The Children of John and Susan (Wilson) Campbell

As I wrote earlier this week, John and Susan (Wilson) Campbell disappeared into the ether about 1895. They left four children behind:

Howard Campbell was born on 15 January 1890 in Mystic, Iowa. When the 1895 Iowa state census was taken he lived with his maternal grandparents, Adam and Margaret (Scott) Wilson in Mystic. His grandfather died in 1906 and his grandmother in 1911.

Howard registered for the World War I draft on 5 June 1917. At the time he worked for Lodwick Brothers as a coal miner. The company operated several mines in Mystic and were one of the top coal producers in the state. Howard was drafted on 27 May 1918 and served as a private in Battery F, 337 Field Artillery. His unit was attached to the 163rd Field Artillery Brigade, 88th Division. The division trained at Camp Dodge in Johnston, Iowa. Then transferred to France between 8 August and 9 September 1918. Once in France, the artillery units were sent to Bordeaux for training. On 14 September the 88th division was placed under the command of the 4th French Army and moved by rail to the Hericourt training area near Belfort. On 23 September they relieved the 38th French Division in the center sector of Haute-Alsace. The division held this sector until 2 November when it was placed under the 4th American Corps and moved to the Lagney area as part of the 2nd Army Reserve where it was located when armistice was declared. The division participated in no major operations while in France. Howard was honorably discharged 5 February 1919.

When the 1920 census was enumerated Howard lived in the Cedar Falls precinct of King County, Washington and worked as a laborer at a mine. Howard worked as a construction laborer in 1940 and lived in a rented home on South 8th Avenue with several other men. He died on 7 March 1951 and was interred in Evergreen-Washelli Memorial Park in Seattle. He never married.

Howard Campbell headstone; courtesy of Find A Grave
volunteer, Karen Sipe

John Campbell (Crawford) was born on 17 March 1891 in Mystic, Iowa. When the 1900 census was enumerated, he lived in Thurston, Washington, with his father's sister, Mary, and her husband, John Crawford. He and his sister were enumerated as their children and with the Crawford surname. John's aunt died sometime before the 1910 census was taken as her husband lived alone and his marital status was listed as widower.

John, using the Crawford surname as he did for the remainder of his life, boarded at a large rooming house in Tacoma operated by George Miller and worked as a laborer for a railroad. However, the 1911 Olympia city directed listed him at the same address as his uncle.

He married Edith Elizabeth Eggleston on 8 November 1916 in North Yakima. She was the daughter of Thomas Eggleston and Minnie Bombard and had been born in Franklin County, New York. She and her family moved to Washington State between 1910 and 1916. John registered for the World War I draft in 1917. He worked as a mixer for Pacific Coast Gypsum Co. and claimed an exemption from the draft on the grounds that he had a crippled wife to support. John and Edith never had children and moved to Everett, Washington, by 1930. They lived there until their deaths. Edith died on 23 November 1967 and John on 29 December 1968. Both were interred at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park in Everett.

John Campbell/Crawford headstone; courtesy of Find A Grave volunteer,
Graving with Jenn

Margaret Campbell was born on 8 December 1892 in Mystic, Iowa. When the 1895 Iowa state census was taken she lived with her maternal grandparents, Adam and Margaret (Scott) Wilson in Mystic. Her grandfather died in 1906 and Margaret continued to live with her grandmother until her marriage.

On 17 January 1911 Margaret married Bernhardt Thoms (also known as Benjamin George Thomas) in Mystic. An article published on the same day in the Centerville Daily Citizen, described their marriage:

"Mr. Ben Thomas, formerly a miner at Mystic but now residing in Kansas, came back to Appanoose County and claimed as his bride Miss Margaret Campbell, with whom he became acquainted during his residence at Mystic and the happy couple left for their future home in Kansas. The ceremony was performed by the Esquire R. Henderson at his office. Mrs. Amanda Murray, of Mystic, who accompanied the young couple recalled that Esquire Henderson, when Mayor of Centerville had married herself and her husband, now deceased, eighteen years ago but that as his honor has officiated at more than 1,000 marriages he could not now easily remember the event. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas were of prepossessing appearance and doubtless many friends are interested in their happiness."

Margaret and Ben had two children:

1. Leslie Howard Thomas born on 24 October 1911 in Harrington, Kansas.
2. Doris Bernice Thomas born on 2 November 1913 in Marshall, Iowa.

