What Happened to Charley Farmer?

Posted on October 23, 2024October 23, 2024 by FHadmin

My Grandma Nellie (Peelle) McCracken’s cousin Charley D. Farmer disappeared in the late 1890s. Where did he go? And, what kept him from coming home? It is a story with a twist that begs even more questions.

Who is Charley Farmer?

Charles D. “Charley” Farmer was born in Winchester, Indiana about 1877 to John A. and Evaline (Peelle) Farmer. He joined sister Indianola “Nola,” who had been born two years prior.

Trego County

In February 1879, the family had moved to Wa-Keeney (how it was written at that time) in Trego County, Kansas. This was around the same time that Evaline’s parents/my great-great grandparents (Passco and Martha (Johnson) Peelle) and part of her siblings moved to Bourbon County, Kansas. However, Trego County is in western Kansas and is a long way from Bourbon County making it unlikely that their move was related to Evaline’s parents’ move.

It wasn’t the lure of a ranch that took them west, as John was a painter and didn’t appear to show any interest in cattle or ranching. No relatives of either of them have been identified in that area at that time. It makes one wonder if perhaps they were going to venture further west and simply had enough by the time they got to Trego County and decided to stop. In any case, John hung out his shingle and went to work as a painter.

People in the area were really struggling. At the beginning of May 1880, he wrote a letter to the editor of The Western Kansas World talking about the struggles of people in the area and the need of some families for assistance. He went on to say that if things did not improve soon, that a lot more people would be in need assistance or would move away.

On May 29, 1800, John advertised that he had timber land that he would exchange for a wagon, team, and harness.

Olathe

By early 1881, John, Evaline, and family were living in Olathe, Johnson County, Kansas. That fall, John stated that he still owned property in Trego County and that he hoped to return one day. However, he was busy as a painter in Olathe.

In 1884, Charley began attending school in the Olathe School system, which had over 500 students across ten grades. The following year, Charley’s younger brother Clayton “Clate” was born. Evaline gave birth to another child, likely between Charley and Clate. However, that child died and nothing more is known about the child.

Over the next few years, Charley attended school while his father worked in a seemingly booming business. John had a staff of workers who worked on projects ranging from painting wagons and vehicles to signs to the interior and exterior of businesses and homes. Among his contracts were one to paint and stain the interior of the Presbyterian Church, one to update the court rooms, and one to paint oboth the interior and exterior of a school house.

However, despite what appears to be a good amount of work, John got in financially over his head. This led to foreclosure and sale of property in Olathe and property he owned in Fort Scott, Bourbon, Kansas.

Fort Scott

As a result, around 1890, John, Evaline and their children moved to Fort Scott. John, again, started up his paint business, adding paper hanging to the services offered. As in the past, he located his business near the core business area of the town with his store located at 208 First Street.

The biggest known event in Charley’s life in the early 1890s occurred in 1892 when Charley cut the tip off the end of his forefinger (index finger) on his right hand when oiling his bicycle.

By 1895, Charley joined John in his business. The store was moved to the Strothers Building at 203 Market Street and renamed J. A. Farmer & Son. At that time, Clate was still in school and Nola was employed as a bookkeeper while Evaline managed the household.

The Wandering Son

Charley apparently liked to travel and see the country. Thus, in 1896, he took a break from working with his father to do just that. In July 1896, he returned to Fort Scott from a 4-month journey that had taken him to Indian Territory, St. Louis, Chicago, Bloomington and more points of interest. Although he worked as a painter as his primary occupation, it is possible that Charley may have joined a railroad construction crew in Arkansas and traveled with the crew.

The Disappearance

Then in 1897, Charley traveled north. He visited Wisconsin and Minnesota, among other states. On September 20, 1897, (or September 22, accounts vary) he sent a letter to his father from Stevens, Minnesota stating that he would be coming home. He never arrived!

John contacted the man who had recently employed Charley. He told the same story that the letter did. He believed Charley was going to take his $75 and head back home.

The Search

Over the next two years the family did not hear a peep from Charley. John searched to learn what had happened to his son. Since Charley was adventuresome, John considered if he might have headed to the gold fields in Alaska or joined the military. He also wrote to the leaders of military groups in the area to see if Charley might have joined up with one of them. All of them responded saying that they had no one by that name on their rolls.

John concluded that something must have happened to Charley. He learned of a fire at a barn 40 miles from where Charley had been staying that claimed the lives of multiple men. John wondered if Charley might be among them as the men had been sleeping in the barn. He thought it was just like his son to ride the rails and then get off and find a place to sleep.

Located?

Finally, on September 2, 1899, the Adjunct General’s Office of the War Department responded to his inquiry stating that Charley had joined the cavalry May 27, 1898 and had been discharged April 13, 1899 at San Marias, Porto Rico (this was the Anglicized spelling, the original spelling of Puerto Rico was later restored). He had served in the 5^th United States Cavalry, Troop L. The War Department had no additional information regarding his whereabouts.

It was met with some relief. John believed it must be his son because the location of birth (Winchester, Indiana) matched that of his son. He didn’t see the actual record, but if he had, he would have known for sure as it also stated a physical description and gave his occupation as painter. the question is, “Was Charley 5’6″ with light blue eyes, light brown hair, and a fair complexion?”

