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• familyserch.org ID: K2FD-YZP
• Created: 09 Aug 2018

Notes:

Find A Grave Memorial# 23134556

Buried:
Row 27 Grave A

Family/Spouse: Ransom Mitchell. Ransom (son of Anderson Mitchell and Charlotte Brown) was born on 13 Feb 1832 in , Wilkes County, North Carolina, USA; died on 31 May 1867 in Cape Girardeau County, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, USA; was buried in Apple Creek Cemetery, Pocahontas, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• familyserch.org ID: LWW7-5ND
• Created: 09 Sep 2014

Notes:

Find A Grave Memorial# 66226959

Buried:
findagrave.com memorial # 66226959

Theodore married Emma Schriner on 31 Jul 1894 in , Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, USA. Emma was born in Sep 1870 in , , Missouri, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• familyserch.org ID: MSKW-W6M
• Created: 09 Sep 2014

Notes:

Buried:
findagrave.com memorial # 23158862

Myra married William Franklin Shoults on 18 Dec 1890 in New Wells, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, United States. William (son of Benjamin Franklin Shoults and Amanda Jane Cotner) was born on 29 May 1862; died on 29 Jul 1943; was buried in Apple Creek Cemetery, Pocahontas, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• familyserch.org ID: 9N7W-5WX
• Created: 09 Sep 2014

Notes:

Corporal, US Army, WWI

Buried:
findagrave.com memorial # 3361680

PLOT Q, 6638

Family/Spouse: Edith Harris. Edith was born on 3 Feb 1895; died on 28 Apr 1980; was buried in Fort Logan National Cemetery, Denver County, Colorado, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Leslie married Dorothea McCarty on 8 Aug 1923 in Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and was divorced in Listed as Divorced in 1940 Census. Dorothea was born in 1904; died in 1959; was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• familyserch.org ID: 9N7W-5WF
• Created: 09 Sep 2014

Notes:

Died:
Virgil Mitchell
CALDWELL —Virgil (Mitch) Mitchell, 52, of Caldwell, route 6, a carpenter on the new high school building under construction here, died unexpectedly in his home Tuesday morning.
Mr. Mitchell was born Oct. 13, 1903, in Jackson, Mo., and moved with his parents to Colorado Springs, Colo., when he was 12 years of age. He lived there until moving to Long Beach, Calif., in 1935. He came to Caldwell in 1945 and was married April 15, 1950, in Winnemucca, Nev., to Lucille Nelson.
He was a member of the Methodist church and the Carpenters Union local No. 1298.
Surviving in addition to Mrs. Mitchell are a son, Donald Mitchell of Long Beach; two stepsons, Warren Baker of Wichita, Kan., and Dale Baker of Elko, Nev.; a step-daughter, Mrs. Wayne Lonkey of Caldwell; a brother, Leslie Mitchell of Denver, Colo.; a sister, Mrs. Mac Little of Long Beach, and five grandchildren.
Peckham-Dakan chapel is arranging services.

The Idaho Daily Statesman, Wednesday, May 2, 1956 Page 16

Buried:
findagrave.com memorial # 147866894

Virgil married Lucille Elder on 15 Apr 1950 in Caldwell, Canyon County, Idaho, United States. Lucille was born on 13 Dec 1903 in Woodston, Rooks County, Kansas, United States; died on 2 Mar 1987 in Caldwell, Canyon County, Idaho, United States; was cremated in Canyon Hill Cemetery, Canyon County, Idaho, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• familyserch.org ID: GMPG-766
• Created: 09 Sep 2014

Notes:

1930 Census:

Name: Verma R Little
Birth Year: abt 1907
Gender: Female
Race: White
Age in 1930: 23
Birthplace: Missouri
Marital Status: Married
Relation to Head of House: Wife
Homemaker?: Yes
Home in 1930: Hoxie, Sheridan, Kansas, USA
Map of Home: Hoxie, Sheridan, Kansas
House Number: 118
Dwelling Number: 161
Family Number: 171
Age at First Marriage: 22
Attended School: No
Able to Read and Write: Yes
Father's Birthplace: Missouri
Mother's Birthplace: Missouri
Able to Speak English: Yes
Household Members (Name) Age Relationship
Mack O Little
24 Head
Verma R Little 23 Wife

