ALLEN MARCUS LAUX
1850 - 9/19/1934
Obituary
by
Cynthia Ann Hendee Henry
May 2016
In processing family history papers, one item saved by Grandma (Sallie Marie Holwell Moore), was the obituary of "Uncle Allen," Allen Marcus Laux. He was the great great uncle of Linda and me and the great uncle of our mother, Laura Louise Moore Hendee. I well remember Mother's many references over the years to "Uncle Allen"----always with fondness (both pictured on right). I don’t recall hearing or knowing anything about his wife.
He was the brother of Mother's paternal grandmother, Laura Laux Moore, who died in 1887 at age 31. He was the uncle of my grandfather, Percy Lee Moore, and of his sister, Gertie Cecil Moore Cummings.
The family tree on the last page includes the main people in this account, with Uncle Allen in bold and underlined.
Allen Marcus Laux holding his great niece, Laura Louise Moore (Hendee)
1918 near Butler, Missouri
PIONEER SUMNER
RESIDENT IS DEAD
Allen M. Laux, 83, Came To
County From Missouri
in 1877
Allen M. Laux, 83, a resident of Sumner County for 57 years, died at his home, 318 North Poplar Street at 12 o'clock today. He had been ill for two weeks.
Mr. Laux came to Sumner County from Missouri in 1877 and settled on a farm near Corbin. In 1898, he moved to Wellington and since had made his home here.
Surviving are two daughters, Misses Estelle and Blen Laux, both at home.
No funeral arrangements were announced today.
First, some comments on the obituary~~~
· On the side is written Sept. 19. 1934. Since the notice seems to have come out the same day as his death, I am assuming the date is his death date, which I did not otherwise have, nor do I find online.
· Estella's name in the obituary is spelled "Estelle." All my records show "Estella." I grew up thinking I was saying, "Stella and Blen" when referring to the sisters, but it was "Estella."
· I learned years later through working on family history that Blen's name was Mae Blen.
· I wonder why Allen moved from Missouri to Kansas.
· Corbin is 19 miles from Wellington.
· When Uncle Allen moved from the farm in Corbin to Wellington, had he retired from farming and made enough money to live in town without working? Or, did he have some other job, though not mentioned in the obituary. Had he made enough money that his two unmarried daughters were able to live independently off this income? Apparently…
While Uncle Allen died ten years before I was born, Linda and I did meet his daughters, Estella and Blen. It was truly a special time! Grandpa (Percy Lee Moore) and Mother were born in Butler, Missouri. The Moore family moved to Colorado Springs in 1920. Our family then lived in Denver beginning in the early 1940s. In June 1952, we went back to Butler for a Moore family reunion. This included Mother and Daddy (below), Grandma and Grandpa (Grandpa below) and Linda and me (below). Grandma apparently took the picture. Along with a visit to Yellowstone, we stopped in Wellington, Kansas to see, Estella and Blen, Grandpa's first cousins (below). I am sure we spent the night. I don’t remember the inside of the house, but I do think it was nice, and I recall the backyard as quite large. My main memory is my first time meeting fireflies! Linda and I romped in the twilight with those delightful, sparkly creatures…entrancing!
I am sure it was quite special for Grandpa to see his first cousins. They are first cousins, twice removed to Linda and me. In the photo below, I don't know which sister is which, but, since Estella was born in 1883 and Blen in 1991, I believe that Estella, looking like the elder, is on the left. And, Blen, on right, more resembles the photo at the end.
We did not see them again, but during our young years, they sent children's books of Bible stories at Christmas. I very much appreciated that they thought of Linda and me and took the time and love to reach out to us.
Back left to right: Laura Louise Moore Hendee, Estella and Blen Laux, Frank Chester Hendee, Percy Lee Moore Children: Linda Jean Hendee, Cynthia Ann Hendee Wellington, Kansas 1952
Estella was born March 14, 1883 and died September 10, 1972 Blen was born August 15, 1891 and died April 20, 1979. I wish I had stayed in touch.. There was also an infant sister, little Marie, which I learned from the online cemetery record showing her burial and gravestone (both below).
Also, Allen, Estella, Blen and Allen's mother, Jane T. Beeler Laux, are buried in AtteberyCemetery
(aka Pleasant Hill Cemetery) in Sumner County, Kansas. I discovered this while researching for this story, thereby learning that Jane (my great great grandmother) apparently came out to live with the family.
