The Stocks Family Saga: Sophronia Blanche Stocks

The most recent Stocks in my family line is my great-grandmother, Sophronia Blanche Stocks.  Known to her family as “Fronia” or “Fronie”, she was born in Indiana, travelled to Kansas as a young girl, then to Oklahoma as a young bride.  She died in Los Angeles, California, 9 years to the day before I was born. 

I’ve  “adopted” her name - Fronia - for use, these many years that I’ve studied the family history.  Here is what I know about her, the first installment of the Stocks Family Saga. 

Fronia was one of eight children of George Samuel Stocks and Harriett Ann Davis.  Eben was born March 1873, Fronia in December 1875, Myrtle in December 1877, Leo (a girl) born in October 1880, Frank in April 1883, Lela in July 1885, Arthur in March 1890, and John in March 1892.  Only Eben and Fronia were born in Wolcott, White Co, Indiana, where parents Harriett and George married in 1873. 

Between December 1875 and December 1877, George and Harriett and their first two children travelled to Kansas, to Butler County and the town of Douglass.

1880 Kansas, Butler Co, Douglass Twp, 3 June

31/33  Stalks, George S, 30, farmer, b Virginia Virginia Virginia / Harriett M, 25, wife, keeping house, b Indiana Ohio Virginia // Eben A, 7, son, b Indiana Virginia Indiana; Sophronia B, 4, dau, b Indiana Virginia Indiana; Myrtle, 2, dau, b Kansas Virginia Indiana

The other six of George and Harriett’s children were born in Butler County, Kansas. 

I know very little about Fronia’s childhood.  The only story that is told through the family is about her crippled foot.

from Stacy George Turner, January 1998:

Stacy says that his grandmother Fronia was crippled in one foot.  The story is that she injured it as a child and it never healed properly.

from Pam Wagner Dewitt, Sept 2013

Re Fronie's crippled foot: . . . Nanny [Fronia’s daughter Hazel] told me that Fronie had jumped off of the porch as a child; ended up with a nail embedded in her foot.   According to her, the foot became infected and never healed correctly.  In fact, I just remembered that she also told me that Fronie always kept that foot wrapped.  Might she have had tetanus or just severe muscle damage from the infection? 

One of these days I’ll go back through the newspaper microfilm at the wonderful Douglass Museum and see what bits and pieces of news I can find from early Douglass history.  In the meantime, Fronia married Albert Franklin Simmons.

State of Kansas: Butler Co, Clerk of the Dist Court, Marr Lic Rec  Book E; 1890-1895; p 351  [copied March 22, 1990, LC]

License issued:  December 19, 1893 to Albert Simmons of Butler Co, Kansas, aged 25 and Miss Fronia B Stocks of Butler Co, Kansas, aged 18.

            I, a minister of the gospel of the town of Douglass, do hereby certify that in accordance with the authorization of the within license, I did, on the 21st day of December 1893, at the bride's father's, in said county, join and unite in marriage the within named Albert Simmons and Miss Fronia B Stocks.  W B Prewitt

The license was issued and the marriage performed just days after Fronia’s 18^th birthday.  I have no idea how long they had known each other, how they met (considering the difference in ages) or what their parents thought of their marriage.  Fronia was the first of her parents’ children to marry. 

Fronia wasn’t quite 19 years old when her first child was born - my grandfather, Earl Albert Simmons. 

1895 Kansas State Census, Butler Co, Douglass Twp, 1 March

18/18  Simmons, Albert, 25, b Iowa, to Kansas from Iowa, farmer / Sophronia, 19, b Indiana, to Kansas from Indiana, wife // Earl, 4 [months], b Kansas

Albert “Al” and Fronia had five more children, four of whom were born in Butler Co, Kansas

1900 Kansas, Butler Co, Augusta Twp, Augusta, 6 June

162/170  Simmons, Albert, head, 31, b Apr 1869, marr 6 yrs, stone quarry laborer, b Iowa Indiana Ohio / Saphronia, 24, b Dec 1875, marr 6 yrs, 3ch 3 liv, b Indiana Virginia Indiana // Earl, son, 5, b Nov 1894, b Kansas Iowa Indiana; Edith, dau, 4, b Mar 1896, b Kansas Iowa Indiana; George, son, 1, b July 1898, b Kansas Iowa Indiana

Family tradition says that George Stocks and Albert Simmons came to Oklahoma before statehood to look at land  - this letter tends to support that story.  There is no date showing - if there ever was one.

