Eugene Marshall Stanley Pritchard was born on July 11, 1851, in Jacksonville, Pulaski County, Arkansas, to Marshall S. PRITCHARD and his wife, Caroline (possibly HOLLAND). “Gene,” as he came to be known, married Julia Ann MARTIN in Newton County, Missouri, on February 20, 1870. Gene PRITCHARD passed away in Newton County, Missouri, on July 11, 1921.
Eugene Marshall Stanley PRITCHARD was my great-great-grandfather.
Gene PRITCHARD was unique in that he died on his 70th birthday. There is no existing tombstone for Gene, and his death certificate proved to be the best source for determining his actual date of birth. The original Missouri death certificate had left the line for his date of birth blank and in the section which delineates the deceased’s age in years, months, and days, a section which is usually completed, it had “70” for the years and the spaces for months and days were left blank. All of that could indicate that he had died on his birthday, at 70-years-of-age, with no additional months or days to report. But then a supplemental form was attached to his death certificate specifically to include his date of birth – which was reported on that document as July 11, 1851.
There is one contradictory piece of evidence regarding Gene PRITCHARD’s date of birth, and that is the 1900 census for Newton County, Missouri, which lists his birth date as June of 1851. Census takers, however, are often less reliable than coroners and medical people who fill out death certificates. The census taker in 1900, for instance, listed Gene’s name as “Eugine Jutchard.”
The public record on Gene PRITCHARD is exceedingly light. Marriage records in Newton County, Missouri, show that he married Julia Ann MARTIN there on February 20, 1870. He was mistakenly listed on the marriage certificate as “Mr. Hugh G. Pritchard,” a name which sounds like “Eugene.” That mistake has played out through the work of several family researchers who mistakenly refer to him a “Hugh Eugene.”
Gene and Julia Ann PRITCHARD had three children: Louella December 5, 1871 – June 6, 1954)) who married William Stephen MACY, Andrew Marion (April 3, 1873 – December 31, 1932)) who married 1. Belle HOLMES, and 2. Maud May MARTIN, and Walter (August 13, 1877 – August 2, 1933) who married Minnie PETERS.
In addition to Gene’s name being wrong on his marriage license, it was also misspelled or incorrectly noted on each of the four US Censuses that managed to record him. In 1870 he and his bride, Julia Ann, were living with his parents, Marshall and Caroline PRITCHARD in Lost Creek Township of Newton County, Missouri – and his name was recorded as “Eugene Prichard.” In 1900 "Eugine Jutchard” and his wife, “Julian Jutchard” were in Neosho Township of Newton County along with their 22-year-old son, Walter. The 1910 census found “Eugene M.O. Pritchard” and his wife, “Juliene Pritchard” living by themselves on their farm in Neosho Township, and in 1920, the year before he passed away, “Eugene Richards” and “Julia A. Richards” were still on the farm in Neosho Township.
Gene’s full name was clearly spelled out on his death certificate as “Eugene Marshall Stanley Pritchard, and his son Walter PRITCHARD, who was forty-three-years-old at the time of his father’s death, was the informant. A second source for his formal name would be the application for a marriage license between his oldest child, Louella, and William S. MACY which is on file with the Newton County, Missouri, Clerk’s Office. Louella, whose name was spelled “Luella” on that document, was only seventeen-years-old and she had to have a parent consent to the marriage. The document noted that she was under the age of eighteen years, and “E.M.S. Pritchard, father of Luella Pritchard, (was) personally present and giving his consent to issue of license.”
The origins of Gene’s full name are unclear at this point. “Marshall,” of course was his father’s name. And two land claims cite the father’s middle initial as “S,” which could be for “Stanley.” Wherever “Eugene” came from, it managed to stay with the family. Gene’s only daughter, Louella, named her youngest son “Charles Eugene MACY” (my paternal grandfather), and his second son was my father, “Garland Eugene Macy,” and my middle name is “Gene.”
And that basically represents the entire existing public record regarding Eugene Marshall Stanley PRITCHARD – with a couple of minor exceptions.
There are some very poor quality black-and-white photos in Betty TUGGLE BELL’s book, “MACY Family,” which she compiled in 1998. One showed five individuals standing in front of a house and the caption read: “Luella (PRITCHARD) MACY, Ina Pearl (MACY) LOWE, Aunt Matt (W.S. MACY’s sister), W.S. MACY, and Pa PRITCHARD – Valley Street, Neosho, Missouri. “ Ina Pearl was the youngest child of William and Louella (PRITCHARD) MACY, born in 1903 – and she appears to be an older teen or young adult in that photo, so it would have been taken not too long before “Pa” PRITCHARD passed away in 1921. In that photo Gene appears as an older gentleman with white hair, a receding hairline, moustache, and a slender build.
The other historical encounter with Gene PRITCHARD involves his burial. Both his and Julia Ann’s death certificates indicate that they were buried at New Salem Cemetery in Newton County. That cemetery was started with an acre of land donated for the purpose of being a cemetery by her uncle, Hezekiah M. MARTIN, a wealthy farmer in that area.
A survey of New Salem Cemetery by Janet Ehrhart Wright in April of 2007 (which is available on the internet) did not find a grave marker for Gene or Julia Ann PRITCHARD, but I did come across their stones while walking through the cemetery back in the 1980’s. It was at a time when I was just beginning family research and I walked the old cemetery just to see which dead relatives I could encounter. I was more focused on MACY tombstones, but as I stepped across an overgrown depression that almost looked as though a small creek might occasionally flow through it, I saw two small stones. One was Julia’s and the other Gene’s. I don’t remember anything about Julia’s, except that it was nondescript and not imposing, but Gene’s almost appeared to be homemade. It said simply, “Jean Pritchard.”
“Jean.” One final indignity for a man whose name was spelled differently by almost every official with whom he came in contact, and a man who marked his 70th birthday by passing away!
Rest in peace, Old Timer, and know that your great-great-grandson thinks he spelled your name correctly and got your birthday right!
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