Sitgreaves Report Mentioned Major Backus

Source

Report of an Expedition Down the Zuni and Colorado Rivers,  By Lorenzo Sitgreaves, United States. Army. Corps of Topographical Engineers:

"I have  been informed lately by Major Backus, U. S. Army, that they are quite numerous near Fort Defiance, in the Navajo(e) country."

Elvira Elizabeth Johnson's Family

At the request of a Graves Family Association representative who wanted an update on the Graves descendants of James and Nancy (Graves) Johnson, I worked on this family in order to proved the Association with an update.

Elvira Elizabeth Johnson was born on 6 May 1864, to James and Nancy (Graves) Johnson.  She m (1) Benjamin F. Rice (1862-1900) 11 Nov. 1884, m (2) Hampton B. Lamont, c. 1905.  She d. 10 Oct. 1932.

Kansas City On The Mural

Elvira (then of Kansas City, Missouri in 1918) was the first-listed heir of James Johnson on the document found here.

Elvira E. Johnson and her first husband, Benjamin F. Rice, had a daughter, Gertrude.  [Note:  We are related to Gertrude Rice through her mother and her father.  Elvira and my great-grandfather, James Dudley Johnson, were siblings.  Benjamin F. Rice was a 1st cousin 3x removed; Ransom and Ann (Hinds) Rice were our mutual ancestors.]

Gertrude married Fred J. Patterson and had four children (Elizabeth, Thomas, Frederick and Frank). Elvira Elizabeth (Johnson) Rice Lamont was living with her daughter and son-in-law in 1920.

Elvira's daughter Gertrude and granddaughter Elizabeth were living in Harrisburg in 1940:

United States Census, 1940
Name Elizabeth Patterson
Harrisburg, Harrisburg Township, Saline, Illinois
Marital Status Divorced
Last Place of Residence Cairo, Alexander, Illinois
HOUSEHOLD
Gertrude Patterson Head F 54 Illinois
Elizabeth Patterson Daughter F 34 Illinois
T J Patterson Brother-in-law  M 18 Illinois

Gertrude (Rice) Patterson died in 1945.  Her Find-A-Grave memorial included an obituary.  The obituary stated that she had recently learned that her eldest son, Captain Tom Patterson, had been held as a POW in Japan and was freed.  Her sons Fred and Frank were employed by a coal mining company and her daughter, Elizabeth Cozby operated the Cozby Printing Company.  David Patterson and Tom Patterson were the only two grandchildren.

It appeared as though Elizabeth (Patterson) Cozby was married to Paul Henry Cozby who died in 1944.  Per her brother Tom's obituary, she was identified as Elizabeth Kerrigan of Benson, Arizona, in 1990.

Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas David Patterson (the former POW) married E. Eames Harrison.  He died in Florida and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.  No children were listed in his obituary.

Ward S. Powers Family

The Ward S. Powers family started with a marriage in Indiana:

Name: Ward Stanley Powers

Event Type: Marriage

Event Date: 04 May 1920

Event Place: , Lake, Indiana

Registration Place: , Lake, Indiana

Marriage License Date: 03 May 1920

Spouse's Name: Rose E Love

Officiator's Name: J A Ayling

Name: Ward S Powers

1940  Census

Supervisorial District 2, Maricopa, Arizona

Last Place of Residence: Rural, Maricopa, Arizona

Household Role Gender Age Birthplace

Ward S Powers Head M 46 Michigan

Rose L Powers Wife F 48 Indiana

Mary J Powers Daughter F 18 Indiana

James W Powers Son M 16 Michigan

Phyliss J Powers Daughter F 14 Indiana

Yvonne M Powers Daughter F 12 Indiana

Jack Howell Boarder M 21 Canada

January 28, 1941 - Arizona Independent Republic· Page 39
Mary June Powers To Leave For Michigan Mary Jane Powers, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ward S. Powers, 826 East Osborn road, will leave this morning for Flint Mich., where she will visit her aunt Mrs. William R. Allen, and Mr. Allen

More about Ward's foray into politics in 1946!

