Lydia [1818] [Merrill] and Eliphaz
"Wright" Southmayd [1816 - 1876]
Parents of Nancy Jane Southmayd
in Wilmington, Essex County New York. Wright was originally named Eliphaz -
this note from Don Bump, historian of the Southmayd line. Besides being in the
1850 population census for Wilmington, Wright was a farmer and the agriculture
enumeration had him with 40 improved and 30 additional acres, 1 horse, 3 milk
cows, 2 work oxen, 5 beef cattle, and 16 sheep. His annual crop was 8 bushels
wheat, 17 bushels corn, and 100 bushels of oats.
Nancy Jane Southmayd
There were 5 younger brothers,
Horace [died -pre 1850], Sidney M.[1848-1915], Sollom R. [1851], Edam H. [1857]
and Lucius Leroy [1860-1941]. This entire group moved to Memphis (Scotland
County) Missouri by 1862 where Nancy Jane taught school - this note from aunt
Marge [Dean] Rockwell. Father E. W. Southmayd appears in the 1866 IRS tax rolls
for Memphis Missouri, paying $2.76 assesment for having 46 boots and shoes.
If the move was to get the kids
married off, it worked. Sidney married Martha Ann Hill here in November 1871.
Sollom married Mary J. in 1874, and Edam married Celestia C Hyde in about 1876.
The youngest, Lucius, in 1881, and of course Nancy Jane to Lare , in 1872;
In Memphis MO with families for the
1880 census-
·
Martha Ann [Hill] [1846] and Sidney M. Southmayd, with son
Orville H [1873]
·
Mary J. [1853] and Sollom R. Southmayd with sons Clark
[1875] and Fred [1877]
·
Celestia C [1858] and Edam H. Southmayd with son James
Watson [1878] and daughter Lena V. [1877].
·
Nancy Jane and Lare Dean, with Alice [1878], Frank Lee
[1873], Ida May [1876], Lottie [1871]
·
Lucius Southmayd as farm hand in very large Hyde household.
In about 1883, the Southmayds had
another grand migration. Lucius and Nancy Jane to Broken Bow NE, Sidney and
Edam to South Dakota. Only Sollom stayed put in Memphis MO.
Scotland County marriage records has
Lucius wed to "Lizzie" Dooley, March 1881. Elizabeth came from
Indiana and was 2 years older than Lucius. I found this 1886 photo of Southmayd
family living west of Broken Bow with 2 children. I figure this is Elizabeth 28
and Lucius 26, boy Martin 2 and girl Zetta 4. You can tell this is a federal
homestead claim because the sod house had a wood door and glass windows. As
typical of the Solomon Butcher [1856 - 1927] photographs, family is dressed in
Sunday best displaying prized possessions - antlers and wagon. Butcher had
intended to include a brief biographical sketch with each of his pictures of
Custer County pioneers but the manuscript was lost to a house fire, fortunately
the photos were stored in a separate shed. "L. L. Southmayd" is on
the 1890 Gazateer list for Broken Bow farmers. Lucius later moved on living
near San Diego (1900), Nevada (1910) then Modesto (1920) and finally Oakland
(1930) living with Zetta and grand-daughter Elaine Betts. Martin married and in
1920 was in Ogden UT. Wife Astrid and son John. His 1918 draft registration is
Solon Martin Southmayd, blue eye medium build, bookeeper and cashier for the
Ogden Standard newspaper. He died 1969 in Paradise, California. Also living
with Lucius, Solon and Zetta in California was a Mrs Bettsie B. Southmayd
according to voting lists, unknonwn relation.
