town Where??
Iosepa, Utah – Hawaiian Ghost Town
Skull Valley, Utah is the site of the West’s only Hawaiian ghost town. Iosepa was established in 1889 by Mormons and largely populated by Pacific Islanders Mormon converts (Hawaiians). Mormon missionaries had been sent to Hawaii and Polynesia in the 1850s, and the Mormon converts wanted to be able to participate in sacred rituals (the Salt Lake Temple was being built). The name of the town, Iosepa, is a variation of “Joseph” in honor of Joseph Smith. By the way, it wasn’t necessarily easy for the Hawaiians to leave, but sometime in the 1870s emigration restrictions were lifted so the converts could make their way to Utah.
This article was published in the May 2018 issue of Digging History Magazine. I invite you to check out Digging History Magazine. Since January 2018 new articles are published in a digital magazine (PDF) available by individual issue purchase or subscription (with three options). Most issues run between 70-85 pages, filled with articles of interest to history-lovers and genealogists — it’s all history, right? 🙂 No ads — just carefully-researched, well-written stories, complete with footnotes and sources.
Want to know more or try out a free issue? You can download either (or both) of the January-February 2019 and March-April 2019 issues here: https://digging-history.com/free-samples/
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Tombstone Tuesday – Albert Samsill
“How much of life how much of joy is buried with our darling boy” – this is the heartfelt epitaph on the grave stone of Albert Hathaway Samsill – a random grave stone in County Cemetery located in the Lubbock (Texas) County listing of cemeteries. I picked County Cemetery randomly because it had only 19 internments, probably of people long forgotten.
This article is no longer available for free at this site. It was re-written and enhanced, complete with footnotes and sources and has been published in the November 2018 issue of Digging History Magazine. Should you prefer to purchase the article only, contact me for more information.
I invite you to check out Digging History Magazine. Since January 2018 new articles are published in a digital magazine (PDF) available by individual issue purchase or subscription (with three options). Most issues run between 70-85 pages, filled with articles of interest to history-lovers and genealogists — it’s all history, right? 🙂 No ads — just carefully-researched, well-written stories, complete with footnotes and sources.
Want to know more or try out a free issue? You can download either (or both) of the January-February 2019 and March-April 2019 issues here: https://digging-history.com/free-samples/
Thanks for stopping by!