Dr. John S. Sappington

Dr. John S. Sappington (1776-1856) = Author. Doctor. Store-keeper. Best known for creating a quinine pill to treat malaria.
He was born to Dr. Mark and Rebecca Sappington in Maryland on 15 May 1776. He was the third of seven children.
When John was nine, his family moved from Maryland. His father trained he and his brothers as physicians. Out on the frontier, they were in high demand.

In 1804, he married Jane Breathitt. The couple had nine children together, seven girls and two boys.  The future 15th Governor of Missouri, Claiborne Fox Jackson (1806-1862), married three of their girls, Jane (1831; she died of the "ague" or malarial fever),  Louisa (1833), and Elizabeth (1838). 

In 1819, upon the advice of Thomas Hart Benton, a future US Senator, Sappington moved to Saline County, Missouri.
He established two stores, one at present day Napton and another at Arrow Rock. Once financially successful, Sappington experimented with the bark of a South American tree to create a chemical called quinine.  Malaria, scarlet fever, yellow fever, and influenza, diseases carried by mosquitoes, were pestilential along creeks and rivers. He wanted to use quinine to treat the fevers caused by these diseases, but eventually it was used to prevent the onset of malaria.
In 1844, Dr. Sappington wrote the first medical treatise west of the Mississippi River. It was called "Theory and Treatment of Fevers." Following a long illness, he died in 1856. An inscription over his grave reads: "A truly honest man is the noblest work of God. He lay like a warrior taking his rest."

Historical Note: George Caleb Bingham painted his and his wife's portraits in 1834. Click here and here to view.  

More to Read:

1. The Theory and Treatment of Fevers. By John Sappington. 1844. FREE Google e-book. 

2. Dr. John Sappington of Saline County, Missouri: 1776-1856. By Thomas B. Hall. Friends of Arrow Rock, 1975 

3.Claiborne Fox Jackson. By Christopher Phillips, University of Mo. Press, Columbia, MO; 2000.

4. "Historic Missourians," The State Historical Society of Missouri. 

5. "Dr. John Sappington."

6. Sappington's Papers
7. Panama Canal Online Exhibit; Clendening History of Medicine Library, University of Kansas Medical Center, 3901 Rainbow Boulevard, Kansas City, KS , 2015.
8. Findagrave #11994.

Note: Infectious malaria is not caused by a bacteria or a virus, but by a tiny worm parasite that enters your bloodstream via a mosquito bite! To prevent the spread of malaria, it is best to drain standing water where mosquitoes breed, to use fine metal mesh screens on your windows and doors to keep them out and/or tuck in mosquito netting over your bed when you sleep at night in warmer climates. Spray insecticide on your clothing to ward them off if you must be out at dusk, their prime feeding time. 

Places to Visit:

1. The Santa Fe Trail 

2. Napton, Missouri Supplemental Route E, SE Saline County

3. The Missouri River

4. Dr. John S. Sappington Museum, 108 High Street, Arrow Rock.

5. Son, William B. Sappington's home called Prairie Park, 3 mi. SW of Arrow Rock on  CR TT. National Register of Historic Sites. (please respect the privacy of homeowners).

6. The Miller-Bradford House, Arrow Rock

7. Sappington Cemetery State Historic Site

8. Visit Missouri Sappington Cemetery, Route AA, Nelson

Citation: "Dr. John S. Sappington." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 10 May 2020. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

Rose O'Neill

Rose O'Neill (1874-1944) = Self-taught Artist/Illustrator. Author. Free-Spirit. Poet. Best known for her Kewpie characters. Rose was born in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania in the summer of 1874 to "Meemie" Alice and William Patrick O'Neill as one child of seven. She attended a Catholic primary in Omaha, Nebraska and taught herself to draw by looking at illustrations in her father's books.

The Kewpies first appeared in 1909 as cartoon characters in the Christmas issue of Ladies' Home Journal and were regularly featured in other women's magazines for the next twenty-five years, however by 1912, German porcelain doll makers were creating dolls based on her Kewpie illustrations. She said  she wanted her Kewpies to teach people to be happy and kind.

She married twice, but chose not to become a mother of any chubby babies herself as she was supporting her large family with her work.  

