Camp Eureka 1939

Camp Eureka near Manhattan, Kansas 1939

The following letters were exchanged between Mary Grace, her mother, Edna, and her sister, Ethel, in the summer of 1939 when Mary Grace was 15 and had just finished her sophomore year in high school. She wrote in her My Life that this was her first extended time away from her family. She thought that if they had come to see her, she probably would have had a hard time finishing her camp stay.

Dear Folks

I get to skip all classes tomorrow because I’m on the General Committee for the play. The pageant wasn’t very good because at the dress rehearsal Anthony who was supposed to play one of its leads (he hadn’t come to practice without being dragged.) told the teacher (Miss Hays) he didn’t like the pageant and would rather be in the play, they had a nice long argument and she told him all right, he didn’t need to be in it. So one of the teachers had to read his part.

Betty Collins & Marian Pratt
Camp Eureka

It rained again only a little harder it seemed. I didn’t forget my lines, but I had to help Jimmy remember his. I wore one of Margaret’s dresses because mine weren’t colorful enough and a hair ribbon. Marian put my hair up in Shirley Temple curls but they fell down and when I combed my hair it became a pageboy. Left it that way as it’s easier to keep curled.

Last night the pageant took longer than it was supposed to so taps were later. We had saved some sandwiches from supper (peanut butter) you know how thirsty that makes you.

We didn’t have any water to drink, everybody was thirsty and they said ten minutes to taps. I was the only one with a dress on (Margaret’s) also my pajama pants. So thinking I had 10 minutes I finally consented. I rolled up my pajama legs. I put my shoes on again and started off with the can through the rain. When I got there Hal R was there looking at his watch to blow taps. I thought there they all are dying of thirst. I must get water for them. I ran across to the water peg and turned on the faucet and looking down at the floor waited. Pretty soon here comes two feet up to the water place (women’s shoes) I looked up slowly and there was Mrs. Rymp. ( the headman’s wife). I must of looked pretty scared.

Marian Pratt hangs out the wash.

She asked if it was for drinking purposes. I said yes and also that I had my pajamas on under my dress. Then I tore. As I ran across the dining room, I spilled the water. Also one p.j. leg came unrolled - that’s what saved my life. Hal was laughing so hard at me he couldn’t blow his bugle.

Collins were here yesterday and bought Miss Blair. We almost fell over ourselves getting to them. We were so glad to see them. I don’t see why you didn’t come see me. I love you as much as grandmother and as (almost as) close as Cottonwood Falls.

When Collins said you weren’t coming I went and drowned my sorrows in 4 sandwiches ( 5 counting the one I had in bed) 2 cakes and 2 ice cream bars. I was going to try some tea too but on the way to sit down I met John and he told me that tea was left in the tub by the water faucet and everybody not knowing it was tea dumped their dirty water in it. I believed him and threw it away. It tickled the other kids and when they told Dr. Collins he said, yes it did look like Kaw River(also tasted that way).

Seneca Cabin 1939

 Marian wants a sucker to bring a sucker  I’m going with her. Martha has improved after all she is lots of fun. But Margaret a sourpuss. Love Mary Grace.

The Passing of the Older Generation

Helen and; Mary
cc 1924

In December my Aunt Helen passed away – breaking the last link with the generation that raised me, my siblings and cousins. We are who we are today because of Helen, my mother, Mary Grace, their sister, Ethel, and their mother, my grandmother, Edna. Many others played a part, but for me, they provided a crucial example of how to live. There was no false piety, but there was humor. 

The two biggest sins, and I’m not sure if they could have ranked one ahead of the other, were self-pity and arrogance. Neither was tolerated. I always thought of these as Walker traits, but the more I think about it, it went back to Edna’s mother, Betsy Sharpe Walker. So maybe they’re Sharpe traits; but it’s hard to believe Betsy wasn’t trained by her mother, Rebecca Hutton Sharpe. So I guess we could say they’re Hutton-Sharpe-Walker-Burkhardt ways of doing things.

