Cable

The Cable family on the 4th of July 1877

/ Kirstin Miller

A 4th of July celebration 1877 in Greene, Iowa

Chancey Cable lived in Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Colorado, and Washington. He ran a saloon in Greene, Iowa with his brother John.  He was a railroad contractor, gold & silver miner and owned a tugboat called “New Era” at his death in 1910 in Port Townsend, Washington.

In 1877 Chancey Cable and his family were living on a farm in Pleasant Grove, Iowa, near Greene where they had a big 4th of July celebration with: the Greene Band, baseball, a parade, a picnic dinner, races, fireworks, a baby show, horse races, a bowery dance and ice cream.

Celebration

Described in the July 5, 1877 Butler County Press newspaper : THE CELEBRATION. A Complete Success. The morning of the Fourth dawned favorably, the sun arose and smiled pleasantly on Greene, and all of our citizens were alive and stirring at an early hour, everybody on the alert, endeavoring to have everything in the best of order for the eventful day, while Marble Rock was asleep, holding sweet counsels with Morpheus while indulging in her usual morning doze. A black cloud hung off in the direction of Clarksville a warning to the people of that benighted town of the gloom and silence that was to pervade all who tarried for the slim celebration there.”

Chancey was in the ‘picked nine’ baseball game, “Chauncey Cable came to bat and knocked a fly clear off into a foreign country and while some of the unfortunate Actives groped for it two tallies were slipped in. An unfortunate miss throw let in Cable and S. Thomas, and other fine scores were made and the shouts that arose for the picked nine were fairly deafening. Although the picked nine had the inconvenience of two extra men and double play they won laurels ever to be remembered and their names will be carried down to posterity.” And he was in the races, “4th of July festivities Chancey takes 2nd money in the foot race”.

Saloon keepers

The rest of the Cable family probably attended too. Jonathan, the dad, was 70 and Charlotte, the 2nd mom, was 46. Chancey was 27, siblings John was 30, William was 25, Sarah was 23 and Violetta was 20. The Cable brothers sold their salon in 1878, by 1880 John, Chancey and Sarah were in Wisconsin. Violetta left for Minnesota in 1884. William stayed in Greene and farmed, his daughter Gladys was born in 1913 in Pleasant Grove Township, Floyd County, Iowa.

Sources

Nora Cable b. 1892

/ Kirstin Miller

Nora Cable great aunt on RootsMagic tree.

Nora was born on August 25, 1892 in Pleasant Grove, Floyd County, Iowa. She was the third child of William Cable and first wife Nellie Stroud. The Cable kids lived on a farm. Nora and bother Leonard, sister Ruth went to Marble Rock, Iowa schools. After Nor’s parents divorced she and siblings moved to Kansas.

On July 31, 1912 Nora returned to Pleasant Grove, Iowa. In the Iowa (Greene) Recorder, “Miss Nora Cable of Kansas City arrived in Greene last Friday for a visit with her father Wm Cable and family.” That same weekend the Buffalo Bill show was in Charles City, many families from Greene drove to see the show.

Tosh, Marguerite 1930 yearbook photo

On August 31, 1912 Nora married Cecil Orzo Tosh in Wyandotte County, Kansas. The 1920 US census shows Nora, Orzo and their 2 daughters Marguerite and Marjorie, lived with Orzo’s mom and dad. Orzo’s dad was in real estate, Orzo was a credit man. The home was at 719 West 44th street in Kansas City, still a residential area today.

On the 1930 census Nora and family are in the same home, Orzo a manger at a whole sale hosiery business, daughters Marguerite and Marjorie are in their teens. Marguerite was born in 1913, she was a year younger than Nora’s sister Gladys Cable. Marguerite’s photo is in the 1930 yearbook of Westport High School, in Kansas City. She’s 16 years old.

Nora’s husband was a traveling salesman in 1934 when he picked up a hitchhiker near Clarinda, Iowa. After sharing a meal the hitcher pulled a knife and demanded money. Orzo fought the hitcher then leaped out of the car and ended up in the local hospital in serious condition. Orzo recovered and was 46 at his death in 1936. On the 1940 census Nora, now a widow, was in the same house, with daughter Marjorie and Marjorie’s husband William Boone. William was from Little Rock, Arkansas and worked as a shop foreman in a bakery.

Nora lived to age 87, she died in May 1980. Both she and Orzo are buried at Highland Park Cemetery in Kansas City.

