A Genealogy Adventure
Alice (Wise) Gamble is my 3rd great grandmother. I have previously written a blog post that included a transcription of her two obituaries. You can read them here.
These are the newspaper clippings I received from the Butler Area Public Library.
At the beginning of the month, I had the opportunity to present with another member of my local genealogy society to a local breakfast club. Our topic was “Getting Started With Researching Your Family.” During the presentation I realized I do not have any of my ancestors added to my watchlist in FamilySearch.
Last week, after adding all direct ancestors and their siblings to my watchlist on FamilySearch, I was taking a look at the family of John F. Flock and Amner Caroline Ramsey. I noticed that I did not have death dates for several of their daughters. The shiny blackhole was calling my name again.
Did I jump in? Of course! I started by reviewing each daughter’s details page. The key was to notice that Laura Flock had marriage information added by another researcher. Using the married name, I was able to locate a gravestone on FindAGrave. I was excited to see Laura’s memorial page had been linked to some of her siblings. I suddenly had married names for several of the other daughters.
Along with many new facts to add to the family tree, there was an obituary added to the memorial page at FindAGrave for Elsie Clara Flock. The obituary stated that Elsie and her husband had moved to Fall River, Kansas about 1910. And it all started to make sense!!
I had always wondered why Effie Flock and Abraham Strickler had moved to Fall River, Kansas. Now I have a clue, Effie and her family moved at the same time as her little sister, Elsie, and Elsie’s family. I am still not sure what enticed the families to move such a distance. Maybe someday that little piece of information will float to the surface.
Effie and her daughters left Fall River only a couple of years later after Abraham passed away. Elsie remained in Fall River, Kansas until her husband passed away in 1938. Elsie then moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado.
I started by adding people to my watchlist to see what facts were getting added/changed to people I am related to. I ended up adding more information because another researcher had done just that. The one marriage fact opened up a whole can of new facts about the family. I have heard people voice concerns about others being able to make changes in FamilySearch. This is just another example of why it is a great idea. Distant cousins have different information then I do, together we can paint the fuller picture of our ancestors.
A little over a week ago, my family lost another incredible person. Uncle Raymond was my grandmother’s eldest brother and the last surviving child of Dudley Moses Mitchell and Opal Blanche Strickler. He was 94 years old when he passed.
I remember a couple of visits with Uncle Raymond and Aunt Juanita as a child. The most prominent is when we stayed with them on a trip across county when I was 7 years old. I got my first milkshake at a true Malt shop and visited my first grain elevator with Raymond and Juanita.
I feel so incredibly lucky to have grown closer with this side of my family in the last five years. On two different trips to Kansas in the last several years I got to visit with Uncle Raymond and get to know him. I can’t help but smile when I think of the drive around Topeka where he pointed out houses, told stories, and paid respects to family gravestones. He was so generous with sharing all he could remember. There was a lot of laughter and love that day.
Rest in Peace.
This is the obituary for Uncle Raymond. (reprinted with permission)
In Memory of
RAYMOND A. MITCHELL
1921 – 2015
Raymond A. Mitchell, 94, of Topeka, passed away on Friday, May 29, 2015 at Aldersgate Village in Topeka. He was born February 20, 1921 in Topeka, KS, the son of Dudley M. and Opal B. Strickler Mitchell.
Raymond attended Hutchinson High School. He was an Army Veteran of WWII. He resided in Topeka since 1991. Raymond was employed as a manager for the Farmland Cooperatives for 30 years prior to retiring in 1985. In 1983, he was appointed by Governor John Carlin to the Kansas State Grain Advisory Commission. He was a member of Grace United Methodist Church and the Gideons International.
Raymond married Juanita Burleson on May 3, 1942 in Hutchinson. She preceded him in death on November 15, 2001. He was also preceded in death by two brothers and two sisters.
Survivors include three children, Judith Dene (Melvin) Farris of Paola,KS, Jalayn Rae (John) Love of Berryton, KS, Rev. Victor A. (Ellen) Mitchell of Highland, IL, six grandchildren, twelve great-grandchildren.