Colorado Springs City Directory:

Name: Verma R Little
Birth Year: abt 1907
Gender: Female
Race: White
Age in 1930: 23
Birthplace: Missouri
Marital Status: Married
Relation to Head of House: Wife
Homemaker?: Yes
Home in 1930: Hoxie, Sheridan, Kansas, USA
Map of Home: Hoxie, Sheridan, Kansas
House Number: 118
Dwelling Number: 161
Family Number: 171
Age at First Marriage: 22
Attended School: No
Able to Read and Write: Yes
Father's Birthplace: Missouri
Mother's Birthplace: Missouri
Able to Speak English: Yes
Household Members (Name) Age Relationship
Mack O Little
24 Head
Verma R Little 23 Wife

Died:
California Death Index:

Name: Verna R Little
Gender: Female
Birth Date: 29 Jul 1906
Birth Place: Missouri
Death Date: 19 Mar 1964
Death Place: Ventura
Mother's Maiden Name: Mitchell

Buried:
findagrave.com memorial # 198545452

Section E Lot 151 Grave 12

Verna married McMorran Oliver Little on 29 Oct 1928 in Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. McMorran was born on 9 Dec 1904 in Union Star, DeKalb County, Missouri, United States; died on 5 Jun 1956 in Long Beach, Los Angeles County, California, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• familyserch.org ID: LKQ6-T6H
• Created: 09 Sep 2014

Notes:

Find A Grave Memorial# 76671936

Gertrude married William Eugene Ponder on 26 Jan 1918 in Cape Girardeau, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, USA. William was born on 16 Sep 1892 in Avon, St. Genevieve County, Missouri, USA; died on 20 Apr 1976 in Charleston, Mississippi County, Missouri, United States; was buried in Dogwood Cemetery, Mississippi County, Missouri, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• familyserch.org ID: K8DM-YN3
• Created: 09 Sep 2014

Notes:

Find A Grave Memorial# 47305022


Buried:
Row 11 Grave O. Remains Cremated.

Willie married Walter Guy Sides on 24 Jun 1928 in Jackson, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, United States. Walter was born on 04 Feb 1895; died on 11 Sep 1976; was buried in Apple Creek Cemetery, Pocahontas, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• familyserch.org ID: MSKW-W8X
• Created: 09 Sep 2014

Notes:

Find A Grave Memorial# 69824481


Jackson Cash-Book Journal
Wednesday, June 19, 1968

Once-in -a-lifetime Reunion for Frankie Carruthers
By: JOYCE PEERMAN

"It's a once-in-a-lifetime affair," said Mrs. Frankie Jane Carruthers, the former Miss Frankie Jane Shoults, about the big gathering of family and friends at City Park last Wednesday to visit with her.

Present for the basket dinner and afternoon of talking over old times with Mrs. Carruthers ,who now lives on 80 acres near Aztec, New Mexico, were kinds of kinfolks, friends, former teachers and schoolmates, as well as Mrs. Carruthers' four grown sons andthe Wives and families of the two married sons, all scattered across the nation.

Readers of the Post & Cash Book will remember that Mrs. Carruthers telephoned me from Aztec one evening last summer shortly after I wrote a column about Summitville, Colo., a ghostown high in the mountains, which was once her home and where she served as a nurse. Since then, our friendship has grown as the talents and strength of this remarkable lady have become increasingly apparent.

“I really started having the time of my life when I went out West,” she explains. “I went to Colorado Springs to visit an aunt and took a job with the public health work of the National Red Cross. I was fresh from the big city (St. Louis) and here were the wonderful mountains to explore. We went on fishing trips and steak frys in the mountains. It was an exciting time.”

Mrs. Carruthers, the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. William Frank Shoults, was born on a farm near the old Fairview Church in the Leemon community. She went to rural Leemon School, known affectionately by its former students as “Hog Pen” School, later graduating from Central high School in Cape Girardeau, and went to the State Teachers College there for two years. She taught school after that – one year at New Wells and two years at Pocahontas. Then she went into nurse’s training.

