Connecting the Dots

On Saturday, January 26th, 2009 I paid my father’s cousin Hazel, and her husband, Eli Rico a visit in Chula Vista. Over lunch, I revealed the little bible to them, and we commenced to sort through some old family photos handed down by her father, John “HENRY” Banks. Uncle John was brother to my Grandmother, Mary Banks-Enyeart-Felch. 

My Gr Gr Grandfather, David Irish Banks, brother of Henry.

Shown here surrounded by his grandchildren, including my grandmother,  
Mary Almyra Banks-Enyeart-Felch (far left)

One of the photos featured an elderly man surrounded by 11 children. On the reverse side, someone had written all of the children’s names, and “Great Grandfather Banks”. That would be my great-great grandfather, David Irish Banks. 

Hazel’s sister, my Father’s cousin Pat, published Banks family history in her 1979 book: “Roots that Bind” which shows July 24th, 1889 as Henry’s dod, but it did not mention where he was buried. There were numerous pages of photos, letters, and historical accounts of all of siblings, except for Henry Ira Banks. Although, he was mentioned in a letter written by his niece, Annie L. Banks of Sea Cliff, NY, with concerns about the locusts. (Referring, I’m sure to the Rocky Mountain Locust Swarm of 1874, which devastated farms across America) She wrote: “…what fearfully horrible things those grasshoppers must be to destroy so much. I feel very sorry for Grandmother, Uncle John, George, and Henry, but we must expect to meet with disappointments in this world.”

Devastation map of the 1874 Locust Swarm
(Note the green area over Kansas which represents
the area that suffered the most damage)

A recent episode on The History Channel came to mind, and a cross-reference with answers.com confirmed my supposition that Henry and his brothers had most definitely been victimized by the locust plague of 1874.

 July 20–30, 1874. The Rocky Mountain locust, long a pest in the American Midwest, became an even bigger threat in the summer of 1874. Beginning in late July, the largest recorded swarm of this insect descended on the Great Plains. It is estimated that 124 billion insects formed a swarm 1,800 miles long and 110 miles wide that ranged from Canada and the Dakotas down to Texas. Contemporary accounts said that the locusts blocked out the sun and devastated farms in mere minutes. The swarms continued in smaller size for the next several years and caused an estimated $200 million in crop destruction.

Further research revealed Henry Banks, Farmer from New York, b: 1838 in the 1880 census, age 42 living in Pleasant Valley/Saline, KS married to Tilla Banks, b:1832 from Pennsylvania.

In April of 2009, I was invited to my grandmother Alice’s 100th birthday party in Edmonds, WA. I struck up a conversation with my cousin, Ken VandenHoorn. He had recently retired, and had spent a great deal of time and energy researching family histories, including that of the Banks family. He shared with me an interesting internet entry that he stumbled upon which read:

Henry Banks. Born: Feb 17, 1838 in Oblong, Duchess County, NY, Died: 10:15 pm Wed, Jul 24, 1889 in Baird, Callahan County, Texas, Buried: Ross Cemetery, Baird, Texas.

I contacted the poster who lived in Newport, WA via email. Her entry happened to be an excerpt from a Christmas letter which had been written, and distributed to family members by her uncle in 1940. It included a carefully written “Bowlus” family history. It turns out that Henry Ira Banks was married to an Emma Bowlus for about a year, before he died at the young age of 51 in 1889. The poster sent me a copy of the letter. She took an interest in my research, and shared with me another random posting which was from a woman who was sifting through some old “Baird Star” newspaper clippings from the 1800’s, and posted them online. 

Here is what she transcribed:

Baird Weekly Star - Thursday October 10, 1889

NOTICE OF PROBATE:

to the Sheriff or any constable of Callahan County Greetings:

You are herby commanded to cause to be published in some newpaper publhed in said oucnty once a week for four consective weeks, revious to the return day herefof the following citation:

The State of Texas:

To all persons interested in the estate of H I Banks, deceased, Emma Banks has filed in the County Court of Callahan County, an aplication to probate the nuncupative will of said H I Banks, deceased; said application alleging in substane, that said H I Banks died in Baird on the 24th? day of July AD 1889, leaving real and personal property of the estimated value of eight hundred dollars, and a nuncupative will duly executed; that the testamentary words of said will were in substance as follows: I bequeath al my real and personal property to my wife, Emma Banks that the witnesses to said testamentary words were Emma Banks, * W H [William Henry] Bowles [Bowlus] and Mrs. W H Bowles; that all of said witnesses to said will reside in the county of Callahan and State of Texas; that said H I Banks at the time of his death resided in Baird, Callahan County, Texas; that Emma Banks, the applicant is the surviving wife of said H I Banks and resides in Callahan County, Texas; that no executor was named in said will; that the names and residences of the heirs at law of the said H I banks were unknown to the applicant Which said applicaton will be heard at the Novembe term 1889 of this said court, to be holden on the first Monday in November, 1889 at the Court House thereof, In the town of Baird, at which time all persons interested in said estate may appear and contest said application, if they are proper. Herein fail not, under penalty of the law and of this writ make due return.

Issued the first day of October 1889 Witness L N Jackson clerk of said court and the seal therof at office in the town of Baird the first day of Octboer 1889 J N Jackson clerk County Court Callahan County the foregoing is a true copy of original citation, I certify. J W Jones? Sheriff Callahan Co. TX Oct 2, 1889

from the poster:

Note: I am not related to this family, I just found this in newspaper

The "poster" of this entry certainly must have had a lot of time on her hands, but I was grateful that she took the time to transcribe Henry's Probate Notice. She acted on some premonition that someone might find this information useful, as RANDOM as it was.

Through this random posting online, I found an accurate record of my Uncle Henry's final resting place. I also found it interesting that Henry’s surviving heirs and their places of residence were unknown to his widow, and I wondered if his siblings had actually ever learned what became of him. Compared to his siblings, there was little mention of him in the Banks family history book, written by my cousin Pat.

Thanks to the benevolence of a pair of individuals who were just as passionate about genealogy as I was now becoming, I was drawing closer to a conclusion. The events of Henry’s life were gradually coming into sharper focus, and the recently garnered information energized me once again to reinstate my pursuit, from where it had since stalled out.

Coincidentally (or not), by the time I had gathered and certified all of this information on Henry’s whereabouts, my wife and I had just recently moved to Austin, TX, due to California’s terrible economy. Baird, Texas was now only three hours away.

I contacted the courthouse in Baird, and was introduced to a man named Tom Ivey, who was the Veteran’s Services officer for Callahan County. He couldn’t believe that there maight be a Union Veteran buried in Ross Cemetery. Nevertheless, he volunteered to walk the property, and look for Henry’s marker. He reported back to me a few days later that he came up empty, but he did find the plot for the Bowlus family, where the witnesses mentioned in the probate letter above were buried.* He also mentioned that he knew of the Bowlus family, and that there were a great deal of unmarked plots nearby. After hearing this, I decided that it was time to pay Baird, Texas a visit.