The Bucher/Booker Family, 1686-1990: Chapter VIII, Part 2

Booker, Jacob N. W M 47 Farmer born IN F.born KY M.born KY

Martha A. W F 43 Wife K’ping House born IN F.born PA M.born KY

Margaret E. W F 19 S.Daughter At home born IN F.born IN M.born IN

Louvisa W F 17 Daughter At home born IN F.born IN M.born IN

Charles J. W M 14 Son Farmer born IN F.born IN M.born IN

Benjamin A. W M 12 Son born IN F.born IN M.born IN

Martha E. W F 7 Daughter born IN F.born IN M.born IN

Taylor, Delilah W F 83 M’in Law Widowed born KY F.born KY M.born KY

Booker, R.H. [Ruel] W M 26 Farmer born IN [sic] F.born IN M.born IN

Mary D. [Delilah] W F 19 Wife K’ping House born IN F.born IN M.born IN

William A. W M 10/12 (Oct) Son born IN F.born IN M.born IN

Booker, Thos. B. W M 35 Farmer born IN [sic] F.born IN M.born IN

Emily C. W F 45 Wife K’ping House born IN F.born PA M.born KY

Jane W F 16 Daughter born IN F.born IN M.born IN

Thomas E. W M 9 Son born IN F.born IN M.born IN

Louisa M.D. W F 7 Daughter born IN F.born IN M.born IN

Rosa A. W F 5 Daughter born IN F.born IN M.born IN

Mary I. W F 3 Daughter born IN F.born IN M.born IN

T. B. Booker Dropped Dead

End came without warning at his home Tuesday Evening at 7:00.

T. B. Booker dropped dead at his home in the norteast part of town Tuesday evening at about seven o’clock. Mr. Booker had worked at the tile factory during the day and had appeared in the best of health and spirits. He ate ahearty supper and was pulling weeds when the death stroke came.

Mr. Zorger a nearby resident was the first to learn that there was anything wrong. He heard someone groaning and when he got to Mr. Booker, he found him lying face down across a railroad tie. Death came a few minutes later. R. H. Booker, a brother of the deceased, was the next man to arrive. Dr. McPherson was called and pronounced Mr. Booker beyond human aid….Dr. McPherson pronounced the cause of Mr. Booker’s death as apoplexy…

T. B. Booker was born at Sullivan, Ind. Oct. 19, 1845. He was married to Lurenda Nickels in the year 1864. One child was born to this union. After his first wife’s death he was united in marriage to Emily Taylor, Aug. 11, 1868. She died June 26, 1906.

Five children were born to the second union, Addie Bell who died in infancy, Tom, of Arkansas; Louise Rector of Oklahoma; Rose Sims, of Bement and Clara O’Malley of Ohio.

Deceased is survived by six brothers, R. H. and W. N. of Bement; Perry of Oklahoma [sic]; James of Georgian [sic]; L. and Samuel Booker, of Decatur; and two sisters, Mrs. Halstead, of Decatur and Mrs. Ferree of Kansas.

The funeral services will be held at 4 o’clock this (Thursday) afternoon.

Bent Booker died suddenly at his home at 7 o’clock Tuesday evening…

Mr. Booker was born in Sullivan County, Ind. on Oct. 1, 1845. He was twice married. His first was Miss Rene Nichols. His second wife was Miss Emila [Emily] C. Taylor, who died in 1906. He moved to Piatt county thirty-five years ago, settled first in LaPlace and then moved to Decatur. While in Decatur, he worked for Tuttle Bros. He moved to Bement about three years ago. He leaves five children: Mrs. James Jones [sic?], Boonsville, Ark., daughter by his first wife, Mrs. Iona O’Malley, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, Thomas Booker, Hope, Arkansas, and Mrs. Bart Sims of Bement. Besides his children he leaves nineteen half-brothers, among whom are R. H. and Will Booker of Bement, Sam and Lafe Booker of Decatur…

Booker, Jesse, son, W/M, b. Apr. 1883, age 17, b. KS

Booker, Howard Lorenzo, son, W/M, b. Nov. 1886, age 13, b. MO.

