Personal Interview: When an Interview Flops!

Where the Smiths-Smulls First Collide
James Smith & Jennie Smull Wedding
My interview subject's grandparents

JACOB SMITH > JAMES SMITH > JACOB SMITH > JAMES SMITH

PETER SMULL > JOHNATHAN SMULL > JENNIE ELNORA SMULL

I had traced a woman, who was still living and in her 90s, AND was willing to talk to me after a brief phone call. She is related to me on both the Jacob SMITH and Jonathan SMULL sides of the family so I thought this was going to be a major score. The trip would be 300 miles round trip to the southwest part of the state and would take an entire day of my copious free time.

I arrived and was let into their home by their 69-year-old son who I'm sure wanted to be there to ensure I wasn't an ax murderer. The couple I would speak to were both from the Plainfield area originally and lived there from the 1920s through the 1940s with stops in Cedar Falls and Ames. They maintained close ties to their extended family and the town where they started. They settled in another small Iowa town, where he worked as a large animal vet. The Dr., though a couple years older, seemed to have better recall than his wife.

The problem was that the Mrs.was lost in specific stories, which she repeated verbatim throughout the time I was there and then asked me repeatedly who I was and who I was related to. It reminded me a great deal of conversations I had with my great grandmother as she slipped in and out on a dime into her Alzheimer's ravaged mind.

Jennie Smull & James Smith
She is my great grandmother's sister.
That looks like a wedding cake
for an anniversary
but then look none too happy, do they? 

Her recollections and storytelling ability were naught. The Dr. was able to fill in some blanks and I was able to pull some information out of him without too much effort, but it had entirely shifted the focus of the interview. And, they were lovely and gracious people, I'd just arrived 10-15 years too late.

I spent about an hour there and got a few little nuggets on them, but little else. With the exception of a photocopy of a photo that ended up making this 300-mile trek part of the discovery of 2016 for me. I'm not going to publish that here yet.

They handed me a sheet of paper with a photo of my entire family - my great grandparents and all of  their kids, including my grandmother. It was taken, it appears, in the late 1920s  and is the only photo in existence that includes all of them. I'd never seen Edwin Smith, my great grandfather, nor Mary, who I've written about here before. And, now I've seen them.

After I left there, I traveled back towards home, but veered even further north and went to the Willow Lawn Cemetery in Plainfield. I'd been there once before, early in my genealogy work, and took selective photos of those I knew were related. I had no idea where the journey would end up taking me then and went home with a few dozen photos.

This time, I walked the cemetery again and again focused only on those I knew were related to me and it took 2.5 hours to take all the hundreds of photos.

I'll not look at this as a wasted day.

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 Prolific David Owens: Son Emery Ellsworth Owens

A bit of ridiculous in the career of Emery Owens,
Police Chief, Mitchell, SD
Mitchell Evening Republican April 26, 1921

David Owens, my 3rd great grandfather, married my 3rd great grandmother, Sarah Holler  and had a passle of kids. He went on to have a passle more with his third wife, Anna. You can read their early story here.

I've spent the last little bit digging into the families of those children, with some frustration, some fascination and some questions, as I always seem to have.

Emery Ellsworth Owens of David Owens and his third wife, Anna Eliza Barker in Jan 1869 in Black Hawk County, Iowa. They David Owens clan eventually settled in Davison County, South Dakota, along with their children. Emery was quite a character, it seems. In the late 1910s, he served as Sheriff of Davison County. The papers are full of the crimes of the day, such daring bank robberies with blown safes and other nefarious crimes. In 1920, apparently with great reservation, the new mayor, Dr.  E. V. Bobb, appointed Emery Owens as Chief of Police of Mitchell, South Dakota, at a monthly salary of $175 per month. I say, with great reservation due to this transcribed article:

MAYOR BOBB MAKES OWENS CHIEF POLICE
NEW CITY ADMINISTRATION HOLDS ITS FIRST SESSION MONDAY EVENING
Owens Assumes Office
Former Sheriff of Davison County Gets Appointment - Council Approval Unanimous
Emery Owens, former sheriff of Davison County, was appointed chief of police of Mitchell for the coming year by Mayor EV Bobb at the opening session of the city council under the new administration. The appointment was unanimously approved by the council. An ordinance to raise the salaries of police officers was placed on its first reading at this meeting.