Services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, June 3, 2015 at Grace United Methodist Church. Burial will follow in Penwell-Gabel Cemetery. Raymond will lie in state and the family will receive friends from 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 2, 2015 at Penwell-Gabel Mid Town Chapel.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be given to Gideons International, P.O. Box 140800, Nashville, TN 37214-0800.
Charles Palmatier is my husband’s g-g-grandfather. 
I have heard stories from my husband’s grandmother about how her grandfather was a Pony Express rider. There are very good records of who worked for the Pony Express and Charles Palmatier was not one of them. The obituary below proves that although the story was not totally accurate, there was definitely a grain of truth in it. This is the longest obituary I have ever found. Charley must have been a well-known and liked man in town.
C.E. Palmatier, Oldest Pioneer of All, Laid to Rest
Ord Resident Dies After Illness of 10 Days; Friends Mourn.
Charles Palmatier, Valley county pioneer and one of the county’s oldest and most highly respected citizens, passed away at the Ord Cooperative hospital early June 1st, at the age of 95 years, three months and twenty-three days. His death was the result of a stroke which he suffered May 23. He was born in New York state in 1856.
He leaves to mourn his passing, his beloved wife, Ettie, whom he married in 1884; three sons, Marshall of Wilmington, Calif., Edmund, of Boise, Ida, and Ellery of Chicago; four daughters, Stella Grindey, Loretta Frazier and Grace Rowe of Chicago and Alice Reed of North Hollywood, Calif.; eleven grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild, besides his many friends and acquaintances.
Mr. Palmatier came to Nebraska in 1878, homesteaded at Geranium in 1879. He was a mail carrier of the early days, and ran the post office at Geranium for 17 years. Leaving the farm in 1910, he was a resident of Ord until the time of his death . A man of absolute integrity, he will long be remembered by the old friends and neighbors who knew him best.
(Continued on Page 2)
C.E. Palmatier, Oldest Pioneer of All Laid to Rest
Ord Resident Dies After Illness of 10 Days; Friends Mourn.
(Continued from Page 1)
Funeral services were held from the Methodist church at 2:30 Sunday afternoon, Rev. R.E. Daughelee officiating, with Hastings and Pearson in charge of arrangements. Lucille Tolen sang, with Mrs. Viola Kellison at the piano. The pall bearers were Elmer Zlomke, Don Dong, Wilbur Rogers, O.E. Patchen, Robert Noll, and M.B. Cummins. Mr. and Mrs. John Haskell had charge of the flowers. Burial was in Graceland cemetery.
Charles Palmatier was born in New York state, at Youngsville, Sullivan county, March 9, 1856, and first came to Nebraska in 1878. With him came a friend, John S. Wheeler, who once lived north of Elyria. They walked from Grand Island to St. Paul, and the next day got a job off-bearing brick in a brick yard owned by a man named Dory DeVry. This yard was located on the river near St. Paul.
Mr. Palmatier’s next job was working for Zach Leftwich in a mill on Spring Creek, He worked in the mill and also fed hogs. His first work at Ord was teaming in flour for S.S. Haskell, who at that time ran a store in the old Transit House, now located on the corner north of Hotel Ord, but then located about where the U.P. shops used to be.
It was a rather risky trip in those days. It took two days each way and camp was usually made over night near Scotia Junction. He stayed over night on some occasions with as much as $40 to $60 in his pocket, and that was a lot of money in those days. He ran quite a chance of being held up and relieved of it, but happened to be lucky.
It was not far from that time that Palmatier came to Valley county and filed on a homestead where he later located the post office of Geranium. As the law required residence on the land only a small part of the time, he got out and worked wherever he could to get money to live on. He was helping put up hay on the Calamus between the Skull and the Bloody when he got his first mail job.
Another man had the contract but he got Charley to do the carrying for him. She started carrying mail on horse back and carried it until the famous blizzard of 1880 hit on Oct. 15 and 16. His route was between Hartsuff and Fort Niobrara, a distance of 160 miles through the hills. He lost two horses in that blizzard and never went back to the job.
He would sometimes see as many as one hundred Indians on a single mail trip. Mostly they were peaceable, but a mail carrier can take no chances so he had little to do with them. One day he saw an Indian traveling to head him off, and tried to get past him, but got headed off. He asked the red man what he wanted and he answered “Tobac.”
