Harry and Minerva Maupin Family Part Two

 

Harry and Minerva Maupin

In addition to Charles, Harry and Minerva had two daughters:  Elizabeth Ann (Betty) and Marie Frances.  I'm not sure I ever met Marie but Betty!!  Betty was one of the highlights of our visits to DeSoto.  She was always laughing, telling stories and was the life of any party.

This photo (on the right) is from a large family reunion photo.  Betty is pictured here with her cousin Jack McKay (both were my father's first cousins). I have very few photos of Betty.  Seeing the photo with her hands over her eyes, I think Betty was a little camera shy.   Betty lived in De Soto (at her parents' home in the 1950 Census) with her son David Maupin.  Betty worked for the other large employer in De Soto:  the shoe company (International Shoes) as a machine operator. She married Paul Pope in 1951 in Arkansas.  They had one son Edward who was younger than I was.  But, David. .. .He looked a lot like cousin Jack in the reunion photo.  I thought he was so handsome!  He was born in 1941 so was 4 years older than I was. Like Betty, he always seemed. . . . .happy.

Betty with my aunts Maxine and Mary

Betty with David as a toddler?

L-R:  Hal McKay, Minerva Maupin, Walter Maupin, Maxine Maupin, Harry Maupin

Harry and Minerva Maupin Family Part One

 

Harry Maupin was my grandmother Vivian Maupin Long's oldest living brother.  We visited them often when in DeSoto but it was not my favorite place to go because they didn't have an indoor toilet and we had to go to the outhouse in the backyard.  When I asked Dad why they didn't have an indoor toilet he said Uncle Harry was too cheap.  Oddly Harry and Minerva seemed to take pride in being about the only house in DeSoto with outdoor toilets.  They were never embarrassed or ashamed---Dad said they could afford it but just chose not to install it.  The house was a small 2 bedroom house 304 9th Street in DeSoto with a lot of dark furniture---Harry in a big over-stuffed chair smoking.  I do recall looking around the house and not finding a suitable place for a bathroom.  But I looked up the house today and it has a bathroom----someplace! He was a machinist with the Missouri-Pacific Railroad, one of two big employers in town.

Charles with LeRoy Long

They had 3 children:  Charles, Betty and Marie. Charles was Dad's age (born in 1918) and was with Dad on the train when Dad met my mother Louise. At one time he was married/engaged to Mom's close friend "Reedy".  I got to know Charles pretty well because he lived next door when I was a child with my mother's parents (Wes and Vennie Wicker).  He had a bed in the dining room that he rented from them. This was very common at least among the DeSoto families. Charles was living with Roy and Vivian Maupin Long in the 1940 census (At lest twice we had "boarders" when we lived in the city and my grandparents always had someone from DeSoto living with them.) I haven't located Charles in the 1950 census---he was not with his parents, the Wickers or the Longs.

Charles worked at 3001 Chouteau at the Missouri Pacific "shop" in St. Louis where my dad, grandfather and even great-grandfather Henry Maupin worked. Charles was an assistant mechanic (in 1940 census).

Although Charles married, he never thought he had any children. I never met any of his wives, Grace Adams Kohlbry. According to her death certificate, Grace had been a bacteriologist at MO-Pac Hospital.  Charles was living at 3510 Wyoming in St. Louis MO.   

When he died Feb. 22, 1997, Charles was married to Cecil Inez Guthrie.  According to his obituary he had two children Ronald (Josephine) Cambron and Jo (Douglas) Skabo and  grandchildren:  Jay and Sarah Singer, Kaitlyn Skabo and Ronald Cambron III. I would doubt this was an obituary for him but everything else is correct including the funeral home (Kustis Affton) and contributions to Diabetes Association (both the funeral home and diabetes "run in the family"

I remember Charles as being easy to get along with. He took me at least once to see a movie: Alice in Wonderland (but he had to take me home in the middle of it because it freaked me out)  I also remember him smelling---body odor, stinky feet.  But, otherwise he was a nice guy.  My sister recalls him being "depressed" and stinking: "Daddy would drag me to Uncle Charlie's dismal apartment. It smelled of cigarettes and rancid wash clothes. He was always nice but seemed melancholy like Uncle Walter."