Mr Owens assumes office today. In making the appointment Mayor Bob made a straightforward talk to the council: "The police proposition has been a bone of contention in Mitchell as long as I can remember," he declared, "I had an idea that I was the smooth guy who wouldn't have any trouble, but I have found out different."

"I consulted many business men as to who would be best to appoint and found there were three or four good men, whom there appeared to be nothing against. Then a story was published in The Republican speaking of Mr Owens as a possible appointee, and it appeared that the city at large took it for granted that he was appointed."

"The next morning, however, an avalanche of protest poured in upon me and I found that friends who had backed me up in the campaign for election were bitterly opposed to this appointment. Charges were made against Owens which almost made me think by Friday evening that he was as bad as a horse thief. I have investigated these charges, however, and find that they are unfounded."

"Many of my friends warned me that I would get into a peck of trouble if I appointed Owens to this position, but if I refused to appoint him, it would appear that I believe the charges made against him were true. Besides, I feel that Owens is the best man that can be found for the position and I am going to appoint him to head the police department."
"I know that lack of harmony between the council an the mayor is on of the worst things that can happen and I regret that this kind of fight has been made against Owens. I am going to respectfully ask that you back me up, although I do not tell you to do so."

"Some of the charges made against Owens," Mayor Bobb continued, "have been made from personal enmity, some are from person who have heard them and believed them without complete proof, while some are from prejudice. Those who object to him because of hearsay or because of prejudice, will forget their objections if he makes good during the first two months, although the others will remember. I believe that he will make a good, substantial officer with the proper backing."...(other city business)...The ordinance dealing with the raising of the salaries of the policemen, provides that the chief be paid $175 per month and the patrolmen $110 per month.
Mitchell Evening Republican May 4, 1920

What the basis was for the innuendo, gossip, and discussion was not made clear in any of the articles - that might tread into libel territory. 

But, Chief Owens began his term, having successes including hauling in thousands of quarts of alcohol, many having come from over the border of Canada, during the early years of The Volstead Act (Prohibition). He also took a firm stand on jaywalkers.

Whatever caused the issues before he was appointed, may have lingered, because in 1922, the council wanted to be rid of him, but the Mayor refused to fire Owens and Owens refused to resign. The council put a special ordinance on the ballot in early 1923 which would reduce the Chief's wages to $1 per year, to force Owens out. The ordinance was passed by the town of Mitchell by a majority of 92 votes. Owens stayed. Bobb dug in.

Finally, in May of 1923, Owens resigned. A new chief was appointed. Owens sued the city in 1925 for back wages, saying the ordinance itself was illegal. No reference to the outcome of that suit was published that I can locate, so we could speculate it was settled quietly.

Emery was married to the English Rose, Alice Taylor in 1893 - but they divorced. They had two children, Mabel Gladys Owens Soost, who farmed with her husband Fred. She died in 1981; and Nellie Elma Owens Larson whose husband Robert Henry Larson was a salesman out of Brookings. She died in 1973 and left three children.

MYSTERY SOLVED: Hattie Stella Miller, A Little Bit of Unconventional

The Mystery of Hattie Miller SOLVED

Ira Smith Miller & Lucy Owens > Hattie Stella Miller m. (1) Charles Henry Babcock m. (2) LeRoy "Roy" William Bushnell

Hattie was the second youngest of nine children of Ira Miller and Lucy Owens. She waited some time to marry (an elderly 22), however, and married a rather unconventional choice in husband on 09 May 1916 - a widower and father of two grown daughters, Charles Henry Babcock, a farmer in Harrison, Benton County, Iowa. Charles was 60 at the time of his marriage to the young Hattie. How they met and got together I don't know. I bet it put his daughters into a tizz.

They had one daughter, Susie Josephine Babcock, before Charles died in 1930 at age 77. She married (1) Ralph Theodore Smith and (2) Earl W Amos.

