Obituary: Oscar Pete Earp(1888-1967)

I found my paternal great aunt(by marriage) listed in her brother's obituary.  I thought this was such a great example of how I wish every obit was written--full of details.  It also shows how family becomes scattered out across the country.  This is something to think about for those who are using DNA in our family history research.  The following is a listing of the information contained in the obituary.

Oscar Pete Earp
Age:  79
Born:  March 26, 1888
Died:  November 14, 1967
Place of Birth: Murfreesboro, TN
Parents:  Thomas Jefferson & Lydia Earp

Married:  Sept 1911 to Florence Adcock who died in 1923.  Four children from this marriage--3 sons and 1 daughter.

Married:  1925 to Lillie Mai Adcock
Ten children from this marriage--4 sons and 6 daughters.

One son & one daughter preceded him in death.

Survivors
Wife
Six Daughters:
Dessie Egenes(Storden, MN)
Betty Koch(Bucyrus, MO)
Marie Fields(Roby, MO)
Joyce Inscore(Roby, MO)
Faye Barnes(Sugar Creek, MO)
Sharon Kaye Earp(of the home)

Six Sons:
Alfred Earp(Loda, IL)
Frank Earp(Seattle, WA)
Ervin Earp((Success, MO)
Eugene Earp(Richland, MO)
Marlo Earp(Anchorage, AK)
Harold Earp(of the home)

Sisters:
Emma McKnight(Nashville, TN)
Arminda Jakes(Murfreesboro, TN)

30 Grandchildren
20 Great-Grandchildren

He moved to Missouri in 1935 and lived here until his death.

Member of Roby Baptist Church

Funeral: Friday, November 17, 1967
at Roby Baptist Church with Don Brower officiating.
Burial:  Palace Cemetery
Evans-Elliott Funeral Home in charge.

"Deaths: Earp, Oscar Pete." The Houston Herald(Houston, MO) 23 Nov 1967. Digital images, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com  accessed Apr 24, 2019.) citing original p. 11 col 5.

Check your GEDmatch settings

If you have uploaded DNA kits to GEDmatch please check to make sure your settings on the GENESIS side are as you would like them.  If you have uploaded duplicate kits, the software that they are using seems to mark the 2nd kit as the duplicate.  PLEASE make sure that the 2nd kit isn't the only one you have designated as Public because doing so will keep you from showing up in the One-To-Many Reports of your matches.  You can check the status of any kit by using the DNA File Diagnostic Utility located on the Genesis page under DNA Applications(see image below).  If that is what you want to do that's fine of course but if that was not your intention you will need to modify your settings.

You can change the status of your kits at any time by clicking on edit(the pencil image) beside the kit # and name and then selecting Yes, No or Research for that kit.  Be sure to click on change after any modifications.

This happened with my cousin's kit.  Neither of her kits were showing in the One-To-Many Reports of her half brother, or any of her other matches.  It may not be obvious to the manager if they only view that Kit's One-To-Many Report as they will see all the others they expect when running it for that particular kit.

If you have taken an Autosomal DNA test and haven't yet uploaded to GEDmatch Genesis please consider doing so if you agree with their User Policy.  We have all of our family DNA tests there and have also uploaded or tested at FTDNA & MyHeritage.  I have two tests at FTDNA that aren't at AncestryDNA but they are at GEDmatch GENESIS & MyHeritage.  I know I need to test at 23&me eventually when it becomes financially possible.

Record those events and names from the more recent past

When we are researching, I think sometimes we forget to record and research things we remember from our earlier childhood.  I know I'm guilty of doing that.  Perhaps we think that information will be readily available later.  What if we are wrong?  This past year I contacted the Register of Deeds here in Dickson County Tennessee to inquire about the house which my Grandmother, Pearl Jakes Cooke had rented.  My Mom was fairly sure that it was owned by the Sheltons which the clerk confirmed.   I had also remembered the neighbors.  I've written notes in my Grandmother's file about her neighbors.  Checking with the Deeds office and also consulting online tax records helped to get a picture of who her neighbors were and also who owns the homes today.  Having the listing of the neighbors to verify what I remembered from my childhood helped as I was going thru my Grandmother's papers.  As I was recording and preserving ephemera I was able to identify people who had sent postcards and written notes and zoom in on a time frame because I knew the years she had lived at that address.

Don't assume that those records will be available when you or your family decide they are important.  Go ahead and record them now.


See also:
March 31 1891-Birthday of Pearl Gray Jakes Cooke
Just a Small Portion of a Family's Paper trail

My Grandmother in her yard at 203 North Charlotte St Dickson TN  abt 1973.
The houses across the street are still pretty much the same thought
they show the signs of age.

Gilford Cook--Dickson County Tennessee

In a previous blog post, I'd written a bit about Garrison King who lived in Dickson Co., TN and some of whose descendants are among my DNA matches.  In that post, I also mentioned Gilford Cook who is likely the brother-in-law of Garrison King(Garrison's wife was a Cook).

I found two entries in Tennessee Convicts:  Early Records of the State Penitentiary Volume 1. These gave me a lot of additional information on him which I used in the summary below.

Gilford Cook was born and raised in Franklin County, North Carolina and it was there where he married Sarah Bass, December 2nd of 1821.  Gilford was a shoemaker and lived in Wilson Co TN(near Richard Drake) before moving to Dickson Co. TN in 1833. He was charged with and convicted of larceny in a Dickson Co Court and thus sentenced to 3 years in the penitentiary where he was received on the 19th of February 1837. His family lived near Kendrick Myatt's on old Natchez trace 15 miles from Charlotte.  Gilford was discharged January 8, 1840, where his conduct while there was recorded as good.  His description according to this record was:  age 48, 6 foot 2 inches with dark hair and grey eyes.

Below is the 1840 census entry for Gilford Cook's family which would have been almost 4 months after his release.

Sources:

Charles A. & Tomye M. Sherrill, Tennessee Convicts:  Early Records of the State Penitentiary 1831-1850 Vol. 1, (Mt. Juliet, Tenn:  C. A. Sherrill 1997), pgs. 22 & 197.

"North Carolina, Civil Marriages, 1763-1868", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q296-MHWZ : 11 May 2018), Gilford Cook and Sarah Bass, 1821.

"United States Census, 1840," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYTB-92VB?cc=1786457&wc=31SJ-16P%3A1588669927%2C1588670578%2C1588665902 : 24 August 2015), Tennessee > Dickson > Not Stated > image 11 of 72; citing NARA microfilm publication M704, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

Granville Co. NC indenture --Nov. 1796

While reading thru Granville County, North Carolina court records, I found this record and thought it worth noting.  This record set contains many different types of court records dealing with indentures, enslaved, land, tax, and probate, etc. as it is a running list of items that were taken care of in the court during that time period. 

"Ordered that Reuben Pettiford son of Easter Pettiford be bound to Stephen Melton to learn the art & mystery(sic) of a Black Smith he being about seven years of age until he arrives to the age of 
twenty one years." November Court 1796 Tuesday

Source: NC Court Minutes 1746-1868
Film # 306206 contains 1746-1789  and 1796-1799

North Carolina. County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions (Granville County) :
Raleigh, North Carolina: North Carolina Dept. of Archives and History, 1961, 1962 and 1973

Digital image of Microfilm hosted at FamilySearch Image 201 of 424 (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSLK-X9XV-4?i=200&cat=157946)