It happened that Charley had brought a plug of chewing tobacco at the store. It was about an inch square and four inches long. He broke it in two across his knee and gave the Indian the smaller piece. He looked as though he would like to have the larger piece, but he did not get it.
While living in New York state Mr. Palmatier had taken a fancy to a girl somewhat younger than himself, and in 1881 he went back and persuaded Ettie Conklin to come back with him as his wife and make a home for him on his quarter section of land, which he had proved up on that year. They lived on the homestead and raised a large family of children.
Palmatier also carried mail for “Bill” W.H. Williams from St. Paul to Ord and on to St. Helena. He never had a chance to go to school, but nobody would believe it after visiting him. His mind was clear until the last, and he never was at loss for the answers for any questions friends asked him.
In the early ‘80s solon Pierson, a brother of Perry and uncle of Claence [sic], started the original Geranium post office. Later John Wolfe took it over and then it went to Herbert Losey. Mr. and Mrs. Palmatier got it from Losey and kept it for some time after the turn of the century, when it was discontinued with the coming of rural free delivery. Mrs. Palmatier had much of the work of taking care of the office while her husband was engaged in other work.
There was no salary connected with the office and he got only about $30 for the year’s work, which of course was not worth the trouble. After a while the post office closed at Manderson a few miles north and Geranium got the extra business. H.F. Rhodes was postmaster of the Manderson office.
Palmatier did any kind of work he could get in those days. He worked on the railroad between St. Paul and North Loup before the line was extended to Ord. He says that J.J. “Bud” Shirley case his first vote at the Palmatier house in Geranium. When Mr. and Mrs. R.B. Miller, still living in Burwell, were married at the Dies House in Ord, Charley was at the wedding.
He was one of the few men still living who knew how to build a sod house. He never belonged to any secret society, and did not believe in them. Geranium was on the wagon route from east to west, and people always planned to stop at the Palmatier home over night. They were always welcome. He lived to be the oldest living mail carrier, the oldest Quiz subscriber and probably the oldest living citizen in Valley county.
In 1910 Mr. Palmatier built a home in east Ord and the family has lived there since that time. In 1911 they made a visit to their old home in New York state. He was always a busy man, and had a fine garden at his home when death called him. The fine character of both Mr. and Mrs. Palmatier is shown by the loving care of their children for them.
John Buchannan Fuller is my husband’s great great grandfather.
I do not know much about John B Fuller. What I do know is that after Percy Fuller and Loretta Palmatier split up in 1920’s, the couple’s daughter went to live with her mother in Chicago. The couple’s two older boys, Raymond and Marshall, moved in with their grandparents, John and Emma Fuller. The household was not an easy place for the grandsons to grow up in.
I recently found an index to obituaries in Custer county, Nebraska. Using the index, I contacted the Nebraska State Historical Society to order a copy of the obituary for John B. Fuller. I am so thankful for the archivist who I contacted. Not only did she locate obituary from the Comstock News, she also let me know that there was an additional obituary in the Sargent Leader. Both obituaries have plenty of drama to share.
J B FULLER LAID TO REST MON., DEC. 12
Passed Away Suddenly Thursday Morning at Age of 82 Years.
With the suddenness of a bolt of lightning came the death of J.B. Fuller, occurring about nine o’clock last Thursday morning, December 8, death being attributed to a heart attack.
Mr. Fuller came to work last Thursday morning, evidently in good health, and during the early hours of the morning he joshed with several of his friends. About nine o’clock he was found, by one of the Reckling boys, in his hardware store, sitting in a chair, the boy thinking he was asleep. Being unable to awake him, the boy went for assistance, and it was then found that he had quietly passed away.
Mr. Fuller was one of the pioneer hardware dealers of this community, was the oldest businessman in Comstock, and one of the oldest, if not the oldest, hardware dealers in the state. He began his hardware business in the old town of Wescott in 1898, later moving to Comstock. In 1906 he disposed of his store here and farmed west of town for several years. He opened another hardware store in Comstock in July 1925, and operated this business enterprise until his death Thursday morning. Of him it can be said, “a man who did his work well.”
