What I do know:

1. Family record: Family record transcribed by my mother in the 1970′s from a source labeled “Family Bible” says that John Keener’s first wife and the mother of my Great Grandfather Robert Lee McCall was named Martha Olive “Ollie” Johnson. The rough chart says:

OLIVE ? JOHNSON
BORN 1872? MESSOUR?
WHERE Stark City (Newton) <-- Monet, Missouri?
Misouri
DIED ? 1916
WHERE gravelly (yell) ARKANSAS

and for her parents are listed:
Father: Van(?) Johnson - Misouri Greene Springfield
Mother: SHEPARD Missouri

This is the image:

Family Pedigree focused on Olive Johnson and missing parents. Record says Family Bible as source.

2. Marriage record: In a marriage index for Yell County included in the Yell County Historical & Genealogical Association Bulletin by Mary V. Humphrey it shows her as Johnson, Olive – age 19.

(Husband) McCall, J. K. (age) 21 Yell (County, AR)
(Wife) Johnson, Olive (age) 19 Yell (County, AR)
(Marriage Date) 11-30-1893

This is the record:

Marriage Index record for J.K. McCall and Olive Johnson dated 11-30-1893. Also notice in the index is his marriage with his second wife Azle Mercer.

3. Census Records: After marrying J.K. McCall they lived in Yell County, Arkansas and the couple was included in 2 census before Olive died.

In the 1900 Census they are located in Danville, Yell County, Arkansas.
Name: Ollie
Relationship: Wife
Color: White
Gender: Female
Birthdate: Apr 1874
Age: 26
Status: Married, 6 years
How many living children? 2 out of 2 born are living
Birthplace: Missouri
Father’s Birthplace: Tennessee
Mother’s Birthplace: Tennessee

This is the record:

J.K. McCall and Ollie (Johnson) McCall in the 1900 U.S. Census.

In the 1910 Census they are located in Herring, Yell County, Arkansas.
Name: Olive
Relationship: Wife
Gender: Female
Color: White
Age: 35
Status: 1st Marriage, 16 years
How many living children? 6 out of 7 born are living
Birthplace: Arkansas
Father’s Birthplace: Georgia
Mother’s Birthplace: Georgia

This is the record:

J.K. McCall and Olive (Johnson) McCall in the 1910 U.S. Census.

5. Facts: Olive McCall could have not been born in Stark City, Missouri. It didn’t exist until after the year she died. Wikipedia article on Stark City. Family memory could place her there at a later date, so Newton County is a reasonable option to still explore.

6. Photographic Evidence: I have a picture of her and J.K. McCall taken after her first two children were born. It is located on another post entitles John Keener “J.K.” & Martha Olive “Ollie” McCall – A Family Photo

So what’s next?

I’ve done many searches through Ancestry.com on many combinations of names for Olive with different locations. I’ve looked through all of Newton County Johnson families to see if there was some names that were similar. None. I don’t quite know where “Martha” came from, as it wasn’t included in any of my records that I listed above. J.K.’s second wife was Martha, but went by Azle her whole life. Perhaps that was a mistake as well?

I’m a bit stumped at where to look next on this one. I had hoped to find her with her parents in the 1880 census, but “Van?” born in either Georgia or Tennessee is much less than what I’d like to go on. She would be 6 in the census, and probably called Ollie or Olive. I did follow one path where a grandmother was named Olive and perhaps it was passed down, but I found another dead end.

Her parents are my only 3rd Great Grandparents I do not know the information for, and so I’m going to try a few other things. I keep going back to those original notes of my mothers thinking that there is a clue there that I’m missing. I’ll keep you updated on what I find.

If you’re related to this family or have more information about them including stories, pictures and dates and family member names, I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below or email me directly from the About Us page.

Martha Azle (Mercer) McCall or “Miss Azle” as I knew her was the second wife of my Great Great Grandfather John Keener McCall (1 Oct 1872) and married him when he already had a large family of 8 kids. They had two more children together. Currently I have no record of who her parents were or what family she came from, but I do have quite a few guesses. I thought I’d write the trail I’ve come across thus far and see if it makes sense.

