One Smith Family (Part 9)

 

by Rocky Macy

(Four more profiles of the heirs of the 1920 estate of William C. SMITH of Newton County, Missouri:)


17.  Odell BURKHART  was born Odell Claude BUrKHART to John E. and Mary F. (BOYD) BURKHART in Seneca, Newton County, Missouri, on March 14, 1902.  His mother, Mary F. (BOYD) BURKHART, was the daughter of William C. SMITH’s younger sister, Elizabeth M. (SMITH) BOYD, which made Mary F. (BOYD) BURKHART William’s niece, and her son, Odell Claude BURKHART, William’s grandnephew.

Odell’s mother, Mary F. (BOYD) BURKHART, passed away on April 20, 1903, when little Odell was just 13-months-old, making him the couple’s last and youngest child.  He did not make an appearance in the public record until the US census of 1910, at which time his widowed father already had Odell and his older sister, Lola, placed in the household of their older brother, John Wiley BURKHART.

The 1910 census for Buffalo Township, Newton County, Missouri, had Claud O. BURKHART living as an 8-year-old in the home of John “H.” BURKHART (25).  Also in the household were John’s wife, Rue B. BURKHART (21), their son, Junior B. BURKHART (2), and John’s younger sister, Lola “M.” BURKHART (13).

(I have located thirty-one other documents related to the life of Odell BURKHART, and all of those refer to him as either “Odell,” “Odell C.,” or “Odell Claude.”  He either intentionally changed the order of his given names, or the census taker in 1910 got it backward.)

An entry in the San Jose, California, city directory revealed that Odell BURKHART was living on his own in San Jose in 1917 - at a time when he would have been just fifteen-years-old.  

Sixteen-year-old Odell C. BURKHART joined the US Army on January 5, 1918, and served thirteen months before being discharged on February 4, 1919, as a Private First Class.  He gave his birthdate as March 14, 1899, when he entered the military, a falsehood that indicated he was eighteen at the time of his enlistment instead of sixteen.

Five months after leaving the military, on July 3, 1919, Odell applied for a “Seaman’s Protection Certificate in San Francisco, California, and fraudulently gave his age as twenty when he would have, in fact, been seventeen.

Odell BURKHART (18) stated his age correctly on the 1920 census at which time he was still single and living in Burnett, Santa Clara County, California, and apparently picking fruit.  He was living at the residence of Anthony PANKOSKI (60) and his wife Paulina PANKOSKI (57) along with their sons, Harry A. (21) and James (19) PANKOSKI, and Anthony and Paulina’s niece, Clara B. ROLAND (28) and Clara’s daughter, Bernice E. ROLAND (5), and Harold PINNINGTON (20) a “hired man.”  Odell was also listed in that household as a “hired man.)  The census further identified Odell as a laborer in the orchard industry.

City directory entries for Richmond, Martinez County, California, showed that Odell C. BURKHART was living in that community in 1922 and working as a laborer, and he was also there in 1923 when he reported his occupation as a millworker.  The 1923 city directory entry noted that Odell had a spouse by the name of Anne BURKHART.

(The only other reference to Anne was a social security application or claim which stated that Odell C. BURKHART was the spouse of Ann K. POST and they had a child named Ann Katherine BURKHART.  That Ancestry.com record was undated.)

In 1924 Odell C. BURKHART registered to vote twice in Alameda, California, from two different street addresses, once as an engineer and once as a “Core Mkr.”  Both registrations were as a Republican.

Odell C. BURKHART, who seemed to change jobs and move frequently, was listed in two city directories in 1925.  The directory for Oakland, California, revealed that he was employed as a driver, and the Richmond, California, city directory listed him as a box maker.

Odell disappeared from the public record for eight years but was back in 1933 when he appeared in the Palo Alto, California, city directory as a restaurant worker.  The following year he was staying at a veteran’s facility in San Mateo, California, when he registered to vote.  He listed his political party as “Dep” and stated on the registration that he was employed as a waiter.  In 1935 Odell “O.” BURKHART was included in the San Francisco, California, city directory where he stated that he was a “Mess Atdt.”

There is nothing in the available public record to indicate what became of Odell BURKHART’s first wife, Anne or Ann, or when she left the scene, but official California marriage records show that he married Gertrude Buchanan WEISON on November 6, 1938, in Alameda, California, and he remained married to Gertrude for the remainder of his life.

