Joseph went by J. C...an update

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I got a nice surprise in the mail today--an obituary from the Belleville Public Library in Belleville, Illinois. They have a very efficient service. You send the librarians an email with the info you're looking for, and when one of them has a few minutes, they look up your document. They copy it and place it with a cover letter, which also serves as a bill, into an envelope and mail it off to you. It's $2.50 for an obituary. Then a recipient (like me!) gets a nice surprise in the mail one day.

I had been emailing with another researcher and she gave me the hints I needed to track down the obituary. So here's the info on J.C.

Joseph Curtis McKee
b. 30 Jul 1934 Percy, Randolph County, Illinois
d. 2 Oct 1994 Mascoutah, St. Clair County, Illinois
m. 3 Jul 1958  Mascoutah, St. Clair County, Illinois
Carol Jean Payer

Joseph and Carol had three children: Tod, Gina, and Joey.

Joseph is buried in Mascoutah City Cemetery. You can find in on Find A Grave (93545525) complete with comments from his obituary.

Luke Family Portrait 1898 Du Quoin, Illinois

From the left, Aril Webster Luke, James Alexander  Luke, Lillie May  Luke, and Mary Agnes (Leemon)  Luke with Hazel Cliff Leary on her lap. The family dog, Nero, is below. 

I've written about the members of the Luke family many times before. The new person in this photograph is Hazel Cliff Leary. Hazel is the daughter of Edward Leary and Margaret Susanna (Leemon) Leary. Margaret is Mary Agnes' younger sister. 

Hazel Cliff Leary (FAG 67450296)

b. 15 Dec 1897 Millstadt, Saint Clair County, Illinois

d. 28 Dec 1929 Randolph County, Illinois

m. Jun 1914 in Illinois
Thomas Earl Deppe (FAG 52689475)
b. 5 Sep 1889 Steeleville, Randolph County, Illinois
d. 7 Mar 1951 Illinois

Child 1: Clifford Earl Deppe (FAG 46296060)
b. 18 Jul 1915 Willisville, Perry County, Illinois
d. 29 Aug 1998 Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois
m. 29 Sep 1945 Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois
Virginia Mae Putney (FAG 25823973)
b. 10 Feb 1926 East Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois
d. 29 Mar 2008 Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois

Child 2: Aril Eugene Deppe (FAG 575759)
b. 4 Feb 1917 Willisville, Perry County, Illinois
d. 25 Dec 1990 Fort Smith, Sebastian County, Arkansas
m. 12 Jul 1942 Sebastian County, Arkansas
Mildred Marie Barnett (FAG 575765)
b. 22 Dec 1919 Where?
d. 7 May 1991 Fort Smith, Sebastian County, Arkansas

Child 3: Burbon Ernest Deppe (FAG 40411588)
b. 24 Jan 1918 Willisville, Perry County, Illinois
d. 30 Jul 1999 Iowa City, Johnson County, Iowa
m. When? Where?
Imogene Lucille Unknown
b. 30 Mar 1922 Where?
d. Where? When?

Child 4: Gladys Ilene Deppe (FAG 46160453)
b. 31 Dec 1920 Willisville, Perry County, Illinois
d. 27 Mar 2008 Barrington, Barrington County, Illinois
m. 6 Jun 1940 Clinton, Clinton County, Iowa
George Edwin Chase (FAG 46160010)
b. 8 Feb 1918 Buda, Bureau County, Illinois
d. 1 Feb 1999 Peoria, Peoria County, Illinois


Child 5: Emma Madelyn Deppe (FAG 49956440)
b. 27 Dec 1922 Perry County, Illinois
d. 19 Apr 1993 Woodhull, Henry County, Illinois
m. 15 Mar 1942 Viola, Mercer County, Illinois
Ivan LeRoy Shannon (FAG 46300288)
b. 11 Jun 1918 Bethel, McDonough County, Illinois
d. 24 Dec 2004 Woodhull, Henry County, Illinois

Child 6: Mosman Leroy Deppe
b. 5 Jul 1924 Where?d. When? Where?
m. When? Where?
Bessie E. Hook (FAG 50461913)b. 23 Aug 1928 Where?
d. 18 Sep 1995 Moline, Rock Island County, Illinois


See Also These Posts:

• Three Deppe Boys
• Same Deppe Boys...A Few Years Later 

If you are related to this family, please contact me. I'm happy to trade information.

