Addendum

Mary Grace and Helen have brought it to my attention that Betsy moved into their new home on Jewell when she became ill. EA and Gussie finished their house in 1926 and Betsy died in 1927. Around the same time Bill and Ada also moved to Jewell, but a block away from the Burkhardts.

At the left is a photo of Betsy who looks like the quintessential grandmother. Helen and Mary Grace who were 6 and 3 when Betsy died remember her fondly. Mary Grace says that unlike their Grandmother Burkhardt, Betsy always remembered their names. Grandmother Burkhardt referred to them only as Edgar's kids.

I want to thank our rediscovered English relatives for restoring this photograph of Betsy. Bruce H., who's married to a descendant of Edward's brother, removed the years of mishandling of the photograph.

More Images of 1119 Polk St

These are the photographs of the Walker home from the street. The first photograph is part of the series that I have posted earlier. The second photograph with the caption about EA and Edna's wedding seems to be from a different time. The flowers look strikingly similar, but if you look closer the front steps are different. It's an exciting difference for those of us who love minutiae. In the photo with the caption about EA and Edna's wedding, the front steps are bare. But in the other photo, there is what I would call an Indian blanket covering the front steps. In one of the earlier photographs I published on this blog, the blanket or a similar blanket appears in the photograph of the room with the college pennants.

From what I have been able to learn the Walkers moved into this house in the late 1880s or early 1890s. One thing that makes this harder to track down is the destruction of the 1890 census records. The Kansas census of 1875 lists the Walkers as living in Ohio township in Morris County, but the next census record I can find for them is the Kansas 1895 census. In that census they are living in Topeka. Gussie was born in Morris County in 1888, but Ada was born in Topeka in 1893.

My thought is that they probably moved to Topeka in 1890 or so and into the house on Polk. They wanted better schools for their children, although at that point, Lily, their oldest who was born in 1873 was probably out of school. She is the only one of the seven children who didn't graduate from college.

After Edward died in 1911 Betsy continued to live in the house probably until her death in 1927. In 1917 Ada married Bill Smith and they took up residence in the Polk house. As has already been noted, the house has been torn down and replaced with a parking lot for an apartment complex. I've begun to wonder if the house was destroyed by the 1966 Topeka tornado. Mom and Helen don't remember, but I'll see what I can find out.

Correction: It's Spurgeon, Not Spaulding

In a previous post, I wrote about C H Spaulding, which is someone I apparently made up. This was belatedly brought to my attention by my spouse. To clarify, I meant C. H. Spurgeon. The following is a link to the church where the oldest Sharpe was baptized: http://www.metropolitantabernacle.org/. I googled Spaulding, but he doesn't appear to exist. I'll try to be more accurate.

Images from Walker Home in Topeka

These images and the ones from last week's posting appear to have been taken in 1907. One of the pennants on the wall says '09. I'm still trying to figure out the why of the photos because they look like professional photographs, but I can't find any marks on them to explain who took them. I'm also disappointed that Edward isn't in them because he was still living at the time.

Scott wondered why there was a branch in last week's post. I zoomed as much as I could and it looks like balls on the branches. There's also a hatchet in the background so I'm assuming it's some kind of homage to Washington. Really I have no idea.

The top photo shows the books that the Walkers owned. In the 1915 Kansas census Betsy Walker told the census taker that they owned at least 200 books. No one else in that section of the census has that many.

Growing up a familiar tale was that the Walker girls married boarders, but according to the census forms I've looked at this 1915 census is the only one that shows boarders. By then Ada's the only one living at home and Bill Smith is not one of the boarders.

IMAGES FROM THE WALKER HOME ON POLK

These are pictures from the the home Gussie grew up on Polk which Scott and I believe is now a parking lot for an apartment complex.

I like all of them. I especially like the one of Gussie and Ada and their mother Betsy in their back yard. Why you ask? Because they're clinging to the only shade in the yard. I always thought I was the only one who craved the shade, but now once again I'm not original.

The other two are from the inside the house. The walls are covered with art, posters and family photos. It's also nice to see the piano. I'll look into it more to see if I can find the date of the photos, but if one assumes they were taken at the same time as the outside ones, I'm guessing summer. And with the flags I'm guessing Fourth of July.

VETERANS' DAY - WW I VETS

Walter Burkhardt and James Morgan are related to us through their brothers. Walter Burkahrdt was Edgar's younger brother. James Morgan was Ray Morgan, Sr.'s brother. James Morgan had the misfortune to be at ground zero for the great influenza. History says the Great Influenza of 1918 started at Camp Funston, part of Fort Riley. Morgan was stationed at that camp. He died there and was buried in the Valley Falls cemetery. I couldn't discover if Walter Burkhardt was ever deployed, but he did live through the war.

Bill Smith on the other hand is related to us through his wife, Ada. She was Gussie's younger sister. He also was best man at Gussie and EA's wedding. He did deploy and led at least a unit in France. He also survived and went on to the Kansas State Supreme Court.

Ancestry Things I Learned Lately

I learned three things recently researching the family tree for the Walkers-Burkhardts.
1. There was a Burkhardt ancestor who fought in the American Revolution and surprise surprise he was on the American's side. The Burkhardts are actually eligible to be in the DAR. Benjamin Schoonover was a captain in the Pennsylvania company and served several years. All of us grew up having heard they were in America but were probably Hessians.

2. Twins - There have been consecutive generations of twins on the Sharpe side since at least Betsy's mother. Betsy, Gussie's mother, appears to have had twin siblings. They were a girl and a boy and only the girl lived to adulthood. The boy twin died as a baby in Junction City during the family's immigration. Because he died they decided to stay in Kansas. Betsy had twins, Gussie and her twin. Then Betsy's daughter had twins, but as has been the trend only one lived to adulthood.

3. Baptism by a famous pastor. Although I believe the Sharpes were raised Methodists in England, having come to America at the suggestion of their local Methodist pastor, I found something I wasn't expecting. They had their oldest child, William Sharpe, Jr, baptized by a prominent Baptist minister in London when he was 18 and the year before they came to America. The pastor, C H Spauldling, was serving the Metropolitan Baptist Church in London, not far from Parliament. I have a copy of the Sharpe Bible with the handwritten note indicating the baptism. Lee had heard of C H Spaulding and the church is still there and his sermons are still published. Below is the picture identified as the Methodist church near Marehem le Fen that the Sharpes usually attended in England.