According to the city directory of San Jose, California, Odell C. and Gertrude BURKHART were residents of that city in 1940 and 1941 and Odell was working as a teamster, and it was from that same address where Odell registered to vote, again as a Republican, in 1940.

Odell Claude BURKHART registered for the World War II draft on February 14, 1942, while he and Gertrude were still living in San Jose, Santa Clara County, California.  The registration stated that he had been born in Seneca, Missouri, that he was 39-years-old and weighed 195 pounds, and that he was employed by J.C. BATEMAN.

Odell and Gertrude were residing in San Francisco, California, in 1944, according to that city’s directory, and he was working as a driver.

Odell Claude BURKHART passed away at the very young age of forty-six on April 22, 1948, in San Francisco, California.  He was buried at the Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, California.   “The San Francisco Examiner” carried this death notice on Saturday April 24, 1948:

“BURKHART -  In this city April 22, 1948, Odell C. Burkhart, beloved husband of Gertrude N. Burkhart, loving father of Nancy Burkhart, brother of Mrs. Lola M. Schilling, Mrs. Margaret Sparlin, Mrs. Lillian Sherer, John and Lee Burkhart, aged 46 years.  

“Friends are invited to attend funeral services Monday, April 26, at 1:30 p.m. at the Mancely Chapel, Divisadero St., at O’Farrell Internment.  Golden Gate National Cemetery.”

18.  Lola BURKHART was born Lola A. BURKHART to John E. and Mary F, (BOYD) BURKHART in Oklahoma Indian Territory on April 29, 1898.  Her mother, Mary F. (BOYD) BURKHART, was the daughter of William C. SMITH’s younger sister, Elizabeth M. (SMITH) BOYD, which made Mary F. (BOYD) BUrKHART William’s niece, and her daughter, Lola A. BURKHART, William’s grandniece.

Lola made her first appearance in the public record in the US census of 1900 for Seneca, Newton County, Missouri, at which time she was living in the home of her parents, John E. (49) and Mary F. (37) BURKHART.  Lola BURKHART was listed as 3-years-old on that census, although she would have only been two.  She also had six siblings on that census including:  Arly (24, and undoubtedly a half-sibling fathered by John in an earlier marriage), John W. (14), Lusinda (12), “Lilie” (10), Mont R. (6), and Ernest L. (1).

Lola’s  mother, Mary F. (BOYD) BURKHART, passed away on April 20, 1903, just as Lola was approaching her fifth birthday.  By the time of the 1910 census, Lola and her baby brother, Odell BURKHART, had been placed in the home of their older brother, John Wiley BURKHART.in Buffalo Township, Newton County, Missouri.  In 1910 that household included:  John “H.” BURKHART (25), his wife, Rue B. BURKHART (21), and their son, Junior B. BURKHART (2).  Also in the household were Lola “M.” BURKHART (13) and Claud O. (Odell) BURKHART (8).

By 1920, the year that Lola received her small inheritance from the estate of her granduncle, William C. SMITH of Newton County, Missouri, she was already married to Charles A; SCHILLING and had a newborn son, John C. SCHILLING who would later be called “Jack.”  The young SCHILLING family was living in San Francisco, California, and the relatives back in Missouri may have not been aware of her name change when the matter of partitioning the estate of William C.SMITH went to court.

The 1920 census revealed that the SCHILLING family was living in Assembly District 27 of San Francisco.  Present in the household were Charles A. SCHILLING (24), Lola “L.” SCHILLING (22) John C. SCHILLING (0), and John E. BURKHART (Lola’s father, age 69).

California voter registration for 1920 listed Mrs. Lola SCHILLING as a housewife and a Republican who was living at 1126 Stanyan Street in San Francisco.  (Stanyan Street was made famous in the 1960’s by San Francisco pop poet Rod McKuen’s book of verse, “Stanyan Street and Other Sorrows.”)  The 1921 city directory for San Francisco had Lola and her family still living on Stanyan Street, but at another house number.  In 1925 and 1926, the SCHILLING family was still on Stanyan Street, but at yet another address.  The SCHILLING”S finally left Stanyan Street and moved to 537 Bright Street in 1927 where they remained at least as late as 1945.

