Bessie: The People

Bessie’s father, Sylvester Buchanan Bailey (1818- bef.1875), has little available about him. He was born in Pennsylvania and married Eleanor (maiden Blood, 1829-1927) there sometime before 1850. He was 32 that year, and she was 21. They then began their family and began moving westward. First, Caroline was born in 1851 in Pennsylvania, then Anson in 1855 in Illinois, and then the rest of the girls in Wisconsin, including Marietta (Mary) in 1856, Lida in 1860, Bessie in 1862, Belle in 1863, Katie in 1866, and Hattie in 1868, followed by a last little brother, Hiram in 1870. Sylvester was a farmer in both Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and that’s all I know about him. He must have died sometime between the birth of Hiram in 1870 and 1875, when Eleanor shows up in the Wisconsin State Census as the head of the house. In the 1860 Census, Jesse (Sylvester’s father) and the rest of the family at the time- Sylvester, Eleanor, Caroline, Anson, and Marietta- are all together in Menomonie, Wisconsin. By 1880, the family looks much different, with Sylvester gone and those older children moved out; now, it is Eleanor, Lida, Bessie, and Hattie together. The other siblings- Belle, Katie, and Hiram- were living in Delavan, Wisconsin in 1880 at the Wisconsin School for the Deaf (more about them below).

After Sylvester died, Eleanor got married to John Ralston (1824-1896) in 1885. He had become a widower the year before and had a brood of 13 children from his first marriage. After John died in 1896, Eleanor briefly moved to Ohio to live with her step-mother around 1900, and then moved back to Minnesota to Lida’s home, around 1905. She is with Lida and her family in 1910 and 1920, but died in Mary’s home in 1927 at the age of 98.

Now, the siblings… some I have quite a bit of information about and some I really don’t.

Caroline (“Carrie”) married William Jackson (1844-?) at some point before 1875. It is around this time that the whole family starts moving to Minnesota. In May of 1875, Carrie is in Minneapolis living with the Brewer family- John, Josephine (“Joe”), and their daughter Mary (1882-1941), and her last name is Jackson. I would not have put this together with the historical records alone, but Bessie talks about visiting the Brewers in 1886, so the families must have a connection. I’m not sure where William is at this time. By 1880, Carrie and William are living together in Minneapolis and in 1885, they, along with Mary, and another sister Lida, are together in Minneapolis as well. Then, she’s gone. Actually, both she and William are. I know that Carrie was still in the area in 1886 because she visits Bessie often, but that is the last record I have of her. There are a few death records for a few different women with the name “Caroline Jackson” in Minneapolis around the time that Carrie might have died (1920s-ish), but the records are poor. Mary is also difficult to track because Mary Jackson is a fairly common name too and there are many women that might fit this description. I just can’t be sure.

Anson (1855-?) is next. Anson is another one that I don’t have much information about. He made it to Minneapolis too- he, William, and Carrie are all together in 1880. He and William are both working in a flour mill and Carrie is keeping house. This is when I lose him as well. By 1885, he is no longer living with them. Where did they all go? When I lose someone in the historic paper trail like this, I often assume that they have died, but it is strange to have them all drop off at around the same time. Anson, unlike Carrie, does NOT show up in the diary, neither in the day-to-day nor Bessie’s notes about letters received, addresses, or visits at the end. Perhaps he is dead by 1886. It seems strange that he would be so close to Carrie and her family in 1880, and that he wouldn't still be with them in 1886 unless something happened. Perhaps they all moved somewhere unexpected together after 1886, making them hard to trace. Like, if I looked in Montana, I might find them all on a cattle ranch.

