(photo enhanced by Joe Yarbrough, received from Marcia)
Our (my) Great
Aunt Effe was the second born to the union of Benjamin F.
Thorpe and Lydia Henderson. Her father was part owner in a
business at Greenfield at the time of her birth, but at an
early age she, and her three siblings, were left fatherless.
One account states that her father "returned from Kansas,
having laid claim to property at that place"? Nothing,
concerning his livelihood, beyond that statement has been
brought to my attention.
Lydia, a school teacher, raised the
children and at the appropriate time, moved her family to
Carlinville, IL. where they could achieve higher education
at Blackburn College. I have no other knowledge than Aunt
Effe remained nearby her mother until her death? We know
that soon after the death of her mother, she spent time in
Japan.
Aunt Effe, now
age 42, was left alone in Greenfield in the home her mother
had built. Marcia, as I recall, provided this photograph of
her. (it is not suggested that she is 42 years in this
foto?)
The following letter indicates
the natural loneliness and sadness Aunt Effe felt during this
time mingled with the joy of knowing her mother was resting in
God's presence.
Greenfield, Ill
March
22, 1917
Dearest
Sister –
Oh! How
can I write you today? I have tried to find courage to
begin your letter but it is so hard. If you could only
have been here thru all these sad hours! If you could
only have seen mother once more! It is so hard for you
to bear so far away and I need you so. I am simply
crushed by my sorrow and loneliness. Our blessed,
precious mother breathed her last breath just about
this time (4:45 o’clock) one week ago today. I was all
alone with her excepting two nurses and Mabel Reid.
None of the folks were there. But oh, how everyone
loved her in the hospital. We have had a wonderful
Mother and I am so thankful for her splendid helpful
life. I can’t wish her back here where she had so much
sorrow and pain and so many heartaches to bear. And we
know she is at rest – that her tears are all wiped
away. But I am still selfish in my grief. I want her
so! I am so alone now. And I do not know how to do
anything without asking her. It just seems to me I
cannot live without her.
I want
to tell you all about the operation, the funeral and
everything: but I don’t know whether I can or now. I
think I wrote you up to the day of the operation which
was on Mar. 14th. She was so brave and
cheery when they sent me from the room. But oh! I knew
it was death even then for she was so weak and had
been failing so fast. She lived just 30 hours after
the operation which lasted about two hours. Every
breath was one of pain after she came from under the
anesthetic, until the collapse came. Her heart failed
and she passed on to the Great Beyond just as
peacefully and quietly as she would have liked two do.
Dr. Hairgrove found so many troubles that the wonder
is she could have lived as long as she did. The lower
part of her stomach had thickened until the opening
into the bowels was almost closed. They removed the
opening (which is a very small duct) and opened the
bowels, attaching the stomach to them. There were
ulcers and adhesions, the result of ulcers. There had
been a bursting of the gall bladder at sometime and
they found to migrating gall stones which were
imbedded in the outside of the intestine. (The gall
bladder was about the size of a pea.) There were
probably more of these but they only found and removed
two. Then there was a very serious gastric trouble
which I can explain only as an absence of certain
gastric juices, etc. any one of the troubles was
enough to have caused her death. The nurses were very
kind to me at the end. Our special nurse, who is a
B.U. girl, was very sweet and lovely. And the Wallers
have done so much for me that I can never hope to
repay them in any way.
We buried
Mother by Bob’s side on the 17th and there is
still room for me on the other side of her.Our
minister was out of town, so we had Mr. Barton of the
Methodist Church assisted by Henry Smith. Frank and Lena
sang so sweetly, two songs – “Saved by Grace” and
“Sometime We’ll Understand”. There were so many pretty
flowers. I took the five dollars you sent and got
flowers, a large spray of rose buds and sweet peas. They
were not as pretty as I would have liked but I was a
little late with the order. I thought you would like to
do that much.
The
services were from the church and were very simple and
brief. I do not know how I got thru the day. I fainted
three times and of course I am ashamed of my weakness:
but I could not keep a grip on my nerves. I do so
dislike a scene, but I had not been inside the church
since Bob was taken there not quite eleven weeks
before and it was too much. It seems like if I could
only have had them die at home it would not be quite
so hard to bear. I want you to have so many things but
will not send them until I hear from you. Do you
suppose it would be safe to send silver and stuff like
that by registered mail now or even fourth class
stuff? I am afraid to send anything.
