Donald Charles Fletcher was born to the youngest daughter of Clifford Romaine Fletcher and Margaret Edna Cowan on October 16, 1950 in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan.  As a young child, he went to live with his Uncle Bill Fletcher and family in Miami, Florida.  Don was the perfect addition to this family and when Bill tried to look into adopting Don, about the same time that Don’s mother married, she chose to have Don move back to Michigan, where he was adopted by his step-father, Jerry Thomas McFarlin.

At the age of 7, he was blessed with a half-sister, whom he loved dearly and spoke of often.  When he was nearly 13, his half-brother was born.  Don did not have many happy childhood memories that he shared with us.  By 1970 Don entered the military, moved to Kansas, and legally changed his name to Bishop.  Don had a second half-brother who was born after he moved to Kansas.

The following is a collection of the memories that were shared at Dad’s funeral.

A Celebration of Life for Don Bishop
October 16, 1950 – November 3, 2005

In the 1970’s, Don was kinda wild.

Don met Connie Laughlin at the apartment complex where they both lived. Connie asked the landlady to introduce them and her response was “Oh, no honey, you don’t want to meet him. He’s not your type.”

During the early years, the couple was young and foolish. Doing young and foolish things for that era. They married after knowing each other for only 3 months. Everyone said that it wouldn’t last. Well, it did… 35 years.

Don held several jobs during those younger years. He always managed to be employed. Some jobs were not that good and some didn’t pay that well, but he always brought in a paycheck.

By mid 1976, they had two girls that Don totally adored. He had a hard time showing affection in his early days. By him receiving affection from his new family and friends, he then learned how to give affection back. This took many, many years.

His form of discipline was “the look”. When dad got that look, the girls knew that he meant business.

Don never met a person that he didn’t like… except for a few of the boyfriends that came around. Once he became your friend, he was your friend for life. When Don and Connie married, he not only married Connie but her entire family. He was loved dearly by his extended family.

He was always willing to help whoever asked. Asking for nothing in return. He helped around the house doing laundry, dishes, vacuuming and anything Connie would ask, he would do. Yes, even windows. He was always right there helping the girls with school projects.

Don loved to party and he usually was the life of the party. Even though Connie would be mad and upset, that didn’t stop him any at all.

During these party times, he could be heard yelling “GOOD MORNING, VIETNAM!” after the movie with the same name. Or he would say, “I’ll drink to that!”  YYYOOOOOOOOO was another favorite of his.

He was daring as well. He’d do anything that anyone suggested or mentioned, just to prove that he was a macho man. That included attempting an Evil Knevil motorcycle turn in front of Sonny and Alan. Hitting the wrong brake, the bike stopped and Don went flying over the handle bars on to the hood of the truck. Coming back to the house, he was bleeding and limping along. He made an ER visit that is still memorable to this day. This was one of many ER visits that Don made while visiting family in western Kansas.

At Christmas in 1972, the family received a Santa that sang “Jingle Bells.” As the girls grew older, he would take this Santa to their doorways and turn it on. Even as late as two years ago, he would have Connie call each of them and he would play that Santa. It became a family ritual.

He took pride in decorating the outside of his house. He would start decorating in November and would continue to add decorations throughout December. Many times these additional decorations would blow the breakers.

When Connie worked the 3-11 shift at the hospital while the girls were school age, he fixed them beanie-weenies. He added baking soda so that it wouldn’t be gassy for the girls. Not knowing exactly what baking soda did, the beanie-weenies were horrible. The girls remember that to this day and always laugh about his cooking abilities or I should say his cooking inabilities. He was dynamite with the grill though.

Don loved sports. During the ‘70s and ‘80s, he was a devoted Royals baseball fan. We attended many games since he lived in Kansas City. He would also watch all the games on TV or listen to them on the radio. When the Chiefs got started, he watched all of their games. His deepest love of sports was for the KU basketball. Don and Connie were able to attend all the home games in 2003. He loved every minute of those games. Their computer room is decorated with KU memorabilia, many that Don had picked out or that his girls had given him.

As time passed and the lottery and gambling became legal in Kansas and Missouri, his enjoyment turned to this. He loved to go to the boat and he would go every chance he got. When the power ball started, he picked his numbers that are still used to this day. Whenever Don and Connie went out of town, he always had to make sure that he had his picks for the time that they would be gone. When he was in the hospital, he would always make sure that either one of the girls or Connie would get his picks. He made Connie promise that she would continue to get his picks even after he was gone. For the first few years, she did continue to get the picks, but as the economy turned, and things began to get tight, she knew that he would understand.

