Josie Miller Must Have Liked Quirky

DAVID OWENS m Sarah Holler > LUCY OWENS m Ira Miller > JOSEPHINE MILLER REDINGTON SWANGER

I loved exploring the family of David Owens, my 3rd great grandfather. He was a good farmer, a solid citizen, and had an adventurous spirit that took him from Indiana to Illinois to Iowa and finally, to South Dakota. He married three times and had a total of 14 children.

Among his children was Lucy, my 2nd great grandmother. She married Ira Miller and they had nine children, among them my great grandmother, Florence and her sister Josephine, the fourth of the nine.

Josie, as she was known, was born 05 Nov 1882 in rural Urbana, Benton County on the family farm. She first got married to a man who would be described by the newspaper as a "well-known Vinton character," in earlier articles and in his obituary.  This item, listed under "Just for Fun" in the Cedar Valley Times on 16 Oct 1936, describes him philosophizing while a resident of the County Home:

"Ed Redington was around town talking politics today. Ed says he hasn't decided whether or not he will vote at the general election next month. However, he does make his position clear insofar as his choice between the two presidential candidates is concerned when he asserts: "If I do vote it will be for Roosevelt. But as I don't believe he will need my vote to win, I don't think I'll bother about going to the polls."

"According to Ed, he has been having considerable trouble of late with people breaking into his trunk and taking things that don't belong to them. Ed said that only recently someone broke into his trunk, which he left locked, and stole two pairs of underwear, two shirts, two quilts, besides a good army overcoat. "They even took my dishes," declared Ed, "and that is what I call a low-down truck." Ed maintains that he has lost practically all faith in humanity on account of the unfortunate experiences he has had lately."

WCF&N Trolley

His name was James Irving Edmond Redington, son of Mr & Mrs Ben Redington. Josie and "Ed" married 14 Feb 1905 in Benton County, Iowa. They had a son, Ira Edmond Redington, who had some sort of mental disability and lived in the Hospital for Epileptics and School for the Feeble Minded in Cass, Iowa from at least 1930. Ira died in 1966. The couple divorced and Ed went on to several more marriages before dying at age 62 in April 1940 in Vinton.

Josie then married Charles H Swanger on 23 Apr 1923 in Waterloo, Black Hawk County. Charles was born in Fredericksburg, Iowa on March 11, 1882, to James and Hattie Sisson Swanger. Charles had previously been married to Cora, whom he married in 1903 and was divorced from in 1911 in Waterloo, having alleged adultery and addiction to intoxicants as grounds.

In 1931, Josie's widowed mother, Lucy Owens Miller, came to the Swanger home for the last five weeks of her life, with Josie caring for her.

Charles worked as a section man on the WCF&N Railway, the interurban rail and trolley system that ran in the Central Valley and its surrounding towns. On December 22, 1932, while he was out shoveling snow off the tracks, he was struck by an auto driven by Mrs Roy Hamilton. Mrs Hamilton said her car got caught in the tracks and she attempted to turn when she skidded into Swanger. He survived!  He retired from the company in 1941 after 25 years of service.

Both Josie and Charles were very active in the Salvation Army for many years. In addition to taking care of the home, Josie also sold magazines on the side. Josie died at Allen Memorial hospital of a heart condition on 12 Jan 1954 in Waterloo and had services in the Salvation Army's Stone Church on Park Ave at Mulberry. After her death, Charles remained in the family home at 1104 Franklin St. In August 1964, be received a knock at the door one day from two men purporting to be from the public utility company wanting to inspect the electric meter. While one distracted him, the other robbed his house of $280. The article in the paper was a warning to citizens that this con was being worked in the area and to always verify identity with the IPS ID card or by calling the utility.

He kept busy after Josie died by continued work for the Salvation Army. Charles ended up spending 40 years with the Salvation Army, attaining the rank of Sergeant Major, until his second retirement in 1948. He continued volunteering with them after that. This article outlines his trips to the front entry of Rath Packing Co. where he handed out the Salvation Army War Cry newspaper every other day for 13 years and was dubbed "Uncle Charlie," by those who worked at Rath. His eventual absence, which started in 1968, was noted by many and the local paper wrote this article about what "Uncle Charlie" was up to now.

Waterloo Daily Courier, Mar 29, 1968

                 

He spent the last years in the Platte Rest Home in Waterloo before dying at Allen Hospital on 22 Apr 1970.