Bonniebrook in the Missouri Ozarks (Taney County) was Rose's favorite home. At the height of her career, she purchased other homes in New York, Connecticut, and in Italy. Near the west side of Bonniebrook, a small brook gurgled its way downstream which was said to have inspired the name for her home. At the top of the house was Rose O'Neill's studio, filled with treasures from friends and family. Her unusual, but favorite mode of dress for the times  were blousy aprons or kimonos over a Greek style tunic. 

In the spring of 1944, Rose died of heart failure at the age of 69. She was buried near her family and Bonniebrook.

For Your Info: While I find Rose's Kewpies appealing, some of her other illustrations I find dark and disturbing.

More to Read:
1.) Rose O'Neill: An Autobiography. Edited by Miriam Formanek-Brunell.University of Missouri Press, Columbia, Mo; 1997.

2.) American Illustrator: Rose O'Neill. By J. L. Wilkerson. 2001

3.) Collecting Rose O'Neill's Kewpies. by David O'Neill and Janet O'Neill Sullivan. 2003.

4.) Historic Missourians

5.) Kewpies and Beyond: The World of Rose O'Neill. By Shelley Armitage. 1994.

6.) Rose O'Neill - The Girl Who Loved to Draw by Linda Brewster. 2009.

7.) Representative Women. By Lois Oldham Henrici. 1913.

8.) The Kewpie Primer. By Elizabeth V. Quinn. Illustrated by Rose O'Neill. Frederick A. Stokes Co, New York. 1916.

9.) Titans and Kewpies: The Life and Art of Rose O'Neill. By Ralph Alan McCanse.

10.) The Adventures of the Kewpies: A Coloring Book.  Saalfield Publishing Co, 1962.

11.) Missouri newspapers at Chronicling America

12.) Findagrave #21784408

Places to Visit:
1.) Branson's Kewpiesta in April.
2.) Drury University: The Rose O'Neill House, 900 North Benton Ave, Springfield
3.) Nelson-Atkins' Collections, 4525 Oak Street, Kansas City (2 pieces of Kewpie art)

4.) O'Neill Museum, 485 Rose O'Neill Road, Walnut Shade, Mo.

5.) Ralph Foster Museum, College of the Ozarks, 1 Cultural Court, Point Lookout (south of Branson)

"Do good deeds in a funny way. The world needs to laugh or 

at least smile more than it does."  

~ Rose O'Neill

Citation: "Rose O'Neill." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 5 February 2020. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

Albert E Brumley

Albert Edward Brumley, Sr. (1905-1977) = Singing School Teacher. Gospel songwriter. Best known for " I Can Hear Them Singing Over There (1927);" "I'll Fly Away (1932);" "If We Never Meet Again (1945);" "They Have a Good Time on Sunday (1951);" and "Turn Your Radio On (1938)." Best guesstimates are that he wrote between 600 to 800 songs in his lifetime.

Albert was born near Spiro, Oklahoma to Sarah Isabelle (Williams) and William S. Brumley. He, the middle child of three, grew up in the cotton fields and on the family farm - hoeing, picking cotton, and chopping down the spent plants. It was hard work, but music made life bearable - his father played the fiddle,  his older brother played the guitar and he learned to play an instrument too. After completing the tenth grade, between 1926 and 1931, he studied at Eugene Monroe Bartlett's (1884-1941) Hartford Musical Institute in Hartford, Arkansas. 
He married Goldie Edith Schell (1912-1988) in 1931 and together they raised six children - five bouncing boys and one sweet girl. It is said that Mrs. Goldie was a good encourager and wife for Mr. Albert. He was like Fred MacMurray in the movie "The Absent-Minded Professor" when he was in the zone, writing and creating and Goldie kept him on track.
In 1970, Brumley was inducted into the Nashville, Tennessee Songwriters Hall of Fame. He would go on to be  inducted into seven more Halls of Fame such as the Gospel Music Hall of Fame and the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.
Albert was a member of the Fox Church of Christ and was buried in the church cemetery after he passed into glory on the 15th of November 1977. Goldie graduated from earth to heaven ten years later. His work lives on. 