Next up, Marietta (1856-1946), or “Mary” as she is called. She married Daniel Edgar Leach (1853-1931) in 1879 in Wisconsin and they began their family soon after. They would have 7 children, including their first daughter named Mabel Bessie in 1882, and Myrtle in 1885, who Mary brings to visit Bessie in the dairy. Daniel was a salesman of various things-“dry goods” for a while and then milking machines. He even traveled to do that for a time and their son, Mark, became a salesman with his father. At the time of the diary, they are not in Minnesota yet, but will be someday. Mary and Daniel lived in Trimbelle, Wisconsin, just over the state border from Minnesota. They live a quiet life- Daniel works and Mary raises their children and keeps their home. Many of their children stayed living with or near them into their old age; Mary and Daniel live with Mark, Mabel, and Grace in 1920, for example, and these 5 move together to Minneapolis before 1927. In that year, Eleanor died in Mary’s home. Actually, Mary witnessed the death of many she loved soon after that including her husband Daniel in 1931, then Lida, Katie, and Belle. Mary continued to live in Minneapolis until her death in 1946 and is buried there.

Next is Lida (1860-1931). We already know that this group was together with their mother in 1880. Interestingly, the Bailey’s have congenital deafness that runs in the family, and Lida is the first member (that I know of) to show it. In the 1880 census, she is listed as “Deaf and Dumb,” and is “at school,” but living with her mother and sisters Bessie and Hattie. Then, in 1885, Lida is living in Minneapolis with Carrie and her family, and is again listed as “Deaf and Dumb.” For some reason, Lida isn’t mentioned by Bessie in her diary. After Bessie’s death, Lida will go on to marry August Edward Bentz (1864-1946) in 1899. He was a farmer. In 1902, they had their only living child, Sylvia. Lida and August take in both Eleanor and Katie at various times after this- in 1905, Katie is with them and, in both 1910 and 1920, Eleanor is with them in Thomastown, Minnesota. Lida died in 1931.

After Lida, comes Bessie, but let me finish telling you about the rest of the siblings…

Next comes Belle (1863-1940). She, like her sisters Lida and Katie and their brother, Hiram, is deaf. Because of that, she, Katie, and Hiram were living at the Wisconsin School for the Deaf in Delavan, Wisconsin in 1880. I don’t have evidence that Lida was also educated there; in 1880, Lida was 19 and living with her mother. Anyway, Belle and her two other siblings were likely taught American Sign Language at the school. She was admitted there in 1873 and stayed there for 7 years, so when we find her there in 1880, she was just finishing her education.

In 1882, she married Adolph Bergh (1864-?) in Trimbelle, Wisconsin. Adolph is also deaf, and the two of them participated in a US Special Census on Deaf Family Marriages and Hearing Relatives in 1889 and 1890. In those documents, we learn that Adolph acquired his deafness at the age of 6 from “Spotted Fever.” My guess is that this was actually Scarlet Fever, which was prevalent to pandemic proportions at the time, is associated with a rash, and could result in deafness. Importantly, we also learn that Belle was born deaf (implying a congenital issue, as well as the presence of deafness in the other siblings), and Belle provides a list of all of her siblings. I wouldn’t have known that Hiram existed without this list. Further, she writes that 4 of the siblings were deaf and 5 were hearing.

Soon after they arrive in Minnesota, Belle and Adolph have their four children, all of whom are hearing- Anna, Edward, Paul, and Amy. In 1885, Belle, Adolph, and their daughter Annie are in Madison, Minnesota and he is a farmer and carpenter. Sometime after Amy is born in 1902 and the US Census in 1910, they and their three youngest children move to Spokane, Washington. Adolph still works as a carpenter. I’m not sure of Adolph’s death date, but Belle is listed as the Head of the house in 1920. She continues living with her son, Paul, in Spokane until her death in 1940.

