Genealogy -- What A Tangled Web You Weave

A series of obituaries has a branch of my tree turned all sorts of backwards and upside down.

This blog post will be my attempt at unravelling the information.

Edith HUBBARD DRAKE was the daughter of Alfred Allen HUBBARD and Laura BUTLER.

Laura BUTLER was the eldest daughter of Nancy CAUDILL and James BUTLER. 

Laura's headstone gives her birth date as 23 Jul 1877, but considering her parents weren't married until 26 August of that same year, I'm going to venture to say the year was most likely 1878. And one such newspaper clipping announcing her death, would agree with me. 

Springfield Leader and Press 31 Dec 1957

In 1880 we can find baby Laura (age given as 1) living in Taney County, Missouri, with her parents James P (age 26) and Nancy J (age 19). Laura is the only child at that time. Considering the fact that we rarely have an 1890 census and both Nancy and James (and all of their children) are obsolete by the 1900 census, finding Laura's siblings can be a bit tricky. But as you can see from the death announcement above, we know she at least has a sister, Mrs. Tellefer ROBERTS, from Springfield. 

Research reveals Mrs. ROBERTS to be Estella BUTLER, wife of Toliver Jefferson ROBERTS. Estella was born 11 March 1886 somewhere in Missouri. The two married in Christian County, MO in 1904

Searching the digital Missouri birth records prior to 1910 reveals that James and Nancy CAUDELL BUTLER had a son named Charles who was  born in Christian County, Missouri 3 Aug 1883. 

Researching Newspapers leads me to his obituary, that also references their sister, Mrs. TJ ROBERTS. His obituary also gives us two more siblings, Bessie STIPES and Henry, and they will open up a can of worms that really start to weave a tangled web.



 

Springfield Leader and Press 15 March 1965

I begin searching Newspapers for Mrs. Bessie STIPES and it leads me to two more obituaries, one for an Emma Belle HENDERSON and one for a James Henry HENDERSON. 

The Pryor Jeffersonian 13 June 1963

The Wheaton Journal 20 July 1967

 

Now is the time to get out your pencil and paper because it's gets confusing quickly. From the obituary of Emma HENDERSON we see that she as two daughters, Bessie STIPES and Roxie KIRBY and four sons, Harry, Bonnie, Andrew and Henry HENDERSON. And then two siblings, Charley BUTLER (from above) and Stella ROBERTS (also from above). 

Wait. So is Bessie STIPES the sister or niece of Charles BUTLER? Looking at census records I find a Bessie and William Avery STIPES living in various places in the area: 1910 McDonald County, MO, 1920 Delaware County, OK, 1930 & 1940 Mayes County, OK and in all of these records her birth is given as 1890 in Arkansas. How could Emma HENDERSON be her mother. That would make her only 10 at the time of Bessie's birth. Bessie is also missing from the 1900 census.

The newspaper clipping below shows that Bessie's maiden name was definitely HENDERSON.

Pineville Herald 3 March 1905

So then, let's look at the obituary of James Henry HENDERSON. His siblings are listed as brothers: Harry, Andrew and Bonnie, and sisters: Roxie KIRBY, Bessie STIPES, and Stella ROBERTS 

James Henry HENDERSON is also missing from the 1900 census but we can find him in 1910 at age 15 living in McDonald County, MO, with a Roe HENDERSON family. His relationship is given as "son". Other family members are Emma (age 31) (wife) Harry (age 10) (son) Roxie (age 7) (daughter) and Bonnie (age 4) (son). This is Roe's second marriage. Emma's first. They have been married 13 years giving an approximate marriage date of 1897. Emma is most likely not James Henry's mother as he is 15. And definitely not Bessie's mother either as she would be 20.

So that means in order for Henry to be Charley BUTLER's brother and for Bessie to be his sister, they most likely share a mother, Nancy J Caudell and I suspect that Bessie is Henry's only full sibling. 

Nancy most likely died not long after the birth of James Henry, and her unmarried daughter, Emma, married the widowed step-father, becoming the mother of his four other children and helping to raise her two youngest half-siblings. 

Another sibling's obituary I found searching names already found in this family, belongs to that of a Mrs. Cora BARNES who died in November of 1957. It would appear she only listed her full siblings. 

