Grandma Mary's Siblings: Gentle Jake

Compared to his two older brothers, Emery and Gordon, Grandma Mary’s brother Jake Waggoner led a quiet life. He never traveled much, except to move with his parents from Virginia to Missouri to Nebraska, he never married, and he never left farming. Nonetheless, there was a small mystery surrounding his life, maybe a bit of scandal.

Named Jacob for his paternal grandfather, Jake entered the world on 13 March 1889 or 1890 in Bland County, Virginia.[1] He was the fourth child of Eli and Rachel Waggoner, my grandmother Mary being the third. Jacob’s early years were probably spent playing in the woods, helping with farm work, and being tormented by his two older brothers, for that’s often the plight of younger brothers. He attended school through the eighth grade,[2] and he most likely traveled with the family to Missouri in 1909 when he was about twenty years old, for in 1910, he was counted with them in the census in Salt River, Audrain County, Missouri.[3] His pictures as a young man show that he was also a nice looking guy. He has light eyes, probably blue, and dark hair under that hat.

 Jake Waggoner

In the next picture taken at the same time, he stands beside his friend, Bob Terry. I’m not sure where or when these pictures were taken.

Jake Waggoner, on right, and friend, Bob Terry.

 Apparently, he also moved to northeast Nebraska with the rest of the family about 1912.[4] An article in the Omaha World Herald describes a tornado that touched down on May 25, 1915, on “Jacob Waggoner’s place,” twelve miles northeast of Schuyler, Nebraska, and “destroyed all the large buildings” and killed livestock. The house and surrounding farms escaped damage.[5] Now I’m not sure this is our man, but I couldn’t find any other men named Jacob Waggoner living in this area of Nebraska at that time. Schuyler is about 50 to 70 miles from Winside, depending on the road you take, so if this is our Uncle Jake, he was living further from the rest of the family than was his usual pattern.

In 1920, he was living at Brenna Precinct, Wayne County, Nebraska with his parents and his sister Amanda where he was working a rented farm.[6] Two farms over, his brother-in-law Clint Troutman also rented a farm where he lived with his wife Mary with their five children. [7]

In 1930 Jake was still living on the Brenna Precinct farm with his widowed mother and a hired hand named Chris Jacobsen from Denmark.[8] Ten years later, at age 51, Jake was in the same place, but this time he lived with a housekeeper named Mrs. Ida Sanburn, age 68. She had been with him since 1935, at least.[9] His mother had passed away in 1939.[10]

Jake Waggoner working on his farm in Wayne County, Nebraska, about 1940.

 I vaguely remember my dad taking us to visit Uncle Jake and Mrs. Sanburn. (She was always called Mrs. Sanburn. I didn’t know her first name until I saw it in the 1940 census.)  Having to sit and listen to the men talk about weather and crops put me to sleep. There were no children to play with, and he’d never prospered financially, so his place was sparsely furnished and lacked amenities, such as electricity and an indoor toilet. My brother Vance remembers being fascinated by his kerosene lamps. My cousin Connee remembers his bushy eyebrows and his heavy body. They recall Mrs. Sanburn as frail, bent over, and quiet. Dad called Uncle Jake an “old bachelor.” To us children, he seemed ancient.

During the 1950s when our family lived at Stanton, Nebraska, we had an extra house on our farm besides the one in which we lived. As Uncle Jake and Mrs. Sanburn grew older, Dad let them move into the extra house, so he could make sure they had enough to eat. Some of Dad’s family members didn’t think this was a wise move for Dad, being new in town and Jake and Mrs. Sanborn not being married. What would the townsfolk think? But Dad insisted. Whatever was the actual relationship between Jake and Mrs. Sanburn, we’ll never know for sure.

Curious about Ida Sanburn, I noticed on the 1940 census that she was born in Virginia, so I did a brief search. In 1910, a woman named Ida M. Sanburn, age 41, lived at St. Clair Bottom, Smyth County, Virginia, with her parents, John and Sarah L. Hanna. The household included William L. Sanburn, age 50, son-in-law to head, and step-grandson William R. Sanburn, age 16.[11] In 1920, Ida Sanburn and W. L. Sanburn live in Douglas, Page County, Iowa, with daughter Martha, age 8, and son William R., age 25.[12] In 1925, the former three are living at Valley, Page County, Iowa.[13] In 1930, William Sanburn died,[14] and we know that by 1935, Ida was keeping house for Jake Waggoner.

