Early Ancestors: The Cocke Family

I just joined a Gedmatch ancestor group called North America East Coast Settlers 1600's-1700's. There is a matching Facebook group called Early Settlers Ancestry Gedmatch Group. The objective is to meet cousins with whom you share ancestors who were in North America in the colonial period through the 1700's. Members must have their DNA results on Gedmatch and should be able to share a public ancestral tree. 

I have been thinking about my early North American ancestors a lot, particularly since I have also been trying to save my 6 and 7 cm matches on Ancestry. For many Ancestry members, including me, it is these very matches at 6 and 7 cm's that reveal a common ancestor in this colonial group. I have already met a couple of cousins--within the Gedmatch group and with shared small cm matches at Ancestry--with whom I hope to compare trees and share information.

While looking at potential matches in the Early Settlers group and coding my 6 and 7 cm matches on Ancestry, I have discovered that I have not done a very good job with these early ancestors in my Ancestry tree. When I was first working on my tree, I think I had confidence in my sources back to 1800 (particularly since I lean heavily on the information I find in the U.S. census), but not so much before that. Because of that, I tended to just stop when data became hard to find or I didn't know how to verify that a person in a record was really my ancestor. 

Most of the work on my tree was done years ago, when I sometimes borrowed names from other people's trees because I assumed they had done the research. I always tried to find at least one source that verified the information in other people's trees, particularly the connection to my ancestor, but that means I often just listed my ancestor, minus his or her siblings, as a child of his/her parents. DNA has made that problematic. Now I need to know the siblings of my ancestor so I can trace his descendants down to the one that I share DNA with. Ancestry's Thru-Lines can help me with that, but there are so many mistakes in Thru-Lines that it will really help if I have the source to verify the match. 

So--family by family, I am going to try to verify/correct/expand the names and sources in my tree, and while I'm doing that, I'm going to post what I find out--family by family. Today's post is about the Cocke family of 1700's Virginia, the ancestors of my Day family of 1800's Kentucky.

John Cock

We begin with John Cock, the first of this family with a definitive connection to my tree, which doesn't necessarily mean he is the first of this family in America. Most trees give John's birth date as 1724. Some trees list his birth place and the birthplace of his wife, Mary Elizabeth Goad, as North Farnham Parish, Richmond, Virginia. There is an Elizabeth Goad, born 12 July 1726 in North Farnham Parish to John and Katherine Goad, but again, no proof that this is the Mary Elizabeth that married John Cock. No records in North Farnham Parish exist for anyone named Cock or Cocke. The two "Cox" births are not John.

In the database "U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900" on Ancestry, the marriage date of John Cocke (birthplace NY, birth date 1724) to Mary Elizabeth Goad (birthplace VA, birth date 1726) is given as 1845. This database "was extracted from a variety of sources including family group sheets and electronic databases. Originally, the information was derived from an array of materials including pedigree charts, family history articles [and] queries," so who knows how reliable it is.

A note by researcher Tim Prater on Rootsweb, saved to John's record on Ancestry by cbacon64, states that "Elizabeth's older sister was Johannah Goad Sevier, wife of Valentine Sevier and mother of John Sevier, who was one of the legitimate heroes of King's Mountain and the First Governor of the State of Tennessee." If true, this helps confirm a statement of August 1747 in Lyman Chalkley's Chronicles of the Scotch Irish Settlement in Virginia, page 296. It states that Johannis Cox [John Cock] "lives on Smith's Creek, near Lohe's Plantation. Ask Val. Sevior. He is his brother-in-law." Without the reference to his brother-in-law, it might be easy to overlook this Augusta County court record involving "Johannis Cox." The court proceedings, in which Capt. Thomas Cresap was suing Cox for a debt, are also interesting, considering John Cock's later land holdings and, by assumption, his wealth. A further notation reads, "Not found in my Bailiwick; he is run away, by me, John Edwards." Looking at other suits brought by Cresap, it appears he was some sort of pawnbroker, lending money with personal possessions of the debtor given as collateral. John Edwards must have been a bailiff or sheriff; the job description of these officials in colonial times would be an interesting research project for another day. 

According to the book, Carroll 1765-1815, the Settlements: A History of the First Fifty Years of Carroll County, Virginia, published in 1985: "John Cock purchased 200 acres of land on Frying Pan Creek in Pittsylvania County in 1771, which was the year before he moved to Burks Fork in what is now Carroll Co. He did not sell his Pittsylvania farm until 1776." A note by a Cock researcher on Ancestry states that John Cock sold 200 acres on Frying Pan Creek to Patrick Morison on August 4, 1776, according to Pittsylvania Co. Deed Book 4, page 266. Witnesses were Thomas Goad and John Goad, which helps to confirm that John Cock's wife was indeed a Goad.

In The Settlements Alderman lists the following sons of John and Elizabeth: "Andrew Cock of Burks Fork, John Cock of Crooked Creek, James Cock of Crooked Creek, and Valentine Cock of Snake Creek." Other children named by researchers and given a maybe by Alderman are: Mary, wife of Thomas Dickens; Susanna, wife of Henry Webb; and Reuben, who married Rhoda Phillips. Elder Isaac Webb who committed the genealogy of the Cockes to writing in his family Bible is responsible for much of what Cocke family descendants know about the family. He stated that his grandmother was Susanna Cocke, who married Henry Webb.

From The Settlements: "In 1782 he [John Cock] was an established figure on Burks Fork, that year he entered claims to 400 acres on Burks Fork and 150 acres on Big Reed. His claim before the land commissioners in 1782 stated that he settled on Burks Fork in 1772... On June 1, 1787, John and Elizabeth deeded his Burks Fork farm to Andrew Cock (Montgomery Deed Book #A-450) and about that time he sold his big tract to Robert Goad... In 1797 there were three surveys in John's name recorded in the Grayson survey book; the grants were later issued to Andrew who seems to have acquired all of John's land." 

It might be important to note here that Burks Fork was originally in Fincastle Co., then in Montgomery, then in Grayson, and then in the eastern part of Carroll Co., as new counties were formed and county boundaries changed.

John disappears from the records about 1800, when he would have been in his 70's. The assumption is that John and Elizabeth lived their last years with Andrew on Burks Fork.

