Unraveling Rice – Twice!

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 3^rd 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!