Uncle Jake died in 1957[15] at age 67 while living in an IOOF nursing home at York, Nebraska.[16] (His brother Gordon was also a member of IOOF. See the IOOF symbol on Gordon’s tombstone.) I do not know for sure what happened to Mrs. Sanburn, but my brother thinks she died in about 1951 (more research needed). Jake was buried near my grandmother Mary and her family in Pleasant View Cemetery, Winside, Wayne County, Nebraska.

Jake Waggoner's tombstone, Pleasant View Cemetery, Winside, Wayne County. 

(c) 2013 Z. T. Noble

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[1] Bland County Virginia Births, 1861-1896 (states 13 March 1889). 1900 U. S. census, Broadford, Smyth County, Virginia (states Mar 1890). Tombstone inscription, Pleasant View Cemetery, Winside, Wayne County, Nebraska (states 1890).

[2] 1940 U. S. census, Brenna Precinct, Wayne County, Nebraska, population schedule, enumeration district [ED] 90-1, p. 3-B, visited no. 52, Jacob Waggoner; digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 October 2013); NARA microfilm publication T627, roll 2268.

[3] 1910 U. S. census, Salt River, Audrain County, Missouri, population schedule, enumeration district [ED] 11, p. 7-B, dwelling 140, family 140, Eli P. Wagoner; digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 October 2013); NARA microfilm publication T627, roll 2268. (Note: Jacob Wagoner’s name is incorrectly transcribed as Jacob Creelman in this census.)

[4] Obituary posted on Ancestry.com for Rachel Havens Waggoner; dangeleyes originally submitted this to Poteat Family Tree on 11 Jun 2010, newspaper title and date unknown. (Obituary states year the family moved to Nebraska.)

[5] “Twister Near Schuyler,” Omaha World Herald, 27 May 1915, p. 10, GenealogyBank (http://genealogybank.com : accessed 23 September 2013).

[6] 1920 U. S. census, Brenna Precinct, Wayne County, Nebraska, population schedule, enumeration district [ED] 218, p. 5-A (penned), family 87, Jake Waggoner; digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 October 2013); NARA microfilm publication T627, roll 2268.

[7] 1920 U. S. census, Brenna Precinct, Wayne County, Nebraska, family 85, Clint Troutman.

[8] 1930 U. S. census, Brenna Precinct, Wayne County, Nebraska, population schedule, enumeration district [ED] 90-1, p. 4-A, dwelling 69, family 69, Jake Waggoner; digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 October 2013); NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 1295.

[9] 1940 U. S. census, Brenna Precinct, Wayne County, Nebraska, Jake Waggoner.

[10] Obituary posted on Ancestry.com for Rachel Havens Waggoner; dangeleyes originally submitted this to Poteat Family Tree on 11 Jun 2010, newspaper title and date unknown.

[9] 1910 U. S. census, St. Clair, Smyth County Virginia, population schedule, enumeration district [ED] 93, p. 14 (penned), dwelling 227, family 227, John Hanna family; digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 October 2013); NARA microfilm publication T624, roll 1649.

[12] 1920 U.S. census, Douglas, Page County, Iowa, population schedule, enumeration district [ED] 100, p. 6 (penned), dwelling 121, family 121, W. L. Sanburn; digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 October 2013); NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 506.

[13] 1925 census, Valley, Page County, Iowa, Iowa State Census Collection, 1836-1925, population schedule, home no. 45, Wm. L. Sanburn; digital image Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 5 October 2013); microfilm of Iowa State Censuses, 1856, 1885, 1895, 1905, 1915, 1925 as well various special censuses from 1836-1897 obtained from the State Historical Society of Iowa via Heritage Quest.

[14] bdaley, “William L. Sanburn,” memorial #91690142, Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 3 October 2013).

[15] Tombstone inscription, Pleasant View Cemtery, Winside, Wayne County, Nebraska.

[16] Verna Troutman, Blue Springs, Missouri, E-mail from [(E-ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE),] to Zola Troutman Noble, e-mail, 23 September 2013, “Uncle Jake,” Research/Jake W folder, privately held by Noble, [E-ADDRESS & ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE], Anderson, Indiana, 2013. Vance Troutman, Bloomfield, Connecticut, E-mail from [(E-ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE),] to Zola Troutman Noble, e-mail, 24 September 2013.