Lorene in Her Own Voice: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “Storyteller”

 

Lorene Smith Jandy’s Memoir Showcases Her Storytelling Talent

Lorene Edith Smith Jandy: 1903-1994 (Maternal Grandmother)

 

When I first met “Gram Jandy”, it was late in her life. She had become legally blind and was living in an assisted care placement. But she was still a very active woman and was intensely interested in the world and people around her. She had an amazing talent for chatting up anyone she met and learning an amazing amount about their lives, which she could then recount later. She was a natural born storyteller—not in the “tall tales” or fictional type of story, but in an oral history sort of storytelling. Her children and grandchildren (including my husband) tended to roll their eyes when she’d launch into a story about someone they’d never met and would never, ever meet. However, she also had amazing stories about her family. 

Lorene before she lost her vision

Luckily for her descendants, she dictated a memoir of sorts about her life and family that is a delightful source of information now that she is gone. Perhaps the most charming thing about the memoir is that it sounds like Lorene—it captures her quick topic changes, her way of expressing things, and her non-linear storytelling.  

Here is a small sample from her memoir:

“Albert Elias was Willis Smith's second son. He was educated at the University of Kentucky, where he was a sprinter, and at Chicago Theological Seminary. He married Otilda (Tillie) Herrin

and they lived and worked all their lives in the east Kentucky mountains, where they reared a family of four children--Frances, Willis, Harvey, and Albert. My brother Albert was a minister and Tillie an economics teacher. Until Albert's death, they gave their entire lives to the mountain

people. Just after we visited them in 1930, when Laurel was four, Albert was fatally burned while cleaning a chicken shed with gasoline. He panicked, shouted for Tillie, and ran down the hill,

fanning the flames. He died that night with his lungs seared and full of fluid.

 

“Foolishly, all through the mountains, people built their chicken sheds and outhouses up above the main house, where they could contaminate the wells. Albert lived lower down the mountain by a creek, which would overflow and flood the house. Many outhouses (one- or two

holers) didn't even have doors, just a curtain. Toilet paper as we know it was an unheard-of luxury to the mountain people. You wiped with corncobs or shucks or used the pages of outdated Sears

Roebuck catalogues, from which you could get colored print on your seat. The used paper was stored in a can and then burned. In Fredonia and other towns, the outhouses were painted to match the houses—high style!”

This really shows her style of talking—one minute she’d be talking about a specific person, and then she’d move on to society in general, and then back to the person, or even on to an anecdote about a totally different individual. It was very entertaining. Not exactly easy to follow, but fun all the same. I love the details about outhouses, especially the tidbit about getting colored ink on your bottom from using catalogs as toilet paper.

 

Lorene in college

In glancing back through her memoir, I realize how much information I have yet to mine from it about her extended family. While I have names and dates, I don’t have the lovely details, like this little gem:

“When Nannie broke her hip as an old lady, she refused medical treatment because of her Christian Science beliefs, and lay in bed some six months for the bones to mend, after which she got up and went about her life again.”

Dates and documents would never be able to paint that picture of a determined woman of strong beliefs and high pain tolerance!

 

Lorene with oldest daughter, Laurel. Around 1928.

I wish I’d had the chance to chat with Lorene more. I would have loved to hear more stories about her family and her life in rural Kentucky, as a young married woman in Detroit, and during her travels with her husband in Ethiopia later in life. She was an amazing, gregarious, and kind-hearted woman.

Disease, Death and Young People in the 1920s: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “Health”

Even the Young Were Not Immune: Elliott Siblings Die Weeks Apart

Estella Geneva Elliott: 1895-1926 (Maternal Second Cousin 3x Removed)
Leonard Allen Elliott: 1895-1926 (Maternal Second Cousin 3x Removed)

 

Even in the 1920s, infectious diseases ravaged families, killing young people in the prime of their lives. Siblings Estella and Allen Elliott died within weeks of one another at the young ages of 31 and 27. They each suffered from two different diseases that were sadly all too common before health advances tamed them later in the century.

Estella Geneva Elliott and Leonard Allen Elliott were born to parents James Franklin Elliott and first cousin 4x removed Emma Ara Moseley. They were the sixth and seventh of James and Emma’s eight children, and they were born in Kansas.

Leonard Allen, known as Allen, married Emma Reese on August 8, 1917. They were quite young—Emma was 16 and Allen was 17. He worked as an electrician until he registered for the draft in 1918. By the 1920 census he was a father; his daughter Louise was born May 7, 1918.  He was in business with his brother-in-law, but the census record appears to state they were “storage bat men”. This is a puzzling phrase and must be a transcription error of some sort. By the time of the 1925 Kansas State Census, he was working as a carpenter.

A death notice that appeared in the August 26 Dodge City Journal stated that Allen died of typhoid fever at his mother’s home. An obituary a few days later stated that he was “highly esteemed in the community.”

“Although only 27 years old, Mr. Elliott had mastered two trades and had enjoyed success along both lines of work. He was a good mechanic and for three years was proprietor of the Copeland garage. For a time he was a contractor at Wichita and at Winfield. Following his return to Dodge City he constructed ten of the substantial residences of the town, in which he took great pride.”