Tracking Hattie after this became very difficult. The 1930 Census was the last sight of her in easily located records via Ancestry.com. The only thing I could imagine is that she married again, because she was a rather young woman when widowed.

After fully tracking her daughter through her two marriages, the answer was found not in records, but in the newspaper. A brief article mentioning her daughter, Mrs Earl Amos, as a survivor was the key. This was Hattie's obit! She had, it turned out, spent from at least 1940 until 1957 the sweetheart/mistress/ shack-up honey of Roy Bushnell. Roy, too, had been married before and that union ended in divorce prior to 1940.

Finally, something compelled Roy to marry Hattie, who was eight years older than him, on New Year's Eve, 1957. They lived in Vinton until Hattie died in 1963. Roy, who apparently liked the long-term dating model, then took up with Mrs Vera Talmadge, who he squired about from about 1965 into the 1970s. He died at 87 in 1987.

A string of children litter this story - the children of Charles, the children of Roy, the children of Earl, Susie's second husband, their children, and the children of Susie - only a couple of whom were raised by both of their parents.

Another mystery solved by putting the pieces together backwards.

Going Beyond the Details - The Nashua Reporter

I've been pouring over newspapers the last couple of weeks trying to find out something about the actual lives of some of my long-dead relatives. I've subscribed, at various times, to several different services, but despite ancestry.com's partnership with newspapers.com, I generally find I like newspaperarchives.com much better for easy retrieval and review.

One of the papers this service offers is from Nashua, Iowa. The Nashua Reporter from 1899 to the early 1980s. Early on, there were news notes from each town and township I call the "gossip column." It is chock-full of who went to this house or that for dinner, shopped out of town on the weekend, or visited or had visiting relatives. It's a great source to find spouse names, what they did, where they moved to once they left the area, and service information, especially during World War II.

I've found the answers to many mysteries or at least grabbed a thread that allowed me to fill in blanks in standard records. I discovered the long, interesting marital history of my great aunt Mary and just recently discovered that her sister, Bernice Smith Beckage, who lost her husband Andrew Beckage suddenly in 1947, almost immediately remarried her second husband whose existence I've never heard about from anyone. My guess is the marriage didn't last too long and she reverted to her first husband's name after that marriage.

Papers like the Nashua Reporter were a treasure. They show the ties that span through families and marriages and the triumphs, trials, and tribulations of generations of relatives. While I'll never find out why my Great Grandma Kate Smull Smith was so ornery, I do get to see that her children and their children were frequent visitors and who cared for her through the years after her husband's death.

I took a liking to this young fellow, who married one of my relatives, I couldn't for the life of me
figure out why they left Iowa for Albuquerque, New Mexico. I had assumed it was job-related - he was a grocery wholesaler and retailer throughout his life. Turns out I was wrong- it was a very bad case of tuberculosis that sent him to drier climes and he had a sister, Mrs DO Marshall living in Albuquerque. He also went into the real estate business in 1929 (Walter K Spurgeon Realty - later Walter K Spurgeon Courteous Realty) and as late as 1945, not the grocery business. He returned to that business, as a clerk, once they moved to California. This is what I found on he and his young wife, Leona Smith Spurgeon, daughter of Harland Smith and Fannie Magoon Smith:

