Uncle Orville

His birth day was April 20, 1914, this photo is marked "Orville, 7 weeks". Orville Callahan was the third child of Art & Sadie McGrath. He joined his older brother and sister, Virgil and Alice at home in Eldorado, Nebraska. Little sister Violet, my Grandma, came along three years later. Orville lived in Eldorado just a few years, by 1910 the family moved to Aurora where he attended school, his name appearing on the honor roll multiple times. In high school he received a Remington certificate for his typing skills. 

He displayed some acting skills as well. In the Junior Class play "Take My Advice" at Aurora High School, Orville was "very good" as Kerry Van Kind according to the review in the Aurora newspaper. The Senior class play was "The Ghost Parade", Orville played a character named simply "Jones".  He graduated from Aurora High School with the Class of 1932.

The Aurorean, 1932, courtesy of Ancestry.com

In June, 1933 he enrolled in the Civilian Conservation Corps at Fort Crook in Omaha. He served in Chadron for one year and worked as a grocery clerk, a plumber and was also tasked with exterminating prairie dogs. For his service he received $30 per month plus room and board, the requirement was that he send $22-25 of that home to his parents. He got to go home for Christmas.

After his CCC service, he joined his brother Virg working in the Produce & Feed Store in Aurora. At age 26, he decided to further his education and in 1940 moved to Washington, DC to attend the Benjamin Franklin University, a school of "accountancy". Maybe it was an ad like this that caught his attention.

Evening Star, Washington DC, January 7, 1940

A year later he started his career with the US Government, which was interrupted by his service in World War II. He was involved in the action at Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. My attempt to have his service file retrieved was unsuccessful, it may have been one that burned in a fire at the National Archives.

While in DC, he met Ethel Jaeschke, who had been married to Revedy McPherson whom she divorced. She was employed in the US Treasury Department. She wouldn't like it if I mentioned that she was older than Orville. I remember Aunt Ethel, I liked her, she sent me birthday cards. So I won't say how much older she was (but she was 3 in 1910.)

On Friday, the 23rd of August, 1946 Orville and Ethel tied the knot in Baltimore, Maryland. The ceremony location is not given, they possibly went before a Judge. No one from Uncle Orville's side of the family made the trip as far as I know. I'm not sure when they heard about this event - before or after the fact. It wasn't mentioned in his hometown paper.

In 1951, Uncle Orville and Aunt Ethel moved to Denver, Colorado where he went to work as an auditor in the US General Accounting Office. For several years they lived at 1120 Jasmine Street, Denver. They didn't have any children.

Taken in Aurora, Nebraska in 1956, (L-R) Art, Orville, Sadie and Ethel McGrath

Orville was an active member of several fraternal organizations in the Denver area including the Dawn Chapter #125 Order of the Eastern Star, Rocky Mountain Consistory Scottish Rite Foundation, Colorado Commandery 1 of Knights Templar, Denver RAM Chapter 2 and past master and charter senior warder of Revelation Masonic Lodge 180. He was also a member of the Augustana Lutheran Church. 

On the evening of October 9, 1969 at just 55 years of age Uncle Orville died at his home at 755 S Alton Way, Denver, Colorado. Funeral services were held at Moore Mortuary in Colorado and then again at Higby Mortuary in Aurora, Nebraska. Masonic rites were conducted by the local Mason Lodge 68 AF & AM. His grave in the Aurora Cemetery is near his parents, who both preceded him in death, He was the first of his siblings to pass away. I have no specific memory of Uncle Orville, but I'm sure I saw him a few times. In every picture I have of him, he has a big smile just like in the one above.

A Few Days Illness

There is not much I know about Nellie Gaisford. She was the eighth child of Charles and Henrietta Gaisford, born in 1883 just a year after my Great Grandmother Cora. Nellie never married, and didn't have an occupation in 1910 at the age of 26, but she was able to read and write. 

The Ellis news columns in the Beatrice Daily Sun often told of Nellie and her older sister Mamie going to visit with other siblings and their families. Mamie was 13 years older than Nellie. One of those mentions in 1914 even tells that they "drove" to a sister's place. What did they drive? Did someone in the family have a car in 1914? Checking for an operator's license is pointless, they weren't required in Nebraska until 1929. I wonder if Nellie was involved in the womens suffrage campaign. She didn't live long enough to see women win the right to vote. With no more than I know about her, Nellie appeared to live a carefree life doing as she pleased. 

