(Sources: Millie McDaniel Flood, June McDaniel Gill, Betty McDaniel Schumacher, and Verna McDaniel Pratt)
[Other sources: Rockbridge Marriage Records, Rockbridge County, Virginia, Federal Census records, and Rockbridge County, VA Cemetery Compilations by Angela Ruley, letter from Edith Oneta Jackson McDaniel]
MATHEW M. McDANIEL
The first documented McDaniel in my family line is Mathew M. McDaniel. Mathew appears to have been born in Virginia on 4 Jan 1817. Mathew lists his birthplace as Virginia in the 1850, 1870 and 1880 census. The 1880 census lists his father's birthplace as Virginia and his mother's birthplace as Ireland. As there was discrimination against the Irish at various times and places, he may have felt more comfortable with saying he was born in Virginia. Verna McDaniel Pratt believes that Mathew did come from Ireland as a "bound boy" and that he probably "worked off" his passage in Roanoke, VA before transplanting to Natural Bridge. Also, she notes that many McDaniel brothers came at the same time--maybe as many as 12!!! In a letter, Edith Oneta McDaniel claims that a brother of Mathew's named Andrew visited Mathew's son, Leonidas, in Tillamook, Oregon. I hope to someday find Mathew's birthplace and his parents.
[NOTE: Although some earlier family research had indicated Mathew is descended from Randal McDaniel, my research and that of others indicates that, although it is possible there may be some relationship between the two McDaniel families, none has been proved to date and it seems unlikely.]
Mathew spent his early years as a bond servant to a Greek tailor named Leonidas (after whom he named a son) possibly in Roanoke, Virginia
Mathew married Jamima (spelled in various places as Jemima) BLACK, daughter of Henry Black and, it is believed, Polly NEWCOMER, on March 21, 1848, Rev. Andrew B. Davidson officiating. Jamima's sister, Margaret, was married to William FORSYTHE on the same day and by the same minister. I have copies of both Jamima's and Margaret's marriage bonds. You can view a transcript by clicking here.
Mathew and Jamima's first child was a son, named Henry A. apparently after Jamima's father, Henry Black. The 1850 census of Rockbridge County, VA, lists Mathew, age 33, Jamima, age 25 and their son Henry A., 6 months old. Mathew's occupation is tailor and his property is worth $500. All three have birthplace listed as Virginia.
Family history indicates that Jamima and her father, Henry, had some sort of falling out. According to marriage records, Henry married Isabella Forsythe who was a contemporary of Jamima's and this may have been the reason for the dispute.
Some time after 1850, Jamima and Mathew left Virginia. It is not known where there were during this time, possibly Tennessee, where it is believed that three, possibly four more children were born and died. By 1855, they were living in Ohio, where a son (Leonadis) is born. Two years later, they are living in Illinois. Here four more children are born.
They next appear in the Federal Census of Pulaski County, (Big Piney) Missouri, in 1870. The following is noted: Mathew McDaniel, age 52, farmer, worth $111, born in VA; Jamima McDaniel, age 45, born in VA; Leonidas McDaniel, age 15, born in Ohio (this son was apparently named for Mathew's former employer, the Greek tailor); M. Jane, age 13, born in Illinois; John A., age 11, born in Illinois; Louiza V., age 9, born in Illinois; and Harman (Herman) E., age 6, born in Illinois.
This census indicates that Mathew and Jamima should have been found in the 1860 census of Illinois but index records of that census do not show them at all. They may have been missed entirely or were accidentally deleted when the census-taker transcribed his notes. There was an Illinois State Census for 1865, but it has not been indexed as yet so finding Mathew and Jamima would be an almost impossible task.
Mathew is listed as a Justice of the Peace in "Justices of Peace, Pulaski County, Missouri, 1833 to 1868." In a newspaper article, his grandson, Lucien, is quoted as saying he was the first Circuit Judge in the County. Mathew also appears in a U.S. Land Sale record for Pulaski County as follows: Vol. 25, Page 273, McDaniel, Mathew, 3/15/1878, 160 acres, Sec-Twp-R 36-35-11." It is interesting to note that there is a Nathan McDaniel who purchased 160 acres on the same day and in the same section. Perhaps this is a brother of Mathew's or some other relative or perhaps merely a coincidence.