Andrew Cock

While no records of Andrew Cock's birth exist, some assumptions can be made. He was probably the oldest of John and Elizabeth's children, born in the 1740's in Pittsylvania. Again, Elder Isaac Webb is the source for much of what is known about Andrew Cock. He was married twice; the name of his first wife is unknown. My ancestor, Rhoda, was the oldest of this marriage (more about her later); the second was Elizabeth, known as Bettie, who married a man named Swinney, according to Isaac Webb.

John's second marriage was to Penelope Ward Clifton, daughter of James and Nancy (Brown) Ward. She was a widow with two living children (two had died in infancy) that Andrew raised: Nancy, who married William Bobbitt, Jr., and Sarah, who married Thomas Jennings. The children of Andrew and Penelope were: James (married Elizabeth "Betty" Richardson), John (Jane Phillips), Penelope (Francis Durrett), Catherine (Andrew Webb), Phariba (Catherine's twin, according to Isaac Webb, who married Andrew Branson), Susanna (Silas Williams), Tobitha (Thomas Quesenberry), Hannah (John Webb), and Mary (Charles Martin). John and Hannah Webb were Isaac Webb's parents. 

Many land records exist for Andrew Cock and help define much of his life: the tracts near and later acquired from his father; the acres he acquired himself; and those he bequeathed to his children. 

In Carroll 1765-1815, the Settlements Alderman notes that his facts come from land records in various counties and from Early Adventurers on the Western Waters: The New River of Virginia in Pioneer Days 1745-1800 by Mary B. Kegley and Frederick Bittle Kegley. Written in 1980, Adventurers was a set of books intended to name the early inhabitants of southwestern Virginia using land records, such as surveys and deeds, and court records, such as wills and lawsuits. 

Here are some of Andrew's land transactions from Alderman's book:

• "Andrew came to Burks Fork in 1772 with his father. From the entries and claims made before the Land Commissioners in 1782, it is clear that Andrew settled first on Burks Fork near the mouth of Brannons Branch, for that was the tract which he had partially surveyed in 1774 for 102 acres"
• "Later the settlement was expanded and Andrew entered a claim for it before the Land Commissioners for 300 acres. It was surveyed for 292 acres in 1782. Andrew claimed before the Land Commissioners that he settled on the tract in 1772 which is the same year his father settled his Burks Fork tract and that James Cock settled his Crooked Creek tract"
• "Andrew acquired several tracts of land in the early days of Montgomery County. Robert Bowman had a settlement downstream on Burks Fork on Puncheon Camp Branch, and Andrew bought his claim of 150 acres"
• "He inherited a tract of 340 acres from his brother Valentine Cock on Snake Creek and also claimed it"
• "It was perhaps about 1780 that Andrew moved from the Brannons Branch tract to another tract near his father. He may have done so following the death of his first wife."
• "It was in 1787 that John Cock deeded to Andrew his 250 acres on Burks Fork, it apparently being John's home site and certainly being John's first land here. It and adjacent properties became Andrew's home. The entire property was on both sides of Burks Fork, but parts of it reached to Big Reed Island where Andrew Cock's canoe landing was a landmark on that stream"
• "He gave most of his children a farm. Beginning in 1803, he gave the Puncheon Camp tract to Joseph and Rhoda Day"
• "He gave the old Brannons Branch tract to his son James and he gave his son John a large part of the homesite on Burks Fork which included some of the tract settled in 1772 by the first John"
• "He gave Andrew Webb 117 acres on Snake Creek and gave Francis Durrett 65 acres on Big Reed. All these transactions were in 1809."
• "Later he divided the Valentine Cock inheritance among three of his sons-in-law: Thomas Quesenberry, John Webb, and John Dickerson in 1815, 1818, and 1820, respectively"
• "In all Andrew conveyed 1494 acres in present day Carroll and died owning 326 more"

I recently found digitized copies of several of the Cocke family's land grants on the Library of Virginia website. Here is one of Andrew's early Big Reed Island grants for 70 acres, dated 1780. 

It reads, in part:

"John Tyler Esquire, Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia To all to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting: Know Ye That by virtue of a Land Office Treasury Warrant three thousand six hundred and ten issued the tenth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty, there is granted by the said Commonwealth, unto Andrew Cocke, A certain tract or Parcel of land, containing 70 acres by survey bearing date the twenty second of February one thousand eight hundred and six, lying and being in the county of Grayson, in the fork of Big reed-island river, and Big snake-creek..."

Of course, I was interested to know what Big Reed Island Creek looks like now.

Search Google Images for "Big Reed Island Creek," and you'll get dozens of pictures of happy kayakers and fishermen. I find it interesting that, even though the land doesn't appear to be utilized for farming nowadays, things haven't changed that much since the 1700's when "Andrew Cock's canoe landing was a landmark."

Just a couple more facts/traditions about Andrew from available records and family stories: 

• He took the oath of allegiance to the revolutionary cause in 1777. According to Alderman, many of his neighbors had Tory sympathies, but Andrew did not. He served in the militia under Captain William Bobbitt.
• He was considered for sheriff of Grayson County in 1807 and 1809 and was eventually appointed Justice of the Peace and a member of the county court. He resigned his place on the court when he lost a lawsuit in 1811.
• Family tradition says he was a deacon of the Primitive Baptist Church. Because he could read and write, he was in demand as "community scribe." However, his spelling and grammar were "atrocious," as is evidenced by the minutes he kept for his church in the 1830's. 

Joseph Day and Rhoda Cock

Rhoda, Andrew's oldest child/daughter by his first unnamed wife, married Joseph Day in 1796. The marriage bond for Joseph Day and "Roday Coks," signed by Joseph Day and Andrew Coks, was dated 10 August 1796. They had been living on Andrew's Puncheon Camp tract since their marriage when Andrew deeded it to them in 1803.

We are now past the designated date for "Early Settlers," so I won't go into much detail here about Joseph Day, but I do want to complete the Cocke family's profile with what we know about Rhoda Cock, my 5th great-grandmother.

According to Alderman, Joseph and Rhoda sold the Puncheon Camp tract in 1810 and "left the county for about ten years," whereabouts unknown. Returning in 1820, they took up residence on 70 acres at the confluence of Snake Creek and Big Reed Island Creek, another gift from Rhoda's father. They sold this property in 1825 to Rhoda's half sister, Mary, and her husband, John Dickerson, and bought 225 acres back in Burks Fork.