It is unclear how Allen was exposed to typhoid. Typhoid fever had been much more prevalent at the turn of the century than by 1926, but there were still tens of thousands of cases reported in 1926, although the death rate was only 6.5 per 100,000 people. Immunizations were available, but many people waited to get one until there was a local outbreak.

Gridley Light, Aug 6, 1926

Typhoid fever is caused by the Salmonella Typhi bacterium, and is spread through contaminated food, water and other liquids. Contamination often occurs when infected people prepare or serve foods or drinks, but water sources can also be contaminated by sewage carrying the bacteria. While typhoid cases were dropping in Kansas in 1926, infections and deaths were covered in the newspapers, along with advice on how to avoid infection and encouragement to get immunized.

Iola Register, Jan. 14, 1926

Allen’s older sister, Estella Elliott, died just fourteen weeks after Allen; she succumbed to tuberculosis at age thirty-one. Estella attended the Dodge City High School, and following graduation became a school teacher. Her obituary said that “she had taught near Montezuma and in Moscow and Copeland, endearing herself to the people of Southwest Kansas.” She then “taught in the Dodge City junior high school and the second ward and Lincoln grade schools… “

The obituary also stated that:

“Owing to her zeal in Christian work, her keen interest in the progress and well being of her pupils, and her deep affection for the members of her large family circle, Miss Elliott had derived a great deal of enjoyment from life, although she had been a great sufferer for the past seven or eight years.”

Hillcrest Tuberculosis Sanitarium in Topeka--possibly where Estella was hospitalized in 1926

Tuberculosis was often a slow killer, as was apparently the case with Estella. She had been able to continue working until the previous February when, after a bout of flu, her tuberculosis worsened, forcing  her to resign her teaching post and move into a Topeka sanitarium “in a vain effort to combat the white plague.” Of course now, in modern times, teachers are tested for exposure to tuberculosis and if they test positive, they are not allowed to work with children. Yet Estella apparently continued to work with children for some six years after contracting the disease. Hopefully, none of her pupils caught the disease from her.

Allen and Estella were buried in Maple Grove Cemetery in Dodge City.

The deaths of Allen and Estella Elliott at such young ages are an important reminder of the benefits of modern medicine. Today typhoid has nearly been wiped out in the United States due to widespread vaccinations. Sadly, Allen was never immunized even though the vaccine was available in 1926. He would never have gotten ill if he had been born today. And thanks to the development of various antibiotics, tuberculosis infections can now be cured. Estella’s “white plague” is no longer a death sentence. The miracles of vaccines and treatments for the killer diseases of the past and for new diseases like COVID should be embraced with gratitude.

Sources:

Typhoid Rates in 1926. CDC Public Health Reports Vol 43, January 13, 1928. file:///C:/Users/bandr/Downloads/cdc_68406_DS1.pdf

Obituary for Allen Leonard Elliott. Page 2 of The Dodge City Daily Globe, published in Dodge City, Kansas on Tuesday, August 31st, 1926. https://dodgecitypl.historyarchives.online/viewer?k=elliott&i=f&by=1926&bdd=1920&d=07011926-09011926&m=between&ord=k1&fn=the_dodge_city_daily_globe_usa_kansas_dodge_city_19260831_english_2&df=1&dt=10&cid=3063

Allen Elliott Dies of Typhoid. The Dodge City Journal, published in Dodge City, Kansas on Thursday, August 26th, 1926

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_tuberculosis

A Rough Start in Life: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “Hard Times”

 

A Young Man’s Struggles: Beverly Childress Faces Setbacks

Beverly John Childress: 1903-1969 (Maternal Third Cousin 2x Removed)

Beverly John Childress’ early life seemed to be nothing but “hard times”. He lost a parent at a tender age, was separated from his siblings and sent to stay with relatives, and just as he neared adulthood, he suffered a grisly on-the-job accident that left him seriously injured and could have killed him. Despite these hard times, he survived and managed to raise a family and pursue a career that brought him satisfaction.

Beverly John Childress was born in Daviess County, Kentucky on August 10, 1903 to parents Fisher Alexander Childress and Lydia Moseley Childress. He was the third of their five children, and was named after his grandfather Beverly Childress..

Tragically, Beverly’s mother Lydia died at age 39 when Beverly was only eight years old. According to Lydia’s obituary, she “died of a complication of diseases…after a long illness.” Beverly’s father, a farmer, tried to keep the family together after his wife’s death. However, at times this must have been difficult. Even before Lydia’s death, little Beverly was living with his grandparents, John Presley and Luvenia Moseley, as seen on the 1910 census form below. 