Photo below is of Jack McKay, Martha McKay Lalumandier, Charles Maupin and Maxine Long Delaney

Correspondence about Harvey Morgan

 

So, while cleaning out for a move, I found an envelope from Richard Morgan (on the right) and Lake Morgan Hopson.  I talked to her on the phone many years ago and she was a total delight (should have had a tape recorder).  She called us hoping to talk to Dave's father Grover Morgan (her cousin), but he had already died.  Instead she found our number (because Dave is Grover D. Morgan, Jr).I wish I'd had a tape recorder.

"In back of Harvey Morgan's Homeplace on Indian Creek.  His mother and father (Jonathon Morgan b. 1809 and Nancy Harvey b. 1811) lived here too.  Think this is where Thomas Morgan b. 1787 settled. (Turkey Wallow)  Lake Hopson with me (Richard Morgan) daughter of Golda Morgan, Harveys daughter.  Lake is 96 years old.  Now in 2017, she is 101 years old."

This is Harvey George Morgan's military record (Union Army)  34 years old 6' tall with dark complexion, eyes, hair and whiskers.  Cavalary Co. F, 16th (can't decipher)

Par of home where Harvey Morgan, my great grandpa lived also Jonathan Morgan, his father.  Maybe Thomas Morgan's original home, located on Welch Pineville Rd.

The ghost riders live here (party) a great mill was also here (Wolf Pen) 6/12/17

Lake Hopson's mother Golda and Alfred Holbrook (Golda's Husband).  Harvey Morgan seated, Golda's father. Golda was married 3 times.  Alfred is the first.

Insanity in the Family

Today my husband noticed his nurse, Sharice, wearing a green band bracelet. "May is Mental Illness Awareness Month", she responded.  Being on the Neuro floor of the hospital, I didn't think that was odd. I told her of our writing group and my intention  of writing about mental illness in my family. She continued, "50% of mental illness is undiagnosed---people say 'He acts up' or 'She's just quirky' or 'That's the way she is'. There's such a stigma to putting a name on it.  My son is bi-polar.  We thought it was just him until we really looked around at the family. I am upfront about it because I'm always searching for ideas on how to treat it and someone may know something I don't know."

Yes, I know that feeling.  I had grown up with mental illness in my extended family, but one night while studying in my sorority house, I realized that we had mental illness on both sides of the family.  I freaked out!  I knew my Aunt M was mentally ill.  The only time I ever saw my father sob was the day he had to testify in court for her to be committed to the Insane Asylum (now  St. Louis Psychiatric Hospital) on Arsenal Street.  I had lived on Arsenal Street as a young child  and people would say, "Do you live in the "crazy house?". So having my father's sister going there was horrifying.  After shock treatments and medications, she was eventually released and continued raising her family, but. .. .I can remember when I was a teenager and she confided in me that "someone" told her she was going to be ex-communicated from the Catholic Church.  I tried to reassure her that she wouldn't be.  But now I wonder if she was still hearing voices.

Aunt M wasn't the first or the last in that line to be mentally ill.  My great-grandmother Mary Reiter had one brother who was committed to Farmington Insane Asylum for depression where he hung himself with his bed sheet. (click here for more information) She also had a sister who was "just odd" (click here).  My aunt was not Mary Reiter's only grandchild who was mentally ill.  There were at least two more who committed suicide. "It runs in the family" was often mentioned as a warning.

I didn't know my Aunt M was mentally ill until I was about 8 or 9 years old.  But, I'd always know that my great-grandmother, Mattie, on my mother's side had been mentally ill.  Mom and Grandma talked about her freely. She was committed to Farmington Insane Asylum when Grandma was 12 or 13, leaving Grandma in foster care because her father had died. When Mom was about 10, Grandma and Grandpa petitioned to have Mattie released to their care after being in an asylum for 20 years. Mom remembers her just sitting on the front porch, rocking---never saying much.  She (and my grandmother) did read tea leaves.  Now I wonder how much was "reading " tea leaves and how much was listening to voices.

When my mother's nephew  (my cousin) B turned 21, he started acting "odd".  Mom thought he must have

Mattie Sollis on the left

been doing drugs.  Eventually, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He is very bright having grown up with Harvard students living with his family, but he's never held a full-time job.  Mom became a little obsessed with wondering what her grandmother had.  Eventually, we got a court order to have her records released.  Mattie had had schizophrenia as had her 2 brothers.  I later found one of her brothers also at Farmington Insane Asylum where he died of tuberculosis.  I still have not located her other brother.  But meanwhile found a cousin of hers in an asylum in Tennessee.

