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CONVERSE Family History, Part IIIB

John CONVERSE^Δ (1852-1896)

1221. John Converse^Δ was born about February 11, 1852, probably in Greene Township, Iowa County, Iowa. In 1871 his family moved to Valley Township, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, and by 1880 was living alone as a farmer in that township. He married Annie "Belle" Amelia Battelle on May 9, 1881, in Pottawattamie County. She was the native of West Virginia and daughter of one of the earliest white settlers of Pottawattamie County, Alpheus Monroe Battelle. They had five children:

12211.	Mabel Converse	Feb 1882	--	--
12212.	Bessie Converse	Jun 1883	--	--
12213.	Nellie Converse	Aug 1885	--	--
12214.	Florence May ConverseΔ	25 Dec 1892/3	30 Jan 1985	--
12215.	John "Jack" H. Converse	21 Dec 1896	16 Oct 1958	(61)

John's five children were all born in Iowa except for Florence who was born in California, apparently on a visit around 1893. By 1895 they returned to Pottawattamie County where they lived in a town called Oklahoma (unlocated).^{[Cen 1895]}

John Converse died on November 20, 1896, at the young age of 44 years. He is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery near the family farm in Valley Township, Pottawattamie County, Iowa. He was later joined by his paternal grandmother and parents.

Belle and her children lived on in Pottawattamie County through at least 1910 and then made their way west to California where daughter Mabel and her husband Charles Albert Converse (a cousin) lived. There Belle's daughter Flossie married Charles' nephew George Leonard Converse (Jr.) (Flossie's second cousin), about 1919. Belle, Flossie and George lived on 115 Semple Street, Modesto, Stanislaus County, next door to son John H. and his family.

By 1930, Belle, her widower son Jack, and grandson Billie moved to 2309 14th Avenue in Oakland, Alameda County.^{[Cen 1930]} A year or two later they moved again about nine blocks west to 342 East 15th Street by 1932.^{[Vote 1932]}

Annie "Belle" Amelia (Battelle) Converse likely died in the 1930s, perhaps between 1932 and 1934. She would have been in her late 70s.

Mary Jane (CONVERSE) MCKRAY^Δ (1853-1930)

1222. Mary Jane Converse^Δ was born in November 23, 1853, probably in Greene Township, Iowa County, Iowa. In 1871, her family moved to Valley Township, Pottawattamie County, Iowa where she met and married Melvin McKray, a native Iowan and farmer, on January 10, 1877. They had three children:

12221.	Edith Annie McKray	Apr 1879	30 Mar 1965	(85)
12222.	James William McKray	29 Nov 1884	Aug 1965	(80)
12223.	Melvin Boyd McKrayΔ	5 May 1895	Dec 1981	(86)

Mary and Melvin wed on January 10, 1877, at Wheeler's Grove, about 15 miles south of Hancock.^{[Mar 1877]} After their marriage, the McKrays lived next to Melvin's younger brother James and his family in Valley Township, where both men farmed.^{[Cen 1880]} The 1885 Iowa state census located the two McKray families in Township 76 North, Range 39 West, Section 14, a mile and a half southeast of Mary's parents in Section 10. Melvin lived in the west half of the southwest quarter (along modern-day 460th Street and Magnolia Road), and his brother James lived in the southwest quarter of the nortwest quarter. Mary's widowed maternal grandmother, Sarah (Richardson) Henry, lived with the family in 1885.^{[Cen 1885]}

Mary's younger sister, Emma (Converse) Dewey, and her family were enumerated nearby in 1900, as were daughter Edith's future in-laws, Daniel A. and Flora Coe, who were enumerated three households away in Valley Township.^{[Cen 1900]} Edith's future husband, Robert Guy Coe, was not enumarated with his parents that year because he was living with his brother Clarence outside of Avoca in Knox Township, six miles north of Hancock. Edith and Guy marred two years later on April 16, 1902.

Melvin retired from farming in 1916, at the age of 66. He had farmed for 45 years.^{[Dth 1931]}

By the 1925 Iowa state census, the McKray's property was valued as $7,000. Both Mary and Melvin were recorded to have a 3rd-grade education, but could read and write. They were protestant.^{[Cen 1925]} Their recorded property value dropped to $6,000 by 1930, and 45-year-old son William, who had been widowed three years earlier, returned home to live with them.^{[Cen 1930]}

Mary Jane (Converse) McKray died on April 29, 1930, in Hancock of carcenoma of the colon with metastases (colon cancer). She was buried on May 1 at the Oak Hill Cemetery near the family ranch east of Hancock. She was 76 years old.^{[Dth 1930]}

Melvin McKray died the following year on March 4, 1931, at Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs. He had undergone a cystostomy for prostate hypertrophy (enlargement) on February 25, and afterward suffered a cardiac embolism. He was 81 years old. He was buried on March 7 beside Mary at Oak Hill Cemetery.^{[Dth 1931]}

Charles Henry CONVERSE^Δ (1856-1912)