Booker, William H., son, W/M, b. Oct. 1891, age 8, b. MO

Dear Dauter,

I will try an answer your kind most welcom leter. We was glad to hear from you and hear you was all well. I wish i coud Say that But i cant and tell the truth maw [Emily] has Bin Sick evry sinc Chrismas But is doin beter now and i can hardly go. we are glad you are all Doing Well. We have had nice winter So far and not much snow or not very cold. Tell Ernisteen we got the corn and it was nice and we wod love to kiss the hands that sent it and am sorow to tell her that we could not eat the curnels for we had no teath to chew them. But they was nice all the same. i havnt had a tooth in my head for 7 or 8 years. i never could git any made to fit. Maw had som made and cant use them. Maw sid that She wod love to see you and your momie and all the children and was glad that you are doing well and I gess your mamie feels beter in her one house. Tell Earl we hant for got him yet and wod love to see him and all the rest. Willies are all well. Hettie Said She rote to you when in Wyoma and got no answer. Claries are all well. Ed is Still in Okly homea. Lacy hant git much beter. John & Renzo Dan livs in the mountain [Mountain Grove?]. We got a leter from Jess he is maried and hant never com home yet he is in Organ. They are all well. So that is all now. So Good By

From Paw and maw to Effie and children Goody By.

“I have had trouble finding anyone who remembered Gravel Point had a post office. However, I have now located a fellow who lives quite close and whose family are old-timers. He graduated in the same class as I did at Cabool, and niece did too…Now, I have two or three others, one the husband of my 5th grade teacher, who remembers a place they called ‘Booker Hill.’ I believe it is near Brushy Knob School near Greenwood Church…”

William Henry Booker

William Henry Booker, son of Richard Booker and Emily Jane Booker, was born in Texas County on October 7, 1890, and departed this life at the Mt. Vernon hospital on April 22 at the age of 73 years, 6 months, and 15 days.

On February 20, 1912, he was married to Hettie E. Carter, who preceded him in death on March 9, 1947. To this union were born three girls, one of whom, Wilma C., also preceded him in death on August 16, 1930.

He united with the General Baptist Church at Dunn and remained a member until his death. He was also a member of the Masonic Lodge, Barnes Chapter 116, in Cabool. Practically his entire life was spent in Texas and Wright Counties, being a retired farmer and carpenter, and at one time he served as City Marshal of Cabool.

He leaves to mourn his passing two daughters, Mrs. Bea Kenney of Cabool and Mrs. Zelma Young of Mtn. Grove; one grandson, Eddie Young of Mtn. Grove; and one great grandson, a number of nieces and nephews and other relatives and a host of friends.

Funeral services were conducted on Friday, April 24, at 2 p.m. in the Elliot-Gentry Chapel in Cabool with Rev. Marion McKellips officiating. Burial was in the Greenwood Cemetery.

“I recall a story my Grandma told about she and her brother. The County fair was coming to town and everyone was excited about getting to go. But the day of the fair came and Grandma (Mahala Saphronia) and her brother were told to go shuck the corn. They were very upset and finally came up with a plan so they could go to the fair afterall.

Their horse was easy to frighten, if any noise got close to his ear. The plan was set and an ear of corn was snapped by his ear, and away he ran. The two went back to the house and told their father [Phillip] about the terrible thing that had happened, and they couldn’t shuck corn now. But the father thought otherwise. He told them to go on foot and find the horse and bring it home. Well, so much for the plan. The fair came and went, and the horse was finally found and brought home, but no fair.”

My Grandmother Mahala Saphronia Booker

I guess I knew Grandma better than most of the other children. I stayed with her one summer, when she had been feeling poorly. Some of the things she told me was about when she was growing up. She told me about wrapping her feet in gunny sacks to keep them warm when she helped her brothers shuck corn. Being one of the oldest, she had to help with the outside work. She smoked a clay pipe. When they quit making them, she used a corn cob pipe. We would go out in the early spring and gather wild greens. My father was ten years younger than Grandma, and they all lived in the same community. My Dad would torment her till she would chase him. She would fall over him and go rolling down the hill. By the time she got up, he was gone. This was one of his favorite sports. Back in those days, there was no radio or television. The children had to make their own games.

During World War I Grandma did knitting for the soldiers. She started up groups for war work. She received a certificate for all the knitting she had done, signed by President Woodrow Wilson. We were all very proud for her. She also received a sewing chair with a big blue ribbon tied on it from her knitting club.

One of her brothers, [most likely Marquis L. Booker]… traveled with a carnival. They made their own cones. The appliance he made the cones on was on the order of a waffle iron. Then they were filled with ice cream. I remember when she [Mahala] got word that Uncle Lafe had passed away. [This could not have been Marquis Lafeyett Booker since he did not die until 1943, and Mahala died in 1937.] He had been pulling weeds for the pigs, and had a heart attack. As I was her name-sake [Mahala], I was to get her gold watch after she was gone. I still have it and also her little rocker.

That was my Grandma.