I have
been so busy since the funeral. Have rented the house
furnished until the first of Oct. I am reserving one
room upstairs and have taken my desk, your bureau,
several chairs and things up there besides all the
good china, etc., I am going to S-field (Springfield?)
for the summer. After that I have no plans. I am going
to be administrator to save expense, so I’ll be back
several times I presume. Of course this place is mine
and I get the rent in advance – all of it. I rented it
for $75.00 which is much too cheap of course, but I’m
so glad I don’t have to tear up now and I know these
folks will take good care of things.
Grace
stayed until this morning to help me. Mother asked me
to give her the little desk that I had given Mother
several years ago and I gave her so much junk of
different kinds that I felt ashamed of myself. She
seemed glad to get it all tho.
If there
is any special thing you want please say so and I’ll
save it or them for you. Poor Mother did not have any
clothes. Her one nice dress we buried her in. She told
me when I gave her the dress that it would be her
burial robe and sure enough it was. If I could only
take back the crow words and the careless words which
caused her pain! If I could only have helped her bear
the suffering of the past years! But why do I mourn
for her now when her pain is all over and I have the
memories of her devoted, beautiful life to stay with
me for comfort and solace. The head nurse at Passavant
told me she was the sweetest, most consecrated woman
she had ever known. It makes me so proud to have had
such a precious mother; but oh! the emptiness of my
life now. If you have some letter of Mother’s you can
spare please send it to me for I have none at all. We
did not have any of Bob’s either. Poor dear Bob!
If you
have any suggestions about settling up affairs please
say so. There being minor heirs makes it much harder
to do. What I want to do is to please you and Grace or
the boys rather.
I sent
the piano over for Ray and Lena while I’m gone. Aunt
Helen is quite sick almost pneumonia.
I must
close. Please write to me as often as you did before
Mother went away. We are all by ourselves and we ought
to cling pretty closely.
Dearest love to
all of you and don’t grieve too much, for mother has
only gone on before. Yours lovingly, Effe.
Also
surviving grandma Lydia's death was her son, Edwin Lemon. To
the union of Edwin, born 3/30/1880, and wife Edith L., were
born 3 sons:
Columbus Wheeler, b.1904 m. Doreen
Everett Edwin, b.1906 m. Imogene Hayes
and: Frank Robinson (Bob) Thorpe,
b.11/11/1907 m. Hulda Armstrong 1931
Bob and Hulda had 4 children: Three boys
Bobbie, Kenny and Larry and one girl, Nancy. Two boys died
in infancy and Larry passed away at mid-life. Nancy (Thorpe)
Feraldi resides in the southwest U.S. now - as I recall?
To Larry and Alberta (Turner)
Thorpe were born Sandra and David. This photo of Bob Thorpe,
his daughter in law, Alberta, and his granddaughter, Sandra
(Thorpe) Hobkirk was captured in Raymond, IL. on the
occasion of the memorial service for S W Thornton b.1903,
first cousin to Bob.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This
photograph was captured at the home of Edwin Henderson,
seven miles northeast of Greenfield. It is my
understanding that the young lady is Orsa O'flyng, the
tall lady is Aunt Effe, and the elderly lady is Eliza
(Williams) Henderson? This beautiful home, built prior to
the civil war, stood until the turn of the century when
the maintenance of the foundation became too expensive for
the owners to consider.
In
later life, Orsa O'flyng moved to a western state and
Aunt Effe spent time in Japan as an educator in some
capacity, or perhaps a house mother? The following letter indicates the
close
relationship these two had developed in their younger
years.
FYI: My
understanding is that Orsa O'flyng became step-sister to
Eliza (Williams) Henderson when Orsa's widowed mother
married Uncle Billy Williams several years after the death
of his wife, Lydia (Whitehurst) Williams. This record may
surface later?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The
sisters, Effe and Eliza, spent many of their latter years
living in the house, which had been the home of their
cousin, Ray Steckel, and his wife, Lena. Vince and Elsie
(Thornton) Marquess also lived in this home when first
married. The two are seen here, at home, in a very
familiar pose.
Here we see the two on Sunday afternoon with
their dear friend, Nellie Argall, after having enjoyed a
dinner served up by Marcia (Yarbrough) Thornton.