Rhoda and Joseph had ten children, listed in order in Joseph's will: (1) Robert, born before 1800 and "gone by 1820." No one knows what became of him. (2) Penelope, who is thought to have married Commodore Roberts (3) Thomas Day, who married Nancy McGrady in Grayson County on 9 December 1830 (my 4th great-grandparents) and moved to Kentucky (4) Mary, who married twice--to James Lykins and Richard Whitt (5) Theodota (Dotty), who married Matthew Huff on 1 February 1827. After living at Burks Fork for 30 years, they left on a wagon train to Texas. (6) "Andrew is said to have moved first to the Big Sandy River and then to Texas," according to Alderman. (7) Rebecca, who married Matthew Whitt (8) Joseph Jr. (Little Joe) who married first, Sophia Dunn, and then Martha Jane Cock. His father's second wife, Rebecca Dunn, was Sophia's sister. His son Walter married Martha's sister, Mary. In consequence, "Little Joe" Day was at different times the brother-in-law of his father and his son. Alderman calls this "some kind of genealogical record." (9) Rhoda, who married James Oney. They are also my 4th great-grandparents.  (10) Hannah, who married Nathaniel Young on 1 August 1834. 

Rhoda would not live to see her youngest child married. She died 16 August 1827. According to Alderman, she is buried "almost on the Carroll/Floyd line, a quarter mile east of the Mt. Hebron Church." Joseph would be buried there 30 years later.

Contributed by an Ancestry.com member

Thomas and Nancy (McGrady) Day's son, Andrew Jackson Day, married his first cousin, Sarah Oney, daughter of James and Rhoda (Day) Oney. Andrew and Sarah (Oney) Day's son, James Thomas Day, married Nancy Emily Reed in Magoffin County, Kentucky, in 1876. They were the parents of my great-grandmother, Sarah Florida Day.

Other posts from this blog that continue the story of the Days and the Oneys are:

Day Data

The Oneys (and a Couple of Great Stories)

The Oneys (and a Couple of Great Stories)

A few months ago I wrote a post on the Days--the ancestors of my great-grandmother, Sarah Florida Day, who was born on 5 November 1878 in White Oak, Magoffin County, Kentucky. Her father was James Thomas Day, and his parents were Andrew Jackson Day and Sarah Jane Oney. At the time I realized that I had listed the wrong parents for Sarah, but until last weekend I had never actually added all the corrected family info to my tree on Ancestry. 

Sarah's father was James Oney, born in 1818 in Virginia. Her mother was Rhoda Day, born in 1820 in Virginia. (Sarah and her husband, Andrew Jackson Day, were 1st cousins.) James and Rhoda married on 17 December 1837 in Tazewell County, Virginia, which had been formed from Russell County in 1799. In 1850 James and Rhoda were living in Tazewell County with their children--William, age 12; Sally (Sarah), age 10; Richard, age 8; Joseph, age 6; and Rufus, age 2. Daughters Rebecca and Lou Emma were born in Tazewell County in the early 1850's, but by the time son Creed Fulton was born in 1855, the family was living in Magoffin County, Kentucky. John Wesley was born in Magoffin County in 1858 and Mary in 1861.

I decided to take the Oney children--Sarah's brothers and sisters--one by one and document their birth, marriage, and death information.

The Children of James and Rhoda (Day) Oney

According to his headstone, William P. (Patton) Oney was born 17 December 1838. It is interesting to note that this date is exactly one year after the marriage of his parents--either an amazing coincidence or a made-up birth (or marriage) date. I'm also not sure of his place of birth, as I can't find James Oney on the 1840 census in Tazewell County. There are some Oneys there in 1840, but no James. On 8 August 1861 William married Perlina Allen in Magoffin County, Kentucky. 

Documenting William's service during the Civil War was somewhat confusing at first, but I think I have a better understanding after finding his records on Fold3 and doing a little research. I'm not a big Civil War scholar, although I did know that Kentucky held a special place as a border state during the Civil War. What I didn't know is that Kentucky actually declared its neutrality at the beginning of the war. However, by September of 1861 Kentucky's General Assembly passed a resolution, over the Governor's veto, ordering the withdrawal of Confederate forces, and by early 1862 the Union pretty much controlled Kentucky.

I thought this explained why, even though William was living in Kentucky in 1861, he enlisted in Caldwell's Battalion of Cavalry back in Tazewell County, Virginia, his childhood home. Interestingly, I also found a register of "...Persons subject to do military duty in the Ninth Congressional District, consisting of the Counties of ...Magoffin...Morgan..., State of Kentucky, enumerated during the month of October 1863," that listed William Oney. So, though he had served in the Confederate Army, he was considered "subject to military duty" for the Union. No wonder I was confused! 

We'll come back to the Civil War in a little bit, but now back to the children of James and Rhoda Oney.

Sources vary as to her age, but most family trees on Ancestry list the next child of James and Rhoda in order of birth as my ancestor, Sarah Jane Oney. Some trees list her birth date as 17 October 1840 which corresponds fairly well with her marriage age of 15 on her marriage date of 25 September 1855. On the 1860 census where she appears with her husband A.J., age 23, she is listed as age 18 (born 1842). Also on that census is son James T., my 2nd great-grandfather, age 4; and daughter Nancy, age 1. Sarah lists her birthplace as Virginia. Her marriage took place in Morgan County, Kentucky, and the 1860 census places the family in Magoffin County. Oney researchers give Sarah a death date of 16 March 1862; if her birth date is correct, she was 21 at the time of her death.

According to his headstone, Richard K. Oney was born 1 January 1843. He enlisted as a Private in Company A, 5th Kentucky Mounted Infantry, Confederate States of America, in West Liberty, Kentucky, on 21 October 1861 and was mustered out on 20 October 1862. And I'm back to confused again, because apparently there were Confederate units in Kentucky during this period, because Richard joined one. 

I assumed that Richard just enlisted for a year, as was typical, since his discharge date was one year from the date of his enlistment. However, after doing a little research I found out that the 5th Kentucky Infantry was actually organized in Prestonburg, Kentucky, on the same date as Richard's enlistment--21 October 1861--and was disbanded in Hazel Green, Kentucky, on the date of his discharge on 20 October 1862. Richard could have joined another regiment at this point, but I have found no evidence of further service.

Not long after his discharge, Richard married in Magoffin County on 18 December 1862 to Mary Margaret Collinsworth. They had one child, Mary Virginia, before Richard died on 16 January 1866.

The next of the children of James and Rhoda (Day) Oney was Joseph Day Oney, born 19 May 1845 in Tazewell County, Virginia. After the death of his brother, Richard, Joseph married Richard's widow, Mary Margaret, on 5 September 1866 in Magoffin County. They had four children together. Joseph died 2 December 1936, age 91.