John and Evaline still didn’t know where Charley was, but they knew that a few months earlier he had been alive and well.

1923 Message from Adjunct General’s Office

More Information

The family soon received a letter from L. T. Bybee of Slater, Missouri. Mr. Bybee had seen an article in the St. Louis Globe-Democrat regarding Charley. He said that he had served in the same unit with Charley and knew him well. He went on to say that Charley had gotten a job working for the government in Puerto Rico. Charley was driving a team and making $40 per month.

Most importantly, Mr. Bybee provided Charley’s address in Puerto Rico. John immediately wrote to Charley. According to the Fort Scott Weekly Tribune on October 26, 1899, Evaline had received a letter from Charley. The first they had heard from him in over two years. The only additional piece of information they provided was that he was headquartered at Mayaguez.

In the years to come

Less than two months later, John died suddenly of painter’s colic (constipation caused by lead poisoning) in Galena, Kansas, where he had a painting business. Why he had moved his business there is not known, but he had been in some conflicts with the pastor of the Brethren Church in Fort Scott. It had become very public and perhaps that drove him to move his business.

Leading up to his death, John appeared to be well until the last day. He had written Evaline telling her that he would be home for Christmas, but he didn’t live that long.

After his death, Evaline used John’s $3,000 life insurance to purchase an 80-acre farm near Hiattville, likely to be close to her brother and parents. After her move, no indication of communication with or about Charley has been found until 24 years later. In December, 1923, the Adjutant General’s Office sent a memorandum to Charles W. Turney of Hiattville, Kansas. Charles must have been a kind neighbor and helped Evaline by writing a letter to the government, as he had no other known connection to the family. Apparently, she sought additional information about Charley. The letter, however, provided basically the same information that had been sent to the family in 1899.

The Twist

Military Records

As I reviewed Charley’s military records, I found something unexpected. I found a military headstone application that showed the name Charles D. Palmer alias Charley Farmer. It stated the service had been in the unit the government had identified in their message to Charley’s father and had dates coinciding with the information the government had sent the family. Then, I found a pension record that showed Charles D. Farmer (alias) Charles D. Palmer. This record again gave the same unit.

The records showed that Charles or Charley had died September 21, 1931, almost 34 years to the day that Charley had gone missing. The records showed that Charles D. Palmer had a wife Catherine who lived at 548 Kensington Ave, La Grange, Illinois (a suburb of Chicago). In 1930, that home was valued at $6,000 and today Zillow values the 2500+ square foot house at over $700,000.

The Palmer Family

Charles Palmer married Catherine September 20, 1911 in La Grange, Illinois. In 1920, they had three children Vera K. Palmer, Ralph D. Palmer, and Charles A. Palmer. The family lived at 218 Forest Avenue (That home no longer exists.). However, the most interesting thing in the 1920 census was that Charles Palmer’s occupation was a painter!

The information for the family remained consistent in the 1930 census. Charles sounds a lot like Charley. The only difference is that he claimed to be born in New York and claimed his parents were from England; whereas, Charley was born in Indiana with his mother also born in Indiana and his father born in Ohio.

Mix & Match

One Charles Day Palmer was found in New York with a birth year around 1875. His parents are James and Ellen. However, he appears to have lived his entire life in New York, dying many years after Charles of Illinois.

In comparison, Charles D. Palmer of La Grange’s records with the Veteran’s Administration give a birth date of June 20, 1877. Meanwhile, his WWI draft registration card and his death record show June 20, 1878 as his birth date. In a possibly odd coincidence, his WWI draft registration shows a middle name of Dayton. It is so very similar to the middle name Day of the man of New York.

His death record, however, provides some information that seems to tie Charles D. Palmer back to Charley D. Farmer. His father is listed as John Albert and his mother is listed as Cornelia E. Peel. Some researchers have John’s the middle as Albert. There are Quaker records that show a John Albert Farmer. However, I have yet to prove those records are for this specific John A. Farmer. The name Peel, on the other hand, seems so unlikely if the man wasn’t Charley. As far as I know, Evaline was not really Cornelia. However, it is possible that was her name and she never used it or the name is a mistake. It does show an initial of E, which could stand for Evaline.

The Questions

Charley Farmer Changed His Name

Was Charles Dayton Palmer really Charley D. Farmer? If so, why did Charley change his name? Was he in Puerto Rico the entire time from when he was discharged from the military until just prior to his marriage to Catherine?

It seems very possible that they are the same man. No records of Charley Dayton Palmer have been found before his marriage to Catherine. Likewise, no records of Charley D. Farmer have been found after 1899. If he was in Puerto Rico in 1900, he wouldn’t have been in the census. However, he should have been in the 1910 census in Illinois, Puerto Rico, or some other location, although it is possible that he was missed for one reason or another.

If it was Charley that joined the military, where was Charley between September 20, 1897 when he said he was coming home and May 26, 1897 when he joined the army? And, why didn’t he contact his family during this time? Who says, “I am coming home” and then never contacts the family again?

These questions seem to have no answer. To speculate, it is possible that he did go off to Alaska, where communication might have been limited. Still, it seems like he would have contacted his parents before joining the cavalry. It is also possible that he got in trouble and ended up in jail somewhere. But, again, you would think he would have contacted his parents before joining the military. This just doesn’t match the behavior of a person who contacted their parents to say that they are coming home.