The Prolific David Owens: Where They All Ended Up

Click the name to go to their story
DAVID OWENS & SARAH HOLLAR 
Founding Families of Poyner Township
A Little More on David Owens
Mapping it Out

The Prolific David Owens: His children:

Mother: Sarah Holler
Enoch Nicholas "Nick" Owens
Martha E Owens
Emily C Owens
Lucy Jane "Lizzie" Owens
    Josie Miller Must Have Liked Quirky  
    Remembering Florence Miller  
    Cappoens/LeRoy Line - Leo Linsey
    He Looked Down Upon Me And Laughed 
    Lucy Linsey and the Bridge Family
George Franklin Owens
James Dennis Owens
Sarah Edna Owens
    Back in the Bad Old Days: Bradford J St Charles
David C Owens
Harriet "Hattie" Estella Owens

Mother: Anna Eliza "Eliza" Barker*
William Lincoln Owens
Emery Ellsworth Owens
Carrie Elnora Owens
Mary Owens (died at age 3)
Infant Owens

*Information has recently come to light that Eliza may have been previously married to George W. Barker. Barker is most likely not her maiden name. George may have died or they may have divorced, but no confirmation is yet made. The timing and other biographical facts fit. For the time being, I'll let the name Barker, now associated with her, stand.

HOLLAR FAMILY STORIES 
David Owens married Sarah Hollar. The majority of the Holler/Hollar clan lived for generations in southern Indiana, while the children of Johannes' first wife remained in North Carolina. Sarah descendants are listed above. Other Holler stories below

Where There's a Will
Israel Holler
Hollar Out: The Tragic Tale of Grant Hollar
Isaac Walter Hollar
William Holler's Not So Fortunate Kids
The Confederate Hollers: Sidney & Franklin Cicero Sipe
Yin/Yang: The Bandy's in a Minute

The Prolific David Owens: Daughter Lucy Jane "Lizzie" Owens

Polk Township, Benton County, 1875

DAVID OWENS m SARAH HOLLER  > LUCY JANE "LIZZIE" OWENS

You can read about David Owens' beginnings here. This is my 2nd great grandmother and a product of David Owens' first marriage to Sarah Holler. It is also the last in the series on the David Owens children.

She was born 22 Jun 1850, in Bono, Lawrence County, Indiana, where the Owens' resided prior to their trek to Illinois and then Poyner Township, Black Hawk County, Iowa.

At age 19, on 04 Nov 1869, she married Ira Smith Miller, son of George Miller and Mary Ann Leroy.

Mary Ann provides our direct link to one of the wealthiest and one of the most prominent people of the New World, Christina Cappoens, who was a wealthy, wise, and wily matriarch in New Amsterdam in the 1600s. I hope to publish more about this family as I have time, but you can get a taste here.

Ira's family came to Iowa from Indiana prior to 1860. They settled in Benton County, a county over from Black Hawk. The young Miller's farmed in Polk Township in Benton County in the Center Point/Urbana area through the 1900 Census. Before 1910, they had picked up and moved to Jefferson Township in Butler County. This was moving from southeast of Cedar Falls over an hour to north of Cedar Falls, close to Oelwein. A pretty big move, and I haven't discovered the reason for the move.

Miller daughter Florence, her son Leo Linsey,
his son Larry Linsey and his daughter

The Millers had nine surviving children:

Emma, 1870-1954; married George Simpson
Charles, 1874-1925; never married; died of uremic poisoning
Fred H, 1877-1941; married Glennie Lott
Edith Elnora, 1879-1963; married Frank Hudson
Josephine "Josie", 1882-1954; married Charles Swanger (who married 3 times)
Florence S, 1884-1983; married Charles Linsey (my great grandmother). Read about her here.
George David, 1889-1923; married Luella May "Ella" Decker. Ella died in childbirth with their third child in 1914. Their two children's upbringing is another mystery since George died before they reached their majority.
Harriet "Hattie" Stella, 1892-1963; married (1) Charles Babcock, (2) Leroy "Roy" William Bushnell. You can read about her here
Jessie E, 1895-1975; never married.

But, by 1920, back in Benton County they were, only this time in Harrison Township. The Miller's were getting old and son Jessie lived there also working on the farm.

Quite elderly, 1930 found them moved "into town." They lived at 714 E 2nd St in Vinton, which even today is somewhat semi-rural yet still in town. Ira died in May of that year and Lucy joined him on 17 August of 1931. Lucy died in the home of her daughter, Mrs Josie Swanger in Waterloo, Black Hawk County, Iowa five weeks after she moved from her Vinton home to her daughter's care.

Like most people in the day, they lived, they farmed, they died. A story lost to time for nothing remains to tell their story but a few dry facts.

The Prolific David Owens: Son Enoch "Nick" Owens

DAVID OWENS m SARAH HOLLER  > ENOCH N. "NICK" OWENS

Siege of Vicksburg, MS 1863

You can read about David Owens' beginnings here. Enoch was the eldest of the David Owens/Sarah Holler union. He was born June 22, 1844 in Indiana. The 1850 Census has the family in Lawrence County. Sarah's widowed mother, sister and husband Edna and William Wheeler, and brother John B. Holler trekked with the Owens family to Illinois and then to Poyner Township, Black Hawk County, Iowa over the course of 1854-55.

