Ancestor Archives: Nancy Anthaline Scarbrough (1857-1935)

by Rocky Macy

(Note:  Today's entry completes the profiles of my eight great-grandparents.  Next week I will begin exploring some of the other limbs and branches in my family tree.)

Nancy Anthaline SCARBROUGH was born on May 28, 1857, in the state of Missouri to James M. SCARBROUGH and Mary Jane SMITH SCARBROUGH.  She married Samuel James ROARK in Newton County, Missouri, on December 10, 1876.  Nancy spent the rest of her life on the family farm that she and Sam owned and operated in northwest McDonald County, and she passed away there on July 2, 1935, after being a widow for almost ten years.
 
Nancy first appears in the public record in the 1860 US Census as the three-year-old daughter of Mary J. Scarboro (age 30) and James M. Scarboro (age 27).  (Curiously, Mary Jane was listed first on the family census entry, a position usually held by the “head of household.”)   One other daughter is listed in the household:  Sallie A. Scarboro, (age 7).    Sallie’s birth seems to predate the parents’ marriage of August 7, 1856, in Logan County, Kentucky, by around three years – which would indicate that she could have been Nancy’s half-sister by either parent, or a full-sister born out of wedlock.  (“Sallie A.” is listed as “Sarah A.” in the 1870 census.  Sallie was a common nickname for Sarah at that time.)
 
Although James M. and Mary Jane SCARBROUGH seem to disappear from the public record after the 1860 census, they apparently had two more children.   Catherine (a name shared by Mary Jane’s mother) was born around 1862 in Missouri, and the youngest child, James William SCARBROUGH was born in Texas on December 13, 1868.  His obituary lists the location in Texas as “Sien,” but this researcher has yet to locate a Texas community of that name.  That same obituary, which was likely written by his older sister, Nancy, who was with him at his home in Kansas at the time of his death, stated that their parents had “died young.”
 
Nancy's death certificate in 1935 lists her father simply as “Scarobrough” (with an extra “o”) born in England, and her mother’s maiden name as “Smith,” born in Tennessee.  Nancy’s son, Claude Roark, was the informant on her death certificate.  Her younger brother, James William Scarbrough, died on August 12, 1911, in Kirwin, Phillips County, Kansas during the first month that death certificates were officially in use in that state.  His certificate appears to have been carefully prepared and written in a beautiful cursive script, and although no informant is listed, Nancy was with him in his home at the time of his death and undoubtedly helped in providing information about her brother’s family background.  That certificate lists the deceased as “William Scarbrough,” and his parents as “George Scarbrough” born in England and “Mary Jane Smith” born in Tennessee.
 
By the time of the 1870 census, the four SCARBROUGH children were living in the home of their maternal uncle, William C. SMITH, and his wife, Lucinda, of Buffalo Township in Newton County, Missouri.  In that census they were listed as “Sarah A.” (age 22), “Nancy A.” (age 13),  “Catherine” (age 8), and “William” (age 4).    
 
(William and Lucinda SMITH were wed in 1868 and had no children of their own during the forty-one years in which they were married prior to Lucinda’s death.   Nancy and Sam named their first daughter Lucinda Comfort, apparently in honor of her stand-in mother, Lucinda SMITH, and Sam’s mother, Comfort POE ROARK.)
 
According to an article entitled “Our Rural Schools” which appeared on page three of the “Neosho Daily News” on August 16, 1976 and was based on information provided by Nancy’s grandson, Sam NUNN, Nancy attended school in “Number One School (District 85)” which had been built after the Civil War and was what Mr. NUNN referred to as a “log building’” that was also used as a church.  “Number One School” served students in the extreme southwest corner of Newton County in a district that was bordered by McDonald County on the south and Oklahoma Territory on the west.  Nancy would have attended in the original log building.  It was replaced by a newer structure in 1912, and the original building was taken across the road and converted into a barn.   “Number One School” was consolidated with Seneca Schools around 1965.
 
Nancy’s formal education was over by December 10, 1876, the date on which she married Samuel James ROARK at the home of William and Lucinda SMITH.  She and Sam soon had their own farm in northwest McDonald County not too far from the places where each of them grew up.
 
Children were an important factor in farm life in the 19^th century, and Nancy and Sam had eleven, the same number that Sam’s parents had.   The eleven that Nancy gave birth to included:  James W. (possibly “James William” after her younger brother) (1877-1879), John Henry (1881-1942), Robert Austin (1883-1953), Samuel Lafayette (1886-1918), Nancy Jane (my grandmother) (1889-1953), Lilly B. (1890-1892), Martha Carol (1893-1978), Claude Smith (1896-1960), Mary Melinda (1898-1964), and Nathan Wilbert (1902-1950).  
 
Nine of the children grew to adulthood, and of the nine only Claude Smith ROARK remained single.  The others and their spouses were:  Lucinda Comfort (Fred G. WILSON), John Henry (Phoebe GRUNDEN), Robert Austin (Sylvia BUZZARD), Samuel LaFayette (Bertha BAILEY), Nancy Jane (Daniel A. SREAVES), Martha Carol (Peter B. NUNN, Mary Melinda (Ernest C. TUCKER), and Nathan Wilbert (Virgie ELLIS).
 