Charles Dayton Palmer Isn’t Charley D. Farmer

If Charles Dayton Palmer isn’t Charley D. Farmer, where did he come from? Why did he claim Charley D. Farmer’s military service? Did he learn about Charley in the newspaper? How did he know anything about Charley’s parents’ names, especially his mom’s maiden name? Could Charley have died and another man have stolen Charley’s identity before joining the military? If so, who was he before that?

This seems less likely because of the information that he would have to have known. However, it would definitely explain the lack of contact. Someone who stole someone’s identity likely would not want contact with the person’s family.

Years In Puerto Rico

What was it that the man who served in the military did in Puerto Rico? If he is the same as Charles Dayton Palmer, what was he doing for those 12 years? Was he in Puerto Rico the entire time? If that was Charley D. Farmer, what happened to him? Why is there no record of him in Puerto Rico?

He was working for the government in a time of great change in Puerto Rico. It is possible that he continued with the government, possibly coming back to the states in a role with them. However, it is possible that something happened to him in Puerto Rico, but that doesn’t explain someone else claiming his military service.

No Contact?

Did Charley really respond to John’s letter in 1899?

The reason to question this is that Evaline had a letter written to the War Department years later to try to get information on Charley. In addition, Evaline (Peelle) Farmer’s obituary states that her son Charles “has been missing in action ever since the Spanish-American war. He enlisted in the army and was last heard of in the Philippines. Great efforts were made to find him but his fate was never known.” Her obituary was likely written by Nola and Clate. It is inconsistent with him being released in Puerto Rico, but years had passed and perhaps they didn’t remember the details. However, they definitely didn’t seem to think contact had been made. It seems that they would have definitely known if their mom got a letter from him – even if it was only one.

In Conclusion

When it comes to Charley D. Farmer, there are simply more questions than answers!

Just Enough House

Posted on October 15, 2024 by FHadmin

Three Generations

In 1906, three generations of the Peelle family moved to the Fish farm southeast of Hiatville, Kansas. The two-story house was nestled amongst elm, pear, maple, and catalpa trees atop a hill a mile north of the Bourbon-Crawford county line. The 190-acre property included a garden, an orchard, fields, a root cellar, an outhouse, and some out buildings.

Early Photo of the home place. It is clear that one of the early families had a green thumb given so many plants were growing in the yard. The Peelle family added a cutting from a rose bush that they had brought from Indiana.

The House

Initially, the house consisted of a living area, kitchen, three bedrooms and a small loft space. The kitchen was a nook area between the living area and the bedroom on the main floor. The space was heated by two fireplaces or stoves. One chimney was between the living space and the kitchen and another was in the main floor bedroom. Heat going up the chimneys would have helped warm, even if ever so slightly, the upstairs.

It is assumed that Passco, who was in his eighties and his wife Martha (Johnson) Peelle, who turned 80 that year, slept in the main floor bedroom, which contained the only closet in the entire house. It would have been difficult, if not impossible, for them to sleep upstairs, as the upstairs could only be reached via a ladder to the loft from the kitchen area.

The upstairs bedrooms were likely occupied by William Johnson Peelle and his wife Matilda (Jury) Peelle in one and their daughters Lydia and Nellie in the other. It is likely that their son Passco “Pat,” who was 7, slept in the loft.

It was tight, but everyone had a place to lay their head.

Windows & Doors

A door existed on the front of the house between the two primary rooms. A door must have also existed on the back of the house to allow access to the well, which initially was east of the house before a different one was dug out west of the house. Additionally, the wood or coal used to heat the house and the cook stove would likely have also been stored out back.

As can be seen in the photograph, only the top portion of some of the windows had glass. It was not uncommon in those days to put in openings for windows before the windows could be purchased and that appears to be what was done on this house. It is likely that they couldn’t afford glass for all the windows at once or could not get enough glass for all the windows.

Expansion

It wasn’t long; however, before William J., who was a carpenter by trade, began building a proper kitchen onto the back of the house. It was the length of the living room and the old kitchen. An additional chimney was added at the northeast corner of the kitchen for the cook stove and the wall between the kitchen and the living room was opened up. Opening the space helped with heating and made the space more usable.

The kitchen also doubled as a room for bathing. The water was brought into the house and heated on the stove. When the bathing was complete, they could simply pour out the tub of water and use it to scrub the floor as William J. had sloped the floor and built a drain in the northwest corner of the kitchen.

A new stairway was built in the space vacated by moving the kitchen. The new stairway was extremely steep, but it was better than climbing a ladder.

Even after the expansion, the house was less than 1300 square feet.

Changes Over Time

In the fall of 1911, William J. died. His father Passco had already died in 1908 and his mother Martha died in 1912. Since William j. was the primary breadwinner for the family, it is amazing that Matilda was able to keep the farm. Lydia started working at the local grocery and other businesses to help out with expenses. And, Matilda’s brother Walter, who lived nearby, likely helped out. In the spring of 1914, Nellie married Joseph Andrew “Joe” McCracken. It wasn’t long before, The Home Place, as it came to be known, would take on a new life.