Enoch, or Nick as he was called, enlisted at age 18 on 24 Sep 1862 serving with Company C, Iowa 31st Infantry Regiment. He served with his unit until 27 Jun 1865 when he was discharged at Louisville, Kentucky. That unit engaged in the following battles. Not many of this group died in battle, but over 20% died of disease during their service:

Siege of Vicksburg
Battle of Lookout Mountain
Battle of Missionary Ridge
Battle of Resaca
Battle of Kennesaw Mountain
Battle of Atlanta
Battle of Jonesboro
March to the Sea
Battle of Bentonville

Enoch in 1870 was living in the home of his grandmother Lucy and her second husband Rev Nathan Poyner, founding member of the community. For a time he was a railway engineer, but he had purchased some of his own land to farm. He would not stay in these parts, as was the case with the children of  many of the original group, and moved on back to Brown in Washington County, Indiana.

On 03 Nov 1874 he had married Eliza Ella Russell, daughter of George and Bethire (Barnard)

Enochs stone at Maple Hill Cemetery
He died at the end of 1916; stone error of 1917

Russell. In about 1884, they moved on from Indiana, to Wayne County, Illinois. During the rest of his life, he primarily farmed. They had two children:

Pearl was born in about 1875 and who would later marry Andrew David Weller and move to Rose, in Carroll County, Ohio. After Andrew's death in 1841, would move to Stark County in 1844.They had no children.

Son Sebert, who we can presume was born between 1877 and 1894, and for whom I've located no information, was living in Brazil in South America at the time of his father's death, according to Nick's obituary.

Ella died 29 Nov 1893. Nick remarried on 17 Sep 1896 to Mrs. Para Lee (Shaw) Brown. Nick died 27 Dec 1916 in Fairfield. Mrs Owens died 28 Mar 1926 in Big Mound, Wayne County.

The Prolific David Owens: Daughter Harriet "Hattie" Estella Owens

DAVID OWENS m SARAH HOLLER  > HARRIET ESTELLA OWENS

You can read about David Owens' beginnings here. Hattie was the last girl born to David Owens and Sarah Holler. She was born in 1861 in Poyner Township, Black Hawk County, Iowa. The month following her father and his third wife's departure for Mt Vernon, South Dakota, she married James Fleming Reynolds, originally from Michigan and son of Anthony J. and Frances Reynolds on 01 May 1884 in Woodbury County, Iowa. In the 1885 Iowa Census they resided in Rutland Township in Woodbury County.

According to his obituary, they spent some time in Davison County, South Dakota and James was both a bank president and an operator of a hardware store, and quite prominent in the development of Davison County, though I cannot confirm this independently.  I can confirm the birth places and dates of the four sons which helps with the timeline:

Claude Anthony Reynolds born 12 May 1885, Woodbury County, Iowa
James Leonard Reynolds born 21 Nov 1886 in Kingsley, Plymouth, Iowa
Dr. Earl Owen Reynolds born 10 Apr 1890 in Mt Vernon, Davison, South Dakota
Romaine Russell Reynolds, born 16 Jul 1899 in Davison County, South Dakota

So, for the sake of this piece of research, they lived in Davison County from at least April 1890 to July 1899. Because by 1900, they were living in Dodge, Union County, Iowa farming and in 1910 they had moved on. living on Crouter St in Scott, Montgomery County, Iowa living with son Claude and his wife Minnie, and two of Claude's brothers, James and Romaine.

Between 1910 and 1920, they arrived in Greenfield, Adair County, Iowa.  And, in the 1925 Iowa Census, they lived in Buchanan, Page County, Iowa. FindaGrave 67585755 indicates he died in Braddyville, Page County, but again, I can't find the supporting documentation to confirm that. The obituary says they lived in Braddyville 26 years, but that's just not right.

James died 21 Jul 1928, probably in Braddyville. Harriet began traveling between Greenfield and Braddyville and later Creston visiting her sons. She died 03 May 1950.  Again, there is no confirmation she actually died in Braddyville. They were, however, both buried there.

If you have supporting data to prove anything listed in the obituary, I'd love to know more!

The Prolific David Owens: Daughter Emily C Owens

Buried in Phillips County, Kansas

DAVID OWENS m SARAH HOLLER  > EMILY C OWENS

You can read about David Owens' beginnings here. Emily was an early child for the Owens and made the trek from Washington County, Indiana to Illinois and Iowa with her family in 1853-1854. She was born 19 May 1848.

On 12 Sep 1872, she married Emory Clark, son of Jacob and Mary Salome Clark, also settler in Poyner Township who came by way of Ohio. Emory would be the first of two brothers who married into the Owens clan. His brother James Riley Clark married Emily's sister Sarah in 1874. You can read about them here.

Emory and his bride lived in nearby Barclay Township, where they farmed. Sometime between 1880-1885, they were living in Liberty, Gage County, Nebraska. Only Emory and Gertrude (their only child) are listed in that Nebraska Census of 1885 which had Gerty working as his housekeeper and he was a real estate agent. Where was Emily?