More to Read:

1. "Albert E. Brumley, A Living Legend." By Gene Gideon. Albert E. Brumley's All-Day Singin' and Dinner on the Ground. Camdenton, Mo; 1972. Repository: Author's Home Library.
2. Albert E. Brumley's Songs of the Pioneers. Pioneer Song Book, Camdenton, MO.; 1970. Repository: Author's Home Library.
3. Albert Edward Brumley (1905-1977) Biography

4. A photo of his Powell, Missouri Home 

5. Brumley Music Company

6. Arkansas Historical Encyclopedia Biography

7. Sing Me Back Home: Southern Roots and Country Music by Bill C. Malone. 2017. Ch. 7.  Google Books. 

8. "The Gentle Genius." Listening to the Jar Flies: Growing Up in Wheaton and Rocky Comfort. By Jimmy R. Lewis. 2015. Ch. 28. Google Books. 

9. Findagrave #5659883

Quote: "I may be a little old-fashioned, but my Savior was old-fashioned too." ~ Albert Brumley

Places to Visit: 

1. Powell, McDonald County, Missouri

2. Albert E. Brumley Parkway (a 13 mile strip between MO Highway E and MO Highway 76; between Rocky Comfort, Mo to  Pea Ridge, AR. It was dedicated in 1987)

3. Powell Bridge across Big Sugar Creek (This one lane bridge was built in 1915, is on the National Register of Historic Places and is only open to foot traffic.)

4. Brumley Gospel Sing, Cowan Civic Center, 500 E. Elm St, Lebanon

Homeschool Educator Helps:
Albert's favorite books were a rhyming dictionary and a thesaurus. He also carried a pen and paper with him wherever he went.

Citation: "Albert E Brumley." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 11 April 2019. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

Thomas Sears Huffaker

Thomas Sears Huffaker (1825-1910) = Methodist Missionary. Postmaster. County Commissioner. Probate Judge.  Kansas Legislator.  Born on March 30 to  Catherine (Lowe) and George Smith Huffaker, an ordained minister of the Methodist Episcopal South church in Clay County, Missouri.  

Eliza Ann Baker was born in Illinois to Agnes (Inghram) & blacksmith, Joshua W. Baker in 1836, raised in Iowa and married Thomas on 6 May, 1852 at the age of 16 in Council Grove by a missionary traveling to Mexico, one Rev. Nicholson.

Previous to their marriage, in 1850, Thomas  was sent to Council Grove, Morris County, Kansas as a missionary to teach the Indian children by the Methodist Episcopal South Board of Missions after he taught at the Shawnee Manual Training School in Johnson County for two years. Few Indians allowed their children to attend the Kaw mission school, so the mission closed within a few years. After awhile, when settlers began to settle around and in Council Grove, he taught the children of those settlers and began a Sunday School there. In addition to teaching, he engaged in a mercantile business, farming and raising farm stock. 

They lived at the mission until a new fourteen room house was built for their family, eventually numbering twelve members, one quarter mile north of the mission. Thomas and Eliza celebrated their fifty-third anniversary there. After her father passed, a daughter, Anna Carpenter, sold her home on Second Street and moved to the mission in 1911 with her mother (1836-1920), living there until her death in 1921. 

Both Thomas and Eliza were buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in Council Grove, Kansas. 

More to Read:  

1. Some Boone Descendants and Kindred of the St. Charles District. By Lilian Hays Oliver. Chedwato Service, 1964. p. 267-270. Repository: Midwest Genealogy Center, Independence, MO. 

2. "Old West Kansas." Kansas Heritage website

3. History of the State of Kansas. By William G. Cutler. A. T. Andreas, Chicago, IL, 1883. p. 805-806. Repository: Google Books. 

4. Kansaspedia. Kansas Historical Society website

5. "Homer Huffaker." A Standard History of Oklahoma. by Joseph Bradfield Thobum. Vol. 5. p.2133-34. Repository: Google Books.