And then in flu enza.

Beatrice Daily Express, Jan. 11, 1919

Beatrice Daily Express, Jan. 11, 1919

Great Grandma Allie Knew Her Chickens

Allie Bell took First Prize at the Jewell County (Kansas) Fall Festival for both Cock and Hen with Plymouth Rock - Buffs in the Department H Poultry division, and received First for the Young Pen category with her Leghorns - Buff. She got a total of $5.00 in premiums in October, 1920. She took the prize for Young Pen, Buff Leghorns again in 1921. She also won prizes over three years of exhibiting for her apples, beets, beans, and a knitted scarf, and received 4th place for a decorated cake. 

Those little bits of insight into an ancestor's life are fun to find in old newspapers. Thanks to a free weekend of a newspaper subscription site, I found all of this information and more about my Great Grandmother Allie Bell. These clippings were all about her prized chickens. Looks like she made good money with them, despite a set-back once in a while. Her competition was underselling her, but she sold "pure bred from selected pens". By 1924, her newspaper ad was quite a bit larger than in 1919 (I only found the one). 

1919

Jewell Co Monitor, March 7, 1919

White Leghorn eggs, Yesterlaid Strain - 75c per dozen or $4.00 per 100 eggs. Also Buff Rock eggs, 75c for 15. - Allie Bell, Esbon, Kansas, Ionia phone 3052. 

1921

Jewell County Monitor, March 18, 1921

For Sale: - Eggs for hatching. Buff Leghorns and Buff Rocks, Pure bred from selected pens. $6.00 per hundred or $1.50 per setting at the farm or delivered at Ionia. - Mrs Allie Bell, Ebson, Kansas - Ionia phone No. 3052

1922

Jewell County Monitor, March 3, 1922

Mrs. Cicero Bell is the first to report a brood of young chicks. She now has about 50 little chicks and about 600 eggs setting. She said she sold about $950 worth of eggs and chickens last year. She thinks she can do better this year. Mrs. Bell raises only purebred chickens and says they are the only kind that pays and Mrs. Belle ought to know as she has been in the chicken business for a long time and has tried both pure bred and mixed flocks. 

Jewell County Monitor, October 6, 1922

Mr. and Mrs. Cicero Bell of the Ionia country were in town last Saturday. Mrs. Bell has just received a $50 pen of fancy Barred Plymouth Rock chickens from Iowa of which she is justly proud. 

Western Advocate, March 23, 1922

Mrs. Cicero Bell came near having quite a blaze on account of the lamp in one of her incubators exploding. 

1923

Jewell County Monitor, February 2, 1923

Mr. and Mrs. Cicero Bell were in Mankato, Friday, attending the Poultry show. Mrs. Bell did not make and [any] exhibits at the Poultry show this year, but she had some fine fouls in her pens. 

Jewell Co Monitor, March 2, 1923

Mrs. Cicero Bell reports over 500 baby chicks over two weeks old and doing nicely. Besides hatching and caring for that number of chicks, Mrs. Bell has had to care for her entire family of boys, five of them, during this recent seige of flu. 

In this same issue, she was reported to have bought some "fine purebred chickens at Jewell last Saturday", and then just a couple weeks later... 

 

Jewell County Monitor, March 23, 1923

Mrs. Cicero Bell suffered quite a loss when she smothered some 385 little chickens last Monday night.

1924

Western Advocate, February 28, 1924

Friday's Faces from the Past - May 9, 1915

Both of the photos below have the date May 9, 1915 written on them (I cropped it off the group photo). One year earlier, May 9, 1914, was the first official "Mother's Day". Is that the occasion here? 

This looks like it might be a group of siblings or cousins. One woman is holding a baby, maybe there is an in-law included. They may be a combination of families or generations, and I can't determine whether or not they belong in my family tree. These were with the stash of photos that once belonged to my Great Grandma Sadie (Negley) McGrath. In 1915, she was married to Art McGrath, they had 3 young children and they lived in either York or Hamilton County, Nebraska. But I don't know where these were taken or where these people lived. These are approximately 5" x 7" post cards that were never sent to anyone.

Lon and Ralph look like two wild and crazy guys!  

