Those Places Thursday - Coffeyville, Kansas

The first place I associated with the Deller family was Coffeyville, Kansas.  We didn't have a lot of information, but what we did know was that Charles Joseph Deller had grown up there.

As I searched online, I found that Coffeyville was located in the southeast corner of Kansas, in Montgomery County.  It was established in 1869, originally as an Indian Trading post by Col. James A. Coffey.  In 1871 the railroad came through and the city was laid out and incorporated in 1873.

In October 1892, in what might be the cities most famous incident, the Dalton gang tried to rob two banks at one time.  The plan didn't work, and four of the gang were killed, with only Emmett Dalton surviving (with 23 bullet wounds).  Four citizens of Coffeyville, including a U.S. Marshall were killed in defending the city.[1][2]  There is a Dalton Museum now, and every October they celebrate "Dalton Defender Days", a  remembrance of those who lost their lives defending the city.[3]

Dalton Museum, Coffeyville, Kansas,
Digital Image February 2010, A.B. Deller © 2014

Coffeyville had many natural resources, including natural gas, and by the early 1900's there were ten glass factories in operation as well as brick companies.[4]

These prospects for jobs were probably what brought Peter Deller and his family (including Charles Joseph) to Coffeyville from McKean County, Pennsylvania.  His brother, Nickolas "Nick" Deller was already there by 1910.[5] 

They attended the local Catholic church, and may have even helped in it's building, since it wasn't completed until 1916.[6][7]

Holy Name Catholic Church, Coffeyville, Kansas,
Digital Image February 2010, A.B. Deller © 2014

Peter and his family initially rented a house on Delaware Street[8], but by 1930 owned that same house[9].

Coffeyville was a good place for the Deller family.  Both Peter and Carrie raised their children and lived out the rest of their lives there.

[1] Coffeyville, Kansas, Wikipedia, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffeyville,_Kansas], accessed 23 Feb 2011.
[2] Coffeyville History, Coffeyville Kansas website, [http://www.coffeyville.com/History.htm], accessed 23 Feb 2011.
[3]  Dalton Defenders, Coffeyville Chamber of Commerce website,[http://www.coffeyvillechamber.org/Dalton-Defenders-35840.asp], accessed 23 Feb 2011.
[4] Brick and Glass, Coffeyville Chamber of Commerce website, [http://www.coffeyvillechamber.org/Brick-and-Glass-35900.asp], accessed 23 Feb 2011.
[5]  FamilySearch.org, 1910 United States Federal Census, Year: 1910; Census Place: Coffeyville Ward 2, Montgomery, Kansas; family 1, page 1.  Accessed 23 Feb 2011.
[6] Parish Records, Holy Name Catholic Church, Coffeyville, Kansas
[7] History, Holy Name Catholic Church website, [http://www.holynamecoffeyville.org/History.html]. Accessed 23 Feb 2011.
[8] Ancestry.com, 1920 United States Federal Census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Coffeyville Ward 5, Montgomery, Kansas; Roll: T625_541; Page: 16A; Enumeration District: 180; Image: 1088.
[9] Ancestry.com, 1930 United States Federal Census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Coffeyville, Montgomery, Kansas; Roll: 712; Page: 8B; Enumeration District: 22; Image: 546.0.

52 Ancestors Challenge: 1 - Charles Joseph Deller

I read about Amy Johnson's 52 Ancestors Challenge at Ancestry.com and at her blog site. She said, "My goals with No Story Too Small have been to remind myself that it's alright to blog about just a portion of someone's life..."  I have been trying to start writing a family history, but I've gotten easily overwhelmed and discouraged wondering when and where to start.  So, while the research will never really be complete, this has encouraged me to start writing about what we have found.