Here Aunt Effe is visiting with an old
friend, Ms. Barnett (first name escapes me) in the dining
room at the manse in Greenfield. (foto may be reversed in editing?)
The location of the
following foto is unknown.
As stated elsewhere my memory leaves questionable some
circumstances and events in life, but I have a story of
my very dear great Aunt that will forever remain clear
in my memory. I must state initially that I do not
remember the year, but Aunt Effe asked me if I would
take her to view the Williams / Henderson cemetery,
which was located at that time, on the land settled by
her great grandfather, "Billy" Williams. (This is the
cemetery that, later, was desecrated).
My first question was; "where is it
located? You see, at that time I knew what and where the
Henderson place was, but I had no idea of the connection
to the Williams name. When she stated it's location I
realized I knew the site, but did not know the
history.
I do not remember the year, but it
was possibly 1965? She would have been 88 years of age.
I am certain it was not prior to 1961!
As usual, she was always a lady -
wearing a dress, hose, those 1+inch heels, very properly
attired for anything of a social nature, but not really
appropriate for cemetery viewing - we went to view the
burial site of her (our) ancestors at the Williams home
place.
The burial plot sat
approximately 200 feet from the public road in a fenced
pasture. There was no gate nearby and a deep road ditch
to cross prior to the fence. These obstacles did not
deter her desire to view and recall, in that atmosphere,
the relationship she had with several of those interred
there.
We carefully crossed the ditch and I
assisted her in climbing through the fence. Having
accomplished the first hurdle we face the second fence
surrounding the plot. This was overgrown with weeds and
briars, but now, knowing her determination at the first
obstacle, I too was determined to complete this mission,
regardless of the inconvenience.
It was pure joy to clean a marker of
poison ivy or vines and hear her speak of the individual
memorialized there. Although we did not (as I recall)
locate any marker for the black men who accompanied
"Uncle Billy" to Illinois, there were several family
member markers located she had known personally.
We reversed our course and
conquered again the obstacles which confronted us
without a major scratch or runner.
At that time in my life I had been
much too busy to give thought to my family background,
but witnessing the love Aunt Effe displayed that day for
her forefathers gave me a new outlook on genealogy. She
will always be forefront in my mind when giving thought
to those who came before. Often I wish I had taken the
time to sit with her, following that excursion, and made
a record of her relationship with those she recalled on
that day.
My having the knowledge gained in
this outing had no influence on the fact that at a later
date the burial site would be completely demolished by
mechanical means.
A
welcome update to this account was received from distant cousins, Becky
McKenzie Bowman, and sister, Jan McKenzie Rice. These two and their
brother Jim, are children of Jim and Helen (Stickel) McKenzie and
grandchildren of Ray and Lena Stickel. They resided in the front
apartment of the home during the period when our grandma and Aunt Effe
used the rear (west) apartment. Becky recalls the love that these
two shared and the joy of having them close by.
from
Becky (McKenzie) 6/17/2019
I
remember when both Sam and Doug were born. I used to
love going to Aunt Dot's to play with Sammie when you
guys were visiting. Wonderful get togethers and
reunions and Aunt Dot always made room whether it was
four family members or forty. And no one walked away
hungry. I was talking to my daughter just the other
day about Aunt Dot and Aunt Effe and how I wish now
that I would have spent more time with them. They were
wonderfully wise ladies and always had time to talk,
teach or just listen. They both were always in the
word and willing to share their knowledge of the
Bible. I still miss them. Aunt Effe gave me her ocean
liner trunk that had been to Japan and back 3 times. I
still cherish it and it's sitting in my living room
next to the couch. Sorry, I didn't mean to travel down
memory lane. I know when you sent your message you
weren't expecting a whole novel. As to your request, I
have a hat box full of pictures that Mom left behind.
Nothing is written on the backs of them and I didn't
recognize anyone, except Aunt Effe and Grandma Stickel
Jones. If you would like, I'll try to find them and
send them to you. I didn't want to toss them because I
felt they may be of sentimental value to someone in
the Greenfield area. Again, I apologize for my
verbosity and will wait to hear from you. Your oh so
distant cousin, Bekki McKenzie Bowman
.... and Jan shares a delightful, unique image of the brick home, long since replaced.
There are many great memories of
visits to this place where love abounded. Thanks to Jan & Becky,
distant cousins, for sharing their experience with us!
.JPG)