In 1880, Mathew (age 62) and Jamima (age 55) are included in the federal census for Pulaski County again (Roubideaux Township). With Mathew and Jamima are their children John A., age 21, and Herman, age 16. Living in a nearby household are oldest son, Leonadis, age 24, and his wife Charlotte, age 18.
In 1897, Jamima sold to her half-brother, Abner Black, her interest in a tract of land known as dower of Isabella Black. This is apparently land that had been owned by her father which he left to his last wife, Isabella, which reverted to his children when Isabella died.
Mathew died in 1886 and was buried in the Friendship Cemetery in what is now Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri in Pulaski County. Jamima continued to live in this area for some time. Her grandson, Lucien, remembers that she "continued living in her place down in the holler by the spring where we bucketed our water from. She kept bees, but the mean hive got on to her once, then the mean hive got on to her again, so she stopped keeping her bees." She may have gone to live with her daughter (in Nebraska or possibly Illinois) who had married a Dr. Dixon. There is a photo that some have claimed to be of Jemima.
Jemima apparently lived with one or more of her children after Mathew died, but she is not found in the 1900 census. She died in 1906 and is buried in Niblick Cemtery, Logan County, Illinois (both of her daughters were living nearby).
LEONIDAS CHASE McDANIEL
Mathew and Jamima's son, Leonadis McDaniel was born in 1855 in Ohio, and apparently named after Mathew's Greek employer whom he was supposedly bonded to as a boy. Leonadis married Charlotte Mary BRUMBLE, daughter of William Davis Brumble and Martha Brownlee FARABEE. Charlotte was born 12 Nov 1862 in Linn Creek, MO and was married to Leonadis on 23 Sep 1879.
Their children were: Eva Myrtle (nicknamed Jake or Jakie), born 1881; Lawrence Lester (nicknamed Baby Face or Pretty Boy), born 1882; Grace Lenore, born 1884; Lucien Dewitt (nicknamed Buck), born 1886 (just 3 or 4 days before his grandfather Mathew died); Bessie Augusta, born 1888, Margarette Olive (nicknamed Maggie), born 1890; Ralph Russell (nicknamed Curly), born 1892; Ray Ashwood (nicknamed Cotten), born 1895; David Earl, born 1898; and Robert Jean (nicknamed Tot), born 1900.
According to his daughter, Verna, Lucien's birth was attended by a midwife named Lizzie Wolverton. Lizzie was an Osage Indian and a friend of Charlotte Mary's. Lucien remembers when his father, Leonidas, carried him into the cabin at the "Old Bailey Place" and sat him down on the floor, facing the wall, a puncheon wall.
I have heard the story that Lucien did not speak until he was 6 years. Not a word. The family felt that he must be mute and gave up trying to get him to talk. I have a memory of hearing my grandfather talk about his not speaking. I remember that he said he "could" speak and that he used to talk all the time (to himself) while out in the woods playing. He is not sure why he refused to speak in anyone's presence but, to be sure, the longer he went without speaking, the more frightened he was to "start" speaking in front of people.
One day Lucien's mother, Charlotte, was out in the yard washing clothes in a great big tub. Without even thinking, Lucien asked "[Are] Them Pop's old pants?"
Poor Charlotte thought she had just beheld a miracle. She ran screaming from the yard, trying to find someone to tell. "Lucien can talk! Lucien can talk!"
I remember my grandfather saying how badly he felt when he saw how excited his mother was that he could talk. He was ashamed that he had kept it from her for so long. But Charlotte must have just been so grateful that Lucien COULD talk, that she didn't seem to mind him withholding speech for six years. Or ... maybe she was never told that Lucien could talk all along!
In 1900, when Lucien was 14 years old, the family left Missouri by wagon train. His father, Leonadis, bought a wagon and team from his brother, John. Fourteen-year-old Lucien was in charge of the wagon and team. He drove it all the way by himself. When they left Missouri, Leonadis possessed just a little over three dollars cash money. Lucien's uncle John McDaniel then traded his homestead for a team and wagon and joined up with the wagon train.
