AARON OLMSTEAD PART 3

 

Bill and I have just returned from 5 weeks of travel and visiting his relatives in Scotland. This trip was unique in that I did not have any Olmstead ancestors to research! In spite of that I had a wonderful time. Before we left I had written an article for the fall newsletter on Elizabeth Olmstead Bullis and only had a few finishing touches to complete when we returned. I have reconsidered and decided that there is one unresolved detail too important to overlook and that it needs further research before I can be content with printing my story on the Bullis family. I have decided to write one more installment on the two Aaron Olmstead articles that I did earlier. I would never have thought it possible to gather enough additional information to write even one more article about his family, and yet here I am on the third!

 

Thanks to the LDS Family Search website with the search tools for the 1880 US census, I was able to find what became of Aaron Olmstead Jr’s (wife Betsey Wilson) son, Emerson Olmstead. Emerson and his wife, Margaret Leland Crocker, and two youngest children, Hattie and Archibald, were found in the 4^th ward of Leavenworth, Kansas. Emerson was listed as a collector and Margaret a music teacher. I did a similar search for their oldest child, Blanche, and found her living in the 1^st ward of Leavenworth. Her married name was Goodson and she was also a music teacher. Further research of her family concluded that her husband was Anson Goodson of Ontario, Canada. Their children were:

 

·         Dr. Catherine Goodson, born 1874, IL,

·         George Emerson Goodson, born 28 June 1875 WY, died 4 Oct. 1954 NE, m. Myrtie Minert 9 April, 1916 in Osceola, MO. Children: Anson Frank,

·         Anson Asbury Goodson, born 10 June 1877 WY, died 12 Dec. 1949 CA, m. Esther. He was principal musician in US Marine Corps band (President’s band), 30 years service, lived in Hyattsville, MD and then San Diego, CA. Children: Capt. Charles W. and Thomas O.

·         William Goodson, born 1878 KS.

 

A Google search on Emerson Olmstead’s youngest son Archibald revealed that he was a very well known musician who made famous the Winfield College of Music (Kansas). I emailed the Winfield Library and the extremely helpful librarian snail mailed me a full -paged obituary with a photo, another two pages of the funeral service, and the obituaries of both his parents. Archibald’s obituary revealed information about his family background saying that, “Archibald Olmstead was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1868, but became a Kansan at Leavenworth when a year and a half old. With his mother a pianist and teacher of great ability he came to Winfield in 1884. Having begun the study of music when six years old, he was already a performer of promise at that time and taught from the time he was fifteen. From 1887 to 1902 he was in the East as a student, instructor, organist and accompanist.” He also studied and performed in NYC and Washington DC making frequent public appearances and was recognized as one of the leading pianists and teachers. In 1902 he became identified with the Winfield College of Music, then in its fourth year. He died suddenly of a cerebral apoplexy on 4 March 1924 and left the Winfield community stunned as he was much loved and admired. His obituary gave some information about his family: “He was a son of Emerson Olmstead a native of Albany, New York and Margaret Leland Crocker Olmstead who was born in Buffalo, New York and preceded him in death several years ago. Two sisters survive, Mrs. Hattie B. Allen of Arkansas City and Mrs. Marguerite Lillian MacNeil of Hyattsville, Maryland and several nephews and nieces.” A “Card of Thanks” was printed in the Winfield Daily Courier on March 10^th and read, “We wish to thank his many friends for their expressions of sympathy, tributes of love and esteem, and the beautiful flowers at the passing of our beloved brother and uncle, Archibald Olmstead. Mrs. Lillie MacNeil and family, Mr. and Mrs. R. B. Allen and family, Mr. and Mrs. Del Lawhe, Mr. and Mrs. Bart Gatewood, Mr. and Mrs. Bloomer Allen, Dr. Catherine Goodson, Mr. Anson Goodson, Mr. George Goodson.” A further search of these names revealed that Harriet, daughter of Emerson Olmstead was married at least twice, first to a Gatewood and then to R. Boomer Allen. She was a music teacher in Arkansas City, KS. Her children were:

 

·         Bartlet Gatewood, born 1885,

·         Harriet Allen, born 1890 New Mexico, m. Del Lawhe,

·         Jessie R. Allen, born 1906 Kansas.

 

Lilly, daughter of Emerson, married F. E. MacNeil and lived in Hyattsville, MD. Her children were:

 

·         Gordon E., born 1884 OK,

·         Donald C., born 1886 OK.

 

Emerson Olmstead and his wife Margaret’s obituaries do not reveal much information, but at least provided a death date which had previously been unknown. Emerson died on July 10^th, 1890 at the home of his son Archie and daughter Hattie Gatewood in Winfield, KS. He had been an invalid for some time and his death not unexpected. Margaret Olmstead’s obituary was in the March 20^th, 1888 newspaper, but no exact date of death was mentioned. She was acknowledged as the son of the pianist Archie, not as the wife of Emerson! The original Aaron Olmstead SR led such a troubled life with his constant breaking of the law and then his suicide, that it seems almost redeeming that his descendants led such accomplished lives.

 

I also uncovered, thanks to Google searches, a gold mine of information on another of Aaron Olmstead JR and Betsey Wilson’s children, Jane Olmstead, wife of Byron Eaton. I actually made contact with a descendant (the first and only one so far, of the Aaron Olmstead Sr. line) who provided me with the details. The only facts I had on Jane (called Jennie) previously were from the Olmsted “Red Book” and her marriage record found in Kane county, IL. Her birth date was given as 1 March 1829 and death date as 15 July 1868. She married the widower Byron G. Eaton on 24 Sept. 1860 in Batavia, IL. He had 2 young children from his first marriage to a Mary. Byron and Jane had four children:

 

·         Bessie Jane Eaton, born 1864 Kane Co., IL, died June 1932 La Veta, CO, m. Edward Ransom Coleman 20 Sep. 1885, Cherokee, MO. Children: Peter, Estella, George, Clyde, Allen, Louis, Earl, Len, Ruth,

·         Mary Eaton, born 1863, IL,

·         Rhoda Eaton, born 1866, IL,

·         Emeline, born 1868, IL.

 

Byron Eaton enlisted in the Civil War 7 Aug. 1862 in the IL, Co. C, 127^th Reg. of Volunteer Infantry for 3 years. He only served a short time until he became ill. He found a substitute to take his place and was then discharged. In Nov. 1862 the substitute deserted. Byron applied for a pension in 1890 as he was disabled from severe deafness and disease of both ears. Based on his record it seems that Byron, Jane and children traveled from Kane, Co., IL between 1868-1870 to Taylor Co., IA and relocated there. Byron was a farmer. The date of Jane’s death given as 1868 in the ‘Red Book” is in error as she was still living in the 1870 census of Taylor Co. It is more likely that she died 15 June 1870. Byron Eaton remarried on 4 May 1871 to Melissa V. Campbell in Taylor Co. They had one son, Byron P. Eaton, born in 1877. Byron G. Eaton died 24 Oct. 1893 in Kansas City, MO and was buried in Graceland Cemetery, Taylor Co., IA.