John Presley Moseley apparently stepped up financially as his 1920 will indicates:

“I have five grandchildren by my deceased daughter Lydia Childress, viz: Goble Childress, Virgie Childress, Beverly Childress, Richard Childress and Ollie Childress, and having already done much for these grandchildren and hoping to do more for them during my lifetime, I do not devise my said grandchildren anything at all, but I do entrust the welfare of said grandchildren to my wife, Luvenia Moseley, and if at the time of my death or at any time thereafter…she desires to give any of my…estate or forward property to any of said grandchildren, it is my will and desire that she do so as I have full confidence in my wife…and feel that she will do what is just, right and proper for said children.”

In February 1920, when Beverly was only sixteen years old, he married a fifteen year old named Lucy Jane Kirk. Her brother was the county attorney at the time. The young couple’s first child wasn’t born until December 1920, so it doesn’t appear it was a shotgun wedding. However, they were very young to be married, and must have struggled. Neither completed high school.

To support his wife, Beverly took a job at the Kentucky and Virginia Tobacco Company in Owensboro. His job involved “prizing” the tobacco, which meant to press or pack down the tobacco into hogsheads, which were huge barrels. An article from the North Carolina Museum of History cited below describes the barrels as follows:

“These barrels consisted of red or white oak staves (the long, vertical parts) and oak hoops, and they usually measured forty-eight inches in length and thirty inches in diameter at the head. After sale at a warehouse, leaf tobacco got pressed, or “prized,” into the hogshead. When full of leaf tobacco, hogsheads weighed about one thousand pounds each.”

Workers screwing down a pressing plate onto the tobacco in the hogshead.

Illustrations of the hogsheads and pressing apparatus are seen above and below. The tobacco was placed in the hogshead and then a large metal plate was lowered onto the tobacco and was pressed or screwed down to tightly pack the tobacco leaves in the hogshead. This process would be repeated until the hogshead was full of pressed tobacco, which was then stored for curing and shipping.  

1920s image of prizing tobacco--at right you can see the heavy metal plate above the hogshead, similar to what fell on Beverly

In 1920, there were no child-labor laws to protect teens like Beverly, and no safety regulations or regulators like OSHA to ensure workplace safety. On March 11, 1920, just two weeks after his marriage, Beverly suffered a horrific workplace accident. As described in the news article below, Beverly was leaning into the hogshead, which would have been about four feet high. He was probably adding more tobacco to the barrel when the metal cover plate came loose and fell on his head, crushing him between the plate and the rim of the hogshead. He was knocked unconscious and “an examination showed that “part of his scalp was torn off and his face badly bruised.” He was hospitalized in critical condition.

A very brief article eight days later reported that he was “doing as well as could be expected, and it is now thought that he will recover.” There was no mention of the tobacco company doing anything to help him or to take responsibility for a nearly fatal accident—no offers to pay the hospital expenses or to help his young wife. Beverly probably lost his job due to his inability to come in to work. The original news article reported he was 20 years old, not his actual age of sixteen, so the company seems to have lied to the press or failed to verify the age of new employees.

Beverly suffered another blow in April of 1920, when his grandfather John Presley Moseley died. Beverly had lived with his grandfather during part of his childhood, so was likely close to him.

Beverly had recovered enough to attend dinner at his brother-in-law’s house in May. However, in June of 1920, he asked the court to appoint his grand uncle Charles Jackson “C.J.” Moseley to be his guardian. His motion was granted on June 12, 1920. Why would he do that? Was his head injury so serious that he couldn’t handle his own affairs? Or was it simply a more practical matter—he was too young to sign most legal documents like leases or loan documents, so his uncle could handle that for him? Of course, this begs the question as to why he turned to his great uncle—why didn’t ask his father to help him? Was he estranged from his father and siblings, who lived nearby?

Despite these difficult early years, Beverly was able to build a decent life. He and his young wife Lucy became parents before the year was out, and went on to have three more children. Sadly, the marriage did not survive; Beverly and Lucy separated sometime in the 1930s and divorced in the 1940s. By the 1940 census, Beverly was living in Owensboro; two of his children, Dale and Lena, were living with him. Beverly remarried in 1946 to Johnnie Westerfield.

Beverly changed careers after his accident at the tobacco factory. He got a job with an Owensboro company, Barrett-Fisher, that made saddles, harnesses and other horse equipment. Beverly became a harnessmaker, and according to his obituary, he made harnesses for 44 years.

Beverly died April 27, 1969 in Owensboro after a “brief illness”. He was sixty-five years old. Beverly is buried in the Rosehill Elmswood Cemetery.

Photo by Charles and Monta Vanover on Findagrave.

Beverly Childress had some hard times when he was very young, but he overcame them to build a decent life for himself and his family. Hard times may leave scars, as I’m sure Beverly’s accident did, but they don’t have to define a life.

 

Sources:

Information on prizing tobacco and hogsheads. “Analyzing an Artifact: What in the World is a Hogshead?” by Alison Holcomb. Tar Heel Junior Historian. Spring 2009. NC Museum of History. https://www.ncpedia.org/tobacco/barrels

Item on Childress recovery. Item on Dinner with A.J. Kirk and Wife. Hartford Republican. 19 Mar 1920 and May 7, 1920..