John Buchannan Fuller, son of John and Marietta Wilson Fuller, was born in Lapeer, Lapeer county, Michigan, November 5, 1856, and departed this life on December 8, 1938, at the age of 82 years, one month, and three days.
When a small boy he moved with his parents to Illinois. From Illinois he moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he grew to manhood.
In the year 1878 he came to York, Nebraska, where he met and married Miss Emma Jane Shipman on January 8, 1880, and to this union ten children were born, the three elder dying in infancy.
In the year of 1890 he moved with his family to a homestead near Wescott, Nebraska, living there until the spring of 1898 when he moved to Wescott, Nebraska, and engaged in the hardware business. After the railroad came up the valley, he moved his business and family to the new town of Comstock, Nebraska.
(Continued on Page Eight)
J.B. FULLER LAID TO REST MONDAY, DEC. 12
(Continued from page one.)
Disposing of his business in 1906 he engaged in farming until 1918 at which time he disposed of his farm and moved to Comstock. In July, 1925, he again entered into the hardware business which he owned and operated up to the time of his death.
While living in Wescott he was active in the Congregational church and Sunday school, and after moving to Comstock he transferred his membership to the First Congregational church of Comstock, Nebraska.
He leaves to mourn his loss, his wife, seven children: Percy E. of Divide, Wyoming, Gladys Eggers, Myrtle Point, Oregon, Clara Smelser, Lincoln, Nebraska, Clarence E. of Martin, South Dakota, Roy R., and Irene Day of Comstock, and Alma Mathauser of Omaha, Nebraska. One brother, Irving Fuller of York, Nebraska; 19 grand children; eight great grand children; and many other relatives and a host of friends.
Funeral services were held from the Community church in Comstock Monday afternoon, December 12, conducted by the Rev. E. G. Samuelson of Elmcreek, Nebraska, and internment was made in the Douglas Grove cemetery.
COMSTOCK HARDWARE DEALER DIES FROM HEART ATTACK
Thursday, December 8, John B. Fuller of Comstock passed away while sitting in a chair in his hardware store. Mr. Fuller had arisen that morning and at the usual time went to his hardware store and built the fire and swept out. In the course of time he was arranging some money in its accustomed place for the days use. While doing this he probably felt coming on the heart attack or whatever it was that caused his death, for we are told that he sat down on a nearby chair, placed is arm over the back and then put his hand in his pocket. This kept him from falling to the floor.
Sometime afterwards a small boy went into the store and not being able to get Mr. Fuller to answer his questions, he ran into Orin Mutter’s store and said Mr. Fuller wouldn’t talk to him. Mr. Mutter sensing that something was wrong, sent word to someone else to come and when they entered the store, they found that Mr. Fuller was dead.
Mr. Fuller was 82 years of age. He first entered the hardware business at Wescott in 1898, forty years ago. When the railroad came up the valley in 1899 and the new town of Comstock was started, Mr. Fuller moved his store to Comstock and continued to operate it until 1906 when he sold the business to Tom Arthur and Jason Evans. He then moved to a farm southwest of Comstock and farmed for twelve years and then moved back to Comstock. About the year 1926 he started into the hardware business again in Comstock, being sixty eight or sixty nine years old at the time. He continued to operate this business from then until his death at the age of a little more then 82 years.
Mr. Fuller’s funeral was held Monday, December 12, from the Comstock church and interment was made in the Douglas Grove cemetery.
Fay Spooner was the funeral director. Loy E. Hersh of this city was one of the singers.
Etta May Conklin is my husband’s great-great-grandmother.
I recently pulled out my husband’s grandmother’s bible to use as an example for how to digitize items using a camera. To my surprise, from the middle of the bible, fell a couple of newspaper clippings. Big mistake on my part to not check the rest of the bible to see if there were any hidden gems. At the same time, I am so happy that I did pull out the bible and find these gems!
One of the newspaper clippings was the obituary for Etta Palmatier. While I do not know the source newspaper or date it was published. I can make the educated guess it was from Ord, Nebraska. I will follow-up to see if I can find the exact date it was published.
Palmatier Rites Are Held Monday Here
Funeral services were held Monday afternoon for Ettie May Palmatier, 87, who died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Stella Grindey, in Chicago, Friday.