In the 1900 census, taken June 2nd, Leonadis' family was apparently enroute to their new home because they are found in Jackson Township of Jasper County, Missouri, the southwest corner of the state, right on the border of Missouri and Oklahoma.
According to a story told by Lucien, while on their journey, a "bad man" (evidently not an outlaw) died. The people on the wagon train declined to attend the burying, but Lucien and his mother, Charlotte Mary did. Charlotte Mary sang a hymn; son Lucien said she put her head back "... and, oh, how she sang." The Brumbles were musically gifted and Charlotte wrote a hymn later in her life. (View Charlotte's hymn.) Whether it was their destination, or just where they ended up, the wagon train arrived at Dosie Creek, just a few miles west of present day Stroud, Oklahoma. The McDaniels were all very sick when they arrived and their new neighbors-to-be helped take care of them and may have saved a life or two.
After living for a time at Dosie Creek, they settled on Deep Fork, about six miles south of Stroud. For a time, they lived in the former house of Keokuk, Chief of the Sac & Fox Nation. The house was the oldest in the county. (In a 1947 visit to the area, Lucien's daughter, Verna Pratt McDaniel, located the old adobe home and found initials carved in the mud bricks by McDaniel family members!)
Leonadis McDaniel died in 1931 Marshfield (now Coos Bay), Oregon, in a house fire. He was blind or nearly blind at the time.
LUCIEN McDANIEL
(Thanks to Verna McDaniel Pratt and Mildred McDaniel Flood for these stories of Lucien and Clara McDaniel)
According to a letter written by Lucien's wife, Clara, Lucien remembered when his mother, Charlotte Brumble, took him and some of the smaller children to Nebraska to see Grandma Brumble (Martha Farabee Brumble). Up by St. Joseph, they crossed the river in a row boat and in Missouri, they had to change trains. Lucien was asleep in the waiting room of the depot when his mother woke him up to see Buffalo Bill. He had long black hair. When Charlotte spoke, he heard her and so he turned around. Lucien remembers that he had black eyes.
Also per the same letter, Lucien was born in a log house across the road from Mathew McDaniel's place.
Lucien McDaniel (born 1886) married Clara Louisa STONE (born 1895, daughter of Russell Elijah Stone and Amanda Helen COX) on September 16, 1913 in Chandler, Oklahoma. Many years later, the court house they were married in caught fire and burned. By coincidence, Lucien just happened to be there and watched the fire. A local television crew was also there getting some footage for the evening news and they interviewed Lucien who told them, "Sixty years ago, I married my wife in that courthouse. We started a flame then and it's still burning to this day!"
Lucien and Clara met the week after Clara's father died, leaving Clara and her brothers and sisters orphans. Clara was 17 years old and she and her brothers and sisters were staying with family friends, the Renfro's, while arrangements were made and carried out for her father's funeral. It was the 4th of July weekend and, after the funeral, the Renfro's had a fish fry down on the creek. Verna Maud Stone (a cousin) told Clara to take Lucien's horses down to the creek for a drink and she did.
Lucien's brother, Lester, told him it was time he got married. He suggested that Verna Maude Stone would be a good choice, but Lucien picked Clara instead. He said he had seen Clara once before, as she was walking barefoot down a dusty road. Clara didn't notice Lucien as she was walking with her head down, but Lucien saw Clara as her bare feet kicked up poufs of red dust. When Clara took Lucien's horses down to the creek, it was Lucien's second time to see Clara.)
At the end of that week, the Stone children went back to their homestead at Olive, Oklahoma. After that week in July, Lucien sent Clara a love letter and in September, he went to ask her to marry him. Clara said she couldn't marry him because she had housework and ironing to do. He hung around anyway, and asked her again to marry him. She said no, she had to cook dinner. Lucien continued pestering Clara to marry him and finally, out of excuses, she said she would go out in the fields and ask her older brothers. When she got out there and told them what Lucien wanted, they said "Hell, we don't care" and so she told Lucien "Yes" and they left in his buggy. Years later, her daughter, Verna, asked her what she took with her. Her clothes? A sweater? Her purse? A good skillet? Clara said "No," she didn't take anything with her; just the clothes she was wearing. She got in the buggy and Lucien headed the team toward Stroud.