“I always wanted to be a nurse, but it took me all that time to talk my parents into it. In those days, ‘nice girls’ didn't become nurses," Mrs. Carruthers laughs.

Finally she secured her parents' permission and in 1928 went into training at St. Louis City Hospital, graduating there in 1931. “What did you do then?" we asked. "It was in the middle of the depression, and I starved for one year," she recalls.

After doing private duty for one year, she went back on general duty at St. Louis City Hospital. "Dr. Dennis Elrod of Cape was interning there then, as was Dr. Rusby Seabaugh of Jackson and Dr. Albert Estes," she relates.

After going to Colorado and securing the job with the Red Cross, she worked in the San Luis Valley where there was a trench mouth outbreak. When it ended, she went to work at a small hospital in Alamora ,Colo., and then one day came the move that set the course for her life.

A doctor on the staff there offered her the chance to go up as camp nurse to Summitville, high in the San Juan Mountains. "The doctor had the contract for the medical work then, and I went to work there in the summer of 1936 for the magnificent salary of $75 a month. Summitville was a gold mining town of about 250 or 300 people."

It had been mined for upward of 100 years, off and on, Mrs. Carruthers recalls. It was closed down after World War I. but the A. O. Smith Co. leased it in the early 30s and I worked it until 1942.

“Being camp nurse there ruined me for nursing," Mrs. Carruthers laughs. We were 56 miles from the doctor at Alamosa, and I had to do a lot of things including delivering babies and sewing up cuts – nurses were never suppose to do that!”

She did the family nursing as well as the mine work, although on technically she wasn't supposed to. “What are you going to do when people need help and a doctor is that far away?” she asks.

“I had a little office and I was on call 24 hours a day. There were boarding houses in Summitville for the unmarried miners and other unmarried employees of the town. Since I was one of the few single women I found myself immensely popular for the firsttime in my life.”

The little town had its social strata, Mrs. Carruthers recalls, just like any small town, and there was an active social life. There were frequent dances in the boarding houses, with musicians being brought up from the valley. “Very often we entertainedat diner and played cards afterwards.”
There was a two-room grade school in Summitville, but no church. “The Mormons had a small group, something like their Relief Society, but there was no church," she relates.
Since Summitville is situated at 11,000 ft., it had cold winters and deep snows. The first year she was there, the snow started in September and some stayed on all year. "Next spring the mountains were covered with the most gorgeous flowers you've ever seen," she remembers. “You couldn't take a step with out crushing a dozen varieties.”
People in town used coal for heat, and the coal was expensive, having been brought up from the valley. "We had our own power plant and the water came from a dam higher up where melted snow was caught. We had two grocery stores and they extended credit to the mine families, but at the end of the month, if you didn't pay your bills your tickets were turned in to the company and the latter deducted what you owed from your paycheck."

Since the town was at timberline, most of the fringe of trees had long been cut for fuel or mine props or houses. However, a broad belt of conifers had been left behind the mines in order to prevent avalanches from engulfing the mines.
“Those avalanches were terrifying things. I saw one actually happen once, and a few years before l went to Summit ville some skiers, who were on forbidden territory, were killed in an avalanche. Their bodies weren't recovered until spring.”
It was in Summitville that Mrs Carruthers met and married her husband, a native Kansan who had homesteaded in ldaho, lied about his age to get in World War I, and came to the San Luis valley to ranch after the war.
“The depression ruined him, so he went up to the mine to work," Mrs. Carruthers tells. Mr. Carruthers helped freight gold out of Summitville after the first World War. As she recalls it, a prospector named Pickens was prospecting up there with his little hammer, knocked a corner off a ledge, and found a streak of almost pure gold - very high grade ore.
"He couldn't get the lease on the land, and he worked for l9 years before he got it. He must not have told his wife, because she couldn’t have kept the location a secret all that time," Mrs. Carruthers laughs. “Judge Wiley down in the valley helped himsecure the lease and they finally managed to get the ore out of the mountains."
The Carruthers family and the three sons born in Alamosa while the family lived at Summitville moved to Aztec, New Mexico in 1941 where the fourth son was born. In 1958 her husband died, and Mrs. Carruthers reared to fine young manhood their four handsome sons.
William Franklin Carruthers, 30, has just received his B.A.degree from the University of Maryland, and his ultimate plans are for a Masters degree in Business Administration. He is married to the former Miss Elizabeth Manning Hawthorne, great great granddaughter of Nathaniel Hawthorne, the famous author. Her father, Manning Hawthorne, has all of the original manuscripts of Hawthorne's novels.
Garrey E. Carruthers is 29 and is writing his dissertation for his PhD at Iowa State at Ames. He and his wile, the former Miss Kathryn Thomas, and daughters, Deborah Ann and Carol Lynn, were also here for the family gathering. Garrey will return to New Mexico State near Las Cruces this fall as assistant professor in economics.