Article on Beverly Childress Injury. Court Notice of Guardianship. Owensboro Messenger. Owensboro KY. March 11, 1920, June 11, 1920 issues.

Obituary. Owensboro Messenger Inquirer. April 28, 1969.

Blind Man’s Business Vision: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “Taking Care of Business”

 

Willis Moseley: Blind Businessman

Willis Moseley: 1902-1967 (Maternal First Cousin 2x Removed on Leachman branch, and Second Cousin 3x removed on the Moseley branch)

 

I first discovered Willis Moseley while reading a news account of a traffic accident involving another ancestor, Beverly Childress. The article noted that Childress was driving a car owned by Willis Moseley, in which Moseley was a passenger. The article said Moseley suffered extensive bruising and laceration to his head and ear, and described Moseley as a “blind broom manufacturer”. I had to read that several times. Blind broom manufacturer? I had to know more: a blind man who owned a car? And manufactured brooms? This was a story worth investigating.

Willis Moseley was a double cousin—his father was Charles Jackson Moseley, my husband’s first cousin four times removed, the son of third great-granduncle Isaac Fletcher Moseley who was featured in an earlier blog post. His mother was Mary Alma Leachman, my husband’s great-grandaunt and sister to great-grandmother Cora Leachman. That made Willis both a first cousin 2x removed and a second cousin 3x removed.

Willis was born December 15, 1902 in Moseleyville, Kentucky. He was the fifth of Charles and Mary Alma’s seven children, and grew up on the family farm. According to a news article written years later, Willis lost his vision around the age of eight. However, another article stated he was born blind. Willis’ parents sent him to the Kentucky State School for the Blind in Louisville to be educated. The school endeavored to train the students in a skill that could support them in adulthood; Willis was trained in broom-making.

When Willis was 34, the local newspaper did an article on his broom business (Owensboro Messenger, September 13, 1936). The article noted he had been operating his business for twelve years. He started up in a building on East Second Street but quickly moved to 1324 Independence Avenue in Owensboro—an appropriate street name for a man who worked hard to maintain his independence.

The journalist said the broom-making work was “divided between hand and machine”. The process was described as follows:

“…the straw…is dyed a light green, put on the end of the stick which is turned with his foot and bound on with wire. An electrically driven machine takes the seed from the straw after it is on the stick, and then it is stitched and the broom given its oblong shape. A large blade operated as a paper cutter clips the end of the straw and give it a straight bottom.”

The journalist said Willis moved easily around his factory room from one machine to another without assistance. His business had prospered enough to hire an employee, and together they produced twenty dozen brooms per week. The article also noted that Willis had paid for his combination home and factory with his earnings.

I found several references to county and city agencies purchasing Willis’ brooms. Both the school and the city government budgets, printed in the local newspaper, included line items for broom purchases from his factory.

At some point, Willis apparently abandoned the broom business to focus on farming. This was even more surprising to me. Farming is a labor-intensive business—I could not imagine how a blind man could possibly run farm equipment, raise crops and tend for livestock without the benefit of sight. A March 28, 1955 article titled “Though Blind, Daviess Farmer Operates Normal Farm Program” by reporter Jim Grise described Willis’ farm operation.

The article stated that Willis started farming in 1938, just two years after the article on his broom business. He apparently specialized in raising brood sows—hogs raised to breed young pigs. He had thirty brood sows at the time of the article. The writer noted that Willis’ success was due to his “ability to master the operation of such modern equipment as [a feed mixer and electric brooder]. With the aid of one man who help put the ingredients into this mixer, Moseley completes the operation of mixing, sacking and tying the feed.” He went on to write that, “It has been my privilege to watch him perform his task of caring for sows in his farrowing barn…As each peg was born, he clipped the cord, dried it and put it in an electric brooder out of the way of the sow.”

Willis’ farm was also featured as a demonstration farm in a Daviess County Swine Field Day event on June 11, 1961. The article stated that, “Moseley has a herd of Yorkshire hogs and his was the third herd in Kentucky to become a certified brucellosis-free herd. In addition to his breeding herd, Moseley has a group of hogs on feed out of which he expects to select some individuals for entry in the second annual Owensboro meat hog-carcass contest.”

Willis’ personal life was not as successful as his two businesses. On May 8, 1926, when Willis was 23 years old, he eloped to Evansville, Indiana with a fourteen-year-old girl named Anna Belle Troutman. I suspect they had to cross the state line because she was too young to marry in Kentucky. The marriage stood—her parents did not intervene despite her youth and the nine-year age difference. The couple seems to have become acquainted because Anna Belle’s aunt and uncle lived just down the street from Willis’ home and factory.

The marriage failed. Anna Belle left him July 23, 1935.  Their divorce was granted September 20, 1935.  I wonder if Willis decided to switch careers due to the divorce. He may have had to give his wife the house and factory on Independence Ave. as part of the divorce settlement.

Two years later, in November of 1937, Willis married again. His new wife, Louvenia Wyatt, was a fellow graduate of the Kentucky School for the Blind. She had been trained for a job at the cigar stand in the Owensboro post office, so had just moved to the area a few months earlier. The news write up was titled “Blind Couple Weds”, and noted they would be living in Moseleyville, presumably on Willis’ new farm.

