For Tombstone Tuesday I thought I'd contribute the following picture and story about my great-great-uncle William Finley Eagleton.
(Thanks for taking the picture and putting it on Find-A-Grave, B.J.!)
William Finley was my grandma Beulah's uncle, her mother Louisa Adaline Eagleton's brother. He moved off to Colorado at an early age and the family never knew what became of him.
It wasn't until a while later that I unearthed a relative of Finley's -- one of his daughter's descendants. She was able to tell me what had happened and provided me with the article that I have included here. You can click on it and read it for the details. It is certainly a sad story but at the same time it is interesting to read how much reporting has changed in the last century. They didn't have any problems reporting about possible suicides nor did they refuse to reveal names to protect the identities of the innocent.
Fin's accident was just that -- an accident. I hope it was quick.
When I found out what had happened to him I told my grandmother. She said she wished that she could be given the chance to explain to her mother where her brother had gone to. He just disappeared and they never did hear from him again.
He certainly hadn't meant it that way.
William Finley Eagleton was born 2 Feb 1862 in Crawford County, Illinois, the son of Pvt. David Newton Eagleton and Margaret Jane Conrad. He married Eva Margaret Goddard on 30 April 1897 in Jamestown, Boulder Co., CO. He died of an accidental gunshot wound on 6 Jan 1902.
Bless his soul, poor man.
ReplyDeleteThough your great-grandmother may never have learned what happened to her brother, _you_ found him, _you_ uncovered the reason for his disappearance, and thanks to you, he lives again in your story. Telling someone's story is a very powerful gift! Beautifully told!
-Amy
[As a side note, my great-grandfather, Will Miller, was also a member of the Odd Fellows at around the same time as Fin...but in Niagara Falls, NY!]
Thank you for your kind words, Amy. I'm glad I was able to tell my grandmother what had happened. I was inspired to look up what became of his family in the census records and I expect that will become a future post.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading!
William Finley's son, Robert A. Eagleton, married my gr-gr-aunt, Ella Bethany Doughty, and they had 6 children together. I also found William Finley's marriage record which was typed and the transcriber messed up his wife's name. He was married to Eva Margaret Goodrich.
ReplyDeleteYou have the same date that I have for William Finley and Eva from the typed card that I found on familysearch.org. The Colorado State Archives also has her name as "Edith Goodrich" too. The transcriber who typed up the records obviously could not read "Eva Goodard" and typed "Edith Goodrich" instead of the correct name.
ReplyDeleteEva married a man by the name of Thomas Peter Barr the next year, and she had two more sons named Oved? and Hugh Barr. Thomas Barr died in 1907 at the age of 50.
I have a copy of William and Eva's wedding record except the transcriber put Edith Goodrich instead of Eva Goodard.
ReplyDeleteKathy,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your information! I would love to get copies of anything you might have on William....I do have a picture of him to show you as well. Please do contact me via the email address shown on my blog (locogirlp @ juno.com)