When he became sick, it was very hard on him. He had to give up his job with KDOT. Losing the contact of his work buddies was very hard. He would often call and chit-chat about the projects they were doing. He wasn’t strong enough to drive to a site to visit. The inability to be functional and work was extremely hard on him. He even had difficulty doing the little “honey-do’s” that Connie left for him to do so that he just wouldn’t sit. Often these little jobs took all day, but he got them done. The last two weeks he was bothered by the fact that he could no longer do much to help me around the house. He was told not to worry about it, but he did.

Every time his son-in-laws would come over, he would have a list of stuff for them to do. Many of which wasn’t necessary or important. But, it was important to him and they obliged him.

Don and Connie adopted a 5 year old black lab, Cooper, to keep Don company. Cooper and Don would often drive up the road or to the grocery store so that Cooper could get her daily ride in.

When KU won the 1988 NCCA basketball tournament, her dad took his youngest daughter, Michelle, to Crown Center to get the champion tee-shirts. He even let her stay home from school to do this.

For the last couple of weeks Don was reminiscing about the times that he had to take on Paula’s boyfriends. He was protective of his girl.

His greatest thrill of all was being able to be here and see the birth of his first grandchild. He called her “his little angel”.

Now, at the age of 4, Abby refers to Don as “Mimi’s PawPaw” (Mimi being her word for her Grammy Connie). Abby knows that Mimi’s PawPaw is in heaven and that when she sees the stars, it means that he is watching her.

Funeral Card

On behalf of the family, we wish to express
their gratitude for your many kindnesses
evidenced in thought and deed, and
for your attendance at this service.

---

GOD SAW

God watched you as you suffered
And knew you’d had your share
He gently closed your weary eyes
And took you in His care
God has you in His keeping
We have you in our hearts
Your memory is our keepsake
With that we’ll never part
God saw you getting tired
And a cure was not to be
He put His arm around you
And whispered, “Come with Me.”
With tearful eyes we watched you
And saw you fade away
Although we loved you dearly
We could not make you stay
A golden heart stopped beating
Hard working hands now rest
God broke our hearts to prove to us
He only takes the best.

---

In Memory of

DONALD C. “DON” BISHOP

Date of Birth
October 16, 1950
Detroit, Michigan

Date of Death
November 3, 2005
Lawrence, Kansas

MEMORIAL SERVICE
1:00 p.m. Monday, Noevember 7, 2005
Warren-McElwain Mortuary
Lawrence, Kansas

OFFICIANT
Angela Lowe, Chaplain

INURNMENT
Oak Hill Cemetery
Lawrence, Kansas

---

Obituary

1950-2005
LAWRENCE

LAWRENCE JOURNAL WORLD
Thursday, November 10, 2005

Donald C. Bishop, 55, Lawrence, died Thursday, Nov. 3, 2005, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. Memorial services were held Monday at Warren-McElwain Mortuary in Lawrence. He will be inurned in Oak Hill Cemetery.

Mr. Bishop was born Oct. 16, 1950, in Detroit, Mich., the son of Jerry and Mary Ellen Fletcher McFarlin. He moved to Kansas in 1969, where he lived in the Kansas City and Lawrence areas. He was an engineer technician for the Kansas Dept. of Transportation from 1998 until the present. He formerly worked for the Lanter Trucking Co. in Edwardsville.

He married Connie Laughlin July 10, 1970, in Lawrence. She survives at the home. Also surviving are two daughters, Paula Hawk and Michelle Spiess, both of Edwardsville; his parents; two half-brothers, Michael McFarlin, Tempe, Ariz.; and Jerry McFarlin, Jr., Taylor, Mich.; half-sister, Susan Proto, Taunton, Mass.; and one grandchild, Abby Spiess.

The family suggests memorials to the Lawrence Memorial Hospital for the benefit of the Oncology Unit or the charity of the donor’s choice and may be sent in care of the Warren-McElwain Mortuary, 120 W. 13th St., Lawrence, KS 66044-3402, (785) 843-1120.

I hope that everyone has had a good summer and is ready for that ‘back to school’ mode!