Sources

  • Iowa Recorder 1912 Jul 31 page 5 of 8 column 2 mid bottom
  • 1934 Jul 19 Maryville Daily Forum at Newspaper Archive, Cedar Rapids Public Library
  • U.S., School Yearbooks, 1900-1999 at Ancestry
  • 1920, 30, 40 US censuses at FamilySearch or Ancestry

 

Chauncey Jerome Cable b. 1891

/ Kirstin Miller

Chauncey Jerome Cable, 1st cousin 1x removed on RootsMagic tree

Chauncey Jerome Cable was born February 7, 1891 in St. Paul, Minnesota, the only child of John and Frances Allen Cable. On September 4, 1891 Chauncey was baptized at Goodrich Avenue Presbyterian Church. This church is still standing, now it’s Pentecostal, Piercing Faith Church.

In 1900 Chauncey lived with his aunts Sarah and Violetta Cable in Chicago. In 1910 Chauncey was a boarder, working at a bank, in Chicago. He visited Greene, Iowa on September 14, 1911 and spent time with his uncle William Cable (dad of Gladys Cable who married Faber Miller). In 1913 he went by Jerome, still in Chicago, he lived at 1400 E 53rd and Dorchester Ave- there’s a subway shop there now, 1 mile west of Lake Shore Drive. Jerome worked at Northern Trust, a bank with a new building in 1905, still in business today.

Cable, Jerome and Lura Horton marriageJerome headed west to Los Angeles, California and married Lura Horton there on June 11, 1919. Lura was a reader, Jerome a stock broker. They had one daughter Jeraldine. In 1927, now Jerry and 37 years old, he worked at Wilcox Drake, a stock exchange, he’s listed as a partner on their advert for a new office in San Francisco.

Stocks

On the 1940 census Jerry was 49, Lura, 43, and Jeraldine a teenager. They live in Los Angeles, Brentwood about 3 miles east of the Pacific ocean and 2 miles southwest of The Getty art museum of today. Also in the home are Arthur and Mary Rhinehert, houseman and housekeeper.

Jerry died in 1973, he was 82 years old. Lura lived 4 more years. They are both buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in LA. Jerry’s obituary shows a private funeral and memorials given to the John Tracy Clinic. The clinic is now the John Tracy Center, still in Los Angeles, founded by Spencer Tracy and wife Louise after their infant son was diagnosed with profound hearing loss.

 

Sources

Sarah Cable b. 1854

/ Kirstin Miller

Sarah Cable 2nd great aunt on RootsMagic tree

Sarah Cable was born December 1854 near Dane, Wisconsin to Jonathan and Charlotte Knapp Cable. She had three brothers, Chancey, John, William and a sister Violetta. The Cable family moved from Wisconsin to Pleasant Grove, Iowa by 1865 when Sarah’s dad Jonathan paid taxes on a melodeon. If they had a melodeon in their home (not common in 1865) they probably had lots of music and dances. The melodeon could have been a ‘rocking’ or a parlor type.

Cable, Sarah 1876 marriage

Sarah married Horace Towslee July 29, 1876 in Floyd County. Horace and Sarah had one daughter, Ethel. In 1880 they were in Wisconsin with John and Chancey Cable in a boarding house where the men worked the railroad and Sarah ran the household. Sarah was in St Paul in 1893, a widow and dressmaker with her daughter Ethel age 5 and her sister Violetta. In 1900 Sarah lived in Chicago with her sister Violetta and her nephew Chauncey son of John Cable. Sarah was a dressmaker, Violetta a stenographer and Chauncey was 9 years old and in school. They lived at 384 Paulina St. in ‘West Town’ Chicago. Today and maybe in 1900 the ‘L’ -began in 1892- is/was right overhead.

In 1910 Sarah was in Seattle and lived with Violetta and Violetta’s husband and nephew Leonard Cable. Sarah’s brother Chancey was also in Seattle, his 1910 will papers show his siblings. Sarah was in Skagit, Washington, north of Seattle, at her death in 1912.

Sources

  • U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995, 1893 St Paul, Minnesota at Ancestry
  • Iowa County Marriages 1838-1934 at FamilySearch.org
  • Washington, Wills and Probate Records, 1851-1970 at Ancestry
  • Melodeons at Wikipedia 

John Cable b. 1847

/ Kirstin Miller

John Cable 2nd great uncle on RootsMagic tree.

John Cable was born March 22, 1847 in Somerset, Pennsylvania. His dad is Jonathan Cable his mom is most likely Eliza Frey, who died when John was about 5, his 2nd mom was Charlotte Knapp.

John lived in Pennsylvania, then his family moved to Jefferson, Wisconsin. By 1860 John was in Pleasant Grove, Floyd County, Iowa, living on a farm. In 1880 he was in Edson Wisconsin, a railroad contractor. John owned a home, maybe a boarding house. His brother Chancey and sister Sarah’s family lived there too.

Cables 1880 snapshot

John Cable’s cenus in 1880

The house could have been known as Cable’s Railroad Camp?. The 1880 census sheet is handwritten, hard to read. Anyway John was the contractor, his sister Sarah, her husband Horace Towslee and daughter Ethel, Cable brother Chancey, along with a cook, a servant and 20+ laborers lived in the home.

