Ella (Fincher) Buford (1886 - 1909)

Wife of Finis Marion Buford — married 7 Apr 1907 in Bryan, Oklahoma, United States

Died 1 Nov 1909 at age 23 in Wade, Bryan, Oklahoma, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Clark Vinson [send private message]

Biography

Ella was born in 1886.

My deduction is that the Ella McDaniel mentioned in the CHOCTAW NATION MARRIAGES GROOM INDEX 1895 - 1907 was originally Ella Fincher, and that G. G. McDaniel, her first husband, died soon after their marriage. She then married Pete Buford a year and 10 months later. If it is the same Ella McDaniel who was married to Pete Buford, then she married first at age 18, almost 19.

There is a tombstone in Spring Hill Cemetery just west of Wade, Oklahoma that says: ELLA WIFE OF F. M. BUFORD BORN AUG. 18, 1886 DIED NOV 1, 1909 - at the base of the marker is: INFANT CHILD OF F. M. & ELLA BUFORD BORN AND DIED AUG 6, 1909"

My investigation found a family living in Dallas which looks like they are orphans living together: 1900 United States Federal Census > Texas > Dallas > Justice Precinct 5 > District 141, #194, 197: Fincher, Louis, Head, Sept 1881, 19, AR, AR, AR William, brother, July 1884, 16, AR, AR, AR Ella, sister, Aug 1886, 13, AR, AR, AR [corresponds with the first name and birth date on the tombstone of Ella Buford] Adolphus, brother, Oct 1888, 11, AR, AR, AR Woody, brother, Dec 1890, 9, AR, AR, AR Joseph, brother, Dec 1893, 7, AR, AR, AR

By 1910 it looks like some of the Finchers have moved to Bryan County, Oklahoma, not far from where Pete Buford lives: 1910 United States Federal Census > Oklahoma > Bryan > Township 8 > District 27, family #64, 64: Fincher, Lewis, head, 28, married once for 8 years, AR, AR, AR Artie, wife, 23, married once for 8 years, 3 children born, 1 living, TX, TN, TX Ira, son, 4, OK, AR, TX Fincher, Dolph, brother, 21, AR, AR, AR [this is Adolphus (Dolpheus) - corroborates that this is the Louis Fincher family from the 1900 census above. Louis got married and the rest of the family is gone, except for Adolphus. Also, suggests Ella is married but may have moved to Bryan County Oklahoma with Louis]

The next family in the 1910 census is Joe Neely's and Jody and Dosie Fincher are living there: Dosie was not in the 1900 Census with the other kids, so she was probably already married and may be the reason the rest of the family moved from Dallas to Bryan County, OK. Jody's data corresponds to that in the 1900 census for "Joseph" Fincher]

Family #65,65: Neely, Joe, 33, married twice, married 10 years, AR, AR, AL, out of work 20 weeks in 1909, can read and write; Dosie, 32, married twice, married 10 years, 5 children born, 3 living, AR, AR, AR; May, dau, 9, TX, AR, AR; Jewell, son, 4, TX, AR, AR; Ella, dau, 1, OK, AR, AR (could be named after Dosia Fincher Neely's dead sister Ella Buford who would have died about the time this child was born ); Fincher, Jody, bro-in-law, 18, AR, AR, AR, laborer, odd jobs, out of work 20 weeks in 1909, cannot read or write (Dosie, Dolph and Louis can all read and write).

Family #66, 66: Kelly, Abner L., 56, married once, 39 years, GA, GA, GA; Marcilla, 53, married once, 39 years, 7 children born, 4 living, KY, TN, KY; John, son, 15, TX, GA, KY; Eudsly, Bessie, grandchild, 11, TX, unk, TX (could be Endsly); [Abner and Marcilla are also buried at Spring Hill Cemetery, double stone. Abner died in 1924, no date of death recorded for Marcilla).

Family #67, 67: Mc Daniels, Alice, 35, widowed, TN, Unk, Unk (# of children left blank); Roy, 24, stepson, TX, OH, OH; Doy, 23, stepson, TX, OH, OH

a bit further away are the Bufords -

Family #137, 137: Buford, Finace M., 46, widowed, AR, AL, AL, farmer, general farm, can read and write, not out of work in 1909; Adams, Jennie, orphan child, 9, TX, UNK, UNK; Adams, Cennie, orphan child, 6, TX, UNK, UNK

Family #144, 144: Buford, Samuel D., 51, married 22 years, AR, MS, MS; Elizabeth, 50, TN, TN, TN; Iman C., 21, TX, AR, TN; Ennis M., 19, TX, AR, TN; Moses F., 18, TX, AR, TN; Paul N., 17, TX, AR, TN