Pleasantville, Ind [Sullivan County]

July 1st, 1877

Jesse Bicknell Dear sir, if anyone should call at your office for to git lisans [license] for Mary D. Grizzle, please dont let them have this with out an order from her guarden [Jacob N. Booker] and Mother.

Martha A. Booker

[an afterthought?] her age 16 years

Elma

In the little town of Cherryvale, Kansas in the month of April, on the 12th day and the year 1886, there was a little dark complected baby girl born to Mary and Ruel Booker. They named this little girl baby Elma May Booker.

I was the fourth child and the first girl in the family. I was named for a merchant’s daughter, Elma May Wining. I was quite a favorite of my father and being the only girl in the family, was somewhat spoiled. I had dark eyes, and dark hair and dark skin. I lived on a farm while quite small and used to go with Father to market on the weekdays and stop off at Grandmother’s [Martha A. Taylor Grizzle/Booker] and visit until Father did the buying. I also used to watch them thrash caster beans by hand and once ate quite a handfull of these beans and was very sick over it. Two years passed and I got a little new brother (Clinton A. Booker) and three years later a new sister (Lula Dell Booker). My brother Clinton and I used to play a lot with Grandfather [Jacob N. Booker -step-grandfather]. Grandpa would cover us up in dirt, all but our heads, to see us dig out. I wasn’t very long getting out and then would help brother out. Once while small I sat down in the chicken house to see how many chicken lice would crawl on me. My father always came to help me out!!

In the year 1891, my father decided to sell out and move to Missouri. One morning bright and early in September, we kissed Grandma good-bye and crawled into a covered wagon to make the trip. The wagon was pulled by two pretty dappled grey horses. We traveled for days and days. We children played along the roadside and we camped out at night and cooked outside. As we went through the large cities, the fruit and vegetables always smelled so good. We bought jelly which was in wooden buckets in those days.

In the month of November in 1891 we arrived at a brother of my father’s by the name of Dick Booker [Richard]. We were very happy to sleep in a bed once again. We stayed there until my father took over a claim of land. The neighbors all got together and sawed logs enough to put up a one room log house, very small; one window and one door. We lived in this one room, Mother, Father, and we six children, until spring. I used to feed the little birds from this one window. For food my brothers trapped and caught quail and rabbits. My father took logs to a small town of Cabool, Missouri to trade for flour and suger and other needs. We got our water from a spring a mile away. My father cleared off the timber and made fences and set out fruit trees. We made our own suger cane mollasses and took some of the grain on large sheets and beat the grain out. It was a hard winter with so many good Christian people helping. In the spring men and women and children came from miles around and cut logs and helped my father build a large log house with a larger fireplace at one end. I used to sit and watch my mother cook quail and rabbit in a large iron kettle over the fire. Travellers used to come through the woods, and I was afraid of them. Mother and the older boys went each evening to get the cows that had brands on them and ran loose in the woods. I being the oldest girl, but still quite young, was so afraid of travelers, that we would get in the rainbarrels until Mother got home.

In 1892 my father took down with lung fever, as it was called in those days. He was very low and the good people came and baptized him and my mother. Father was soon well again but never very strong. That summer the locusts took all the fruit. I used to go with my brother and see how many locust shells we could gather at one time. I had four bushel baskets full. We gathered wild blackberries and huckelberries for our Sunday pies. Our schoolhouse and church were the same little house four miles away. I was too small to make the trip with my brothers. They had long benches and no desks like they have today. Everybody went to church on Sunday and paid close attention to the Preacher. I used to go to bed with a house full of company reading the Bible to see if the Minister had made a mistake. I was seven years old but couldn’t go to school. I wanted to read so bad I used to take our weather book and try to read it. My mother taught me the ABC’s and how to count. All the money I had ever seen at this age was a dime my father gave me. Our money was Log Checks. That winter I was very proud of my new home spun dress; it was a Sunday dress. There was lots of fun in the wild woods of the Ozarks. As we went to bed we could hear the coyotes and once in a while see a bear trot by and lots of sheep run through the woods. My three brothers and I used to get outside a fence with a little salt in our hands and call the sheep, and then run like fire to get to the other side before the sheep caught us. I did or tried everything my brothers did. My favorite brother was Roy (Leroy). He and I used to quarrel a lot, but loved each other dearly. When we quarreled, Mother always made us kiss each other. If it was dark, there was an old stump on each side of the house; we were made to sit on these stumps until we could be very good. Well, it didn’t take too long for that promise to be made. With so many coyotes in the woods, food was sometimes hard to get, with Father being sick, I know what it is to be hungry. Many an evening Father was late getting home from Cabool with flour and other needs, and we got pretty hungry before he arrived. Each child was taught to work; I was washing dishes when I had to stand on a box to reach the table.