1223. Charles Henry Converse^Δ was born in February 1856, probably in Greene Township, Iowa County, Iowa. His middle name likely honors his mother's family and perhaps even his paternal uncle, Henry B. Converse, who died during the Civil War. In 1871 his family moved to Valley Township, Pottawattamie County, Iowa. He first married Alice Strong from Iowa on February 29, 1880, in Oakland, Pottawattamie County, and moved briefly to Mariposa County, California, where their son was born. They returned to Iowa by 1885, divorced, and about 1888 Charles remarried to Flora Emma Manley, a native of Illinois. They had five more children, four of whom survived to adulthood.^{[Cen 1910]} After the turn of the century they moved to Glendora, Los Angeles County, California where Charles worked as a general practice attorney.

12231.	Ernest Lloyd Converse	11 Jan 1883	20 Dec 1953	(70)
12232.	Lawrence Floyd Converse, Sr.Δ	Dec 1889	Jul 1914	(25)
12233.	Hazel Augusta Converse	13 Aug 1892	10 Aug 1981	(89)
12234.	Gertrude May Converse	13 May 1895	8 Jul 1974	(79)
12235.	Helen Converse	12 Dec 1898	25 Feb 1898	(75 days)
12236.	Flora September ConverseΔ	3 Sep 1899	9 Aug 1978	(78)

In June 1880, Charles Henry and his first wife Alice were living as boarders with his uncle, John Converse in Coulterville, Mariposa County, California. He worked there as a teacher. It was in California that his first son was born in 1883.

By 1885, the Converses returned to Pottawattamie County, where Charles worked as an attorney at law in South Oakland, downriver along the West Nishnabotna from Hancock and Valley Township.^{[Cen 1885]}

Charles and Alice divorced after 1885.

Charles remarried to Flora about 1888. Their first son was born in Avoca, upriver along the West Nishnabotna from Hancock.

Charles and Flora moved to a town in Pottawattamie called Avon (unlocated) by 1895.^{[Cen 1895]} Five years later Charles was noted working as a farmer in Center Township (southeast of Oakland), Pottawattomie County.^{[Cen 1900]}

Sometime between 1900 and 1905, the Converses returned to California, this time to Glendora, Los Angeles County.

Charles worked as an attorney and practiced general law in Glendora.^{[Cen 1910]} He commissioned the two-story Converse Building (built in 1905) on Michigan Avenue (present day 159 North Glendora Avenue) in Glendora to house his law offices upstairs and with several businesses downstairs. Among the downstairs businesses were The Fountain Confectionery Shop (probably started after 1909), John J. Ingalls Cigars, Rough House Chocolates, Armour? Malted Clams, Armour Hot Beef Tea, and J.W. McGraw and Sons. Upstairs with Charles' office were offices of the Glendora Water Company and the Glendora Irrigation Company.

Charles also owned orange and lemon groves.

In 1911 when son Lawrence got involved in the Mexican Revolution and taken prisoner by the Mexican Federal forces, Charles helped represent his sons case and pulled some strings to influence President Díaz to release his son and companion. (Charles is pictured together with Díaz's archrival and successor, President Francisco I. Madero.)

Tragically, Charles Henry Converse was struck by a train while crossing the tracks on May 4, 1912, in Glendora. He was only 56 years old. Charles is buried at the Oakdale Memorial Park in Glendora.

Flora was named as executrix of Charles' will, which was signed on October 29, 1908, in Glendora and kept in Charles' safe. Flora filed the Petition for Probate of Will on May 11, 1912, and the hearing set for May 27. Charles' estate in California was valued at "over $10,000," and per his instructions half was to be given to Flora and the remaining half was to be divided among his children with a 16% share to eldest son Ernest, and shares of 21% each to his four younger children, which were to be invested until they each attained the age of 21.^{[Prob 1912]}

Flora Emma (Manley) Converse lived on another 30 years and died on January 19, 1942, just 10 days shy of her 83rd birthday. She is also buried at the Oakdale Memorial Park.

Laura Ellen (CONVERSE) TALBOTT (1858-1945)

1224. Laura Ellen Converse was born on January 18, 1858^{[Dth 1945]}, probably in Greene Township, Iowa County, Iowa. In 1871, her family moved to Valley Township, Pottawattamie County, Iowa. She married Archibald "Archie" M. Talbott, a Valley resident farmer, reportedly on December 7, 1893, in Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska. They had no children.

In her youth Laura appears to have gone by "Ellen" or "Ella" but after her marriage records show that she went by "Laura."

