The Husbands of Anna Lee

          Born Matilda Anna Lee in Carroll County, Missouri on December 7, 1864 to Josiah Lee (1820-1890) and Eveline Brizendine (1841-1884), Anna first married at age 19.

          Her bridegroom, William Albert Baker, was born about January 18, 1860 in Keokuk County, Iowa to William E. Baker born in North Carolina (abt. 1833-1866) and Mary Jane Millikan (1833-1910) born in Morgan County, Indiana. 

          Did your people stay in one place for generations? Did they grow up knowing their great-greats and 50 cousins? Not mine. On both sides, my ancestors seemed to always be moving west. Some of us later reversed the trend. (Ask me how much I miss the Pacific Ocean). 


          I have a guess as to how Albert and Anna met. The 1880 Federal Census for Grand River, Daviess County, Missouri shows 20 year old Albert working as a laborer on the Thomas Feurt family farm. The Feurts were neighbors to the Lee family in Grand River. Yes, Anna's family.

          So on January 17, 1884 "Mr. Albert Baker" married "Miss Annie Lee" in Daviess County. They had three children who survived infancy. Two boys: Harry Albert and Samuel Oscar. I descend from their daughter Ora. 

          One year later Albert's older brother John K. Baker married Anna's older sister Margaret Lee on January 25, 1885. They had one male child, and sadly, Margaret died five months later. John married Louisa Agnes Hoffman six years later. They had five children. Would love to hear from their descendants. 


HUSBAND NO. 2:

          After June of 1899, Anna lost Albert. In a letter she wrote in 1931, Anna said Albert died shortly before the birth of their youngest son, Sam. Adding that it was about six years after their marriage, she cited the cause as "ulcers of the liver."


          William H. Ward and Mrs. Matilda A. Baker applied for a license to marry in Daviess County, Missouri on November 19, 1890. William was 26. Mrs. Baker was 25. 

          The Rev. William L. Merritt signed the document indicating he married the couple on November 20th 1890. It was filed of record on what looks to be the 29th of "Nov.", 1890. 

          As much as I like to hope that the signature of the bridegroom on the Application for License to Marry is that of "W. H. Ward," I note that the handwriting throughout the page appears to be from one person. This is not an original document, but one transcribed later by a court clerk onto the Daviess County marriage book. 

          Anna had three children before William's untimely death nearly ten years into their marriage. Anna once said William died of double pneumonia when his youngest son was about 16 months old. I do not know when Baby Lawrence was born, so I've no exact date. Do you know?



HUSBAND NO. 3:     Oh, my. I hope you can read this horrible facsimile of their marriage application and license. 


          On November 29, 1900 in Daviess County, 35 year old Anna Ward married James Allen Price (age 37). She had six children to add to their new family. James was recently divorced and raising several of his own children. I believe his ex-wife had left for Texas. (You probably know the same country AND western songs as I do about 'them ex's" in Texas). 

          James and Anna later added four children of their own. Their one son, Elmer Glen, died in 1905--a year after his birth.  

                Zeala Violet, b. Nov 1902 in Gallatin, Missouri, 

                Gladys Naomi, b. 1904 in Cherryvale, Kansas, and

                Zelma Pearl,  b. Jan 1909 in Keystone, Oklahoma.

          Before March of 1905, James and Anna moved from Missouri to southern Kansas. The Kansas state census told me they were living in the town of Cherry in Montgomery County with seven children. Jobs were plentiful. Mining and smelter jobs. Hard work. 

          About 1908 the family again moved by covered wagon just over the border to the booming oil town of Bartlesville. Oklahoma had just become a state. 

          Their final home was in Sand Springs, Tulsa County, where James later died at age 57 in 1920. Mrs. Anna Price passed on June 9, 1933 at age 68. 


          BTW, Anna's father Josiah Lee had four known wives. Anna descends from his marriage to his third wife. 

"What Were Their Names That We May Remember Them"

          “In Louisiana, black women were put in cells with male prisoners and some became pregnant. In 1848, legislators passed a new law declaring that all children born in the penitentiary of African American parents serving life sentences would be property of the state. 

          The women would raise the kids until the age of ten, at which point the penitentiary would place an ad in the newspaper. Thirty days later, the children would be auctioned off on the courthouse steps 'cash on delivery.' 

          The proceeds were used to fund schools for white children. . . many of [the black children] were purchased by prison officials.”


___________________

From Shane Bauer's excellent book of 2018: American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment. Winner of the 2019 J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize. Winner of the Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism. Winner of the 2019 RFK Book and Journalism Award. 

Honey Leaper in 1957

          The last record I find of my 2d Great-Grandmother is January 28, 1893. "Mrs. Hannah Leeper" sold 126+ acres of land to "D. P. Cowsert" in Kimble County, Texas.