Do you know Lon & Ralph?

At Auction, April 24, 1962

My Great Grandma Sadie's brother Bill Negley was a bachelor his whole life. He farmed with his father Josiah Negley until taking a job as section foreman for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad. In 1914 he purchased a general store and Sinclair gas station in Eldorado which he operated until his retirement in 1937 with no more than an eighth grade education. The store also served as the Eldorado Post Office with Bill as Postmaster. His brother Cal also helped run the store. After retiring from the store, his income came from his investments in cattle and rental properties. Bill passed away suddenly at his home in Aurora on December 10, 1961 at 78 years old.

Bill bought and sold a lot of properties through the years. I have the deeds to these five tracts and several more. He bought Tract No. 1 & 1-A in June of 1948 for $9600. Tract No. 2 he bought in February 1937 for $2340. Tract No. 3 he purchased in January 1951, no amount was mentioned in the deed. In October 1948 he bought Tract No. 4 for $5000, my Grandpa Stanley Bell bought this one at the auction. Tract No. 5 Bill bought in May 1951 for $2400. The total sales of these tracts brought $55,100.00. 

AT AUCTION!

440 ACRES UNIMPROVED HAMILTON COUNTY LAND

Will be sold to the Highest Bidder - on 

TUESDAY, APRIL 24th, 1962

COMMENCING AT 2:00 P.M.

At East Entrance to the Courthouse, Aurora, Nebraska

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TRACT NOS. 1 & 1-A

NW1/4, Section 27, Township 9 North, Range 6, West of the 6th P.M., Hamilton County, Nebraska, on Highway No. 14. This 160 acres will be split east and west, making two 80-acre tracts.

TRACT NO. 1 - North Half is all in cultivation, has 10 acres of growing wheat, 10 acres of alfalfa, remaining will be milo. Marion Salmon is the Tenant.

TRACT NO. 1-A - South Half has 10 acres growing wheat, and 40 acres of Alfalfa. Stanley Bell is the Tenant.

This will also be offered as a 160-acre unit. The high bid closes the sale.

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TRACT NO. 2

S1/2 SW1/4, Section 35, Township 9 North, Range 6, West of the 6th P.M., Hamilton County, Nebraska, one mile east of Highway No. 14 on Hamilton-Clay County line. Folks desiring pasture, inspect this tract. There is 30 acres of native pasture, 20 acres brome and 30 acres of alfalfa. This is on cash rent basis to Dayton Bauder, Tenant.

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TRACT NO. 3

N1/2 SW1/4, Section 8, Township 9 North, Range 6, West of the 6th P.M., Hamilton County, Nebraska, located 6 miles south on Highway No. 14, 2 miles west and 1/2 mile south. Joins what formerly was Cain Schoolhouse site, all in cultivation, 10 acres growing wheat, balance will be in milo. Theo Janzen, Tenant.

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TRACT NO. 4

E1/2 NW1/4, Section 14, Township 9 North, Range 7, West of the 6th P.M., Hamilton County, Nebraska, located 4-1/2 miles southeast of Giltner, across the road from Seatonville Cemetery. All is in cultivation, 29 acres of growing wheat, balance will be milo. Stanley Bell is the Tenant.

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TRACT NO. 5

SE1/4 SW1/4, Section 23, Township 9 North, Range 7, West of the 6th P.M., Hamilton County, Nebraska, located 1 mile south of Bingville corner and 1/2 mile west, all in cultivation, no growing wheat. Stanley Bell is the tenant.

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Above lands are leased for 1962 crop year. Landlord's crop share and cash rent will be assigned to buyers together with future government payments. These lands are in the Feed Grain Program, 40%.

Any member of Auction Company will be pleased to show any of these lands at any time.

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TERMS: 15% DAY OF SALE. BALANCE IN 30 DAYS!

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Estate of William D. Negley

CHARLES F ADAMS AND VIRGIL C MCGRATH, Executors

SALE CONDUCTED BY

Coblentz-Refshauge Realty Auction Co.

