Flew The Coop

#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Week 31 Prompt:

“Flew The Coop”

 

          William Milo Rollins

        17 June 1879-18 Jan 1973

and

Florence Mae Rollins

7 July 1889-25 March 1946

Which one will fly?

 

At first glance it may appear that this writer neglected to correctly name Florence because her   maiden name is missing.  As a matter of fact her maiden name is Rollins.  Imagine all the red tape she was able to skip because she married her cousin.  Not only is this couple cousins, they are husband and wife and they are my great grandparents. 

They fell in love and presumably married (not verified) before the birth of my grandfather William Richard Rollins, their first born.  They went on to have 3 children together.  William Richard in 1907, Elizabeth Mary 3 years later in 1910 and finally Helen Barbara born in 1913. 

 

It is not clear what happened to these kissing cousins but at some point around the 1920 census Florence had  “Flown The Coop”.  It is not known when she had taken her daughter Helen and married Jack Armitage.  It is not known if she and William Milo divorced, or married for that matter. 

 

  

A few interesting things occurred that are seemingly unusual. First of all  a woman flying the coop,  and even more so when she left she took her young daughter Helen with her.  AND she left her son William Richard and daughter Elizabeth Mary to be raised by her cousin/husband/father of the kids.  

 

She and Jack Armitage eventually find their way to California where they raise Helen.  Helen is born a Rollins but they change her name and raise her as an Armitage.  

 

During her lifetime she is reunited with her son William Richard and her daughter Elizabeth.  They all live near each other in California.  There is a home movie where Elizabeth’s children call Jack “grandpa Armitage”.  

 

Now for the rest of the twisty story!

 

While making my very first cemetery scouting trip in 2021 to find my grandmother Ruth (Squire) Rollins it is discovered that Florence (Rollins) Armitage is buried next to her daughter Elizabeth (Rollins) Welchly, and her daughter Helen (Rollins/Armitage) Johnston and her son William Richard’s first wife Ruth (Squire) Rollins. Awe, but that’s not all.  

Her son is also buried in the same cemetery in a crypt with his 3^rd wife AND remember her cousin/husband.  Yeap, he is buried on a small slope with direct line of sight to the burial sites of his estranged wife Florence, his daughter’s Elizabeth and  Helen and is laid to rest right under the crypt of his son William.  

 

So Florence may have flown the coop and raised their daughter under a different name than her fathers, in the end she didn’t get very far. 

 

If the dead could speak I would love to hear the rest of their story. But they can’t so I will keep digging for facts and will continue to imagine the story based on the facts I do have.  Until then…..another story may be brewing.  

 

And that's a wrap 

The Family Historian

Barbara Fueston Grandon

 

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Killed By The Cars

#52 Ancestors 52 Weeks

Week 30 Prompt: Newspaper

Killed By The Cars 1890

 

John William Fueston 

(1857-1890)

  Alice Gunder Fueston 

(1865-1890)

                                            

     If it wasn’t for newspapers the knowledge of who John William Fueston was may still not be known to me.  He was the first born to Ezekiel Fueston age 22 and Ursley Smith Fueston when she was just 18 in Wayne, Kentucky. He was the older brother to my great grandfather, Robert Clemmons Fueston (1858-1948). He was  my great grand uncle. Basically he was unknown to me until searching the Fueston name on Newspapers.com revealed his story and so many more stories about family not previously known to me.  

 

John and Alice were married in Decatur, Indiana in 1882.  They had 5 children, all were  born in Nebraska.  Henry Leroy (1883-1911), Malinda M (1884-unkn) Nannie B (1887-1893), unknown name (death about-1888), and unknown name (unkn-1890).

 

The story of their deaths is heartbreaking.  John was a young father of 5 children and he himself was a young 33 while his wife Alice was in her 20’s. Newspapers of years past wrote all the detail we don’t get in today’s stories. They were driving they horse pulled wagon to town for supplies and for a medical appointment for their infant who had some sort of infant disease. The wagon they were in was shattered into a “million” pieces when struck by the train.  John was thrown 30 feet from the wagon where he died and  Alice was attached to the front of the train with her infant baby tightly wrapped in her arms.  Both were dead.  