What I know:
1. I have her obituary: Sublimity – Martha Azle McCall, 99, died Jan. 7, 1992. She was born Dec. 1, 1892 in Danville, Ark. She moved to Stayton in 1938 from Carlsbad, N.M. She settled in Sublimity seven years ago. She married J.K. McCall on Sept. 22, 1918 in Gravely, Ark., he died in 1966. She is survived by her sons, Charles W. of Sublimity and J.B. of Cottage Grove; stepsons, G.D. of Stayton and Troy of Carlsbad; stepdaughter, Prue Sadler of Stayton; several grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. Services were held Jan. 10 at Weddle Mortuary, Stayton. Interment followed at Lone Oak Cemetery, Stayton.

2. I know that my Great Grandmother Etoyl (Montgomery) McCall who was married to Azle’s eldest step-son Robert Lee McCall said that they called her Dad “Pappy Mercer”, and she came from a poor, lower-class family. I also have some minor details about her life with her husband that was shared with my sister in a letter from the local historical society where she died.

3. I know she was born 1 December 1892, and died 7 January 1892 and was buried in the Lone Oak Cemetery in Stayton, Oregon on the 10th of January 1992. She married J.K. McCall 22 September 1918 in Gravelly, Yell County, Arkansas when she was 25 years old.

4. I know that her future husband John Keener lived with his first wife in Danville – her birthplace as listed on her obituary – in the 1900 Census. (She would have been 7 yrs old) The next census, however, him and his wife are living in the Herring Township.

5. In the 1920 Census, Azle lists her father as born in Mississippi, mother in Arkansas. In 1930, she lists both parents as being born in Arkansas.

What I’ve done:
Since I’m a self-taught amature genealogy researcher, I don’t always know the best place to start to find out what I don’t know on a person or family line. But this is what I’ve done.

1. I assumed that since she was born in Danville, she might have lived there as a child. I went through the entire Danville 1900 US Census for a Mercer family with no luck.

2. I did an open US Census search for a Martha Azle Mercer, and focused the search around Yell County, Arkansas where she was born. I found a Martha A. in Briggsville in the 1910 census, which is just 15 miles from Danville where she was born. Azle should have been 17 when the Census was taken at the end of April 1900. This “Martha A. Merser” was listed as 16, birthplace Arkansas. Her parents are listed as Silas W. (age 40, b. MS) and Martha A. (age 36, b. AR). They were married at 17. She had siblings Dovey, Dewey, Myrtle and grandfather Byrant.

Martha A. Merser - Briggsville US Census, 1910

I saw the difference in age of this Martha, and ended up putting my research to the side. I’ve been trying to focus on primary family lines first, and so I went back to the McCall side. While searching through some WW1 draft papers I ran across a Dewey S. Mercer, who stated that his nearest relative was C.W. Mercer. This sounded familiar, and I was excited to find another Mercer nearby all my McCalls so I started searching again.

The WW1 Registration of Dewey Sampson Mercer.

I decided to see if the family of Silas W. and Martha A. Merser mentioned in the 1910 Census appeared in other US Census records. After a couple frustrating name searches, I ended up going through the Briggsville Census records by hand and was lucky.

3. In the 1900 US Census I found a Wess Messer (age 30, b. MS) and his wife Minnie (age 26, b. AR) living in Briggsville, Arkansas with children named Martha, Dova and Dewey. This Martha is listed with a birthday of December 1893, and age 6. Still one year off from my Martha, but in the right month of December.

Martha Messer - Briggsville US Census, 1900

4. In the 1920 US Census I found Dewey S. (age 21) living with his father W.C. Mercer (age 48, widowed), but not Martha.

Martha's family (No Martha) - Briggsville US Census, 1920

5. I decided to focus on Dewey S. Mercer. After a few searches, I found that he had married Millie Ornduff (b. 1897, Oregon -1979, Oregon) and died in Tillamook, Oregon 17 Jan 1986. Could it be a coincidence that he ended up in Oregon, and met a wife there and died there? Perhaps this is my Martha in these census records, and she convinced her brother to come to Oregon where she was living, and there he married (perhaps a second wife). The local Tillamook historical society had a website where I got his death information, and so I emailed them for his obituary. We’ll see where the trail leads from there.

What’s next:
That’s where I’ve reached thus far. My next step is to keep following up about Dewey S., and to order Martha’s Death Certificate to see if she lists her parent’s names. I also seem to remember that there was an article written in the local paper about her because of her longevity, so that’s another avenue to explore. I’m hoping by putting this research out there, I may find a decedent of this family who’s interested in genealogy.

