A quick
stop at the local Family History Center.
I wanted use the premium websites only at the center to find information
on Rice Dunbar (b1802) who was the captain of a wagon train on the Oregon
Trail. Rice is the brother of my 3rd
gr-grandfather, Hiram Dunbar. I searched
using only the name, no dates. How many Rice Dunbars can there be? In an
instant, my research focus changed. Up
popped a Rice E Dunbor who was the father of a groom married in Iowa in
1899. The handwriting must be
horrendous, because the indexing was off, but the possibility existed that I
could solve a mystery.
There was another Rice
Dunbar. Hiram Dunbar had a son named
Rice O. Dunbar (b 1848), He was a Civil War veteran, fought in Vicksburg, married
with two sons, and died between 1871 -1880.
In 1880, Rice's widow, Rachel Dunbar, lived in Illinois with her two
sons, John (1869) and Luther (1871).
I've been able to trace Luther, who never married. John Dunbar was too common of a name. I assumed he died between 1880 and 1900. In the 1900 census, his mother, Rachel, lives
in Kansas, remarried and with more children.
Indeed her 1900 census gives the impression, by numbers, that three of
her seven children died.
Here is the Iowa marriage certificate
indexing information. I'm giving the
corrected information to the right.
Marriage: July 2, 1899 -
Sitken Home Aitken Home
Wife: Minnie Janett Sitken Minnie
Janet Aitken
Born: 1876 Davenport (correct)
Father: Cephas M
Sitken Cephas
Miller Aitken
Mother: Virginia Edith
Gobb Virginia
Edith Gobin
Husband: Arthur David
Dunbor John
Dunbar?
Birth: Henry County, IL (correct)
Father: Rice E Dunbor Rice
O Dunbar
Mother: Rachel Salvina
Giver Rachel
Calinda Griner
Is this our missing John? Why was his name Arthur David? I went home, and directly to ancestry.com
and familysearch.org, excited to dig up more information on this new
find. Of course, I was looking for
Arthur Dunbar, Minnie Sitken, Cephas Sitken, mostly in Iowa. (Nothing.)
Then using (the more common) Minnie Dunbar, I found a Minnie and Arthur
D Dynbas, living in Kansas in 1900. In
the household is son Ralph M. born in 1900 and a sister-in law, Ethel Artken
(sic Aitken). I found them in the 1905
Kansas census, with the additional children of Roy and Bessie (twins born in
1902) and Alice (1904). In the Kansas birth index, I find a male child (no
name) born on August 19,1906 (5 children.)
Again, the trail goes
cold. No 1910 census for A D or Minnie
Dunbar. Grrr....
Next I look for the five
children. Ralph Dunbar, there he is! A
foster child! Roy, he is in an
orphanage...but wait, another clue.
Remembering 1905 census, I try Arkten/Aikten, and I find a tree that
shows Minnie died in 1910, Cheyenne Wells, Cheyenne, Colorado. On the 1910 census, Cephas and Virginia
Aitken (not Artken or Sitken), live in Cheyenne, with their granddaughter,
Edith Dunbar who is two years old. (One more children making 6).
Grandmother) Virginia
Aikten died in 1912, so in 1920, Edith is living with her Uncle Frank Aitken,
as a niece. I check censuses for all of Minnie's siblings. Frank is the only one who cared for any of
Minnie's children. I find Alice Dunbar, the next youngest, as an adopted
daughter of William Kendall.
What happened to A.D? Nothing for 1910. Back to Kansas, in 1920, he is living with a
new wife, Maggie, and their two children.
One child's name is named Rachel, his mother's name. In 1930, there are three more children. Five total by this marriage. Using findagrave, I found two of their
obits, for Chester, and Anna. Both are
very detailed. Giving the mother's
maiden name as Margaret Edsom Cundell.
In 1940, our mysterious
John Arthur David lives in Crowley Kansas with his wife, children, and brother
Luther. There's the connection, Luther is living with
him.
What happened to the name
John listed in the 1870 and 1880 censuses?
Including more searches, the name changes are:
1870 - census - John Atkinson, Henry, IL Child with Rice/Rachel
1880 - census -John Granville, Putnam, IL Child with Rachel who is a widow
1888 - marriage John A Leavenworth, KS Married to Effie Jester,
daughter Eva M born 1891 (?)
1899 - marriage - Arthur
David Dunbor Poweshiek, Iowa Spelling
of index incorrect
1900 - census - Arthur D
Dynbas Shiloh,
Neosho, KS No job, married 1
year to Minnie J, son Ralph 11 mo old
1905 - Kansas census A.D.
Dunbar Montgomery, KS Smelter,
lives with wife and 4 children
1910 - can't find - wife
recently died
1920- census - John A
Dunbar Lincoln, Butler, KS Grain farmer
1925- Kansas census A.D.
Dunbar Clifford Butler, KS Live Stock farmer
1930- Arthur D Dunbar Clifford, Butler, KS Grain farmer, married 18 years
to Maggie
1940- John A Dunbar Winfield, Cowley, KS No job probably retired, 3rd grade
education, wife Maggie
1945-grave stone - John A
Dunbar Winfield, Cowley, KS Wife
Margaret E
Several trees give Minnie
Janet Dunbar’s (nee Aikten), mother of now six known children, death in March
1910, in Cheyenne Wells, Cheyenne, Colorado, her parents’ home town. Colorado death records not online.
(Darn!) Try newspapers. Nope! Findagrave
- bingo! Minnie Dunbar buried in a Cheyenne
Wells cemetery. Who is next to her? An infant son. (Add child #7 for Minnie, #12 for John Arthur
David). Child's name? (Sigh!
A full circle moment.) Rice Dunbar!