6. Photo of the Kaw Mission in Council Grove, Kansas. Kansas Memory.

7. Thomas Sears Huffaker, Ancestry.com

8. Findagrave #20168737

Places to Visit:

1. Santa Fe Trail Historic Markers from Independence, MO to Council Grove, KS. 

2. Shawnee Indian Mission Historic Site & Museum, 3403 W. 53rd,  Fairway, KS.

3. Kaw Mission State Historic Site, 500 North Mission, Council Grove, KS. 

Citation: "Thomas Sears Huffaker." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 17 January 2019. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

Dr. James Naismith

Dr. James Naismith (1861-1939) = Presbyterian Minister. Physician. Professor. Best known as the Inventor of Basketball. Born in Canada to John & Margaret (Young) Naismith who passed away when he was but eight or nine, he was raised by his grandparents and an uncle.
He attended courses at both the Presbyterian College and McGill University in Montreal, Canada and from there, in 1890 he entered the School for Christian Workers college in Springfield, Massachusetts. It was there that James Naismith came up with the new game. He was inspired by a Canadian game he played as a child, but instead of using rocks, he created his game to be played with a soccer ball and two peach baskets.

From Springfield, Naismith went to Denver where he finally acquired a medical degree at the Gross Medical College in 1898 and later, in the same year, he joined the University of Kansas faculty at Lawrence, Kansas. He initiated the first collegiate Jayhawks basketball game at the University.
Following the 1936 Olympics, he was offered thousands of dollars for endorsements of various tobacco products, which he rejected on principle -- tobacco was harmful to young people.
James was a papa to several children and a happy husband. He remained at Lawrence until his death in 1939. 

More to Read:

1. Basketball: Its Origin and Development. By James Naismith. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE; 1996. 
2. Basketball History

3. Canadian History for Kids

4. Kansas Medical License Application

5. Kansas Sampler

6. Ten Interesting Facts about James Naismith

7. Where Basketball was Invented

8. Findagrave #753 

9. Naismith's Obituary

Places to See in KS:

1. Allen Fieldhouse (Booth Family Hall of Athletics Museum), KU Campus, 1700 Naismith Drive, Lawrence

2.  Naismith Hall-Campus Student Housing, Lawrence

3. Watkins Community Museum of History, 3rd floor, 1047 Massachusetts, Lawrence
4. Memorial Park Cemetery, East 15th, Lawrence 

Citation: "Dr. James Naismith." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 7 January 2019. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

Lee Mace

Lee Mace (1927-1985) - Entertainer. Bass String musician. Best known for Lee Mace's Ozark Opry. Born to Lucian Thomas and Anna Jane "Clare" (Buster) Mace on a summer day (30 July) near Brumley, Missouri, almost a year after his parent's marriage on 8 Aug 1926. He was the oldest of three children.
Lee grew up in Tuscumbia, Missouri in the quarters above the jail when his dad, Lucian, was elected Sheriff (1940s). Lee's dad was later elected to the Missouri House of Representatives and served as both a Judge and a school teacher. His mother wrote a column for the local paper. She, a Baptist, adopted a Bible verse (Philippians 4:8-9) that was her philosophy of life.
Lee received a shiny red Western Flyer bicycle one year for Christmas and a new baby sister.
He graduated from Tuscumbia High School in 1945 and then served in the Navy during the last part of WWII and in the Army during the Korean Conflict. Lee married Joyce Williams on 16 Aug 1950.
Three years later, Lee founded his Ozark Opry. He got some folks together from the area and began putting on hillbilly music shows. His wholesome, family shows grew so much that he built a new auditorium in 1957 with a seating capacity that eventually reached 1000 seats. They performed from mid-April to mid-October every night except Sundays as well as a half-hour show on television by 1966 which aired in the central Missouri region.
Lee died in a private plane crash on 16 June of 1985. Joyce continued running the show until she retired in 2005. Lee is buried in the Gott cemetery in Ulman. Look for the big bass fiddle carved on Lee's tombstone. 

More to Read:
1. Ancestry.com Census Records

2. Hillbilly-Music dot com 
3. Lee Mace's Ozark Opry

4. Lee Mace Biography 
5. The Story of Lee Mace by Joe Pryor, former President of the Miller County Historical Society museum. 2008.
6. Miller County Historical Society's YouTube Channel
7. Findagrave #14789856 

Places to Visit in MO:
1. Miller County Historical Society Museum and gift shop, PO Box 57, 2005 Hwy 52, Tuscumbia 65082, 573-369-3500 

2. Old Jail, Tuscumbia

3. Lee Mace Memorial Highway, Osage Beach

4. Mace Ozark Opry Museum, 54 Hwy, Osage Beach
5. Gott Cemetery, Ulman, Miller County

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Memories of that Mountain Music! 