They picked up and again and between 1885 and 1900, they moved to Walnut, Phillips County, Kansas, where they are all again represented.

Gertrude Evaline Clark married William Hosea in about 1894. The Hosea's lived in Phillips their entire lives. They, too, had only one child, Harry Clark Hosea, born in 1895.

Emily died in 1917 while living in Phillips County and was buried in Phillips County. Her husband, lived on and reportedly died in Waterloo, Iowa in 1926, but I cannot confirm that information and no grave is available in either location to view thus far.

Little is known about the Clark family based on records and newspaper accounts. I do wonder where she went in 1885.

The Prolific David Owens: Son James Dennis Owens

Lucinda Burroughs Owens

DAVID OWENS m SARAH HOLLER  > JAMES DENNIS OWENS

You can read about David Owens' beginnings here. Just looking at records with facts and data cannot a story tell. But for James Dennis, who was born in Poyner Township, Black Hawk County, Iowa on 12 Jul 1855, my first meeting with him outside of records was with this:

PUBLIC NOTICE
Notice is hereby given that I have, this day, given my son, James D Owens, his time and that hereafter I will not be responsible for any debts or business engagements he may make. David Owens, Poyner Township, May 27, 1874
Iowa State Reporter May 27, 1874
===

James was then 19 years old and had done something to vex his father. But, James soldiered on, marrying Lucinda Artemesia Burroughs,born 1855, daughter of James W and Julia (Clark) Burroughs in Waterloo, Black Hawk County, Iowa. The wedding was held in Black Hawk County 14 Mar 1878.

James started out farming in Black Hawk County and the couple had their first two children: Beatrice (1879) and  James Jay (1883) while still in Iowa. Before 1891, they were living at 54 Rio Grande Ave, Salt Lake City, Utah in what is now smack-dab in the middle of a major modern shopping complex. They also added to the family a son. Arthur, who was born in 1891 in Salt Lake City. James made his living as a boilermaker for the railroad.

By 1910, they purchased their own home and were living at 446 Post Street in Salt Lake City. He was still working for the railroad as a boilermaker. His daughter Beatrice had married Thomas FitzPatrick Coleman in 1898 and they had made their own home. Thomas was a mining engineer.

On 20 Feb 1918, a horrible accident occurred. James, operating his smelter, experienced a traumatic amputation of his great toe. The resulting septicemia killed him on 05 Mar 1918. Wife Lucinda was found in 1920 living with son Arthur and granddaughter, Tesora Coleman on Post St. Lucinda died on 12 Dec 1938 after a brief bout of pneumonia.

James Dennis Owens Death Certificate

The Prolific David Owens: Son David C Owens

Nodaway County Poor Farm
David served as superintendent

DAVID OWENS m SARAH HOLLER > DAVID C OWENS

You can read about David Owens' beginnings here.

Young David C Owens (middle name is reported as Casper and Crockett, though I have no confirmation in records of either) was born the last son of David Owens and Sarah Holler on 13 Aug 1859. He was born in Black Hawk County, Iowa. I think a lot happened to him between 1880 to 1900, but all of this is put together from other records and news articles.

Brother George Franklin lived in Sheridan County, Nebraska in the 1890s, and it appears, that for at least time, so did David C. David is the one who received three land patents from 1890-1894 for a total of 467 acres in Sheridan County, but George is the one who stayed there to farm. My hypothesis is that David sold his land to George before moving on.

In 1891, while in Nebraska, he married Laura Josephine Shafer, born in Indiana in 1862 and daughter of Dr. George and Lydia (Faustknaup) Shafer in Indiana. Dr Shafer was a widower living in Bowen, Sioux County, Nebraska in 1900.

In 1900, the Owens' were located in Lincoln, Nodaway, Missouri, just south of Braddyville, Iowa, where sister Harriet Owens Reynolds resided. David was a hardware salesman at the time. By 1910, he was farming in Nodaway County.

They had five children: Cecil Arthur (1894-1958), Aden Dwight (1895-1963), Bryan (1897-1907), Frank Leo "Leo" (1901-1962) and Neva Ruth (1903-1990). All five children were born in Braddyville, Iowa and son Bryan died in Braddyville. I can only surmise that they moved around a bit between the two counties, only 50-ish miles apart or may have had the farm and a house in the town. It's a question I'd like to find the answer to!

By 1920, he was superintendent of the Nodaway County Poor Farm, housing 25 inmates. 1930 brought him back to farming in Nodaway County. In 1937, his beloved wife Laura died in St Joseph, Missouri at age 74. David in 1940 was also living in St Joseph, in the home of his daughter Neva Ruth and her current husband, Paul Reeves. Paul died in 1942, which is about the time I believe  David moved to his son Cecil's home in Kitsap County, Washington where he died in 1944. Both David and his wife were buried in Braddyville Cemetery in Braddyville, Iowa.