A Growing Family

After they first married, Joe and Nellie rented property. However, with a growing family and a house that was empty except for Matilda, a move to The Home Place seemed like an obvious choice. Thus, about 1920, Joe, Nellie, and their four oldest children moved to The Home Place.

The family grew and grew. Eventually, Joe, Nellie, and ten children were all living in the three-bedroom home. Joe and Nellie shared the downstairs bedroom, with the youngest one or two usually sleeping in the same room. The remaining girls shared the upstairs bedroom over the living area, and the boys shared the other bedroom.

Guests

The house, however, was never too full for one more. It was not uncommon for one, two, or more to join the family for Sunday dinner. Dad remembered one time that for some reason Fred and Florence (McCracken) Barton were gone and their kids, his second cousins, stayed with his family. Assuming all the kids stayed, that would have been 3 extra boys and 3 extra girls. Dad said that they slept crosswise in the bed to fit in more kids.

More Changes

The family almost lost part of the house in the late 1930s or early 1940s when a tornado came barrelling through. Fortunately, the family made it to the root cellar and the damage was limited. Trees were all down along the road, but the house escaped with only some damage to the roof.

It was about the time that the oldest kids started going away to work or study that the house started to feel empty. It was still quite full, but Dad said that every time one of the kids left home, it felt more empty. Eventually, the house had only a few inhabitants.

The Next Generation

When electricity came through west of what is now Highway 7, Joe, Nellie, and the kids that remained at home moved to the property that Joe and Nellie had purchased during the war. Ed, probably with some help with his dad, wired up the new property and the family had electric lights for the first time.

Within the year, Dewey married and moved with his bride to The Home Place. Eventually, the Home Place had running water and electricity. Wood would heat the home for years, but eventually it would be converted to propane.

Additions

Joe, Dewey, and Dad added out buildings to the property while Joe and Nellie lived there. Dewey continued to update the property after he moved to The Home Place.

The only major addition to the house prior to the 1970s was enclosing the area behind the first-floor bedroom into a “back porch.” A shower was added to this area just off the bedroom, however, it would have been mighty cold in the winter as the area was not heated.

An Indoor Bathroom

It wasn’t until the mid-1970s that the house got indoor bathroom facilities. At that time, improvements were made to a portion of the back porch and a proper bathroom was added into the space just off the kitchen. The bathroom was small, but was far better than going to the outhouse on a cold winter night. And, you didn’t have to worry about what was lurking in the shadows. I can only remember one time that I went to the outhouse in the middle of the night. It was plenty creepy!

Cabinets

About the same time that the bathroom was added, Ed added custom built-in cabinets in the kitchen. They had to be custom built because nothing in the kitchen was straight. The floor and ceiling were both sloped by design and the walls and windows just weren’t quite straight.

The Fire

In March 1993, the family came close to losing the house. Dewey, Jackie, and Ruthe were living in the house when they realized that there was fire in the chimney. Their first reaction was to call Dad – even before the fire department.

Dad grabbed the fire extinguishers. Then he jumped in the old white pickup and took off for The Home Place not knowing anything other than that they had a fire. Reports have it that he was driving so fast that the took the corner south of our house on two wheels. Let’s just say that his driving alerted the neighbors that something was wrong.

When Dad arrived they directed him to the chimney on the main floor where they were fighting fire. He responded that they needed to fight the fire from up above, as he could see smoke coming out under the eaves as he drove in. So, he grabbed a water sprayer and raced up those steep stairs and got up into the attic.

He had the fire out and was moving into control mode of watching for hot spots before the fire department arrived. No structural damage resulted. However, smoke and water cleanup was required. Had they not called Dad first or if he missed seeing the smoke under the eaves, the damage likely would have been much greater.

Family Gatherings

Many family gatherings occurred at this house over the years. Some were just a couple of families and others had lots of attendees. Summer gatherings worked well as people could spread out under the many shade trees in the yard.

However, in the winter it could be mighty cozy if the weather drove everyone inside. Fortunately, the family usually found a way to get out for a football game or just to wander around even when it was cold and snowy. No matter what, there always was room for one more!

Afterward

The property remained in the family for 90 years. The house has now been torn down as have some of the out buildings. However, a new house has been added to the property and someone else is now making new memories. One can only hope they look upon the property as fondly as our family looked upon The Home Place.

The Double Helix & Genealogy

Posted on September 17, 2024 by FHadmin

What if DNA hadn’t been discovered ? Similarly, what if the United States was like some other countries that prohibited or severely limited DNA testing ? The lack of DNA evidence would definitely change my research. There are relatives that I likely would not have found and stories that would be lost.

DNA & Genetic Genealogy

We take the knowledge of DNA for granted as it was discovered more than 150 years ago. DNA testing for paternity was developed in the 1980s. By comparison, genetic genealogy is a relatively new field. As such, many misconceptions exist about DNA, DNA testing, and genetic genealogy. Before I jump into what I have found using genetic genealogy, I thought I would address the top seven common misconceptions I regularly see expressed.

Misconception: Testing Anywhere Automatically Matches Anybody

>Complaint: “I tested and I don’t see a match to X.”

>Response: “Did they test with the same company?”

>Answer: “No.”