Rebekah Hutton Sharpe

To digress a bit, Rebecca Hutton Sharpe was said to have taught school in their village in Lincolnshire in northeastern England which would probably mean in the 1850 to 1860's. She and William, immigrated to America in the late 1860's. In Mareham le Fen they farmed 22 acres, but in the United States they could get 160 acres for a small filing fee and a promise to live on the land for five years. The Homestead Act also called for schools to be built. And education was always an emphasis for the Sharpes, then the Walkers and then the Burkhardts.

One was never allowed to take one’s self too seriously. Edna recalled that her father walked with a cane so he could toss it in the air. Edna said in an interview by Mary Grace, He walked with me to high school tipping his top hat to everyone.  Since she remembered it long after the fact I have to assume she didn’t particularly enjoy his cane tossing and hat tipping, but she grew to realize it wasn’t about her. That incident reminded me of growing up with my father who would introduce himself to everyone we met with, Hi, I’m Ray Morgan of the Kansas City Star. No one else’s father did that – say Hi, I'm John Smith of Bendix. As we rolled our eyes, we got the stare from our mother.The lesson, subtly or not, was that don’t think so much of yourself that you let someone else embarrass you. A very hard lesson to teach – and to learn.

The weapon of choice for discipline for Edna and her daughters was sarcasm, which I think may have been added by the Walkers. The letters of Betsy's  I’ve seen don’t have a touch of sarcasm, but the one from one of Edward Walker’s sister does.

Growing up, if all you were getting was sarcasm, you weren’t screwing up that much. It was a gentle, or maybe not so gentle way, of getting you back in line. In other words don’t take yourself so seriously. The following are excerpts from letters sent to Mary Grace who was attending church camp, Camp Eureka, in Manhattan in June 1939. They should help me illustrate their humor. The various letter writers are Helen, Ethel, Edna and EA.

From EA:

Dear Mary!

How are you? Did you meet Mom at the gate? We are very busy at the shop. Harold and I went to the Ball game last night. Topeka won, 3 to 0 and our pitcher struck out 9 men at the home plate, how’s that?  Hope you’re having a good time with the boys and girls. Write us a note sometime and be a good girl. Tom said to tell you hello for him.

Love Daddy

Then from Bess (Ethel):

Hello Mary:
This is me. Having more fun since you aren’t here to bother me. How’s camp? I’ll bet it’s fun. I worked all morning this morning and Helen is about to pass out because I’m not going to work this afternoon. It is sure wearing her to a frazzle. Love Bess.

From Edna:

Ethel, Helen and Mary Grace, 1942

Dear Mary Grace,

Was glad to get your letter, am waiting till Helen gets home to tell me more about cabin 21, but just as long as you are happy, it is all O.K. You can get a fork in Manhattan dime stores, if you have lost the other one, although the set is better with it. Maybe it was thrown out with the trash.

Daddy bought two twin chairs for the front porch they are about the color of the geraniums I bought, not quite red, but most nigh. They are pretty stiff yet, but think after a few fatties have sat in them that it will be easier.

Kenneth Bossler is going to Camp Wood next week, his mother said he wanted to try a little camp life and hear the bugle blow. Heaps of love from your mother.

And from Helen (parts of the letter were torn):

June 9, 1939

Dear Mary:

My finger’s a lot better. I can even write now. I have been doing some real silly things. I’ve been sitting at home pining for Bill and waiting for a letter. I slipped at the supper table the other night and said I was waiting for a letter from Bill.

Helen's letter

. . . .Mother sees me . . . . and asks if my letter has arrived. I just smile and say no, but I’m expecting it any day now. The neighbors are beginning to wonder if I might be a loose woman – I am.

Tootsie left Wednesday and Elinjean leaves Saturday noon.

My – am I lonesome. Elvie and I went out the other night and parked alongside the road and talked. Elvie just had all her hair cut off and looked just like a boy. Some of your fellow classmates came honking by and shrieked, “Break it up buddy.” They flashed their lights on us and made disparaging remarks for . . . and Elvie and I just laughed and laughed. Have a good time and tell all the kids hello for me. Love Helen.