In January 1894, I had another little brother (Calvin Sylvester Booker), and Mother was very poorly. I had to help a lot and help take care of the small children. On the Fourth of July we all went to Cabool to see the fireworks. Our way of going was in a big wagon drawn with horses. Many people around us had oxen, but we had horses. This one celebration was big one; the fireworks all caught on fire and several people were hurt.

In the fall of 1894, Father was still not well and he decided to sell out and go to Illinois. So in October we crawled in a covered wagon, drawn by mules, Dick and Beck, and started to Illinois. Missouri land was all clay. Father told us Illinois was all black ground so we looked forward to seeing this black dirt. The first black dirt we saw, we children rolled up mudballs. Lots of fun traveling and gathering persimmons, and meeting people in the camp. We had quite a few children, so a tent was put up each night for part of the children to sleep in. I always slept in the wagon with Father and Mother. I always wanted to be with my father. When we got to the Mississippi River, Father told us we could walk across the bridge, but when he found it cost $.25 for each child, we had to get back into the wagon.

In November we reached Bement, Illinois at Grandma Booker’s [Louisa Jane Plew Booker], my father’s mother. There was a little snow now falling and it felt good to get into a good warm bed and stretch out and feel safe. We stayed a few days at Grandma’s and visited with aunts and uncles. In a few weeks we moved into a four room house south of Judge Cloyd. There was a lot of happiness there. My father started draying in Bement. We were great friends of the Cloyds, so with their help in giving us milk and clothing, we got through the winter.

At the age of nine I got to start to school and was scared to death. Charlie McIntosh was my first principal. I had to be taken to him to see which grade I belonged. I was so scared. I couldn’t even spell my own name, forgot my ABC’s and cried like a baby. He said, “Little girl, I will not hurt you.” I was put in the first grade. Mary Thomas was my first teacher, and it didn’t take long for me to come out of that backwoods stuff. I didn’t have many clothes. Most of them were given to me. I tied my stockings up with carpet string. I had fun in jumping the rope but the string often broke. I would laugh and ask the girls to wait until I tied my carpet string. I was full of pep and had fun as I went along. School was hard for me. Examinations were very hard. When in the third grade our school house burned down, we were placed in different buildings in Bement, to go to school. I and my brother Clinton, two years younger than I, went into an old saloon building to study. We had to study out of the same book. My girl friend used to ask me what I had for breakfast; well, to hear me tell it, I had as much as she had.

When our new school house was finished, I went to the 4th grade. My teacher was Minnie Goodrich. We had programs each Friday afternoon of singing and speeches. We never went to school on election day. On Christmas we set our shoes along the wall for Santa to fill. Each child got a small amount of candy, nuts and one orange or an apple. We children would get up at 4 A.M. to see what we got; and [we] were so happy with it all.

In 1896 my father bought a large house just south of the viaduct, where the doctor brought mother two more baby girls (Candace 1897 and Lona 1899) so I had to help a lot but still liked to play and have fun. We all went to church and Sunday School each Sunday. Father played the organ at home and we children practiced our singing at home before church time. Mother and Father always took home one or two families for dinner on Sunday.

In the year 1903 Scarlet Fever broke out in Bement, and we lost our youngest sister (Lona). Four of the children were sick with it and Mother was expecting another baby. This was a terrible thing, losing our little sister. The family was never the same. My father couldn’t go to church as he had always been so proud of his family. Mother was not well, and Father finally sold that place and bought another house in the East part of town from a Mr. Browning. A new home and the new baby girl (Dora) born there, made [us] all so happy. As she grew Mother let her wear the other little girl’s clothes.

I was a woman of 17 by now and hadn’t got to go out much, but finally through a cousin of mine Minnie Free [Feree – Mahala’s daughter], I had my first boy friend, a barber from Lovington, IL. – Walter Ray. He asked me to marry him, but I was only 17 and told him as soon as I was 18, I would let him give me a ring. One year passed and my girl friend Gerty Duncan wanted me to go to town to work. I accepted a job in the Bement Register setting type. I was shy and and backward so they had a lot of fun out of me showing me “type lice” and asking me to get the “bray” and to look through the “Hell box” and so on. I learned that there were more men in the world than just one, so I gave the ring back to my sweetheart and told him I had changed my mind. I worked in this one place six and one half years, had lots of fun, learned to skate and dance. I met lots of young men, none I really loved…Those days everyone sang and played music of some kind. I loved music but my parents couldn’t give me lessons.