Now to the home….all these years, I have been curious what it really looked like. "Gracious" always springs to mind, along with large and refined. I have had several experiences in going back to homes and a school of my childhood and being shocked at how they "shrank!" So, I am sure that would be the case here from my memory at age 7. I will likely never know, but, finally…some clue! Obituaries are one wonderful family history source, and here in Uncle Allen's was the address! And, what else is a wonderful genealogical tool that we went so long without having? The Internet! Put the two together, the old and the new, and voila--a house! I think the house!
A Google search brought up this home where I could read the mailbox as being 318. It is listed as having 2415 square feet with 4 bedrooms and 2.5 bathrooms. It is on one acre and was built in 1900. So, the home we were in in 1952 is still there and has been since 1900! And, it and the yard are large! Still producing descendants of those fireflies of 64 years ago…
318 N. Poplar, Wellington, Kansas
And, now to more family photos…
Here is Allen's sister and the aunt to Estella and Blen, Laura Laux Moore. She is the mother to Percy Lee Moore, grandmother to Laura Louise Moore Hendee, and great grandmother to Linda and me. Sadly, both she and her husband, Leander Lewis (Lee) Moore, died when Percy and his sister, Gertie (below), were young children. They were raised by Leander's brother and wife, Charles (Charlie) and Annie. Laura died in 1887 when Estella was about 4 and Blen not yet born.
ALLEN MARCUS LAUX
in Texas
1932
ca. 1925
I don't know who wrote this on the back.
Allen Laux with his niece, Gertie Cecil Moore Cummings,
sister of my grandfather, Percy Lee Moore
Wellington, Kansas
------Mae Blen Laux------ca. 1913
Tombstone of Laura Laux Moore
(photo of Laura on page one)
It reads:
Laura wife of L. L. Moore
Born Jan. 8, 1856 Died March 10, 1887
(at base)
Not lost, blest thought,
But gone before
Where we shall meet
To part no more.
This is in Bethel Cemetery in Butler, Missouri.
An obituary reads, "Died, Thursday, March the 10th 1887. Mrs. Lee Moore aged 31 years cause consumption. Residence in Shawnee township. She leaves a dutiful husband and two little children a boy and a girl, to mourn her loss. The Register extends sympathy."
The boy and girl are Grandpa (Percy Lee Moore) and his sister, Gertie Cecil Moore Cummings. A puzzle--records show that her "dutiful husband", Leander Lewis (Lee) Moore, died in 1885, 2 years before.
The gravestones of the family in Wellington are found online at Find a Grave Attebery Cemetery. It is wonderful that volunteers around the county take and post pictures of tombstones, a service so helpful and meaningful to family researchers. I sent an email to Shirley Hause, credited on the site, thanking her for her kindness. She responded, "You are very welcome. I enjoy doing it." She added our Laux grave photos in 2010. A history of the cemetery is on this website. The chart below is also from this website. It is here that I first learned Allen's wife's name, Ella C. Since I do not have Estella's middle name, I wonder if the C. was the same for both Ella and Estella.
Attebery Cemetery (aka Pleasant Hill Cemetery) Sumner County, Kansas
Laux, Allen M. 51186377b. 1850 d. 1934 / Attebery Cemetery
Rome
Sumner County
Kansas, USA
Laux, Ella C. 51186344
b. 1862 d. 1902 / Attebery Cemetery
Rome
Sumner County
Kansas, USA
Laux, Estella C. 51186439
b. unknown d. Sep. 10, 1972 / Attebery Cemetery
Rome
Sumner County
Kansas, USA
Laux, Jane T. 20853397
b. Feb. 2, 1818 d. Jun. 3, 1902 / Attebery Cemetery
Rome
Sumner County
Kansas, USA
Laux, Mae Blen 51186408
b. unknown d. Apr. 20, 1979 / Attebery Cemetery
Rome
Sumner County
Kansas, USA
Laux, Marie 51200736
b. Aug. 21, 1897 d. Aug. 24, 1897
Ella C. and Allen Marcus Laux, husband and wife
Jane T. Beeler Laux
Mother of Allen
Interesting rough stone at bottom
Marie Laux, infant
"Dau. of A. M. and E. C. Laux"
Mae Blen Laux and Estella C. Laux, sisters; daughters of Ella and Allen Laux