By 1920 Margaret and Ben apparently parted company. She and her daughter, Doris, were living in Seattle with Jack and Louise Allan. She was listed as a sister-in-law of Mr. Allan's, but I have not yet been able to find how Jack and Louise fit into the family group. Meanwhile, on 13 January 1920 Ben Thomas lived in Ames with his widowed mother and son, Leslie. Ben was hired by Northern Pacific Railway on 15 April 1920 as a first class carpenter in Seattle.

On 19 February 1930, Margaret Wilson (Campbell) Thomas married Fred Leonard Campbell in Olympia. He was a divorcee with two teenaged daughters. This marriage lasted less than a decade as Margaret married John William Westcott on 11 December 1939 in Pierce County, Washington. John worked as a crane man for Northern Pacific Railway and was divorced. They remained in Pierce County the rest of their lives. John died on 8 February 1977 and Margaret on 27 February 1983. Both were interred at Mountain View Memorial Park in Lakewood, Washington.

Margaret Wilson (Campbell) Thomas Campbell Westcott headstone; courtesy
of Find A Grave volunteer, Kathy Stroope Veasey

Marion Campbell (Crawford)

Marion Campbell was born on 22 December 1894 in Mahaska County, Iowa. She was the youngest child of John and Susan (Wilson) Campbell. By 1895 her family had split up and she and her brother, John, were sent to live with their paternal aunt, Mary (Campbell) Crawford and her husband, John. Marion was enumerated in the 1900 census living in Olympia, Washington as the daughter of John and Mary Crawford. She used the Crawford surname as her maiden name for the remainder of her life.

Her aunt died before 1910 and when that decennial census was taken she lived in the home of Harvey and May Bechtel as their ward in Tumwater, Washington.

She married Charles Washington Fowler on 6 March 1918 in Tacoma, Washington. He was the son of William R. and Ola (Odell) Fowler and was born on 14 January 1889 in West Plains, Missouri. In 1920 the couple lived with Charles' parents in Tacoma and Charles worked as a barber while Marion worked at the Mars Candy factory as a dipper helper.

When the 1930 census was taken, Charles and Marion lived in a home they owned, valued at $1,200. Charles still worked as a barber, but Marion no longer worked. Their marriage broke up sometime before 1934 as Marion married George Anthony Craig on 9 April 1934 in Pierce County, Washington.

George was born on 11 August 1888 in New Castle, Washington, and was the son of William and Mary J. (Dales) Craig. His father, William, immigrated to the U.S. about 1883 from England. George's first wife, May Curran, died on 27 March 1934, leaving him with a 16-year-old daughter. He worked as a shipping clerk for a grocery wholesaler.

Marion died on 8 February 1937 in Tacoma, Washington, and was interred at Mountain View Memorial Park in Lakewood, Washington.

Marion (Campbell/Crawford) Fowler Craig headstone; courtesy of Find A
Grave volunteer, Tara Finnie Curley

George Craig married Dora Erma (Colvin) Manwaring Weber on 6 August 1937. She had been widowed twice previously and had a son from each marriage. George Craig died on 14 April 1975 in Pierce County, Washington, and was interred beside his parents at the New Tacoma Cemetery in University Place, Washington.

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What Happened to John and Susan (Wilson) Campbell? 

Lafayette "Fayette" McMullen (1805-1880): Obituary

Lafayette "Fayette" McMullen was my first cousin four times removed, the nephew of my three times great grandmother, Mary (McMullin) Beard. He was born on 18 May 1805 in Bedford County, Virginia, and died from injuries sustained after being hit by a train on 8 November 1880 in Wytheville, Virginia. He served in the Virginia Senate from 1839-1849, U.S. House of Representatives from 1849 to 1857, as the second territorial governor of Washington Territory from 1857-1859, and in the Confederate House of Representatives from 1864 to 1865.

On 9 November 1880, the following article was published on page 3 of the Daily Dispatch, a Richmond, Virginia, newspaper:

As published in the Daily Dispatch on 8 November 1880; courtesy of the
Library of Congress' Chronicling America website

Accident to Governor McMullin
[Special telegram to the Dispatch]

WYTHEVILLE, VA -- November 8. -- Ex-Governor Fayette McMullin was struck by a train here tonight and seriously hurt. He attempted to cross the track in front of the engine, and was struck by the pilot and knocked down. His hip, it is thought, is broken. He also received some severe cuts and bruises about the face.