A DNA match will not show up to someone that hasn’t tested with the same company. So, if you are looking for a specific person (e.g. someone’s child that was adopted), you may not find them. This is why it is recommended that people looking for someone specific test on multiple sites and upload to any that allow it.

Misconception: DNA Results Should Tell Me Who My parent/grandparent is

>Complaint: “The results don’t tell me . . . “

>Related Question: “How can it tell me I am related to an ancestor as they never took a DNA test?”

You can determine your parent or grandparent without them testing IF their descendants or other relatives have tested. However, in most cases, it requires research. The more distant the match; the more work that will be required to find the answer (and this includes a lot of traditional research).

Misconception: You Will Have Many Matches With Your Surname

Because you don’t see your surname among your top matches does NOT mean that you were adopted or the product of an affair. It is not uncommon to find few if any people in your top matches that have your surname.

Misconception: Gender Matters With Autosomal DNA

Question: “Should I have my male cousin test? Will that give me a better match to my dad’s family?”

When using autosomal DNA (E.g. Ancestry.com) it does not matter if you are male or female. In other words, two males will not necessarily match better than a male and a female. However, having multiple people test is very useful, particularly if you are looking for someone several generations back.

Misconception: Testing Company Labels Are Gospel

The labels assigned by the companies are not always how you relate to the person. With the exception of self, parent/child, and sibling labels, which are generally accurate, the other labels are a guess of the relationship. It is important to use dnapainter.com or other reliable source to determine the possible relationships to the match.

Misconception: Ethnicities are 100% Accurate and DNA Inherits Evenly

DNA is not this cut and dried. Each person matches approximately 50% of each parent, but not exactly 50-50. When they have children, there is no guarantee what portion of their DNA the child will get. Hence, the smaller the amount of DNA shared is, the wider the range of potential relationships. In addition, companies are still evolving their data sets and algorithms for these computations. Additionally, each company has different data sets and different algorithms. It is far from settled technology. So, look for it to continue to change.

Misconception: DNA Results Can Be Flawed

The most important rule is that DNA does not lie. Tests may be inadvertently switched by the user or the results may be misinterpreted, but the companies don’t just “get it wrong.” The chances of a test getting switched in the company’s lab is extremely small. And, no, matching mom’s side and not dad’s side is not an error by the company.

My Research

A majority of my personal DNA research has been focused on solving the question of “Who were Lemuel McCracken’s parents?” Lemuel is my great-great grandfather. Thus, this is a complex problem to solve. And, given the genetic distance, proving who his parents are even with extensive genetic and traditional genealogy may not be possible. However, a lot has been learned and many new relatives identified along the way.

Close Relatives Identified

I have determined that 18 DNA matches are descendants of Lemuel and his first wife Sarah Dufer. 59 matches (including myself) descend from Lemuel and our great-great grandmother Louisiana (Mateer) (Badgley) McCracken. And, I have identified 11 DNA matches that descend from Louisiana (Matteer) (Badgley) McCracken through her first marriage. This is a total of 88 cousins this branch of the family that have done DNA testing.

Most are fourth cousins or closer with a few with relationships beyond that. However, it is important to remember that those through other marriages are half relationships. Thus, they generally share a smaller amount of DNA with us.

In identifying these relatives, I found numerous that I did not know existed. Some of them I would have eventually found via the paper trail although research of living people can be challenging. However, others might have been extremely difficult or impossible without genetic genealogy. Some have been placed at the appropriate location in my tree.

Others are still under investigation and are not included in the numbers listed. One example is a sister and brother that have ties to Girard, Kansas. I have been able to determine that they are descendants of Andrew Johnson and Rosa Isabella (Ellis) McCracken. Also, using DNA, I have been able to eliminate certain sons of Andrew and Rosa as their potential grandfather.

Confirming Louisiana’s Name

DNA matches have also provided evidence confirming Louisiana’s maiden name as Matteer. This is important as her name was shown as several different names on different documents. We have matches to 18 direct descendants of her father Mathias Matteer. Additionally, many others have been identified to the Matteer family in general.

Search For Lemuel’s Parents

The search for Lemuel’s parents has consumed hundreds (ok, thousands) of hours. Like most cases, it is a mix of genetic genealogy and traditional genealogy. So little was known about him prior to his marriage to my great-great grandmother Louisiana (Matteer) (Badgley) McCracken that I began to think a space ship just dropped him off in Iowa one day in the early 1850s.

I didn’t even have a specific place to look for records as his location of birth was listed as both Ohio and Pennsylvania. And, nothing more specific was given anywhere. So, I asked as many people as possible to test. It was very useful having results for a lot of people, as some of them matched one family a lot more than another did.

As, a result of efforts to date, Lemuel appears to be the son of a Ms. McCracken and a Mr. Peppard. These two families were first identified with autosomal DNA using primarily ancestry.com, but also on other sites.

McCracken

In the McCracken family, I have been able to determine that Lemuel is likely the son or grandson of James McCracken and Rachel Kelly. To determine this I have found 35 DNA matches that trace directly to James and Rachel. I have also found 20 matches that go back to Julia Ann (McCracken) Byers and 9 to Rachel (McCracken) Lytle . Both women lived in the same county where James lived at the time Lemuel was born. My hypothesis is that they are daughters of his son Thomas, who was deceased prior to Lemuel’s birth.