 

The events of their story  was sensationalized from Nebraska to San Francisco with the accident occurring in Nebraska.  Amazing for the 1890’s to see the miles  their story traveled.  

 

 

Photo courtesy Barbara Fueston Grandon’s personal collection

In this photo John, Alice and two of their children are buried in the center of the family plot. John's father Ezekiel to the left and their daughter Nannie to their right. None of that information was know pre newspaper searching.   This photo was received from a lady who made it her mission to find family connected to it. It was in a box of photos that had been found by her friends husband in the garbage in San Francisco many years before reaching me.   From the time this photo landed in my lap until searching Newspapers.com, I had no idea who each person buried in this family plot were.  Because of newspapers I can now tell the story of parts of each persons story that is buried in this family plot.   

 

 

Napa Journal

Napa, California Sun Jun 15, 1890, page 2

 

 

The Riley Regent Riley, Kansas • Fri, Jun 20, 1890Page 1

The San Francisco Call

San Francisco, California – Sat, Jun 14, 1890 page 8

 

In addition to learning about the accident and who the family members buried in the center plot, the newspaper reveals much more.  It reveals the story that John and Alice’s first child’s had died a few years before and was exhumed and laid to rest with family. And that John’s father, Ezekiel Fueston (my 2X great grandfather) died a few weeks later. 

 

Keith County News

Ogallala, Nebraska Fri, June 29 1890 page 1

 

The final piece of the puzzle regarding the family plot came together with this news article about John and Alice’s daughter Nannie Fueston.  

 

 

Lincoln County Tribune

North Platte, Nebraska Wed, Oct 25, 1893 page 3

 

 

         Two children of John and Alice’s lived into adulthood, married and had children.  I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with a few of their descendants.  And have had the honor of standing in the section of the cemetery where John and Alice's son Henry Leroy Fueston gravesite  is in Spokane, WA.  

 

Death Certificate of Henry Leroy Fueston. Washington State Archives, 2023

 

 

I still have yet to discover who the folks standing by the 1915’s car are and may never know. Oh, did I mention that John and Alice's children, siblings  Henry and daughter Malinda married Pilgrim siblings.   A story for another time.   Along with a future story of where the pictured family plot may be.  It is assumed it is in Nebraska where many family members homesteaded their 160 acre parcels of land. 

And that's a wrap for this story!

Family Historian

Barbara Fueston Grandon

 

 

 

 

Ursley (Smith) Fueston re: Holidays and Birthdays

#52 ANCESTORS in 52 WEEKS

Week 29 Prompt-

Birthdays

 

Ursley C Smith Fueston

24th December 1838-25th March 1915

 

This week was a bit of a struggle to simply figure out who I wanted to tell a story about and how birthdays was a prompt. The struggle was real.  The decision to write a little story about my 2X great grandmother won.

 

How sweet it must have been for Robert James Smith (1812-1882) and Nancy Sloan (1816-1859) to have a baby in December, (probably Dec 24th per her death certificate however other documents indicate Dec 9th), their first Christmas and all. Well, Christmas wasn’t even declared a Federal Holiday until June 28, 1870 under President Uysless S. Grant. It seems that historically seasonal holidays, much like Christmas were celebrations considered to be pagan.  

 

At Ursley’s home there were probably small handmade crackers and maybe gifts exchanged.  There might have been a tree with decorations, but probably no cards sent.  She was the first born to Robert Smith and Nancy Sloan and surely a gift to them, the most precious kind of gift. 