A day later, on 10 November 1880, his obituary was published in the same paper on page 2:

Death of Hon. Fayette McMullin

The accident to Hon. Fayette McMullin which was chronicled in our issue of yesterday resulted in his death the same day.

Mr. McMullin had been a public man in Virginia for perhaps fifty years. He served for many years as a member of one or the other branch of the State Legislature. He was rendered famous during that period by a newspaper controversy between him and the notorious William G. Brownlow, of Tennessee. But all of Brownlow's libels went for nothing with the unflinching friends of Mr. McMullin in "Little Tennessee," and he was not only continued in the General Assembly of Virginia as long as he desired to remain in that body, but when in 1849 (our elections were then held in May) he ran for the National House of Representatives he was easily elected. He served in that body until March, 1855, In May, 1857, he was appointed by President Buchanan Governor of the new Territory of Washington. Whilst there he committed what we suppose we may pronounce the greatest blunder of his life, as well as his most censurable act, in procuring a divorce from the wife of his youth.

After his return to Virginia, Governor McMullin became a candidate for the Confederate House of Representatives, and was elected to that body, serving until the close of the war. In 1868 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, and aided in the nomination of Seymour and Blair. Since then he has been standing Independent candidate for Congress, but has always been beaten. His lat defeat he suffered on the 2nd instant, when he was distanced.

Governor McMullin was between seventy-five and eighty years of age at the time of his decease. He was a man of no cultivation, and was, we might add, but poorly qualified for the important legislative places to which he aspired and was elected. But he had a hold upon the honest yeomanry of Southwest Virginia which lasted until after the close of the late war between the States. There are still a good many devoted friends of the "Old Waggoner's" in his original congressional district who will say with Prince Hal, "We could have better spared a better man."

Governor McMullin was universally known throughout Virginia, and may friends will be pained to bear of his death. Peace to his ashes.

Children of James and Margaret (Semple) Muir

Margaret Semple had eleven children over the course of her life but only six lived to adulthood. Like many young Scottish women of her class, she had a daughter out of wedlock in 1871. No father was included on the civil birth registration, which was not unusual as the father had to be present in order to be identified as the father of an illegitimate child. However, to this day, we do not know who the father was. She named her Janet after her mother, Janet (Torrance) Semple, which was the custom at the time. Her daughter was called Jessie throughout her life and my grandmother called her Aunt Jessie. Margaret left her job as a dairymaid before she delivered Jessie and returned to Dalserf to live with her parents.

Dalserf countryside; photograph used with the permission of Andrew
Scorgie

After she married James Muir in 1873, Margaret had ten more children, the youngest two being born in Illinois. These are Margaret's children who did not survive their infancy:

Robert Muir (1873-1874)
Robert Muir was born on 4 October 1873, three months after his parents married. He was born at Swinhill, home of his maternal grandparents, Peter and Janet (Torrance) Semple. Swinhill is in Dalserf, Scotland. His mother registered his birth by marking her mark. Little Robert died on 25 January 1874 at Swinhill of hydrocephalus and convulsions, which is an abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain. His father registered his death. Robert Muir was three months old when he died.

Peter Semple Muir (1877-1877)
Peter Semple Muir was born on 14 February 1877 at Swinhill in Dalserf, Scotland. He was James and Margaret (Semple) Muir's third child. He was named for his maternal grandfather. Peter died at the age of 5 weeks in his grandparents' home of coryza, from which he had suffered for one month, and bronchitis with which he was afflicted two days before his death. Coryza is an acute inflammation of the mucous membrane in the nose.

Peter Semple Muir (1878-1878)
Peter Semple Muir was born on 5 July 1878 at Swinhill in Dalserf, Scotland. He was James and Margaret (Semple) Muir's fourth child and the second son they named for Margaret's father, Peter Semple. He died on 8 September 1878 at the age of two months in Coalburn, which was a small railway and coal mining village in Lesmahagow parish. Peter died of enteritis, a disease most commonly contracted by eating or drinking things contaminated by bacteria.

Peter Muir (1879-1879)
Peter Muir was born on 12 July 1879 in Coalburn in Lesmahagow parish. He was James and Margaret (Semple) Muir's fifth child and the third son they named for Margaret's father, Peter Semple. He died 10 days after his birth on 23 July 1879 of marasma, which is severe malnutrition. It may be caused by a extreme deficiency in one's diet of calories and protein or by diseases such as dysentery.

