by Rocky Macy
The first letter out of the mailbag today is from the Old South. Mrs. Ben E. THOMPSON (2845 Hwy 127, Kathleen, GA 31047) is trying to locate Gordon FORREST on the 1860 and 1870 census rolls, and she would also like to determine the date and place of his death and burial.
Gordon FORREST married Mariam LORD in Ohio and they had six children. Buy by 1850 he was the husband of Julia HALE and residing in Hardin County, IL, with her and their son, Charles. Gordon was in the mercantile business in Joplin, MO, after the Civil War. The children of Gordon FORREST were said to eventually have numbered ten or twelve, with most living in the Missouri counties of Ozark, Douglas, Jasper, and McDonald. Julia is listed on the 1880 census of Ozark County, MO, as a widow with three children.
One good source which Mrs. THOMPSON might tap in her quest to information would be the Joplin Genealogical Society (P.O. Box 152, Joplin, MO 64802). Dwayne CRANDALL, the president of the group, has submitted queries to Rootbound, and former president, Margaret W. EMERSON has written to this column about problems connected with getting complete copies of death certificates from the state of Missouri. Margaret is now an officer with the Missouri State Genealogical Association.
The Council of Genealogical Columnists recently forwarded a handsome certificate for Rootbound's third place finish in the queries division of their national column writing contest. It hanging right above the typewriter and serves to keep this columnist of task!
Ima Jean BAKER YOUNG (6921 West Arrowhead, Kennewick, WA 99336) is searching for material on her grandmother, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Theodora SMITH who was born 11 July 1865 in Polk County, MO, and died 10 Dec 1945 in Grove, Delaware County, OK. Lizzie married William Twitty BAKER on 16 Sep 1878 in Boone County, AR, and after their divorce in the early 1900s, Lizzie married William H. KAUFMAN and lived in Southwest City, MO.
Lizzie's parents were John W. and Josephine (OWENS) SMITH. After John's death, Josephine married Richard B. SMITH. Jown W. SMITH, a son to Josephine and Richard, als lived at Southwest City.
Ima Jean (address above) would certainly enjoy hearing from any of her Ozark cousins! Perhaps Dudley R. SMITH (1106 Pendant, St. Louis, MO 63131) will have some material to share with ehr. Dudley provided most of the substance for Rootbound's special column last year on the pioneering SMITH family of Southwest City. Copies of that column can be obtained by sending a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Rootbound in the Hills in care of this newspaper.
Kay ROBERTS MARTIN (Rt. 4, Box 440-1, Oak Grove, MO 64075) is trying to pin an accurate surname on Melissa Jane _____. Was it SORRELS, SLAUGHTER, or LOFTIN? Family history says tht her father died when she was young, and that Melissa Jane's mother remarried and moved to Arkansas. One of the above names was probably the one that she was born with, another would have been her mother's maiden name, and the remaining one the surname of her step-father. But which was which?
Kay ROBERTS MARTIN does know that Melissa Jane was born 25 Mar 1856, probably in southern Missouri, and that she married Joe DOUGLAS circa 1879 in Arkansas. The couple resided in Texas, Oklahoma, and possibly Missouri. Do any of our readers have information to share on Melissa Jane or Joe DOUGLAS?
The following item was taken from The Backtracker (Vol. 18, No. 2, May, 1989), the excellent publication of the Northwest Arkansas Genealogical Society. they, in turn, took it from a list of Washington County AR, marriages of 1886 that was published in the Washington County Observer on 25 Nov 1976. The compiler was Lloyd McCONNELL, Sr.
"W.M. GUINN of Dump, Arkansas, just past Sunset a little, and Miss Rachel OSBORN, 19, were married on February 11th by H.C. OSBORN, a Justice of the Peace of Hazel Valley."
Can any of our readers enlighten us as to the location of Dump or Sunset? Or have these two communities succumbed to the haze of history? Rootbound would like to hear...and we're as close as the mailbox!
Happy trails!
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