The children of Claude and Bille Jones

The obituary of Billie Jones lists the following surviving children:

Charles C. Jones of Las Vegas, Nev.
Joyce J. Padgett of Florida
Anna Stepp of Garden Grove
Billie F. Hinshaw of Elverta

My research is interesting in that I am not only trying to locate information about people who have already passed away, but for those still living. There are many resources online to locate people. One I've tried is Peoplefinders.com. Another is ZabaSearch.com. I've had good luck in getting addresses and phone numbers for Claude and Billie's children. This information is from public records, and who knows which address or phone number is the current one for an individual.

While Edith, Edgar and Billie are all buried in the Lakewood Memorial Park in Hughson, CA, Claude was cremated and his ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean from the Golden Gate Bridge.

I have a number of pictures and scanned documents, relating to Clark and Rachel Carothers and their descendants, that I will be uploading for viewing.

Another volunteer lends a hand

With the knowledge that Edith Rux and Billie Jones were in Modesto, Stanislaus County, CA, I could reuse my resources for getting information about their parents, Orlando and Mary Carothers.

The California Death Index had information about Edith and Billie. This yielded a lot of helpful information, and it also meant they had passed away. The Index also was helpful in finding candidates for their husbands. In both cases a search for the married surnname yielded possibilities, one of which was actually correct.

With the Index information, I decided to send for their death certificates from the Stanislaus County Recorder's office. Two more applications were sent, and I received the death certificates in short order. It was from Edith's death certificate that I learned the name and address of her son, Earl Lucas of Sacramento. I have sent a letter to him and I am waiting for a reply. I would very much like to hear from Earl.

I also wanted copies of their obituaries, and so I posted on the Ancestry.com message board for Stanislaus County, CA. My request for the obituary of Billie Myrtle Jones can be viewed here. And my request for the obituary of Edith Hazel Rux can be viewed here. As you can see from the responses, Judith Ewbank responded in short order, again "Thanks!"

I also posted requests for obituary lookups for Edith's husband, Edgar Eric Rux, which can be viewed here, and Billie's husband Claude L. Jones, which can be viewed here. Again, Judy came through and located Edgar's obituary, and then went the extra mile and looked up three siblings that had obituaries in Modesto. However, the obituary for Claude could not be found. Judy sent me an email and said she could not find it.

Here are the transcribed obituaries:

Modesto Bee, Friday, December 23, 1988, p B-3

EDITH HAZEL RUX,75, of Modesto, died Wednesday in Ceres.
SERVICES: Funeral 2 p.m. Monday at Salas Brothers Funeral Chapel. Burial at Lakewood Memorial Park.
BACKGROUND: Native of Clinton, MO. Lived in Modesto since 1937. Homemaker.
SURVIVORS: One son, Earl L. Lucas of Sacramento. Three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Transcribed by Judy Ewbank

Modesto Bee, Saturday, Sept 6, 1986, p B-2

BILLIE M. JONES, 78, Modesto.
DIED: Thursday in Modesto.
SERVICES: Funeral 2 p.m. Tuesday at Lakewood Funeral Home Chapel. Burial in Lakewood Memorial Park. Visitation 2 to 6 p.m. Monday at the chapel.
BACKGROUND: Native of Missouri. Lived in Modesto since 1942. Member of Full Gospel Truth Church of Modesto.
SURVIVORS: Husband; Claude Jones of Modesto. Son, Charles C. Jones of Las Vegas, Nev. Three daughters, Joyce J. Padgett of Florida, Anna Stepp of Garden Grove and Billie F. Hinshaw of Elverta. Sister, Edith Rux of Modesto. Nine grandchildren. Six great-grandchildren.

