Took Poison!

 While this may be a sad story to start with, it does have a happy ending. It also brought very good memories to my mind about another matter altogether. But first, let's learn who the article is about, and how he is connected to me. 

The article speaks of George A. Manning. His nephew, John Harvey Manning was married to my great-grandaunt, Roxie Mae Martin. I never met John but knew Aunt Roxie.

I'll let the article tell the first story. As always, the transcript is below.

Took Poison

Prisoner in Jail Came Near Ending His Life.

George A. Manning, who said his home was at Ewing, was found on the street Thursday afternoon very drunk. The marshal arrested him and took him to jail to sober up. Just as council adjourned Thursday night Frank White who was being detained in jail to testify as a witness in another case gave the cry of alarm. Policeman Elrod unlocked the door and White told him that Manning had taken poison and was dying. And his condition then did seem hopeless for he was certainly near death's door.

But Dr. Graessle was right there, having just come down from council meeting, and he administered an antidote and went to work to save Manning's life, if possible. His efforts were successful and in the course of an hour or two he began to get better. Friday morning Manning was up and anxious to leave town though he was feeling pretty sore and very much ashamed. He went to North Vernon where he said he had a brother.

Manning confessed that he had been carrying the poison for a month but never had the nerve to take it before. Why he should have taken it no one knows. There was certainly no good reason for it.

Don't worry about George. He got it together, married and died at 78 of heart disease in Houston, Texas. So, for him, it all turned out ok.

When I read that Dr. Graessle had saved George I was flooded with memories. He is the doctor that delivered me and my brother. I remember my mother taking me to checkups in his office as a child. He would set me up on his big desk and check me out. Then he'd tell me I could get candy from the jar that sat on that desk while he talked to Mother. When we were very ill, he would come to the house and check us out. After he was done with us, he'd sit at the kitchen table with my parents, have a cup of coffee, smoke his pipe and talk. He always had his pipe. My last year in High School I worked as a nurse's aide on weekends at the local hospital. His wife was ill and he would come up to see her all the time. You could smell him coming. He always smoked his pipe, and it was a lovely smell, rich, probably expensive tobacco. I would be busy and suddenly he was right in front of me. When I'd look up he'd say, "Ah, you're Madelyn's daughter!" He always remembered his babies. Everyone loved him. The last time I saw him was in 1973. He died in 1977. His memory lives on. 

Dr. Harold Peter "Bud" Graessle

1893-1977

Sources:

Newspapers.com; Took Poison; The Tribune, Seymour, Indiana; Friday, march 17, 1905; Page 2.

"Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VZQ1-7SX), Entry for George A Manning and Lucinda Beck, 24 Aug 1895.

"Texas Death Index, 1903-2000," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VZDJ-GXW), George A. Manning, 28 Jul 1940; from "Texas, Death Index, 1903-2000," database, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2006); citing certificate number 33226, Harris, Texas, Texas Department of Health, State Vital Statistics Unit, Austin. 

Daily Working Now!

 I am hanging in there with LegacyFamilyTree. There's a lot I don't like in it, and a lot that I do. One thing I find is that sources are harder in Legacy than in RM. I had given all my family Reference Numbers in RM, which is linked to my paper files. In Legacy they show on the main Family page. I love that!  So easy to find. Anyway, I am still at it. There is a really big learning curve here. Still so much to learn, but I am determined to continue. I started, back in the day of dinosaurs, on Family Tree Maker, back when it was by Broderbund. Yea, I'm that old! Then I got RootsMagic3. I stuck with that until now. It really takes a long time for a program to become easy.  But Legacy does have a lot more to it than RM. 

At WikiTree I've been getting my families up to snuff! I've been working on my Alexander line this month. In particular my Johns. LOL John H. Alexander (Alexander-2574) and his father John Henry Alexander (Alexander-24431). I've been primarily working on their children, and their families. One family I've lost myself in is the Wilsons. Louisa Alexander Wilson in particular. I've found so many articles about them. They lived in Brownstown, Indiana, a small town in southern Indiana. It had a wonderful newspaper back in the day. The Jackson County Banner. When I was young, I loved when mom picked one up while grocery shopping. It issued 2 times a week and was either mailed or you could get a copy at the store. It was local news. Really local and really news, about the inhabitants of the county. I would read every word. But papers were worth reading back in the day. Not worth the money now. Anyway, the Wilson family had a meat market and grocery store. I must find the way to add at least some of them to WikiTree. They really flesh out these people. I am loving it!

William O. Jaynes, cont.

You find the craziest stuff sometimes. An ancestor will throw you a curve ball, and make you stop and think, "Perhaps that is why I'm nuts, it's genetic." It has been hard to find personal things about William. But I did find one thing. Not what I was expecting, though. Here is the article:

Newspapers.com
The Tribune
Seymour, Indiana
Tuesday, November 17, 1914
Page 4

William Jaynes Alleged to have Objected to Milking and Taking Animal to Pasture.

An unusual case was set for trial in the circuit court today, the defendant, William Jaynes, of Crothersville, being charged with maliciously killing a valuable cow that belonged to his wife. The indictment was returned by the grand jury after an investigation of the charge was made and when arraigned the defendant pleaded not guilty.

According to the witnesses that have been subpoenaed by the state, Jaynes employed Charles Parker, also of Crothersville, to shoot the cow and paid him $1 for performing the execution. Parker, it is said declares that he did not know that the animal belonged to Jaynes' wife and thought that Jaynes wanted the cow killed for beef. He said that he did not inquire why he desired the animal shot. Several persons witnessed the killing and were called as witnesses. It is reported that the only reason assigned by the defendant for killing the cow was that he had to milk her and take her to pasture each day and objected to the work. 

Now what am I supposed to garner from this? He was in his early 60's at the time.  I would have thought he'd have been glad the cow was providing milk for his family. My grandmother spoke often of Raney, but little about him. I may have discovered why. HA!

Last week I bought Heredis 2018. Bad move apparently. I still have hope, but little. They put up a link to get a fix for the problem of importing a gedcom. The fix does not work. It is my 'second' program, I work first in RootsMagic, so I need the import feature to work or it is useless to me. How do you work?

I worked also on going through my paper files and cleaning them up. Small progress there. It is a huge job. Still, it is going well.

Source:
The source is with the article above.

#Jaynes #genealogy