‘Orphaned’ in the City

When researching a family, is there a block of time where you wished more records existed? Often the answer to this might be between 1880 and 1900 because of the lack of federal census records. Others might respond with prior to 1850 because of the lack of census records that identify those living in the household.

For my grandmother, the answer to that question is between 1913 when her mother died and 1918 when her sister’s first child was born. The family was living in Olathe, Kansas when Winnie Mae Hutchinson Currey died in September 1913. By 1918, their oldest daughter, Myrtle Irene Currey, was married in Dodge City, Kansas.

When Winnie Currey died in 1913, my grandmother, Winnie Currey was 10 years, 2 months and 24 days old. My grandmother’s siblings included:

• Herbert Miles Currey was born 3 Apr 1895 making him 18 years, 5 months, 20 days old when his mother died
• Myrtle Irene Currey was born 11 Jan 1899 making her 14 years 8 months and 12 days old when her mother died
• Mary Lela Currey was born 17 Aug 1901 making her 12 years 1 month and 6 days old when her mother died
• Earnest Oran Currey was born 5 Apr 1906 making him 7 years 5 moths and 18 days old when his mother died
• Alma Jean Currey was born 5 Apr 1912 making her 1 year 5 months and 18 days when her mother died

My grandmother told me that she and her siblings were sent to a children’s home.

She also shared some details in her letters.

Feb 1982

Mother died in May. We went to the Children’s Home June 11 — Herb didn’t go and Myrtle wasn’t there long til she went to Aunt Mary’s in Denver Col.

Mary and I stayed together till she got married. But to go back – The court took Littens license away so dad had to take us back till Mary & I finished grade school. Then he was going to put us back into a home. I got Aunt Joe De Shazer to take Alma & found a home for Earnest. Then Mary & I lied about our ages went to work. I always kept track of the kids as I do now.

As noted in the blog post, U – Unknown Genealogy PhotoADay, I found a Rev. Charles Litten in the 1913 directory for Kansas City. He was identified as the secretary and general manager of Home Conserving Association of America at 2610 Cleveland Avenue.

Over the years, I have tried to document my grandmother’s account of her childhood. The first piece of documentation I located was a 1920 census record showing 7 year old Alma Jean Curry in the household of N. S. and Josephine De Shayert.

The city directories for Kansas City provide some clues.

• In 1914, there is a Myrtile I Currey living at 3816 Paseo.

Curious as to whom else might be living at 3816 Paseo, a search of the city directories for the keyword, “3816 Paseo” in 1914 provides some additional information.

Also living at 3816 Paseo was Myrtle’s aunt, Elizabeth Jane Currey Rigby, wife of Robert M. Rigby.

• In 1915, there is a Hiriam Currey living at 3840 Euclid. Hiriam was working as a teamster.

• In 1916, Hiram M Currey was still living at 3840 Euclid. No occupation was listed. His daughter, Myrtle was living at 2808 Peery avenue in Kansas City, Missouri

• In 1919, there is a Hiram M. Currey living at 4108 Penn Av. Hiram Currey was working as a baker.

The ‘Aunt Mary’ mentioned in the letters was Mary Currey Spears, wife of John H. Spears. In 1916, there is a John H. Spears living in Denver boarding at 1760 Pennsylvania.

The 1910 census for Denver does show a John H. Spears with a wife named May at 1760 Pennsylvania.

Thus, Myrtle could easily have gone to Denver to live with an aunt.

Unfortunately, Mary and Winnie are too young to appear in the city directories. A search of Newspapers.com for notice of Mary Currey’s marriage turned up an article listing the marriage licenses that were issued in the 31 Jan 1919 issue of The Kansas City Times.

Broadening the search to look for Mary Currey between 1915 and 1920 in the Kansas City newspapers unearthed a very interesting article. According to the article, Mary and Winnie both graduated from Horace Mann School.

Horace Mann Graduates

A Class of Eighty-Eight to Receive Diplomas Thursday

Commencement exercises of the Horace Mann School will be held Thursday afternoon at the Ivanhoe Congregational Church. Thirty-ninth Street and Euclid Avenue. Dr. W. S. Abernethy will address the class. The graduates are:

Mary L. Currey

Winnie L. Currey

“Horace Mann Graduates,” The Kansas City Times (Kansas City, Missouri), 6 June 1916, page 3; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : viewed online 9 August 2021).

So, in 1916, the two girls, Mary and Winnie, graduated from Horace Mann School. Horace Mann School was located at the corner of 39th and Euclid. In 1916, their father was living at 3840 Euclid.

According to my grandmother, Mary and Winnie lived with their aunt, Eleanor Hutchinson Northern after leaving school. While living with them, they supposedly worked in North Kansas City. Since Eleanor is buried in Liberty, I had always assumed that she and her husband, Zachariah were living in Liberty at the time. However, the 1916 city directory for Kansas City lists a Zachariah Northern living at 1225 E 23rd – in North Kansas City.

I wasn’t very observant when I first looked at the directory information for Zachariah Northern. I didn’t realize his listing was in a section devoted to North Kansas City, Clay County, Missouri. Once I realized the difference, I searched the North Kansas City entries for the CURRY surname and found Myrtle living at the same address!

Since Myrtle Currey is living with Zachariah Northern, it is also probable that her younger sisters, Mary and Winnie, were also living with the Northern family.

Thanks to the use of city directories and newspapers, I’ve been able to find pieces of evidence that support the stories my grandmother told me. Having previously researched Hutchinson and Currey descendants has also helped figure out some of these clues.

However, there are still questions about what happened to these children after their mother’s death.

• Where was Herbert Currey living after his mother died?
• When, how and why did Herbert Currey get to Utah where he married his wife in 1916?
• When, how and why did Myrtle Currey get to Dodge City where she was married in 1917?
• If Zachariah and Eleanor Northern were living on E 23rd in 1916, and if Mary and Winnie were living with them, how did the girls get to North Kansas City to work?
• Where was Earnest Currey during this time?
• Was ‘Aunt Joe DeShazer’ an actual aunt or just a close family friend? If an aunt, how was she related?