[letter from Albert to Fronia; in possession of Pam DeWitt; in poor condition]

Dear Fronia,

I arrived in Ponca last night at sundown.  I was tired and hungry and cold and mad so cant tell wheather there was any thing else the matter with me or not i went to the office last night with Dave F and i asked for my mail but did not get any thing.  I did not hardly expect any letter so soon ___   ask for ___  hope these few lines will find you enjoying good health.  Grandma Said She wanted me to Bring yo down here with me and i told her i was willing but i did not Suppose you was.  I slept on the ground the night i left there and pretty near froze but  I gues it all goes in ones life time i gues the Dr thinks if he can get me sick again he will get another doctor Bill he might have give me a wagon sheet if he had wanted _____ not get ____  and i don't know wheather i will get there in time to come out Sunday night or not.  I Started this letter this morning while the rest of them was eating breakfast and did not get to finish it.  I don't know wheather i will get to start home Sunday now or not the Dr has got him a claim and is going to build on it and i will haf to hall rock for a foundation and then hall lumber if he wants me to Stay here and live on his farm what do ___  think about it i told him if he would Build a house on one corner of it i would talk to him and he said he would and he is going to guthrie tomorrow and he said he would tell me when he got Back what he would do about it.  Fronia you will haf to ex[cuse] poor writing and dirty paper the wind is blowing the dust everywhere.  Well I will haf to close for this time as i am in a big hurry to get all done.  i haf to and come back to you Fronia, please don't tell the folks about the dr wanting me to stay here.  good By Fronia.  Forever yours, A F Simmons

to Fronia

Albert and Fronia did move to Oklahoma by 27 November 1906 when Albert bought lots 25 and 26 in Block 58 in the town of Clinton.  Albert was said to be a carpenter, among other things, and built the house himself.

This is the house where they lived in Clinton, on Second Street.  When I first worked on the Simmons family history, I made a trip to Arapaho and to Clinton.  The house was still standing at that time, but I failed to photograph it.  The next time I went, the year cousin Pam and husband Rich came to Oklahoma, the house had been torn down.  As of January 2013 it was still an empty lot.

I think this photo of the house, with it’s fancy painted porch rails, must be about 1910 or so.  I believe that Bun is the child in coveralls on the bottom step [see below], with Alberta the girl next to him.  Fronia is to one side of the family, and from the look of her clothing, I think she may be expecting daughter Hazel, who was born in January 1911.  Albert bought the lots in 1906, but the land records show no further activity until November of 1909, when there’s a mortgage with Midland Savings and Loan Co.  That’s all speculation, but then that’s what interpreting photos and records is all about. 

Pam sent this photo of Hazel, Edith, and Alberta, daughters of Fronia and Albert, standing in front of the house in Clinton, probably taken in the mid 1970s.  Edith died in 1979 at age 83, and she doesn’t look that old here.  That’s purely a guess as to the date.

1910 Oklahoma, Custer Co, Clinton Twp, Clinton, Second Street, 19 May

475/490  Simmons, Albert F, head, 41, marr 1, m 16 yrs, owner mtg, laborer - farmer, b Iowa Ohio Ohio / Sophronia, wife, 35, marr 1, m 16 yrs, 5 ch 5 liv, b Indiana Virginia Indiana // Earl, son, agent - real estate co, 15, school, b Kansas Iowa Indiana; Edith B, dau, 13, school, b Kansas Iowa Indiana; George R, son, 11, school, b Kansas Iowa Indiana; Frank J, son, 9, school, b Kansas Iowa Indiana; Alberta M, dau, 6, school, b Kansas Iowa Indiana// Davis, Bun, cousin, 4, b Kansas Indiana Michigan

You can see that there is an extra child on this 1910 census - Bun Davis.  Fronia’s uncle, Reed Davis, was married to Emolyn True.  Emolyn died during childbirth in 1905, when her son John Bunyon Davis was born.  Fronia and Albert took in the baby and raised him until he was five and returned to his father. 