Walter Spurgeon, who had been spending a few days at the Harland Smith home, returned Friday morning to his home at Boone. Miss Leona Smith accompanied him as far as Cedar Falls.
Nashua Reporter March 26, 1914
===
Walter Spurgeon, who had been spending a few days at the Harland Smith home, returned Friday morning to his home at Boone. Miss Leona Smith accompanied him as far as Cedar Falls.
Nashua Reporter March 26, 1914
===
LEONA SMITH A BIRDE
WEDS WALTER SPURGEON AT BOONE DECEMBER 27
At the home of Otis L Spurgeon, 1515 12th St Des Moines on Wednesday afternoon, at 5:00, occurred the marriage of Walter K Spurgeon, of Boone, Iowa, to Miss Leona Smith, of Nashua, Iowa. The ceremony was performed by Otis L Spurgeon, brother of the groom. The bride is the daughter of Mr & Mrs Harland Smith of this city. She was a former member of Mr Spurgeon's congregation at Nashua, he having baptized her into the church. She was during his stay here his efficient organist. The bride is of charming personality and a fine musician. Mr Spurgeon has been for a number of years a traveling salesman, but with the first of the coming year will enter into business with his father at Boone, where the parent is already engaged in the grocery and meat business. The young couple go to housekeeping at once in a home already furnished and will be at home to their friends on 10th St, Boone, Iowa.
Nashua Reporter January 4, 1917
===
Mrs Walter Spurgeon who had been spending a couple of weeks at the house of her parents, Mr & Mrs Harland Smith, returned Friday to her home at Boone.
Nashua Reporter August 1, 1918
===
Mrs Harland Smith went to Boone Thursday morning to nurse her daughter, Mrs Walter Spurgeon through a case of influenza. Mr Spurgeon is just recovering from an attack of the disease.
Nashua Reporter November 21, 1918
===
Mrs Harland Smith returned from Boone Monday where she had been called by the illness of her daughter Mrs Walter Spurgeon. She reports that Mrs Spurgeon is much improved and able to be about once more.
Nashua Reporter May 8, 1919
===
Mrs Walter Spurgeon of Boone, who had been spending a few weeks with her parents Mr & Mrs Harland Smith, went to Minneapolis Thursday to visit her sister, Mrs Corey.
Nashua Reporter July 31, 1919
===
Mrs Walter Spurgeon of Boone, who had been here visiting her parents, Mr & Mrs Harland Smith, left for Minneapolis Monday to visit her sister, Mrs Percy Corey.
Nashua Reporter April 1, 1920
===
Mrs Walter Spurgeon and baby of Boone, arrived Saturday for a visit with her parents, Mr & Mrs Harland Smith.
Nashua Reporter February 9, 1922
===
Mirt Smith and Harland Smith autoed  to Cedar Falls Monday to visit the latter's daughter. Mrs Walter Spurgeon and little son of Boone, who came for a visit with her parents and other relatives and friends.
Nashua Reporter June 22, 1922, p 1
===
For Marcelles 50 cents and bob curl 25c. See Leona Spurgeon, 1st door north of Reporter office. 16-2
Nashua Reporter December 3, 1924
===
Mrs Beulah Lewis and little daughter, Betty of Boone, came Saturday evening to visit her brother and his wife, Mr & Mrs Walter Spurgeon, at the Harland Smith home.
Nashua Reporter February 4, 1925
===
Methodist Episcopal Church, Elmer Shafer, Minister
...The special musical number for the morning was the solo by Mrs Leona Spurgeon, sung in a very effective manner. It was entitled, "Oh, What a King."
Nashua Reporter February 25, 1925
===
Mrs Walter Spurgeon and little son arrived Wednesday of last week from Boone, to remain a few weeks with her parents, Mr & Mrs Harland Smith.
Nashua Reporter August 19, 1925
===
Walter Spurgeon, who Has been for several weeks receiving treatment at the sanitarium at Oakdale, is able to return home and is with his family at the Harland Smith home.
Waterloo Evening Courier January 8, 1925, p 14
===
Walter Spurgeon who had been spending several weeks with his wife at the home of her parents, Mr & Mrs Harland Smith, went to Boone, Iowa, Thursday to spend a few weeks with his parents, Mr Spurgeon, who had been at Oakdale Sanitarium for some time taking treatments, before coming to Nashua, is gaining steadily in health.
Nashua Reporter March 4, 1925
===
Mrs. Leona Spurgeon and little son Richard have returned to Boone. after  visiting at the home of her parents.Mr. and Mrs. Harland Smith
Nashua Reporter September 2, 1925, pg 8
===
Friends of Mr & Mrs Walter Spurgeon, who went to Albuquerque, NM, about a year ago to seek relief for Mr Spurgeon who was suffering from tuberculosis, will be glad to learn that he is much better and expects soon to go to work. At first, he did not improve satisfactorily and the only chance he had, which was one out of ten, was to have his affected lung collapsed, and he took the chance with the above result. Mrs Spurgeon is employed in the offices of the Great Western Railway.
Nashua Reporter December 8, 1926
===
Mr & Mrs Walter K Spurgeon, 1208 East Roma Ave, are enjoying a visit fro Mr Spurgeon's brother, Rev Otis L Spurgeon, pastor, Trinity Baptist Church, Kansas City, Mo. Rev Spurgeon was a chaplain in the World War and is a captain in the 443rd Field Artillery, ROTC. He is also a lecturer widely known over the country, being in demand before public schools and dinner clubs for his lectures on Character Analysis and Applied Psychology. Also a Kiwanian and a Mason, Rev Spurgeon is also a brother of Mrs DO Marshall of this city.
Albuquerque Journal March 28, 1929
===
Walter K Spurgeon Real Estate 1208 East Roma Ave Phone 2867-R.
Albuquerque Journal July 2, 1929
===
Modern home with big sleeping porch, price only $3,000 on easy terms. Walter K Spurgeon, 694 East Central.
Albuquerque Journal August 26, 1929
===
In a pretty home wedding Wednesday morning, Rev Otis L Spurgeon peformed the ceremony uniting his daughter, Miss Velma Spurgeon and Herbert C Chandler of San Francisco in marriage. The ceremony was read at 10 o'clock at the home of the bride's uncle, Walter K Spurgeon, 1208 East Roma Ave.

