While cleaning up these files, I noticed that I had a few unsolved mysteries that were important enough - to me - to try to solve. Thus, the Kansas trip.
I headed north early while it was still cool-ish. Caney was my first stop as a death certificate, for the fella whose mystery I wanted to un-mystify, said he resided in Caney, Kansas although he died in Kansas City, Missouri.
Turns out that he almost certainly didn't live in Caney, but it was a good start, anyway. In the Caney Valley Public Library, I found his obituary on microfilm of the Caney newspaper. Or, rather, I found half of his obituary. The paper was torn - vertically - through the column and the torn flap folded over onto the previous page for filming. Yikes!
I could read half of the information - the right half of the column. Since I like to copy verbatim what I find, that was going to be tough. I pulled the film out of the machine and went to the desk to announce my lack of discovery. Nevertheless, the librarian was a genealogist and she gave me a lot of good information about the cemeteries in the area.
By the way, that misleading death certificate gave his burial information as "Coffeyville, Kansas". No cemetery listed. There are only 4? cemeteries in Coffeyville. I headed over that way to see what I could find in the City Hall, if that's where cemetery records were kept. They were.
In the meantime, it was warming up. I wandered the town and found the Chamber of Commerce and went in for a map so I could wander with more purpose. One of the gals there was wonderfully helpful and even let me know that the City Clerk with those cemetery records wouldn't be available until after 1 o'clock.
It was time to go to the library, now that I knew where to find it. They have a whole room for genealogy. Nice! I found a notebook with copies of the death records and finally had a location for John's burial spot. Still, I wanted to check with the Clerk. Did so and she verified the information, printed a huge map, marked it for me, and was a great help.
It was past lunchtime so I had a meal at the Sunflower Soda Fountain in the historic part of Coffeyville. Fortified and revived, I drove a short distance to the Elmwood Cemetery, just south of the main part of town. I found that John didn't have a marker but there was one for his wife Nancy. Sometimes it's Exciting to be in a cemetery and find what you are looking for. Sometimes it's Sad. This was, for me, one of those Sad occasions.
What was sad was that John had no marker. What was sad was that Nancy died in 1899 and John not until 1927. He never married again. Nancy's marker was at the edge of three Giant Cedar Trees. They were probably put there when she died in 1899, although they were probably planted by the families next to her. I got a crick in my neck trying to see the top of them.
I have a large family portrait hanging on my wall of John, brother George, sisters Susan and Mary, and their mother Emily. The four were the only surviving children of Emily and her first husband. Mary is the great-grandmother of my husband. I found the portrait - printed on a heavy something that feels and looks like a thin board rather than cardboard, yet isn't - in the bottom of the closet at my mother-in-law's house after she died. I kept it in the bottom of a large drawer for many years - the edge was tearing and it was fragile. I finally bought a frame this past year and have it hanging where it should be. I used double glass so that the handwriting on the back can be read.
Standing: John Samuel Smith and George Jefferson Smith
Seated: Mary Elizabeth (Smith) Greer, Emily (Wilson) Smith Riddle,
Susan Martha (Smith) Crawford
Anyway, I have been able to find plenty of information about Emily, the mother, and about Mary, the direct line. But John, George, and Susan have been mysteries for a long time. Other family lines on my husband's side have been researched aplenty, but not the Smiths. I hope to remedy a small bit of that.
I had planned to go on to Labette County for another mystery search - my side of the family this time - but will save it for another trip!
The drive back was good in an air-conditioned van and I had a satisfaction rating that was pretty high for what I had found.
---------------------
ps: I created a memorial for John on Find a Grave: 201510207
but here's my "temporarily complete" (as of now) file of information for him
CENSUS:
1860 Iowa, Wayne Co, Howard Twp, Warsaw, 3 June
191/171 J J Smith, 31, farmer, vope 42, b Kentucky / Emelene Smith, 26, b Kentucky // J S Smith, 8, school, b Kentucky; M E Smith, school, 6, b Kentucky; S M Smith, 4, b Missouri
1870 Missouri, Putnam Co, York Twp, Unionville, 20 August
201/201 Sheritt, R W, 30, farmer, vore 5000 vope 2000, b Ohio . . .
Smith, John, 18, farm hand, b Kentucky
1880 Missouri, Putnam Co, York Twp, 5-6 July
256/260 Smith, John S, 28, farmer, b Kentucky Kentucky Kentucky / Nancy J, 25, wife, keeping house, b Iowa North Carolina North Carolina // James J, 5, son, b Missouri Kentucky Iowa; Fannie E, 1, dau, b Iowa Kentucky Iowa
1895 Kansas, Montgomery Co, Coffeyville
57/57 John S Smith, 43, b Kentucky, from Missouri to Kansas, labor / Nancy J, 40, b Iowa, from Iowa to Kansas, housekeeper / J J, 20, b Missouri, from Missouri to Kansas; Fanny E, 16, b Iowa, from Missouri to Kansas; Bertha E, 14, b Missouri, from Missouri to Kansas
1901 Kansas, Montgomery Co, Coffeyville, City Directory
Smith, J S, lab, 208 W 14th
Smith, Fannie E, dressmaking, 208 W 14th
1915 Kansas, Montgomery Co, Coffeyville
234/243 Smith, J S, 63
MARRIAGE:
---Iowa Marriages, Wayne County, Book 2, page 241
John S Smith age 22, Nannie J Miller age 19; married 29 January 1874, Wayne Co, Iowa
DEATH:
---Missouri Death Certificate 1927
John Samuel Smith, residing Caney [sic], Kansas, widowed, glass blower - factory, age 75 years 7 months 18 days, died 8 March 1927 of cerebral hemorrhage, in Missouri Hospital, Kansas City, Jackson Co, Kansas. Born Kentucky; father unknown Smith, born - no record; mother - no record, no record. Informant: Mrs Dennis Reedy, 3415 Summit. Burial 10 March 1927, Coffeyville, Kansas, Mrs C L Forster? undertaker, Kansas City, Missouri.
---Kansas, Montgomery Co, Coffeyville, Public Library, Genealogy room, July 2019
Booklet containing photocopied records of deaths and burials in the county.
Elmwood Cemetery, page 23
Smith, John Samuel, 76, wd, death 3.8.27, interment 3.15.27, cause of death cerebral hemorrhage; occupation ---; residing Kansas City, Missouri; place of birth ---; physician Dr Stripe; Burial Lot 4, Sec 29, grave 7; $8.00 cash paid for opening grave; Eudaly, undertaker.
BURIAL:
---Coffeyville, Kansas, City Clerk's Office, July 2019
Elmwood Cemetery, Coffeyville, Montgomery Co, Kansas
Block 29, Lot 4, Plot 7, John Samuel Smith, 3/15/1927
[John does not have a marker at the cemetery. His wife Nancy has a monument. I took photos and created a memorial on Find a Grave for each of them.]
---Find a Grave memorial 201510207
MISCELLANEOUS:
---www.coffeyville.com/344/Glass-Factories
-Coffeyville's abundant natural resources, including cheap natural gas, enabled ten glass factories to be operating in the early 1900s. Names recognizable today including Ball Brothers Glass Factory and Mason Fruit Jar Company were just some of the factories that employed over 1,000 people. -------Most of the factories were located around 14th Street [where John lived], ---------- however, the Mason Fruit Jar was located on North Union. The factories closed in 1916.
. . . The Mason Fruit Jar and Bottle Company plant operated for two years, 1907-1909 before being purchased by the Ball Brothers Fruit Jar Company.
