| Photos of Estell and Ethel Joyce of Lamar, Missouri Photos Collected by David Clow Click here to see David Clow's Paintings |
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| Estell and Ethel Joyce and Lucille Lamar, Missouri 1916 |
| The Joyce Family... Estell, Ethel, Lucille and Wilbur Lamar, Missouri |
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| Lucille Joyce Clow, Ethel Selvey Joyce, Martha Hall Selvey, and David Clow Lamar, Missouri 1942 |
| Ethel Selvey Joyce, 801 Gulf Street, Lamar and Lezlie Clow in the drive 1963 |
| Estell and Ethel Joyce Lamar |
| Ethel Selvey Joyce, 801 Gulf Street, Lamar |
| Ethel and second husband George Nims Lamar, Missouri |
| Ethel and 3 of her grandchildren David and Don and Connie Clow |
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| Ethel Joyce and George Nims |
| Ethel's Kitchen |
| Ethel's Home in Lamar |
| Ethel's Home in Lamar |
| Ethel's Home in Lamar |
| A Birthday Celebration Lezlie Clow, Grandma Joyce and top of Bonnie Clow's head Grandma and her birthday gooseberry pie. |
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| Ethel Joyce |
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| Ethel's Plate Collection |
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| Lake Cemetery Lamar, Missouri |
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| Estell Joyce and Ethel Selvey Joyce in Lamar, Barton County Missouri � ESTELL JOYCE was born June 6, 1886 in Boston, Barton County Missouri. He was the seventh child born to ARCHIBALD JOYCE and SARAH JANE MEANS JOYCE. The family consisted of 11 children the oldest was Ollie, then Caroll, Add, Gertie, Ocie, Ivy, ESTELL, Harry. Three died in infancy. Estell as a kid had the nickname of Butch and he went by this name all his life. The Joyces settled in the Richland Township, they attended the Forest Grove Baptist Church and the kids went to the Forest Grove School. ETHEL SUSIE SELVEY was born February 22, 1887 in Barton County Missouri. At the time of their move to Barton County ROBERT R. SELVEY and MARTHA ANN HALL, SELVEY had one child, a daughter Iva Selvey. They settled on a farm near Bethany, the old Henry Nowlin farm, and although they lived the rest of their lives in Barton County, they did return in 1906 to live one year again in Jackson County�s Lee�s Summit area. The Robert and Mattie Selvey family first lived north of the Bethany Church, east of Lamar or southwest of Milford, between the years of 1883 and 1902. From an old 1886 map of Barton Co. Robert Selvey lived in Lamar Township 3 miles north and 3 miles east of Lamar. Section 2, Township 32, Range 30, they owned 120 acres. From the old map, they lived on the west side of the road, half mile north of the School (No. 1) which stood on the northwest corner of section #12. One mile west of Robert and Mattie Selvey was the residence of John M. Nowlin, Mattie�s uncle. Section 3 T32 R30. John Nowlin owned 245 acres. While living in the Bathany area, northeast of Lamar, Robert and Mattie raised seven children. Iva L. born 1881 in Jackson Co. Missouri, Myrtle Letha born 1884, my Grandmother ETHEL SUSIE SELVEY born 1887, Roy R. born 1890, Floyd John born 1892, Leland Ira born 1895, and Ocie Mary born 1899. All except Iva were born in Barton County, Missouri. In a directory of Barton County 1911, Robert and Mattie�s address was RR 3, Lamar, Missouri. The farm they bought had a barn, a couple of out buildings, and a log house. Grandma Ethel said, � It was log on the outside but was very nice and clean on the inside.� Myrtie and Ethel were both born in the log house then the new house built and the rest of the kids were born in the new house. Grandma said the old log house stood there for a long time after the new house was built and they used it for storage and one thing or the other. Her mother, when she made soap, would hang the soap from the log beams that were exposed. One day my Grandmother, while playing around the old house kept looking at the soap hanging there and it looked so nice. In fact it looked good enough to eat, so Ethel found herself a box, something to stand on and untied a cake of the soap and tasted it. She said her mouth burned for a long time, she never did that again. Lye soap was made from the wood ashes left over from the cook stove. The next place they lived, 1902 through 1904, was called the George Lilley Place near Jasper, Missouri. This farm was in the Blue School neighborhood about a mile south of Hwy. 126. (Section 31 or 32). From 1904 through 1906 Robert and Mattie Selvey lived west of Lamer, about 2 miles on what is now 160 Hiwy. This house burned, Robert and Mattie lost everything. After the fire the family constructed a tent and lived for months in the tent while a new house was being built. In 1906 they returned to Jackson Co. and bought a farm west of Lee�s Summit. When they returned to Barton Co. everything was loaded on the train, furniture in one car and the horses and cows in another. Roy and Floyd Selvey had to ride in the car that held the horses to keep them settled. Property was acquired in the City View area. They bought the farm Henry Nowlin owned, north of Lamer, and the first road south of Nie Cemetery, then east. They lived at this location until WW I. Estell and Ethel Joyce in Lamar, Missouri� ESTELL JOYCE and ETHEL SUSIE SELVEY were married in Jasper, Mo. Tuesday night February 3, 1909. Estell was 22 years and Ethel was 21. Ethel was the daughter of ROBERT R. SELVEY and MARTHA (Mattie) ANN HALL SELVEY. It was Estell, Ethel and the Baptist preacher, a small wedding. After the vows were given and the preacher filled out the marriage certificate he missed putting Estell�s last name on it, days later when the mistake was discovered Grandma wanted him to go back to have his last name added. To this day the certificate is missing the Joyce name. It was framed when they received it and to this day it remains framed with only Mr. Estell and Ethel Selvey named as the bride and groom. It always hung in grandmother�s bedroom and was one of those things she wished they had corrected. Before they were married Estell attended the Forest Grove Baptist Church and Ethel went to the Bethany Baptist Church. Estell