I suppose their shared disability gave them common ground and mutual understanding, but perhaps wasn’t the best basis for a marriage. The marriage lasted eight years. Willis and Louvenia divorced in April 1945.

Willis reconnected with first wife Anna Belle, and they remarried May 5, 1945, just weeks after his divorce from Louvenia. The relationship remained troubled, and they separated yet again on May 24, 1948. Anna Belle filed for divorce, alleging cruelty.

Willis and Anna Belle also had trouble with her mother, Daisy Wyatt, in 1948. She filed suit against her daughter and Willis, claiming they had promised to give her the Independence Avenue house, but that Anna Belle never legally transferred the deed, and that Anna Belle and Willis were trying to evict her. I was unable to find out how the suit was settled, or when Willis’ divorce was granted.

By the 1950 census, Willis was still living on his farm with his widowed mother. He was listed as “separated” under marital status, and “unable to work” even though he was still farming. His mother died two years later when Willis was 49 years old.  

Willis apparently continued to live on his own, farming, at least until the 1960s, since we know his farm was featured in the 1961 Swine Field Day. By 1967, however, something must have changed for him. He had lost more family members; over the course of five years, two of his sisters and his brother Charles had all died. Perhaps he began to feel isolated, or maybe his health began to fail. He must have become despondent, for on July 5, 1967, a neighbor found Willis sitting in the back seat of his car with a hose in his mouth that had been attached to the exhaust pipe. He had committed suicide by inhaling exhaust fumes. The article reporting his death said he had mailed a farewell note to a friend. Willis was buried in Rosehill Elmwood Cemetery in Owensboro near his family members.

Despite Willis’ sad ending, he had lived a productive, independent life despite his blindness. When it came to “taking care of business”, he had taken care of two. He had founded a successful broom-making business and built up a fine hog breeding business. He never let his lack of vision stop him.

 

Sources:

Three are Hurt in Double Crash. Owensboro Messenger Inquirer. Sept 3, 1936.

Willis Moseley, Blind Broom Maker, Has Built Large Trade. Owensboro Messenger Inquirer. Sept. 13, 1936. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1060425518/?match=1&terms=willis%20moseley

Blind Couple Weds. Owensboro Messenger, Owensboro, KY. Nov. 20, 1937. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-owensboro-messenger-blind-couple-wed/147946384/

Louvenia Moseley files for divorce again. . Owensboro Messenger, Owensboro, KY. April 1945. https://www.newspapers.com/image/1060257335/?match=1&terms=willis%20moseley

Though Blind, Daviess Farmer Operates Normal Farm Program. Jim Grise. Owensboro Messenger Inquirer. March 28, 1955. https://www.newspapers.com/image/375607266/?match=1&terms=willis%20moseley

Blind Man Found Dead in His Car. . Owensboro Messenger Inquirer, Owensboro, KY. July 5, 1967. https://www.newspapers.com/image/382589131/?match=1&terms=willis%20moseley

A Family Name on the Map: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “Preserve”

The Moseley Family Literally Put Moseleyville on the Kentucky Map

Isaac Fletcher Moseley: 1828-1908 (Maternal Third Great-Granduncle)
Jesse B. Moseley: 1810-1874 (Maternal First Cousin 5x Removed)
Basil Curtis Moseley: 1837-1880  (Maternal Third Great-Granduncle)
Presley Thompson Moseley: 1836-1912  (Maternal Third Great-Granduncle)

 

Families like to pass down heirlooms that preserve a bit of family history. But the Moseley family had something unique to pass down: a place on the Kentucky map bearing their name.

So what do we know about Moseleyville, Kentucky? Here is the description provided by the History of Owensboro wiki (see citation below):

“Settlement came slowly to the lower Panther Creek bottoms of Daviess County, but there were enough farmers working the rich lands of the area to justify a mill. Sometime about 1830, Johnathan Barnett built a water-powered grist mill on the creek near a spot called Narrows. Around 1860, the mill was fully equipped to grind wheat into flour and to saw lumber. The mill was later bought by the Vanover family and was afterward known as Vanover’s Mill. The mill was destroyed by fire in 1900, but by then a little settlement had grown up around the site. It was first called Narrowville and a post office was established there in 1842. The office was discontinued in 1845, then re-established as Narrows in 1850. In 1852 the office was again closed, reopening as Narrows Bridge in 1867. It closed again in 1870, and reopened as Moseleyville in 1886. Postal service ended in 1909, but the name remained. At various times Jesse B. Moseley, Presley T. Moseley and John P. Moseley all served as postmasters. The Clark Manufacturing Company built a factory in Moseleyville in 1895 to manufacture field drainage tiles, bricks, and blocks. Products were shipped by barge down Panther Creek to Green River and on to markets as far away as Illinois. The facility was torn down in 1973. Coal seams were found in the hillsides and by 1902 there were seven mines operating within a mile of the town. Among the mines were the Bramer, English, Nation, Rafferty, Wood, Vanover, Miller, Vowels and Church. The tile plant and coal mines meant jobs, and as the population grew, there came the need for a school. About 1900 the first school was built in the home of Jack Moseley, with “about” thirty-five students. The modern school building was built in 1927…”

This entire area lay in the Vanover Precinct of Owensboro, seen in the 1876 map below. 