1 - Charles Joseph Deller

Charles Joseph Deller, or Charlie, was born in Kane, McKean County, Pennsylvania on 21 July 1905 to Peter and Carrie Deller.[1]  His family had  moved there from Norristown, Pennsylvania after 1900,[2]  possibly following his uncle Charles Deller, who had moved to Kane with his family before 1900 along with his Uncle Nicholas and new wife.[3]  In 1910 his family lived in Wetmore, a little village outside of Kane, and had grown by two, twins, Joseph and Josephine.[4]  In 1911 Peter and Carrie moved their family to Coffeyville, Kansas.[14]

In 1920 at the time of the census, he was 14 years old and living with his parents in Coffeyville.[5]  Sometime between 1918 and 1920 a new family moved to their neighborhood, Bill and Nora Asbell, with their daughter, Mable, who was only a year younger than he was.[6,7]  Mable probably went to school with and was friends with the Charlie's sisters (Margerite and Josephine were about her age). Both Bill and Peter loved to fish, and Nora and Carrie were hard working housewives.  Families with a lot in common, just the kind of situation that would encourage two young people.  Charlie and Mable were married in Coffeyville, Kansas on 16 February 1924 with his parents permission.[8]

On 23 January 1925, little Charles Joseph Deller Jr. was born in Picher, Oklahoma,[9] where Charlie was probably already working in the local mines.  We have his workers identification card dated November 1928; he was working at the Picher 26 Mine as a machine helper.[10]  By 1930 the little family was renting a little house on Maple Street in Coffeyville, Kansas, and Charlie was working as a painter in a machine shop.[11] 


After Charlie Jr. was born, the family stories say that Mable had a nervous breakdown; and at some point she had a bad car accident. We don't have any records of this (except for a picture of the smashed up car), but whatever happened probably contributed to the breakup of their marriage. We haven't found a record of their divorce, but we do know that Mable remarried around 1931 and are assuming they divorced before then.

Charlie married Thelma (unknown last name) on 12 July 1933. The next record we find is a petition for divorce dated 7 October 1937 in the Montgomery County Court system. This document stated they had no children, no property, and that Thelma had been guilty of "gross neglect of duty and extreme cruelty."  Then, on 1 November 1937, Charles submitted an "Order of Dismissal" to stop the divorce proceedings.[12]  At the time of his death, in 1939, he was still married to Thelma.[13]

The next record we have for Charlie is a letter, dated 11 July 1939, sent to his son Charles in Dallas, Texas (who was visiting his mother and step-father). He told him that he had a night job outside the Corden Building in Tulsa, Oklahoma and would have all day to spend with him. He also told him that he had a new boat trailer and outboard motor.[13]

Four days later, 15 July 1939, Charlie died as the result of an accidental drowning.  His obituary, printed in the Coffeyville newspaper, reported that he had taken his boat to Ketchum, Oklahoma to spend the weekend fishing. "Persons on the bank said that immediately after Mr. Deller started the motorboat, it whirled around several times and he plunged into the water."[14, 15]

 He was buried on 17 July 1939 at Fairview Cemetery in Coffeyville, Kansas.[15, 16]

[1] County, MCKEAN COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA McKean County PA Early Births 1893 - 1905, Diller, not named.
[2]  Ancestry.com, 1900 United States Federal Census, Year: 1900; Census Place: Norristown, Montgomery, Pennsylvania; Roll: T623_1444; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 245.
[3] FamilySearch.org, 1900 United States Federal Census, Year: 1900; Census Place:Kane , McKean, Pennsylvania;  Enumeration District: 0112, Sheet Number 13A, Household id: 264, GSU Film Number 1241439.
[4]  Ancestry.com, 1910 United States Federal Census, Year: 1910; Census Place: Wetmore, McKean, Pennsylvania; Roll: T624_1374; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 140; Image: 557.
[5] Ancestry.com, 1920 United States Federal Census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Coffeyville Ward 5, Montgomery, Kansas; Roll: T625_541; Page: 16A; Enumeration District: 180; Image: 1088.
[6] Marriage Certificate for William F Asbell & Norah Roark.
[7] Ancestry.com, 1920 United States Federal Census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Coffeyville Ward 5, Montgomery, Kansas; Roll: T625_541; Page: 14B; Enumeration District: 180; Image: 1085.
[8] Montgomery Kansas, Marriage License, 11464, 16 February 1924.
[9] Charles J. Deller Jr., birth certificate no. Reg. Dist. 58254, Primary Dist No. 8315, Reg. No. 89 (1925), Oklahoma State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Oklahoma City, Okla.
[10] U.S. Bureau of Mines ID Card for Chas. Deler.
[11] Ancestry.com, 1930 United States Federal Census, Year: 1930; Census Place: Coffeyville, Montgomery, Kansas; Roll: 712; Page: 12A; Enumeration District: 22; Image: 553.0.
[12] District Court of Montgomery County Kansas, Independence, Kansas, Microfiche, C.J. Deller vs Thelma Deller.
[13] Letter from Charles Joseph Deller to Charles Franklin Deller, 11 Jul 1939.
[14] Coffeyville Daily Journal, 17 July 1939.
[15]Charles J Deller, Ketchum, Mayes, OK death certificate 12310 (15 July 1939).
[16] Gravestone for Charles Joseph Deller, 1906 - 1939, Fairview Cemetery, Coffeyville, Kansas.
 