Transcribed by Judy Ewbank

Modesto Bee, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 1981, p B-3

EDGAR ERIC RUX - A service will be held at 3 p.m. Wednesday in the Salas Brothers Funeral Chapel for Edgar Eric Rux, 76, who died Sunday in his Modesto home after a short illness. Burial will be in Lakewood Memorial Park.A retired farmer, Mr. Rux had lived in the area for 57 years, moving here from Texas in 1924.He is survived by his wife, Edith Rux of Modesto; a stepson, Earl Lucas of Sacramento; three brothers, William Rux of Modesto, Adolph Rux of Las Vegas and Walter Rux of Chicago; three sisters, Annie Schmidt of Modesto, Alice Holmes of Texas and Alta Martin of Oklahoma; three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Transcribed by Judy Ewbank

I have requested and received the death certificates for both Edgar and Claude.

Volunteers to the rescue

Having located Orlando and Mary Carothers in Modesto, Stanislaus County, CA, and having the dates of their deaths, I wanted to acquire copies of their obituaries. I have had great luck placing particular people in a particular time and place with obituaries.

Modesto is about a 6 hour drive from my home. And I will make that drive one of these days, but I do work, and money is always an issue. So, I looked for some Stanislaus County message boards online that might have people who would look up the obituary for me. I was more than happy to pay someone a reasonable fee for their time and effort. What I discovered at the Stanislaus County, CA message board are volunteers who will lookup and transcribe obituaries at no cost to the requester. So, I made this post at the message board, and less than 2 weeks later, Ted Pack replied with the following:

Modesto Bee
Monday, 6 January 1964; page A-2
ORLANDO O. CAROTHERS

Orlando Oscar Carothers, a retired carpenter and farmer, died yesterday at a local hospital following a long illness. Carothers had lived in Modesto 24 years. He was a
native of Illinois. He was a member of the Wildey Lodge 149, IOOF.

Survivors include two daughters, Billie M. Jones and Edith Rux, both of Modesto; three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

Services will be conducted at 11 a.m. Wednesday at the Salas Brothers Funeral Chapel by Boyd Allen and the Widley Lodge. Burial will be in the Odd Fellows Cemetery.


Modesto Bee
Tuesday, 9 July 1963; page A-3
MARY CAROTHERS

Services for Mary Virginia Carothers, 82, Modesto, will be conducted at 11 a.m. tomorrow in the Salas Brothers Funeral Chapel by Boyd Allen. Burial will be in the Odd Fellows Cemetery.

She died Sunday after a brief illness.

How cool is that! Ted even volunteered to send me a photocopy at no cost to me. Very nice! Volunteers like Ted really do a great service for those researching their family histories. If you look over this message board, and other regional type message boards, you will find volunteers ready to help out. With that in mind, if you make regular visits to regional resource like newspapers, volunteer!

Notice all the information in the obituaries! Orlando's children Edith and Billie ended up in Modesto along with their parents. It lists their married names. It lists grandchildren and great-grandchildren, without names though. It also lists the funeral home and cemetery. Mary's obituary was surprisingly brief, but did list the funeral home and cemetery.

These obituaries provided starting points for several other areas to research.

Help from another researcher

At this point I was looking for Orlando Carothers and Mary Elliot. Another Google search led me to an entry on CousinConnect.com. Click here to see the actual entry. The query text is:

Looking for information about Mary V (Elliott) Carothers and her husband Orlando O Carothers. Orlando was born in Illinios. Mary was born in Missouri. Both died in Stanislaus California. They had 5 children. Mary Elliott was the sister of my gg grandfather George W. Elliott.

A message to the query poster put me in touch with John Brach. And John has been a great help in finding information on Orlando and his family!

John had found Orlando and Mary in Modesto, CA, of all places! This was quite a surprise to me. He has searched for them in the California Death Index. Free, online, genealogical databases can be a great help! This database lists lots of info, including the place and date of death. And that is how I became interested in Modesto, CA.

With this information I requested, and received, Orlando and Mary's death certificates from the Stanislaus County Recorder's office. Click here to get an application for death certificates.

By the way, I mentioned on an earlier post that I couldn't locate Orlando and Mary in the 1930 US Census. John had found Orlando and Mary in the 1930 US Census in Montevallo, Vernon County, Missouri. When I searched for them in Vernon County, I had missed them! I was in too much of a rush. Sigh.

As a note, I search US Census records online.