Rufus Hickman Oney, "Hickey" on the 1860 census and "Hick" later in life, was born 3 February 1848 in Tazewell County, VA. He married Delpha Hammond on Christmas Day, 1866. They had three children. Rufus Hickman died in Morgan County KY on 14 April 1876.

Rebecca Oney has been given a birth date of 7 January 1850 and later censuses seem to uphold a date around 1849/50, although she is not listed on the 1850 census and on the 1860, her age is given as 7. Rebecca married John M. Collinsworth, brother of Mary Margaret, in about 1867. (The 1900 census says they had been married 33 years.) Rebecca and John had 10 children, and Rebecca died in 1931 in Magoffin County.

Okay, so here's one of the great stories, and it's a doozy. The next of James and Rhoda's children was Lou Emma Oney, born 1852 in Tazewell County. In 1871 she married William Preston Taulbee, a Morgan County teacher. Later, he became ordained as a Methodist minister. Together, they had five sons from 1872-1885. When I added Lou Emma and then her husband to my tree on Ancestry, I got over 20 hints--mostly to newspaper articles from all over the country. What in the world? 

William Preston Taulbee

William Preston Taulbee was an ambitious man. In 1878 and 1882 he was elected to the office of Magoffin County Clerk. In 1884 he made a run for a much more prestigious job; he beat his Republican opponent to become a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and was re-elected to the office in 1886. It's remarkable enough that we have a member of Congress in our family tree, but what happened next put him in the history books--and newspapers.

In December 1887 the Washington Post reported a story about a Representative being found in a "compromising position" with a clerk from the Patent Office. No names were named, but later, an article by Charles E. Kincaid appeared in the Louisville Times with the titillating title, "Kentucky's Silver-Tongued Taulbee Caught in Flagrante, or Thereabouts, with Brown-Haired Miss Dodge, Also of Kentucky." (Both Taulbee and Dodge denied the affair.) Thus began a feud of several years between Taulbee and Kincaid, that would lead to a shocking event the evidence of which still remains in the Capitol today.

Taulbee had already decided not to run for re-election in 1888 but to buy a house in Washington, D.C. and remain there to work as a lobbyist. For some reason, of all the journalists who reported on the scandal, Taulbee focused on Kincaid, the Washington reporter for the Louisville Times, whom he saw often in the Capitol, and upon every occasion of their meeting found some way to humiliate Kincaid. Things came to a head on 28 February 1890 with a scuffle outside the entrance to the House of Representatives. The House doorkeepers had to separate Taulbee and Kincaid. This time Taulbee warned Kincaid that he had better arm himself for their next meeting.

Kincaid went home and got a revolver, and the next meeting was not long in coming. That very afternoon Taulbee and Kincaid met again on a set of marble stairs that led to the basement restaurant in the Capitol. Apparently without waiting for a remark from Taulbee this time, Kincaid raised his revolver and shot Taulbee in the face. The blood drips from the wound stained the marble staircase, even though Capitol janitors were quick to clean it up, and the bloodstains remain there to this day.

Photo from Kentucky Explorer Magazine

Taulbee actually was expected to live, but an abscess surrounding the bullet, which still remained in his skull, caused his death on March 11. Kincaid was released on bail and went home to Kentucky until his trial a year later in March 1891. Several witnesses, including Kincaid, described Taulbee's harassment of the journalist, and amazingly, Kincaid was acquitted by reason of self-defense. 

Lou Emma raised her five sons, with the older boys helping financially. All of the boys had distinguished careers, several of them in the military and two of them as physicians. They always considered that Kincaid had gotten away with murder and described him as a frustrated office-seeker. Lou Emma apparently believed--or forgave--her husband, because she is buried beside him in the Taulbee Cemetery in Morgan County. Kincaid died at the age of 51, still working as a journalist. Miss Dodge, who had lost her job at the Patent Office after the scandal, found another job in the Pension Office, married well--twice--and died at the age of 89. (For more details see "William Taulbee: A Stain on the Capitol" in the blog, The Downfall Dictionary by Dirk Langeveld. It was very helpful to me in writing this post.)

Creed Fulton Oney was born on the 4th of July, 1855. He was the first of James and Rhoda's children to be born in Kentucky. He married Nancy Emma Ball on 13 May 1880. I have written about C. F. Oney before in the blog post, "The News from Oklahoma." With a group of other Methodist ministers, he bought townsites in Davenport, Oklahoma, and encouraged Kentuckians like my 2nd great-grandparents, J.T. and Nancy E. Day, to settle there, so I guess he is the reason I am sitting here in Oklahoma tonight writing this post.

John Wesley Oney was born 9 April 1858 in Magoffin County. His first wife was Annie Sprague, who died. He then married Loduska "Lowie" Whitt. He had children with both wives, but a discrepancy in dates makes me hesitant to list the number of children that belonged to each wife. John W. died in 1935 and is buried in the Gullett Cemetery in White Oak, next to his second wife. 

The baby of the family was Mary F. Oney, who was born 7 January 1861 in Magoffin County. She married David C. Williams on 8 July 1879. I was able to find her marriage license on Family Search. It is a little hard to read, but the witnesses to the marriage were two of her brothers-in-law, John Collinsworth and William Taulbee. It looks like she might have been married at the home of her uncle, Joseph Oney. 

James Oney and the Civil War

The other interesting story concerns James Oney and his changing allegiances during the Civil War. Going strictly by the existing documents in chronological order, this is what happened.

James appears on a Company Muster Roll for the 5th Kentucky Mounted Infantry, C.S.A., the same unit that his son Richard joined, dated November 23, 1861. Two other dates on the muster roll document are a little confusing. Under "Enlisted" the date is 25 October 1861 in Prestonburg, and under "Remarks" it says that he was "Sworn into service at West Liberty October 21." Remember that at this point Kentucky had taken sides in the conflict, and not the side that James took. At least until he got caught.

The next document is dated 17 February 1862. This is my best attempt at transcribing the document. 

Know all men by these presents that I James Oney of Magoffin County in the state of Kentucky owe the United States of America the sum of one thousand dollars to be levied of my goods and chattels lands and tenements.

The __________ of this obligation is such that whereas the said obliger having formerly enlisted in the rebel army of the so called Confederate States of America and now desirous to renounce all allegiance to said so called government and having taken an oath to support the constitution government and laws of the United States of America and to support maintain __________ the same against all enemies and opposers whomsoever.