Other blog posts about Charles Joseph Deller:
Wordless Wednesday
Wordless Wednesday - Charles Joseph Deller
Amanuensis Monday - The Last Letter from Charles Joseph Deller
Sunday's Obituary - Charles Joseph Deller
Tombstone Tuesday - Charles Joseph Deller

Sunday's Obituary - Charles Joseph Deller

C. J. DELLER DROWNS

Former Coffeyville painter and O. C. S. Employe [sic] Falls from Motorboat.

    C.J. Deller, 33, painter and paperhanger and O. C. S. Mfg. Company employe [sic] here until two years ago, when he moved to Tulsa, drowned Saturday when he fell from a motorboat into deep water near Ketchum, Okla.
    Persons on the bank said that immediately after Mr. Deller started the motorboat, it whirled around several times and he plunged into the water.  Mr. Deller had gone to Ketchum to spend the week-end fishing.
    He was born July 22, 1905, at Kane, Pa., and came to Coffeyville with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Peter Deller, 907 Delaware street, in 1911.
    Mr. Deller's death was reported to have been the fourth drowning near Ketchum within 24 hours.
    Besides relatives mentioned, Mr. Deller is survived by his wife, Mrs. Thelma Deller; a 14-year-old son, Charles Deller, jr., who was visiting his grandparents at Neosho, Mo.; six sisters, Mrs. Charles Koehlhoeffer and Mrs. Ora Bonham, both of Coffeyville, Mrs. W. T. Stegall of Denver, who is visiting in Coffeyville, Mrs. Vernon Syons and Mrs. C. H. Jackson, both of Sommerset, Pa., and Mrs. J. A. Longnecker of Earlsboro, Okla., and two brothers, George and Ted Deller, both of Coffeyville.
    Funeral services, conducted by the Rev. H. Austin Smith, pastor of the First Christian Church, will be held at 2 o'clock tomorrow afternoon at the Skinner funeral home.  Burial will be in Fairview cemetery.  Members of the painters' local union will be pallbearers.

Sunday's obituary is a daily blogging prompt used by many genealogy bloggers to help them post content on their sites.  To participate in Sunday’s Obituary, post obituaries along with other information about that person. This is an ongoing series developed by Leslie Ann at Ancestors Live Here.

Wordless Wednesday - Charles Joseph Deller

Digital image of Mable Alice Roark, Charles Joseph Deller, unknown girl, unknown boy,
unknown man, c. 1923, probably SE Kansas, original held by D. & M. Deller, Tulsa, OK. c. 2011

Besides the interesting hairdo and hats, the first thing I noticed was what appeared to be 'sand dunes'.  In fact, they're probably chat piles; remains from the ever present lead mining in SE Kansas, NE Oklahoma, and SW Missouri.  Charles worked in those mines in Picher, Oklahoma for a short time.  You can read more about it in this article about the Legacy of Mining and in an article, "Growing up in the Shadow of the Chat Piles."

Tombstone Tuesday - Charles Joseph Deller

Digital image of Gravestone for Charles Joseph Deller,
Fairview Cemetery, Coffeyville, KS, A. B. Deller, February 2010

Charles Joseph Deller was born in Kane, McKean County, Pennsylvania on July 21, 1905 to Peter and Carrie Deller.[1]  He died in a drowning accident July 15, 1939 near Ketchum, Oklahoma.[2] This is another one of those instances where the gravestone isn't accurate.

[1] Diller, not named entry, McKean County Births, Return of Births 1904-1905, File Number 29.
[2] Charles J Deller, Ketchum, Mayes, OK death certificate 12310 (15 July 1939).

Amanuensis Monday - The Last Letter from Charles Joseph Deller

Digital image of Family Letter Envelope, July 1939, 
Personal collection of D. & M. Deller, Tulsa, OK, © 2011.