OK, now Katie (1866-1935). Katie and Belle are very close to each other and to Bessie. The three sisters, along with Carrie, spend a lot of time together. I wonder if Bessie could sign? Anyway, Katie was in the School for the Deaf in 1880, but in 1884, she is in St. Paul, just a 0.5 mile walk from Bessie’s house. In 1895, she has moved in with Belle’s family and is there at least through the 1900 census. Then, she is with Lida’s family in 1905 (I bet that Belle moved to Washington sometime between 1902 and 1905, based on Katie’s move, but I don’t have evidence of this. It must have been hard for the sisters to part!). In 1911 at the age of 44, Katie married Oliver Donneaux (1866-1940). Oliver was born in Oconto, Wisconsin, and that is where he and Katie are by 1930. Then, sometime between 1930 and 1935, they move to Plainwell, Michigan, where Katie died in 1935.

Almost to the end of the siblings now with Hattie (1868-?); she is the second youngest. I have almost no information about her. At the age of 12, she is with Eleanor, Lida, and Bessie in Pierce, Wisconsin in 1880. Then, in 1885, she, along with James Dunklee, Bessie, Harley, Pearl, Amanda W, John Mass, Delia Dunklee, and Adolph Bergh are all in the same residence together in St. Paul. (How is Adolph listed with Belle and Annie in Madison and here in St Paul in May 1885? I don’t know… maybe he was counted twice on the State Census?). It seems to me from the diary, that Hattie and Eleanor were living together in 1886, but I have no evidence for that. Eleanor married John Ralston that year, so I’m not sure. I have no more information about Hattie, unfortunately.

In Eleanor’s obituary from 1927, it states that she is survived by Mary, whose home she had been living in at the time of her death, as well as 4 other daughters- that’s 5 living sisters in 1927. I am missing death dates for 4 siblings- Anson and Hiram (below), Carrie and Hattie. Anson and Hiram must have died by then because the obituary doesn’t mention any sons. There are 7 sisters in the bunch, and I don’t have death dates for Carrie or Hattie, so they must both have died before their mother- sometime between the diary in 1886 and 1927. That is a long period of time, but given that neither of them really show up anywhere again, I’m inclined to believe that both must have died earlier rather than later.

OK, last sibling- Hiram (1870-?). I have almost nothing on him. He is with Belle and Katie at the School for the Deaf in 1880 and Bessie mentions a Hiram in the diary, but I’m not sure that it was her brother. Belle also lists him among their siblings in the US Special Census on Deaf Family Marriages and Hearing Relatives in 1899 and 1890, but that doesn’t mean that he was alive then. In fact, Belle makes a note next to his name on one of those censuses that I can’t read… the end of the word looks like “arried.” Could she have been saying something about whether he was living?

After Bessie’s death, I don’t think that her living children, Roy and Pearle, lived with their father much. In 1900, Roy, at the age of 17, is living in the home of his employer and is a Day Laborer. Pearle, at 15 years old, has moved into the home of James’ brother/her uncle, John, with his wife and son, and James’ mother/her grandmother, Arminda.

Roy eventually moved to Oregon and married Feneatta Fenoglio (1893-1957) in 1909. Soon after, they have their daughter Thelma Elizabeth (1910-1982). In 1910, he and Feanetta are in Bandon, Oregon, and he was a saloon proprietor (Did he give Thelma that middle name to honor Bessie? Did he take that job after his father?). In 1917, Roy received his World War I draft registration cards, and named Feneatta as his closest family member. Soon after though, the two divorse and Roy married Jennie Louise Short (1890-1967) in 1923. They get married in California and he takes on her 4 children from her first marriage- Mabel (1909-1980), Clarence (1912-2003), Maxine (1913-1929), and Kenneth (1915-2005). They live in California for the rest of their lives, both San Francisco and Los Angeles for a time, where he works as a radio salesman and a “piledriver,” whatever that is. Roy died in 1954 and Jennie died much later in 1967.

Five years after she is living in her uncle’s home, Pearle is living on her own in 1905 in Minneapolis and is working as a stenographer. She then married Clyde Elwood Fraser (1884-1974) in 1909; she continued working as a stenographer and he was an electrician. In 1910, they started their family- Elwood (1910-1974), Gordon (1912-1996), and James (1916-1989)- all in Minneapolis. She continued to work as a stenographer after her children were born. Clyde died in 1974 and Pearle died just a few years later in 1978. She is buried in Minneapolis.