Citation: "Lee Mace." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 3 January 2019. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

Edna Thimes

Edna Florence Thimes (1914-1995). Missionary Nurse. Evangelist. Edna was born to Henry J. and Martha (Son) Thimes on September 26, 1914, fourth child of five, in a loving, but unchurched family. They lived on a farm near Emporia, Kansas. Henry and Martha taught the children high moral standards and a reverence for God. Edna was fourteen when she first attended a Church of God congregation and was saved within two months.

After graduating from high school, she attended Anderson College, Anderson, Indiana, graduating in 1940 with a Bachelor of Theology. She trained to be a registered home nurse at the St. John’s Hospital School of Nursing at Anderson and at the former Bethany Hospital in Kansas City, Kansas.

She served as a Sunday School teacher and Superintendent in her home church and spent her vacations as a resident nurse at the Anderson Church of God campmeeting.

Edna served in the mission field in Kenya, East Africa for 22 years at the Mwihila Hospital at Kisumu and in Kima. She once said that half the babies born in Kenya were named “Edna” in her honor. Her special interest were babies whose mothers had died in childbirth. She often kept them until they were two, sharing the love of Jesus with them and returning them to their fathers when they could eat regular table food.

When Edna retired from the mission field, she returned to her home in the United States, next moving for a time to California to live near a niece, and finally returning to Kansas City.

Edna’s big heart gave out on June 22, 1995. Her “heavenly graduation ceremony” was conducted at the former First Church of God and her body is buried in Emporia.

* Near the time of my birth, the ladies at church, including Edna, had a baby shower for my mother, presenting her with a hooded baby towel embroidered with their signatures. We considered her family, as she shared an Uncle William and Aunt Lillian with my mother's maternal Aunt Nadine. Furloughs from the mission field were five years apart and she stayed with us or my grandparents during her deputation visits to churches nearby. I corresponded with her during my teen years and once sent her $5.00 out of my allowance. She wrote a thank you note, stating she had purchased an apple as a treat in the local market. Apples didn’t grow in the climate there and she had been hankering for a taste of home. My mother played the organ for Edna’s funeral service. She’s rejoicing in heaven!

More to Read:

1. Anderson University Alumni, alumni@anderson.edu

2. Church of God Missions Magazines, various issues from 1961-1978.

3. US Federal Census

4. Ancestry.com
5. "Bethany Hospital." History of Wyandotte County, Kansas: and its people. Edited by Perl Wilbur Morgan, p. 413-415.  Vol. 1
6. Edna's Embroidered Signature
7. Findagrave #116965706

Places to visit in KS.

1. New Life Family (formerly First Church of God), 4835 Shawnee Drive, Kansas City, KS. 913-262-8048
2. Bethany Methodist Hospital  (org. 1892) stood at the corner of 12th & Reynolds, Kansas City, KS until July 2001 when it closed. Stand at that corner and imagine all the babies born there! 
3. Providence Hospital's Medical Museum in the Main Entrance Lobby. (Contains two cabinets of Bethany Hospital & Nursing School memorabilia.), 8929 Parallel, Kansas City, KS.

4. Maple Woods Memorial Lawn Cemetery, Emporia, KS


Citation: "Edna Thimes." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 12 August 2018. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder

LAURA ELIZABETH "Bess" INGALLS WILDER (1867 – 1957) = Pioneer, Schoolteacher, Columnist, Author. Best known for her book called "Little House on the Prairie." The semi-fictional television series starring Michael Landon as Pa and Melissa Gilbert as Laura was based on her autobiographical books written for children. Born on February 7, 1867, in Wisconsin, she was the second child of Charles and Caroline Quiner Ingalls.

When Laura was three, the Ingalls moved to Kansas, traveling through Missouri, to the Verdigris River, ten miles from the present-day town of Independence. Pa built a log home there, near an Indian trail. The following year they moved back to Wisconsin. She didn't come back to Kansas until 1894 when she passed through the state on her way south to Mansfield, Missouri. At that time, Mansfield boasted a Methodist and a Presbyterian church, but not a Congregational one like Laura's Pa had helped organize in DeSmet, SD.

