Burl Teloid Figgins

was born on 29 May 1892 in Shelby County, Illinois. Burl married Osa Fitzpatrick on 25 December 1916. They evidently lived in Sheridan, Illinois for sometime in 1917, because he registered for the WWI draft in LaSalle County. In 1920, they lived in Big Spring Township of Shelby County and had one daughter. By the 1930 Census they were living in California with their two daughters. According to city directories for the Los Angeles area, they were living on East California Avenue in 1928 and employed as a janitor; in Del Sur in 1930; and in 1932 he is listed as a Palmdale rancher.

According to a newspaper article announcing his second marriage, Burl worked for the Glendale School District from 1925 to 1932. He then moved to North Dakota for 10 years.

During WWII he served with the Coast Guard and then retired to his ranch in Yakima, Washington. He is listed in an Oregon city directory in 1943, so he must have lived there for a time also. Osa died 2 November 1953 while they lived in Washington and is buried in Yelm Cemetery in Yelm, Washington. She was born 16 April 1892.

On 17 October 1954, Burl married Nadia Neuman Hocker in Glendale, California. They lived in Del Mar, California at this time.

Burl died on 27 May 1982 at the age of 89. He was buried on 2 June 1982 at Montecito Memorial Park in Loma Linda, California.

Arthur James Figgins

was born on 28 June 1890 in Shelby County, Illinois, the first child of Jacob and Laura Figgins. His mother was just sixteen years old when he was born. When he was 20, in 1910, he was working as a farmhand and living with a neighbor of his parents. By 1917 he was living in California where he signed in for the WWI Registration. There he states that he has a disability in his left hand and wrist. From about 1917 until 1930, he lived with his uncle Will and aunt Della according to census records.

He was married to Edna Vivian Markham, but I don't know when, where, or how long they were married. In her obituary in 1986, Art is called her beloved husband; but the 1940 census reports his marital status as d. (divorced).

Art ran a street car for about 12 years and drove a bus for many more after that. Art died on 25 July 1965 at the age of 75 in Stockton, California. He was buried on the 29th of July at the Park View Cemetery in Manteca, California. He had no children.

Fourteen Children

Jacob and Laura had fourteen children; the first was born in 1890 and the last in 1919. By the 1920 census, only six were still at home, the rest were already out on their own.

The children in birth order are: Arthur, Burl, Roscoe, Gaylord, Eldon, Doris (sometimes spelled Dorris), Thomas, Henry, Dorothy, Irvin, Elma, Mark, Osa, and Nada. Two, Art and Doris, had no children and the rest bore 37 grandchildren for Jacob and Laura. Some of the older grandchildren are the same age and the two youngest daughters of Jacob and Laura because of the 29 years that separate the oldest from the youngest!

My next fourteen posts will be a short biography of what I know about Jacob and Laura's children. If there are family members who have more information, I would love to hear about it. Please send me any stories that you might know.

Apologies Rendered!

I really hate it when someone starts something and doesn't continue. Like this and my other blogs. I apologize for getting started and not continuing, but I thought I needed to make some plans, find a direction that I wanted to take. You know, be organized! But, no matter what I have done - more research, more data entry in my Roots Magic database program, attending conferences, watching webinaires - I am not any more "prepared" for this. SO I AM JUST GOING TO DO IT!?!

In about three months we will again be joining cousins in Strasburg for our annual Figgins Reunion. Since many of us travel to the area on Saturday and stay over night for the big day on Sunday, we have an informal gathering Saturday night to get started on our catching up on what has been happening in our lives. On Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning our paths cross at the various cemeteries we visit to see the old graves and some more recent ones. We drive around the area and point out where the old generation lived and farmed in Big Spring Township to keep our own memories alive or to share with our children and grandchildren.

As we get older and so do our children, it's harder to get them to attend. They're not only busy with their own families but do not have the connection that we still have to this older generation. So knowing this, maybe they'll read this blog and learn about all those who have gone on before.

Here we have a family photo of Jacob and Laura and their fourteen children. All of them were in attendance at the anniversary party for the parents, except Eldon. If you look close, he is the one that was superimposed in the photo in front of the window. Our near future will be taking a closer look at these children!

 

 







Spain Cemetery Stone

It's hard to believe that it has been sixteen years since we completed this project. I think there have been visitors from around the country who have seen our stone. We have found since it was placed that Hester and Henry Blyestone are also buried here  - the two graves in front of 11 and 10. Hester is a sister to Absolom.

  You can see the back and the front of the stone in the photo below. 

A Lifetime of Discovery

This year, on the day after Christmas, it will be 145 years since Grandpa Jacob was born. He was 23 years younger than his oldest brother Eli. Just think about the changes in the world during his lifetime! He was born in 1867, two years after the Civil War and died in 1963 during the infancy of space travel. The list below is just a few of the inventions and discoveries that took place just during the 96 years he was alive.

Grandpa and our Wedding Gift

Jacob postponed his winter trip to California to attend our wedding in September of 1962.  He liked to attend the weddings of his grandchildren. He was there for the event and we had a wonderful time. He even brought us two wedding gifts.

The one was a vegetable bowl from the dime store that we were to use every day and it would remind us of him. It was a pretty china bowl, cream colored with some little pink flowers on it. I thought it was very pretty and special and wanted to put it in the cupboard for special occasions, but Harold said no, grandpa wanted us to use it. And so we did, almost every day it would hold the potatoes or vegetable or jello we were having for dinner. We used it often and for quite a few years until one day when it broke. Now it has been fifty years since we were married and we still remember that bowl and grandpa.

The second gift he gave us – we have no idea what it was!

Grandpa Jacob never got to California that winter. He ended up getting sick and in the spring he passed away. He was 96 years old.