Have you ever had a family story that you just couldn’t prove? Did you give up on it?
That’s what I did with a story my grandmother included in one of her letter.
Guy and Al lived & died (I think) in St. Joe Mo. William was drowned in the Mo river while we still lived at Lansing.
I tried to find an obituary for William Hutchinson up and down the Missouri River for the right time period. As I did more and more research on the family, I kept finding William alive and with a family. Thus, I gave up on proving the drowning story.
As I was transcribing a letter in Albert Hutchinson’s pension file regarding Guy Hutchinson, I realized that it listed identified siblings of Guy.
but at the time his father applied for the pension there were only six living children: Albert G., William H., Howard E., Winnie M., and Eleanora M., also Guy Thomas.
I have ten children for the family of Albert Hutchinson and his wife Julia Harding, including Albert G., Wililam Henry, Winnie Mae, Elnora and Guy Thomas. But I don’t have Howard Hutchinson.
Knowing the family was in the area of St. Joseph, Missouri, I decided to search Newspapers.com for a Howard Hutchinson between 1890 and 1920. And I found articles about his death. He drowned in the Missouri River in 1905. (Note: later searches of Ancestry and FamilySearch have so far not found this Howard Hutchinson.)
The following is from an article in the “Brief Local News” section of the Wathena Repubican (Wathena, KS) dated 2 June 1905:
The body of Howard Hutchinson who was drowned in the Missouri river during a severe storm the evening of March 27, while attempting to cross in a skiff, with four companions from a point opposite the water-works pumping station, was recovered near Winthrop Thursday afternoon. The body, which is badly decomposed, was brought to St. Joseph and conveyed to Meierhoffer’s morgue. The burial was Friday in Oakland cemetery. Hutchinson was twenty-four years of age, unmarried and lived in the French Bottoms. His body is the last of the five victims of the disaster to be recovered. Hutchinson formerly lived in Burr Oak Township.
Another article found was in the 26 May 1905 issue of the St. Joseph News-Press titled, Last Body Is Recovered
Last Body is Recovered
The Remains of Howard Hutchinson
Drowned March 27, Are Found
Near WinthropThe body of Howard Hutchinson, who was drowned in the Missouri River during a severe storm the evening of March 27, while attempting to cross in a skiff, with four companions, from a point opposite the waterworks pumping station, was recovered near Winthrop yesterday afternoon. The body which is badly decomposed, was brought to St. Joseph and conveyed to Meierhoffer’s morgue. The burial was this afternoon, in Oakland cemetery.
Hutchinson was twenty-four years of age, unmarried and lived in the French Bottoms northwest of the city. His body is the last of the five victims of the disaster to be recovered.
Now comes the task of locating more information on this Howard Hutchinson!