Faded into the Mist of Time
Mariann Musgrave Brownson
The Sons Family
History
Great Nana (Carrie Edith Sons Gaston) said she
believed her Sons family came from England.
If so, the likely route was Pennsylvania through Virginia
westward to Kentucky. We
know that James Sons was born in Kentucky.
The name Sons originates from the Dutch form of the North German
“Sohns.” Twins are common
in the Sons family. Direct
descendants are listed last, though their birth order place may be
different.
James Elias Sons
(Oct. 6, 1824 – Sep. 18, 1899, IL) was born in Frankfort, KY.
Sometime before 1845 he moved to Wayne County, IL, where he
married Mary Ellen Laird (Apr. 4, 1826, Mt. Erie, IL – Nov. 4,
1902, Wayne County, IL).
Mary Ellen's parents were Jessie Laird and Rebecca Gaddie who married in
1817. In 1862, James
joined the Wayne County Militia Volunteers.
James and Mary Ellen had 18 children.
Not all their names have been found.
Notes from Great Nana show that they also raised Clede Gaston,
Posey Overall, Stella Legg and Clarence Auvil.
What great and open hearts they must have had to take on so many
children in addition to their own, and feed and clothe them from the
small earnings of a family farm.
James and Mary Ellen are buried in Laird cemetery in Wayne
County, IL.
Children of James Elias Sons and Mary Ellen
Laird:
Mary E. (Feb. 15, 1847 - After 1860).
Jesse Edward (Dec. 9, 1848 – Sep. 17, 1871) is
buried in Lappin Cemetery, Wayne County, IL.
Rebecca Ann (Jan. 12, 1849 – Jan. 10, 1875) married about 1872 Valentine Morris (Apr. 29, 1848 – Dec. 21, 1922), son of Nathan Anderson Morris and Sarah Ann Reid. 2 children; 1 died infant. Rebecca and Valentine are buried in Lappin Cemetery.
James Elias (Apr. 2, 1850 – Oct. 19, 1942) on
Dec. 24, 1870 married Winnie Jane Buis (Mar. 20, 1851 – Dec. 22, 1910).
Winnie Jane's parents were Doctor Garrett Buis and Elizabeth
Wallace; 13 children.
They are buried in Lappin Cemetery.
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| James Elias
Sons (Photo courtesy of Mariann Musgrave Brownson) |
Martha Jane (Jun. 25, 1852- Aug. 2, 1936) on Oct.
23, 1873 married Henry Pratten Simms (Mar. 5, 1849 – Feb. 5, 1918); 11
children. They are buried
in Maple Hill Cemetery, Fairfield, Wayne County.
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| Martha
Jane Sons Simms (Photo courtesy of Mariann Musgrave Brownson) |
Possible Child:
Tobitha E. (May 27, 1855 – Mar. 14, 1857).
Buried in Lappin Cemetery.
William Thomas (Nov. 10, 1856 – Oct. 18, 1938) on
Feb. 9, 1880 married Samantha Armilda Harmon (Aug. 7, 1858 – Jan. 8,
1925), the sister of his brother Oliver Parry's wife.
William's nickname was “Sawblade Bill”.
Their 4 daughters were Cleona (married Courtwright or
Cartwright), Opal (married John Strole), Bessie (married an Ash), and
Ethel (married John William Mauck).
William and Samantha also welcomed into their home and raised
6-month old Joseph Lawrence, Jr.
William's obituary noted:
“...he has been a substantial and highly respected citizen of
Lamard Township [Wayne County] for over half a century.
His greatest concern in life has been his farm and his family.”
He died while visiting his daughter Opal in Chadbourn, NC, and
was buried with Samantha in Pleasant Grove Cemetery, Lamard Township,
Wayne County.
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| Samantha
Armilda Harmon Sons & William Thomas Sons (Photo courrtesy of Mariann Musgrave Brownson) |
Nancy Evaline (Jan. 8, 1858 – Apr. 4, 1935)
married on Nov. 8, 1878 William Edward Tibbs (Sep. 14, 1858 – Sep. 22,
1937). William's parents
were Charles Madison Tibbs and Mary A. Kerr;
5 children. They are buried in Pin Oak Cemetery, Berry Township,
Wayne County.