Not only did Nancy attend school herself, one of her children, Samuel Lafayette, became a teacher.  He taught eighth grade in Vinita, Oklahoma, and later in the high school there.  After marrying a teacher in Vinita, Samuel and his bride moved on to teach in McAlester, Oklahoma, and Greely, Colorado.   Samuel taught “manual training” to high school students.  He was also the superintendent of the Baptist Sunday School in Vinita.  In his marriage announcement on the front page of the “Vinita Evening Sun-Hearld” on June 5, 1916, Samuel was twice referred to as “Prof. Roark.”
 
Nancy SCARBROUGH ROARK may have been a strong-willed farm woman who gave birth to eleven children and raised nine to adulthood, but she was also surprisingly diminutive in stature.  The article that her grandson, Sam NUNN, wrote about her and her husband Sam for the “McDonald County Sesquicentennial Family Histories” in 1999 contains a photograph of the couple that was taken by a professional photographer in a studio.  In the photo Sam is seated with Nancy standing next to him with her hand on his shoulder.  Standing, she is only a few inches taller than Sam is sitting!
 
My mother, Ruby “Florine” SREAVES MACY described her Grandmother ROARK as being “tiny” and “just the sweetest little woman.”  Mom said that her grandmother’s oldest daughter, Lucinda or “Lou,” was “little like she was,” but that the rest of the daughters were all “big girls.”
 
At this point in time it is not known what became of Nancy’s two sisters, Sarah. A. “Sallie” and Catherine SCARBROUGH, but her baby brother, James William SCARBROUGH  had grown from less than two-years-old through young adulthood at the home of their uncle, William C. SMITH, of Buffalo Township in Newton County, Missouri.  He died in Kansas in 1911, leaving behind a wife and five small children.
 
One of the defining events of Nancy ROARK’s later life was a lawsuit that she was a party to, and possibly instigated, over the estate of her uncle, William C. SMITH, the relative who had taken her and her siblings in when they were orphaned children.  Over the years, in fact, William and his wife, Lucinda, had taken in several homeless relatives, and at the time of his death William C. SMITH had a niece and her family from Arkansas living in his house with him.
 
Lucinda preceded William in death, and so did his six siblings.  A couple of years before William passed away in 1920, he went to see a lawyer and had a will drawn up.  In that will he stated that upon his death his estate was to be divided equally among the fifty-three heirs of his siblings.  At that time William owned a farm and personal property in Newton County, Missouri, three lots in Miami, Oklahoma, as well as some debts owed to him by others and whatever cash he had saved.
 
Six of the fifty-three inheritors were unhappy with the terms of the will and went to court in an effort to partition the other forty-seven out of the estate. The six plaintiffs were mostly from the Seneca area, and were likely the ones who had had the most contact with William and done the most to provide for his care in his declining years.  (They may have felt they were more “entitled” to William’s wealth than the others.)  A series of lengthy legal notices ran in the Neosho newspaper over several weeks that listed the six plaintiffs and the forty-seven defendants.  Nancy A. Roark was always the first plaintiff listed, and the defendants included William’s niece who was still a resident in his home, as well as the five children of James William SCARBROUGH, Nancy’s own nieces and nephews.  The case finally went before a judge who determined that the terms of the will should be followed.  He ordered all of the property sold, the debts to be paid, and the proceeds to be divided among the fifty-three heirs – just as William C. SMITH had originally intended.
 
After Sam ROARK died in 1925, Nancy spent the next ten years as a widow.  She lived in her own home along with her unmarried son, Claude Smith ROARK.   Also in that household was a grandchild, Julia “June” ROARK, the daughter of “Professor Sam ROARK and his wife Bertha BAILEY ROARK.   June had been born in Greely, Colorado in June of 1918, two years after her parents’ marriage in June of 1916.  Bertha passed away from a prolonged illness three months later in September, and Sam died three months after her in December of 1918.   It looks like the infant, June, entered her grandparents’ household at that time.  She was seventeen when her grandmother passed away in 1935.  At the time of the 1940 census, June (age 21) was still living in her grandmother’s house along with her uncle, Claude ROARK.  
 
(Julia “June” ROARK eventually married and raised a family of her own.  She passed away in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 2006.)
 
My mother related one story about her Grandmother ROARK’s later years.  She said that her grandmother had severe rheumatism and reached a stage where she was unable to walk.   She didn’t have a wheelchair, but instead sat in her rocking chair and had her son, Claude, pull her chair from room to room across the hardwood floors.
 
Nancy Anthaline SCARBROUGH ROARK passed away at her home in Buffalo Township of McDonald County, Missouri, on Tuesday, July 2, 1935.  The following obituary ran on page 11 of the “Miami (Oklahoma) News Record:”

 

“Death of Old Resident”

 

“Mrs. Nancy Roark, 78 years old, died Tuesday at her home south of Seneca.  Mrs, Roark was an old resident, having lived in this community for many years.  She is survived by four sons, John Roark of Seneca, Robert Roark of California, Will Roark of Kansas, and Claud Roark at home;  one granddaughter, June Roark of the home;  three daughters, Mrs. Ernest Tucker, Mrs. Pete Nunn, and Mrs. Dan Sreaves, of the Hart community;  and several other grandchildren.  Funeral services were held Wednesday afternoon at the Swars Prairie Baptist church, conducted by the Reverend Jent of Belfast.  Burial was in the Swars Prairie cemetery under direction of Mitchell undertakers.”

 

The “Old Resident” was finally at peace.