Additionally, I have found 9 matches to Henry McCracken who raised his family several counties away (referred to as “Henry of Ohio” so as not to be confused with Lemuel’s son Henry). I have also been of the belief that he was also a son of Thomas as it was specified in James’ will that Thomas had sons Henry and William that were underage. A William was also found living in the area where Henry lived.

Assuming Lemuel’s mother was a McCracken, she is the daughter of one of James and Rachel’s daughters or granddaughters. Some of them can be eliminated because they were married and they had children at intervals that would make it impossible or unlikely that they are his mother. A more detailed analysis will be included in a later article.

Peppard

Autosomal data shows a large group of DNA matches to descendants of Jonathan Peppard and his wife Elizabeth Gilmore. To break it down, we match 43 descendants of their son John, 6 of their son William, 21 of their daughter Rebecca, 10 of their son Francis, 26 of their daughter Phoebe, and 14 descendants of their son David. This is a total of 120 DNA matches that have been directly connected to this couple using traditional genealogy.

One of their sons (John, William, Francis, David, and Isaac) would seem to be Lemuel’s father unless there is an unknown son of John. The latter cannot be ruled out yet.

The greatest number of matches are to John. However, numbers of matches alone isn’t meaningful as it depends on the size of families how people many tested, how much shared DNA they have with the tests that I use for research, and whether I can connect them to the tree. It is very possible that if I am able to connect the many outstanding matches that the numbers will shift significantly. In addition, some members of John’s family came to Kansas. Thus, some of these descendants may be the result of mixing with other families that relate to us. That is yet to be determined.

I determined that our surname likely should be Peppard by adding the results of Y-DNA to autosomal DNA research. Without the autosomal DNA, I might think the Peppard was an anomaly and McCracken was the actual surname. However, since the autosomal DNA shows a strong match to both family names and Peppard shows up as a Y-DNA match, it is seems highly likely that Lemuel’s father was a Peppard. Now, it is possible that a McCracken is the parent of a Peppard, but I will explain in the next section how new data shows that to be extremely unlikely.

Throw In a Monkey Wrench

New Y-DNA Match

A recent new Y-DNA match led to new questions. This new match has the last name of Bailey. Talking with a member of the family, I learned that the family was in Vermont and one man served in the Union Army during the Civil War. During that interval, he was stationed at Ft. Riley. There he married and had a son. After the war, the family moved to Oregon and then Canada.

The new match made me wonder how the Bailey family fit into the picture. I questioned if we were all part of the Bailey family. Or, were they both McCrackens? What exactly was going on?

The first thing I did was dig into autosomal DNA looking for matches to descendants of the Bailey family in question. To date, I have identified 18 Bailey DNA matches that I have been able to trace. All of them trace to the son that was born in Kansas. Whether this means anything specific or not is still to be determined.

The Bailey DNA matches also match many of our Peppard DNA matches, but not to McCracken DNA matches in James and Rachel (Kelly) McCracken’s known family. Many of them matched through John Peppard’s sons Thomas and Samuel. Of interest is the fact that those two were both in Kansas by 1859. Given that we have DNA matches across several of Jonathan and Elizabeth (Gilmore) Peppard’s children, it appears that the Baileys are a subset of the Peppards and not the other way around. For the Peppards that we match to be Bailey’s, the connection would have had to had occurred prior to 1744 and likely even earlier. Given the localization of the Bailey DNA matches and the amount of DNA shared, it seems a Peppard must have fathered a Bailey sometime in the 1800s.

Heny of Ohio And The Peppard Family

During this investigation, I discovered that Henry of Ohio’s descendants are similar to us in that they match Bailey DNA matches, Peppard DNA matches, and McCracken DNA matches. This led me to again examine if the Peppard family had a stronger connection to the McCracken family than I realized. To date, none has been found. And, Henry of Ohio’s descendants do not appear to be closer DNA matches to Lemuel’s descendants than James and Rachel (Kelly) McCracken’s descendants. Thus, I am currently scratching my head on this topic.

McCracken-Peppard Relationships As Of September 2024

The above diagram attempts to give a visual of what I believe I am seeing in the DNA relationships between the various McCracken and Peppard lines. All groups have DNA matches not related to the other groups. However, it was not possible to demonstrate that in the diagram. Thus, this diagram simply shows groups that share DNA matches with other groups.

Also, I included Rachel and Julia Ann as a part of James and Rachel’s family. This is not proven; however, it seems highly likely based on DNA matches. Note that so far I have not identified matches between Henry and Rachel or Julia Ann.

Future DNA Research

Who Were Arthur Reid Thomson’s parents?

Arthur Thomson arrived in Canada from Scotland as a teenage orphan. He then immigrated to the United States. We have bits and pieces of stories about his life in Scotland. However, no one has been able to confirm his parents’ names or that of the grandfather with whom he supposedly lived. He is Rod’s great-great grandfather. Thus, the same generationally as Lemuel is to me. However, additional complications may be encountered since he was born in Scotland and his parents died some time before he left Scotland.

Who Were Roger Ellis’ Parents?