 

The Kentucky Lantern, December of 2022[1], has a story that chronicles the life and times of Charles Dickens.  A familiar name to all of us, more familiar than Ezekiel Fueston and Ursley Smith were a few short years ago. Anyway, the author writes about how “Charles Dickens at 31 wrote “A Christmas Carol” among other writings” in 1843.  This was a few years after Ursley was born.  Dickens stories, and movies made from his writings remain popular in many homes today. 

 

In February of 1838, Kentucky passed the woman suffrage law.  Ursley, if she was head of household could vote in elections deciding taxes and more. [2]  Ursley became widowed and head of household in 1890.  

 

It has been a journey and a joy to begin to cobble her story together.  The first census found  as a married woman is in 1860 [3]. She is married to Ezekiel (1835-1890) and they lived in Wayne, Kentucky.  Her father Robert Smith’s household  lived next door to her and her husband. Ursley and Ezekiel had 2 of their 10 children by this time.  Her father interestingly was married to his second wife, Millicent. She just happened to be 19 and he was 47.  Even more interesting is that Millicent’s sister was married to her new husband’s son.  A story for another time.  Back to Ursley.  It is know that both Ursley’s husband and the men in her father’s home were all farmers in Kentucky.

 

One of her sons writes an account of when they were small children how “the family moved in a covered wagon, stopping at Greensburg Indiana, and near Champlain, Illinois for the winters before finally homesteading in Western Nebraska.”[4]

 

She traveled to Missouri at one point in her life.  The 1900 censes has her in Henry, Tebo Missouri. She was the head of the household and several of her grown sons were living with her and many of them remained living with her at various times until her death in Spokane, Washington in 1915. 

 

I can’t help but wonder what a beautiful gift she must have been being the first born to her parents.  And what a wonderful gift she was to her own children through-out her life.  She is laid to rest in a beautiful un-endowed section of Greenwood Memorial Terrace in Spokane, WA.

 

 

 

She is amongst many family members within the same  area of the cemetery.  While walking through the naturally overgrown, unattended, peaceful section of the cemetery there were many broken, unreadable, and simply not present headstones.  I think she probably loves her organic resting place. 

 

I’m excited to learn more about her as research into her life continues to be a journey. 

 

 

 

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[1] https://kentuckylantern.com/2022/12/23/the-ghost-of-an-idea-a-reflection-on-charles-dickens-and-the-history-and-meaning-of-the-season/

 

[3] 1860 Unites States Federal Census Kentucky, Wayne, division not stated. 

[4] https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-advocate-jethro-franklin-fuest/109746375/

Murder Charges for Charles L and James Porter Fueston

52 Ancestors in 52 weeks

Week 28 Prompt

Random

     One definition for random is "happening or chosen without method or conscious decision". That is exactly what happened nearly two years ago when first beginning to search my family history   My father always told me there was "nothing to tell" about his family history. Imagine the shock when randomly putting the Fueston name in Newspapers.org expecting to find "nothing" to have hit, after hit, after hit, of my surname pop up.  The story that unfolded has been intriguing and still is unfolding.  I’m imagining my father knew a lot of the history, and I think no wonder there was "nothing to tell".

 

    The photo I shared from "The Great Outdoors" prompt has been an example of a touchstone of intrigue and wanting to find out who this family, my family, was.  The eldest in the previous week’s story is my 2X great grandfather.  He and his wife Ursley had 10, perhaps as many as 14 children, per Ursley's comments in 2 different census reports.  I've been able to verify 10 of them.  My goal has been to find descendants of each and perhaps share stories. It has been a long 2 years of sleepless nights searching from randomness in the beginning of this venture.

 

    The first  of many random hits was the arrest of Charles Fueston (son #3) and his nephew James Porter Fueston in Spokane, Washington in 1905.  The article calls them out as brothers when in fact they are uncle and nephew. 

 

FUESTON Son #3

Spokane Chronicle, 1913 Spokane Washington

 

They were accused of murder.  After their trial they were eventually aquitted but not until after I was treated a photo of their faces, photos of their home, accounts of the jury going to Ursley's bedside for her testimony and finally an article written many years later by Charles about basically how his life was turned upside down and that his only judge was God.