The Springfield News Leader 02 Nov 1957

What I have found for the children of Emma BUTLER HENDERSON and Roan Mcgee (Mack) HENDERSON are as follows:

1. Harry Arthur HENDERSON b. 8 Sept 1899 Jasper, Missouri, m. 27 April 1925 in Delaware County, OK, to Bertha BALLOU d. 6 Jan 1974, Mayes County, OK (gender on DC is mistaken as female on the OK2Explore site)
2. Roxie Viola HENDERSON KIRBY b.24 Nov 1902, Wagoner, OK, m. 24 Aug 1919 in McDonald County, MO, to Rollie S. KIRBY d. 23 April 1996, Delaware County, OK. 
3. Bonnie Zeno HENDERSON B. 2 April 1906, Barry County, Missouri, m. 28 Feb 1943, Delaware County, OK to Thelma Jenkins d. 15 May 2003 Mayes County, OK
4. Andrew Virgil HENDERSON b. 16 March 1911, McDonald County, MO m. 12 May 1935, Delaware County, OK to Clara Atkins d. 30 January 1993 -- The Andrew V Henderson on the OK2Explore site gives a death date of 30 April 1993 in Rogers County, OK
   
   
   

So to recap: It is my belief that James BUTLER and Nancy CAUDELL (m. 26 Aug 1877, Christian County, MO) were the parents of :

1. Laura Adeline BUTLER b 23 July 1878, Christian County, Missouri, m. 20 Sept 1900, Webster County, MO to Alfred Allen HUBBARD d. 29 Dec 1957, Delaware County, OK
2. Emma Belle BUTLER b. 28 Feb 1880, Christian County, Missouri, m. 1896/7 Arkansas to Roan McGee "Mack" HENDERSON d. 2 June 1963, Mayes County, Oklahoma
3. Charles BUTLER b. 3 Aug 1883, Christian County, Missouri m.? d. 13 March 1965, Benton County, AR
4. Cora BUTLER BARNES b. 21 Jan 1884, Douglas County, Missouri m. 29 March 1903 in Taney County, MO to Marion Foster BARNES d. 01 Nov 1957, Webster County, MO
5. Estella BUTLER ROBERTS b. 11 March 1886 in Missouri, m. 20 March 1904 in Christian County, MO, to Toliver Jefferson ROBERTS d. 14 Sept 1971, Missouri

Nancy CAUDELL BUTLER and Roan Mcgee (Mack) HENDERSON were the parents of:

1. Bessie HENDERSON STIPES b 02 January 1890 in Arkansas m. 26 Feb 1905, in McDonald County, Missouri, to William Avery STIPES d. 27 August 1977 in Mayes County, OK
2. James Henry HENDERSON b. 28 April 1895 Searcy, AR m. 06 June 1916 in Barry County, Missouri d. 16 July 1967, Newton, Missouri

And as stated above the children of Emma BUTLER HENDERSON and Roan Mcgee (Mack) HENDERSON are:

1. Harry Arthur HENDERSON b. 8 Sept 1899 Jasper, Missouri, m. 27 April 1925 in Delaware County, OK, to Bertha BALLOU d. 6 Jan 1974, Mayes County, OK (gender on DC is mistaken as female on the OK2Explore site)
2. Roxie Viola HENDERSON KIRBY b.24 Nov 1902, Wagoner, OK, m. 24 Aug 1919 in McDonald County, MO, to Rollie S. KIRBY d. 23 April 1996, Delaware County, OK. 
3. Bonnie Zeno HENDERSON B. 2 April 1906, Barry County, Missouri, m. 28 Feb 1943, Delaware County, OK to Thelma Jenkins d. 15 May 2003 Mayes County, OK
4. Andrew Virgil HENDERSON b. 16 March 1911, McDonald County, MO m. 12 May 1935, Delaware County, OK to Clara Atkins d. 30 January 1993 -- The Andrew V Henderson on the OK2Explore site gives a death date of 30 April 1993 in Rogers County, OK
   
   
   
   

I don't have any death records for James or Nancy CAUDELL BUTLER but these new discoveries give me some dates and places to start looking. I believe James died sometime around 1889/90  before Nancy's daughter Bessie was born and Nancy sometime around 1895/96/97 probably around Searcy, Arkansas when her son James Henry HENDERSON was born. What I don't know is if the Searcy given as his birth place is Searcy County, Arkansas or Searcy, White County, Arkansas.

I think this could be the grave site of Nancy. 



Until next time, 
Becky

PS. I'll leave you with a few more miscellaneous articles with various family members.

The Delaware County Journal 3 Feb 1955

 

The Delaware County Journal 06 Oct 1955

The Pryor Jeffersonian 9 Jan 1958