The Prolific David Owens: Daughter Martha E Owens

Newburgh Downtown, 1920s

David Owens' story can be found here. Charting the course his children took has become quite a job. They spread across the country to all different locations to do all sorts of things.

Martha is exceptionally challenging because the records are sparse until 1900.  Martha was the second surviving child of David Owens and first wife Sarah Holler. She was born in Indiana in about 1846 prior to the family's move to Illinois and then Poyner Township, Black Hawk County, Iowa.

Enos Bronson, had the distinction of being born, marrying, and dying on the 01 Oct. He hailed from near Waterbury, Connecticut and was born 01 Oct 1833, making his way to Black Hawk County with several family members in 1858. Enos' father, John W. Bronson settled in Poyner Township with his second wife. John W. ended up having at least 14 children with his three wives. According to his obituary, Enos enlisted for service in the civil war in Iowa, though I could find him in no rosters yet. It was there he met and then married Martha on 01 Oct 1864.  He became interested in the manufacture of plaster when a young man and is said to have been the inventor of so-called "hard plaster" which comes in bags, ready to be mixed with water. At the request of J B King & Co, he went east to Staten Island, NY, one of the largest dealers in mason's supplies in the country. He went to Newburgh in 1899. He was active in business up to the time of his death, despite his age.

95 Rennwick St, Newburgh, NY
This is a multi-family home.

After their marriage, nothing is known of what became of them in records until the 1900 Census, where they were living in Newburgh, Orange County, New York. Newburgh is about 60 miles north of NYC and the west bank of the Hudson River and was once the headquarters of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. In the early 20th Century, it was booming with hundreds of manufacturing industries from textiles to shipbuilding. During World War 1 and beyond, it continued to thrive as both a commerce and recreational area.

Enos and Martha by 1900 were fairly old, and were living at 95 Renwick St in Newburgh with granddaughter Enid (b. 1887). Enos was still working as a traveling salesman selling brick and construction supplies.

54 Overlook Pl, Newburgh, NY

The Bronson's had one child of three survive, Elnora "Ella" Bronson who first married Clark Albert
Wilder, DDS and had a child, Enid Wilder, with him. He moves on in short order and remarries, moving to Montana. She remarries a fellow named Emanuel Perrot who was born in Ireland to Richard and Ann. Emanuel seems to be fairly well connected, for in 1894, he is appointed by Mayor Odell as Marshall of the Police Force (Police Chief) for which he served from his appointment date until 1915. Emanuel, after serving as Police Chief for 20 years, became a probation officer for the City of Newburgh until his sudden death in 1941. Emanuel and Ella had no children, but her daughter Enid lived with the family her entire life.

Enos and Martha lived with the Perrott's at 54 Overlook Pl, Newburgh, NY from sometime in the decade of the 1900s until their deaths. Enos is not listed in Census after 1920 and Martha is not after 1930. A recently discovered obit for Enos indicates he died 01 Oct 1924 and was published in a Waterloo, Iowa paper.

I would surmise that daughter Ella died sometime around 1948 because her daughter in 1949 is shown in the city directory living in the "City Home," but not in previous annual directories. The Newburgh City and Town Home, Newburgh, was an almshouse for the elderly and infirm. I would surmise she was placed here for some sort of infirmity. There is no record for her either after 1949.

The Prolific David Owens: Son George Franklin Owens

Rushville 1910

Sheridan County, Nebraska was originally part of a hodgepodge of sections of NW Nebraska, near
the South Dakota border that were governed very loosely from varying locations. A major Sioux Reservation is across the border from Sheridan County in South Dakota and has always been an integral part of trade and commerce for towns in Sheridan County, like Rushville. It became the county in its current form in 1885. Back then, the train went only as far as Valentine in neighboring Cherry County, making it necessary to hire a team to get to the next destination. A depot for Rushville, the major hub of Sheridan County, wasn't built until around 1910. It was the wild, wild west, but there was good grazing lands, full of Buffalo grass along the edge of the Sandhills. Like most of new settlements on the prairie, where trees had limited availability, many of the early homes in Sheridan County were soddies. Life was challenging and many settlers moved on.

George Franklin Homestead in Milan Precinct, near Rushville,
Sheridan County, Nebraska. Since it's a frame house, it might
have been built sometime after 1910.

David Owens many children, by two of his three wives, spread out far and wide after he and his third wife moved from Black Hawk County, Iowa to Davison County, South Dakota in the 1880s.  George Franklin Owens was the sixth surviving child of David and his first wife Sarah Holler and was the only child born during the elder Owens' brief layover in Illinois prior to their big move from Indiana to Poyner Township, Iowa.