 

The home they lived in and crime scene.

Spokane Chronicle, May 12, 1913 pg 1

 

 

     Since randomly searching my surname and getting my first hit, the hits kept coming.  The history of crime began to come to light suddenly and quickly. It sees that 7 of their 10 children had an arrest record of some sort with accusations and sometimes guilty verdicts of lewd acts, thief, forgery, rape, murder, assault and more.  A lot of the time there were multiple arrests from various states including Indiana, Nebraska and Washington.  The most telling article I’ve read about their continued trouble is from  Missouri :

 

“They are a tough set and the country is not improved by such a class of citizens”

A direct comment about my great grandfather who my father said there was “nothing to tell” becomes clearer as I find more and more.

 

The Windsor Review, Windsor, Windsor, Missouri Sept 1896

 

 Worth repeating:

“They are a tough set and the country is not improved by such a class of citizens”

 

These first findings are just a very tiny glimpse into the articles and stories that I’ve since found after my first random hit nearly 2 years ago.  There is plenty of sad among the history of the Fueston’s family story and good reason for a father to now want to share these stories with his daughter. One story is  that one of the sons of Ezekiel and Ursley, while on his dying bed, 3 of his own sons were in prison for various reasons and all at the same time in Walla Walla Washington.  And to wrap up this week’s story, one final situation to mention here is about a son of one of the 10 children.  His crime was so heinous that his ashes remain un-claimed by family at a mausoleum in Spokane, Washington and he is not viewable by the public.  

 

Randomness has led me into a glimpse of my Fueston family story, about our history, our ancestors and a road most don’t want to travel.  No wonder my father was so protective.  And me being the curious one  as well as the matriarch of my Fueston family, will continue to cobble the stories together the best I can. 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who Are My People: Connecting Photos to Family

 

"The Great Outdoors"

        By the time this photo, along with the many other photos reached me, sadly my dad had passed and I couldn't ask him about the pictures.  Many things in the box had clues that in fact this was my family.  One was a note addressed to my grandmother at her home. Another clue that this box was surely my family was confirmation from my dad's sister that one of the pictures was her.  

        I had this box of photos for about 10 years before beginning to research my family.  I now have been able to identify all those buried in the photo and their stories.  I am still in search of who the people are alive in the photo.  All I have is strong guesses but have not had any solid collaboration on who they are.  I've not been able to locate the burial site but have a really good suspicion of where it is since the family had property in Nebraska and all those buried were in Nebraska.  A road trip this fall to local churches, libraries and historical societies will hopefully lead to concrete information about the burial site.  

        What I now know about my family since receiving this gem is amazing. The first headstone is my 2x great grandfather Ezekiel C Fueston ~1835-1890. He was born in Kentucky and died in Nebraska a few months after his oldest son John.   Ezekiel had a presidential pardon from the Hayes Administration in 1878.  He was not able to pay his fine when he was arrested for making moonshine. 

      The second headstone is Ezekiel and his wife Ursley's first born son John William (1857-1890). John's wife and 2 children are buried together.  John, his wife and one child were tragically killed by the cars (train) when they were struck in their wagon in town in Big Springs Nebraska in 1890. The second child in the grave with them was buried at another location, assume near by the property, and exhumed and moved to be laid to rest with them when they were buried.  The third headstone is for another of John's daughters Nannie B (1883-1893).  She was a mere 8 year old when her nightdress caught fire by the stove where she was cooking.  

     Basically through this photo I've learned I have lots of family from my dad's side.  Ezekiel and Ursley had 10 (possibly 14) children.  I can track 10 of the children now and have been in contact with a few cousins I didn't know existed.  And this photo not only shows the great outdoors, it also traveled many miles.   Ezekiel is buried in Nebraska and I recently had the opportunity to visit Ursley's gravesite in Spokane, Washington.  

       Until next time...keep hunting the Great Outdoors!