Henrietta Brown Muir (1882-1884)
Henrietta Brown Muir was born on 29 July 1882 at Birkenshaw in Dalserf. She was the sixth child of James and Margaret (Semple) Muir and was named after her paternal grandmother. She, her mother and living siblings moved to her maternal grandparents farm at Swinhill some time before her death, which was on 9 January 1884. She died of measles and bronchitis and was a year and five months old.

***
The lives six children -- Janet ("Jessie"), Robert, Margaret ("Maggie"), Peter, Alexander, and Jane ("Janie") -- who lived to adulthood will be covered in the coming weeks.

Project Manhattan Hanford Site

When I researched my grand aunt, Henrietta Muir, I purchased her obituary from the archives of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The obituary included this tantalizing reference: "During WW II, Ms. Muir was employed at Project Manhattan plant in Hanford, WA." I wanted to know more.

The Manhattan Project was a research and development project that produced the first nuclear weapons during World War II. The project was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project was under the direction of Major General Leslie Groves of the U.S. Army Cops of Engineers (COE).

In order to produce plutonium, a plant needed to be built. COE worked with DuPont to establish criteria for site selection, which included at least 190 square miles of secure space located at least 20 miles from any sizable town and 10 miles from a major highway. The project needed a water supply of at least 25,000 gallons per minute and an electrical supply of at least 100,000 kilowatts.

In December 1942 the site selection team visited six potential sites. Hanford, Washington, was the last location visited. The Columbia river provided abundant water and the newly completed Grand Coulee Dam could supply the necessary electricity. General Groves endorsed Hanford as the proposed production site in January 1943. Two thousand residents within 580 square miles of the site were given 90 days notice to abandon their homes. Law suites ensued but were settled out of court in favor of time saved.

Construction of the production factory was a formidable challenge and required 50,000 workers. They lived in the Hanford Construction Camp, which included 1,175 buildings. It was the third largest city in Washington State. On Saturday nights, the Patriot Brewery opened for business. It was built specifically to serve the construction workers, who worked in shifts 7 days a week, 24 hours a day. Construction was completed in less than 18 months.

Hanford workers waiting to pick up their paychecks at Western Union; photograph
courtesy of the Hanford Classified Documents Retrial System and Wikipedia

Producing plutonium at Hanford involved three major operations -- fuel fabrication, reactor operations, and chemical separation to extract plutonium. Success was achieved when the first irradiated slugs were discharged from the B Reactor on Christmas Day 1944. By the end of January the highly purified plutonium underwent further concentration in the completed chemical isolation building to remove any remaining impurities. The plant went into full-scale plutonium production on 2 February 1945 when it received its first shipment of plutonium.

This is a Robbery!

I'm turning in to a crime beat reporter! Albeit of the historic variety. Tuesday I wrote about a shooting. Today, a bank robbery.

Earlier this week I was reviewing the descendants of my great grand aunt, Margaret Muir, and her husband, Robert Caswell, in preparation for writing about the family for my multi-volume book about the descendants of Robert Muir, my three times great grandfather. I realized there were some loose ends to research involving Robert Samuel Jenks, a grandson of Robert and Margaret's. 

Robert Samuel Jenks was born in 1939 and died in 1979. He married twice and because his wives may still be living I will not provide too much information about them. When Robert died he left behind a 30-year-old widow and a 10-year-old child. Four years later his widow married Louis Willard Mercier, who was 19 years her senior. He married at least 6 times during the course of his life.

Louis was also a bank robber.

He was born in 1930 in Wisconsin and served in the Army for four years, including service in the Korean Conflict. He was honorably discharged from the Army as a sergeant and was awarded two bronze stars.  He went to barber's school at Mole Barber College after the war and became a barber for ten years.

During that time he operated a barber shop in Moses Lake and commuted to his home in Seattle on weekends. On 30 March 1964 he walked into the Peoples National Bank in downtown Seattle and handed a teller two notes. One said the bank manager's son was being held and would be released when Mercier returned. The other apparently asked for money. The teller gave him over $2,000 and also pressed the silent alarm. Mercier was held by the bank manager until the police arrived. He was arrested without incident and held in jail in lieu of a $10,000 bond. At the time of his arrest he told police he was dying of cancer and only had 30 days to live. How he thought that would help his situation, I have no idea.

