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Names and dates
included herein are from my grandfather Verts' bible.
My father William
Trigg Verts, was the second of five sons of Isaac Mortimore Verts (1
May 1865-11 August 1956) and Minnie Emma Tucker Verts (21 January
1878-16 January 1962). My grandparents were married 8 November 1898
in Booneville, MO. My father went to grade school in Nelson, MO and
high school in Napton, MO; no other public schooling was available.
He worked in the Tri-County State Bank in Nelson, MO until it closed
during the bank holiday in 1933. He joined my grandfather in the
Verts General Store in Nelson where he worked until his death from
kidney failure. My grandfather Isaac was one of 13 children born to
Joseph Lewis (Ludwig) Virts (8 July 1821-16 March 1901) and Elisa
Ann Baker Virts (21 September 1826-?? August 1901).
My father's brothers
were:
Jerome Speed Verts
(26 August 1900-5 March 1962) who managed a Missouri Farmers
Association grain mill and feed store (the elevator) in Nelson, MO.
He married Viola Grace Rhoades (28 November 1898-18 May 1981) on 3
November 1921; they had no children. Ned Lee Verts (9 August 1907-16
June 1985) who was successively a minor league baseball pitcher,
grocer, farmer, and carpenter. He married Kathryn Smith on 3 May
1926. Ned died from a ruptured abdominal aneurysm. They had one son,
Jack Kassen Verts. This is the only line that continues to bear the
Verts name in Missouri.
Shuck Tucker Verts
(18 December 1910-23 May 1992) who was a farmer, inventor, and
carpenter. He married Lois Richardson (21 August 1912-?? January
1996) on 19 January 1931; they had three daughters: Isabel Ann Verts
Payne (Mrs. Daniel F. Payne), Dorothy Verts Caton (Mrs. Thomas E.
Caton), and Vivian Verts Bailey (Mrs. Bruce Bailey). Shuck Verts was
a crack shot with a .22 rifle; he often exhibited his ability by
hitting tin cans thrown into the air. He and his father-in-law (D.
G. Richardson) invented a machine to strip the seed heads from
bluegrass and for many years stripped bluegrass seed for sale. Shuck
followed his father's footsteps in his love to make wooden toys and
novelties for sale and gifts.
Virgil Vance Verts
(5 February 1914-10 October 1993) who was a piano tuner, movie
operator, and laborer. He married May Florence Frost (15 June
1913-12 February 1993), a schoolteacher, on 15 June 8 April 1939;
they had three children: Lysbeth Virgene Verts Stark (22 February
1943 - ), Lynda Flo Verts (10 June 1948-10 June 1948), and Gary
Frost Verts (24 November 1949-2 February 1950). Virgil was in the
army during World War II and saw combat in the Admiralty and
Philippine islands.
I was born 9 April
1927 to Jeanette Poindexter Verts (27 November 1903-14 February
1995) and William Trigg Verts (24 October 1903-30 April 1936) in
Nelson, MO. My parents were married in Marshall, Missouri on 30
December 1925. I lived in Nelson, MO until the February following
the death of my father when my mother took a job in Marshall, MO as
a live-in nurse for a invalid woman. I went to live with my
grandmother Poindexter and aunt (Sara Louise [Peggy] Yeagle) in
Arrow Rock, MO. I lived there until June 1939 when my mother married
Claude Raymond Hawkins (son of the invalid woman for whom she had
once worked). We moved to Shelbina, MO where I completed grade
school and high school (4 May 1945). I joined the U.S. Navy during
the closing weeks of World War II and served 2 years as a hospital
corpsman in the United States and after the war in the Mariana
Islands (Guam and Saipan). I was discharged 17 November 1947 and
entered Washington University (St. Louis, MO) in February 1948. In
January 1950, I transferred to the University of Missouri (Columbia,
MO). During the term, I was diagnosed with tuberculosis; I spent the
next 2 years in a Veterans Administration hospital in Springfield,
MO. In September 1952, I returned to the University of Missouri and
completed a Bachelor of Science in June 1954. On 29 August 1954, I
was married to Lita Jeanne Nash of Jonesboro, AR with whom I had a
son, William Trigg Verts II (22 September 1955). We were divorced in
12 November 1975. I completed the Master of Science at Southern
Illinois University (Carbondale, IL) in June 1956 then attended the
University of Kansas (Lawrence, KS) for one semester. I worked for
the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (Williamston, NC)
for 7 months as a wildlife biologist, then returned to Illinois (1
October 1957) to work for the Illinois Natural History Survey as a
field mammalogist. I spent 5 years in northwestern Illinois
conducting research on rabies in striped skunks, then returned to
Southern Illinois University (September 1962) to complete the Ph.D.
(August 1965). I accepted a position at Oregon State University (1
August 1965), where except for a sabbatical year at Pennsylvania
State University (academic year 1977-1978) I spent the next 30 years
conducting research on mammals and teaching courses in mammalogy and
wildlife biology. I married Leslie Nike Tymniak Carraway (born: 8
November 1952) on 16 November 1979; we have no children. I became
Professor Emeritus on 1 August 1995; Leslie and I maintain an office
at the University and I continue to teach one graduate-level course
each year. After 7 years of work, we have just completed a book
titled "Land mammals of Oregon" that will be published by the
University of California Press in June 1998.