Google me this

I had located the family of Clark and Rachel in Henry County, Missouri, through US Census records. Orlando Oscar Carothers was child number 10 in their family, and was born in 1876. In the US Census of 1910 and 1920, Orlando is located in Henry County, Missouri, with his wife Mary, and children. Their children, as listed in the 1920 US Census include: Ruby, Opal, Myrtle, Cecil and Edith.

In 1929, Orlando's sister in law, my direct ancestor Myrtle Elizabeth Herring, passed away. Orlando and Mary are listed in her obituary as being from Nevada, Missouri. When I examined the 1930 US Census, I found Ruby, and her sister, Billie (Myrtle), living together as two young women in Nevada, Missouri. However, I couldn't find Orlando and Mary. I searched through all of Vernon County, Missouri, but I couldn't find them.

That's where Google comes in. I tried a search with "Carothers Nevada Mo". And the following obituary was one of the results:

ELLIOTT, Henry Francis - 1865 - 1929 Funeral rites for Henry Francis Elliott was conducted at the home of his daughter, Mrs. J. W . Forsman, Monday afternoon at 2:30 by Rev. L.O. Smith, pastor of the Methodist church. Henry Francis Elliott was born near Joplin, Missouri Aug 11, 1865 and passed away at the home of his daughter, Mrs. J. W. Forsman at 1:00 o'clock a.m. Nov 10, 1929. He was united in marriage in 1888 to Miss Catherine Ellen Bence who preceded him in death in 1894, to this union four children were born, two girls and two boys who survive him and are, Mrs Minnie E. Corn of Nowata, Okla., Mrs. Effie Forsman of Dexter, Lafe of Lamedeer, Mont., Roy Taylor of Keno Oregon. He was united in marriage in 1896 to Miss Janetta Gertrude Huff who survives him. To this union four children were born, Mrs. Lillie Carter, Berryville Ark., Mrs Bessie Haywood, Haskell Okla Mrs. Ruth Mock, Pawhuska Okla., and Lee Madison, who preceded him in death August 10, 1919 and granddaughter Anna Frances Forsman who passed away June 14, 1920. He is survived by thirteen grandchildren and one brother, George W. Elliott of Grand Junction, Colorado, and one sister, Mrs. Mary Carothers of Nevada Mo.

Mary was listed in her brother's obituary, and so I discovered her maiden name was Elliott.

A letter to cousin Earl

Today I sent a letter to my distant cousin Earl L. Lucas of Sacramento, CA. Earl is listed as the informant on his mother's death certificate, along with his Sacramento address. Edith Hazel Rux died in Modesto, CA in 1988. Edith is a daughter of Orlando and Mary Carothers. And Orlando is the son of Clark and Rachel Carothers. Mary's maiden name is Elliot, and Rachel's maiden name is Lowrey. If my letter makes it to Earl, he will be my first contact with any descendants of Orlando and Mary. I'm very excited to make contact with him.

The story of how I got this far, on this line, is pretty amazing. And it points out the value of the internet, and the web, in genealogical work. I'll share this story in a later post.

Current Research on the Carothers line

I'm currently researching the descendants of Clark Carothers, and his wife, Rachel Lowrey. Clark and Rachel are my 2nd great-grandparents. They were both born in 1839 in Illinois. They spent a good part of their lives in Henry County, Missouri, and are buried there.

A year or so ago, I decided to begin researching all the descendants of Clark and Rachel, both deceased and living. I am interested in meeting with living descendants to trade notes, family stories, pictures and other information.

So far, I've had great success. I've met with a branch of the family that ended up in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was fun to meet them and trade information. I have recently discovered another branch that ended up in Modesto, California, but I have yet to locate and contact any of the living descendants from that branch. I'm currently focusing my time and research on this branch of the family. More about that later.

Me? My branch of the family ended up in Southern California. And I'm doing my part to expand the family.

I have a web page for all Carothers genealogy researchers at http://www.carothersonline.com. Researchers can post a message and an email link.

A summary of my research is located at http://www.carothersonline.com/dcarothers.html.

If you are a descendant of Clark and Rachel, or are related further back, please contact me! I would very much like to trade notes with you.