1920 United States Federal Census > Oklahoma > McCurtain > Eagle > District 134 (East part, Eagletownship), family #142, 143: Neely, Joe M., 44, widowed, AR, AL, AL [Doshie Fincher Neely died in 1915 and is buried in the Denison Cemetery is McCurtain Co., OK] Virgie, dau, 10, OK, AR, AR; Joe, son, 2 6/12, OK, AR, AR

The 1910 census in Bryan County, OK clearly establishes the Finchers as the same family that was in the 1900 Dallas County census. The Ella Fincher in the 1900 census has the same birth month and year as Ella Buford. Next door to Lewis Fincher in 1910 are the Neely's who have Jody Fincher, brother-in-law, 18, AR, AR, AR living with them establishing that the wife, Dosie, is a Fincher. Dosie Fincher Neely is 32, on her second marriage, married 10 years. She is not with the family in the 1900 census, and, given she has been in her second marriage 10 years by 1910, must have already been married and gone. She may have already been in Bryan Co., when she remarried, or remarried and then moved, but the Fincher children from Dallas may have all come north to live with or near this oldest sister who would have been 22 at the time of the 1900 census, or moved north with her and her husband. A couple of houses further down is Alice McDaniels, 35, widowed, with two step-sons, 24 and 23, both TX, OH, OH, living with her, meaning their father was from Ohio. Finis (Pete) Buford lives in the same township with these people as does my great grandfather Sam Buford. Of note is that Dosie had a daughter about the same year Ella Fincher died (if Ella is Ella McDaniel Buford), and she named the child Ella. Could be coincidence, but possibly a remembrance of her next youngest sibling and only sister. The marriage records indicate Ella Fincher married G. G. McDaniel in 1905 and that Ella McDaniel married Pete Buford in 1907. I am assuming this is the same woman, but this is speculative.

My guess: the Fincher children were born in AR and came to TX with their parents. They lost their parents in Dallas Co. TX and went north to live next to, or with, their married sister Dosie Neely. Ella, at age 18 (2 mos shy of 19), married G. G. McDaniel. I cannot find any information on G. G. McDaniel, but, if he died shortly after his marriage, it is possible that Ella remarried to Pete Buford in April of 1907. She got pregnant near the end of 1908 or early in 1909 (the baby was possibly premature). She may have been pregnant before as she had been married since June of 1905, but she never had a baby survive, if so. The baby was born in Aug of 1909 and was stillborn or died the same day. Ella died 3 months later. She may have died of complications such as hemorraging that never healed, or she may have died of another illness.^[1] Or she died of sadness. At her funeral (if she was a Fincher) there were probably her four brothers and her older sister, her sister's husband and all the Neely kids, as well as all the Bufords (Sam and Sarah, Iman, Enos, Frank, and Paul) as well as the other people of the area. I suspect most of the community turned out. They buried her with her baby and Pete must have put up the stone, and it is a very nice stone, possibly the largest in the cemetery. Pete lost his first wife, shortly after losing his first baby. Ella lost her parents, her first husband, her child, and she died at 23. She was laid to rest in the primary cemetery for the area ( Wade did not yet have it's own post office or name at that time) which is northeast of town, about a mile or so from the town proper, an early casualty in the new State of Oklahoma (the current Wade Cemetery's first grave was in about 1910. Most of the Spring Hill graves are 1900 to 1920). Ella's story is a sad example of the tenuousness of life at that time and the grief which people had to endure often.

he passed away in 1909.

Sources

1. ↑ She may have had tuberculosis. Rozelle Sangster Thomas, great granddaughter of William L. Dunegan told me this: "William died from TB. as did his daughter Minta and her husband. I have not been able to find anything on Dallas' death but am guessing it to be in 1906. He may have also had TB but that is unknown." Given that they all lived near one another there is the chance she contracted TB also. In one account I read that in 1900 TB accounted for 10% of the deaths in the U.S. It is spread from an infected person's cough. It can also be spread from unpasteurized milk. There was an epidemic in the U.S. that had reached the midwest by the 1880's and American Indian populations were the last to be effected

• http://www.rootsweb.com/~okgarvin/kinard/chockbmarr.htm

CHOCTAW NATION MARRIAGES GROOM INDEX 1895 - 1907

Transcribed by MARY TURNER KINARD COPYRIGHT 27 APR 1992 Mary Kinard

B SURNAMES

BUFORD, FINIS M 43 McDANIEL, EMMA 21 7 APR 1907 WADE BR2©318 (Emma may be a transcription error - her tombstone says Ella).