1. Theophilus Stembel Halstead (1890-1977). "Theo," as he was known, was born January 3, 1890, in Oxford, Indiana. His family moved to Culpeper, Virginia, in the early 1900s, when Theo was in his early teens. When he was 18 his family moved to Charlottesville so he could attend the University of Virginia.

After Theo graduated with a law degree in 1914, it appears he moved to Washington, DC, where he married Elsie Mae Sullivan on May 3, 1915. This was just a year after graduation. Theo was 25, Elsie was 18. A year after their marriage they had their first child, George Walter, who was born in Norfolk, Virginia, on July 29, 1916. Their move to Norfolk implies Theo had entered the military by time George was born.


Soon after George's birth, the United States entered WW I and Theo was sent overseas. He was not present when his second child, a daughter named Marguerite Elizabeth, was born on February 9, 1918--and he was still overseas when she died six months later.

After the war, Theo and Elsie remained in Norfolk, Virginia, where he was a lawyer for the Prohibition Department in the 1930 census. He and Elsie had three more children between 1920 and 1927.

When WW II broke out in 1941, Theo evidently rejoined the Army. Two days after Christmas, 1941, Elsie died at the age of 45. This was just three weeks after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and it is likely that Theo had orders to report to a new post in preparation for the coming war. Elsie was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

Theo remarried during the war, but little is known about this marriage. Evidently it didn't last very long. Theo married again in 1946, to Alice Stackhouse, an Army nurse. There were no children of this marriage.

Theo retired from the Army as a Colonel, and (according to his obituary) took a job with the Internal Revenue Service. In 1950 Theo retired, and he and Alice moved to St. Petersburg, Florida. Theo died there on August 27, 1977, at the age of 87. Alice died on October 23, 1988.

Theo and Elsie Halstead's children:

a. George Walter Halstead (1916- ). George was born July 29, 1916. At some point he moved to the Washington, D.C. area, either with his family, or later, on his own. On August 7, 1937, he married Eileen June Hall (who went by "June") in Washington, D.C. George began his career as a steam-fitter, but at some point he entered college and got a business degree.


George and June had four children: William Garland, James Frederick, John Stephen, and Adria Dagny (Adria is a Halstead family historian. She is the source for much of the information on the Halstead line).

George retired as an administrator for the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in 1971 and moved the family to Seminole, Florida, and later, St. Petersburg.

June died in 1977. She was 60 years old. George married Joan Noga in 1990.

b. Marguerite Elizabeth Halstead (1918-1918). Marguerite was born February 9, 1918. She died six months later--a victim of the influenza epidemic that swept the country in 1918 and 1919. Her father, Theo, was overseas at the time and never got to see her.
c. Richard Stembel Halstead (1920- ). Richard, who went by the name of Dick, was born October 16, 1920. On January 26, 1942, he married Genevieve Annette Fiesel in the Bronx, New York. Soon after their marriage, Dick served in the armed forces during World War II. After the war, he returned to New York where he and Genevieve lived until they moved to Florida later in life.

Dick and Genevieve had six children: Richard Stembel, Jr., Peter Allen, Sharon Lee, James Randolph, Robert Scott, and Carol.

d. Mary Francis Halstead Freeman (1923-1973). Mary was born June 11, 1923. On January 27, 1943, she married Clytus Allen Freeman, Jr. They had three children: Robert Allen, Steven Douglas, and William Brewster. Mary died in 1973 at the age of 50.
e. Robert Ogden Halstead (1927-1950). Robert was born September 15, 1927. He attended Fork Union (Virginia) Military Academy. After graduation he saw action in World War II. He was discharged in 1948. Tragedy soon struck, however, as Robert was hit by an automobile and killed on May 1, 1950. He was just 23. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.

E. Frank Holton Stembel (1854-1920). Frank was born July 9, 1854. He worked on his father's farm until he was 18, then went to work on his brother-in-law's (Clay Harris) farm for a few years. On April 14, 1880, Frank married Ida Jane Runner. Frank's father and Ida's father gifted them a 160-acre farm in the northwest corner of Oak Grove Township. 80 acres were in Frank's name and 80 acres were in Ida's name. Eventually Frank purchased an additional 80-acres nearby. Frank was a farmer all his life.

Frank and Ida had two sons and a daughter. Sometime between the 1910 and 1920 federal censuses, they got a divorce. In the 1920 census they were recorded next to each other. Each may have been living on their respective 80 acres.

Frank died December 12, 1920; Ida died in 1929. Both are buried in Oxford's Justus Cemetery.