From Edna:

Dear Mary Grace,

You were a lucky dog to be a missing link around here today, Helen, much to her disgust, helped me can cherries, then she put them in the oven like you do for me and turned it on to 350 instead of 250, a brilliant sister you have, so she galloped out and took them out 30 minutes sooner, don’t know whether the fruit will agree with that idea or not, a few weeks and we will know. Then after the luncheon this noon, there were 32 present and a little visit at Jean Robertson’s’ home. I hurried home to can some strawberries and gooseberries, it is a great life if one does not weaken.

Mary & Helen in ocean_1939

Harold, Ethel and I drove to Dover last eve to see the fresh air movies, but they were too much for Bess and I so we trotted back in the store and visited with Mrs. Winter, Gee! But it was a tough movie so we left them in the cemetery digging for stolen gold and they carted up a few corpses first, that was too much for a pair of pantie waists. Mr. and Mrs. Myers were out there, the neighbors of McPherson, so Bess introduced them to me and they seemed real nice.

And another from Bess:

Dear Squirt,

We were so thrilled we went to Dover last night to see the picture show (after all these years and I still can’t type without making mistakes.) As Mother probably told you, we got tired and left when they started running around in the cemetery. Too much for me. Don’t you wish you were here to go with us tomorrow after Grandmother? Won’t that be nice?

I wish you would come back and clean the grease off Tar Baby. I was under our car trying to scare a dog about one-half as big as he is and so got grease on his back. He is a mess and I don’t associate with him, except once-in-a-while. Bess

This homage probably doesn’t do them justice. But the one way they always made you feel was that with them you were safe. They judged you, but didn’t belittle you. They were your fiercest protectors. Pictured below are ten of Edna's 15 grandchildren. We can only hope that we do their memory and attempts to raise us the justice they deserve.

Christmas 1972
top row: Scott, Hall and Cindy
next row: Steve, Sally, Bruce, Chris and Susan
bottom row: Debbie and Kerry

Vala's Grandfather & Ray, Sr's Grandfather Fought Together at the Battle of Chattanooga

   
 
     James Young Davis, the father of Vala's mother, Edith Davis, was part of the 22nd Illinois Voluntary Infantry. As part of that he was at Missionary Ridge on November 25, 1863. Hiram Ellingwood, the father of Ray, Sr's mother, Emma Ellingwood, was a member of the 79th Indiana. And as a member of that he was also part of the taking of the rifle pits in front of Missionary Ridge on November 25, 1863.



 Recently I came across this postcard dated -

Edith  Eda Davis
circa 1878

Friend Eda    -    March 10, 1884

To knit and spin was once a girls employment

 but now to dress and have a beau is all the girls' enjoyment.

Reno, Bond County, Illinois

March 10, 1884 or possibly 1887 or 1889

and on the back -

I wish you a long and happy life

That you may make some young man a loving wife

Your friend, Ella - Nevada, Mo, Walnut St

Postcard

Other side of postcard

      I did what we all do now and Googled the front of the postcard. It turns up in a book about grammar that came out in 1882. I'm assuming it may have floated around before that; thus its appearance in a book.

      That is all prelude as to why I am writing this today. The discovery of the postcard sent me to look for evidence as to whether Vala's mother, Edith Davis, ever went by Eda. Today I found it in the census record from 1880 - there she is listed as Eda L. She had a sister, Ida, and a sister, Sarah, who went by Sada. So the three sisters were Eda, Ida and Sada. There were two brothers, James and Clyde, but I don't know if they had nicknames, too.