Library of
Congress, Nebraska State Historical Society, Digital ID: nbhips 12000 photo by
Solomon D. Butcher
Sarah [Lanham] and Lare
Dean [1821 - 1893]
Sarah Lanham [1820-] was the first
to marry Lare, 1844 in Barbour County (West) Virginia, then left immediatly to
Des Moines County Iowa where they appear in the 1850 census along with the 3
oldest children and in the 1856 Iowa state enumeration. Lare's parents Mary and
Daniel Dean, and his brother Silas with his family also moved and stayed at Des
Moines County. Sarah had 5 children, all born in Iowa-
·
Elizabeth [1845],
·
Albert I. [1847-1909]
·
Mary [1849]
·
Hannah [1852]
·
Marget [1856]
By the 1870 census, Lare is moved to
Memphis MO but living arrangements are very confused -
·
Lare 49 household with "JM" female 17 [ hopefully
this is Hannah, born in Iowa] who is still in school, plus the Launne boys,
Geo[rge] 3 and Lew[is] 1. Launne is not a common name but i have not found
other references. It is unlikely these would be Hannah's boys, but perhaps
Elizabeth who would have been 22 (or even Mary) when George was born. Too bad
relationships were not noted.
·
Marget 14, is living with another school child, George
Gilbert 18, in the nearby household of Abel 69 and Jane 66 Morrel. Abel must
have been well off because the IRS taxed him in 1864 for owning 5 hogs. He came
from Virginia and may have know Lare previously.
·
Albert is not enumerated but family of his future bride,
Sarah Noble 14, daughter of John Hopkins Noble are in nearby household.
There are a number of fractionated
families with unrelated school age children in Scotland County at this time,
some may have been orphans of the Civil War. I can find no reference to Sarah
in 1870, or later.
It is a mystery as to how and why
Lare left Iowa but it seems at least 3 of his children went with him, it may
have been precipitated by the death of his dad in 1866 and possibly Sarah as
well. Albert followed him to Memphis MO where he married Sarah Frances Noble
[1855-1907] in 1874 and worked as Teamster at Memphis for 1880 census, perhaps
a skill he learned from Lare. Their children were -
·
Louis L. [1875]
·
Cheeny [1878] girl, but enumerated as Eugene, boy in 1900
census!
·
Nellie [1879].
Albert's youngest sister went by
Maggie in the 1880 census and lived in the household of farmer William K Eliff
(along with a number of other non-related people) as a domestic servant, also
in Memphis MO. In 1881 she married Charles W Conner in Scotland County MO.
Charles was the son of Ezra Conner, the Justice of the Peace that married Lare
to Nancy Jane. The other sisters did not show in the 1880 census, presumably
because they had married and formed new households either in Iowa or Missouri.
An older brother of Lare, Silas seems to have followed the same path first to Iowa
and then Memphis MO where he died in 1874. Another oddity is that Lare and
troup moved out of Iowa about the same time as O. B. and the Fosters moved into
New London, just on the border of Des Moines County.
Nancy Jane [Southmayd] and Lare
Dean
Nancy [1842-1923] married Lare in
1872 in Memphis. Children included in the 1880 census were Lottie E. [1871-1961]
Frank Lee [1874 -1949] Ida May [1877] and Alice Myrtle
[1880-1964]. Later George Leo Dean, [1882-1965]
also at Memphis MO. Lare and Nancy then trekked 5 weeks by covered wagon in
1883 with their kids along with Lucius Southmayd family to the brand spanking
new town of Broken Bow, Nebraska. Lare was a professional teamster which
probably made the trip easier. They filed a quarter section homestead in Custer
Center which they proved up the next 5 years before returning to Broken Bow
where he worked hauling
freight from Kearney NE. The B&MR [Burlington and Missouri River] moved
as many as 200 freight loads a month by wagon while extending the rail line
from Grand Island to Broken Bow. Engine 120 pictured below as it pulled the
first train into Broken Bow in August 26, 1886. The inter-city freighting
business dropped off quickly after that. In 1888 Broken Bow became an
incorporated city but a severe drought and money panic in 1894 stymied its
growth. By the time of the 1900 census, it was down to 1375 population.