As I spoiled for you, Bessie’s husband, James, went on to live a full life. In 1890, he is still in St. Paul, but seemed to move around a lot. I have him in the city directory over the next few years and he always has different addresses and slightly different occupations, including Clerk and Contractor. His time in Minnesota doesn’t last long, though, and in 1903, he married Anna Pollie Snyder (1877-1955) in Concordia, Kansas. According to the marriage announcement, he is 42 and she is 22, but I have varying accounts as to her actual birth year. In any case, she is much younger than he. They moved to Hot Springs, Arkansas before their first child arrived in April of 1904- James Madison Dunklee Jr. (1904-1991). Two more children follow soon- John Aldich (1905-1989), and Esther Amanda (1908-1987). James worked as a Miner and “Proprietor” in the Silver Mining industry all the way until at least 1940. He died in 1943 at the age of 81 and is buried in Hot Springs. Anna died in 1955 and is buried in Hot Springs as well.

James’ parents: Arminda Chloe Leach (1829-1913) and John Dunklee (1826-1875). Both of them were born in Vermont and, in 1853, they were married there. A few years later, they started their family- Eva (1858-?), John H (1859-1930), and James M (1861-1943). In August of 1865, John purchased 40 acres in Minnesota, they moved across the country, and had their last child, Delia (1866-1919). Sometime between 1865 and 1875, they move to St Paul, which is where John died that year. Arminda continued to live in St Paul, working as a nurse in 1880. She married John Warner in 1882. Sometime before 1889, Arminda and John Warner got divorced, though, because he married another women not long before his death in 1902. She is also listed as divorced in the 1900 census when she is living with her son John, his wife and son, and Pearle. She is still living with John in 1905. Arminda died in Minneapolis in 1913.

John, James’ brother: John was older than James by just a year and the two continue to be close. John married Loretta Bartholemew (“Retta,” 1867-1958) in 1882 when she was only 15. She is a seamstress. The marriage doesn’t last long, though, and John is remarried to Susan Quinlan in 1897. Retta goes on to remarry in Illinois and eventually moved to Michigan. After John married Susie, they had their 4 children- Donna Arminda (1898-1899), Willard McKinley (1899-1975), Lois Pearle (1902-1979), and Donald David (1905-1986)- and they live in Minneapolis. John died there in 1930, 7 years after Susie.

Delia, James’ sister: There isn’t much information about her. She was born on the homestead that her parents bought in 1865, and then is living in St Paul by the time she is nine years old. Bessis calls her “Dell” in 1886 and she lives close to them in St Paul. Sometime before 1890, she moved to Minneapolis and worked as a stitcher. Delia died in Minneapolis in 1919 at the age of 53.

John (1825-?), Josephine (“Joe,” 1849-?), and Mary (1870-?): The Brewer family is close to the Bailey’s, but I’m not sure why.

John was born in Missouri and Joe was born in Pennsylvania. They were married sometime before 1870 because that’s when Mary showed up. Joe was only 21 in 1870, so I bet they were married not long before. In 1875, the three of them are in Minneapolis with Carrie. In 1880, John is listed as a Brick Mason. I have the three of them in Minneapolis in 1885 and 1895 as well, although by 1895, Mary has moved out. In the Minnesota State Census that year, John is listed as “sick.” After that, they are gone.

Like I’ve said, people in Minnesota at this time are tough to track. Plus, with this family, their last name is often misread; sometimes, it is “Brenner,” or “Brener,” and then sometimes “Brewer.” Also, their first names, with the exception of Joe, are so common. I wouldn’t have known what family to follow except that Carrie is with them in 1875. Also, Bessie gives Mary’s 16th birthday in the dairy.