Along the top and bottom of each page, you will notice that there is a new link in the navigation: Images.  Right now there are only three links that are ‘live’ on the page: 1820, 1830, and sources.  I’ve decided to split it up in this way, so that I can add more records later, if needed.  As I have been adding these census images, I have also been updating the William & Rebecca page, with links that will take you to the image thumbnail of the census I am discussing.

When you are on one of the thumbnail pages (so far only 1820 and 1830) when you click the image, a new window will open showing you a larger image.  I think most browsers are pretty much the same on this: you should be able to click on the large image to get it to 100% and then be able to scroll through the image.

This side project may take me a little bit to get all caught up, so please bear with me.  I have about 75 images of census records only that only cover William and Rebecca (Oney) Corel, Jemima Corel and David McGlothlin, Mary McGlothlin, Henry H. McGlothlin, Martha Jane McGlothlin, Shadrack McGlothlin, Henry Highland and Nancy Matney, Jemima M. Corel, and Julia Ann Corel.  I also have images showing war service, newspaper articles, birth and death records, pages from books, and marriage records!  I have also gathered some of the images for the Corel by Chance families.  On the bright side, this will give me some time while I wait for my latest request for inter library loan, on the Parman family.  I think that I will also try to do some preliminary research on the children of Mary Ester Corel Puckett, so I might be able to start moving a bit quicker.  Well, except for the next week – I have jury duty!  I’m hoping I won’t be selected, so I will be able to do my research, but I may very well be stuck without a computer next week!! 

After weighing the options on how to resolve this issue, I have decided that I am going to create an Image Library, fully documented with source information, but not the web address of the Ancestry.com page I found the information.  On items that are just in a database, with no images to reference, I will take a “snapshot” of the web page with the pertinent info.

I’m not completely sure of just how I am going to do this Image Library.  Rather than trying to create a library for each individual, I think it might be easier to have different sections, such as: Census, Books, Marriage Records, Birth Records, Death Records, Grave Markers, People, Places, and Misc.

I was wanting to do something similar to this on the site, to include photos and such in a centralized location, but I wasn’t planning on working on it right away.  For now, so that I can get everything up and loaded, I will just enter the images in their appropriate section.  I am thinking I will create a simple page that will have thumbnails linking to the full sized images, without a lot of details about the images.

If you have any thoughts or ideas on this, please let me know!

My next project will be to update Henry Highland’s page with the few details I have about daughters Margaret and Louisa.  Then I will likely create another Corels by Chance page for the Parman family, as the Parman’s are related through Cosby Jane Corel’s line (Rachel Parman is the maternal grandmother of William Justice.) and Rebecca Elizabeth Corel’s line (Rebecca is the youngest daughter of Henry Highland, she married Giles Gilbert Parman, son of George Parman and Lydia Myers.  Lydia is the sister of Willis Myers who married Julia Ann Corel.).  Rachel Parman is an aunt of George Parman and great aunt of Giles Gilbert Parman.

After showing the Parman family, I will do the page for Rebecca Elizabeth Corel that will complete the children of Henry Highland Corel and have me ready to start working on the children of Mary Ester Corel and John Puckett.

]]> http://corelcousins.com/2009/08/05/whats-new-wednesday-julia-ann-corel-page-complete/feed/ 0 http://corelcousins.com/2009/07/28/tombstone-tuesday-julia-ann-corel-willis-myers/ http://corelcousins.com/2009/07/28/tombstone-tuesday-julia-ann-corel-willis-myers/#comments Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:20:49 +0000 Paula http://corelcousins.com/?p=1129

Julia Ann Corel & Willis Myers

I found this photo and obituaries for Julia Ann Corel Myers and Willis Myers on Find A Grave on July 24, 2009.  Corel Cousin Bobby Dobbins Title had added the obituaries, and Find A Grave member, June, had added the photo.  I am currently working on a page for Julia and Willis, so I will not share a story about them on this Tombstone Tuesday.  I have gotten caught up in Willis’ Civil War service, but I hope to have the page for this couple completed within the next week.

I will share, that from what I have read, I can imagine that Julia and Willis met before the war broke out, while Julia was visiting her aunt Cosby Jane Corel Justice or perhaps her aunt Nancy Maryland Corel LaHay.  After the death of Julia’s parents, Henry Highland Corel and Nancy Matney, sister Margaret lived with aunt Nancy Maryland and sister Louisa lived with aunt Cosby Jane.  Both aunts lived in close proximity to China Campbell Myers Yates and Abel Yates, mother and step father of Willis Myers.