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| Nancy
Evaline Sons Tibbs (Photo courtsey of Mariann Musgrave Brownson |
Benjamin Franklin (Mar. 8, 1859 – Mar. 11, 1941)
on Oct. 27, 1878 Emily Loretta Young (Apr. 5, 1860 – Oct. 17, 1942),
daughter of Ewing Young and Emily Cravens;
8 children. They are
buried in Bovee Cemetery, Lamard Township, Wayne County.
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| Benjamin
Franklin Sons (Photo courtesy of Mariann Musgrave Brownson) |
Possible Child and twin to Benjamin Franklin:
Mary J. (? – Mar. 8, 1859).
She is buried in Lappin Cemetery.
Possible Child:
Elizabeth (? – Jan. 5, 1860).
She is buried in Lappin Cemetery.
Newton Alfred (Nov. 11, 1862 – Jan. 26, 1942)
about 1880 married Martha Custis Tunnel (Jan., 1863 – Mar. 19, 1926),
nickname “Mattie”, daughter of Mr. William H. Tunnel and Ms. Martha H.
Tubb of VA; 9 children.
They are buried in Pin Oak Cemetery, Wayne County.
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| Newton Alfred Sons (Photo courtesy of Mariann Musgrave Brownson) |
Possible Child (if premature birth):
Bluford L. (Jun. 28, 1863 - Feb. 15, 1865).
Buried in Lappin Cemetery.
Cassandra/Cansada B. (Jan. 5, 1866 – May 30,
1911), known as Sade, married in 1889 James E. Simms (Jan., 1860 -
1930), son of George Simms from England and Hannah from Ohio whose
parents were born in VA.
They had 9 children. They
lived in Fairfield until April, 1911, when they traveled west to
Washington, where Sade died.
She and James are buried in Bovee Cemetery.
Nelson David (Nov. 5, 1868 – Dec. 11, 1948),
nickname “Nels”, in 1895 married Mary Pauline Oehler (Oct. 10, 1870 -
1937), nickname “Mellie”, daughter of Earnstaff S. and Margaret
McKnight; 6 children.
They are buried in Lappin Cemetery.
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| Nelson
David Sons (Photo courtesy of Mariann Musgrave Brownson) |
Levi Patton (Nov. 7, 1870 - 1957) married about
1893 Minnie Belle Craig (Mar. 11, 1874 – May 10, 1941), daughter of
William Craig and Catherine Sutton;
8 children. They were buried in Lappin Cemetery.
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|
Levi Patton Sons (Photo courtsey of Mariann Musgrave Brownson) |
Oliver Perry Sons
(Apr. 1, 1853 – Jul. 13, 1937) on Mar. 25, 1880 married Mary Ellen
Harman (Jan. 11, 1861 – Jul. 23, 1944).
Mary Ellen's parents were Daniel Harmon and Mahala Alford,
originally from Ohio, who moved to Wayne County.
When Oliver and Mary Ellen married they received
as a gift a clock which chimed the hours and had an alarm.
It was quite a thing as none of the people who lived around them
had a clock at all! I
imagine it created quite a few jokes, since everyone got up with the sun
and went to bed when it went down anyway.
The family lived in Berry Township and were
members of the Pin Oak Church.
The farm, according to a newspaper report, was near the farm of
S.S. Lappin, and was called the “old Dan Beck place”.
Life on the farm called for a ton of self-reliance, and daughter
Carrie Sons recalled helping to cook three meals a day for 40 to 50
threshers (field hands) when it was time to take in the crops.
Mother and daughter’s sewed clothing and quilts, made soap, kept
chickens, raised a garden patch, and canned huge amounts of food to
carry them over in the winter.
Father and brothers farmed with a horse and plow to bring in a
cash crop, and shot wild game for table meat.
Later on, Oliver would prosper enough to buy a Ford Model A
automobile called a “tin lizzie”.
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| Oliver
Sons Farm (Photo courtesy of Mariann Musgrave Brownson) |
Oliver and Mary celebrated their 50th
wedding anniversary in 1930.
The newspaper reported, “They have spent their entire life in
Wayne County and are one of our most respected couples.
They both enjoy good health.”
