Ella Osborn (1862 - 1949)

Born 1862 in Tomahawk, AR

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 28 Jan 1949 at about age 87 in Kansas City, KS

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Cecil Stuerke [send private message]

Biography

Ella Osborn was born in Tomahawk, AR 1862. Her parents were Andrew J. Osborn and Julia G. Tutt. After the Civil war, her family moved to Ozark, MO, where her father was murdered in 1865. Her mother brought the family back to Arkansas.

In 1880, Ella was a servant in the household of Dr. Henry J. Gibson, of Searcy Co. AR. In 1881, Ella married James H. Gibson, a freight hauler and wagon builder. James died in Harrison, AR,1817. Ella and her daughters moved to Kansas in 1919. They went to find work, but the girls lived out there lives in Kansas City. The boys, George and Lonnie are listed in the 1920 census of both Wyandotte, Co. KS and Searcy Co. Arkansas. The boys married and lived in Harrison, Arkansas.

Ella outlived her daughter Ethel by nearly eighteen years and helped to raise her grandson Kenneth. Ella and Kenneth both lived with her daughter and son-in-law, Maude and Walter Zimmerman. Walter was lucky enough to have a good job during the depression. Walter worked as a conductor on the trolley in Kansas City. Viola, another daughter, born 1901, also liven in Kansas City and seemed to be comparatively well off

Ella didn't see too well. Kenneth and others would have to help her thread needles. Her eyesight was worse in later years. Kenneth's first wife, Christine, tells that Ella would clear the plates, sometimes before people were finished with the meal. Christine remembers Ella to have had pretty big ears and was concerned that her children might inherit them. Kenneth tells that she went to two different churches (one was Nazarene). She seemed to decide which one she was going to by either turning right or left as she left the house Sunday morning.

Ella Arkansas Gibson died Jan 28, 1949 at age 84. She is buried in Memorial Park Cemetery near her daughter, Ethel.

Obituary in Kansas City Times Thur 27 Jan 1949 Gibson - Mrs. Ella A. age 85 of 327 South Baltimore, Kansas City, Kas., passed away January 26, 1949. Survived by two sons, George and Lonnie Gibson; Harrison Ark.; 3 daughters, Mrs Goldie Kerr, 1218 Bellefountaine; Mrs. Maude Zimmerman and Mrs Viola Taylor, both of the home; ten grandchildren, nine great-grand children. Services at the Church of the Nazarene, 10th and Pacific, K.C.K Fri afternoon 2 o'clock. Interment Memorial Park cemetery. Blackman's Guardian Home .

The obituary in the Wednesday Kansas City Star also mentions that she was born in Tomahawk Arkansas.

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Sources

Correspondence with Jesse Gibson was helpful for research of Gibson research. Correspondence is attached as an image on Jesse's profile.

From interviews of Kenneth Smalley and Christine Green by Cecil Stuerke .

Footnotes

1. ↑ Entered by Cecil Stuerke, Mar 28, 2013

Acknowledgments