Minnie's mother Barbara (Hoover) Edwards had been married twice by the time Minnie came along in the mid 1860s. Barbara's second husband was Lewis Edwards, a veteran of the American Civil War who had enlisted in Co. C, 112th Illinois Infantry on 9 August 1862 less than a year after their marriage. Serving with the army near Mount Sterling, Kentucky, he had contracted a severe cold and cough in early Spring of 1863 and was sent to the camp hospital. He never returned to active duty and was sent home to Orion, Henry County, Illinois on sick furlough for a short period in February of 1865. On July 24, 1865, he was formally discharged from the military and returned home to Illinois in August, suffering from lung disease. On February 18, 1866, Lewis C. Edwards died of consumption at his home in Orion, Henry County, Illinois. The timing is all rather interesting and leads to a good deal of speculation about the state of their marriage and Minnie's parentage.
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| Colorized Photo of Minnie's mother Barbara Hoover c1890 |
Mary "Minnie" and her twin sister Martha "Grace" were born on 28 November 1865 (or possibly 1866) at the home of their aunt and uncle, Anna (Hoover) and Clark Bleakney in Jasper County, Iowa, with Anna and Anna's mother-in-law assisting in the delivery.
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| Minnie's Twin Sister Grace Edwards No Known Photo Exists for Minnie |
There is confusion over the year of birth - 1865 or 1866. No official records are available for Iowa until about 1880. Years later when filing their minor's application for a Civil War Pension as "legitimate children" of Lewis Edwards, the record that was accepted was a family Bible entry indicating 28 November 1865 and accompanying affidavit by Clark Bleakney in whose home Barbara had given birth. But no one has ever explained why Barbara was in Iowa in November and not home in Illinois tending to her gravely ill husband who had arrived home in August. It is possible that there was some worry about transmission of the disease to her during her pregnancy - or it could be speculated that she and Lewis were estranged because of her unexpected pregnancy.
A birth date of 28 November 1865 makes it just possible that Lewis Edwards fathered the twins when he was home on sick leave in February, nine months before their birth. If the twins' birth year is 1866, Lewis must have fathered them while on his death bed just before dying of consumption; at the time, affidavits describe him as being very emaciated, in very poor health, his lungs very weak and in bad condition. Also, being twins, statistically Mary and Martha would likely have arrived about a month early (and probably not the full 9 months or longer that either birth year would require).
Census and marriage records do not assist in pinpointing the year since the women in this family were notoriously unhampered by truth or consistency in the ages they claimed from time to time. The 1870 and 1880 census records are perhaps the most reliable as having been done when they were children before making any pension applications or marriages to younger men to muddy the waters. Their ages were given as 4 and 14 as of their last birthdays in those censuses, consistent with a birth year of 1865.
Mother Barbara went on to marry for a third time in 1873 to a man named George Payton. Their combined family is found in the 1880 census for Howard, Elk, Kansas where Minnie Edwards was listed as a 14 year-old stepdaughter.
Unexpected treasures found in the local newspaper The Howard Courant give us a rare glimpse into the life of teen-aged Minnie in the 1880s. She has adopted her step-father's surname and is going by the name of Minnie Payton. The first article that has been located is mention of her accompanying her stepfather on a visit to Burlingame, Kansas in July of 1880. Then we learn that she and her sister Grace attend a mutual friend's birthday party in November of 1881. And the following week, Minnie and Grace themselves celebrated their 15th birthdays, providing evidence for the 1866 birth year.
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| From page 3 of The Howard Courant dated 1 December 1881 |
One final find in The Howard Courant (6 March 1885) is mention of Minnie, Grace and their mother Barbara travelling to Geuda Springs, Kansas. Since they were in Howard on a visit, they had obviously moved elsewhere by this time.
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| From page 3 of The Howard Courant dated 6 March 1885 |
In 1990, minors' applications were filed for two children of Lewis C. Edwards: twins Mary Simmons of Pueblo, Colorado, and Martha Lemon of Independence, Kansas. They received pensions retroactive from 19 August 1873 to 27 November 1881, at which time both were age 16 and no longer eligible. (It is interesting to note again the discrepancy in year of birth - Mary swears in her affidavit that she was born 28 November 1866, while Martha's has had one year overwritten over the other! Yet the authorities accepted their applications on the basis of their birth being in 1865.)