They look very stern in this photo, as most people of the times
did, but another of Oliver shows him beaming down with love on his first
grand- or great-grandchild.
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| Oliver Sons with grandchild | Oliver & Mary Ellen Sons 50th Anniv. |
When Oliver died in 1937, he and Mary had been
living at the J.C. Apartment House across from the old Brown Hotel in
Fairfield. His obituary
stated: “He was a loving
and faithful companion, an
affectionate father, and a good citizen whose
friends were numbered by his acquaintances.”
His daughter Carrie certainly idolized and loved him dearly.
Mary Ellen lived to 1944, long enough to
celebrate four generations of her family when her picture was taken with
her daughter Carrie Sons Gaston, her granddaughter Maxine Gaston Mack
Williams, and her great-granddaughter, Carol Ann Mack Musgrave.
Mary lived the last years of her life staying with her daughters
for several months at a time, and died at the home of her daughter
Carrie. Oliver and Mary are
buried in Maple Hill Cemetery in Fairfield.
Oliver and Mary had nine children of whom eight survived.
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| 4 Generations |
Children of Oliver Sons and Mary Ellen Harmon:
Walter Clark (Jan. 17, 1881 – Sep., 1968) married
Mary Dickey (Feb. 1, 1886 – Jun. 20, 1943). They had two children,
Walter, Jr. and Elizabeth.
Walter, Jr. served with the military and was living in Anchorage, Alaska
when the 1964 earthquake hit.
Elizabeth married Phillip Clore, newspaper publisher, of Homer,
IL. Evidently Walter was
one of Carrie's favorite brothers because she saved a lot of newspaper
clippings about him. Walter
lived with Grandpa and Grandma Harmon (Daniel and Mahala Ellen) on their
farm during his youth because the grade school was on Grandpa Harmon's
farm. He went to
Carbondale, IL, to study law, but failed on part of his final exam.
When he came home to Fairfield for a few days off, he was offered
a job at the Fairfield National Bank.
He started as a bookkeeper, progressed to head cashier (a more
important position than it is today), became a director, and worked for
the bank for 20 years. The
bank went bust during the Depression, so he went to work for the Ford
Motor Company. After a few
years, he resigned and moved to Granite City, IL.
He became the director of the State Loan Association in Granite
City. Walter and Mary are
buried in Maple Hill Cemetery.
Jesse Lee (May19, 1884 – May 25, 1933) on Dec.
23, 1909 married Elma P. LeCroy (May 27, 1880 – Aug. 8, 1974).
They had three sons, Carroll, Jesse Myron and Glen Frederick.
Jesse Lee's life was cut short in a heartbreaking accident.
According to the Wayne County Press of June, 1933:
“Jesse L. Sons, well known and enterprising farmer living two
miles west of Fairfield, met tragic death last Thursday morning when his
Fordson tractor turned back upon him.
His body was pinned underneath the fuel tank and steering wheel
of the upturned machine and against the plow beam to which it was
hitched. The accident
occurred in the field just west of the “Y” of the hard road west of this
city. Mr. Sons had started
to plow and was alone...At about the same time, his son Glen left the
home...en route to this city where he is a student in high school.
He saw the upturned tractor and hastened to assist his father...”
Jesse suffocated under the tractor while his son tried to lift it
off him. His obituary:
“...he was untiring in his efforts to provide for the needs of his
family and render services to his neighbors and friends...he was loved
and respected by all who knew him.”
Jesse and Elma are buried in Bestow Cemetery, Geff, Wayne Co.,
Illinois.
Laura Belle (Oct. 8, 1886 – Sep., 1971) on Jun.
8, 1910 married John Wesley Craven (Sep. 4, 1868 – May 6, 1940).
They had one daughter, Mary Eleanor.
I always thought that Nana (Maxine, Carrie Sons Gaston's
daughter) looked at lot like Mary Eleanor when they were older, but Nana
was just adamant that she didn't look a thing like her.
Aunt Laura grew depressed after her husband died, and gained so
much weight that she rarely left her house.
Laura and John are buried in Maple Hill Cemetery.
Charles Carroll (Jan. 5, 1889 – Jun. 28, 1956) on
Dec. 2, 1913 married Dessie M. Dickey (Oct. 25, 1889 – Jul. 20, 1946).
