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Dear Kathleen,
This is fabulous!! I only found out the names of IDA BROWN's parents two days ago, and -- thanks to Broderbund's Internet Family Finder -- I zero'd right in on your query!!
The way I found out their names is that I got a copy of IDA BROWN's death certificate. I knew from oral family history that "Papa" WILLIS and "Grandma BROWN" had a ranch in Fallon, NV, so I wrote to Churchill County and got both of their death certificates (which arrived on Monday -- she died 24 Nov 1943, he died 3 Feb 1912, both in Fallon). I had also written the Churchill County Museum asking for anything they might have on the family, and that material came on Monday, also. (What a banner day!) The material from the museum included extensive OBITS on each of them!!! (I will snail mail you copies, including xeroxes of the death certs.)
IDA BROWN and WILLIAM WILLIS (b. 6 May 1853, Carlisle, Sullivan Co., IN) were married in Chillicothe, Livingston Co., MO, 17 May 1877. They moved to Nevada in April, 1905 -- they were among the earliest settlers in the region. And one of the biggest thrills is that the museum has a picture of their homestead!! For $5 they will make a copy. (The museum has a web site: http://www.ccmuseum.org)
I have some confusion as to the number and names of their children because the obit differs slightly from what my mother told me. They agree on five of them: VIRGIL, JEWELL, GLADYS, DELIGHT, and NINA (my grandmother) -- and all of those names were familiar to me as a child. I even have a vague memory of meeting "Aunt Delight" (she was wheelchair bound, I was told from encephalitis). The obit says there were two more children: sons CONNA and ROSS, who died young (ages 15 and 3, respectively), which could explain why my mother wasn't aware of them. My mother said there was a daughter, ALICE. Hard to say at this point who's right or wrong on this one (but nothing my mom told me has turned out wrong, yet).
GLADYS was a school teacher, and you won't believe this, but the museum curator who wrote to me from Fallon had her for a teacher!!
On 27 Dec 1905, in Fallon, NV, NINA GALE WILLIS (b. 25 Dec 1879/80 in Hannibal, MO; d. 20 Apr 1956 in San Jose, CA) married the man homesteading the ranch next door, ALBERT ROY STRAUB (b. 7 Mar 1879 in Prospect, Marion Co., OH; d. 6 Jul 1969 in San Jose, CA) -- the Churchill Co. Museum sent me a xerox of their marriage license! In April of the next year, they moved to San Francisco -- to find themselves in the city just days after the Great Earthquake of 1906. They later settled in the Santa Clara Valley and had seven children (one of them, my mother).
GLADYS WILLIS (b. 20 Jun 1889 in Hale, MO; d. July 1976 in Salt Lake City, UT) married LAWRENCE WILLIAM CREHORE (6 Oct 1879 in Hannibal, MO; d. 2 Apr 1950, Fallon, NV). They lived in Fallon until his death, after which she moved to Salt Lake City. His recently deceased son, LAWRENCE WILLIAM CREHORE, Jr., has thoroughly documented their descendants (it's Broderbund World Family Tree, Vol. 8, Tree #0792). Larry, Jr., was a Japanese POW in WWII; he survived the Bataan Death March, which made him nothing short of a legend in our family. DELIGHT married HARRY M. KNOBLOCH and had two children, CARL and HARRIET MARIE. JEWELL settled in Oregon; VIRGIL had a raisin farm in Fresno, CA.
Your message agrees with what was always our family oral tradition: that we were descended from STEPHEN HOPKINS (one of my mother's brothers was thus named STEPHEN HOPKINS STRAUB). But you pose quite a conundrum with regard to the parents of MARTHA HOPKINS. It was no small disappointment to me that IDA BROWN's death certificate gave the birthplaces for both her parents as "USA." The death certificate informant was "Mrs. L.W. CREHORE" -- you would have thought Gladys would have known the birthplaces of her own grandparents.
I spent half the night combing my Broderbund CDs and prowling the web, with nothing concrete to show for it. You would think with given names like CYRENUS and PHYLANCIA/PHILLELIA, this would be a snap. But the rule is to "work your way *up*," so I think I know the tack I/we should take: find the death certificates of all of IDA BROWN's siblings. Hopefully, one (or more) of them will settle the question of whether their mother is the Martha Hopkins born in Somerset or the one born in Orleans. (Do you have Nellie's death cert?)
We obviously have a ton of stuff to share. It is such a thrill to make this connection!
Nice to meet you, cuz!!
I don't think I need to say, "Let's keep in touch." :-)
-- Diana
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