Ward and Rose's Memorials at FindAGrave:
Name: Ward Stanley Powers
Event Place: Arlington, Arlington, Virginia
Birth Date: 31 May 1893
Death Date: 26 Oct 1953
Cemetery: Arlington National Cemetery


An excerpt from my 2007 Memorial Day blog post:

While watching as President Bush spoke at Arlington National Cemetery, I remembered my visit there when I was about ten years old. At time we also visited my Dad’s cousin, Jim Powers, whose father, Ward Powers, who died in 1953 and was buried in Arlington.

Ward Stanley Powers, born in Michigan in 1893. After serving as a soldier in World War I, Ward returned to Flint, where he was a salesman in 1923. He had married Rose Love in 1920 in Rose's native Leroy, Indiana. By 1930, Ward was a U.S. Deputy Marshall living in Lake County, Indiana, with wife, Rose, and children. The family moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where Ward worked as a publisher (among other things). In 1946 Ward S. Powers made a very interesting career move -- he was the Republican candidate for the U. S. Senate in Arizona. He lost to the incumbent, Senator McFarland. Of course in the next election cycle in 1952, Barry Goldwater managed to bump McFarland.

Ward S. Powers' first appearance in the census was in Battle Creek, Calhoun County, Michigan, in 1900.

Rose E. Love was 10 years old and living with her parents, James and Sallie (McKnight) Love, in Lake County, Indiana, in 1900.

Incarcerated In Detroit

David King Udall, the founder of the Udall political family and prominent Mormon, was incarcerated in Detroit  His experience was reflected in his journal.

Journal pages of David K. Udall (1851-1938) concerning his time at the Detroit House Of Corrections:

On August 29, 1885 at 6:00 a.m., David K. Udall left Prescott, Arizona to begin his 3 year sentence at the Detroit House of Correction, Detroit, Michigan.  This sentence was cut short to only 5 months when in the early morning of December 17, David K's. appeal for a pardon was granted in full and complete by President Grover Cleveland.  On December 18, he left Detroit and arrived home on December 23, 1885 at 4:30 p.m..  During his stay at the Detroit corrections facility, David K. kept journal entries on the envelopes used by those who sent him letters while he was in prison.

In 1922 a new, suburban, location in Plymouth Township was chosen for the Detroit House of Corrections.  It was officially closed in 1986.  According to this, the records for DeHoCo are housed at the Burton Collection at the Detroit Public Library.

Republican Senator From Arizona? Not In 1946!

A brief biography of Ward Stanley Powers who aspired to be a United States Senator from Arizona:

My great-uncle, Ward S. Powers, was born 31 May 1893 in Battle Creek, Michigan, the son of William & Addie (More) Powers. Ward was the grandson of John & Mary Agnes (Kennedy) Powers and James & Cynthia (Richmond) More. William and Addie met and married in Lapeer County, Michigan, where Addie was born and raised. The family moved to Battle Creek where most of the children were born and then back to Lapeer County before relocating to Flint, Michigan.

In World War I, Ward S. Powers was a 2^nd Lieutenant, Company C, 303 Engineers, 78^th Division of the United States Army. After the war he married Rose Love, daughter of James & Sallie (McKnight) Love in Lake County, Indiana.

In the 1930 census, Ward and Rose and their four children, Mary June, James, Phyllis and Yvonne were living in Lake County, Indiana, where Ward was a Deputy Marshall with the U.S. Government.

In 1946 Ward S. Powers ran as a Republican for the U.S. Senate seat in Arizona against the incumbent Ernest McFarland. The results were as follows:

ARIZONA

For United States Senator

Ernest W. McFarland, Democrat 80,415

Ward S. Powers, Republican 35, 022

Morris Graham, Communist 802

Senator McFarland became the Senate Leader and had the dubious honor of being the last Leader to lose an election when Barry Goldwater beat him in 1952 (McFarland relinquished that distinction when Tom Daschle was so “honored” in 2004). McFarland was a versatile politician though; he also served as Governor of Arizona and as a justice of the Arizona Supreme Court.

Ward Powers and his family moved to the Washington, D. C. area where Ward died 26 October 1953. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery (Section 7 Site 9008-14).

Family Photo

When I asked my aunt what it was like to have an uncle in a race for a United States Senate seat, she said that it didn't have any discernable impact on her life as a 15 year old teenager living in Michigan. I wonder if things would be different in a 2008 election?