Now if the said obliger shall faithfully keep said oath and shall hereafter and ever refrain from aiding the said rebel government in any action or influence? -- and if the said obliger shall remain a true and loyal citizen of the United States of America and shall ever aid her against any and all enemies by word act and influence then this obligation shall be void and of no effect otherwise? to be and remain in full force and __________ in law.

Given under my hand and seal at Camp Buel this 17th day of February A.D. 1862

                                                                                              James Oney (signature)               SEAL

I hereby become surety for the above named obliger for the performance of the conditions of the foregoing bond as witness my hand and seal at Camp Buel this 17th day of February A.D. 1862.

Albert L.A. Sheldon? (signature)                                  Name unreadable (signature)     SEAL

And here's the oath.

I James Oney of Magoffin County Ky do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the government of the United States of America that I will faithfully and to the best of my ability support the constitution and laws thereof that I will aid and defend her in all my acts words and deeds influence against all her enemies and opposers whomsoever more especially against the so called Confederate States of America so help me God!

Camp Buell Paintsville Ky

Feb 17 1862

James Oney (signature)

But that wasn't the end of it. The next document in chronological order was dated 24 May 1863. 

James Oney

Pvt Co A. 5 Regt. Ky. Inf

Appears on a Muster Roll

of prisoners of war confined by the Provost Marshal at Louisa, Ky. 

Roll dated Louisa, Ky., May 31, 1863.

Where captured or arrested  Morgan Co Ky

When captured or arrested  May 24 1863

By whom captured or arrested  Capt Patrick 14 Ky.

When confined  May 24 1863

Charges  Being a Rebel officer

Remarks: Released May 28, 1863, by military commission on giving bonds and security of $1000, and taking oath of allegiance

The exact same document exists for James's son, Richard. Apparently, James cannot learn his lesson, and it makes me wonder if he was on the 1860's equivalent of a "watch list." In fact, the 14th Kentucky, the unit that arrested him, was charged with protecting eastern Kentucky and the border with Virginia from Confederate forces, so they would be on the lookout for those who continued to encourage pro-Confederate views. I also wonder at that strikeout of the word "deeds" in his oath, replaced with the word "influence." Maybe James Oney was arrested not because of a deed he had committed but because of the influence he had wielded with his family and neighbors.

Some interesting facts about Kentucky in the Civil War:

Kentucky provided about 35,000 soldiers to the Confederate Army.

Over 75,000 Kentuckians joined the Union Army.

Both Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were born in Kentucky.

Magoffin County was formed in 1860 from portions of Floyd, Johnson, and Morgan counties. It was named for Beriah Magoffin, who was Governor of Kentucky from 1859 to 1862. Even as he sympathized with the South, he maintained the neutrality of the state of Kentucky through the first couple of years of the war. He was the Governor that vetoed the removal of Confederate troops from the state.

The Oney Cemetery Near White Oak, Kentucky

I've mentioned serendipity before in this blog. It's amazing how often I'm working on something genealogical and something else pops up that relates to the thing I'm researching. About the time that I was adding the Oney ancestors to my family tree and starting to work on this post, I was cleaning out a tote bag and found a printout of a message board post that I had found in 2012. It was a list of people buried in the Oney Cemetery near White Oak, Kentucky. At the time I printed it off I'm sure I knew very few people on the list, but after working on this blog post, I know who most of them are.

Oney Cemetery (photo contributed to Findagrave by Roger Sprague)

The message was in reply to a question about the Oney Cemetery and had been written by an Oney descendant named Scott Chafin in the year 2000. Scott's list includes some graves that are not on the Findagrave listing for the Oney Cemetery and omits others. A visit to the Oney Cemetery is definitely in order for my vacation next summer. Here are the graves that Scott documented. (His words are in italics; my notes follow in parentheses in regular font.)

I believe "Annie Oney" is nee Annie Sprague, daughter of Ambrose D. Sprague and Sarah Bloomer. She married John Wesley Oney, son of James Oney and Rhoda Day Oney (my ggg-grandparents).

The "Elisha Oney" is probably son of William Oney and Sarah Brown, married Elizabeth Whitt. (Elisha is James Oney's brother.)

"Elizabeth Oney" probably his wife.

"Rebecca Amyx" is nee Rebecca Oney. She was married to Preston Amyx at the Elisha Oney residence. (This Rebecca is the daughter of Elisha Oney, not the Rebecca listed above as the daughter of James and Rhoda Oney.)

"Rhoda Harper" is nee Rhoda Ellen Oney; married Lafayette Harper. (Rhoda was the daughter of William Patton Oney.)

"Richard K. Oney" ... was a son of James and Rhoda Day Oney and married to Mary Margaret Collinsworth. After his death, she married his next-youngest brother, Joseph Day Oney.

"Rhoda Day" is probably Rhoda Day Oney, wife of James Oney, but without dates I'm not 100% certain. It was unusual for a married woman to be buried under her maiden name, but as I know she's buried there, it's probably her. (I have seen a photograph of a headstone at the Oney Cemetery that shows the names of both James Oney and his wife, Rhoda Day Oney. I wonder if that headstone did not exist in 2000 when Scott Chafin wrote this message board post.)

"Boney Oney" is probably Napoleon "Bonapart" Oney. (Son of Elisha Oney.) Married to Mary Oney, only child of Richard K. Oney and Mary Margaret Collinsworth.

"Sarah Day" is nee Sarah J. Oney, daughter of James Oney and Sarah Day Oney, married Andrew Jackson Day. (My 3rd great-grandmother)

Scott omitted the grave of James Oney. He has the aforementioned headstone shared with his wife Rhoda and a military headstone engraved with his unit, "Co A, 5 KY Inf, CSA."

Contributed to Findagrave by Roger Sprague

Day Data

November 5 was the birthday of my great-grandmother, Sarah Florida Day Castle. To the older Castle cousins, and I consider myself among that number, she is the central figure of our childhoods. To my oldest Castle cousin she was the great influence and inspiration because "she could do anything!" She built houses and sidewalks, plucked chickens and milked cows, worked many jobs to support her family, taught Sunday School, led the PTA, welcomed her children and grandchildren to visit every Sunday and even live with her when they needed to, and lived by herself in her old age when she was almost completely deaf and blind. I've been writing a lot lately about our Castle heritage, so today I thought I would turn to the ancestors of Big Mom--the Days.

