Roy Malone (1890 - 1957)

Born 25 Feb 1890 in Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, United States

Ancestors

Died 12 Nov 1957 at age 67 in Salem, Marion, Oregon, United States

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Biography

Roy Malone’s cremated remains were not initially taken after his death and were available at the Oregon State Hospital to be claimed by anyone who is related. In September 2019 the family received the ashes. More information about unclaimed cremains at OSH is available at http://www.oregon.gov/oha/osh/Pages/cremains.aspx A book by David Maisel and a short documentary film by Ondi Timoner & Robert James, both entitled "Library of Dust" also provide more information.

Roy was born on 2/25/1890 in Dayton, in southwestern Ohio. His parents were also both born in Ohio. His mother, Susanna Beard, was born in 1857 and his father, John Malone, was born in 1853. They were married about 1875. John & Susanna had 8 children, all born in Ohio. They included: Alva E. (born in 1876), Louella (1879), Edna (1882), Charles (1885), Earl (1887), Roy (1890), Raymond (1893), and Lawrence (1898).

Another child in the home, was Katherine Bell “Katie” Malone, who was born in January 1872. It seems she was adopted or may have been John’s child by a previous relationship. It appears she was not Susanna’s biological child. Katie’s birth predates Susanna and John’s marriage by about 3 years and Susanna claimed having given birth to only 8 children with all 8 being alive in 1900 and 1910. Nevertheless Katie always referred to her maiden name as Malone.

In the census of 1880 (before Roy was born) his parents were living with 3 children (Kate, Alva, & Louella) in Spring Valley, Greene County, Ohio, a small village in the Dayton area where John Malone was a farm laborer. Two months before Roy was born his 17 year old sister Katie married George Edgar Strickle on 12/25/1889 in Ohio.

At the time of the 1900 census, Roy was 10 years old, attending school and living with his parents and siblings in Spring Valley. About 1904 Roy’s father suffered a stroke and experienced some level of paralysis the rest of his life.

In 1908 Roy told the police that he had been a sailor on the US battleship Maine although no records have been found to confirm that. He said after the ship landed in San Francisco, he “tramped” his way from the Bay Area in California to northwestern Oregon. In 12/11/1908 in Columbia County, Oregon west of Portland, Roy witnessed or committed the murder of Robert Livingstone while robbing his home. Initially Roy denied any connection with the crime. Although he was suspected, he was never charged with the murder. On 12/30/1908 Roy was arrested for burglarizing the residence of H. H. Blake. Then Roy turned state’s evidence and testified that George Murgatroyd had committed the murder of Livingstone. On 7/18/1909 a jury acquitted Murgatroyd of murder. Roy was then indicted and convicted of robbery and sent to the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem, Oregon on 7/26/1909. He was listed as an inmate at the penitentiary during the 1910 census.

Roy’s father died at his home in Spring Valley, Ohio in 1915. The surviving children named in his obituary were Alva, Raymond, Charles, Lawrence and Louella. However Roy, Edna, Earl and Kate were not mentioned. It is suspected Edna and Earl had died between 1910 and 1915, but Roy and Kate were definitely alive when their father passed away. Roy’s mother died in January 1924 and Roy’s brother Charles died of cancer in Michigan in 1932. . Roy has not been found in the census of 1920, 1930 or 1940. He never married and he seems to have led a nomadic life wandering around the western states. It is believed he was arrested for vagrancy in Billings, Montana in July 1931 but was released for lack of evidence. He was living in Montana when his social security card was issued. That would have been some time between 1936 when cards were first issued and 1956 when he was hospitalized. When Roy’s sister Louella (Malone) Knee died in Ohio on 3/17/1941, her obituary said Roy was living in Wyoming, but gave no specific town. The cities in which the other siblings were living were listed: Alva was in Dayton, Ohio; Lawrence was in South Bend, Indiana; Raymond was in Alberta Canada; and Kate was living in Orlando, Florida.

In 1944 Roy was described as a “transient” when he was arrested in Marion County, Oregon for vagrancy. In 1957 he was living in Brooks, an agriculture community in Marion County, between Portland and Salem, Oregon. On 1/29/1957 Roy was admitted to the Oregon State Hospital, a residential facility in Salem for the treatment of people with mental illness. He was just 66 but was said to have “senility with senile dementia.” After being a patient at the institution for 10 months Roy died there of “senility” on 11/12/1957. He was 67 years old. No autopsy was performed.

Brother Alva died in 1944 and Raymond died in Alberta in November 1956. Roy was not mentioned in Raymond’s obituary. It is likely the family had no idea of Roy’s whereabouts or circumstances. Only two of Roy’s siblings survived him. Kate (Malone) Strickle died in 1960 and Lawrence died in 1980.

Sources

• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/87113030/roy-malone