I thought it was odd that with so much insanity in Mother's family that it had skipped two generations.  Mother believed drugs triggered B's, but I believe his mother (my mother's sister) was also mentally ill but used alcohol to silence the voices.

Today, I have two cousins (one on each side) who are mentally ill.  Thankfully neither is in an institution and with medication, they lead fairly normal lives.  When B is off his meds we get a lot of phone calls and e-mails on all sorts of topics like "I was watching the Red Sox game and heard the crowd chanting my poetry"  Recently, he has been in assisted living and the phone calls are more like,"Hey, I need more underwear" or "My computer isn't working."

So, back to Sharice's comments.  Yes, it runs in families.  Yes, it is sometime undiagnosed and often disguised by alcohol or drug use. Yes, there's a stigma which is why I've used initials rather than full names for many.  I am fortunate that I've never had to deal with a mentally ill close family relative. I don't mean to make light of the condition, but it's something we've learned to live with like diabetes or a hereditary heart condition.

When I asked Mom if as a child she was embarrassed to have her mentally ill grandmother sit on the front porch.  She said, "no, never.  She was so gentle, never said much.  Besides, in the South, everyone had a grandparent that was that way."I laughed when I first saw a painted sign that said, "Here in the South, we don't hide CRAZY, we parade it on the porch and give it sweet tea".  Yup, that's my family.

Y DNA results on William Graham

 

Margaret Graham Blake

Dwight, grandson of Margaret Graham Blake, wrote the following after getting the results back on our cousin Joe's Y-DNA (R-M269).  Y DNA traces the paternal line back for many generations.  We were surprised to see that we match Henry and Thomas Parks DNA---we were expecting Graham or Grimes (they are both the same name---just spelling differences).  So, Dwight went back to the autosomal DNA results we had gathered from about 12 William Graham descendants using primarily GEDmatch.  Autosomal or atDNA analyzes all of a person's DNA but only goes back 5 generations accurately.  What we wanted was information on7 generations back.  To do that with atDNA, we had to lower threshold from 7cM to 4cM and we could only do that on GEDmatch.  We were able to find several among the dozen of William Graham's descendants who were able to match Henry Parks and Henry Grimes family members barely below the 7cM threshold and several above that threshold.  For more on DNA and genealogy, click here.

For more on R-M269, click here

"I think just Y chromosome test, and tables showing correlation of us with Henry Parks and with John Grimes... we then learn three things.

1. Our Y chromosome matches that of Henry Parks (b.1758 in Albermarle County). Henry Parks Y chromosome is a sub-variant type of that for the other Parks of Albermarle County. It can not be conclude that Henry Parks is a male descendant of the Thomas Park family of Albermarle, as the difference in Y chromosomes has about 8 mutations. But, he did migrate with the family of Thomas Parks to Wilkes County NC, after his birth.
2. The atDNA analysis of our WmGraham group compared to 4 Henry Parks descendants shows high cM correlation values for that many generations back. This is consistent with the data demonstrating the matching of our Y chromosome to that family
3. The atDNA analysis of our WmGraham group with the descendants of John Grimes (b. 1758, Hannover County VA) shows an equally high, if not higher, cM correlation value. John Grimes, and his brother Henry Grimes, obtained early land Patents in Washington County TN, along with our James [Graham], in 1777. Our family name Graham probably comes from this family. John and Henry Grimes are known sons of Capt. William Grimes (with his 1^st wife). Captain William Grimes was killed in the Service of our young Country in Philadelphia in July 1777, under the command of General Washington.

This information together has provided us with windows into our shared heritage. We think we now know the lineages, but are not for sure which line is James Graham's father and which his mother. Unfortunately, the Court House in Guilford NC was destroyed in the Revolution, and the Court Houses in Hanover and Albermarle Counties of Virginia were destroyed in the Civil War. With the loss of these Court houses, and with the fact that DNA matching decreases effectiveness quickly with increasing number of generations, identification of our shared heritage has been difficult. It was only because of the large number of people on our side that had DNA tests done that we were able to draw these conclusions. It was the large number of people working together that was able to give confidence."

Thank you for all who helped us try to solve this puzzle.  We are still working on it, so stay tuned.