Chasing History: Exploring My Ancestral Roots - Post #8
by Tonya Graham McQuade
When Mike and I initially arrived in Centralia, our first stop was at the address I had written down thinking it was the cemetery. It was actually a funeral home – oops. The helpful woman there told us to go to City Hall, the next street over, to ask for assistance with where to find the graves we were looking for: those of my great-great grandparents, Francis “Frank” Marion Traughber and his wife, Mariah “Marnie” Agnes Bryson Traughber.
Initially, I must admit I wasn’t sure the woman to whom we spoke was going to be very helpful. She didn’t seem especially friendly. Then, however, I told her my family connections to Centralia – that I wasn’t just a California tourist but the descendant of one of their early pioneers, and she lit up. She pulled out a map, gave us lots of instructions, and when we actually got to the section of the cemetery to which she had directed us, we found her pulling up in her car to make sure we found the right place.
And we did! There, in the first row Mike looked, he saw the headstones and called me over from the row where I had started. We also saw headstones for several other family members, including my GGG Grandmother, Frank’s mother, Elizabeth Crawford Traughber.
Francis “Frank” Marion Traughber and his wife, Mariah “Marnie” Agnes Bryson Traughber, wed on February 27, 1868 in Audrain County, Missouri, and lived to celebrate 59 years of marriage and the births of nine children – all of whom lived to adulthood. I find both of those facts to be pretty remarkable!
The fourth of those children was my great grandfather, William Francis Traughber (1874-1947), who I wrote about in my previous Kirksville posts. While he eventually moved to Southern California along with his wife, Nora Petree Traughber, his parents and several of his siblings stayed in Centralia, where they now are buried.
Frank was born to Robert Emanuel Traughber (1828-1867) and Elizabeth Catherine Crawford (1827-1909) on 12 Feb 1848 in Adairville, Logan County, Kentucky. They were farmers in Logan County (as listed in 1850 Census) and around 1855 moved to St. Francois County in Missouri, just south of St. Louis (according to Frank’s obituary). They do not appear in the 1860 Census records, but by 1862, they had moved to Audrain County, Missouri, for it was there that Frank’s father, who went by Emanuel, enlisted as a Confederate soldier in August 1862. He joined in the army of Gen. Sterling Price, serving in various Cavalry units over the course of the war. Emanuel died in 1867, but Elizabeth continued living in Centralia, Boone County, MO until she died in 1909.
Marnie was born 13 Jan 1949 in Boone County, Missouri to Solomon Bryson (1805-1867) and Lucretia “Cresey” Hendron (1807-1890), both from Madison County, Kentucky. Marnie’s family had moved to Boone County by 1831, for that was when her older brother John William was born there. Her father also worked as a farmer.
After Frank and Marnie were wed in 1868, they established their home in Saling, Audrain County, northwest of Centralia. There were born their first seven children: Stella Lee (1869), Hattie Belle (1870), Elizabeth “Lizzie” P. (1873), William Francis (1874), Leslie Bryson (1877), Ida Lou (1880), and Myrtle Francis “Fannie” (1882). After the family moved to Centralia in Boone County, two more sons were born: Charles “Carl” Weaver (1886) and George Burnett “Bernie” (1889).
Frank continued working as a farmer and stock raiser, listing that as his occupation in both the 1870 and 1880 Census; but by 1886, the family had moved to Centralia, for that’s where their son Charles was born. It’s also where my great grandfather, William Francis Traughber, graduated from Centralia High School, probably in 1892.
In Centralia, Frank began working in the milling business (1900 Census), then later as a hardware salesman (1910 Census). Soon after this, he was appointed as Centralia’s Postmaster, a position he held for eight years during the Wilson administration, and he shows up in various U.S. Congressional records (as well as the 1920 Census) because postmaster appointments required congressional approval. He also served several terms on the Board of Education. His wife died in July 1927, and by 1930 he was living with his daughter Ida Lou, widowed and without an occupation (1930 Census). He died the following year in September 1931.
When Mike and I visited the cemetery, it was a sunny Missouri spring day. Weather reports had threatened rain, so I was glad we were able to avoid bad weather. We were able to walk among the various headstones and see lots of family names, including Frank and Marnie’s daughters Elizabeth Traughber (1873-1943), Stella Lee Johnson (1869-1919), and Hattie Belle Skaggs (1870-1941), and son Leslie Bryson Traughber (1877-1905), as well as their spouses. There was also a giant headstone for Zed Bryson, who I’m sure must be related, but I’m not sure how. He wasn’t one of their children or nephews, as far as I can tell, but his headstone is prominently there with the other family members.
Centralia had not originally been on the “itinerary” when I planned for the trip with my parents – my dad had always been interested in seeing Kirksville since he’d heard his mother talk about it, but I hadn’t heard him say anything about Centralia. It was after doing more research that I knew that I wanted to visit – and after hearing me talk about it, I could tell my dad wanted to see it, too. He and my mom had joined Mike and me in Missouri on our fourth day there, so they were not with us for that first visit.
Mike flew home on the fifth day, after spending a day with my parents and me in St. Louis at Gateway Arch National Park (he left before the Kirksville leg). After our visit to Kirksville, though, my parents and I decided to make the brief detour to see Centralia again, as well as to see Mexico, Missouri, where my dad’s Uncle Frank (his mother’s brother) had been born, and where his grandfather William Francis Traughber had first practiced as a Doctor of Osteopathy after graduating from A.T. Still’s College of Osteopathy (see Post #3).
Back in St. Louis, I dropped my parents off at the airport, then set out on my own for my final destination: the Missouri Civil War Museum. I knew, for purposes of my book, this would be an important stop, so I headed off to Jefferson Barracks with high hopes.
Check out my next post to learn more about the Missouri Civil War Museum.
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