Willis and his brother, Williamson Silas Myers, both enlisted in military service on July 13, 1861 for 3 year terms.   By March 1862, when the 9th Kansas Cavalry was officially organized, both brothers had been promoted to Corporal in Company A of this regiment.  No evidence of a muster out date has been found for Willis, but it is likely that he mustered out with his brother and the rest of Company A on November 19, 1864 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.  I can envision the joy that Julia must have felt upon Willis’ return from the war.  The couple surely must have been deeply in love, as they were married just over a month later on December 27, 1864.

CHETOPA ADVANCE
Friday, September 25, 1903

Willis Myers, one of the old time residents of Chetopa, died at Welch, I.T. Monday, September 22, aged 65 years. The body was brought to Chetopa Wednesday and was interred in Oak Hill Cemetery, Rev. J. R. McFadden conducting the service at the grave. Mr. Myers left a widow and four children, Ed Myers, Nevada, Missouri; Mrs. Will Columbia, Chetopa; Mrs. Roqua Milner, Ardmore, I.T.; and Mrs. Gertrude Crotty, Butler, Missouri.

MRS. JULIA MYERS DIES AT DAUGHTER’S HOME
CHETOPA ADVANCE-CLIPPER
Thursday, October 16, 1930

Mrs. Julia Anne Myers, aged 86 years, 8 months and 19 days, died Tuesday at the home of her daughter, Mrs. W. H. Columbia. She is survived by one son, E.W. Myers of Nevada, Missouri, three daughters, Mrs. Columbia, Mrs. Charles Milner of Ardmore, Oklahoma, and Mrs. John Crotty of Nevada, Missouri, eight grandchildren. Funeral services were held at the home yesterday afternoon, Rev. Harry Weed officiating and burial being in Oak Hill Cemetery. The son and one daughter, Mrs. Milner, were unable to be present on account of illness. Mr. Myers died September 20, 1893.

Julia Anne Correll was born January 25, 1944, in Wheeling, W. Virginia. When she was 5 years old she moved with her parents to Lawrence, Kansas, where she grew to womanhood. December 27, 1864, she was married to Willis Myers at Lawrence. To this union were born five children, one of whom died in infancy. Mrs. Myers was a member of the Christian Church and active in its service until a few years ago. She was a charter member but demitted April 2, 1887, after she moved to Chetopa.

James Henry Corel Driving Horses

Over Memorial Day weekend I had the opportunity to talk with my grandparents about our family history and I was able to go through some old photos, scrapbooks, and other items that had been saved over the years.

I was awestruck when I saw this first photo of my great great grandpa, James Henry Corel  (son of James Pickens Corel) driving his horses – I just think this is a GREAT shot!  James Henry, like many of my ancestors, farmed the Kansas soil to provide for his family.

In having the opportunity to talk with my grandma, I learned some interesting things.  Some things I learned, I probably shouldn’t share, but I will, and I will just hope that no one gets mad or offended!

James Henry Corel on his Plow

I should probably start with my estimation of the age of these photos.  They were glued (ugh) into a scrapbook on pages that also had photos of my great grandma, Kathryn Corel, as a very young girl.  Kathryn was born in 1908, so I am going to guess that these photos were likely taken around 1910.

Grandma told me that the land that she now lives on used to be covered with potato crops.  Today the fields alternate between corn and soy beans.  I never would have imagined potatoes being the crop of choice, after all, we are the Wheat State!

During World War II there was a prisoner of war barracks just down the road from the family farm.  I still can’t wrap my head around Nazi prisoners being sent to Kansas!  Great Grandpa James Henry had a German that came to work on the farm while he was staying at the prisoner of war barracks.  Grandma recalls that the German would eat with them, just like he was one of the family.  Grandma would ride her horse carrying water for the men out in the fields as a young girl.

James Henry Corel wasn’t always nice to his work horses.  One day one of the horses fought back and knocked him down to the ground and stomped on his ear!  Grandma said that he was lucky that he didn’t die that day and that he just lost that ear.

James Henry Corel with 7 Great Grandchildren

I included this last photo of James Henry with his great grandchildren to show that all that our ancestors did, it was always for the family.  Plus, I had teased one cousin about a photo I found and today is her birthday, so I thought it would be a great way to end this post.  This photo was taken about 1953 and has James Henry Corel holding Debbie McCoy and surrounded by Laurie Head, Connie and Sonny Laughlin, Dale and David Corel, and Wayne Hurrelbrink.  Personally, I think that the look on James Henry’s face is simply PRICELESS!!