from Florence Wass to Pam DeWitt, 2001

I found this note:  Mildred and our nephew Boyd, and wife June visited Doris Thompson, who was the child of Reuben Reed Davis.  This was in 1971.  She said "my cousin was Fronie (Stocks) Simmons, one of the best cousins anyone ever had.  When she heard mama had died, she came and took the three-day old baby, John Bunyon Davis and kept him five years, then . . . dad went and got him and brought him home to Granfield. OK." [Boyd is Boyd Alexander, son of Georgena Stocks Alexander, and Mildred is Mildred Stocks, Eben’s daughters.]

Fronia and Albert’s last child, Hazel, was born in Clinton, Custer Co, Oklahoma, in 1911. 

There is a gap of 4 years between Frank and Alberta, then a gap of 7 years between Alberta and Hazel.  The earlier children were born 2 years apart, so both gaps are curious.  On the monument in Arapaho Cemetery, the one with Albert and Fronia on it, there is a third name about which that I have been unable to find information.  I wonder if it is a child of theirs who died and fills the earlier gap.  Bun Davis coming into the household in 1905 may have taken the place of a child of their own between Alberta and Hazel.

These recollections of Fronia are from her daughters Alberta and Hazel.

Alberta Simmons remembered that when her mother made biscuits, the large, odd-sized biscuit which she made from the last of the dough and then placed in the center of the pan was always "Papa's biscuit", as told to Pam Wagner Dewitt.

from Hazel:  "I was told how every Sat nite the Indians would come into town and get high on "firewater".  One young buck used to tease Mama by riding up to our back door and whooping.  She would, unafraid, gather her broom up and chase him away.  All 105 lbs of her, much to his delight and her protecting her brood.  She really thought he was wild and on the warpath."

from Hazel:  "Mama bought a piano and Edith took lessons and became quite a Pianist, later playing at the theatre during silent pictures - quite an honor.  Alberta took elocution lessons and because of her dark Hair and expressive eyes  . . .  Quite an Entertainer.  George had voice lessons."

This photo is of Earl and Edith selling sandwiches to the passengers on the train that went through Clinton.  They lived very near the railroad tracks.

In February of 1914, Albert died.  He was only 44 years old; Fronia was 38, with 6 children at home - from ages 19 to 3 years old.

This newspaper article, undated for now, must have been the year of Albert’s death:

Unidentified newspaper clipping, "The Davis Family enjoys delightful reunion"

One of the most pleasurable affairs that has been enjoyed in Clinton for many days was the family reunion of the Davis family in this city last Sunday, November 7.  City park was chosen for the event, and although the members of one family were present the company was sufficiently large to suggest a Sunday school celebration or some other similar gathering, there are 58 members of the families of the Davis Bros, and sisters, who are Mrs Mary Pearce of Yale, Washington; Mrs Harriet Stocks of Clinton; Mr R R Davis, of Grandfield, Oklahoma; Mrs Cynthia Pitts of LaFayette, Ind; Mrs Josephine Erickson of Latham, Kansas; Prof John Davis, of Edmond, Okla; Mr J A Davis of McPherson, Kans.

This is the first time in 36 years since this happy family all met together, these seven brothers and sisters being children of Mr and Mrs J W Davis, now deceased, all of whom were born in Indiana.  While there were 58 descendants of this worthy couple present on this occasion, only about half of the total number were represented as there are 102, all told, living.

Following is a list of those present: Mr and Mrs George Stocks and children; Mr and Mrs Eben Stocks and their children. Guy, Georgena, Grace, Mildred, Sadie, Florence James; Mrs F Stocks Simmons and children Earl, Edith, George, Frank, Alberta, Hazel; Mr and Mrs Bert Stocks Allspaugh and children, May, Pearl, Wilbur, Virgil, Alice, Lewis; Mr and Mrs Jim Owens and children, Lawrence, Francis, Charles, John, Nancy, Myrtle, Elizabeth, Ruth; Mr and Mrs Frank Stocks and children, Earnest, Hugh, Harriet, Frank Jr; Mr and Mrs Carl Goss and children, Harry, Austin,  Thelma, Gerrald; Mr and Mrs Arthur Stocks and son.  Geo Jr, and John Stocks.