James, Sada, Edith, Clyde - back row
Helen Harned Davis & Ida circa 1897
(James Young Davis died in 1884)

     In my earlier search on Ancestry.com for information about the Davises, I ran across information that Edith's father, James Young Davis, had fought in the Civil War.  If you click on this, it lists James as being 5' 9" with  fair complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. Not only had he fought in the War, but he had participated in the Battle of Chattanooga which I've been reading about lately. This past summer I read Grant's memoir and also a Grant biography and was transcribing from the Internet, a history of the 79th Indiana in which Ray, Sr's, grandfather, Hiram Ellingwood, took part. Chris and I have discussed Grant and this battle specifically because, as Chris pointed out, nearly all the Union generals participated. While Davis was part of the 22nd Illinois Infantry which at this point in the war was under General Sheridan, Ellingwood was under General Thomas. The Union and Confederate forces had sparred with each other through out the fall and then in late November, the Battle for Missionary Ridge in the Battle of Chattanooga took place. General Thomas' forces including the 79th Indiana stormed the rifle pits of the confederates at the bottom of the ridge, but then kept on going, routing the Confederate forces. Some have written it was the most decisive charge of the war as it pushed the Confederates out of there and opened the way for Sherman's march.

     James Davis survived the war and was mustered out in the summer of 1864. In the spring of 1865, he married his first cousin, Helen Harned. Edith was born the following summer. Edith was born and grew up in Illinois, but she had a connection with the McClennys in Valley Falls and clearly spent enough time there to meet John McClenny. After she and John were married in 1890, they lived in Valley Falls, but their two middle children, Otis and Vala, were born back in her home area. Edith's father, James, had died in 1884.

     Hiram Ellingwood survived the Battle of Chattanooga, but died the following September and is buried in the Chattanooga National Cemetery.  His daughter, Emma, who was three years old when he died, grew up in Hamilton, Indiana and married Elias Morgan there in 1881. The Morgans eventually moved to Valley Falls where Ray would meet Vala, the grandchildren of two grandfathers who fought in the same battle and both of whom didn't live to see their grandchildren.

Ray Is in the Army Now - Or at Least for the Moment

 World War II had come to America with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941. Now little more than a year later, Ray, a junior at Washburn, had received his marching orders in the last week of February 1943. He and his fellow Washburn enlistees were ordered to report on March 15, 1943.

Ray's order to report to Fort Leavenworth
on March 

A glance at the New York Times from March of 1943 shows that the while the US and Britain were round the clock bombing of Germany, the Soviets were pressing the German from the east. In Africa, the allies were trying to corner Rommel so the invasion of southern Europe could begin. In the Pacific the Americans were sinking Japanese cruisers and beating them in the jungles, at least according to a New York Times reporter.

For a not quite 21-year old from Topeka, Kansas, it was a heady experience, as one learns from his writings. One of the flies in the ointment, at least from his perspective, was his asthma. (Another being his separation from Mary Grace.) From my memory, Dr, Emerson, a close friend of the Burkhardts, passed him, but told him he probably wouldn't last that long. But that was in the future. In March he was ready to save the world.



     At that point in his college life, Ray was editor of the school newspaper, The Review. He described the Washburn Expeditionary Force's slightly more than 60 mile bus trip from Washburn to Fort Leavenworth as follows:

With mothers and father standing knee-deep in sentiments at the Union Bus Depot, Washburn’s Expeditionary Force—more commonly known as a contingent of the Enlisted Corps – set off at the crack of dawn to begin their careers in the army at Fort Leavenworth last Monday.

Things were popping with the WEF from the beginning of the bus trip. A few miles out of Topeka, somebody decided to call roll and see if we were all there. One man was lost – Pvt Burton Know. Nobody knew him and we’re still wondering what happened to him.

Ray's article about his fellow GI's trip to Leavenworth

At Oskaloosa—little town in Kansas – the bus was held up for three minutes while somebody went and dug Pvt. John Lowe up from the drug store where he had gone for some unknown reason.

Singing occupied some of the time. All four sorority songs were sung. (One man did a solo on the Zeta Tau Alpha) One Alpha Delt—Pvt. Harry Middleton by name – had a little trouble with his fraternity song solo but the other two organizations were vociferously represented. The bus stopped at a crossroad to let a woman off and the WEF broke into their Alma Mater. She nearly fell off the bus flat on her face.