As "Ella" reached adulthood, she lived for a few years with her widower uncle, Taylor Erastus Convers, and his two young children in Garfield Township, northeast of Doon, Lyon County, in the northwest corner of Iowa, during the 1880 and 1885 censuses.^{[Cen 1880, 1885]}

After Laura and Archie wed, the lived in Valley Township and in 1900 hosted a 23-year old boarder "F. Convers"^{[Cen 1900]}, possibly Ella's cousin Marguerite F. Convers with whom she had lived in the 1880s. They again hosted a boarder in 1910, this time H. Bair.^{[Cen 1910]}

The Talbotts left Valley Township and moved to Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas, around 1912, and later Hutchinson, Reno County, Kansas, by 1915, where Archie's family had settled. From before 1915 through 1920 they had a May E. Williams, a public school teacher, board with them at 308 East 5th Avenue in Hutchinson.^{[Cen 1915, 1920]}

Archie retired from farming in 1924 and the couple moved to California where they settled at 1771 East Mountain Street in Pasadena, Los Angeles County.^{[Dth 1939]}

Archibald M. Talbott died on September 26, 1939, at home at 1771 East Mountain Street. He had been suffered for years from general paresis (cerebral atrophy in late-stage syphilis) but had been seeing a doctor of several weeks for passive congestion of the lungs. Archie was 82 years old.^{[Dth 1939]} He was buried at Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum in Altadena, Los Angeles County.^[Grave]

Laura Ellen (Converse) Talbott died five years later on January 5, 1945, in Los Angeles County, California. She was two weeks short of her 87th birthday.^{[Dth 1945]} Laura was buried with Archie at Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum.^[Grave]

Emma May (CONVERSE) DEWEY^Δ (1863-1910)

1225. Emma May Converse^Δ was born in May 1863, probably in Greene Township, Iowa County, Iowa. In 1871, her family moved to Valley Township, Pottawattamie County, Iowa. She married Charles Henry Dewey, a native of Wisconsin and resident of Dexter, Dallas County, Iowa, on March 12, 1883, in Avoca, Pottawattamie County.^{[Mar 1883]} They had five children^{[Cen 1910]}, one of whom apparently died young:

12251.	Ethel Dewey	Apr 1886	(> 1900)	(> 14)
12252.	Laura Emma Dewey	8 Nov (1893)	18 Oct 1977	(83)
12253.	Evelyn Dewey	6 Apr 1898	30 Jul 1964	(66)
12254.	George Converse DeweyΔ	17 Mar 1900	13 Feb 1976	(75)

The Deweys farmed in Valley Township through 1900 and lived nearby Emma's elder sister Mary Jane (Converse) McKray.^{[Cen 1900]} By 1910 the Deweys moved about 75 miles east to Madison Township, Madison County, where Charles rented a farm.^{[Cen 1910]}

Emma May (Converse) Dewey reportedly died on June 27, 1910, in Earlham, Madison County. She was only 47 years old.

After Emma's death, the family lived at 111 Angle Avenue in Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County. Charles was a retired farmer and son George worked as a mail clerk in a railway office.^{[Cen 1920]}

Clara Belle (CONVERSE MOWERY) OLSEN^Δ (1868-1945)

1226. Clara Belle Converse^Δ was born in August 1868, probably in Greene Township, Iowa County, Iowa. In 1871, her family moved to Valley Township, Pottawattamie County, Iowa. She first married William Oscar Mowery who died in 1896 after fathering four children, one of whom died young.^{[Cen 1900]} In late 1899 or early 1900 she remarried to Leslie Charles Olsen, a native of Erie County, Pennsylvania, born to German immigrant parents, and had one, perhap three more, daughters. She and Leslie later divorced when they were in their 50s:

12261.	James Lee Mowery	20 Nov 1891	18 Feb 1960	(68)
12262.	Edith MoweryΔ	Aug 1893	3 Jun 1980	(86)
12263.	Guy Eugene Mowery	10 Oct 1895	24 Dec 1929	(34)
12264.	Mowery	(< 1896)	--	--
12265.	Mildred C. Olsen	2 Dec 1900	31 Mar 1989	(88)
12266.	Janice Olsen	(1903)	(< 1910)	(< 7)
12267.	Gilda Olsen	(1905)	(< 1910)	(< 5)

Soon after Clara and Leslie were married, they were enumerated next door to Clara's parents in Valley Township, where Leslie worked as a farmer.^{[Cen 1900]} Clara is said to have had three daughters with Leslie, but two of them likely died in infancy as they are not counted in the 1910 census. The 1900 census records that had three of four Mowery children survived at that time but curiously the 1910 census, which adds daughter Mildred, only counts four of five children survived to that time.

Tragedy befell the family when son Guy killed himself with a gunshot to the head on Christmas Eve, December 24, 1929, at home in Hancock. He was rushed to Mercy Hospital in Council Bluffs but died during an operation to remove the bullet and bone fragments.^{[Dth 1929]}

Clara and Leslie resided in Hancock/Valley Township, Pottawattamie County, Iowa at least into the 1920s when they divorced. Clara was noted living alone in Hancock in 1930.^{[Cen 1930]}

Clara B. (Converse Mowery) Olsen died on July 19, 1945, in Albert Lea, Freetown County, Minnesota, where daughter Edith was living. Clara was 76 years old.

Leslie C. Olsen died in 1950 and is buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Hancock. He was 79 or 80 years old.