The service was held from the Ord Methodist church, with Rev. Keith Shepherd officiating. Glen Auble was soloist, accompanied by Mrs. Orin Kellison.
Bearers were Wilbur Rogers, Robert Noll, O.E. Patchen, Don Long, Orin Kellison, and Leo Long.
Burial followed in the Ord city cemetery.
Mrs. Palmatier was the daughter of John and Senath Conklin. She was born May 2, 1868 in Stevensville, N.Y.
August 13, 1884, she was married to Charles A. Palmatier, of Youngsville, N.Y. The couple came to Valley county, as pioneers. Their home was in Geranium township for several years. Later the family moved to Ord. Thirteen children were born to the couple.
Mr. Palmatier died in 1953. Six children have died.
Mrs. Palmatier was a member of the Ord Methodist church and also a member of the women’s auxiliary of the American Legion here.
Surviving are Lauretta Fraser, Grace Roe, Stella Grindey, Ellery Palmatier, all of Chicago; Marshall Palmatier and Alyce Reed, of California and Edmund Palmatier, of Boise, Idaho. Fourteen grandchildren, 21 great grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren.
This past Wednesday, January 31, 2014, my grandmother, Roberta Fleming passed away peacefully with her family around her.
She was known by many names including Mom, Grandma, Aunt Roberta, Birdie, and the Silver Fox. A couple of years ago when my children, her great-grandchildren, were born we added another name, Gigi. It was her short hand for Great Grandmother. She wanted a fun grandma name.
My grandmother was born Roberta Irene Mitchell to Dudley Moses Mitchell and Opal Blanche Strickler on January 10, 1931 in Topeka, Kansas. She was the youngest of five children with one older sister, Loretta, and three older brothers, Raymond, Delbert, and Kenneth.
Her family moved to Hutchinson, Kansas during the Depression. Grandma stayed there until she attended X-Ray Technician school in Topeka, Kansas. While at school, she met my grandfather, William Henry Lawbaugh. They married in 1950. The couple starting raising their family in Pratt, Kansas with their first three children. They relocated to the Anaheim, California area in the late 1950’s. There they added to the family a set of twins. In 1964, Bill Lawbaugh passed away leaving his wife with 5 children. Roberta went to work to provide for her family.
In 1973, Roberta married James Fleming. They joined their families Brady Bunch style, five from her side in addition to the four children Jim had. They lived in several cities in Los Angeles and Orange counties. I have many memories from my childhood of them being together. In fact, I learned how to swim in their pool when they lived in Downey, California. After their time in Downey, they moved to the desert, living in the Cochella Valley.
After Jim Fleming passed away in 1994, Grandma moved back to the beach. She loved the ocean and was at home in San Clemente, California. This was during my college years in San Diego. At least once a month I would make the 45 minute drive north to spend the weekend with her. We had so much fun together!
All of the facts above do not capture the entire picture. My grandma was fun and feisty. She LOVED her children. It would not be a complete day without a Crown Royal and cigarette, even her dog enjoyed cocktail hour with a piece of ice. Her house was never quiet, either the news channel was on the TV or she was playing her beloved big band music. She loved to dance. Our family has the great memory of dancing the night away at my cousin’s wedding this past summer. While she was not interested in researching her family herself, she was always willing to tell me stories of her childhood and what she remembered of others in her family. Grandma was a horrendous driver. We were always offering to chauffeur her places. She was an avid Bridge player. The drawer of her coffee table has many sets of playing cards and bridge score sheets. Grandma was very neat and clean. You were always careful to make your bed and clean up after yourself at her home. Most of all Grandma loved being with her family. Holidays were always big affairs with lots of food and football. Most Sundays were spent with family on the beach. The beach was a slice of heaven for my grandma.
I could go on and on. She is going to be so greatly missed. I have to take comfort in how she taught us all to be a family. I know that although she is no longer at the head of the family, we have each other.
I love you grandma!
Barbara Gamble is my 4th great grandmother.
I have found her name and relationship to John L Gamble in his military pension papers. Using the obituary index on the genealogy page at the Butler Area Public Library, I ordered a copy of Barbara’s obituary.
Butler Citizen, 28 March 1890, Page 2, Column 2, Film # 015, Butler Area Public Library.