The bride was gowned in a blue chiffon velvet ensemble, the jacket covering a blouse of eggshell satin. Her hat of dark blue velvet and other accessories matched. Miss Roberta Spurgeon, who attended her sister as maid of honor wore a dress of heavy flowered crepe in blue and white. Walter K Spurgeon the bride's uncle, acted as best man to Mr Chandler.

After the ceremony, a wedding breakfast was served to the bridal party and the ten guests present: Rev & Mrs Otis L Spurgeon, Mr & Mrs SA Spurgeon, Mr & Mrs WK Spurgen, Mr & Mrs DO Marshall, and the mIsses Esther Jensen and Carrie Swendson.

Mr & Mrs Chandler left Wednesday afternoon for a short honeymoon of unannounced destination after which they will be at home at the El Centro apartments, 270 Turk St, San Francisco, Cal.

The bride attended Des Moines College, the bridegroom Texas University. Mr Chandler is branch manager on the west coast for the Holcomb & Hoke Manufacturing company of Indianapolis. Mrs Chandler was formerly secretary to Dr OA Cox.
Albuquerque Journal October 17, 1929
===
Mr & Mrs Walter Spurgeon and son, of Albuquerque, NM, arrived Tuesday evening of last week by auto for a visit with Mrs Spurgeon's parents, Mr & Mrs Harland Smith, and her brother, Will Smith and family.
Nashua Reporter July 22, 1931
===
Mrs Walter Spurgeon of Albuquerque, NM, who was called here by the illness and death of her father, the late Harland Smith, returned home Wednesday of last week.
Nashua Reporter December 13, 1933
===
Mrs Walter Spurgeon of Albuquerque, NM, came last week to visit her mother, Mrs Harland Smith.
Nashua Reporter May 20, 1936
===
Mr & Mrs Walter Spurgeon of Albuquerque, NM, came last week for a visit with her mother, Mrs Harland Smith, and her brother, Will Smith and wife. Mrs Harland Smith accompanied them to Minneapolis, where they visited another of her daughters, Mrs PE Corey and husband. They also visited relatives and friends at Duluth returning to Nashua last Wednesday, after which Mr & Mrs Spurgeon started home.
Nashua Reporter June 18, 1941
===
Mrs Fannie Smith, who suffered a severe stroke Thursday, was slightly improved Friday. She was alone in her home at the time she was stricken, and was found lying across the bed by Mrs John Anderson, who went to the home to call. Her daughter, Mrs Percy Corey, and husband of Minneapolis, Minn and another daughter, Mrs Leona Spurgeon of Albuquerque, N M were summoned to her bedside.
Waterloo Daily Courier April 12, 1942, pg 20
===
Mrs Walter Spurgeon of Albuquerque, NM, has returned to her home, after helping care for her mother, Mrs Harland Smith, who suffered a stroke about a month ago.
Nashua Reporter May 13, 1942
===
Couple 18 years residence wants unfurnished duplex or apartment. References Walter Spurgeon. B Apartment No 21.
Albuquerque Journal April 12, 1944
===
Attractive Duplex in Heights. Two bedrooms ech. Walter Spurgeon with Karr A Kichenberger, 311 West Gold.
Albuquerque Journal June 10, 1944
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PFC Richard K Spurgeon, son of Mr & Mrs Walter Spurgeon, 1002 North Fifth, is serving as a photographer at an air depot of the Air Service Command in the Netherlands East Indies.
Albuquerque Journal April 18, 1945
===
SMALL grocery and filling station, stock andand fixtures only, Good little business. Walter K. Spurgeon. Fifth and Grant e5840 Albuquerque Journal May 29, 1945
Albuquerque Journal May 29, 1945
===
30 Years Ago
Grandpa and Grandma Harland Smith are waring the smile that won't come off, all on account of a card which they received telling of the birth of a 7-pound son at the home of Mr & Mrs Walter Spurgeon in Duluth, on Aug 3, 1920.
Nashua Reporter August 16, 1950
===
Built for two, home and half acre, furnished. Walter K Spurgeon, 5840.
Albuquerque Journal May 31, 1945
===
30 Years Ago
Mrs Harland Smith went to Minneapolis Friday to get acquainted with the new grandson at the Walter Spurgeon home.
Nashua Reporter August 23, 1950
===