Then came the big moment. The bus pulled up inside the Fort and stopped at a building marked Induction Station and a jittery WEF piled off and began their careers. A corporal met the men and took them down to another building where they were presented their orders.

Next began a series of physical examinations. Ask the boys about them some day. An hour or so later the Army had the best bunch of privates it ever had. Every man y in the group passed.

At 11 AM the WEF ate its first meal in the army mess hall. The meal consisted of roast beef, mashed potatoes, grave, spinach, bread and butter, beets and pineapple. Thirty minutes later we were on our way again.

In the afternoon we had our life histories typed. Also we waited. In fact mostly we waited. At 4:30 we went to supper. Good food, again. Surprise! Then we went back and waited some more.

About 6 o’clock they started us toward our barracks. They were over in Missouri or some place and were located in a place called Gunnery Gulch (I think that’s what they said.)

Later in the evening, about 6:45 they showed us how to make our beds all nice and tidy. From then on we were on our own. We played cards, washed and mostly talked about the army.

At 9 o’clock they made the WEF turn of its lights. With cracks like Wonder what’s going on at Grace’s? Wonder who she’s out with tonight and various other things, a new bunch of privates started their first night in the army.

At 9:01 the barracks were dark. The WEF was on its way.

The following day, March 16, Ray wrote Mary Grace:

Ray's grandmother, Edith Davis McClenny, and Ray
March 1943 

My Darling:

It’s 15 minutes till lights out so I’ll write you a few lines. Yes, ma’am, duchess you raised your own soldier and remember that when you pass one of those brown-suited boys cause there’s a lot of love in my heart for you. So far this army has been swell. The food is keen and most of the men are fine. Everything would be swell if only you were here.

. . . . . . 

We don’t know what’s going to happen to us but so far we’ve all been together. We’re supposed to move into shipping barracks Thursday but you can’t tell. At any rate we’re not supposed to be here more than two weeks. 

          . . . . . . .

 Well, I guess I better close now. It’s lights out. I love you. I hope this hasn’t been too mushy. I’ll be thinking of you.
Lovingly yours,
Ray

Soon the letters got mushy to say the least.

Washburn Football Programs & Homecomings

     During the war, colleges had difficulties fielding football teams since many men were drafted or volunteered for the war effort. But giving it the old collegiate effort, schools continued their programs -- with alterations. In the fall of 1942, Ray was a junior and editor of the Washburn Review, the school newspaper. Homecoming that year was October 30th and the school was suffering through a no-win season, with only 6 points scored in the five games played. These losses included a 42-0 drubbing by power house Wichita in Topeka. (The 2014 Washburn media football guide refers to Wichita as Wichita State, but Wichita U. didn't join the state system until the 1960's. Page 168.)

Mary Grace writes what happened to the Review editor and his cohort Bill English in her My Life:

The Student Council had decided that while in the past the football team had always chosen the King and Queen for homecoming that the whole school should vote on it.  It didn’t pass. We didn’t have a very good football team and he [Ray] wrote an editorial about that we should celebrate anyway no matter what the score.  That annoyed the football coach so he used it to inflame the team a little.  The team decided to shave the hair of the editor, the President of Student council and two others.  They got Ray, editor, and Bill English, President of Student Council but Ray warned the other two and the team couldn’t find them.  Ray had his picture on the front page of the Topeka Daily Capital along with Bill.  He started wearing a baseball cap and informed me I didn’t have to go to homecoming with him if I didn’t want to.  He and Bill refused to tell the faculty who was involved.

The Topeka State Journal ran this photograph:

Sporting haircuts forced upon them unceremoniously Wednesday night when a controversy over methods for selection of a homecoming kin and queen, reached a climax, Ray Morgan . . . and Bill English, forgot their troubles Friday to join into the fun of a homecoming celebration.