The family managed to get by for a while - the children worked to help.  A family story says Fronia attempted to run a boarding house at home.  There was a mortgage on the house and eventually foreclosure. 

According to Hazel's recollections, they moved about 1917-18 to a two-story house on Hudson St in Oklahoma City:  "lived on Hudson street in a house with an upstairs!”

If they truly had lived in Oklahoma City, they must have moved back to Clinton for Fronia to care for her parents.

Fronia’s father, George, had a stroke about two years before his death in May of 1921.  Harriett had a stroke about a year before her death in November 1924. 

Daughter Hazel had this to say:

"My lil Mom took care of both of them [her parents] during their last days, both of whom died of apoplexy or strokes and were helpless so long.  In those days folks harbored a suspicion that strokes were contagious and so she had no help."

1920 Oklahoma, Custer Co, Clinton, 205 Avant St, 20 January

246/259  Simmons, F B, head, 44, wd, rent, b Indiana Virginia Indiana // Frank, son, 19, clerk - express office, b Kansas Iowa Indiana; Alberta, dau, 16, b Kansas Iowa Indiana; Hazel, 9, school, b Oklahoma Iowa Indiana

Edith had married in 1915, a year and a half after the death of Albert. 

I have been unable to locate George on the 1920 census, but have a photograph that puts him in the Oklahoma National Guard about that time.  He also worked for the Rock Island Railroad and may have been elsewhere at the time of the census.  Nevertheless, he was no longer living at home.

Earl worked for the Rock Island, too, and married in September of 1920.  I have been unable to locate him on the 1920 census and believe he was off somewhere with the railroad.

After the 1920 census, it’s hard to find Fronia.  Recollections from Hazel say that they lived in Wichita, Kansas, Oklahoma City and Clinton, Oklahoma - with no specific dates provided.  I have not yet located Fronia, daughter Hazel, and granddaughter Pat, in the 1930 census.

Then in 1939, on September 20, Fronia died.  The death certificate says:

State of California, Los Angeles County

Saphronia Simmons, died at 9:30 am, Sept 20, 1939, age 6_ [3 and 4 typed over each other] years 9 mo 4 days, at 5818 Clara Street, Huntington Park, Los Angeles County, California, of cerebral hemorrhage due to myocardial degenration. . . .

Usual residence 5818 Clara St, Huntington Park, Los Angeles Co, California.  Female, cauc, widowed: Albert F Simmons, occupation: housewife. 

Informant: F J Simmons, 6737 Perry Road, Bell Gardens, California.  Burial: removal to Arapaho, Oklahoma 9/21/1939.  Funeral Director, J G Allen, 6435 S Eastern Ave, Bell

This was the obituary printed in the Clinton newspaper:

Clinton Daily News, Clinton, Custer Co, Oklahoma, 24 September 1939

Rites Sunday for Mrs S Simmons

Former City Resident Dies in Los Angeles

Funeral services will be held at 2pm Sunday from the Kern and Schneider funeral home  chapel for Mrs Saphronia Simmons, 64, former Clinton resident who died last Wednesday at the home of her son, F J Simmons, in Los Angeles, Calif.

Rev E F Gassaway, pastor of the Clinton First Christian church, will officiate.  Burial will be made in the Arapaho cemetery with Kern and Schneider directors in charge of arrangements.

Then there is this typed obituary from the funeral home.  If it was printed in the newspaper, I haven’t seen a copy of it.

This copy says she came to Oklahoma in 1901.  Maybe that’s the Arapaho connection I note below, since they didn’t buy property in Clinton until 1906.  It also notes that she lived in California three years. 

Her body was returned to Oklahoma and she is buried with Albert in the Arapaho Cemetery.  Why Arapaho rather than Clinton?  I don’t know.  Arapaho is north of Clinton and is the county seat, but I don’t know what the connection might be that many of the Stocks family are buried there.  Another mystery to solve.

Sophronia Blanche Stocks Simmons

1875-1939