Many Ellis families lived in the areas of Kentucky and Indiana where Roger Ellis, my 4^th great grandfather lived. However, he claimed to be born in Pennsylvania while many of the others claimed to have been born in Virginia. I have done some research into Washington County, Pennsylvania as various pieces of data lend to that area being a possible location for his family. Some people have identified a man that they believe is his father. However, this appears to be based on them living in a similar area – not on a paper trail.

I have started some basic genetic genealogy work on this project. However, the Lemuel project keeps pulling me away from this one. Additionally, given the number of generations and the fact that Ellis is a common name, it is unclear how fruitful this project will be.

Which Thomas Marshall is the grandfather of Elizabeth Brown Donaldson?

Elizabeth Brown Donaldson claimed to be relation to Chief Justice John Marshall. The paper trail is a bit broken. One researcher who focuses on the Marshall family, connected what he believes to be the family line. However, there was one specific relationship that he could not prove. Additionally, a woman has been in touch with me who is using DNA to solve this question. However, it is a big question that will require a lot of work. Again, this is challenging as it is looking for the parent of a 4^th great grandparent and there were at least 3 different family lines, including that of John Marshall, in the same county in the early 1800s.

Did any of Martha (Johnson) Peelle’s siblings have children?

This project is looking for descendants of siblings of my great-great grandmother. The scenario is that there were supposedly eight children in the family. The parents died a couple years apart. Martha’s oldest brother and her youngest sister are known. Both lived in Iowa and visited her in their later years. Both of them married, however, neither of them had any known biological children. The fate of the other five children is unknown.

Can DNA Solve These Problems?

DNA can help find evidence and point us toward a solution. However, the Lemuel project and the other future projects are huge problems. I have already made great progress on Lemuel’s story with families, locations, and more. I fully believe that I can narrow down the answers to any of these projects using a combination of DNA results, traditional genealogy, lots of hard work, and a bit of luck. Proving that the answers are correct is a whole other animal.

DNA image by Sinousxl via pixabay.com

The Tragedy of The First Wives Club

Posted on August 20, 2024August 20, 2024 by FHadmin

It seems it would be much easier to be the first wife. You are typically younger, you can set expectations, you don’t have to mother children that are your husbands (i.ie. avoid the “You are not my mother!”), and you don’t have the image of an earlier wife to get in the way of your relationship. However, in the past, being in the First Wives’ Club often meant that tragedy would strike.

Members of the Club

The Tragedy

Died at age 26. Lulu died of tuberculosis. Even before she died, she was away from the family multiple times as she struggled with mental health. Jake was over 50 when he remarried to Minnie Louisa Carolina Kutzner♥, who was nearly twenty years his junior. They had three children. This tragedy allowed for the birth of my mother-in-law with Jake’s second wife.

Sarah Ellen “Sadie Ella” (Ashby) Thomas ♥

Married

James William “Will” Thomas

May 30, 1902

Fort Scott, Kansas

Children

Dessie May, Delbert Roy, Oren Glenn, Leland/Leonard William, Verda Leola, Theo Melvin “Bud”

The Tragedy

Died at age 34, Sadie Ella died from childbirth complicated by hemorrhaging and myocarditis. She lost three children at the time of birth or shortly after, including a son that died two days before she did. Will did not remarry until their children were grown. He did not have any children with his second wife, Belle (Tremain) Woodard.

Della M. (Conner) Pellett ♥

Married

Passco “Pat” R. Peelle was the last Passco in our family line, the last standing Peelle in our family line, and drove the streetcar to the end of the line.

Uncle Pat

To me Uncle Pat, great-uncle actually but we never made that distinction, was always an old man. Everything about him was old. He looked old, smelled old, and had old things. I remember visiting his home and feeling very uncomfortable, not because Uncle Pat and his wife Aunt Verda weren’t nice to us, but because everything was old. Not a lot seemed to have had a lot of care given to it.

Despite the fact that he looked a bit rough around the edges, he always had a loyal dog or two by his side. And, I can’t remember him being unkind to anyone or anything.

Conversations

After his oldest sister Lydia died, my Grandma, another sister, inherited Lydia’s house. Uncle Pat, whose wife had also died, moved in with Grandma for a while. Interestingly, I don’t remember having a single conversation with him. However, my sister remembers one conversation with him where he told her about an acquaintance of hers coming up to him at the filling station in Arcadia where he hung out and asking if he was related to her. Apparently, the acquaintance had moved to Arcadia, where he lived.

One thing I do know about Uncle Pat i that he was the one that would leak the family secrets. His sisters definitely weren’t going to tell anyone anything bad or risque. They might whisper to each other, but things they thought were not aligned with their upright-uptight English upbringing were not going to be spoken loud enough for a bystander to hear them.

He was also open to telling slightly off-color stories. I am thankful for his stories. If he hadn’t passed on some secrets to members of the family, I would never have known things to research about some of the cousins in the Jury family (Uncle Pat’s mom’s family) to discover their stories . Read about Rebecca and Warren. There were probably some secrets in the Peelle family, too, however, his father William J. Peelle died when Uncle Pat was only 12. So, he didn’t have as many years to learn all the stories of that family.

Last of the “Passco” Name

Uncle Pat, Passco by birth, was the last Passco in our family line. He did have two first cousin with a middle name of Passco – Clayton Passco “Clate” Farmer and Walter Passco Longnecker. Uncle Pat outlived both of them and none of them or any of their siblings/cousins appear to have named a child Passco. However, neither of them were called Passco and both of them died before he did.