James Ross Carruthers, 27, is counselor at Yuma, Arizona Kofa High School, having received his Masters degree last year at Colorado Western State at Gunnison.
Michael Kent, 23, was commissioned an ensign in the Navy in December and is now on his way to Lowry Air Force Base in Denver tor special training in air intelligence. He also has a B.A. degree in Business Administration.

Garrey and his family left Thursday morning tor Ames and the others departed Friday to go their separate ways. “This is the only time we've all been here and it will probably never happen again, but it has been wonderful,” says Mrs. Carruthers. It was thefirst time her sister, Mrs. Walter Sides, and her husband had seen the two youngest boys.
Mrs. Carruthers is active in Farm Bureau work and is county chairman of the Farm Bureau at Aztec. For two years she was state President of the Association of Home Extension Clubs and twice she accepted invitations to attend the National Sa!ety Council meetings, once in Portland, Oregon and once in San Francisco, California.

It’s nice to come home to visit Missouri, but I love New Mexico. There's something about the air and the rugged mountains and the sight of aspens turning gold in the fall that makes it my land," she says. “I'm a little weary, but I'm glad we had this visit. It's an experience that will probably never happen to us again," said Frankie Jane Carruthers as she headed West again for Aztec and home.

Frankie married William Core Carruthers on 04 Sep 1937. William was born on 01 Nov 1886 in Cedar Vale, Chatauqua County, Kansas, USA; died on 29 Sep 1958 in Cedar Hill, San Juan County, New Mexico, USA; was buried in Cedar Hill Cemetery, San Juan County, New Mexico, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• familyserch.org ID: GD8S-6XY
• Created: 29 Aug 2016

Other Events and Attributes:

• familyserch.org ID: G47V-P71
• Created: 29 Aug 2016

Notes:

Find A Grave Memorial# 152331571

The Newell Funeral Home, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, Tuesday, September 15, 2015
Margaret Martin, 93, passed away at 11:23 PM, Monday, August 24, 2015 at her home in Atria Assisted Living in Longmont, Colorado. She was born at home on August 16, 1922 in Bertrand, Missouri, the daughter of Gertrude Shoults Ponder and William Eugene Ponder. She grew up on a farm near East Prairie, Missouri. In 1942 she married 2nd Lt. Charles Murphy who died on July 21, 1944 when his B-24 Liberator bomber crashed in the North Atlantic Ocean. In 1947 she married Albert Ralph Martin, a WWII veteran decorated for bravery in the Battle of the Bulge. He preceded her in death on July 10, 1996. She is survived by her sons, Charles Martin of Somerset, NJ (wife, Diana) and William Martin of Longmont, CO (wife Julia) and by daughter-in-law Kate Mewhinney, of Winston-Salem, NC (widow of son David Martin, who predeceased her on August 13 of this year); grandchildren, Joachim Martin of Cambridge MA (wife Jessica, daughter Sophie, son Calder), William Martin Jr, of O'Fallon MO (wife Lori, daughters Alyssa and Ale