They had three sons, Max, Howard, Charles, Jr., and a daughter
Dorothy. A freak accident
at a baseball game killed Howard, 12 years old:
“Howard Sons was catching...The first ball was fouled and struck
young Sons on the forehead but did not seem to hurt him.
The next one was fouled and Sons turned his back to it and it
struck him on the neck. He
cried a little...and then grew quiet...He did not speak at all after the
accident.” The boys in the
game were devastated, and “Young Yerkens, who batted the foul tip,
suffered a nervous collapse after the tragic accident and was placed in
bed to comfort.” Howard's
neck was broken. Charles
and Mary are buried in Oakland Cemetery, Moberly, Randolph County, MO.
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| Seth C.
Gaston & Charles Carroll Sons (Photo courtesy of Mariann Musgrave Brownson) |
William Clayton (Feb. 24, 1891 – Jun. 14, 1969)
on Dec. 13, 1913 married Carrie Melissa Anderson (Jun. 29, 1891 – Aug.
28, 1957). William was
registered for the draft of World War I and World War II.
He and Carrie had three daughters, Virginia, Doris, and Lois, and
one son, William Ray. Ray
joined the Army and was killed in France in World War II.
William and Carrie and buried in Maple Hill Cemetery.
Clara Ethel (Mar. 9, 1894 – Oct. 5, 1894) was
Carrie's twin sister.
Vena Cordelia (May 6, 1897 – Oct. 8, 1987) on
Dec. 16, 1917 married Carroll C. Bright (Dec. 16, 1917 – Feb. 15, 1977).
Carroll's father was a minister.
Vena and Carroll had one daughter, Kathryn Ellen, who married
James Brock. Kathryn and
James had two daughters, Jenny Kay (Virginia) and CeeCee (Carroll Clay).
Vena and Carroll are buried in Maple Hill Cemetery.
I knew Aunt Vena when I was a kid in Fairfield,
and remember how expertly she could knit.
She knitted beautiful sweaters, and could whip up a pair of cute
house slippers in no time at all.
Just about every girl and woman in the family had a pair.
Earlier in life Aunt Vena caught what they called “rabbit fever”
(tularemia) from eating an infected rabbit or squirrel.
There were no medicines at the time to cure it, and later it made
her head wobble. I remember
Uncle Carroll and all his methods of trying to kill the gophers that
tunneled under his lawn and spoiled his grass, which had to be perfect.
The gophers always won.
Lorene Mahala Ellen (Aug. 25, 1901 - Sep. 23,
1988) on Sep. 2, 1919 married Claude Cravens (Apr. 2, 1900 – Mar. 21,
1985). They had three
daughters, Phyllis Lee, Ruth, and Betty.
Aunt Lorene was an expert embroiderer and quilter.
The ladies would gather in her basement where she had a giant
quilting frame. They sat
around and dished the dirt on everything and everyone in Fairfield and
beyond. I asked to work on
a quilt with her, and she said I could when I was able to put ten
stitches in an inch (believe me - that's a lot of little stitches!).
Uncle Claudie loved all the kids, and was always joshing us.
I never saw him without a smile on his face.
Lorene and Claude are buried in Maple Hill Cemetery.
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| Daughters
of Oliver and Mary Sons L. to R.: Laura, Vena, ?, ?,
Lorene, Carrie standing behind Lorene (Photo courtesy of Mariann Musgrave Brownson) |
Carrie, Vena and Lorene all learned to sew when
they were children. Their
quilts were made of memories:
favorite dresses worn to long-ago parties, old men's ties, and
flour sacks from hard times.
They sewed trousseaus of beautiful embroidered linens.
They learned to never waste a thing.
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| Mary Ellen Harmon Sons Quilt: Spider's Den, early 1880's |
Carrie Edith Sons (Mar. 9, 1894 – May 1, 1976) was born a twin, but her sister died. On 14Jan1912 she married Seth Clifford Gaston (Jun. 14, 1892 – Nov. 3, 1918). Carrie grew up on the farm and went to “Hardscrabble” school in the country. She and Seth had two girls, Maxine Leota and Mary Evelyn.