Sarah Florida Day was born on November 5, 1878, in Magoffin County, Kentucky, to James Thomas Day and Nancy Emily (Reed) Day. The first census on which she appears is the 1880 census of Johnsons Fork, Magoffin County. She appears as "Sariah," age 1, along with her father, mother, and sister Ida, age 3. The next document in which she appears records her marriage as Florida Day to George T. Castle on January 2, 1896. 

Her father, James Thomas Day, was born December 1st, 1856. I'm a little bit amazed that I have recently found a record of his birth on Ancestry. The columns in the birth register read: Date of Birth, Name of Child, Sex, Alive or Dead, Place of Birth, Father of Child or Owner of the Child, Maiden Name of Mother, Color of Child (White, Mulatto, or Black), Residence of Parents, and Remarks. Wow, that tells you right there that we are talking about a different century, and I haven't even told you about the Remarks column yet.

Kentucky Birth Record for James Thomas Day

The record for "James Thos. Day" says that he was a male, born in White Oak, to parents A.J. Day and Sarah Jane Oney, and his parents resided in Morgan County, as did all the parents of the children registered on this page. I even know from this record the name of the midwife who attended his birth: Elizabeth Whitt. Isn't that amazing? I was pretty sure that's what I was looking at when I saw a woman's name under Remarks for each birth. Some of them were repeated many times. Then I noticed that the first listing under Remarks on that page said, "Sarah Hampton Mid Wife." Scrolling back, I found Elizabeth Whitt's name on the previous page with the initials "M.W." after her name. Think of all the women who served in that capacity over the centuries and never got any credit. At least these women did.

It has been easy to document J.T. Day's life in existing records. In 1860 he appears on the census of Magoffin County with his parents, A.J. and Sarah, and a little sister, Nancy, age 1. By the 1870 census his mother Sarah had died, and James T., age 14, is listed with father A.J., stepmother Catherine, sister Nancy, brother John R., and half-siblings, Mary and Sanford. (Records vary on John's date of birth, but on the 1900 census it is reported as April 1861. If so, Sarah was his mother.) James lost his mother at the age of 5, but he honored her memory by naming his second daughter Sarah, and that name has passed down through the Castle/Day family. 

On April 13, 1876, James T. Day married Nancy E. Reed in Salyersville, Magoffin County. They went on to celebrate 55 years of marriage (their 50th was written up in the Tulsa papers) and had eight children: Ida; Sarah Florida; Zedda; Mary Emma; Cassa B. (the only boy, who died at the age of 4); Margaret; Minta; and Retta Lee. 

50th Wedding Anniversary, as reported in the Tulsa paper

James Thomas, beloved by his wife, children, and grandchildren, died on November 28, 1931, just shy of his 75th birthday. I have always been touched (and somewhat horrified) by the following photograph. Of course, the family was only taking part in a tradition followed by most everybody, attending the body of a deceased loved one, but just look at their faces. You can tell how devastated they are. 

I believe the girls are in order left to right by their ages:
(L to R) Ida, Florida, Zedda, Emma, Margaret, Minta, Retta Lee

All the records exist that make it possible for me to take the Day family back another generation. A.J. Day seemed to prefer the name Jackson in his early life or his initials later, but his death certificate gives his full name as Andrew Jackson Day. He first appears on the 1850 census at age 12, which would mean he was born around 1837/38, right at the end of Jackson's presidency. 

A.J. Day married Sarah J. Oney on September 20, 1855. Just now in carefully looking at their marriage records, I have discovered a mistake in parentage that has been in my tree for quite some time. The marriage register reads:

"Married by me at the House of James Oney on the 20th day of Sept. 1855 Mr. Jackson Day to Miss Sarah Oney he aged 18 yrs born in Grayson Co. Va. she born in Tazewell Co. Va aged 15 years single present James Oney & Harvey Whitt Given under my hand this 20th day of Sept. 1855. Wm. Lykins MB Church"

For years I have shown the father of Sarah as William Oney from Floyd County KY who had a daughter named Sarah on the 1850 census. That Sarah wasn't actually even the right age to be our Sarah. However, with the added information in the marriage register that Sarah was from Tazewell County, Virginia, and that her wedding took place at the house of James Oney (usually the father of the bride), I searched for James Oney in Tazewell Co. in 1850. 

James Oney was already in my tree with a connection to the Days. His wife was Rhoda Day, and they had a daughter Sally the right age to be Sarah. In 1860 James and Rhoda were living in Magoffin County KY, and they had a son named Creed F. Oney. If you read my post about the Days in Davenport, you will remember that I thought that James T. Day and family came to Davenport because of their connection to a minister named Creed F. Oney. At the time I thought they were cousins, but it looks like the connection was even deeper. Creed was James T. Day's uncle. Another connection seems to cement the deal. The other witness at the wedding--Harvey Whitt--was also originally from Tazewell County and his mother was Elizabeth Whitt, Sarah's midwife at the birth of her son James.

Sarah died at age 21 on March 15, 1862. A.J. Day remarried to Catherine Jane Reed on November 24, 1864, in Magoffin County. A.J. and Jane had three children of their own: Mary Margaret, Sanford Jackson, and Andrew K. Sometime between 1910 and 1920 the families of Mary and Andrew K., including A.J. and Jane, moved to Ohio. Andrew Jackson Day died in Warren County, Ohio, on December 16, 1921. His death certificate says he was born in North Carolina on May 3, 1835, and his father's name was Thomas Day. 

Aunt Emma wrote on the back of this picture:
"A.J. Day with 2nd wife"

A.J. and Catherine J. Day headstone
Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio

Jackson Day, age 12, appears on the 1850 census of Morgan County, Kentucky, along with father Thomas P., age 46; mother (?) Margarett, age 34; Anice, 15; Itera, 7; John, 4; Clarinda, 2; Cale (female, apparently Cahala), age 1. Daughter Carrie A., age 18, was already married to James Wells. A lot of trees on Ancestry identify mother Margarett as Margaret "Nancy" McGrady--the Nancy because daughter Carrie's death register entry says that her parents were Thomas and Nancy Day. I have not found any documents that prove that Margaret and Nancy were the same person. Thomas's marriage in Grayson County, Virginia, on December 9, 1830, was listed in Early American Marriages, Virginia to 1850 , but his spouse is not named, at least not on Ancestry.