John Stanley Pearce (1870-1931) Illinois

My tale of woe today might involve successfully researching a family to whom I am not related. Let me explain. Mary Ann Miles seems to have married a Murphy who disappears, and then she marries a Wesley Greer. Or, Mary Ann Murphy may have married Wesley Greer and she never was a Miles. Or, there may have been something else going on. Wesley and Mary Ann had a daughter, Charlotte "Lottie" Greer...a person whose descendants I have had lots of luck with the past few days. So regardless of whether we're related, I thought I'd share the wealth!

Wesley Greer
b. 1820 Tennessee
d. 1879 Union County, Illinois
m. 30 Sep 1847 Union County, Illinois
Mary Ann Miles or Murphy or perhaps another name...
b. 1826 Illinois
d. Hmmmm...don't know

Child #7 for Greer/Miles
Charlotte "Lottie" Greer
b. Sep 1866 Illinois
d. Hmmmm...don't know
m. 1895ish
John Stanley Pearce...look for records under Pierce too
b. Apr 1870 Illinois
d. 15 May 1931 McClure, Alexander County, Illinois

Child #1 for Pearce/Greer
Clarence Clayton Pearce
b. 25 Dec 1896 McClure, Alexander County, Illinois
d. 6 May 1936 McClure, Alexander County, Illinois (FAG 90077656)
m. 10 Sep 1917 Cape Girardeau, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri
Susie Annabelle Colyer
b. 1900 Sweetwater, Monroe County, Tennessee (FAG 90194356)
d. 20 Feb 1977 Granite City, Madison County, Illinois

Child #2 for Pearce/Greer
David Clyde Pearce
b. 1 Feb 1899 McClure, Alexander County, Illinois
d. 8 Nov 1975 McClure, Alexander County, Illinois (FAG 90195234)
m. 1918
Helen E. Callen
b. 31 Jan 1897 Delta County, Illinois
d. 21 Jun 1927 McClure, Alexander County, Illinois

Check the Find A Grave (FAG) memorials and you'll find obituaries and links to descendants. If you're chasing this family and want me to transfer the memorial, please just Edit the memorials and send me your FAG number. I'll be happy to turn them over to your care.

Earl Julius Yarbro 1910-1989 Arkansas, Texas, Missouri

I'm still hacking my way thru the Murphy family. So much has been published online since the last time I tried that after two months I remain in the hitting pay dirt at every turn phase of gathering records. I am surprised since this family was in Union County, Illinois...rural Southern Illinois where I didn't expect to find all that much published online at this point. So much for condescending expectations!

Anyway, I've hit upon an interesting piece of info. A daughter in the Murphy line--Hallie Martha Hasty--married Earl Julius Yarbro...more than once!

First Marriage Record
19 Sep 1928 Kennett, Dunklin County, Missouri

Second Marriage Record
28 May 1968 Liberty County, Texas

So far I've found no record of Hallie and Earl having lived in Texas. They seem to have always lived in Missouri. So what's the story. I'm sure it has to be an interesting one. Here are their vitals.

Earl Julius Yarbro s/o William Yarbro and Dora Unknown
b. 6 Apr 1910 Carpenter, Clay County, Arkansas
d. 8 Mar 1989 Saint Charles, St. Charles County, Missouri
m. well you know this part
Hallie Martha Hasty d/o Thomas Jefferson "Tom" Hasty and Florence Opal Murphy
b. 7 Apr 1910 Independence, Dunklin County, Missouri
d. 30 Sep 2000 Saint Charles, St. Charles County, Missouri

I've sent for Hallie's obituary; however, I can't imagine that it explains the details of the second marriage and the sojourn in Texas. Perhaps someone reading this blog some day can offer details. In the meantime, it remains an amusing mystery...a quirky aside to what people do in their lifetimes.