As I mentioned in my previous blog post about Isaac Fletcher Moseley, Isaac was the Democratic party precinct committeeman for Vanover, and lived in the area. The map shows his land, as well as the land of other Moseley family members, including S. Moseley, R.W. Moseley, M.C. Moseley, JB Moseley, Jesse Moseley and B.C. Moseley. Their properties were clustered in the central and bottom section of the precinct; this is the area that became known as Moseleyville.

Portions of the 1876 Vanover Precinct Map Enlarged with Moseley properties highlighted. 

So which Moseley families made this unincorporated community home? The families shown on the map came from two related Moseley family groups.

First, there were two sons of Presley William Moseley: Isaac Fletcher Moseley and Basil Curtis Moseley (B.C. on the map). Both are third great granduncles, brother to my husband’s third-great-grandfather, Robert Cartwright Moseley. In addition, a third brother, Presley Thompson Moseley, was listed as one of the Moseleyville postmasters, so he lived in the area as well.

Next were descendants of John Peake Moseley, my husband’s fourth great-granduncle, including John Peake’s son, Jesse B. Moseley, who had recently died so his properties are listed as “J.B.Moseley Estate”, and his grandsons Merit Chapman (M.C.) Moseley  and Samuel M. W. (S.) Moseley (both sons of John Tarleton Moseley). 

There is one additional Moseley on the map, R.W. Moseley, who I have not yet identified. I hypothesize that the “R” is a misprint, and was meant to read P. W. Moseley.  Presley William Moseley was the father of Isaac, Basil and Presley Thomas; as the tract in question abuts that of son Isaac, it makes sense that it had belonged to Isaac's father.

Most of these men had numerous children. Merit Chapman Moseley had six children, Jesse B. Moseley had eleven children, Basil Curtis Moseley had nine children, Presley Thompson Moseley had eight children, and of course Isaac Fletcher had ten children. Given all the Moseley youngsters running around the area, it is easy to see how people would have started to refer to it as Moseleyville.

As the Owensboro History wiki story mentioned, at least three Moseley men served as postmasters for the area. Below is the record of Jesse Moseley’s appointment as postmaster when Moseleyville was still called Narrowville around 1845.

A paper by R M Rennick (see citation below) tracing the history of Daviess County post offices describes the establishment of the actual Moseleyville post office:

“Less than: mile east of the Narrows Bridge Post Office site was the post office of Moseleyville. It was established on July 16, 1886 by Presley T. Moseley and named for the large number of local Moseley descendants of Virginia- born pioneer Robert Moseley. A hamlet by this name, strung out for half a mile along new Ky. 81, survives the closing of the post office in Dec. 1909”.

This shows that Presley T. Moseley was the first postmaster of the Moseleyville community. His appointment record is below. The record also shows John T. Moseley served as the second postmaster in 1888.

 

As noted in the Rennick paper, Moseleyville still exists along a half-mile stretch of Highway 81. The sign for the community appears below. As of the 2020 census, there are 470 residents in the unincorporated community, which covers a 1.07 square mile area.

 

I don’t know if any descendants of the Moseley families of the late 1800s still live in Moseleyville. Even if they don’t, the family name is preserved on the map of Kentucky. Moseleyville’s continued existence is a reminder that generations of Moseleys lived in the bottomland along Panther Creek, Kentucky, establishing farms, families and the community of Moseleyville.

Photo of Panther Creek area in 1960s, giving an idea of what the land looked like before it was cleared and farmed by families like the Moseleys.

Sources:

History of Owensboro.com Moseleyville page. https://wiki.historyofowensboro.com/index.php/Moseleyville,_Kentucky

History of Daviess County, Kentucky, together with sketches of its cities, villages, and townships, educational religious, civil military, and political history, portraits of prominent persons, biographies of representative citizens, and an outline history of Kentucky. 1883. Chicago : Inter-state Pub. Co., Evansville, Ind., Reproduction by Unigraphic. Pgs. 844-45, 546 and 650. https://archive.org/details/cu31924028845787/page/848/mode/2up

https://www.historicpictoric.com/products/historic-map-1876-vanover-precinct-no-8-daviess-county

“The Post Offices of Daviess County, Kentucky” by R. M. Rennick. 2000. Morehead State University. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1179&context=kentucky_county_histories

Panther Creek bridge photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:VIEW_OF_GENERAL_ELEVATION,_LOOKING_WEST_-_Kentucky_Route_762_Bridge,_Spanning_South_Fork_of_Panther_Creek,_Owensboro,_Daviess_County,_KY_HAER_KY,30-OWENB.V,1-4.tif