If you’re related to this family or have more information about them including stories, pictures and dates and family member names, I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below or email me directly from the About Us page.

The links that are located below their names are to the individual blog posts I’ve made. Since I’ve been focusing primarily on the paternal sides of every family, you’ll typically only find links for them.

The biggest hole in the ancestors of my Great Grandpa McCall are his mother’s parents. I only have sparse records of who they may be or where they may have come from. I hope to focus on this mystery again in the near future and document what I find. (Which hopefully is a lot!)

If you’re related to this family or have more information about them including stories, pictures and dates and family member names, I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below or email me directly from the About Us page.

Robert Lee McCall's WW1 Draft Card - Front

What’s great about the back of the card is it describes his height, build and eye color. Unlike Bob, I’ve found this a very interesting tidbit for those members of the family I’ve never met.

Robert Lee McCall's WW1 Draft Card - Back

Here’s a timeline I’ve put together for his life, to try to get a sense of the major events that happened while he was living. I hope to add more to it as I gather more information about him.

Historical Timelines: Robert Lee “Bob” McCall

If you’re related to this family or have more information about them including stories, pictures and dates and family member names, I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below or email me directly from the About Us page.

Robert Lee McCall
Birth – 22 May 1896, Shark, Yell Co., AR
Death – 7 Mar 1989, Stayton, Marion Co., OR
Burial – Lone Oak Cem., Stayton, Marion Co, OR

Father – John Keener McCall (1872-1966)
Mother – Martha Olive “Ollie” Johnson (1874-1916)

Married:

Etoyl Montgomery
Marriage – 7 Jan 1920, Gravelly, Yell, Arkansas
Birth – 18 Aug 1896, Harmontown, L, Mississippi
Death – 21 Jun 1996, Sublimity, Marion, Oregon
Burial – 26 Jun 1996, Lone Oak Cem., Stayton, Marion, Oregon

Father – Thomas Marion Montgomery Dr./Dr. (1873-1961)
Mother – Levicia Ellen Crawley (1874-1961)

Their Children:

1 M – Tommy Lee McCall
Birth – 30 Nov 1920, Gravelly, Yell, Arkansas
Death – 19 Sep 1944, Stayton, Marion, Oregon
Spouse – Margaret Louise Croson
Marriage – 28 Dec 1941

2 M – Robert Wayne McCall
Birth – 26 Nov 1923, Carlsbad, Eddy, New Mexico
Death – 9 Jan 1998, Stayton, Marion, Oregon
Spouse – Clara Walker Mrs./Mrs.
Marriage – ?

3 M – Harold Dean McCall
Birth – 22 Dec 1928, Carlsbad, Eddy, New Mexico
Death – 5 Apr 2009, Baker City, Baker, Oregon
Spouse (1) – Syble Bell Ingram
Marriage – abt 1949
Spouse (2) – Nova (?)
Marriage – ?
Spouse (3) – (Living)
Marriage – ?

This picture was taken in their backyard in February of 1968, in the background is their second oldest son Robert Wayne McCall (who most people called Pete, we called him Uncle Robert Wayne). He lived with his parents the whole time I knew them, and was married for the first time late in age. And even when I saw him for the last time, nearly 25 years after this picture, he looked exactly like he does in this photo.

Robert Lee McCall
Birth – 22 May 1896, Shark, Yell Co., AR
Death – 7 Mar 1989, Stayton, Marion Co., OR
Burial – Lone Oak Cem., Stayton, Marion Co, OR

Etoyl Montgomery
Marriage – 7 Jan 1920, Gravelly, Yell, Arkansas
Birth – 18 Aug 1896, Harmontown, L, Mississippi
Death – 21 Jun 1996, Sublimity, Marion, Oregon
Burial – 26 Jun 1996, Lone Oak Cem., Stayton, Marion, Oregon

Robert Lee "Bob" and Etoyl (Montgomery) McCall and their son Robert Wayne "Pete" (c. Feb 1968)

If you’re related to this family or have more information about them including stories, pictures and dates and family member names, I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below or email me directly from the About Us page.

The following picture was taken from Findagrave.com, as the picture I took the day I was there isn’t quite as clear as this one.