Obviously much has occurred in the few years since we last found Minnie; by the time she is making her pension application in 1890, she is a married woman living in Pueblo, Colorado. No marriage record has been located, but her husband was a civil engineer named Harry Simmons (or Simmers) who was employed in the location and construction of railroads being installed in Colorado. Harry suffered from some unspecified affliction that forced him to abandon that profession in favor of something less physically taxing. He studied pharmacy and set himself up in the profession by buying two drugstores in Pueblo.
Harry and Minnie had 3 children born between 1890 and 1895 - daughter Mabel and sons Louis Arnie and Harry (junior). One child perhaps died in infancy since she reported on the 1900 census form that she had given birth to 4 children, 3 of whom were still alive. (There has even been some speculation by descendants of her twin sister Grace's two children born in 1886 and 1887 that Minnie was actually their mother as well! Yet another unexpected piece of family lore!)
Obviously much has occurred in the few years since we last found Minnie; by the time she is making her pension application in 1890, she is a married woman living in Pueblo, Colorado. No marriage record has been located, but her husband was a civil engineer named Harry Simmons (or Simmers) who was employed in the location and construction of railroads being installed in Colorado. Harry suffered from some unspecified affliction that forced him to abandon that profession in favor of something less physically taxing. He studied pharmacy and set himself up in the profession by buying two drugstores in Pueblo.
Harry and Minnie had 3 children born between 1890 and 1895 - daughter Mabel and sons Louis Arnie and Harry (junior). One child perhaps died in infancy since she reported on the 1900 census form that she had given birth to 4 children, 3 of whom were still alive. (There has even been some speculation by descendants of her twin sister Grace's two children born in 1886 and 1887 that Minnie was actually their mother as well! Yet another unexpected piece of family lore!)
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| Minnie's daughter Mabel Simmers and her husband Roy Benton 1916 Photo from Ancestry website posted by James Mahar |
Just when things seemed to be going well in Harry's new profession, there was a huge flood of the Arkansas River in Pueblo between 29 May and 1 June 1894. The business section of town where Harry's two pharmacies were located was about 15-20 feet deep in water and their home 8-10 feet. Shortly after the flood, on 11 July 1894, Harry died. His sister-in-law Grace said his death had been caused by the loss of everything in both stores, all their home furnishings and clothing, coupled with exposure and pre-existing poor health. [Additional note 3 July 2020: having now obtained a copy of Harry's obituary, it gave his cause of death as abscess on the brain.]
So Minnie unexpectedly found herself widowed with at least a couple of children under the age of 4, no source of financial support and a home she would either have to remediate or abandon. It's hard to imagine how she managed - yet manage she did.
The Pueblo City Directory for 1899 has her living at 1214 East Evans Avenue. This is also where she appears in the 1900 U.S. census where she is widowed, 34, and keeping a boarding house. Living with her are daughter Mabel age 9, sons Arnie 8, and Harry 6. (Harry's birth date - like his mother's - has also been inconsistent in the records; it seems quite probable that he was born a couple of years after the death of Harry senior and would have been 4 rather than 6 in 1890.) There was also a boarder living with them as well, 24 year-old Claud E Wier (sic).
Minnie's boarder was a young chemist named Claude E. White who worked at the old Philadelphia Plant and Smelter but was later transferred to A.S. & R. Smelter in Greene-Cananea Mexico, a copper smelter town not far over the Mexican border from Arizona.
Her boarder soon became more than a boarder to Minnie.
Claude E. White applied for a Marriage License on 19 August 1903. Interestingly, Minnie has managed to lose a full decade of age to become the same age as Claude.
So Minnie unexpectedly found herself widowed with at least a couple of children under the age of 4, no source of financial support and a home she would either have to remediate or abandon. It's hard to imagine how she managed - yet manage she did.
