Daniel Pierce (1814 – 1902)

I’m reblogging this from my AlwaysBackroads blog. I posted many family stories there before I started this blog. They belong here.

Always Backroads

In my grandfather’s 1902 diary on April 27th he wrote about the death of “Grandpa Pierce” – this was Daniel Pierce, actually my grandfather’s great-grandfather.  Below is a transcript of his lengthy obituary.  My copy doesn’t give a source, but I would guess it was from the Sycamore, Illinois newspaper.

DANIEL PIERCE DEAD
Head of Sycamore Banking House
Passed Away Sunday
——–
Had Nearly Reached the age of Eighty-
eight Years – Was Taken Sick with
Pneumonia Last Wednesday —
Lived an Active Life
——–

   Daniel Pierce died Sunday evening at the home of his daughter, Mrs. E. P. Townsend, at 8:45.  He had been sick since last Wednesday.  Mr. Pierce was out the previous Tuesday for the last time.  The weather then was stormy and he contracted a cold which brought on pneumonia. Complicated with acute brights disease it was seen from the first that he could not…

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Delayed Birth Certificate

Mom hit a perfect storm when it came to a birth certificate.  She was born in 1914; she went to work after high school in 1931.  And she married in 1936.  She had never needed a copy of her birth certificate.

In 1956 when all her children were in school, she wanted to get a job.  Ah, but Social Security had been established since she last worked away from home – they required a birth certificate to sign her up.

Turns out the courthouse in DeKalb, Illinois had a fire that destroyed many records.  The data wasn’t collected on a state level until 1916.

So she applied for a “Delayed Record of Birth.”  Her father, Thomas L. Duncan, provided an affidavit and her marriage record provided a second source.  She received this embossed certificate.
Along with this postcard.
But it seems that wasn’t adequate when she filed for Social Security benefits.  In the early 1970s she sent for another copy and received this one.

Bressler Obituaries Nebraska

The Bresslers were a big family centered in Pennsylvania, but many of their offspring migrated west to Nebraska.  The clippings were copied from Ruth Bressler Claycomb’s scrapbook.  The original sources are not usually indicated.

Hezikiah Bressler was a half-brother of my great-grandfather, John Tannehill Bressler.  (1903).
Franklin Pierce Bressler was a brother of John Tannehill Bressler. (1933)
Mary Smith Bressler was the wife of Franklin Pierce Bressler.  (1939)

Andrew B. Duncan Death

Andrew B. Duncan was the son of David and Helen Lamb Barlass (spelled Barlis on this certificate) Duncan and grandson of our immigrant couple Thomas and Eliza Cation Duncan.  His middle initial may stand for Barlass, his mother’s maiden name.

Andrew was born in Wisconsin in 1873.  In 1900 he lived with his parents in Chicago.  By 1910 he had married (Helen) and was living in Denver with no occupation listed in the census.  They had a daughter, Gertrude, born in Colorado in 1911.  By 1920 they were living in Santa Monica, California.  Four years later he killed himself.  There’s more story here, but I don’t know it.

Yates’ Obituaries

These are obituaries for three members of the Yates family.  John Elvin Yates married Georgia Wild Townsend (sister to my great grandmother Anna Sarah Townsend Claycomb) 7 November 1889 in Sycamore, Illinois.  William Yates was their son.

All obituaries are from the Sycamore True Republican.

John Wilkins Bone

This is the Social Security application for John Wilkins Bone.  He married Ethel Duncan (daughter of David and Helen Lamb Duncan) about 1916.  The copies of these applications used to be reasonably priced; now they are quite expensive, so I post this in case I can save someone the cost.
I had great plans for this blog to post extensive stories and I hope I still do that.  But in the meantime I am posting snippets.  Otherwise I will never complete the task!

Florence Huckins Duncan Obituary

Florence Huckins was my grandfather Leroy Duncan’s second wife.  They had no children; she has no descendants that I know of.

Eleanor Pierce Townsend

Eleanor Pierce Townsend (1839 – 1904) and her offspring.  And our best guesses at their names.

Wayne Country Club Membership Card 1926

I didn’t know my grandfather, Amos Claycomb, was a member of the Wayne (Nebraska) Country Club.  Or that Wayne even had a country club in 1926.
And then I notice on the reverse, that his was a social membership.  That makes a little more sense.  He was very social, and even athletic, but I never knew him to play golf.

Ruth Bressler Wedding Dress

This photo is printed on ordinary paper – a little heavier and off-white.  Not photo paper.  It’s my grandmother, Ruth Bressler, in her wedding dress.  She married Amos Claycomb on June 15, 1912 in Wayne, Nebraska.