The 1930 US census for Assembly District 24 in San Francisco, California, listed the SCHILLING household which included:  Carl (35), Lola (33), and sons Jack  (11) and Robert (7).  In 1940 they were still at that address and and still a household of four:  Carl (43), Lola (40), Jack (20), and Robert (17).

Lola A. SCHILLING filed for Social Security benefits on July 3, 1963.  Carl passed away in March of 1968, leaving Lola a widow as she was about to turn seventy.  (There is a short obituary for Carl on page 54 of the “San Francisco Examiner” in the issue dated March 27, 1968.)

Lola outlived Carl by more than twenty-four years.  She died on March 14, 1992, in San Mateo County, California, just shy of her 94th birthday, and she was buried at the Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma, San Mateo County, California.

19:  Cleo V. BURKHART was born to Mont Roy and Minnie (GARRETT) BURKHART around 1917.  Her father, Mont Roy BURKHART (born September 23, 1894), was the son of Mary F. (BOYD) BURKHART, and she was the daughter of William C. SMITH’s younger sister, Elizabeth (SMITH) BOYD.  That made Mary F. (BOYD) BURKHART William’s niece, Mont Roy BURKHART William’s grandnephew, and Cleo V. BURKHART William’s great-grandniece.  At the time of her father’s death sometime before the census of 1920, Cleo V. BURKHART, who was approximately three-years-old,  became an inheritor in the estate of William C. SMITH.

Cleo’s date of birth can be roughly estimated by four sources:  the 1920 US census gave her age as “2,” but went on to say that she was born “abt 1918” or “abt 1917.”  The 1930 census said that she was born “abt 1917.”  When Mont Roy BURKHART registered for the World War I draft  in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, on June 1, 1917, he told the clerk that he had a wife and child to support.  (Cleo was Mont’s oldest child.)  And finally, when Cleo passed away in March of 1945, her obituary said that she was 28-years-old.

Not much is known of the life of Cleo V. BURKHART.  She has been located on the three US censuses that were taken during her lifetime: 1920,1930, and 1940.  In 1920 Cleo V. BURKHART (2) and her little sister, Doris B. BURKHART (0), were living with their mother, Minnie BURKHART (22), in the home of their maternal grandparents “Mame” (a male, aged 53) and Jane GARRETT (54).  The family was residing in Quapaw, Ottawa County, Oklahoma.

By 1930 Cleo V. BURKHART (13) and Doris B. BURKHART (10) were living with their maternal grandmother, Jane GARRETT (64) in Quapaw, Ottawa County, Oklahoma.  The grandfather had likely passed away during the ensuing ten years - as had the girls’ mother, Minnie (GARRETT) BURKHOLDER, who had both remarried (on March 15 - to James Phillip DEVORE) and died (on December 25) during 1924.

Cleo did well in school and was named valedictorian of her graduating class.  The following ran in the “Miami Daily News Record” newspaper of Miami, Oklahoma, on April 29, 1934:

“Miss Cleo Burkhart will be valedictorian of this year’s high school graduating class, Prof. Smith has announced.  Miss Burkhart, who is an orphan, resides with Mr. and Mrs. Ted Garrett, west of Picher.  Willard Youst, a son of Mrs. Ada Youst of Quapaw, will be salutatorian.  

“A class of 19 probably will be graduated from high school this spring, Professor Smith said.  Commencement plans have not been completed, but the graduating exercises will be Thursday night, May 24.”

Sometime in the next couple of years Cleo married Edward HOLDERFIELD who had been born about 1918 and was living with his birth family in Picher, Ottawa County, Oklahoma, when the 1930 census was taken.  They were already married and had a son, Rex, when they were mentioned in an article in the “Miami Daily News Record” of Miami, Oklahoma, on December 31, 1937, as having attended a gathering at the home of  Cleo’s former guardians, Mr. and Mrs. Ted Garrett, on Christmas Day of 1937.

Cleo and Edward had two children at the time of the 1940 census.  They were living in Quapaw, Ottawa County, Oklahoma, when the 1940 census was taken.   The household included Edward HOLDERFIELD, Jr. (22), “Clea” HOLDERFIELD (23), Rex Dewayne HOLDERFIELD (3), and Joyce Dueann HOLDERFIELD (2).