Library of
Congress, Nebraska State Historical Society, Digital ID: nbhips 12652 photo by
Solomon D. Butcher
After Lare died, Nancy kept the
household together with daughters Lottie and Alice working as dressmakers and
Leo as a barber. She spent her retirement with Lottie and her husband Rade
Skinner, where she died in 1923.
Lare Dean Second Family Portrait.
Back row, George Leo, Lottie, Frank
Lee,
Front row, Alice Myrtle, Nancy Jane
and Ida May c1900
Here is an older but wiser [George]
Leo with sisters Lottie on left and Myrtle on right, from 1951
Susanna A. [1876-1944] and Frank Leroy Dean
Susie was born in Iowa and parents
came from Ireland. Frank and Leo endured a sibling rivalry and hard feelings.
Children Included
·
Carl Victor [1894],
·
Goldie [1899],
·
Loyd [1901] and
·
Mabel [1908].
Mabel was so much disliked by my dad
that everyone was amazed that the love of his life should turn out to be a Mabel [Feyerherm]
Mabel from the 1927 HS yearbook, she
was the nemesis of my dad Ozro throughout his school days.
Ida May [Dean] and Frank Melvin Pickrell
[1882-1949]
Married in 1914 to Frank, lived at
Ashland in 1918 and later Lincoln NE in 1930-1940. He was conductor for the
CB&Q railroad.
Lottie E. [Dean] and Eldorade Skinner
[1858-1942]
The Missouri marriage records has a
Nancy "Southmayde" marrying "Lear" Dean in December 1872 in
Scotland County (Memphis). Family tradition is that Lottie Dean also used the
maiden name Graham, which could be accurate, for she was born 19 months earlier
on April 4, 1871. Irregardless, she grew up as a member of Lare's large
extended family and was a Dean on the census. A check of the 1870 Scotland
County census does not turn up any suitable Mr. Graham.
Before marrying Lottie, Rade lived
with his brother's faminly (Melinda and Robert S Skinner) in nearby Garfield, Custer
County NE in 1900. He grew up in Fannett, Franklin County, Pennsylvania, son of
Jane Beer [1832] and David Duncan Skinner [1816]. His dad had a lot of children
in 2 families, and most stayed in Fannett, but Rade moved out and in 1880 he
was doing labor work for the Wakefields in Ottawa County, Kansas.
Rade and Lottie's children -
·
Dale S [1903-1983]
·
Neal Eldorade [1905-1974]
·
Thelma Katherine [1907-2006 KS] married to John W. Cooksley
[1904-1966 NE] also in Broken Bow. 2 sons and a daughter.
·
Wayne W. [1911-1982]
In 1920 Nancy age 77 was living in
the Skinner residence. Lottie rented an apartment in Lincoln for NU students
Wayne Skinner plus Ozro and Marge Dean. Lottie later retired and moved to
Lincoln, living near Marge.
Wayne Skinner was a standout player
at Broken Bow High School - 1927
Alice Myrtle [Dean] and Edwin J Frick [1888-]
She followed the carnival and
eventually settled down in Houston TX. Edwin born December 19, 1888 in Hecker
IL. In 1917 was salesman for Houston Novelty Co and by 1920 was owner of the
Scales Company. Daughter-
·
Rhea Mae [1904] born in Nebraska, had two daughters by Ralph
William Bennet [1900] in Houston.
In 1930 Edwin and son-in-law Ralph
Bennet were living together and running a gas station in Houston, but not with
Myrtle. That could be because Myrtle was a performer with the travelling
carnival. A year later Rhea and her oldest daughter died when their car hit a
train in Ohio on their way to see Myrtle perform. Infant daughter survived and
was raised by Myrtle who quit performing when she reached school age. Ralph
William Bennet was director of the "7 Aces" a radio band of some
repute. Myrtle is listed in the 1951 "Morrison & Fourmy's Houston City
Directory" as widow of Edmund J. Frick, 1722 White Oak Drive. Died in
Houston, 1964.