Laura married Almonzo James Wilder (1857-1949) or "Manly" as she called him, in 1885 and homesteaded near De Smet, Dakota Territory. They had two children, a daughter named Rose Wilder Lane (1886-1968), who became a famous journalist after she grew up and a boy who lived only a few weeks. Mama Bess and Manly were married 64 years. Manly passed away at the age of 92 and Laura, three days after she turned 90.

Sunday was a day not only to worship God in church, but also a day to visit with friends pioneer farmers might not see all week. Laura's Pa once gave three dollars to a church bell fund and the Wilders were active in the building of a Methodist Church in Spring Valley, MN in 1876. After coming to Missouri, Laura and Almanzo attended Methodist camp meetings.

A Quote by Laura Ingalls Wilder:

"Our ideal home should be made by a man and woman together."

Manly built this first home for Laura in Mansfield, Missouri. Our Tour Guide is standing on the front porch. 

Interesting Genealogical Fact: Laura was a Mayflower descendant on her paternal (father's) side. 

More to Read: (This is a short list of the books written about Laura Ingalls Wilder.)

1. Laura Ingalls Wilder: Little House in the Ozarks. Ed. By Stephen W. Hines.

Thomas Nelson, 1991.

2.100 Authors Who Shaped World History. By Christine N. Perkins. 1996.

3. Laura Ingalls Wilder's Fairy Poems. Compiled by: Stephen W. Hines.1998.

4. Who Were They Really? The True Stories Behind Famous Characters. By

Susan Beth Pfeffer. 1999.

5. Visiting the Homesites of Laura Ingalls Wilder with Barb Hawkins VHS.

Camelot Studios, 2000.

6. Laura Ingalls Wilder, Storyteller of the Prairie. by Ginger Wadsworth

7. Little House Traveler: Writings from Laura Ingalls Wilder's Journeys

Across America. By Laura Ingalls Wilder. Harper-Collins; 2006.

8. Laura Ingalls Wilder: Farm Journalist. Ed. By Stephen W Hines. 2007.

Missouri Legends: Famous People from the Show-Me State. By John W.

Brown., 2008.

9. The Life of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Author of The Little House on the Prairie. Donald Zochert. 1976.

10. The Ghost in the Little Hill: A Life of Rose Wilder Lane. William Holtz. 1993.

11. Pamela Smith Hill's website on Laura

12. Pepin, Wisconsin website 

13. Walnut Grove, Minnesota website 

14. Burr Oak, Iowa website

15. DeSmet, South Dakota website

16. Missouri Death Certificate: #11919
17. Findagrave # 1625

Writings by Laura Ingalls Wilder: Little House in the Big Woods (1932);

Farmer Boy (1933); Little House on the Prairie (1935);On the Banks of Plum Creek (1937); By the Shores of the Silver Lake (1939); The Long Winter (1940);Little Town on the Prairie (1941); These Happy Golden Years (1943); and The First Four Years (1971);

poetry such as  "The Sunshine Fairy"

Book by Rose Wilder Lane: Woman’s Day Book of American Needlework. By Rose Wilder Lane. Simon & Schuster, New York, 1963. 

Listen to: 

49th Annual Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant: The Hard Winter Radio Play  

For more PBS specials, see this list. 

Remember the little girl who played Laura on TV? Her name was Melissa Gilbert. Check this out: www.modernprairie.com

Places to Visit in MO. & KS:

1. Kansas Travel Guide

2. Missouri Travel Guide

3. Rocky Ridge Farm, 3068 Highway A, Mansfield, MO. 65704

4. Laura Ingalls Wilder Library. Mansfield, MO

5. Mansfield, Mo. Cemetery

6. Little House On the Prairie log house replica, US Hwy 75, Independence, Ks. (13 miles SW of Independence).

Our Field Trip:
I finally found the photo I snapped of the replica of the Ingalls cabin the first weekend of October, 1992. My husband, son, and I were on a weekend holiday to Coffeyville, KS. for the 100th Anniversary of the Dalton Raid on the Banks and we veered over to Independence, KS. to see it on the way down.
My great-grandparents owned a café on Main Street and the Farmers Motel in Coffeyville, in 1892 and were "front row" witnesses to the original bank robberies.