John Beasley Corel

John Beasley Corel was the sixth child and fourth son born to Emma Augusta Miller and James Henry Corel (son of James Pickens Corel) on Monday, June 27, 1904 at 3 PM in Wakarusa Township, Douglas County, Kansas¹.  I often wondered where the middle name of Beasley came from….

In early March 2009, I was surfing Ancestry.com and seeing if I could make any connections with aunts and uncles from previous generations when I found the husband of Emma Miller’s sister, Louisa Miller.  Louisa had married John H. Beasley about 1888.  This was quite a find for me, as although Emma and James had 8 children, only 3 of the children had appeared to be named after other family members.

That John Beasley Corel was named completely after his uncle explains why he had a nickname, if not the reason for the nickname.  Jiggy, or as his wife often called him, Jigs, is a nickname that is still attached to him today, more than 60 years after his death.

John Beasley lived with his parents in Wakarusa Township, Douglas County, Kansas through, at least, 1925 where he is shown on the Kansas Census².  On June 4, 1927, John Beasley Corel married Miss Gertrude Nichols of Pawnee County, Kansas in Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri³.  The couple may have met while John Beasley was serving in the Kansas National Guard.

On August 21, 1928 John was in an unfortunate accident as described by this article from the Thursday, August 23, 1928 Lawrence Daily Journal-World in Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas:

COREL’S CONDITION
PROMISING TODAY
Guardsman Wounded by
Machine Gun Bullet
Is Resting Easily
PRIVATE SMITH HURT

Sergeant John C. Corel, of Co. H. 137th infantry, a Lawrence, Kansas National Guard unit encamped at Camp Whitside, near Fort Riley, Kans., was reported this morning as resting easily after being wounded with a machine gun bullet Tuesday. The bullet struck Corel in the right chest and lodged behind a rib on the right side of his back, according to George Reed, deputy sheriff, who was at the camp yesterday.

A report from the camp this morning stated Corel spent a restful night in the Fort Riley hospital last night, and that if complications do not occur, the injured man will recover. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Corel, of route 2, Lawrence, expected to start for Lawrence today.

Same Bullet Hit Two Men

The accident occurred when a machine gun in a truck was discharged. The bullet struck Private Emmett Smith in the foot and then struck Sergeant Corel in the right chest.

The force of the bullet knocked Corel down, according to accounts from the camp, but the sergeant got up and was looking after Smith when the pain in his chest caused him to fall again. The wound in Smith’s foot is slight, according to the report.

In speaking with my grandmother, Billie Hahn Laughlin – a niece of John Beasley Corel, about this incident, her recollection was slightly different than this report.  From what she had been told as she was growing up, John was struck by shrapnel while training for World War I.  She recalled that John’s face was also struck by the shrapnel and that he grew a mustache (such as he is sporting in the photo on the left) to hide his wound.  Billie went on to explain that the wound to John’s chest was so extensive that he ended up losing a lung.

As you can see, this photo is from 1937.  Pictured from left to right are Charles Wesley, Eugene William, James Henry, Glenn James, and John Beasley Corel.

I have not been able to figure out what happened with John’s wife Gertrude.  There is no mention of her in the article reporting the accident at Fort Riley.  I have not been able to locate either John or Gertrude in the 1930 census.

Reverend Ernest Jones married John Beasley Corel and Katheryn A. Reeves on January 8, 1941 in Richmond, Ray County, Missouri⁴.  The couple soon had a daughter, Glenna Kay Corel.

Sadly, the story of John Beasley Corel ends much too quickly.  John passed away on August 10, 1946 in Kansas City, Wyandotte County, Kansas.  The following is transcribed from a newspaper clipping with a date handwritten of 8/10/46.

To Hospital Tuesday

John Corel, 42 years old, Sunflower Village, DeSoto, Kas., died early today at the University of Kansas hospitals where he was admitted Tuesday. He leaves his wife, Mrs. Kathryn Corel, and a daughter, Glenna Kay Corel, both of the home; his father, James H. Corel, Lawrence, Kas.; three sisters, Mrs. George Dunkley, Lawrence; Mrs. Kathryn Hahn, Lawrence; Mrs. Herbert Buchanan, a resident of the state of Nevada, and three brothers, Charles Corel, Arthur Corel and Eugene Corel, all of Lawrence. Private graveside services will be held at 5 o’clock this afternoon in the Oak Hill cemetery, Lawrence.