By 1885 John was in Minnesota. ON February 13, 1890 he married Frances Allen in Ramsey Minnesota. Their child Chauncey was baptized September 4, 1891 in St Paul at the St. Paul Goodrich Avenue Presbyterian Church.

US Presbyterian Records 1743-1970

John and Frances’s son Chauncey baptized

 

John lived in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Seattle, Washington. His last 20 years he lived in Chicago where he died. John’s funeral was held at his brother William’s home in December 1924 and he’s buried in Pleasant Grove Cemetery in Pleasant Grove, Iowa probably near his brother William, John’s headstone not yet found. The obituary was in the December 10, 1924 Iowa (Greene) Recorder. “For the past twenty six years he has made his home in Chicago, Ill. working at his trade as an inventor. Mr Cable was not a member of any church but had a Christian heart and was a generous giver.”

Online. Iowa (Greene) recorder, Digital Archives. 1924 Dec 10 page 9 of 16 column 4 midway. 

At FamilySearch. United States Census, 1880. John Cable, 1880; citing enumeration district ED 186, sheet 336D, NARA microfilm publication T9

At Ancestry. U.S., Presbyterian Records, 1743-1970. Minnesota St. Paul Goodrich Avenue Presbyterian Church Page 138 image 346 of 356

At FamilySearch. Minnesota county marriages 1860-1949 database with images. FHL 001314517, Digital Folder 005193351, Image 00382 (382 of 715)

Leonard Cable b. 1889

/ Kirstin Miller

Leonard Cable b. 1889 brother of Gladys Cable who married Faber Miller. Leonard in RootsMagic tree.

Leonard was the son of William Cable and first wife Nellie Stroud. Leonard was born in Pleasant Grove Township near Greene, Iowa in 1889. The Cable family lived on a farm. In Senior Grammar School Leonard and his sister Ruth were listed as perfect school attenders, never tardy never absent for at least 2 years.

Cable, Leonard and Ruth

Leonard’s jobs included railroad mechanic, paper hanger, machinist and a shipping clerk at a furniture store. He stayed in touch with his dad after his parent’s divorce and in 1915 stopped for a visit in Greene, Iowa on his way home to Kansas. Leonard’s WW 1 draft card shows him in Chicago, 1503 E 64 St, a machinist, living with and taking care of his mom. Leonard stayed single and died in 1920, age 31, of lobar pneumonia.

Jonathan Cable b. 1807

/ Kirstin Miller

Jonathan Cable b. 1807 2nd great grandfather.

Jonathan Cable was born in Pennsylvania, he married Eliza around 1840. By 1850 the family was living in southeast Wisconsin. Jonathan was a millwright. When Eliza died Jonathan married Charlotte Knapp. Eliza is definitely the mother of the 2 older Cable children: John and Chancey. Charlotte is probably the mom of the younger: William, Sarah and Violettta. (Available records list both Eliza and Charlotte as mom of William.) The Cable family was in Pleasant Grove, Iowa by 1865 when Jonathan paid taxes on a watch and a melodeon, like an accordion. In 1867 the Cable family was part of the first Methodist congregation in Pleasant Grove, with a pastor visiting the town every 2 weeks or so. Jonathan built the second forge in Pleasant Grove, still standing but not used in 1882. In 1895 Jonathan and son William are in the Floyd County Plat Book: Jonathan owned 80 acres and William owned 160 acres of farmland. An 1870 non-population census schedule shows Jonathan’s farm with 69 acres of improved land, 16 acres of woodland, 2 horses, 5 milch cows, 4 working oxen, 12 swine. The farm produced 436 bushels of spring wheat, 200 bushels of Indian corn 354 bushels of oats, 20 bushels of Irish potatoes, 700 pounds of butter, and 17 tons of hay. In 1885 Jonathan, Charlotte and William Cable were living on their Pleasant Grove farm with Charlotte’s dad William Knapp, a soldier in the Civil War. Jonathan’s death date and place are not for sure, burial place is unknown.

Jonathan Cable 1807 – 1895 to William Smythe Cable 1852 – 1926 to Gladys Mae Cable 1913 – 1991 m. Faber W Miller 1905 – 1957

Sources:

Volume 2 pages 840 and 843, History of Floyd County, Iowa: Chicago: Inter-state publishing co., 1882. At HathiTrust.

1870 Pleasant Grove, Floyd County Iowa, Iowa Non-Population Census Schedules, 1850-1880 at FamilySearh.

1885 Pleasant Grove, Floyd County Iowa State Census at Ancestry

1895 Plat of Pleasant Grove Township image 12 of 25, squares 19, 29, 30. Plat Book of Floyd County, Iowa at Iowa Digital Library, U of I Libraries.