They stayed the night at Lester and Myrtle's (Lucien's brother). Myrtle loaned or gave Clara a dress to be married in and they were married on September 16, 1913.
Lucien took his bride to the Arch Longton place, a little NE of Stroud, where he and other McDaniels were share-cropping. On the way there, he stopped at a place to eat, but shy Clara wouldn't get out of the buggy and Lucien had to go in by himself.
When the newlyweds arrived, Lucien's relatives got together to celebrate his marriage to Clara. Their daughter, Verna McDaniel Pratt, remembers being told how Lucien swung his guitar behind Clara so he could dance with her while he played the guitar!
Lucien and Clara's first child, Mildred, was born in 1914 while they lived there. Grandma Charlotte would babysit Mildred while the still-young Clara would "play fort" down at the creek with Lucien's younger brothers.
Lucien, Clara, and baby Mildred moved to Fruita, Colorado in 1916. They also lived at Grand Junction and Ouray, among other places in Colorado. Lucien worked in the mines up in the mountains. In the morning, he rode his horse up the mountain, where he turned it loose. The horse would go home then. At the end of work that night, Lucien would ski back down the mountain.
Lucien said that one night, as he skied down the mountain, he stopped on a bare knob to admire the lights of Ouray far below. The next morning, while riding up the mountain, he saw the pug marks of a mountain lion which had been following him down the night before. He saw where the big cat had stopped and sat behind him as he stood looking down at the lights.
Lucien and Clara rented a 2-story furnished house for $8 a month. The second story also had doors so they could get in and out when the snow level was so high it covered up the downstairs doors.
From Colorado, the little family moved by train to Eastside, Oregon (1917-18). They lived in Tillamook for several years. It was here that children Aaron, Nolan, Clifford, Minnie, and June were all born.
While living in Oregon, Lucien and some other men went deer hunting. While away, Lucien became ill and had to stay in camp while the others hunted. Suddenly, an old bear came into camp. Lucien had just enough strength to aim and fire at the bear. He hit that old bear twice. It was a close call, but Lucien and Clara had that bearskin rug for a long, long time. Clara would drape it over her body and crawl around the floor making "bear noises" to scare her young children. They knew it was her every time, but every time they screamed and ran anyway.
In 1925, Clara took the littlest children and moved back to live with her brothers in Oklahoma. Lucien traded his home and two city lots he owned for a car; he then took Mildred and the three boys and went looking for Clara. They reunited in Oklahoma.
Later that fall, they left for Texas. In Galveston, they stayed with Lucien's maternal uncle, John Brumble, and his wife, Beadie Ann. The Brumbles were living in a dirt bank with a small cave dug to hold their belongings. In front of the cave, a frond-roof covering the bare ground was the sleeping/eating quarters.
There were many more moves in the years ahead: New Mexico, California, Missouri, then Oregon again where on 4/1/31 daughter Betty was born.
The next move was back to Oklahoma where Lucien and the older boys built for them a cabin in an area they nicknamed "Pee Ridge" (also more politely known as "Pea Ridge"). The cabin is famous in family lore for having two doorways, but only one door. When the wind changed, they simply picked up the door and moved it to cover the other doorway. A windshield removed from an old Model-T served as a window. Here is a page with Pea Ridge photos on it, including a drawing made by George Caperon. Son Donald was born here and when he was only 9 days old, Lucien moved his family again, this time to Arkansas. Lucien worked for a short time on a strawberry ranch that belonged to his cousin, Cora.
Then it was back Santa Ana where on 2/14/38 daughter Verna was born. [NOTE: A sweet letter was written by Charlotte Brumble McDaniel to her son, Lucien and his wife, Clara, on the birth of their daughter Verna. To view a transcript of this letter, click here.] Their daughter, Mildred, can remember at least 42 separate moves.
From Santa Ana, the family moved to Meadow Vista in northern California. There were still more moves until finally, Lucien and Clara returned to Stroud, Oklahoma. They continued to live in Stroud until their deaths ... Lucien in 1971 and Clara in 1983.