These five cases of infantile paralysis were reported:

Ralph Nesbit, 13 years old, son of Mr. and Mrs. Red Nesbitt, Parkville, Mo., in the General hospital.

Flora Mae Hedrick, 14, of Stotesbury, Mo., in the General hospital.

John Hogan, 12, son of Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Hogan, Polo, Mo., in the Menorah hospital.

John Beeks, 14, son of Mr. and Mrs. Claude Beeks, Baldwin, Kas., in the University of Kansas hospitals.

Lyle Hunter, Edgerton, Kas., in the University of Kansas hopsitals.

—
DELAY A FAMILY REUNION
—
Polio Case Leads to Postponement at Oak Grove

The thirty-second annual Webb family reunion, which was scheduled for tomorrow in Webb park, near Oak Grove, has been postponed until September 15, because of a case of infantile paralysis in Oak Grove. The victim is Donna Owings, 5 years old, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Walker Owings.

So I started working this morning, in hopes that I could just get it wrapped up today and that would be our What’s New for this week, but LOL (Laughing Out Loud, for those of you who may not know what LOL means), as is typical for me, I got side tracked….

Today it was just looking into a bit of history about Jemima’s husband, John Morgan Salathiel.  I can accept that he was born in 1836, but whenever there is an exact date, I try to find something to back it up.  Well, of course I didn’t, but I did find that there is no way that he was born in Ironton, Lawrence County, Ohio.  At least, officially, because Ironton didn’t exist until 1851!  Ah the little things…  So, as I was looking around, I was referring to the write up on Jemima & John’s son, Thomas Sherman Salathiel in the third volume of The Standard History of Kansas and Kansans from 1918.  It has a few details about John Morgan Salathiel’s father, Morgan Salathiel, and of course, I got curious!

I’ve not been able to find the Salathiel’s in the 1840 census.  There is only one Salathiel (at least on Ancestry.com) in all of the US on the 1840 census.  I even reviewed most of the townships (probably the wrong ones) of Lawrence County, Ohio, but there was just nothing.  I did find John and his mother in Cincinnati in 1850 and then they were in Lawrence, Douglas County, Kansas in 1860, living next door to John’s sister.  This disproves the fact I’ve seen stated around in a few places that Jemima and John were married in 1858 or 1859.  My notes, probably taken by my Mom when she was researching while I was still in high school, shows that there was an announcement of some kind in the Lawrence Republican in November 1861 and that Jemima’s name was spelled “Correll”.  So one of the things I tried to do today was to request that my local library do an interlibrary loan of the microfilm for the Lawrence Republican.  I was also hoping that if I looked at the previous year, I might be able to find something about Rebecca Oney Corel’s death.  Well, no such luck there, either!  I cannot request the microfilm, I have to request a specific article.  GAH!  So frustrating.

So, I went back to looking for more on John’s parents.  All the census records say that they were from Wales.  Why is it that everything has to be so difficult and so much more expensive when looking for stuff in the UK?  I could access all these neat, free digital copies from the Wales Library, but I have to sign up for a reader ticket in person, have two forms of ID, and have a Wales postcode! 

So, I broke down and started looking at the other options.  I think that if I can ever get organized enough, I may try out Origins for their 72 hour subscription.  But, I will have to be much more prepared than I am right now (I would want to do some McGee research, too!), and I’d need to make sure I wouldn’t have to work for the 72 hours, plus probably the 48 hours after, and I would need lots of coffee!  If I’m going to do a short subscription like that, I want to make sure I get my money’s worth! 

So, my quickie is a bit longer, because I rambled, but basically, I still got nothing!  I’m still searching and researching and life is still a bit hectic, but I am working.  I think that I might just go with the basic facts that I have on Jemima and just write it up and be done with it.  I hate being stuck on one person for so long.  But, I have found yet another descendant of Jemima & John’s in my searching.  I sent a message through Ancestry.com – it looks like she had just started and hadn’t found anything beyond her grandfather, Charles Salathiel.  She knew he was born in Independence, but thought it was Independence, Missouri.  So, hopefully I will hear from her soon!

I’ve gotta wrap this up – I may have already missed the cut off time for those who get this emailed and it may be a What’s New Thursday for them!!