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| Widowed Minnie in the 1899 Pueblo City Directory Left-hand page second listing from the bottom of the page |
The Pueblo City Directory for 1899 has her living at 1214 East Evans Avenue. This is also where she appears in the 1900 U.S. census where she is widowed, 34, and keeping a boarding house. Living with her are daughter Mabel age 9, sons Arnie 8, and Harry 6. (Harry's birth date - like his mother's - has also been inconsistent in the records; it seems quite probable that he was born a couple of years after the death of Harry senior and would have been 4 rather than 6 in 1890.) There was also a boarder living with them as well, 24 year-old Claud E Wier (sic).
Minnie's boarder was a young chemist named Claude E. White who worked at the old Philadelphia Plant and Smelter but was later transferred to A.S. & R. Smelter in Greene-Cananea Mexico, a copper smelter town not far over the Mexican border from Arizona.
Her boarder soon became more than a boarder to Minnie.
Claude E. White applied for a Marriage License on 19 August 1903. Interestingly, Minnie has managed to lose a full decade of age to become the same age as Claude.
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| Portion of Marriage License for Claude E. White and Mrs. Minnie Simmers |
The family is found in Cochise, Arizona at the time of the 1910 United States Census. Claude is listed as a chemist in a copper mine and is 34. Minnie remains consistently the same age as Claude - she is 34, the same age she was in the census 10 years earlier! Her Simmers children range from 14 year-old Harry to 18 year-old Mabel, with middle child Arnie being a salesman in a shoe store. They are living on School Hill amid neighbours who include school teachers, typesetters, miners (also for the copper mine); life was apparently going along quite comfortably.
The mine where Claude was employed was in Cananea, Sonora, a geographically isolated area with more connections to the United States than to the rest of Mexico. Ownership of mines was often American, as in the case of Claude's mine, where the infamous speculator William Cornell Greene, an Arizona rancher, had purchased and developed a large tract of land. By the early 1900s there were several multilevel mines, a mill, a concentrator and a smelter, with a railroad connector to the nearby U.S. border port near Bisbee. By the time of Claude and Minnie's marriage in 1903, Claude was one of about 2200 American workers employed there. There were also some 5400 Mexicans working there. In addition to the mining operations, Greene's company called Cananea Consolidated Copper Company, also had ranching and lumbering interests and provided services to the town of Cananaea. Obviously this was a company town and a huge undertaking!
A miners' strike by Mexican employees in 1906 in Cananea is said to have been one of the direct antecedents to the Mexican Revolution. The main issue (perhaps to be expected) was the pay scales giving Mexican workers lower wages than paid to Americans in the same jobs.
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| Cananea, Sonora, Mexico - Unknown Date ca.1906-1910; Wikimedia Commons Southern Methodist University, Central University Libraries, DeGolyer Library |
By 1910 the Revolution was in full force and the Cananea Consolidated Copper Company was in the thick of it. From time to time, Pancho Villa and other revolutionaries interfered with Company operations, sometimes taking prisoners and seizing rail cars loaded with copper bullion.
The family story was that in 1912 Minnie was with Claude in Cananea when Pancho Villa and his men raided the town, killing them both. Certainly this was an unexpected ending to a life full of unexpected twists and turns!
Except that it wasn't.
While searching newspaper archives for more details around the deaths of Minnie and Claude at the hands of Pancho Villa, I very unexpectedly came upon a newspaper story describing a vacation that Claude, Minnie and her daughter Mabel were making in June of 1914. This added a new twist to the story. My first thought was that their deaths simply occurred later during the Mexican Revolution than had been thought. Further research indicated, however, that no Americans had been killed in Cananea, Mexico during the entire Revolution.
The next discovery was of a 1917 city directory for Bisbee and Warren District, AZ listing Claude E. White (and Minnie), he an assayer for SAC Co., home address 120 Quarry Canyon.
Claude's 1918 First World War registration card tells us that he was a blue-eyed redhead who was still very much alive!
Once it became apparent that they did NOT die at the hands of Pancho Villa, further searches find them in the 1920, 1930 and 1940 U.S. censuses. From this we learn that Claude had 4 years of college and Minnie 3 years of high school education. By 1930, they had moved from Arizona to San Bernardino, California where they owned their own home and had taken up farming.