Margaret married Charles Evert Murphy, Jr. on 29 Nov 1942 in Cape Girardeau, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, USA. Charles (son of Charles Evert Murphy, Sr. and Lessie James) was born about 1923 in Blodgett, Scott County, Missouri, USA; died on 21 Jul 1944 in Unknown, , , ; was buried in Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, South Cambridgeshire District, Cambridgeshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Margaret married Albert Ralph Martin on 02 Jun 1947 in Cape Girardeau, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, USA. Albert was born on 21 Feb 1915; died on 10 Jul 1996 in Mount Vernon, Jefferson County, Illinois, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• familyserch.org ID: GXM4-497
• Name: Gene
• Created: 29 Aug 2016

Notes:

Died:
Gene Ponder
May 20, 1929 - April 25, 2020

Eugene Franklin “Gene” Ponder, age 90, of East Prairie, Missouri, passed away Saturday, April 25, 2020 at his home. Born May 20, 1929, in Dogwood, Missouri, to the late William Eugene and Gertrude Shoults, he was a self-employed farmer and had served in the United States Air Force. He had attended Nelson Memorial United Methodist Church in East Prairie and was a board member of Dogwood Cemetery.

On March 5, 1953, in East Prairie, he married Nellie Elizabeth “Nell” Bain, who preceded him in death June 8, 2014.

Gene is survived by two daughters and sons-in-law, Margaret and Tony Childers of East Prairie and Barbara and Jim Speights of Springfield, Missouri; and one brother, Bill Ponder of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Also surviving are seven grandchildren, Jay and Brooke Childers of East Prairie, Dawn and Kevin Walters of East Prairie, Katie and Joe Harter of Springfield, Bain Turnbo of Gunnison, Colorado, Kara Speights of Springfield, Bailey Turnbo of Estero, Florida and Karla Speights of Springfield; six great grandchildren, Kelsey Walters, Blakelee Childers, Cooper Walters, Chase Childers, Winry Harter and Mason Speights; and one great-great grandchild, Henry Walters.

In addition to his wife and parents, he was preceded in death by one daughter and son-in-law, Karen and Ty Turnbo; and one sister, Margaret Martin.

Graveside services will be held Saturday, May 2, 2020, at 1 p.m. at Dogwood Cemetery under the direction of Shelby Funeral Home of East Prairie. Brian Abbot, pastor of Nelson Memorial United Methodist Church will officiate.

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• familyserch.org ID: GXMH-4Z2
• Name: Billy
• Created: 29 Aug 2016

Notes:

Died:
Bill Ponder
May 20, 1929 - February 28, 2021

U.S. Veteran

WILLIAM JAMES “Bill” PONDER, age 91, of East Prairie, died Sunday, February 28, 2021, at Southeast Health in Cape Girardeau.

Born May 20, 1929, in the Dogwood Community of Mississippi County, to the late William Eugene Ponder and Gertrude Shoults Ponder, he grew up in the Dogwood Community and upon his high school graduation joined the United States Air Force. Following his service to his country, he farmed with this family until 1964 and then went on to attend and graduate from Arkansas State University with a degree in Chemistry. He embarked on a teaching career that would expand a number of years first teaching with the Bureau of Indian Affairs where he taught in Arizona, Oklahoma and Mississippi. He then returned to his roots on the family farm and assumed a teaching position at Charleston High School where he taught Physical Science, Biology, Chemistry and Physics until his retirement. He continued his interest in the family farm as a landowner and was an avid gardener in his free time. He was a member of the Dogwood United Methodist Church.

On December 20, 1978, he married Patrice Hunt, who survives.

Also surviving are his sons, Rudy (Mary Susan) Ponder of Sikeston and John (Sammie) Ponder of East Prairie; his stepson, Harding Conn of Paducah, KY; his grandchildren, Andrew Sneathern, Kena Lea Sorrells, Lydia Frye, Jenifer Ponder, Bill Ponder and Andy Ponder; 15 great grandchildren, as well as a number of cousins and friends.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his sister, Margaret Ponder Martin and his twin brother, Gene Ponder.

Visitation will be from 10:00 a.m. until the funeral hour at 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, March 3, 2021, at the Dogwood United Methodist Church. The Rev. Brian Abbott, pastor, will officiate.

Interment with military honors will follow in the Dogwood Cemetery under the direction of the McMikle Funeral Home of Charleston.

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Living. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]