This letter was quite a find for us.  We were cleaning out and sorting through old family papers and pictures, when my husband saw his father's "box" of personal items.  It was once a cigar box, now full of little treasures from the past.  Inside the box was a small envelope, dated July 1939, from Charles Joseph Deller, to his son, Charles Franklin Deller.  At the time, we knew Charles Joseph had died in 1939, but had no other information; only a family story of an accidental drowning.

After a search at Fairview Cemetery in Coffeyville, Kansas, and a talk with the very helpful grounds manager, we narrowed down his death to July 1939, and the cemetery record confirmed that it was a drowning.  I then visited the Coffeyville Public Library and searched microfilm of the local paper, hoping to find an obituary or notice of death; instead I was thrilled to find a full article about the accidental drowning in the Coffeyville Daily Journal.  This article (along with the death certificate I obtained from the Oklahoma Health Department confirmed that he died July 15, 1939, only a few days after the letter was posted to his son.

Digital image of Family Letter,
Personal collection of D. & M. Deller, Tulsa, OK, © 2011.

Both pieces of paper were in the envelope, one part written on the back of a used envelope, and the second on a piece of card.  Both are undated.  They are transcribed exactly as written.

Soney - Inclosed you will find a ticket and $1.00  I want you to come through Tulsa so I can get your Scout things and other nessaties and I will take you on to Graneys from here take the afternoon Buss that gets in here at 12 30 P.M. and I will meet you at Bus Terminal.  From what you have told me about the trip to Yellowstone Park you don't have to much time to get ready. so will be looking for you
Love from
Dady.

Soney - Thanks for thinking of me. I hope you are enjoying your visit. I would like for you to come back in time to spend some time with me. I have a job on outside of the Cosden Bldg. and am doing it at night. so will have all day to be with you. I have a new boat trailer and outboard moter and I'm sure we can havea good time. I also want to get your Scout layout while I am working.
Let me hear from you soon. You should write to your Graney also.
Lots of Love from Dady.
[written on side of page] 711 S Cheyenne Tulsa

Wednesday's Child: Joseph C. Deller

Gravestone for Joseph C. Deller, Calvary Cemetery, Coffeyville, Ks.
Digital photo by A.B. Deller, 2 Sep 2010

Peter and Caroline "Carrie" [Miller] Deller had 11 children[1] born between 1893 and 1914.  In 1907 it appears that they had twins, Joseph and Josephine, born in October[2].  In 2009, not knowing exactly where Charles Joseph Deller had died, I ordered a death certificate from the Kansas State Board of Health.  Instead of Charles Joseph Deller, I received a death certificate for Joseph C. Deller (I did find a death certificate for Charles Joseph Deller, in Oklahoma, but that's another story). 

I had assumed Joseph had died before 1920 because he wasn't living with his parents and siblings in Coffeyville, so I hadn't searched census records for him as an individual.  After receiving the death certificate, I looked for him in the 1920 US Federal Census in Parsons (where he died), and he was listed as a patient at the Parsons State Hospital for Epileptics.[3]  The death certificate isn't as complete as I would think a certificate filled out by a hospital should be; it didn't include his date of birth or his parents names (and he was technically still a minor).  He died June 22, 1922 at 6:00am of Status Epilepsy and Exhaustion.[4]

Joseph was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Coffeyville, Kansas on June 24th, 1922.  His death and burial was recorded in the Holy Name Catholic Church parish register by Father J. O'Brien.[5] 

[1] Ancestry.com, 1910 United States Federal Census, Year: 1910; Census Place: Wetmore, McKean, Pennsylvania; Roll: T624_1374; Page: 8A; Enumeration District: 140; Image: 557.
[2]i.b.i.d
[3] Ancestry.com, 1920 United States Federal Census, Year: 1920;Census Place: Parsons Ward 4, Labette, Kansas; Roll: T625_536; Page: 4A; Enumeration District: 157; Image: 1062.
[4] Joseph Deller, Parsons, Labette, Kansas death certificate 50 2693 (22 June 1922).
[5] Holy Name Catholic Church, Coffeyville, Kansas, "1922 Parish Register - Liber Defunctorum Ecclesiae," Page 8, Entry No. 5.