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moseleyville,_Kentucky

Uncommon Nickname for Uncommon Name: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “Nickname”

 

Isaac Fletcher Moseley Became Known as “Uncle Fet”

Isaac Fletcher Moseley: 1828-1908 (Maternal Third Great-Granduncle)

 

Some nicknames make sense—they are shortened forms of the full name, like Ben from Benjamin. Or they are initials, like Thomas Junior becomes TJ. Some nicknames refer to a person’s personality, like Smiley or Sunny, and others might refer to a person’s profession, like Doc for a physician or Fuzz for a cop. But some nicknames are just odd. How did a man named Isaac Fletcher end up getting called “Fet”? Was it a child’s attempt to say Fletch that everyone else picked up? And how did the word “uncle” get added to the nickname?

From Nov. 27, 1890 Article in the Owensboro Twice-a-Week Messenger

Isaac Fletcher “Uncle Fet” Moseley was born January 31, 1828 in Ohio County, Kentucky. He was the seventh child of twelve born to Susannah Malin and Presley William Moseley.

On November 9, 1848, Isaac, then twenty years old, married Lucy Travis, a local girl, also twenty years old. Isaac farmed in McLean County. The couple had four sons between 1849 and 1857. Their last child, a daughter Susan, was born April 1, 1860. Lucy died eight days later, probably from a post-birth infection or complication.

On January 31, 1861, nine months after Lucy’s death, Isaac remarried. His second wife was Tabitha Griffin, a twenty-seven year old local woman. Isaac and Tabitha had another five children—three girls and two boys, born between the years of 1861 and 1876.

Isaac supported his growing family by farming. He also sold produce; his obituary noted that he “was a well-known gardener, having driven a vegetable wagon in Owensboro for many years.”

In addition, “Uncle Fet” was known for his efforts on behalf of the local Democratic Party. He served as committeeman for his local community of Vanover, Kentucky. As seen in the clipping below, he was depended upon to reliably deliver votes.

The local paper printed a long article praising his efforts for the party, noting that “during the many years he has served…he has never failed once to attend a meeting of the committee upon the call of the chairman, whatever the weather or however he may have been occupied with his private business always to coming from his distant home in the Vanover precinct. This can be said of no other member, not even those living in the city, within a stone’s throw of the meeting place.”

The article went on to describe how he was not just reliable, but an effective leader, describing how the Democrats had faced an uphill battle in the last election:

“Nearly every committeeman reported the opposition in the lead in his precinct. Uncle Fet sorrowfully reported old Vanover ‘all wrong’. It was resolved at that meeting to attempt to rescue the county to Democracy by organizing Democratic clubs. The members of the committee did not take to this suggestion enthusiastically, some saying there were hardly enough Democrats left in their neighborhoods to organize into a club. Uncle Fet was asked if he could not start the ball a-rolling in old Vanover. He shook his grizzly head dubiously, but said he would try. He went home and next morning mounted his horse and rode all day rallying Democrats. This he did for several days until he finally organized much to his surprise a large club. When he came to town to report the meeting…he was jubilant. Nothing had yet been done in any of the other precincts, but the report of that meeting stirred up the Democrats in every section of the county, and then reports of Democratic clubs began to come in every day. Uncle Fet set the pace and gave courage to others. He afterward organized two other strong clubs in his precinct and came to town on the evening of the election and proudly reported a majority in old Vanover’s for Ellis and Democracy. It was a wonderful revolution.”

The article concludes as follows:

“Isaac Fletcher Moseley is a plain, unostentatious farmer, who is in no sense a politician, but a Democrat who loves his party next to his religion.”

Isaac died September 13, 1908 at the age of seventy.  He was buried in the Glenville Methodist Cemetery in Glenville, Kentucky. His will left a life interest in all his property to his widow, Tabitha, with provisions that it be divided among his five surviving children and one set of grandchildren. Daughter Mary Etta was named executor of the estate and was to receive the lot with Isaac’s home and outbuildings, along with all of his cash, furniture, farming implements and farm stock. The other sons-- Elijah Curtis, Samuel J. T., John Presley, and Charles Jessie—each received a lot in the “Smith’s Addition” in the Owensboro area, and a one-fifth interest in 38 acres of farmland. The final lot and fifth of the 38 acres was given to his four Cook grandchildren, born to daughter Arrie Moseley, wife of George Cook.

The nickname “Fet” continued for at least another two generations in the Moseley family. One of Isaac’s sons was known as Fet Junior, despite the fact that he wasn’t named Isaac or Fletcher. I have been unable to verify that Isaac’s oldest son, John Presley Moseley, was the son known as Fet Junior, but I believe he was the one. His sister Mary Etta died in 1915, and her obituary listed her surviving siblings as Sam, Kirk and half-brothers J.C and Fet Moseley. Since the only half-siblings still alive in 1915 were Charles Jackson (J.C.) and John Presley, it appears John Presley, also known commonly as “Press”, was called “Fet” by the family.

John Presley Moseley also had a son named Fletcher, and that young man also became known as “Fet”.