The coach inflamed the team so much, that they went out and beat Fort Hays State, 21-13. Then it was back to their previous efforts- losing their last two games and never scoring again.

Ray and Bill English after their haircuts from the football team.
Ray appears to be in uniform because by the fall of 1943,
he had joined  the College Student Enlisted Reservists.

     By the fall of 1943, Ray's brief involvement with the Army was over and he was back in Topeka, presumably attending Washburn. It was wartime so the programs reflect that patriotism. I guess you use your imagination about who has the warship and who has the tank. I'm assuming, also due to the wartime, that the teams were a bit ragtag with men coming and leaving as their orders came through.

Ray's writing about the game. 

The only program I've found from the 1943 season is the one above. I hadn't realized he wrote any sports or worked for the Washburn Athletic Department. When we kids were growing up, Ray often wrote the color story for the A's games for example, but never the game story. He wouldn't have worked for the Washburn Athletic Department in 1944 because he had moved to Lawrence to attend the University of Kansas. But that was a short experiment and by the fall of 1945 he was back in Topeka, attending Washburn and working again for the Athletic Department.

This cover might be a tad unsettling for the NCAA - I'm not really sure what the photo means. Someone is throwing dice - gambling on a Washburn win? Or gambling by playing football? Any ideas? Warrensburg seems to now be the University of Central Missouri.

This is a brightly colored football program and I must admit I wasn't sure who Peru was. It turns out to be a college in Peru, Nebraska. It's only a few miles north of the Kansas-Nebraska state line on the Missouri River.

To quote from Ray's article:

Showing an amazing amount of potential power last week when they rolled over Warrensburg by a 25-0 score, the Ichabods are out to show that the victory was no accident and that they are as good against any team.

. . . .

Al Wheeler, Peru coach, is expected to unleash a razzle-dazzle type of play on the gridiron tonight with a traditionally wide-open system of play putting everything imaginable across the Moore Bowl green. 

The Ichabods went on to see through the razzle-dazzle and beat Peru 21-0.

The program says Washburn vs. Fort Riley, but it wasn't the whole fort - only the khaki-clad troops from the Cavalry School. 

As Ray writes:

Games against the Fort Riley team have sometimes proven disastrous for Ichabod teams in recent years but the blue-and-white gridders are out to revenge the humiliation of those years if the breaks are right.

. . . . . .

Press relations from the Cavalry school have indicated that the Washburn team is being considered as a tough opponent and Army officers are watching all troops who pass thru Fort Riley for gridders to strengthen the olive-drab team. Some of the players of the Fort Riley team were in the stands to watch Washburn’s win over Peru to pick up a few pointers.

The Icabods came through with their third straight victory beating the Cavalry by a score of 19-0.


The last game of the season was the following week against the Olathe Naval Base. In anticipation of that game, Ray wrote the following:

Next week is the week for all you Washburn University grads to come back and get in the rah-rah spirit of old-time college days. It will be Homecoming with all of its attached activities. It will be the first peace-time Homecoming the school has had in recent years. A homecoming queen will be crowned and the old traditional ball will be held

The double-page spread below appeared in all the 1945 programs that I found. It's hard to imagine anything like this happening now. One has to remember that The Flintstones in the 1960's was sponsored by Winston cigarettes -- tastes good like a cigarette should.  I think Fred even smoked at the end of the show while putting the cat or dog out and having it jump back in through the open window. Although Fred never noticed.

Double-page advertisement in the 1945 Washburn football programs.

Ray and Mary Begin the Dance (Continued)

Mary Grace, Ray Jr, Ray Sr and Vala
March 1943

How did Ray come to live in Topeka so he could meet Mary Grace?