          To my knowledge, no one alive today knows when my immigrant ancestor died or where she is buried. Until a later source is found, I can only point to early 1893 as Hannah's "last known alive" date. 

          Her name pops up in papers all over Texas because of bounty land left to her when widowed in 1855. Land that Texas had awarded her husband Sam Leeper for having fought at San Jacinto and Bexar during the Texas Revolution. (Yay, Sam!). 

          Survey records of these original grantees, Sam or Hannah Leeper, can be found in old Texas newspapers. Today I found another mention of my Hannah.

          This has got to be my favorite misspelling of her name:  "Honey Leaper." 


          Fellow Wiser family historians will see other familiar surnames: Speights, Weaver, Moor, Frezia, Hankamer, Barrow, and Abshier in this article from The Baytown News, Wed., 5 June 1957, Baytown, Chambers County,Texas, page 3, via The Portal To Texas History at   URL:   https://texashistory.unt.edu/  

          If you find mention of our Hannah with the surname Leaper, Leiper, Leeper or as "Honey," please share, won't you?


November 2022 UPDATE:

1.  From The Baytown Sun, page 10, Monday, February 4, 1963 in Baytown, Harris County, Texas:



2.  This one from the same paper on January 28, 1960, page 12:



3. Lastly, from February 4, 1965, page 9, The Baytown Sun paper:






1890 and 1900 Marriages In Newton County, Arkansas

Familysearch.org has uploaded a copy of the Bond for Marriage, Marriage License, and Certificate of Marriage of Pleas H. Lovell and Samirah Coffee in Newton County, Arkansas in June of 1890. The license was obtained June 2nd, and the couple married in Cassville, Newton County, Arkansas the next day--June 3, 1890.




Familysearch is a free site--but requires registration. The direct link to the Lovell-Coffee marriage data is: 
  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NMRN-4XT


That marriage came to a bitter end, as Mr. Lovell was sent to prison. Samirah soon remarried William Curtis:


Familysearch.org has the copy of their marriage records here:  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NMBF-JM4 - as seen below:



Citation:  "Arkansas, County Marriages, 1837-1957," database with images, FamilySearch : 18 March 2019), 004331445 > image 663 of 686; county offices, Arkansas.


William Curtis was recently widowed when he married Samirah. The couple were together 23 years before he died in 1923 at age 63. Samira lived much longer. She died in 1955 at age 95. She is survived by many great-grandchildren who remember her still. 

 I appreciate Beverly Joe Vaughn for tempting me with her family stories on Findagrave.

Beverly shared lovely photos and history data on her direct ancestors' memorials that I found fascinating. It led me to search for married records to add to my family tree--as I too am a distant Coffee relative. A fun afternoon this hot August day during the Pandemic!

My 3x Great-Grandfather was a younger brother of Elijah Coffee (1799-1873). Elijah Coffee and his wife Peggy (Patrick) Coffee were the grandparents of Elijah "Bud" Coffee. Bud and Samirah Thomas married in December of 1879. They had three girls before Bud's untimely death in 1885 at age 29. 

UPDATE:  I found secondary proof of Samirah Thomas' first marriage. Here Elijah is listed by his initials, and poor Samirah's given name was frequently misspelled, as it is here:




How A Stolen Coverlet Was Recovered

In 1906 writer S. C. Turnbo spoke with Sarah Matilda Cowan of her experience when "robbers and guerrillas were overrunning the country in Madison County" Arkansas.

Thieves had once stormed her family's home and grabbed anything of value:

       https://thelibrary.org/lochist/turnbo/V3/ST097.html

Silas Claiborne Turnbo's many stories can be searched by keyword. If you have ancestors who once lived in Missouri, Indian Territory or northern Arkansas, put their surname in the search engine linked below. Or you might search by name of town, river, or occupation: 

       https://thelibrary.org/lochist/turnbo/  

Yes, I looked for "blacksmith" as several in my family once shoe'd horses.

The site with nearly 800+ stories by Mr. Turnbo is sponsored by the Springfield-Greene County Library in Missouri. #LibrariansRock

Wagoner, Keystone, Coweta, Fayetteville, Prairie Grove, are other words that return with stories from 150 years ago. Or try a phrase. 

He collected many stories from veterans of the Civil War. And panthers. A lot of panther stories:

      Late in the night our camp was aroused by the fierce screams of a panther which had ventured up in 100 yards of camp. I was only 4 years old and I well remember that the noise of the animal made me shiver like water frogs coming out of cold water and crawling up my back.  
From:  https://thelibrary.org/lochist/turnbo/V25/ST719.html

His stories are copied with very little correction or editing. You will see that Mr. Turnbo had no spellcheck app.

He wrote like many of us text.