George somehow ended up in Mission Creek, Pawnee, Nebraska prior to 1885. Mission Creek was
down on the Nebraska/Kansas border south of Lincoln.  He worked there as a farm hand for E. M. Berry. Sometime later, he met Mary Josephine Teller, whose parents settled in Bone Creek, Butler County, Nebraska (near Columbus) and they married in 1892. Then we get to the part where no Census records are available for the critical 1890 Census...yet, in 1900, they were living in Sheridan County in Milan precinct with their three surviving children. One had died in infancy. They had a homestead and were stock farmers (cattle ranchers).

Alfred Teller (Mary's brother), unknown young man and child,
George Franklin Owens and Frank Owens

I'm not quite sure how George fell into land ownership here since the Land Grant data suggests that his brother David C. Owens, purchased 467 acres over the 1890-1894 period. David, was by 1900, living in Nodaway, Missouri, so we might hypothesize that David sold his land to George.

By 1920, they were of retirement age and lived in a home at 143 Sommer St in Rushville with son Franklin and his daughters.

Their son Franklin was a merchant in town. He'd lost his first wife Minnie Rohwer in 1919 and his parents helped him raise his two girls (Ruth and Bernice) from that marriage before he married Florence Taylor in 1924. Franklin had another child, son Lowell, with Florence. By 1930, Frank and family were back on the Milan Precinct farm, where they farmed past 1940.

Daughter Hattie Belle Owens married Robert "Bert" Watson in 1912 in Rushville. They had a number of children and farmed in Milan Precinct. Bert died in 1946 and Hattie Belle died in 1989 in Rushville. They had nine children, most of whom would end up in Stanislaus County, California.

Daughter Ethel Josephine would marry Clinton C Millslagle in 1916. They would have seven children and would move on to Washington State. Ethel died in Centralia in Lewis County (date unknown) and husband Clyde would die in Olympia in 1962.

George Franklin would die 28 Jul 1935 in Rushville and his wife Mary Josephine Teller died 10 Jul 1920 in Rushville.

*Sources for this information are available upon request.

Back in the Bad Old Days: Bradford J St Charles

Police corruption in 1930s LA included
taking protection from the brothels

The parents of Sarah Edna Owens -  David Owens and Sarah Holler's story is here. Her daughter Elsie married Arthur V Shippey, a prominent citizen in Villa Grove, Saguache, Colorado after a brief first, failed marriage. Shippey served in the Colorado Statehouse. The daughter she had from that first union, Edna Elizabeth, went by her father's last name for legal purposes, but by Shippey for things like the census. The sperm-donor disappeared into the ether.

After the Shippey family left for California, they settled at 601 South Berendo in Los Angeles in the Wilshire Center neighborhood. They took on a boarder, a young policeman, divorced, whose father, Kean St Charles, had been a prominent politician in Arizona. Bradford J St Charles had been a policeman for a few years and eventually, Edna and Bradford married.  They had two children in short order: Betty Jo 1933 and Edward D., who was born after the trouble their dad would next find himself in.

In 1930s Los Angeles, the police department was still fairly corrupt, though the chiefs appointed in the 1930s made a lot of headway to clean things up. This corruption included taking protection money, turning a blind eye, and other less-than-lawful behavior on the part of those hired to serve and protect without added inducement.

In PRIVILEGED SON: OTIS CHANDLER AND THE RISE AND FALL OF THE LA TIMES DYNASTY by Dennis McDougal, Bradford merited a mention as one of those who got nabbed doing wrong but did not pay a price...yet:

"Like to Visit a Whorehouse?" LAPD Commander Bradford J St Charles sprang the

Bradford St Charles, 1935

surprise question on a reporter and a photographer employed by the Times late in a routine squad car ride along one evening in 1934, leaving the pair giddy and a little embarrassed, but certainly interested. St Charles parked in front of a two-story building in a non-descript Hollywood neighborhood and guided the Timesmen up the outside stairwell to a side porch where he rang the bell. While the journalist poised his pencil and the photographer got ready to snap a candid shot, the madam greeted the dapper cop with the Clark Gable mustache as if he were a relentless bill collector: 

"Officer St Charles!" she snarled, "I paid you last week."

After she slammed the door, St Charles turned, shrugged, and smiled guiltily. The mortified cop drove the Timesmen back to the precinct and the reporter raced off in his own car to the Times. But if he thought he was going to get a bonus for writing up this astonishing and incriminating incident, he was mistaken. Times editor LD Hotchkiss stopped him as he rolled paper into his typewriter and told him the Times would print no such story. A prostitute's payoff to a cop was routine stuff.

"Inconsequential," sniffed Hotchkiss.

LA in the mid-1930s was a bit more sophisticated than it had been in the 1920, but it was just as much a haven for whores, pimps, con men, and gamblers. Only the police/city hall middleman role had grown more refined, intimate, and low-key. The city still played host to such renowned madams as Lee Francis, who had served champagne and caviar to visiting vice officers throughout the Roaring Twenties, and Ann Forrester, aka "The Black Widow," who took her nickname from her incriminating address book. Forrester's little black book contained the names and private home numbers of many of the city's business elite as well as the LAPD brass, Commander St Charles among them.