By the 1860 census Thomas P. Day's family had scattered. Fractured would be more like it. We talk about blended families now; we've got nothing on the 1800's when so many families were destroyed and rebuilt by the deaths of parents, especially mothers. Apparently, sometime not long after the 1850 census was taken, Margaret died. On March 8, 1852, Thomas remarried to Mrs. Mary Stacy--herself a widow. Thomas P. Day's household on the 1860 census looks like this: Thomas P. Day, age 59; Mary Day, age 45; Mary J. Peyton, age 3; Lucinda Peyton, age 1. What? What happened to Thomas's kids, and who are Mary and Lucinda? 

Well, on August 4, 1851, Anice (spelled Annis) married Alfred Davis. Jackson married Sarah in 1855. On April 10, 1857, Itera/Itura married John Haney. Clarinda, age 14, is living with them on the 1860 census. John, age 16, is living with Carrie and her husband. On the 1870 census both Clarinda, age 24, and Cahala, age 21, are living with Carrie and James Wells. Some of this might just be empty nest stuff, but do you get the feeling that Thomas's kids don't like their stepmother Mary?

Mary is too old to have been the mother of Mary J. and Lucinda, and besides, their name would be Stacy, not Peyton. Going back to the 1850 census I found Mary, living with her husband, George Stacy. Their only daughter is Elizabeth. Elizabeth married Benjamin F. Peyton in 1856 and died of "fever" in 1859 at the age of 17, leaving behind two daughters, Mary J. and Lucinda. Mystery solved. 

Thomas P. is living and listed on the 1870 census at age 66. "Keeping house" for him is Lurinda, age 48. I literally have no clue who she is. None of his daughters would be that old. Another wife? One more clue comes from the death certificate of Thomas's daughter, Annis. She died in 1921 at the age of 85. The death certificate says her father was Tom Day, and her mother was Nancy McGradia. I'm not deciphering that from somebody's handwriting; it is typed on the document. At least I know where the name Nancy McGrady came from. 

Death certificate of Annis Day Williams

"McGradia" is listed as a surname only twice on Ancestry--one might have been McGradie, and the other is our Nancy. I've found a couple of women on Findagrave with the first name of McGradia, but not one person with that surname.

Much of what I have learned about Thomas Day's parents comes from a biography of Joseph Day published in Carroll 1765-1815: The Settlements: A History of the First Fifty Years of Carroll County, Virginia by John Perry Alderman and posted by a kind Ancestry member with the cute username of cmyroots. Joseph Day was probably the son of Joseph and Susanna Day, who were listed as taxpayers in Montgomery County, Virginia, by 1782. Some users on Ancestry give Susanna's maiden name as Huston.

Their son Joseph was born in Pennsylvania about 1776 and married Rhoda Cock in 1796. The couple moved around some, living on a couple of tracts of land deeded to them by Rhoda's father, Andrew, and buying others. They also had ten children, according to Joseph's will: Robert, Penelope, Thomas, May, Theodota, Andrew, Rebecca, Joseph Day Jr., Rhoda (who married James Oney), and Hannah. The Carroll County book says this about Thomas: "Thomas Day married Nancy McGrady in Grayson on December 9, 1830; he did not live long in the county and many of his descendants are to be found in Kentucky." 

Rhoda Cock died August 16, 1827. Joseph remarried a couple of years later to a much younger woman, Rebecca Dunn. (He was 54; she was 18.) They are found on the 1850 census in Carroll County. He is listed as 74, she as 38. Also enumerated with them are Rebecca's daughter Louisa from her first marriage, and their seven children: Lorenzo, Malissa, Peter, Commodore, James, Lucy, and John. Joseph died at about age 80; his youngest child was 8.

After reading about Grandpa Day's parents and grandparents, it makes me appreciate his 55-year devotion to Grandma Day even more!

The News from Oklahoma

From the summer of 1907 until the beginning of her teaching career, my grandmother lived on a farm between Davenport and Chandler, Oklahoma. According to the Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, settlement in Davenport began in 1891 with the opening of Sac and Fox lands to non-Indians. A couple named Davenport staked a claim in that opening and their daughter Nettie became postmistress when the post office was established at Davenport in 1892. In 1901 plans to construct a railroad line through the area led to a building boom in the little town of Davenport.

My understanding of the move to Oklahoma was that my grandmother's Day grandparents came to Oklahoma first, followed later by the Castle family. James Thomas (J.T.) Day and his wife Nancy Emily Reed had been married in Magoffin County, Kentucky, on 13 April 1876 and by 1894 had seven living children, all girls: Ida, Florida, Zedda, Emma, Margaret, Minta, and Retta Lee. Sometime before 1907 the Day parents and their seven daughters, including Florida Day Castle and her family, had moved to Oklahoma.

But why Davenport? For a long time I didn't know or even question why or exactly when the Days had moved to Oklahoma. Then a few years ago I met some Day cousins and learned that our ancestors came to Davenport in a group led by Methodist ministers from Kentucky. I actually had forgotten that I knew that when I started to do some research on the Days last week and Googled "J.T. Day Davenport Oklahoma."

What I found was more than I expected. The Google search led to a priceless Oklahoma resource, the Gateway to Oklahoma History, an online repository of the Oklahoma Historical Society, which now consists of "hundreds of thousands of newspaper pages dating from the 1840s to the 1920s." My search of J.T. Day helped to pinpoint a date by which my 2nd great-grandparents had moved to Davenport -- 1904.

The first issue of the Davenport Leader in which J.T. Day appeared was dated 15 December 1904. The entire front page of the paper was dedicated to the growth of the town--the construction of a bank building, the preparations for oil and gas drilling, and the purchase of townsites for homes. The townsites were owned and sold by the group of Methodist ministers, incorporated as the Kentucky, Oklahoma, Indian Territory and Adjacent States Land and Townsite Company. According to the Leader, the secretary of the townsite company, Rev. C.F. Oney, had recently come to town from Kentucky to close several pending deals.

,

Davenport Leader, 15 December 1904

The Oneys were ancestors of the Days, so I did a little research on C.F. Oney. Creed Fulton Oney was the son of James Oney and Rhoda Day. My 4th great-grandfather, Thomas P. Day, and Rhoda Day were brother and sister. J.T. Day's mother was an Oney. So Creed Oney and James T. Day were double cousins. It made a little more sense now how my Days had ended up in Oklahoma.