Unlike most of Mary Grace’s ancestors who didn’t arrive in North America until the 19th century, Ray’s came on the Mayflower. His great-grandfather was Elias Thompson Byram who was a great grandson of Abigail Alden. She in turn was the great-great grandchild of John Alden and Priscilla Mullins. Nicholas Byram, Elias’s fourth great grandfather, was a young English boy sent to London by his father with a man he trusted. Unfortunately for Nicholas, he wasn’t that trustworthy. He betrayed him by putting him on a ship bound for the West Indies. There Nicholas was forced to become an indentured servant to pay for his unwanted voyage to Barbados. By the mid-1630s he’d paid that off and made his way to Massachusetts where his descendants met an Alden and began their journey west. First in New Jersey for a few generations and then by the time of Elias who was born in 1815 were moving on to Ohio.

The W C and Mary Byram McClenny Family
 circa 1880

By 1837 Elias had attended Oberlin College and met his wife, Harriet Elwell. He farmed, but also worked as a surveyor – platting Galesburg, Illinois. He and Harriet raised nine children, five boys and four girls including one Mary Esther who was born in 1846 in Galesburg. When the Civil War came along, two of his older sons joined the Union Army. Joseph in the 59th Illinois Infantry and Charles in Company D, 7th Illinois Cavalry. Eventually Elias and Harriet along with Mary and their younger children made their way to Kansas in the early 1860's.



Living not far from where they settled was the family of W.C. McClenny, who had lived in Kansas since it was opened to settlement with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. W. C. had married Hester Anne Campbell in 1859 and welcomed a daughter, Ida, in 1861. W. C., an Illinoisan, was a member of the 2nd Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, Company I. His service was mainly in Arkansas and was furloughed often enough that Hester became pregnant with their second child. Unfortunately both Hester and the child died during the birth in August 1864. W.C. wasn't alone as his brother, his mother and two of his sisters  were also living in Jefferson County.  By September 1866, W.C. had married Mary Byram, Elias's sixth child and second daughter. On June 1, 1867, John McClenny was born.

Edith Davis circa 1876

While John McClenny was growing up in Jefferson County, Kansas, Edith Davis was doing the same in Illinois. At first glance, it's hard to imagine how Edith and John came into contact since they grew up nearly 400 miles apart, but their families were connected. John's aunt, Mary McClenny, was married to Edith's father's half-brother, Amos Huntington Davis. Their shared aunt and uncle lived in Jefferson County. Somehow John and Edith ran into each other and were married in 1890.

John and Edith's family 1905
Valla still with 2 l''s is on the left in the front row.

John and Edith split their time between Kansas and Illinois with two of their four children born in each state. By 1900 when their youngest, Helen, was born, John and Edith were back in Kansas for good. As Valla was growing up in one part of Jefferson County, Ray Morgan was doing the same in a different part of the county. As mentioned before in this blog, Ray's grandfather, Hiram Ellingwood, perished fighting for the union in the Civil War in 1864. Hiram's daughter, Emma, married Elias Morgan, a fellow resident of Fall Creek, Indiana, in 1881. The Morgans moved to Valley Falls before their third child and first son, James, was born in 1889. Ray came along in June of 1896 and by the time of this photograph, his father, Elias, had died. Throughout his school years in the early 1900's, Ray and his brother, Jim, were noted in the local paper mainly for their absences from school.

Ray Morgan circa 1906

He and Valla both lost their fathers before they were adults - Valla's to an injury and Ray's to disease and age. They knew each other's voices before they met as he was a delivery boy for the local grocer and she a telephone operator. One might think that she was intrigued by his voice and soon saw him playing baseball for the local Valley Falls team. However they got to know each other, they were married in Topeka on May 20, 1918 and soon living there. Ray, Jr., their second child, came along in June 1922.

Valley Falls baseball circa 1915

And the stage is set now for Ray and Mary Grace to being the dance.

Ray and Mary Grace Begin the Dance

Ray and Mary examine something while his mother, Vala,
and Aunt Helen watch from the windows.
March 1943

Ray Morgan and Mary Grace Burkhardt did get married - July 21, 1946, but it was not an easy course to get to that point. They knew of each other in high school, but didn't date until Washburn. Their first date was an arranged date that included a professor in the fall of 1942. The relationship picked up when Ray's reserve unit at Washburn was told to report to Fort Leavenworth in late March 1943. According to their letters, they became engaged sometime during March or April 1943.