Frank and Ida Stembel's children:

1. Charles Kenneth Stembel (1881-1974). Charles was born in 1881. He married Ruth Baldwin in 1904. Ruth loved to write and in her later life she wrote a book about her Baldwin family.⁽¹⁶⁾ It contains a chapter about her life with Charles (a copy can be found in the Library of Congress).


Charles and Ruth had four children. Their first born, a son named Kenneth, died two days after his birth. A year later they had a daughter, Esther Lois, followed by Audrey Lenore, and later, another son, Donald Willis. Audrey was the source of much of the information about Theo's descendants.

Charles and Ruth moved to Texas in 1912 and tried farming, but there was little market for their produce, so two years later they returned to their farm in Benton County.

Ruth was an avid gardener and every year she had a huge display of peonies, over 200 varieties. People would drive by the house every year to admire the peony display.

Charles was a farmer all his life farmed most of his life. The 1930 census shows he owns their farm free of a mortgage. Charles died on March 30, 1967, at the age of 86. Ruth died in 1974. She was 90. Both are buried in Oxford's Justus Cemetery.

2. Mary Edna Stembel Roby Miller (1884-1982). Mary Edna was born October 21, 1884. Edna, as she was known all her life, graduated from the Oxford Academy and went on to get a degree at Indiana University. She married George Lincoln Roby in 1931. They had no children, but after the death of her sister-in-law in 1933, they raised her son, Kingston (see below). In 1940 Edna's husband died. Edna remained single for the next decade, but in 1952 she married again, to Dr. Daniel Miller.


Edna had a college degree and used it to become a successful business woman at a time when women were generally discouraged from being assertive. She became the Editor, Secretary-Treasurer, and Manager of the Benton Review Publishing Company.

Edna died February 14, 1982, at the age of 97.

3. Ralph Runner Stembel (1887-1961). Ralph was born January 3, 1887. He grew up in Benton County. On New Year's Day, 1910, he married Edna Waldrip. They had three children, all boys, but the oldest died in infancy. Ralph was a farmer and also worked as a printer for the Benton Review Publishing Company. According to his granddaughter, Judy Thomas, Ralph loved horses. He also loved his wife Edna very much, but Edna died young in 1933. She was just 44 years old. Ralph was devastated and never remarried. He died after a short illness in 1961. Ralph was laid to rest with his wife in the Justus Cemetery, Oxford.


Ralph and Edna Stembel's children:

a. Glen Stembel (1913-1913). Glen was born in 1913. He died as a baby.
b. Byron Stembel (1915-1992). Byron was born October 4, 1915. Just months after graduating from high school his mother died. Soon after, he married Marguerite Francis. They had one child, Adrian Jan (Sr.), but the marriage didn't last, and in 1938 Byron married Marjorie Ann Judy. They had a daughter, Judy Lee in 1939, but this marriage, too, didn't last. In 1943 Byron married Eva Mae Smith and two years later had a daughter, Kay Zo in 1945.

Byron was known as "Doc." By the mid-1950s Doc owned a farm where he raised polled Herefords, and owned Stembel Produce, a feed and supply company. Evidently Doc's third marriage was a good one. This writer stumbled upon a book written by a man who, as an adolescent, needed a male role model and Doc Stembel took him under his wing and treated him like a son. The author, B.A. Butts, was about the same age as Doc's daughter, Kay, and they became fast friends for the seven years that the relationship lasted. Mr. Butts devoted most of a chapter to his relationship with the Stembels, and how important Doc was to him at a time in his life when he needed a father-figure badly. But it came to an end when the author went off to college in 1962.⁽¹⁷⁾

Doc's wife, Eva, died suddenly of a brain hemorrhage in 1973. In 1974 Doc married Maria Rupa, who was about 7 years younger than him. In 1991 Doc learned he had cancer. he died about a year later, in Gibson City, Illinois. He and his wife, Eva, are buried in the Elliott Cemetery in Gibson City. Maria died in 2012 and is buried in the Drummer Township Cemetery, near Gibson City.⁽¹⁸⁾

Byron had three children. Adrian Jan Stembel was born June 25, 1935. He moved to Tennessee, married, and had three children, Adrian Jan, Jr., Michael, and Brett. They lived in Coffee County, Tennessee, where Adrian died August 2, 1997. Byron's second child, Judy Lee Stembel, was born December 30, 1939. She married Jerry Thomas and had a son, Bradley. They lived in Bourbonnais, Illinois. Judy died April 18, 2014. Byron's third child, Zo Stembel, was born March 8, 1945. She married William Proctor after high school. They had a daughter, Jamie, born in 1968, but they divorced soon after her birth and Kay remarried in 1969. She was now Kay Bradshaw. Kay worked for United Parcel Service in the 1980s. On May 26, 1993, Kay fell down a stairway. Her neck was broken and she died immediately.