GAMBLE – In this place, suddenly, March 26, 1890, Mrs. Barbara Gamble, wife of Mr. John Gamble, aged 71 years.
On Wednesday evening, about 6 o’clock, Mrs. Gamble was in the toll house on the plank road kept by her husband, when she was, without any warning, stricken with paralysis. She was removed to her home nearby, where she died about 10 o’clock the same evening.
Earlier this week I began detailing the information I found in the pension file of John L. Gamble. You can read about click here to read about the information found in his pension questionnaire.
The questionnaire confirmed that his first wife, and my ancestor, was Alice Wise. She is listed with the middle initial “J” in the questionnaire. Other sources listed her with the middle initial “L”.
Another deposition given by John L Gamble states that:
I was married to Alice Wise in the fall of 1865 in Butler, Pa and she died about April 1887, and is buried in the graveyard at Pine Creek Church, 5 miles south of Butler, Pa. She has no grave-stone. Undertaker Alexander Martin of Etna, Allegheny Co., Pa. , buried her, and her physician was Dr. (?) Purvis, dead.
John L. Gamble continues in the next paragraph that Alice must have died in 1886 because he married Margaret Thompson in 1887.
Using the Obituary Index at the Butler Area Public Library website, I was able to find Alice. I sent off for Alice’s obituary and promptly received two in the mail. There was both a death notice and short obituary in the paper on the same day but different pages:
Deaths
GAMBLE – On March 12th, 1886, at her residence in Etna, Allegheny county , Pa., Alice L. wife of John L. Gamble, of pneumonia, aged 40 years.
and
Mrs. A.L. Gamble, of Etna, Allegheny county, died of pneumonia on Friday last. The remains were taken to the residence of her father, Mr. Daniel Wise, of Penn Township, this county, and on Sunday were interred in the church-yard at that place.
Democratic Herald, 19 March 1886, Page 2, Column 2 and Page 3, Column 2, Butler Area Public Library, Film #060.
Sarah Morris is my 3rd great-grandmother.
She is another ancestor that I really do not know much about. I found her obituary at the Kansas State Archives on my trip to Kansas last month. I feel really lucky to have another great obituary in the paper to learn more about my ancestor. Along with a lot of personal information about Sarah, the obituary has great descriptions of the grief of the family.
Mrs. Sarah J Hudson
Another of La Cygne’s good mothers has passed from this world to her home in heaven. A family that she has tenderly cared for and nursed to manhood and womanhood is now deep in grief. The old home that has been one continued pleasure for more than a quarter of a century with a good mother presiding over it is now stilled in the sadness that death brings.
Last Monday afternoon the spirit of Sarah J. wife of Frederick Hudson, departed this life and went to claim the reward in heaven that is promised to all good women. Mrs. Hudson had been in poor health for some time and while it really could be no surprise that the silver cord of life should sever at the ripe old age the deceased had attained, yet even with that possibility the friends and relatives were unprepared to meet the crisis. To take from the home the mother who has been its guardian for so many years is something that is hard to temper the heart to forego.
Sarah J. Morris was born in Pike county, Illinois, August 6, 1835; she was married to Frederick Hudson December 30, 1855 and they removed to Kansas the winter of 1880 where they have resided ever since. In the sixteenth year of her life the deceased joined the Christian church and has been a worker for the Lord ever since. She leaves a husband, and seven children who are W.B. Hudson of Kansas City, Mrs. W.H. Lawbaugh of Wellington, Kansas, Mrs. F.H. Howard, Mrs. Chas. Moore, Mrs. L. H. Hetzer, and Ralph and George Hudson all of this place to mourn her death. Two brothers, Samuel Morris of Dallas, Texas and Geo. Morris of Pittsburgh, Kansas also survive.
Funeral services were held at the family home in the south part of town on Wednesday morning at 10 o’clock by Elder R.A. Odenweller of Pleasanton. His remarks were very beautiful and he pictured the kind and loving woman who had fought life’s battles to the end and through it all maintained a sweet friendship for all. After the ceremony at the home the large concourse of grief stricken friends interred the body of the departed on in the Oak Lawn cemetery.
The La Cygne Weekly Journal, La Cygne, Kansas, 8 April 1904, Page 1, Column 3