But how did they happen to be in the same place to meet each other? That tale involves the whims and decisions of eight other people or the parents of these eight.

The Sharpe family
circa 1865

William Sharpe and Rebekah Hutton had been married nearly 20 years when they decided in 1869 to move their family of 10 children across the Atlantic in steerage, eventually arriving in Kansas when their youngest child died in Junction City, KS. According to family lore, William walked down the railroad tracks from Junction City until he found the land he wanted. The legend says 50 miles, but by my calculations it was more like 25 miles, still not an easy walk. The land was in Morris County where another young Englishman had recently arrived.

The Walker family
circa 1898
Edna on the right in the front row

Edna's father, Edward Walker, the second son of a dairyman-cheese-maker, walked out the door of his family home, Russia Hall, and headed to Liverpool, less than 50 miles away. There he began his ocean journey, eventually arriving in Morris County, too, by 1870. One family story is she caught his eye when she came into Parkerville to shop. Edward had trained as a druggist in England before he came to Kansas and he had a general store, Plant & Walker in Parkerville. He and Betsy were married in 1871. By the time Edna and her twin were born in 1888, he was principally a farmer. Shortly after the twins' birth, Edward and Betsy moved their family of seven to Topeka in for a chance at a better education.

Burkharts
circa 1900
Edgar is number 6

Mary Grace's father, Edgar, was the son of a first generation American and of a woman whose grandfather fought in the Revolutionary War. His grandfather, Johann Burkhardt, left Prussia in 1847 at a time of strife there and moved to Tazewell County, Illinois. His first wife died on the voyage leaving him a widower with an infant daughter. Not long after arriving in Illinois, he wed a widow, Lavina Hulsopple, with six children of her own. Over the years they had four more children, including Joseph who was Edgar's father. According to the 1860 census, the Burkhardts were still living in Illinois, but by 1870 when Joseph was 16, they were in Linn County in Kansas. After Lavina's death in 1880 they moved on to Osage County.

Edgar's mother, Philadelphia Schoonover, who went by Delphia was born in Beverly, Virginia in October 1862, a time of great upheaval in Virginia.  Her great grandfather, Benjamin Schoonover, served in the Revolutionary War,but her mother's uncles, John  and George Louk, joined Company F, Virginia 31st Infantry Regiment. This regiment provided support for Stonewall Jackson.

Delphia's uncles joined the Confederate Army
This is the way they were listed on a draft registration:
In Rebel Army

Delphia and her parents arrived in Kansas in 1880 and settled in Fairfax township in Osage County, Kansas. Fairfax was also the home of one Joseph Burkhart. Joseph and Delphia were married in April 1882 in her family home.




Edna had spent her life in Topeka eventually attending Washburn where she met Edgar. Like Edna's family, Edgar had moved to Topeka for the better chance of education, His uncle, Draper Schoonover,urged Edgar to go to the Washburn Academy in Topeka as a preparation for Washburn. Scranton where he grew up didn't have a high school. At the Academy he became a football star.

Topeka Daily Capital
Page 7
November 26, 1905

According to Mary Grace his path through high school and college was not a straight path due to circumstances beyond his control. One year he lost his tuition money in order to bail a brother out of jail.




Although he was a year older than Edna he graduated from Washburn a year after she did. Edna taught school for a year while he was finishing up, but when they were married in 1913 she was forced to resign. It seems married women weren't allowed to teach. So they lived on his lesser salary as a traveling salesman. After the birth of three children and a brief stint living in Osage City, Edgar put together the financing to open his shop in Topeka in 1921. Mary Grace was born in 1923 and by 1926 the Burkhardts built their new home on Jewell which is still in the family.

On the left Edna with her brother-in-law, George Bale,
and Edgar in 1911.

  Coming up next, how Ray ended up in Topeka to meet Mary Grace.