Phone 31     AURORA, NEBR

ORVILLE V NIELSEN, Clerk

Los Angeles Ladies Quartet 1917

Los Angeles Evening Express, March 14, 1917, courtesy of https://cdnc.ucr.edu/ 

The way I read this, the woman at the top (or in the back) is Mrs Gertrude Bailey. On the left is Mrs Hallie Swartz and on the right is Mrs Carl Johnson. And the woman in the middle is Mrs Merlin McKee, or Belle. I've written about my search for a photo of Belle before. It took me just over a year after that post to find this. I'm still hoping to find more. 

Hallie sang first soporano, Gertrude second soprano, Belle first alto and Mrs Carl Johnson second alto. Their performances were usually at Social Clubs or sometimes Church functions. Some of their scheduled events as reported in the Los Angeles Herald for the first part of 1917 were as follows:

• January 30 - the Women's Wednesday Morning Club
• February 9 - the Liberty Club
• February 21 - at the Huntington in Pasadena
• March 7 - the Gamut Club
• March 14 - the Gamut Club

It's difficult to learn more about the women, especially Mrs Carl Johnson, without more information. I do find in Los Angeles city directories that Hallie and Belle were both music teachers. Belle is the half-sister of my Second Great Grandmother, Lena (Jorgenson) Roscoe. Learning more about these women is a little project of mine. If you know anything about them or the "Los Angeles Ladies Quartet", I'd love to hear from you. 

Mother May Have

I'm so thankful that times have changed.

This first note below is from Mary C. Roscoe, my Third Great Grandmother. This is the earliest one of several I have, but it sounds like there was at least one before. These were included in the probate file of David A Roscoe, her husband, who died without a will on May 13, 1884 in DeWitt, Nebraska. Their son Ervin, died a year and a half later on November 29, 1886. Mary was forced to request money from the estate to help with the expenses of burying their eighteen year old son.

The second note is one of several "permission slips" signed by three of her four oldest boys - William, Sherman, George, and Franklin, who were all over the age of 18 when their father died. Her daughter Nancy was married and 29 years old, and was never a factor in the matter.

DeWitt, Jan. 14, 1887
Judge Ryan
Kind Sir,
Please, I would like to ask you if you will give my Administrater authority to pay me another hundred dollars as my children are all willing that I should have it.
Since my application for that hundred, which Mr. Davis, applied for, I have had to be to the expense of my sons burial, and after paying the undertaker and paying for my hay, and some of his doctor bill, it don't leave a dollar for me to pay my coal dealer, or the druggist, and a few others which I had thought to straighten up (continued on back)

1/15 A by requests of heirs (this was maybe written by the Judge?)

(back side, not pictured)
I am aware that it will reduce my interest money. But the older boys all say that they want me to have money sufficient to live on, and keep the two younger boys, while I live, and they think if they keep their health, when it is gone, there will be money to be earned.
Now Judge Please write me, your opinion on this, and oblige, Mrs. M. Roscoe, DeWitt



DeWitt, Neb. Jan. 17th
Jas. W. Rhine County Judge
Sir this is to certify that we the undersigned are perfectly willing that Mother may have one hundred dollars. $100.

George Roscoe
Frank Roscoe
Sherman I Roscoe






A hundred dollars in 1887 compares to $2,715 today. 

David and Mary were married April 6, 1854 in Utica, New York. Ten years later, they moved with their young family of 5 children at that time to Peotone, Illinois where they spent the next 20 years. Five more children were born in Peotone. They had just moved to DeWitt, Nebraska a few short months before David's death.

Over the course of the eight and a half years that the estate was in probate, Mary had to make several requests for money to cover her living expenses and other necessities like coal, doctors bills, tuition and clothing for the younger boys. Besides Ervin, when David died Bert was 14, Edward was 10 and Charles was 8. 

I don't think Mary was very satisfied with Mr Richard Davis, the Administrator of the estate. In some of the notes, Mary asks the Judge to "hurry him up, if it is in your power to do so", and says "he is very slow and easy". She also said, "I don't think it need concern him how much money I draw, as my boys are will for me to have it."

Final settlement of the estate was made in January of 1893 and Mary received $16.22. Her marriage to Lyman Adams in September of 1891 probably eliminated her from any claim to a part of the estate. There are several other documents in the file that I have yet to sort out. I'm focused on these notes for now. 

Lyman Adams left Mary a widow again in 1894. She died in 1923, living long enough to see women win the right to vote. I've tried to see if she was a registered voter in 1920, but I was told they don't have those records.

I am so thankful that times have changed.