In those days we wore long dresses, black hose, and long hair. No smoking by the women at all, no red was worn those days. We never looked at railroad men. We were never allowed to loaf in the stores and we went by horse and buggy…Clinton always liked to tell too much, so we had fun out of him. We would chew coffee and tell him it was tobacco to get him to chew it [tobacco] and get him sick.

My days in the Printing office were happy ones. Anna Carden, Mammie McMern and Gerty Duncan worked with me and a man by the name of Wesley Smith. We had fun when the boss was gone…We set type and fed the large press; we set type by hand in those days…Wages were never very much, but other things were cheap according to wages. I got $3.00 a week to dress myself and tried to help my sister with her clothing.

One bright Sunday in June 1908, we started to Decatur, IL on the Interurban which was new in those days. We were on our way to meet friends in Decatur. It was on this trip that I met Chester. I am sure it was understood right at the first that we were to get married. We were so happy together and never before had my parents liked any boy that came to the house, but Chester won the whole family. On Christmas in 1908 he gave me the ring, and the date was set for April 7, 1909. We worked away, I at the printing office in Bement and he in the shoe store in Cerro Gordo, IL. Time went on until that happy day came.

This was a great day for both of us. The wedding was to be at my parent’s home. We were to be married by the Methodist Pastor, Rev. Want, but his wife was very bad from giving birth to a baby girl, so we got a Presbyterian minister, Rev. St. Clare Adams to marry us. At 8:30 April 7, 1909 we were happily married. We didn’t go on a honeymoon; we wanted to save money, so we spent the first night at my mother’s. With 5 brothers you might know they showed us a good time….

Ruel H. Booker Dies. Services to be Sunday

Funeral services for Ruel H. Booker, 82, who died in his home in the 3900 block East Cerro Gordo Street Thursday noon, will be held in the Dawson & Wilkoff Chapel at 1:30 p. m. Sunday. Burial will be in the Bement Cemetery.

He was born in Sullivan county, Ind. July 17, 1854, and married Mary D. Grizzle there in 1884 [sic]. He moved to Missouri and later to Bement, where he lived until coming to Decatur 10 years ago. He was a former drayman.

He leaves the following children, Arley Booker, California; Roy Booker, Clinton A. Booker, Mrs. W. B. Sims, Mrs. E. M. Weakley and Mrs. Dave Peer, all of Decatur. Mrs. C. E. Moore of Cerro Gordo and Calvin S. Booker of Glendale, Calif. There are three brothers, James, Sam, and M. L. Booker all of Decatur, and two sisters Mrs. Winnie Halstead, Montana, and Mrs. Mahaley Harr in Kansas. There are 23 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

He was a member of the Cerro Gordo Methodist Church.

MRS. MARY D. BOOKER, 82, SUCCUMBS IN HOME

Mrs. Mary D. Booker, 82, died in her home at 3900 East Cerro Gordo Street at 4:50 A.M. Friday. Funeral arrangements are incomplete, but burial will be in the Bement cemetery. Friends may call at Dawson & Wikoff funeral home after 9 a. m. today.

Mrs. Booker was born in Sullivan, Ind., Dec. 21, 1860. She came to Decatur 17 years ago from Bement. Her husband, Ruel H. Booker, whom she married at Bloomfield, Ind., Oct. 16, 1878, died December 21, 1937 [sic]. Mrs. Booker was a member of the East Park Baptist Church.

She leaves three sons, Arley Booker of El Monte, Calif; Clinton A. Booker of Decatur, Calvin S. booker in Utah; four daughters, Mrs. C. E. Moore, Cerro Gordo; Mrs. W. D. Sims, Mrs. E. M. Weakley, and Mrs. Dave Peer of Decatur; a sister Mrs. Dal Headley, Cherry Vale, Kan.; 24 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren.

Mrs. Wm. Booker died of consumption Tuesday. Buried at Bement Cemetery. Husband and seven children survive her. [bur. in Lot 41 S. E. Section]

Lillie May Booker, daughter of Wm. Booker committed suicide Friday. Father Wm., Sisters Mrs. Anthony Redman, Mrs. Oliver Kearns, Daisy Booker, Mrs. Anna Nottingham, Brothers Wm. Jr., Bement, Walter [in] Colorado. Bement Cemetery.

William Nelson Booker was buried in the Bement Cemetery, Lot 41, S. E. Section, on 11 April 1923.