Violetta Cable b. 1857

/ Kirstin Miller

Cable, Violet obituary 1942Violetta Cable, great grand aunt on RootsMagic tree

Violetta was born April 11, 1857 in Wisconsin to Jonathan Cable, her mom was probably Eliza Frey. Violetta was the youngest of 5 kids with 3 brothers and a sister. By 1870 Violetta was 13 and living with her family in Pleasant Grove, Iowa. She lived on a farm in Pleasant Grove until about 1884 when she was a postmaster in Cable, Minnesota. This is noted on Wikipedia and also in a book: Minnesota Place Names by Upham.

Violetta took in her niece and nephews: Ethel Towslee, Chauncey and Leonard Cable all lived with her at different times in Chicago, Minnesota and Seattle. Violetta married Charles Anderson in 1908 in Seattle. She was 51 he was 39, Charles died in 1927, they didn’t have children. As a widow Violetta lived with her brother William’s widow, Mary Fries Cable in Des Moines, Iowa. Violetta died in Des Moines April 6, 1942 and is buried in the Pleasant Grove, Iowa cemetery, headstone not yet located, probably near her brother William.

Sources

Chancey Cable b. 1850

/ Kirstin Miller

Chancey Cable, 2nd great uncle on RootsMagic tree.

Chancey was born April 1850 in Wisconsin, the 2nd son of Jonathan Cable and Eliza Frey. In 1870 his family lived on a farm in Pleasant Grove, Floyd County, Iowa. Chancey is in the local news papers in 1877, at the 4th of July celebration he won a race and played on the baseball team. chancey and older borther John owned a saloon in Greene, Iowa. In 1880 Chancey was in Chippewa, Wisconsin with John and sister, Sarah. John and Chancey were Railroad Contractors. Sarah kept house with 35 boarders including Sarah’s husband Horace Towsley. On the 1880 census Chancey was a widow. If he ever married, it was for a very short time with no record yet of his wife and no known children. Chancey  was in St. Paul, Minnesota in 1885. His brother John was there too, married and soon to have a son he would name Chancey.

By 1900 Chancey was further west in Sunshine, Colorado, on his own, a gold and silver miner. In 1910 he lived in Port Townsend, Washington on the northwest corner near Victoria and Vancouver,  Canada. He owned a tugboat “New Era”. When Chancey died October 30, 1910 his probate named each of his siblings and his handwritten will left everything to his sister Sarah Cable Towsley.

Will, listing Chancey’s siblings.
Cable- Chancey handwritten will

 

 

Ruth Cable b. 1890

/ Kirstin Miller

Ruth Cable, daughter of William Cable and first wife Nellie Stroud. Ruth was born in 1890 in or around Greene, Iowa, Pleasant Valley township. She lived with her father, mother, a younger sister Nora b. 1892 and an older brother Leonard b. 1889. Young Ruth and Leonard won school awards for perfect attendance- an accomplishment when a journey to school was not as simple as hopping in a car and driving along paved roads. From the Marble Rock Journal 1904 Feb 4: Pupils neither tardy or absent: Leonard and Ruth Cable.

Ruth Cable the first day of spring March 21, 1908 was shopping at the Bucholz store in Greene (Bucholz, owned by Bucholz and Dralle this store may still be standing in Greene, Iowa as Dralle’s- they’re on Facebook). In the Iowa (Greene) Recorder of March 25, 1908 Ruth Cable leaves a message:

“Parcel Misplaced. A parcel containing a dark blue skirt and iron lead belt buckle with garnet setting was placed in wrong buggy last Saturday evening. Finder please leave at Bucholz store and receive liberal reward.”

Genuine garnets? and did Ruth get the package back? In a small town probably she did.

A few months after the missing parcel, William and Nellie were divorcing, all covered in the local newspapers. Their divorce was not friendly, accusations were made on both sides. Nora was the youngest, 16 when her parents divorced. Nora married, had children and settled in Kansas City, Missouri. Leonard moves around. He lived in Chicago and Seattle with his aunts Violetta and Sarah. He dies at age 31, maybe in a work accident, he was a railroad mechanic. Ruth was a lodger in Waterloo, Iowa 1910, a store clerk at the Golden Rule, with no records after the 1910 census. Nellie went to Kansas City then stayed with Leonard in Chicago for awhile and remarried at age 50 or 60.

The Iowa (Greene) Recorder newspaper is at Ancestry.com with a paid subscription and at most public libraries with a library card log in. The newspapers provide an unbelievable amount of information, not the news, but the local happenings.

Sources

Iowa (Greene) Recorder, 1908 Mar 25 page 9 of 12, column 5 top

1910 United States Federal Census, Waterloo Ward 4, Black Hawk, Iowa; Roll: T624_392; Page: 24A; Enumeration District: 0027; FHL microfilm: 1374405 -at FamilySearch.org