 The Spurgeon's moved to Southern California after New Mexico, and died there.

Without this valuable resource, Walter's life might have been missed in a cut and paste the records and move on kind of way.

Sundance, Wyoming and the Bowers Family

Mount Moriah Cemetery, Sundance, Wyoming

I finally took a real vacation this year. Traveling with my dear friend, Nancy, we traversed all of South Dakota and went into Wyoming to see Devil's Tower (aka Bear Lodge). Nearby, was the beautiful little ranching town of Sundance, Wyoming in Crook County.

Nancy is not a genealogist, but kindly indulged me for the one genealogy stop-off I wanted to make. Look back to Agnes Watson Smith Bowers' story here. I found her particularly interesting because of the path her life took.

The cemetery entrance was a challenge; it looked like an ATV path and not a drive. Signs posted said, "Private Property" and "Unmaintained Road." We took a chance and slowly moved up the hill meeting with a very tired old gravel road, full of pits, until suddenly, there was a maintained gravel road. Over the crest we found the vast expanse of the cemetery, maintained well. It was fairly easy to locate my relatives including Agnes, her son James Harvey, his wife Amalia Reinhold, and her second husband Wyman Henry Bushnell. I also located Agnes' sister Belle Watson and her husband James Benjamin Richardson's grave nearby.

On the way to the cemetery, we stopped at the very charming and well-put-together Crook County Museum and I picked up the book, "Pioneers of Crook County" which is quoted in my first piece on Agnes (see above link). Government Valley is located just outside of Sundance. There was an additional good story about James Benjamin Richards and Belle Watson I want to share from that book as well:

Agnes's sister Belle and husband
J B Richardson

"A short time after James and Isabelle Richardson had moved to the head of Government Valley, he had gone hunting leaving Isabelle and baby son John with his hunting dogs for protection. One bright moonlight night pandemonium broke out among the dogs. Isabelle looked out her bearskin door and saw a huge bear about 100 yards below the cabin. The dogs were so frightened they climbed on the hay stack in the corral leaving their mistress with only a bearskin door between her baby, herself and the big bear. Fortunately the bear went away but the next morning a cowboy rode in and told her he had never seen such big bear tracks. They measured from the tip of his fingers to his elbows when he laid his arm in the track."

"A few years after James and Isabelle Richardson had settled at the head of Government Valley, she had finally acquired a Home Comfort cooking range. One day they had a gentleman visitor from Lead, South Dakota. He offered Mrs. Richardson five (5) shares of Homestake Mining Stock for the range. She did not hesitate in telling him no, not realizing she was turning down what would become a very large amount of money. At that time the range was worth much more to her than any mining shares."
source: Pioneers of Crook County, paragraphs 2-3, pp. 423-424.