Iris Marvel Corcoran Update

It always pays to cross check. I decided to do an idle check for Iris on Ancestry.com. A family record was added for her that indicates the following:

Marriage #1 = Albert Owen Bates (Children: Glowrene, Jacqueline, and William)
Marriage #2 = Eldred Floyd Charley 30 May 1950 in Reno, Washoe County, NV (Children: Curtis and Kevin)

So that solves the mystery of why Iris would have been in Hawaii without Eldred.

The family record at Ancestry includes a lovely photograph of Iris as a young woman.

Iris Marvel (Corcoran) Charley, 1917-2011, California and Oregon

I have a number of outstanding McKee-related requests for lots of stuff from lots of different places. The Rogue Valley Genealogical Society recently fulfill one of my picture requests at Find A Grave. I was looking for a picture of Glowrene Dee (Charley) Gwin's grave site. On a whim, I checked to see who else was buried in the cemetery. Glowrene's parents Eldred Floyd Charley and Iris Marvel Corcoran Charley are in the same cemetery. The memorial for Eldred is complete; however, Iris was outstanding. Since she was born in 1917 and had no date of death, I decided to google her name and her obituary turned up in the Mail Tribune, Medford, Oregon, 19 Nov 2011.

"GG" (for great grandmother) was the name that Iris preferred. GG's obituary starts with a description of an iris: "The iris flower means faith, hope, wisdom, courage and admiration and is the perfect match for the life of Iris Charley."

The obituary notes that her parents were William and Fern Corcoran. Iris was their oldest child. The family starts out in Sacramento where Iris was born. The Corcoran family moved to Medford in 1930. According to the obituary, Iris was an early driver. At age 12, she drove her father to the doctor when he was suffering a case of appendicitis. At age 13, Iris drove the second car behind her father as the family moved from California to Oregon.

Iris attended school at the Butte Falls School District. During the depression, families with children in the school received a small subsidy. In the case of the Corcoran family, they received $20 for Iris and her sister Carol. Iris eventually graduated from the two-year old South Medford (Central) High School.

I don't have a marriage date for her but sometime between her graduation and 1937, she married Eldred Floyd Charley. Eldred and Iris had the first of five children 12 Dec 1937. The couple had the following children: Glowrene, Jacqueline, Loyal, Curtis, and Kevin.

Early in her marriage--the obituary doesn't say why--Iris had a front row seat on history.
"On December 7, 1941, she was a witness to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. She was living on a hill overlooking the Navy base, and she told stories of being able to see "the whites of the eyes" of the Japanese pilots as they flew above her house before sweeping down on the harbor. After the attacks Iris, while pregnant with her first son, Bill, and her two daughters, Jacque and Glo, were relocated to the mainland in transport ships under the escort of Navy destroyers. During the voyage, Iris could hear the depth charges as the Navy responded to sightings of Japanese submarines."

In addition to their five children, Iris and Eldred raised foster children--over 100 boys, many of whom stayed in touch over the years.

Eldred preceded Iris in death (FAG 59794431) as did her daughter Glowrene (FAG 68915736). All of Iris' remaining children survive along with their spouses and 16 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren, and 10 great-great-grandchildren. The obituary lists them by name.

According to her obituary, Iris kept abreast of the event, trials, and triumphs of each of her descendants. She made a point of making sure that all 94 people in her family received a Christmas gift. Iris was treasured for her unconditional love. The obituary reports that among her last words were "I had a beautiful life."  

You can find Iris on Find A Grave at memorial 59794432.



See update for more information. Iris was married twice.

Murphy

I've been contacted by a DAR volunteer researcher. I didn't realize that the DAR had volunteer researchers. Anyway, the researcher is in pursuit of info on the Murphy line of the family. She's trying to find a Rev. War soldier...helping someone who has hit a brick wall. I've answered some initial questions. I've got to pull documents to provide more info.

I've heard rumors about a lady whose research was confirmed by the DAR; however, I've never gotten  any real info that verifies the event as fact. I wish her luck, because if the DAR research proves for the lady she's working for, she'll prove for me too...and a slew of other female Murphy descendants. So I've got my fingers crossed and I'm saying novenas.