I was the only
grandchild for nearly 8 years and for most of that time lived in a
house next door to my grandparents. After leaving Nelson in1937, I
often returned to visit for a few days. During the summers of 1944
and 1949, I worked for my Uncle Jerome in "the elevator," and lived
with my grandparents. My grandfather had a tremendous memory for
things that happened in his youth and loved to tell me stories about
his life in Loudoun Co., VA. He often told of the hard work on the
farm, of reaping wheat with a scythe and cradle, of forming bundles
and shocking the wheat, of winnowing the grain, and of transporting
it to a mill for grinding into flour. He developed "white swelling"
(tuberculosis of the bone) in one of his legs when he was 14 years
old. He was an invalid for a time but recovered; he remained a
cripple and walked with a cane all of his life. When he was 20 years
old he left the farm and went to Vienna, VA where he worked with his
older brother John Henry as a carpenter. I do not recall precisely
when he came to Missouri, but he moved to Booneville where he
operated a grocery. He met and married my grandmother in Booneville.
Heand his brother Jonah moved to Nelson, MO about the turn of the
century; I'm not certain, but I think that my Uncle Jerome was born
in Nelson. I'm absolutely certain that my father was born in Nelson.
My grandfather operated a general store, and over the years acquired
a garage, gas station, movie theater, two houses, and a farm. I
remember going to silent movies for which my father was
projectionist and my uncle Virgil played the piano accompaniment;
this must have been about 1931. After my father died, my mother
helped in the grocery for a few months, but when we left,
grandfather turned the store over to my uncle Ned. This was still
the Depression era and the town of Nelson had shrunk from more than
600 to about 325. It could no longer support four grocery stores;
Ned sold out. My grandparents subsisted on funds obtained from sale
of the various properties. They finally moved next door to the house
in which I lived as a young child; grandfather died there. My
grandmother continued to live there for a few years, but when she
was no longer able to care for the place it was sold and she moved
into a nursing home. Jonah Asker Verts operated a grain mill in
Nelson, but he died before I was born. I am not certain, but I think
that he lived with my grandparents. My grandfather commonly told of
Jonah's extraordinary strength. He told me that Jonah would
demonstrate his prowness by picking up a section of railroad rail. I
always had the feeling that my grandfather bore a bit of animosity
toward his brother. I am not certain what the problem was, but I
think that my grandfather thought that Jonah had taken advantage of
him. On several occasions, I met Joseph Albert Verts who lived with
his son's family in Booneville. I do not remember much about him,
but I do recall that his son Charles was a postman. Charles and his
wife had a daughter named Phoebe who was a year older than I am. I
do not know where she resides or if she stills lives.
In August 1935, my
father, mother, grandparents, and I traveled in a 1935 Ford V-8 from
Nelson to Vienna, VA to visit with my grandfather's brother John
Henry and his wife. Great uncle John had a small truck farm where he
grew vegetables and raised chickens for sale. He had steady
customers to which he delivered dressed chickens and vegetables each
Saturday. During our visit my mother and I accompanied him on one of
his delivery routes. I found it amusing that he pronounced the word
"tomato" with a long "a" when talking with some customers and with a
short "a" when talking with others. In listening carefully I
determined that he pronounced the word the way that his customers
pronounced it. I recall that during our visit that we stayed in a
small building that John called the "summer house," but we assembled
in the big house for breakfast each morning. Breakfast consisted of
sausage, biscuits, and gravy.
During our visit, we
made several trips into Washington, D.C. I met a Frank Reeves who I
think was the son of Lydia Catharine Verts. I visited with Frank and
his wife again during the last days of World War II when I was
stationed at Bainbridge, MD. I recall that he took me to see the
Joseph Lewis Verts farm in Loudoun County, VA. I think that he was
retired, but I recall that his wife worked in the U. S. Treasury
Department.
Jane Rubiter Verts
Figgins lived in Pilot Grove, MO about 25-30 miles southeast of
Nelson. I recall several in my family (perhaps my grandfather) refer
to her as "Crazy Jane," I think that this stemmed from her
independence. I recall going with my mother and grandparents to her
house when I was a child. She made beautiful quilts and the day we
were there, she had a dozen or so hanging from the railing that
surround the porch. I do not recall why they were hung outside.
My grandfather's
sister Molley died 2 days after Joseph Lewis Verts died. I recall my
grandfather telling me that she had taken care of her aged parents
and when great grandfather died, she became so upset that she simply
grieved herself to death.
Because I have lived
in Oregon for nearly half my life, I found a newspaper clipping that
Lois Richardson Verts showed me a few years before she died most
interesting. It was an article about my grandfather Verts traveling
to Oregon in 1919 (I think) to visit his wife's brother Nathanal
Tucker and to investigate the possibility of establishing a business
here. Obviously, he decided not to come. Great uncle Nat is buried
in the Corvallis Cemetery.
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