But St Charles name would never see print in the LA Times just because he took protection money from prostitutes. The Times finally printed St Charles' name after he stepped so far over the legal line that even LD Hotchkiss could not ignore him. A few months after Hotchkiss killed the brothel payoff story, Asa Keyes' successor, District Attorney Burton Fitts, indicted Commander St Charles as chief informant for a gang of bank robbers; only then did the Times dutifully report that St Charles would spend the next fifteen years in San Quentin."

What would come next is St Charles was charged and convicted of robbery of the Securities-First National Bank, for being the "brains" behind the fairly bungled bank robbery.  According to his co-conspirators, he provided the gun, auto, and served as lookout. No one on the LAPD was willing to look the other way, and everyone moved full steam ahead to try him. The two actual robbers were caught immediately after an alarm was sent. They both testified against St Charles, who received a 15 year sentence (or two year sentence depending on report) but did not serve it at San Quentin, but instead served his time at McNeil Island Federal Penitentiary in Washington.

His 1935 appeal to the high court failed, as they refused to hear the case. St Charles always said it was a "frameup" but that was unlikely based on the careless manner he flaunted his corruption in front of the press. It appears as though he got out sometime before April 1943, as he enlisted in the US Army at that time. Edna divorced him along the way, marrying twice more. The whereabouts of her children are unknown, but Bradford died in New York State in 1971.

A point of quibble is that in the LA Times book, Bradford is referred to as a "Commander" but in other reports he was a "radio car patrol officer." That latter scenario is probably correct given his age and the description of his activities where he was visiting illegal businesses in his radio district.

Bradford's troubles didn't end in 1935, but we'll save that for another story.

The Prolific David Owens: Daughter Sarah Edna Owens Clark

Villa Grove, Saguache, Colorado
(photo unattributed)

David Owens, my 3rd great grandfather, married my 3rd great grandmother, Sarah Holler and they had a passle of kids. You can read their early story here.

Sarah Edna Owens was the daughter of David Owens and his first wife, Sarah Holler born in Poyner Township, Black Hawk County, Iowa on 30 Jul 1858. She married James Riley Clark on 09 Oct 1874 in Raymond, Black Hawk County. James Riley (he went by Riley for the most part) had a brother Emory, who married another Owens child, Emily.

The best way to tell Sarah's story is to reference her obituary:

MRS JR CLARK
Mrs JR Clark, the beloved proprietor of the Clark Hotel, of Villa Grove, Colorado, passed away Wednesday morning, March 5th, at 4:00 am at the Rio Grand Hospital, Salida, Colorado.

Her maiden name was Sarah E Owens, and she was born at Raymond Iowa, July 30th, 1858; and was married to James Riley Clark of Raymond, Iowa, Oct 9, 1874. They started west and stopped in Clay Center, Kansas, remaining there about five years and came to Colorado 37 years ago, locating at the Orient Mine. Mrs Clark was in charge of the boarding house and Mr Clark was interested in commercial enterprise..

Later, Mr Clark became engaged in business in Villa Grove, and they moved there, where Mrs Clark has been in the hotel business for the past 35 years, up to the time of her death. Had Mrs Clark lived until October 9th, she and Mr Clark would have celebrated their Golden Wedding.

To this union was born five children: Frank A., Ida May, Fred W., Elsie and Dorothea.
Mrs Clark is survived by her husband, James Riley Clark, and two daughters, Ida May Johns of Denver and Elsie C Shippey, wife of Representative Arthur V Shippey of Villa Grove, who were at her bedside, and her son Fred W Clark, who resides at San Jose, Calif.

She is also survived by a sister, Mrs Hattie Reynolds of Braddville, Iowa, who was with Mrs Clark at the end, and two other sisters, Mrs Margaret Brunson, living in Newburg, NY and Mrs Lucy Miller, of Vinton, Iowa and her two brothers, George Owens of Rushville, Nebr and David Owens of Burlington, Mo. Three grandchildren survive her: Mrs Thelma Wills, Betty Shippey and Tedbert Clark.

Funeral services were held at Villa Grove on Friday afternoon. Rev WH Miller of Saguache, officiating. He read the appropriate poem, "The House by the Side of the Road." Vocal selections were given by Dr OP Shippey, Mrs Eugene Williams, Mrs Carl Marold, Mrs Perry Campbell, Miss Johnson, and Tom Reese. Mrs HB Means accompanied them.

The following friends of the family were pall bearers: Jacob Barsch, Earl Wilson, Charles Gillespie, Robert Ellis, Eugene Williams and James C Freedle. Many lovely floral pieces were sent in loving memory of Mrs Clark. Interment was made at the family plot in Villa Grove, where her little Dorothea was interred.
Saguache Crescent, Colorado, 13 Mar 1924
===

The Clark Hotel was renamed The Cottage Hotel after the Clark's died. Their daughter, Mrs Ida May Johns took over management. How long that lasted, I haven't discovered.