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| Seth Gaston
and daughter Maxine (Photo courtesy of Mariann Musgrave Brownson) |
Mary Evelyn was not two years old when her father
Seth died during the Great Flu Pandemic which killed millions of people
all over the world. Carrie
was left with two little girls to raise, so she went to work at Sexton
Manufacturing in Fairfield, and left the girls in their grandparents'
care. Sexton made underwear
and “union suits” (long johns) that sold all over the U.S.
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| Carrie
Edith Sons Gaston holding Maxine (Photo courtesy of Mariann Musgrave Brownson) |
Now here's a long-time family secret, thanks to a
living Rawls, who had it from his father Andy.
Carrie
made a marriage that was never discussed in the
family! On Nov. 12, 1920 in Gibson, IN, she married Asa Thompson (Jan.
20, 1884 – Feb. 15, 1939).
Asa was a widower who lost his wife and child in the flu pandemic, just
as Carrie had lost her husband Seth.
We have yet to figure how or where they met, because Carrie
didn't graduate from Lockyear Business College in Evansville, IN, until
1924. Asa must have had
some problem Carrie couldn't tolerate, probably drinking.
Carrie was a strict tea-total Baptist.
In the 1930 census, Carrie listed herself as “married”, but was
the head of the household, and Asa was nowhere to be found.
Carrie also didn't believe in divorce at that time, so she
probably stayed married to Asa until his death in 1939, even though he
never lived in Fairfield!
In the 1940 census, Carrie lists herself as a widow.
Asa was buried with his first wife in Indiana.
After Carrie graduated
from Lockyear Business College, she worked for the Grubb Title Company
until 1963. She started her
own insurance and bond business.
In 1969 she was elected president of the Business and
Professional Women's Club.
She was a member of the Order of the White Shrine and the Order
of the Eastern Star (charitable religious organizations connected to
Freemasonry). Later on, she
worked for the school system as the truant officer.
She married Howard Bell in 1953, but they later divorced.
I guess she “got with the times” when she divorced Howard.
Later on she also let Aunt Mary (daughter), Uncle Andy, Nana
(Maxine, daughter) and Papa (Charlie Williams) drink their cocktails in
the tiny nook in the kitchen, though I think she just tolerated it.
She
was a steadfast member of the Baptist Church, teaching Sunday School,
singing in the choir, and playing the piano.
When the church burned down during World War II, building
supplies were rationed, so she wrote to President Truman, asking for a
special permit to get the lumber to rebuild the church.
It must have been a good letter, because the President granted
the permit. She built her
house right behind the church.
She visited the sick, carrying meals to them in her little red
folding basket.
She
loved to cook, entertain and travel.
Though her kitchen was tiny, she would cook up fabulous dinners
for her large family on Thanksgivings and Christmases.
My favorite memories of those dinners are washing the dishes with
her and Aunt Mary, just listening to them talk.
Carrie hosted Bible meetings, coffees, teas, engagements parties, pot
luck dinners and baby showers.
She was always dressed up, and had a closet full of pretty hats.
She traveled to visit friends and relatives all over the U.S.
Carrie's diary makes interesting reading.
She was proud of her family, noting different milestones like
baptisms, marriages, and births.
She saved lots of newspaper clippings about her grandchildren and
great-grandchildren. When I
read her diary, I was struck by how often expressions like “beautiful
day”, “wonderful day”, and “lovely day” ran through the pages.
All the people she met were “very nice people”.
The only sad items in the diary were the deaths in her family,
and they were noted “a dearly loved one has gone on to his great
reward”.
As
the Baptist Church expanded, they tried several times to buy her house,
but she wouldn't sell. She
had planted hundreds of flowers, and she was just where she wanted to
be. Carrie contracted
leukemia in late 1975, and I came to live with her so she wouldn't have
to go to a nursing home.
She was as lucid and as active as she could be to nearly the very end.
It took the Baptist Church 32 years, but they finally bought the
house in December, 2008, and tore it down.
Carrie is memorialized in a stained glass window she bought for
the Baptist Church. She and
Seth are buried in Maple Hill Cemetery.
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| Sons Family Bible pages Click on each image to enlarge |
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Submitted by
Mariann Musgrave Brownson, 2012