On the front page of the 15 December 1904 issue of the Davenport Leader was the name I was looking for. The paper reported, "G.A. Hugo and J.T. Day are having plans drawn and will soon commence building large and substantial residences on their lots recently purchased." The 2 March 1905 issue of the Leader reported, "Wm. Tipton and family arrived last Thursday from Lykins, Ky. and for the present are stopping with his wife's parents, Mr. and Mrs. J.T. Day and family. He will locate here." William Tipton's wife was Zedda Day. Here is a piece of evidence that might support the story that Grandpa and Grandma Day's daughters followed their parents to Oklahoma.

According to my grandmother, the Castles came to Oklahoma the summer before statehood was declared in November 1907. After seeing the headstone of Goldman Davidson Castle in Kentucky, I wondered if his death in February 1907 gave his son George permission to follow his wife's family to Oklahoma.

So I began to search for mentions of the Castles in Davenport newspapers. The next item I found was in a different paper, the New Era, dated 12 May 1910, and was especially precious to me. My grandmother was born in 1897 and died almost 25 years ago. But here she is in print, captured forever at age 13: "The Era is indebted to Miss Fannie Castle, little daughter of G.T. Castle, who recently bought the Berry farm, for a monster boquet which she brought to the office last Saturday." 

My grandmother, Fannie Castle (back, center) at
about the age she delivered the bouquet

I also found several news items and articles referring to a fact that I don't think any of the Castle descendants knew: George T. Castle, former deputy court clerk of Morgan County, Kentucky, ran for the office of Register of Deeds for his new home in Lincoln County, Oklahoma. The following article appeared on 18 April 1912:

  The Era is pleased to be able, this week, to announce the candidacy of G.T. Castle for the office of Register of Deeds. Mr. Castle is known to most of our readers as a man of ability and integrity, but to his friends as well as to those who are not acquainted with him the following facts will prove of interest.
  He was born in Morgan Co. Ky, 45 years ago and made his home there until about five years ago when he came with his family to Lincoln Co. He has a good education, is a good accountant and served for four years as deputy clerk of Morgan Co. where the office of clerk and recorder are one. He is an able man, known to be honest in all his dealings, a good fellow in the best sense of the term, has a fine family, owns a good farm and knows how to manage it and has a host of friends in Lincoln county who can vouch for his fitness for the office he wants.

Following a few weeks later was an endorsement from the county court clerk of Morgan Co., James H. Sebastian, with the headline "Says Castle Is O.K."

The New Era, 13 June 1912

What I find really interesting is that the Davenport newspapers of the early 1900s were every bit as informative and gossipy as Facebook. Here is a sample of some of the little items of news that mentioned the Castles, both young and old.

5 August 1909

• J.T. Day is putting in a cain (cane) mill and evaporator on his place two miles north of Davenport.

Davenport, OK on August 31, 1910
(from davenportok.org)

10 August 1911

• Mollie and Debbie Massey visited Fannie and Georgia Castle Sunday. [My grandmother was 14; Aunt Georgia had just turned 8.]
• Mr. and Mrs. Jones [Cora, George's daughter by his first marriage] of near Chandler were the guests of Mrs. Jones' parents, Mr. and Mrs. Castle Sunday.

17 August 1911

• Mrs. G.T. Castle and little daughter, Jessie, visited the school Friday afternoon.

2 November 1911

• There was quite a crowd at prayer meeting last Wednesday night. The prayer meeting will be at J.T. Day's next Wednesday.

2 May 1912

• G.T. Castle and little son Goldman visited J.T. Day's Tuesday.

30 May 1912

• J.T. Day and G.T. Castle and family were visitors at W.T. Tipton's Sunday.

27 June 1912

• J.T. Day and wife were in Chandler on business Tuesday. [Was nothing private?]
• G.T. Castle and wife were visiting the latter's parents Sunday.
• Maggie Day was shopping at Davenport Thursday.
• Misses Minta and Retta Lee Day are expected home Saturday from Chandler where they have been attending normal [school] for the past month.

26 September 1912

• There was a family reunion at the Day home Sun. Everyone of the family was present and able to partake of a goodly dinner of which mutton was the chief diet. After dinner which was served on the lawn, a photographer was called and a family picture taken.
• Minta Day and her sister, Mrs. Day who is here on a visit from Kentucky, expect to attend the State Fair...

2 January 1913

• G.T. Castle and family have moved in from the farm and are occupying the Hugo house for the present.

13 February 1913

• G.T. Castle, who was appointed deputy assessor for South Fox township, has started in on his duties.

30 September 1915

• Miss Fannie Castle was in Chandler last Saturday.  

School Dope (column)

• Fannie Castle was absent from school Monday morning.

14 October 1915

Literary Program a Great Success (article)

• Miss Fannie Castle, in giving the reading "Little Nell," so vividly described the scene that you could almost see the flames leaping from the little log house on the hillside and hear the blood curdling yell of the savage red men. 

28 October 1915

• Mrs. G.T. Castle and son Forrest drove to Chandler last Thursday.

18 November 1915

• Fannie Castle of Davenport and Ollie Landis of Luther called on Marie Bell Sunday afternoon. [Marie Bell Lay was my grandmother's best friend from Davenport.]

30 December 1915

• Miss Fannie Castle, who is teaching school near Tulsa, is here spending the Holidays.

Miss Fannie Castle as a young teacher

6 January 1916

• Miss Fannie Castle and brother Forrest went to Tulsa Saturday night on the 9:02.

2 March 1916

• Miss Fannie Castle came up from Tulsa Saturday, and returned to her school Sunday.
• Marie Bell entertained a number of young folks Saturday night at her home in honor of Miss Fannie Castle of Tulsa. The evening was spent in music and games. Those present were Messers. Eldon Hall, Steve Grigsby, Roy Rounsavell, Hobart Baugus, Oscar Allred, Ollie Landis, Oliver Lay and Misses Jurene Grigsby, Gertrude Rounsavell, Ezma Johnson, Willa Harvey, Fannie Castle and Eva and Marie Bell.

I'm so glad I found these newspaper articles, and I'm so thankful to the Oklahoma Historical Society for these glimpses into a century past and the lives of my grands and greats.

Davenport Leader (Davenport, Okla.), Vol. 1, No. 33, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 15, 1904, Newspaper, December 15, 1904; (http://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc106289/ : accessed November 13, 2016), Oklahoma Historical Society, The Gateway to Oklahoma History, http://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

The New Era. (Davenport, Okla.), Vol. 4, No. 23, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 13, 1912, Newspaper, June 13, 1912; (http://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc109847/ : accessed November 13, 2016), Oklahoma Historical Society, The Gateway to Oklahoma History, http://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.