Article about the bank robbery from the Centralia Daily Chronicle,
dated 31 March 1964; image courtesy of NewspaperArchive.com

Nearly two months later Mercier was convicted of bank robbery and sentenced to ten years in jail. The judge did order 90-day psychiatric evaluation and said the sentence might be reduced or probation granted after the study. The judge's final words were: "You are no ordinary bank robber by any means."

Louis lived for 36 years more years and died of a long illness in 2000 at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

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Murdered by a Stranger Or Was It Self-defense?

52 Ancestors #13: How Much Tragedy Can a Woman Endure?

Ancestor Name: Lefa Marie (Amsberry) Connett Zeller Hall

Lefa Marie Amsberry was born on 19 April 1895 in Cass County, Kansas. At the age of 18 she married Vernon Andrew Connett, who was only 20 at the time of their marriage. Ten months later their son, Archie Vernon Connett was born. Lefa apparently suffered from what we now know as postpartum depression after Archie's birth. Her doctor suggested the young family take a trip so she could spend time in fresh air.

Lefa Marie Amsberry and her siblings; courtesy of Ancestory.com member cfm1151

Vernon, Lefa, and baby Archie left Kansas to visit relatives in Nebraska in an horse-drawn wagon. When they stopped in North Platte, they met Roy Roberts. The men stuck up a friendship and decided to look for work in North Platte and Vernon took Lefa and Archie to the train station to continue on to their relatives. He would join her later after making some extra money. Lefa never saw Vernon again. At 19 she was a widow, only she didn't know it right away. Roy Roberts, Vernon's new "friend" killed him so he could steal the team of horses and wagon. Eventually, Roy Roberts was brought to trial and convicted of murder.

As published in the Beatrice Daily Sun 6 Febuary 1917

Vernon Connett's body was eventually found along the banks of the South Platte River. Vernon's father and brother traveled to Nebraska to claim the body and take it back to Kansas for burial at the Sheridan Cemetery in Auburn. By that time Lefa had married again to John Victor Zeller. She had a daughter, Clara Mavis Zeller, in 1923 and by 1937 the family had moved to Denver, Colorado while her son Archie completed his post-graduate work.

Clara married early -- very early at the age of 14 -- to Ernest Clifton Manchester. By 1948 Clara and Ernest had three children and were living in Tekoa, Washington. In the early morning hours of 2 March 1948, their house became engulfed in flames. The house was destroyed and the parents burned trying to save their children. Unfortunately, only one, the infant was saved. Their sons, 8-year-old Jerry Ivan Manchester and 6-year-old Lyle Ernest Manchester, died in the fire. Lefa, their grandmother, had just lost two beloved grandchildren at the same time. But more tragedy was to follow four years later.

As published in the Walla Walla Union Bulletin on 2 March 1948

By 1952, her son, Archie, had married Wynona Gottlieb and had three children. He and his wife separated and he had threatened violence several times. On 23 December 1952, he became enraged and slashed his estranged wife's throat. She was able to escape. Archie then turned his rage on his children and held them by their feet and bashed their heads against the wall, killing 4-year-old Michael Stephen Connett, 2-year-old Theresa Anne Connett, and 4-month-old Carl Paul Connett. They were buried the day after Christmas at Mission City Memorial Park, Santa Clara, California. Their Gottlieb grandparents made the arrangements and attended the funeral as their mother, Wynona, was still hospitalized in serious condition. She was only told of their deaths on Christmas Day.

As published in the Oakland Tribune on 24 December 1952

Lefa attended every day of Archie's month-long trial and testified on his behalf. He was convicted of three counts of second degree murder and one count of attempted murder and served 15 years. He was released in 1968.  During the trial it was revealed that Archie and his step-father John Victor Zeller, had a very rocky relationship; their fights sometimes ending in fisticuffs. Lefa eventually divorced Zeller and married for the third time to Jack Huntington Hall. She died on 11 May 1969.

I hope she was eventually able to find happiness.

This is my entry for Amy Johnson Crow's 52 ancestors in 52 weeks challenge.

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Lefa Marie Amsberry was born on 19 April 1895 at Cass County, Kansas, to Floyd Murton and Rosa Ella (Comer) Amsberry. Lefa was my fourth cousin twice removed. She married Vernon Andrew Connett on 20 May 1913 at St Francis, Kansas. She next married John Victor Zeller on 16 Jun 1917 at Bayard, Nebraska. They likely divorced sometime before 1940, although I am not sure. She then married John Huntington Hall sometime before 1953. She died on 11 May 1969 at Fresno, California. During her lifetime her first husband was murdered, two grandchildren died in a fire, and her son murdered three of her grandchildren and served 15 years in California prisons. He was released the year before her death.