The name Passco was a name the family repeated often in multiple descending lines after the first known Passco Peelle, who was born in 1733 in Northhampton County, North Carolina. We don’t know where the name Passco originated. Some researchers believe the first Passco’s name was actually Issac and that he took on Passco as a nickname. This is based on his father’s first will that lists him as Issac. However, I believe the first will was in error as all the records I have found shows some form of the name Passco. It has also shown up in records spelled Pasco, Passcow, Pashal, Pascal, etc.

For Uncle Pat, he was simply named for his grandfather whom lived with his family. He may never have known his name went back over 160 years before his birth.

Last of the Peelle Name

Uncle Pat was the only male of his generation in our specific family line. Thus, he was the only one in our line to carry on the Peelle name. He married Verda (Carson) Albrecht on August 14, 1926 in Hesston, Kansas. She had a daughter Roberta Evelyn (Bobbi) Albrecht, who Uncle Pat adopted.

It was April 13, 1929 before they would welcome their first and only child, a son, Paul Russell Peelle. Life seemed to be going well for the family. In the 1930s and early 1940s, the family lived in Delano Township. It is located just to the west of Old Town on the west side of the Arkansas River.

Delano

In the earlier Cowtown years, the Delano area hadn’t been very suitable for families. It was at the end of the Chisholm Train and was full of saloons and brothels to entertain the weary cowboys. Drinking, gambling, prostitution, and gunfights were part of life in Delano. Even bathing in the nude in the Arkansas River that flowed between Delano and Wichita was quite common.

Across the river, Wichita had laws that prohibited the vices that Delano allowed. However, in 1872, Delano did require that cowboys restrict bathing nude in the river to a nighttime activity (i.e. No running around nude during the day.) However, the saloon maids were allowed to race nude through the streets with bets placed on who would win. Read more about Delano @ http://historicdelano.com/HistoricDelano/history.php

By the time Uncle Pat lived there, Delano had became a part of Wichita and had settled down from the wildness in its early years. Uncle Pat’s kids attended the O.K. School (yes, that is really its name, O.K. stands for nothing just like Uncle Pat’s middle initial stands for nothing). It had its roots back to the 1870s just as the cattle trade was shifting to Dodge City. Since then, it had been rebuilt and expanded multiple times. It was by this time a regular city school with a PTA. At one point his wife Verda served as vice-president of the PTA and he was involved with a play performed at the school.

Disaster Strikes

Thursday, June 12, 1941, Uncle Pat’s life changed forever when his son Paul was in horrible and bizarre bicycle-car accident. Paul was riding his bicycle near his home, which appears to have been right by the O.K. School on north West Street, when the accident occurred. The driver of a car had chains wrapped around his front bumper. Somehow, they loosened and the driver’s side front wheel became entangled in the chain causing the car to veer to the left. The car hit Paul’s bicycle head on at approximately 40 m.p.h.

Paul was rushed to St. Francis Hospital, which was about 4 miles away with critical injuries. Both his legs were broken and he had internal injuries. He died the following night.

It is said that Uncle Pat lost his interest in life and drive to achieve after he lost his only biological child and the only one who could carry on the family name. At the time of Paul’s death, Uncle Pat was working as a pressman for Inland Printing, a position which he had held for at least 15 years. He seems to have left that job later in 1941 or in 1942.

In the years following, the family was back and forth between Wichita and Arcadia in Crawford County, Kansas for several years before settling in the Arcadia area. I assume depression and/or a desire to leave the city that reminded the family of their loss drove them to leave Wichita. I do not, however, know what attracted them to Arcadia. It wasn’t a great distance from his sister Nellie. Yet, it wasn’t a logical place to live if he wanted to be near her.

The remaining years of his work life were spent primarily as a farmer and a miner.

The Key

Key from a Wichita streetcar used by Pat Peelle

Sometime during his time in Wichita, Uncle Pat drove a streetcar. It is unclear exactly when he drove it or how long he was a streetcar driver. However, it was likely in the first half of the 1920s unless he had a second job while working at the printing company. This is possible as he is listed in one city directory as both a pressman for Inland Printing and as a clerk.

The Wichita Railroad & Light Co., had a streetcar system in Wichita. Uncle Pat could have worked for them. Since I haven’t found proof of the company that employed him, I speculate that it wasn’t the streetcar system within WIchita that hired him. Instead, it seems likely that he was working for the Arkansas Valley Interurban Railway. It was considered an electric streetcar. However, it traveled between Wichita, Newton, and Hutchinson.

Why do I think Uncle Pat worked for the latter company? His wife Verda lived in Newton for about 15 years when they married. After she divorced her first husband, who had abandoned her and their daughter Roberta, Verda worked at Anderson’s Bookstore in Newton. It seems likely that he could have had a break while in Newton and wandered into the bookstore or had some other chance meeting. This is very likely given the rail station was at 5th and Main and the bookstore was at 422-424 Main. Of course, it is also possible that they met when she took the streetcar into the city (Wichita).

The streetcar key looks completely different than an automobile key and has a totally different function. It didn’t turn on the streetcar. Instead, it was used when the streetcar got to the end of the line to reverse direction of the streetcar.