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James Abraham Simmons
b.6 Aug 1899 Stockton, Cedar, Missouri, United States
d.15 Apr 1991 Walnut Creek, Contra Costa, California, United States
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Family History: by James A. Simmons April 1983 - http://www.genealogyforum.com/gedcom/gedcom8a/gedr8273.ged I will start with the Simmons first, my Father was born May 6, 1862, as you know that was during the Civil War. He passed away in 1938. My Mother, Ella Crabtree, was born in 1861 and passed away in 1941. My Grandmother, my Father's mother, was Martha Butner Simmons and was born in 1840. She married a Captain James Simmons, who was killed in the Civil War on the Union Army side. They lived near Stockton, Missouri and had two sons, Tom Bent and two years later, my father, James Grant Simmons. They of course being boys, and so forth didn't take kindly to a step-father when my Grandmother, Martha Simmons married again. She married a Dr. Sampsel. They had quite a family after that, but we never knew of them very much. Some of them moved, they did not linger around Stockton. Some of them went to Oregon as they grew up, so we never heard much of the Sampsel side of the family. When my father was fourteen years old, and his brother was sixteen years old, they decided to come to California. By one way or another they got hold of a couple of horses, and started riding to California. They got out into Kansas, which was the next state west of Missouri. My Father's brother, Tom Bent, got cold feet and he decided it would be a pretty rough journey so he turned around and went back to Missouri. My Father continued on, to the Southern part of the United States and finally out to California. He went down through Arizona, Mexico and picked up quite a few Spanish words. He remembered these for many, many years. But, after he was in California for a few years, he returned to Stockton and married my Mother, Ella Crabtree. My Mother's Father was Mason Crabtree. He was struck with gold fever and went to California. He was never heard from again, we don't know if he was killed or died of natural causes. Her Mother, Mrs. Darnell Crabtree, only lived a few of years after he left. She died of a broken heart. That left Ella Crabtree alone to care for herself at eight years of age. Ella had to go live with farmers around the vicinity of Stockton, Missouri, to work on their farms and in their homes for a meager salary. Being an eight year old, she didn't get much schooling, but a lot of hard work. She survived many years, and was given hand-me-down clothing from the families she worked with, and this was all she could get. When she was sixteen years old, she decided she should have some salary, so they gave her 50 cents a week. For this she worked seven days a week, 365 days a year, from daylight to after dark, on farms and helping around the house and doing other chores. The site of Stockton, Missouri was 40 acres of land given by the Crabtrees for the town site of Stockton, which now stands. Records are in the abstract and title company books in Stockton, if you care to look this information up, I did. Joe Hendricks, an old timer there, who is a few years older than I, knew all about it. He knew all the records and what transpired. I would like to tell you a little more about my Mother's side of the family, but most of them left Stockton and vicinity where they were living on farms and moved down into Oklahoma. They moved to Elk City and survived there. One time we were in that part of the country and I made it a point to stop by and see how they were. I found their names, Crabtree, in the telephone directory and checked with them; we went out one evening after dinner and spent a few hours with the family. They were still living there, a very nice group of people, fine people, but that is about all I know about my Mother's side of the family. My Grandmother, before she married Capt. James Simmons was a Butner. There were quite a few Butners living around the countryside of Stockton, Missouri. She was a remarkable woman, a very pretty woman, very nice, I knew her quite well when I was a youngster around the Stockton area. My Mother and Father had five daughters and one son. Oma Belle was a triplet, the other two triplet daughters died shortly after childbirth. The other three children were daughters Ethel and Ella, I was the only son. Oma Belle married Tom Campbell at an early age. They lived on an adjoining farm, that my Father had. They had one son, Frank Campbell. Tom was not a very good provider, and Oma had to bring her son, Frank, and live with my Mother and Father. After several years she married Perle Oldham. They had two sons and two daughters. They were Emerson, Elton, Ruby and Jewell. Ruby died when she was in her late twenties, she came out to California and married a fellow, Ben Hoeffer, who lived in Richmond, California. I believe her appendix ruptured and that was the cause of her death. They had two sons, Jimmy and Eddie. My sister, Ethel, married Lon Butler at an early age, they had one child, which died at childbirth, and that ended the children. They were divorced in 1923. Ethel never married again. My sister, Ella, married Jerome Locke. He passed away in 1971. Ella passed away in September 1983. They had three children, the first one was a daughter, but she was never healthy and died after about three years. Then there were Wilson and James Locke. James passed away in 1981. He was quite a favorite of mine. References
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