52 Ancestors: #38 - Charles Yancy Trice, Sr (1821 KY-1908 KS)

Charles Yancy Trice was born on 17 May 1821 in Hopkins County, Kentucky.  His parents were Dabney Nelson Trice and Unity Smith Thomasson.  In 1841 Charles married Mary Ann Winstead in Kentucky, and they resided there at the time of the 1850 census.  In 1860 Charles, Mary and eleven children were enumerated in Grand River, DeKalb County, Missouri.  Charles was a farmer with a listed value of real estate at $1800.  This amount seemed to be a little above average for the area.

Charles and Mary had the following children: 

Sarah Jane Trice (1841-1841) married William Sanford Townsend in 1868

Unity Smith Trice (1842-1929) married Nathan Coleman Newby abut 1865

Julia Ann Trice (1844-1922) married Johnson M. Joiner in 1865

John Louis Trice (1846-1936) married Margaret Priscilla “Maggie” Smith

James Nelson Trice (1847-1892) married Amanda Lee Thurston in 1882

George Washington Trice (1849-1924) and spouse is unknown

Joel Alexander Trice (1851-1923) married Lucy Honora Smith in 1877

Charles Yancy Trice, Jr (1853-1915) married Paralee Steen or Steele and then Luna Estelle Drake

William Monroe Trice (1855-1940) married three times, I believe: Mary Herron, Lizzle McIlvane

                  and Geraldine Lewis

Henry Thomas Trice (1856-1940) married Clara Morgan in 1887

Mary Elizabeth Trice (1858-1944) married George Arthur Butterfield about 1880

Oliver Cutler Trice (1860-1901) married Mary Alice Ferril in 1886

Marona Amner Trice (1863-1949) married John F. Short about 1882

Hattie Morrow Trice (1866-1945) – I don’t believe she ever married

Mary died in 1889 and Charles lived the rest of his life in Grand River, Missouri.  He died while visiting his son Charles Yancy Trice Jr in 1908 in Kansas City, Kansas.

From his obituary in the Kansas City Star on August 23, 1908, “When a man has reared a family of fourteen children on a farm of forty-acres—giving each and every youngster a good education, comfortable home until manhood or womanhood is reached, and finally a substantial start in life—it’s a big boost for acre farming.”

If you are interested in any of these people and would like to collaborate, please contact me.

52 Ancestors: #37 - Paralee Steen or Steele (abt 1857 MO-1893 KS)

Paralee (or Parlee, or a variety of other spellings) is a mystery to me, and to all of the other researchers I have had contact with.  She was born about 1857, probably in Missouri.  Her parents are unknown. 

She married Charles Yancy Trice, Jr on 19 November 1878 in Henry County, Missouri.  Copies of this marriage record are online.  Parlee and Charles are listed in the 1880 census, with no children.  They had two children:  Harriet “Hattie” Antoinette (1885-1947) and Odon Charles (1886-1940).  The death certificates available in Missouri records show that their mother is Parlee Steen/Steene, etc.   

In the 1900 census Charles and his wife Lena are enumerated with these two children as well as two daughters that Charles and Lena had, although Ruth was born before Parlee died, but she is Lena’s.  In all records including the obituaries for Charles, Hattie and Don are mentioned as is their mother Paralee. 

Paralee died on 3 December 1893 in El Dorado, Butler County, Kansas, and is buried in the Belle Vista Cemetery in that town.  Her death date is listed in the county court records.  There is no mention of parents.

Therefore, I am looking for records for Parlee including her parent’s names, her birth record (if possible), and a death record that lists more than just her date of death, if possible. 

If you have any information to help me solve this mystery, I would love to collaborate on this research. 

52 Ancestors: #36 - Luna Estelle “Lena” Drake Trice (1867 IN – 1938 MO)

Luna Estelle Drake was born in Franklin, Johnson County, Indiana on 20 February 1867.  She didn’t like the idea of being a “moon” and “stars” daughter so she preferred to be called Lena.  Her parents were Josiah Drake and Eva Jane Whitenack Drake and she was the youngest of seven children.  One brother died in infancy.

In most records Lena “lied” about her age, always making herself younger.  In fact in one census record she claimed she was born about 1873.  Unfortunately I have a first grade report card for her in 1874 (I believe).   Also, she is listed in the 1870 census.  Therefore, I know that this birthdate is incorrect.

Lena married Charles Yancy Trice, Jr. about 1891, probably in Indiana.  As I wrote in a previous blog, he had been married before.  Unfortunately, I have been unable to come up with a marriage record for Charles and Lena or a divorce record for Charles and his first wife Paralee, who died in 1893. 

Lena and Charles had three children: Ruth (1892-1901), Helen (1894-1978) and Katherine Elizabeth (1903-1988). 

Lena died in November 1938 in Lamar, Barton County, Missouri and is buried in Lake Cemetery in that town.

If you have any information about this Drake family line or this Trice family line, I'd really like to collaborate with you. 

52 Ancestors: #35 - Charles Yancy Trice, Jr (1853 MO -1915 AR)

Charles Yancy Trice is both a mystery and an open book.  C.Y. Trice was born on 28 October 1853 in Cameron, Clinton County, Missouri.  His parents were Charles Yancy Trice, Sr and Mary Ann Winstead.  C.Y. was the eighth child of fourteen and the fifth son.

He was a promoter, salesman, and land advocate (real estate agent for farm lands).  At least two promotional books, talking about the benefits of purchasing farm land from him in the area he was promoting at the time (Kansas or Missouri), were written.  I have copies of each of them.  [Unfortunately I haven’t taken the time to transcribe them yet.  These are on my to-do list, when I have nothing else to do that is more important at the particular time.]  Charles served as mayor of Lamar, Barton County, Missouri, about 1898 or 1899 for 1 or 2 years. 

When Col. Trice died in 1915 [Col. was an honorary title], he was in Little River County, Arkansas. There were very long obituaries written in the papers in both Ashdown, Arkansas and Lamar, Missouri.  So, this is the area where there is a lot of information. 

So, what’s the mystery?  In both obituaries two wives are mentioned:  Miss Paralee  M. Steen (two children) and Miss Lena Estelle Drake (three children).  C.Y. and Lena raised the two children from his first marriage, and the story in the family was that Paralee died and the two children were left without a mother.  HOWEVER, it appears that C.Y. and Lena were married, or at least had one daughter, before Paralee died in 1893 in Kansas. 

The mystery continues.  There is a marriage record for Charles and Paralee.  There is a death record for Paralee.  I have been unable to find a divorce record for Charles and Paralee AND I have been unable to find a marriage record for Charles and Lena.  Considering that C.Y. had a good relationship with Lena’s father, I am assuming that there was an actual wedding between C.Y. and Lena.  But with first daughter Ruth born in 1891, to Charles and Lena, BUT court documents in El Dorado, Kansas show that Paralee died in 1893, I don’t know exactly what happened when. 

I have LOTS of information and documents on this family, many of them original.  I am definitely willing to share what I have.

SOooo…If you are interested in this family, and this mystery, or can help me solve this mystery, please contact me.