Hope everyone is having a GREAT summer and those of you in the Midwest are staying cool!

Ever since I had first read Agnes’ manuscript, I have had a difficult time resolving one section, which you can see below.  My difficulty has come from the fact that I have lived most of my life in the Kansas City area, and although I do not know the entire area, as my Dad had spent many years as a delivery driver in Kansas City, I was raised to have a basic understanding of where things are located in the city and how to get around the metro without much problem.  Here is what Agnes had to say about the family moving to Kansas City:

In the 1850’s Henry Corel, my mother’s father, and brothers and families, their stock etc. came to Kansas. They came from Virginia by flatboat down the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri Rivers. Their boat foundered and they unloaded at Wyandotte and drove by schooner to Westport, Missouri using ox teams. Mama was seven years old. Kansas City was not started then. They began a homestead on the Little Blue, now Kansas City’s famous Cliff Drive.

Honestly, I do not think I have ever been to Cliff Drive, but I did know that it was near Downtown and ran along the Missouri River, not the Little Blue River.  Additionally, Henry and his family are found in Washington Township, Jackson County, Missouri on the 1850 census¹.  I had no idea where Washington Township was, so before digging into this, I thought perhaps Washington Twp was just a bit east of present day Downtown, perhaps in the area now simply called “Northeast”.  The Little Blue River runs from near Grandview, south of Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, north to the Missouri River just west of the town of Sibley, Missouri².

My first search was to determine just where Washington Township was located in Jackson County, Missouri.  To my surprise, Washington Township is in the southwest corner of the county.  This completely rules out that the family lived near Cliff Drive, but then I became curious to try to figure out just where they may have lived.

The official description of Washington Township when it was organized on February 9, 1836 was:

Commencing at Cummins Mill on Big Blue so as to include said Mill, thence running due west to the boundary line, thence south with said boundary to the corner of Van Buren county (now Cass), thence east with said county line to a point opposite the head of Little Cedar Fork of Little Blue, thence down said Cedar Fork until it intersects the main fork of Little Blue, thence in a straight direction to the beginning³.

I never could find anything on Cummins Mill, so I was quite grateful for this simpler description:

The southern and western boundaries were then about the same as now, but the eastern boundary ran north and south near the present site of Lee’s Summit, and the northern boundary ran east and was through the junction of Cedar Fork with Little Blue³.

I also spent quite a bit of time looking at the neighbors of Henry Highland Corel.  I looked up land patent purchases and reviewed old plat maps of Jackson County.  None of the Corel family members purchased a land patent in Missouri.  In order to determine a more precise location for Henry Corel and his family, I looked to their neighbors.  The family listed before Henry Corel was that of Edward Gray.  When he died, Edward Gray lived two and a half miles northwest of Hickman’s Mill⁵.  Just after Henry Corel in the 1850 census was Alexander Majors and family.  In 1856 Alexander Majors built a house that is still standing today at 8201 State Line Road, Kansas City, Missouri.

This map is an estimation of the area of Washington Township.  The green line across the bottom is the county line for Jackson and Cass counties. The purple line on the left is the state line for Kansas and Missouri.  The purple line across the top is connecting to the fork of the Little Blue River and Little Cedar Creek.  The dark blue line on the right leads from the start of Little Cedar Creek down to the county line.   The light blue line above the dark blue line is the outline of Little Cedar Creek.  The yellow house in the upper left corner is where Alexander Majors’ house still stands today.  The purple push pin shows the location of the New Santa Fe Cemetery, and the green house in the center is the approximate location of the original site of Hickman’s Mill.  The green outlined area is about two and a half miles from Hickman’s Mill, which would be about where Edward Gray lived at the time of his death in 1869.  The red outlined area is where I would estimate that Henry Highland Corel lived, if his family did live near the Little Blue River, which is what the blue line is showing.  If you click on the map, you will be taken to this map on Google, which has all of these annotations, as well as an outline of Cliff Drive, which is about 10 miles north of Washington Township, plus you can look around the area a bit more.  I would have included the outline of Cliff Drive here, but then the map would have been so small, it would have been difficult to understand.

So, essentially, I have accomplished nothing in this past week, except that I have learned quite a bit more about the history of Kansas City, and I have deduced that there is no way that Henry Highland Corel lived near Kansas City’s Cliff Drive.  Hopefully now I will be able to focus on Henry’s daughter, Jemima!