picked Grandma up at her home and as they were leaving she said her Dad broke down and cried, the first time she had ever seen her dad, ROBERT SELVEY cry. Iva, Ethel�s sister, helped her make her wedding dress. At the time of the wedding Grandma Sarah Means Joyce, Estell�s Mother, was in Indiana visiting relatives. After they were married they went back to the Joyce home to spend the night. After the wedding they were afraid the boys would chevaree them but they didn�t. For a while after their marriage they lived with Estell�s Mother on the family farm. Then Estell and Ethell rented their own place three miles north of Lamar. It was here in 1914 that their first child, LUCILLE SELVEY JOYCE was born May 21, 1914. When Lucille was born the morning of the 14th 1914, Iva Selvey, Ethel�s sister, had spent the night with Estell and Ethel knowing the baby was due anytime. Early on the 14th the doctor was called, he drove his horse and buggy to the Joyce farm north of Lamar. Ethel wasn�t ready to deliver quite yet so he went to the barn with Estell and watched as Estell started his milking and other chores that had to be done each day. The next place that they lived was the old Frank Lee place. This farm was directly east of the Joyce farm south of Boston. Today it�s located on Highway 126. In 1919 their second child was born Wilbur Robert Joyce. November 9, 1919 Sunday 8:30 P. M. Mr. and Mrs. Estell Joyce would like to announce the birth of their ten and half pound baby boy. The Lamar Democrat Newspaper listing the weeks births reads, �To Estell Joyce and wife six miles northeast of Jasper a boy November 9TH�. In 1920 they bought their own farm, a 80 acre farm, one mile and a half southeast of Lamar. The house was a two-story frame farmhouse, which still stands today. It�s been remodeled but you can still see the original house structure. When they bought the farm there was a barn, which was large enough to store corn and grain, to milk four or five cows and shelter a couple of horses in bad weather. There was a little smokehouse it was used as a tool shed or out building. A chicken house was south of the main house. Chickens, eggs, and cream supplied the Joyces with spending money. Their address was RFD #3 Lamar, Missouri. Farming during this time was by mules and horses and Estell died before acquiring a tractor. The phone was the first modern convenience to the area and electricity didn�t arrive until 1935. One time Mattie Selvey, Ethel�s mother, gave the couple a water pitcher made of crockery. Estell just about died laughing when she told Ethel that she could have it if she wouldn�t break it... So for years after, every time it was used Estell would say, �Now be careful we don�t want to break the pitcher.� I was asking Grandma Joyce one day about the physical features of Estell, she was describing the color of his hair, his height, color of eyes, which were blue, and then she stopped and said. Estell never had a mustache. A lot of men did, and they all had very fancy mustache cups. One day Grandma bought Estell a fancy cup, not a mustache cup, but a cup to drink out of. It was a little too fancy, Grandma said, she didn�t think he ever used it. She said Estell liked hot chocolate, and she made it for him quite often, but she never saw him drink from his fancy cup. 1921 both Mom, Lucille, and her brother Wilbur, were attending the little country school called Pleasant Hill School. A Days Work� A typical day on the Joyce farm, Estell and Ethel would rise with the sun. Ethel would dress and then go down stairs to prepare breakfast. Estell would dress and then head for the barn to feed the horses, the mules, the cows, pigs and the chickens. The Joyce farm was a small farm of 80 acres, but to work it wit a pair of mules, one of the mules was named mable, was a full years task. Estell usually had 3,4 maybe 5 cows to milk each morning and Wilbur when he got older had to help his dad with the milking. In the mornings Lucille would help Ethel in the kitchen. After the milking was finished Estell and Wilbur would come to the house for breakfast. Milk was collected at 5 gallons per day, used of course by Ethel in the daily preparation of meals and then on Saturday when they made their weekly trip to town, Lamar, they took the milk, and the cream off the milk and sold it to Kincades Feed Store. With this money they would buy the things they needed for the next week that wasn�t raised on the farm. Eggs when there were extra were also taken to town to sell. Breakfast always consisted of some kind of meat, sausage and bacon of course was the most popular. Biscuits and gravy, mom could not remember if they had potatoes for breakfast but didn�t thank so. After breakfast Ethel would clean some of the house and then start preparing dinner, if fried chicken was on the menu she had to go to the chicken house, kill the chicken, dress it, cut it into pieces and then get things ready to fry it. Bread had to be backed about ever other day and when she made bread she would also make up several pans of rolls and buns out of the same dough. Pies were also cooked two or three time a week. Mom, Lucille, said she could remember how hot it was in the kitchen during the summers. She said that her mother had a coal oil stove over to the west, that area next to the kitchen and she would bake bread out there instead of heating up the house so if she baked it in the kitchen. She added that the old coal oil stove didn�t have a oven so the bread had to be baked on top of the stove. In the evening it was Lucille�s job to go after the cows. After milking in the morning Estell would drive the cows down the road to the west of the house and barn to a pasture that was large enough to feed the herd. Then in the evening Lucille would go after the cows and drive them back up the road to the pen where they stayed while being milked and during the night. There was one mule that Lucille could ride and if she wanted too she could catch old Mable and go after the cows on the mule. She said the other mule, couldn�t remember the name, was too ronrey and mean. The dog would also go with her. For More Stories about Estell and Ethel Joyce Contact the author David Clow 417-540-1206 |