On 4 December 1940, several decades after we thought she had died violently at the hands of Pancho Villa, Minnie actually died peacefully in San Bernardino. Her death announcement appeared the next day in the San Bernardino County Sun newspaper. Claude didn't join her until 12 April 1966 and they are buried together in Mountain View Cemetery, San Bernardino.
Except that it wasn't.
While searching newspaper archives for more details around the deaths of Minnie and Claude at the hands of Pancho Villa, I very unexpectedly came upon a newspaper story describing a vacation that Claude, Minnie and her daughter Mabel were making in June of 1914. This added a new twist to the story. My first thought was that their deaths simply occurred later during the Mexican Revolution than had been thought. Further research indicated, however, that no Americans had been killed in Cananea, Mexico during the entire Revolution.
The next discovery was of a 1917 city directory for Bisbee and Warren District, AZ listing Claude E. White (and Minnie), he an assayer for SAC Co., home address 120 Quarry Canyon.
Claude's 1918 First World War registration card tells us that he was a blue-eyed redhead who was still very much alive!
Once it became apparent that they did NOT die at the hands of Pancho Villa, further searches find them in the 1920, 1930 and 1940 U.S. censuses. From this we learn that Claude had 4 years of college and Minnie 3 years of high school education. By 1930, they had moved from Arizona to San Bernardino, California where they owned their own home and had taken up farming.
On 4 December 1940, several decades after we thought she had died violently at the hands of Pancho Villa, Minnie actually died peacefully in San Bernardino. Her death announcement appeared the next day in the San Bernardino County Sun newspaper. Claude didn't join her until 12 April 1966 and they are buried together in Mountain View Cemetery, San Bernardino.
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| Stone for Claude and Minnie at Mountain View Cemetery, San Bernardino Photo by landjnero of Find a Grave website |
There, carved in stone, is her deceptive birth year of 1875. Oh, Minnie, you (almost) got away with that one!
Another Unexpected Find:
In 2017, we drove halfway across the continent to view the solar eclipse from Grand Island, Nebraska simply because it was the closest place where our family group could make reservations for accommodations even when booking over a year ahead! Although we had never even heard of the city before this, we had a fabulous time viewing the 21 August eclipse and enjoying many of the attractions that Grand Island has to offer. There were, obviously, none of our usual visits to cemeteries since we did not know of any ancestral connections to the city.
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| Grand Island, Nebraska 21 August 2017 |
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| Enjoying the solar eclipse in Grand Island |
After thinking I had completed this story about Minnie, I located a copy of her obituary which mentioned that she was survived by husband Claude, daughter Mrs.J. L Fenton of Compton and two sons, Harry and Louis of Grand Island, Nebraska. Sure enough, both of Minnie's sons (my first cousins twice removed) had lived most of their lives in this city and both are buried here, Harry in Westlawn Memorial Cemetery and Louis in Grand Island Cemetery.
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| Louis Simmers and wife Anna, Grand Island Cemetery from Find a Grave website courtesy diaNEB |
Some Resources:
- Arizona Historical Society, Cananea Consolidated Copper Company Records 1899-1917, Tucson, Arizona.
- Edwards, Lewis C. (Pvt., Co. M, 112th Ill Vol. Inf.), Civil War widow's pension application no. 394,573, certificate no. 265.106 and minors' pension application no. 418,303, certificate no. 265.106 ; Case files of Approved Pension Applications, 1861-1934, Civil War and Later Pension Files; Department of Veterans Affairs Record Group 15; National Archives, Washington, D.C.
- Lemon, Winfield Scott, Personal Memoirs "Compiled at the request of his grandson Dick," copy provided to the author by Richard Lemon.
- Newspapers.com - The Howard Courant - issues of 15 July 1880, 24 November 1881, 1 December 1881 and 6 March 1885 (Howard, Kansas).
- "United States Census, 1900," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MQMV-Y92 : accessed 22 Jan 2014), household of Minnie Simmons, Pueblo city Ward 8, Pueblo, Colorado, United States; citing sheet , family 107, NARA microfilm publication T623, FHL microfilm 1240128 and other United States Census records available on Ancestry.com website
Fantastic! What a great life story and I love the twist at the end finding the sons in Grand Island, that seems so random and UNEXPECTED. Well played... Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteTotally random and totally unexpected!
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