John Keener McCall
Birth – 1 Oct 1872, Gravelly Twp., Yell Co., AR
Death – 3 Jan 1966, Stayton, Marion Co., OR
Burial – Lone Oak Cem., Stayton, Marion Co., OR

Martha Azle Mercer
22 Sep 1918, Gravelly, Yell, Arkansas
Birth – 1 Dec 1892, Danville, Yell, Arkansas
Death – 7 Jan 1992, Sublimity, Marion, Oregon
Burial – 10 Jan 1992, Lone Oak Cem., Stayton, Marion, Oregon

The headstone of Martha Azle (Mercer) and John Keener McCall

If you’re related to this family or have more information about them including stories, pictures and dates and family member names, I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below or email me directly from the About Us page.

Judge J. E. McCall, an agriculturist of Herring Township, was born in Alabama, March 11, 1826, and is a son of John and Sarah (McCall) McCall, who were born in Richmond County, N.C., in 1800 and March 4, 1804, respectively, but were wedded in Alabama. The father, on his arrival in Alabama, was elected county commissioner of Lowndes County, and was justice of the peace of Lowndesboro Township for many years, and died in this State in 1849; his widow, still surviving and living in Alabama, is eighty-six years old, and of the Presbyterian faith, having been connected with that church for over seventy years. The subject of this sketch was united in marriage, in Dallas County, MO., December 29, 1860, to Miss Fannie Wood, born in Johnson County, this State, January 4, 1839, daughter of Isaac and Anna (Denton) Wood, and they became the parents of four children: Sarah (born August, 1886, and deceased), Paul (born December 16, 1867), John C. (born October 1, 1872) and William P. (born in 1874). In 1861 he enlisted in the Missouri State Guards, serving six months, when he entered the Confederate Army, and joined Company G, Eleventh Missouri Regiment of Infantry, and took part in the following battles: Elk Horn, Prairie Grove, Helena, Pleasant Hill, Jenkins Ferry, and was paroled at Shreveport, June, 1865. When peace was once more restored to the land he came to Arkansas and engaged in farming, which has been his occupation ever since, and owns 285 acres of land, cultivating sixty. In 1884, as an appreciation of the esteem in which he was held by his fellow-citizens, he was elected county judge, served two terms, and thus earned his present title of Judge. He has been a local preacher of the Methodist Episcopal denomination for twenty-two years, and himself, wife and sons are members of a church of the same faith, and he socially belongs to the Masonic fraternity.

Goodspeed Biography and Historical Memoirs of Western Arkansas, Yell County, pg. 164.

If you’re related to this family or have more information about them including stories, pictures and dates and family member names, I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below or email me directly from the About Us page.

James Ewell McCall
Birth – 11 Mar 1826, Lowndes, Alabama
Death – 1896, Yell, Arkansas
Burial – Old Shark Cem., Yell, Arkansas

Father – John McCall (1800-1849)
Mother – Sarah McColl (1804->1891)

Married:

Fannie Wood
Marriage – 29 Dec 1860, Dallas, Missouri
Birth – 4 Jan 1838, Johnson Co, Arkansas
Death – 1898, Yell, Arkansas
Burial – Old Shark Cem., Yell, Arkansas

Father – Isaac Wood
Mother – Anna Denton

Their Children:

1 F – Sarah McCall
Birth – Aug 1866
Death – bef 1870

2 M – Paul Jackson McCall
Birth – 16 Dec 1867, Arkansas
Death – 1952, Carlsbad, Eddy, New Mexico
Spouse – Minnie L. Saddler
Marriage – 26 Feb 1890, Yell, Arkansas

3 M – John Keener McCall
Birth – 1 Oct 1872, Gravelly Twp., Yell Co., AR
Death – 3 Jan 1965, Stayton, Marion Co., OR
Spouse (1) – Martha Olive “Ollie” Johnson
Marriage – 30 Nov 1893, Yell Co., Arkansas
Spouse (2) – Martha Azle Mercer
Marriage – 22 Sep 1918, Gravelly, Yell, Arkansas

4 M - William P. McCall
Birth – 1874
Death – 1895, Yell, Arkansas
Spouse – Minnie Zorn
Marriage – 27 Dec 1897, Yell Co., Arkansas

If you’re related to this family or have more information about them including stories, pictures and dates and family member names, I’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below or email me directly from the About Us page.