Parallel Lives of Stelle and Daisy, Part 2

To recap, my paternal grandfather’s sisters, Stelle and Daisy Troutman’s lives ran a traditional path at first—marriage, children, and all that—but they asserted their independence in later years. Their lives paralleled each other’s in several ways. Though 15 years apart in age, they both married at age 21 to men with the same name, William Tell Worley, Stelle’s “Tell” being uncle to Daisy’s “Will.” Both families left Smyth County, Virginia, Stelle and Tell moving first to Missouri where their brother Clint and his wife Mary lived, then Daisy and Will following, but not until all had moved to Nebraska. Apparently, farming opportunities looked better there.

According to family lore, Clint and Mary and their three children and Stelle and Tell and their four children traveled by train from Howell County, Missouri to northeast Nebraska. Clint and Tell rode in the box cars with their horses and cattle. Clint’s daughter Neville rode on her cousin Dale’s lap. "It must have been almost like pioneer days," Neville wrote.[1] This move occurred between the birth of Clint and Mary’s third child Carl, born near West Plains, Missouri on 4 December 1912, and the birth of their fourth child Verne, born in Stanton County, Nebraska on 13 April 1914.

By 1920, Daisy and Will had also moved to Nebraska. They rented property, which Will farmed at Strahan township, Wayne County. By this time, they had five children: Marvin, 12; Leroy, 9; Charles, 7; Thelma, 3 years and 8 months; and William, 3 months.[2] Apparently, they had moved sometime between the birth of Charles, born in 1913 in Virginia and a baby girl, Edna, born in 1915 in Nebraska who died the same year, buried at Greenwood Cemetery, Wayne. A little grave, all alone.

Photo courtesy of Find A Grave contributor, Brad Kellogg.

 The photo below is one of my favorites. It shows my grandfather Clint and his two sisters, Stelle and Daisy and their children taken about 1915. In back stands Clint holding his son James, next to Stelle. Seated of the left is my grandmother Mary with Verne (my father) on her lap, Neville and Carl on each side. Behind Carl is Stelle's daughter Ethel, then Leona. Daisy is seated holding her son Charles, and next to her are sons Lee Roy and Marvin.

Clint and Mary Troutman with Stelle and Daisy Worley and children.

In 1920, Stelle, age 49, and Tell, age 65, owned a farm at South Branch Township, Pierce County, Nebraska. Dale, Leona, and Ethel were still living at home,[3]  but Carl, age 26 had married. He owned a shoemaking shop in Wayne where he lived with his wife Serena and their four children: Verdena, age 6; Pauline, age 4; Carl, age 2; and Captola, age two months.[4]

Clint and Mary were renting a farm at Brenna precinct, Wayne County. Their family had also expanded to five: Neville, age 9; James, 8; Carl, 7; Verne, 5; and Virginia, 3.[5] Stelle, Daisy, and Clint and their families lived within about a 50-mile radius of each other in northeast Nebraska.

Note the proximity of Wayne, Pierce, and Stanton Counties in northeast Nebraska. Click to enlarge map.

Then Stelle and Daisy both divorced their husbands—not at the same time. More later.

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[1] Neville Lamson, Omaha, Nebraska, to Zola T. Noble, Anderson, Indiana, letter, 25 August 1989, information on her father's family; Troutman, Neville (Max Lamson) binder, privately held by Noble, [E-ADDRESS & STREET ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Anderson, Indiana, 2016.
1920 U. S. census, Strahan township., Wayne County, Nebraska, population schedule [ED] 224, p. 12-B, dwelling 113, family 113, William Worley, wife Daisy; digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 December 2015); NARA mic. pub. T625, roll 1003.

[2] 1920 U. S. census, South Branch tnshp., Pierce Co., Ne., pop. sched., ED 224, p. 12-A, dwell. 84, fam. 85, William T. Worley, wife Estella; NARA mic. pub. T625, roll 995.

[3] 1920 U. S. census, Wayne, Wayne Co., Neb., pop. sched., ED 225, p. 15-A, dwell. 161, fam. 169, Carl Worley; NARA mic. pub. T625, roll 1003.

[4] 1920 U. S. census, Brenna precinct, Wayne Co., Neb., pop. sched., ED 218, p. 5-A, fam. 86, Clint Troutman; NARA mic. pub. T625, roll 1003.