NOTE: I told the story of Vernon Andrew Connett's murder in more detail in Week #11 of 52 Ancestors.

I blogged about Archie Vernon Connett several times and wrote an article about his committing infanticide for Your Family Tree magazine. If you are interesting in learning more about this terrible tragedy, links are provided below:

• Connett Family Tragedy
• Connett Family Tragedy Continued
• Wordless Wednesday: Archie Vernon Connett
• Archie Connett in His Own Words: The Crime
• Archie Connett in His Own Words:  The Trial and Prison
• Archie Connett in His Own Words:  Parole

Trip Around the World: Kenya to the U.S. (the Asian Route)

William Judkins Bailey took his family to British East Africa (Kenya) in 1920(1) so he could be a missionary there for the Church of God. Their oldest boy, George, returned to the United States in 1924. His next oldest sons -- Homer and Paul Orrin -- returned to Indiana in 1927. The rest of the family traveled through Asia in 1929, including their youngest daughter, my Aunt Joan, who was born in 1921 at the Kijabe Mission Station. Maxwell Bailey was 10 years old at the time the family returned home. This is his description of the trip from his journal, which he wrote several years later:

Nairobi, Kenya, to Troy, Ohio in 1929

We arrived in Torch, Ohio in late 1929. Six months for the journey and all the visits along the way probably is not to far off. A train ride of approximately 300 miles with many stops and layovers from Nairobi to Mombasa could take at least two days. The voyage on the S/S Alora from Mombasa to Bombay, with a stopover at Poorbundy, a day's sail northwest of Bombay, would have taken most or all of a week.  Often after one is safely on board a ship, there could be a couple days of additional loading of freight. A scheduled departure time just wasn't the way it was done.

In Bombay, we visited many places. The most memorable was the Tower of Silence. The Parsees of Bombay believe the human body is sinful and defiled. The earth must not be polluted by burial. Fire is pure and sacred. The body must not be cremated. Hence the tower. The tower is 14- or 16-feet tall and perhaps 40- to 50-feet in diameter with a small door on one side and no roof. Bodies of men are placed along the outer row, women in the middle row, and bodes of children are in the middle. A deep pit is in the center of the circle. Hundreds of vultures clean the bones and scream at each other as the glide through the sky and roost along the top of the tower. The Tower of Silence seemed like the noisiest place on Earth to me!

Tower of Silence in old Bombay

We traveled across India by train. At each stop, at least one man on the station platform walked by the open train windows announcing, Chi gerram, chi gerram -- coffee. He has a large urn and tin cups and for a price, coffee is available.

Monkeys are sacred. No one denies a monkey anything. They will enter the train by the open windows and leave via another window further down the car. En route he may have picked up ladies handbags or anything of value not closely guarded. His owner is a bit richer.

We arrived in Agra about 2:00 a.m. Daddy hired a rickshaw, or two-wheeled conveyance pulled by a man, to take us out to Taj Mahal. He bribed the guard and we finished our nights' sleep stretched out on the marble window sill on one side of the building. When the sun rose, we greeted it from the top of one of the minarets that stand guard at each corner of the main platform upon which the structure rests.

Taj Mahal in Agra

Calcutta is certainly one of the larger, if not the largest cities in India. There are people everywhere, turn as you may, people and more people. Everywhere in Calcutta one would see temples of worship. The show is continuous, hour after hour.

Temples of Calcutta. Photo courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum

From Calcutta we made a side trip to Cuttack. This city had been a swamp at one time, inhabited by alligators or crocodiles. Dead babies, live girl babies, any unwanted babies were tossed in. Some imaginative group filled the swamp and on the fill ground built the Shelter. When we visited, there girls of all ages there, sitting on a long porch waiting with their rice bowls for a meal.

We boarded the S/S Takada for the trip to Singapore. Word was passed through the ship's passengers that pirates had attacked the ship ahead of us but we never saw any pirates.

From Singapore we traveled to Hong Kong. I don't believe it to this day, yet I saw it. A Chinaman had his children -- two little boys and a girl -- standing on a long, low bench. Their arms stretched out towards each other and head tilted back so far that teacups could be placed in each hand and forehead. Tea was poured in all the cups. By pure magic, it seemed to me, their feet, firmly on the bench. They leaned back further and further until they were horizontal. Then yet further back until the back of their heads were on the dock. Slowly, they moved back to a vertical position and never a drop of tea was spilled! Of course, coins showered to the dock from the ships' passengers.