“Uncle Fet” Moseley was a well-known figure in his community. While everyone obviously knew his given name of Isaac Fletcher, he seems to have used the nickname just as often as the legal name. While we may never know how he acquired the nickname, it seems to have been used as a sign of fond respect for a humble, hard-working, committed Democrat from rural Kentucky.

 

Sources:

Uncle Fet Moseley, Democratic Committee Member. Owensboro Twice-a-Week Messenger. Owensboro KY. Nov 27, 1890. Accessed on Newspapers.com. Article included pen and ink drawing of I. F. Moseley.

The Party Getting in Good Shape by Systematic Work. Owensboro Twice-a-Week Messenger. Owensboro KY. Oct 23, 1890. Accessed on Newspapers.com.

Obituary. Owensboro Twice a Week Messenger, Owensboro KY Sep 16, 1908. Accessed on Newspapers.com.

Photo of headstone from Findagrave.com. Photo by Jim L. Nelson. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/33846253/isaac-fletcher-moseley

Step-Siblings to Spouses: 52 Ancestors 2024 Prompt “Step”

 

The Steps to Love: Robert and Cora Evans

Sallie Worth Smith: 1890-1965 (Maternal First Cousin 2x Removed)
Cora Jane England: 1922-1994 (Maternal Second Cousin 1x Removed)
 

The 1935 wedding between widower Herman Evans and divorcee Sallie Smith England blended two families. Herman Evans had three surviving sons from his first marriage. Sallie Smith had two daughters and two sons from her first marriage to George England. This newly blended family gave birth to another family when Herman’s son married Sallie’s daughter six years after Herman and Sallie married. Two step-siblings fell in love.

Sallie Worth Smith was born April 3, 1890 to parents Carter Worth Smith and Sallie Ann Leachman. (Note: Cora Leachman, Lorene Smith Jandy’s mother, was Sallie Leachman’s sister) Sallie was a teenager when she married for the first time, to a man named Eugene Iglehart in 1907. A year later, she gave birth to a little boy, William Louis Iglehart. However, her marriage to Eugene had ended by the time of the 1910 census, when Sallie and little William were living with her parents.

Sallie married again on November 24, 1911. Her husband, George England, was 22 years her senior. She had five children with him over some fifteen years of marriage: sons Carter Wesley, George Thomas “Tommie”, and Henry Lewis, and daughters Ola and Cora (named in honor of Sallie’s aunt Cora Leachman Smith). Strangely, by the 1920 census, her son from her first marriage was no longer living with her despite his being only twelve. I find no record of him anywhere until he appears as a married adult in the 1930 census. I am guessing Sallie’s new husband didn’t want her son living with them.

Sallie’s new marriage also failed, and by the 1930 census Sallie was farming on her own as a divorced woman. Her youngest son, Henry, had died a few years earlier, so she was living with her other four England children.

However, by 1935, she had married a third time, to widower Herman Evans. Sallie’s sons were now adults, but her two daughters were sixteen and thirteen, so were now living with their stepfather. Herman’s sons were all adults; the youngest, JD, was eighteen, and the next oldest, Robert Lee, was 22. It is unclear if they were still living at home.

Wherever Robert Lee Evans was living, he must have been close enough to visit his father, stepmother and stepsisters frequently. He watched his stepsister grow up and fell in love with her. Robert Lee married his stepsister, Cora Jane England, on September 27, 1941. Robert was 28, and Cora was just 19 years old.

The newspaper announcement was carefully worded so that most readers would have had no idea the young couple were stepbrother and stepsister. “Mrs. Sallie Evans” announced the marriage of her daughter. The use of Sallie’s first name in this way is unusual for the time period. Wives were usually referenced by their husband’s name, so she should have been listed as “Mrs. Herman Evans”.

In addition, the groom’s home was listed as Louisville where he now worked, with no reference to the fact that he grew up in the house now occupied by Mrs. Sallie Evans and her husband Herman.

The write-up went on to state that “Mrs. Evans (meaning Cora) is a daughter of Mr. George England. Mr. Evans is a son of Mr. Herman Evans. Mr. and Mrs. Evans will reside at 1706 Owen Street, Louisville, where Mr. Evans is employed.” You would never realize, unless you knew the people involved, that Herman and Sallie were married, and that their children have now married. I feel the article was worded in this way to avoid gossip—step-siblings marrying was and still is a little unusual.

The marriage lasted forty-eight years, before Robert Lee Evans death in 1989. Cora and Robert had two children, a daughter named Betty Jane and a son named James David. Robert Lee farmed in McLean County, Kentucky, and Cora worked in the dietary department of Riverside Manor Health Care Center in Calhoun, Kentucky. Cora died at age 72 on November 3, 1994.

While Cora and Robert may have met as a result of their parents’ marriage, they formed their own family, moving from step-siblings to lifelong partners.

Sources:

Findagrave Entry for Robert Lee Evans. Photo by Anita R. Austill.

Cora Jane Evans obituary. https://www.newspapers.com/image/379503047