Cleo (BURKHART) HOLDERFIELD, like her parents, died young.  She passed away on March 4, 1945, at her home in Picher, Oklahoma, at the age of twenty-eight.  The following obituary ran on page 2 of the “Miami Daily News Record” of Miami, Oklahoma, the day after she passed away:

“Mrs. Cleo Holderfield” 

“Mrs. Cleo Burkhart Holderfield, aged 28, died at her home at 415 South Emily Street, Picher, at 9:25 p.m. Sunday. 

“She is survived by her husband, Edward Holderfield, and one son, Rex, and daughter, Joyce, of the home.  Also a sister, Mrs. Paul Maudlin, Picheer. 

“Funeral services will be held at 2 p.m. Tuesday at the First Baptist Church, Picher, with the Rev. W.H. Hawes officiating.

“Burial will be in the G.A.R. cemetery under the direction of the Durnil Funeral home.”

20.  Doris BURKHART was born Doris B. BURKHART to Mont Roy and Minnie (GARRETT) BURKHART around 1920.  Her father, Mont Roy BURKHART (born September 23, 1894), was the son of Mary F. (BOYD) BURKHART, and she was the daughter of William C. SMITH’s younger sister, Elizabeth (SMITH) BOYD.  That made Mary F. (BOYD) BURKHART William’s niece, Mont Roy BURKHART William’s grandnephew, and Doris B. BURKHART William’s great-grandniece.  At the time of her father’s death, sometime before the 1920 census was taken, Doris might not have even been born yet, and she could not have been more than a couple of months old when William C. SMITH passed away on February 8, 1920 -  undoubtedly making Doris B. BURKHART the youngest heir to his estate.

Doris’s father had died at around the time of her birth, and their mother, Minnie (GARRETT) BURKHART, took her two young daughters and moved in with her parents, “Mame” and Jane GARRETT of Quapaw, Ottawa County, Oklahoma.  They were living with the GARRETT’s when the 1920 census was taken.  In that household were Mame GARRETT (a male, aged 53), Jane GARRETT (54), Minnie BURKHART (22), Cleo V. BURKHART (2), and Doris B. BURKHART (0).

Minnie (GARRETT) BURKHART married her second husband, James Phillip DEVORE, on March 15, 1924, and she passed away on Christmas Day of 1924, leaving the little girls in the care of their GARRETT grandparents.  Mame (or Maime) GARRETT probably died before 1930, because when the 1930 census was taken there were only three individuals in the GARRETT household of Quapaw, Ottawa County, Oklahoma:  Jane GARRETT (64), Cleo V. BURKHART (13), and Doris B. BURKHART (10).

Doris was married to Paul Preston MAUDLIN by October 10, 1935, at which time a local newspaper item on page 9 of the “Miami Daily News Record" described a “miscellaneous shower” given in her honor with several people in attendance including her sister, Miss Cleo BURKHART.  Doris would have likely been fifteen-years-old at the time of her marriage.

There was a census entry for 1940 in Carmel, Putnam County, New York, which Ancestry.com believes is Paul and Doris (BURKHART) MAUDLIN, and I suspect that Ancestry.com is correct.  That census entry has Paul “MANDLIA” (29), his wife, “Davis” “MANDLIA’” (20), and a four-year-old daughter Marlena “MANDLIA”.  The census indicated  that both parents were born in Oklahoma, and that they had been living in rural Ottawa County, Oklahoma, in 1935.  The age of the child would have been about right for her to have been the reason for the “miscellaneous shower” in October of 1935.  The census stated that the family was living in a rented home and that Paul was working as a laborer.  It also said that the wife had completed seventh grade.

The family was back in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, on October 16, 1940, living in the small town of Douthat when Paul registered for the World War II draft.  His draft registration stated that he was unemployed, and on that registration he spelled his wife’s first name as “Dorris.”

Beyond that there have been no further public records revealed on Paul or Doris (BURKHART) MAUDLIN, other than an obituary mention of Doris as  the surviving sister when Cleo V. (BURKHART) HOLDERFIELD died on March 4, 1945. 

(More profiles on the heirs of the 1920 estate of William C. SMITH of Newton County, Missouri, will follow.)