Extras For the (Home) Educator:

1. The History Chicks featured article

2. Laura Ingalls Wilder Frontier Girl website

3. Garden of Praise website on Wilder

4. Here is a Sunbonnet Card inspired by Laura.
5. Homeschooling Unit Study and Lapbook Ideas 
6. A printable Laura Ingalls Wilder quote
7. Kansas Trading Card! 
8. Actress YouTube Interviews - 
Laura Ingalls Wilder (Melissa Gilbert)
Nellie Olson (Alison Amgrim) 
9. Vintage Photographs of the Ingalls family & tombstone photograph of Rose Wilder Lane 

10. Coloring Sheets by Cheryl Harness

Citation: "Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 12 July 2018. History Nut of Missouri, USA. 

Mrs. Clara Stover

Clara Mae (Lewis) Stover (1882-1975) = Candy Queen. Entrepreneur. She was born to Lorenzo and Mary Ann (Jenkins) Lewis in Iowa on September 25.

She first met her future husband as a young lady in her early twenties, but did not marry Russell (1888-1954), son of John and Emma Stover until her late twenties (1911). Their first home was a farm in Canada, but they soon decided farming wasn't for them. They eventually returned to the United States and Russell found work in the food industry. As an industrious wife, Clara made homemade candies in her kitchen that he sold locally.

In 1921, before they moved to Denver, Colorado, Russell partnered with Christian Nelson (1893-1992) to sell Nelson's Eskimo Pie invention. Meanwhile, Clara continued making candy in the kitchen of their bungalow home. She mixed up candy in small batches in pots and hand-dipped cordial cherries into chocolate. She named her business "Mrs. Stover's Bungalow Candies" and she became known for them. Her business expanded from their home to several stores and a factory in Kansas City during the Great Depression and war years. 

The couple took on the care of a distant relative's five children for several years and four years after adopting their daughter, Gloria (1928-1985), they relocated their headquarters to Kansas City, MO. In 1943, the company name was changed to Russell Stover Candies. 

Clara carried on the candy business after Russell's death in 1954 until she retired and sold the business in 1960. She passed away at the age of 93 in 1975 and was buried next to Mr. Stover in the Mount Moriah Cemetery Mausoleum in Kansas City.

Mrs. Stover's Bungalow Candy Delivery Truck. c. 1927

More to Read:
1. Clara Stover of Russell Stover Candies. By Jane F. Flynn.
2. Dictionary of Missouri Biography. By Lawrence O. Christensen, William E. Foley, & Gary Kremer. p. 728. Retrieved from Google Books.
3. Russell Stover Chocolate History
4. Social Security Death Index: U.S., 1937-1998. Surnames from L through Z. Family Tree Maker CD by Broderbund.
5. Smithsonian
6. Russell Stover, Robinson Library
7. The Eskimo Pie Corporation Records, National Museum of American History
8. Kansas State Historical Society Trading Card
9. Missouri Women, Clara Stover
10. Candy Hall of Fame
11. "Dad-ventures: Historic Names and Cemeteries in Kansas City. By Shannon Carpenter. October 22, 2015. Visit KC
12. Russell Stover's Kansas Trading Card! 

13. Johnson County, KS History
14. Findagrave #22317 and  #21858

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Eskimo Pie Commercial  

Russell Stover Commercial

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Places to Visit:

1. Sweet Tooth Marker, Kansas City International Airport, 601 Brasilia Ave, Parking Lot C, Kansas City
2. Russell Stover Headquarters, 1206 Main St, Kansas City,
3. Russell Stover Candy Stores

4. Former Residences: (1935) 803 West 54th Terr., Kansas City and 5805 Mission Drive, Mission Hills, KS. (please respect the privacy of the homeowners)
5. Mount Moriah's Mausoleum, Holmes Road (south of 435 Hwy), Kansas City

Citation: "Mrs. Clara Stover." Written by Dolores J. Rush. 2 February 2018. History Nut of Missouri, USA.