I'm still working on the kids of Sarah and Riley, but was able to work a bit with the daughter, Elsie Clark who married first Carl C Hoffman and divorced, and then married Arthur Venters Shippey, the brother of the town doctor. They moved to Los Angeles with Elsie's daughter Edna Elizabeth (she went by both Hoffman and Shippey), where a boarder they took in would change their lives.

The Founding Families of Poyner Township

Zachariah Holler > John Holler > George Holler married Lucy Robertson 

George Elam Holler was the son of Johannes "John" Holler and Margaret Low. He was born about 1803 in Rowan County, North Carolina and traveled west with his family; first to Ohio, then to the Washington County, Indiana area.

George married Lucy H. Robertson in Washington County, Indiana on 18 Feb 1823. Recently, a death record was located that says George died 02 Feb 1841. He had died prior to the death of his father and was referenced in his will. In about mid-1853, John and his mother, his sister Sarah and husband David Owens (David was also born in North Carolina), her brother John, and sister Edna and husband William Wheeler and their families left Indiana and moved to Black Hawk County, Iowa, stopping briefly in Illinois along the way.

Nancy, Lucy, and Nathan Poyner are
buried on a section of Nathan's property
now the Poyner Twshp Cemetery

Nathan Poyner, of North Carolina, was a Baptist traveling preacher who had preached to pioneer flocks all over the country under shade trees. In the early 1850s, he located, along with his oldest son Thomas, to Linn County, Iowa.

Thomas purchased 200 acres of land in southeast Black Hawk County in 1851 for $102. He purchased another 160 acres for $228 the following year. Horatio Sanford, a land speculator who had purchased the land from the government a short time before using land warrants, made both sales. The Poyner's settled in southeast Black Hawk County in 1853.

The pioneers to this area built log cabins and began clearing land. Poyner preached to its residents under old shade trees as he had before. Settlers trickled in and the township, named Poyner township in honor of Nathan, was organized by order of the county judge in 1854. Nathan's wife, Nancy Johnston, was the first death in the township. She died in 1853 and was buried on a portion of Poyner land. This location is now part of Poyner Township Cemetery.

Mrs Lucy Holler then married Nathan in the summer of 1854, joining together two of the founding families of the township. In 1856, Poyner son James also moved from Linn County and purchased land in the township.  Nathan Poyner died 16 May 1867. His wife Lucy died 19 Aug 1889.

Sarah Holler, daughter of George and Lucy Holler, married David Owens while in Indiana, an early pioneer who joined the original seven families in the area. David was born in North Carolina and had also resided in Indiana. They had nine children, the middle of whom was Lucy Jane "Lizzie" Owens. Sarah died 20 Feb 1864. David married Elizabeth Brown on 21 Aug 1864 and she died 09 Jun 1866 in Poyner Township. Lucy married Ira S Miller (my 2nd great grandparents) 04 Nov 1869 and they resided in Polk Township, Benton County, Iowa for the remainder of her life. David Owens remarried once more, moving to nearby Barclay Township to farm, and then moved on to Davison County, South Dakota where he died 18 Feb 1909.

Edna Holler, Sarah's younger sister, had married William M Wheeler in Washington County prior to 1850. William had two children by his first marriage who both died as young adults and were buried in Poyner Township. Edna gave birth to eight children: William H., Mary, Emma, Thomas Grant, Albert, Lucy Ann, Henrietta, and Sarah J. Edna cared for her mother Lucy in her declining years until her death. The Wheeler’s remained in Poyner Township for the remainder of their lives. William died 10 Jun 1896 and Edna on 09 Sep 1895.

John B Holler married Harriet in about 1857 in Indiana. They had four children: Eliza, Hattie, Granville, and Edward. They lived in Poyner Township for the remainder of their lives. John died

31 May 1918 and Hattie in 1917.

A little family drama:  Nathan and his first wife had help raise a ward in addition to their children. James B. Edwards, who was born in Rappahannock County, Virginia, 11 Mar 1839. When a child, he came with his parents to Illinois where he was left an orphan at the age of 3 years.  Nathan and Lucy raised an additional ward, Isaac Walter Hollar, who was the orphaned son of Wesley Hollar (another son of Lucy & George Holler) of Indiana. It was reportedly Nathan's wish that the boys share equally in Thomas' land. Thomas, who never married, had a major hand in raising James who ended up farming Thomas' land after his death. After reaching his majority, Isaac struck out on his own in the Muscatine, Iowa area. In 1908, he brought suit in Iowa court over the land. Since no articles were found referencing the case after the suit, one might presume some sort of settlement was reached or the suit was dropped.

What isn't clear is what the original connections was between the Poyner and Holler families, which very well could extend for decades from their North Carolina origins, despite the serpentine nature of how all of them arrived in Poyner Township.