We ascended Victoria Peak by cable car before traveling by train to Shanghai. We all learned to use chopsticks there. Father made sure of that. The walls of the houses were made of oiled paper over wooden frames. Since earthquakes are very common, a house built of light materials would do its occupants less damage than heavier ones.

Hong Kong Funicular

From Japan we boarded the S/S Paris Maru, a cargo ship bound for Seattle. I was in my element and all over that ship! One of the crew members had a small radio. I'd never seen one before. Pure magic!

S/S Paris Maru

In Seattle we stayed with my mother's sister's family for awhile before heading by railroad to Chicago. Then a relatively short train ride to Anderson, Indiana, where we attended a reception in the Anderson College and Training Seminary chapel. Another train ride and we were in Torch, Ohio, where my father's brother was the pastor of a local Methodist Church. We settled there on a farm.

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(1) To read about the Baily family's 1920 trip to Kenya, click here and here.

The Bailey Boys

I got interested in Aunt Joan's family when the documentation didn't match the stories Mom remembered about her childhood.  I wrote about those differences here and here. In this post, I'll detail what I've learned about Aunt Joan's five brothers:  George Edgar, Homer Bradley, Paul Orrin, Thomas William, and Maxwell.

George Edgar and Homer Bradley Bailey were born in Delaware, Ohio in 1905 and 1907, respectively. Sometime before 1910 they moved to Washtenaw County, Michigan, where William Bailey bought a farm. Paul Orrin was born that same year, and Thomas William was born in 1917. In 1918 their father, decided to become a missionary and moved the family to Anderson, Indiana. He likely attended the Bible school and training seminary there.  In 1920, the family traveled by train to New York City and boarded a passenger liner for Southampton, England, on their way to British East Africa, and what is now Kenya.  Most of the family lived in Kenya until 1929. However, the three older boys returned to the U.S. earlier.

In 1924 George traveled back to England and boarded the White Star Line's RMS Majestic. He arrived in New York City on 24 Jun 1924 and went on to Anderson, Indiana.  According to Homer's journal, his parents had given George the name of a family with which he could stay until he got organized. When he knocked on the door, their maid, appalled at his state of attire and cleanliness, told him to go away. From then on George was on his own and remained aloof from the rest of the family his entire life. He lived in many western states, married at least twice, and had at least six children. In the early 1950s, George and his wife, Lillian (Krull) opened the Rancho hotel in Bakersfield, California. George died on 1 May 1979, but Lillian operated the motel for another 28 years.   One of his sons went on to become a very successful real estate developer.

Rancho Motel, Bakersfield, California.

Homer Bradley and his brother, Paul Orrin, remained in Kenya until 1927 when they, too, returned to the U.S. to attend the Bible school and training seminary in Anderson, Indiana.  Homer married Vivian Opal Lewis, the daughter of a Michigan preacher. They lived in several states during the Depression where he was also a minister. In 1933 their family returned to Kenya, where Homer was a missionary until 1948 or 1949.  They had six children, all of which were born in Kenya except two. Homer died 18 Oct 1978 in Denton, Texas.

Paul Orrin married Lydia Lois Tilton in 1931 and they four children.  Paul taught at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.  In June of 1952, he was lost control of his car on a rain-slicked road and was hit head on by a large truck. He was killed instantly.

Thomas William and Maxell Bailey returned to the U.S. from Kenya in 1929, traveling through India, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, Vancouver, and Seattle, mostly aboard cargo ships. I've not been able to discover much about Thomas, except that in 1930, he was living with his parents and younger siblings in Troy, Ohio. When his parents returned to Kenya in 1932, they asked another family to move in with their children and take care of them while the parents were away. Thomas married one the daughters. Soon after, he, his new wife her the family moved away, leaving Elizabeth, the oldest sister in charge of her younger siblings. She was 20 at the time. Thomas died on 10 May 1986 in Hotchkiss, Colorado.

Osaka Line's cargo ship Paris Maru; the Bailey family traveled from Yokohama to Seattle on this ship in 1929

Maxwell's father registered his birth and forgot to include the middle name his mother had intended to give him. He married Lois Shaw, perhaps twice, and had four children.  He was a school teacher and taught in several states. He died on 11 Mar 2004.