c. Kingston Stembel (1921-1991). Kingston was born in 1921. After his mother's death, he was raised by his aunt Edna. In 1944 he married Anna Maxine Nichols, who went by her middle name. They had a son, Charles Kent. King, as he was known, attended Indiana University. He also served in the Army during World War II, where he earned a battlefield commission. He later saw action in the Korean Conflict. In civilian life, he was a farmer, a musician (drummer), and a newspaper editor. He wrote a popular weekly column called "King's Komments" in the Benton Review. King suffered from diabetes which contributed to his death in 1991.

F. Elbert Stembel (1856-1953). Elbert was born April 16, 1856, on his family's farm outside Oxford, Indiana. When he was old enough he began working on his father's farm. His father specialized in raising horses. At the age of 27 and still single, Elbert and his younger brother, Jerome, moved west. It appears they initially settled in Fort Scott, Kansas. There he met and married Anna Mary Strite in 1886. Elbert was 29, Anna was 20. Her mother was Swiss. However, between his arrival in Fort Scott and his marriage there, a 1884 Fort Scott newspaper article indicated that Elbert was a resident of Clayton, Missouri, but was visiting Fort Scott. I believe Elbert initially settled in Fort Scott, met Anna, then got a job that required him to move to Clayton, Missouri (a town just west of St. Louis). He probably traveled back to Fort Scott frequently to visit Anna. After they married in Fort Scott, they made their hoe in Clayton.

Elbert and Anna's first two children were born in Clayton (in 1890 and 1892). However, sometime after 1892 they moved to Henryetta, Okmulgee County, Indian Territory, where they were living in 1897. Two years later they were living in Lafontaine, Wilson County, Kansas, where their third child was born in 1899. But a year later, Elbert and Anna were living in Osage Nation in Indian Territory where Elbert was a farmer on a rented farm according to the 1900 census. Two years later, they were still living in Indian Territory, where Anna gave birth to twins. Elbert's grandson, Clarence Stembel, said they lived near the Hominy trading post. By 1904, however, they had moved back to Lafontaine, where Elbert was recorded as the purchaser of a registered Duroc-Jersey pig. A year later, the 1905 Kansas state census found the Stembels were living on a rented farm in Montgomery County, Kansas. Montgomery County is located on the Kansas-Oklahoma border just north of the Osage Nation.

Sometime after the 1905 state census Elbert and Anna decided it was time to end the frequent moves in the west and move back to Elbert's childhood home in Oak Grove Township, Benton County, Indiana. This decision might have been triggered by the death of Elbert's mother a few months after the 1905 census. His father had died a few years earlier, and with the death of his mother, Elbert, and his eight surviving siblings would have to decide how to dispose of his parent's large farm's land and livestock. Elbert might have found that farming in Indiana was more to his liking than those back in Kansas and Oklahoma.

The 1910 census shows Elbert and Anna were living on a rented farm in Benton County. In the 1920 census, Elbert was recoded twice, once in Benton County, and the second in Morgan County, Indiana, just outside Mooresville. I assume he was in the process of moving at the time of the census. The 1930 census shows they were now living in Boone County, Indiana, near the town of Thornton. They were still living there in the 1940 census. The census shows that both Elbert and Anna had completed 6th grade. Elbert was 84 and managing their farm. Two of their sons were living with them (one single, one a widower) who worked the farm.

Elbert and Anna had five children, four of whom lived to adulthood. This writer interviewed one of their children, Clarence, in 1983. He told of an interesting event while his parents were living in the Indian Territory. One day a U.S. Marshal came to his parent's door and said he had just shot two horse thieves on their land and needed some help. When they reached the two men, one had already died. His father helped the Marshal take the remaining man into town for medical attention (and jail).

Anna died in 1946. Elbert died in 1953 at the age of 97. Both are buried in the Justus Cemetery in Oxford, Indiana.

Elbert and Anna Stembel's five children:

1. Elbert Harris Stembel (1890-1974). Harris (he went by his middle name) was born on August 30, 1890, near St. Louis, Missouri. His childhood was spent moving. They moved from St. Louis to Kansas,then on to the Osage Nation in Indian Territory, then back to Kansas. When Harris was 14, a 1905 Kansas State census showed he was living in Montgomery County, Kansas, with his parents. Soon after his family finally moved back to Indiana where his father had grown up. There he graduated from high school and married Clara Lindsey on February 28, 1914. Harris was 23, Clara was 19. In the 1920 census, Harris and Clara were living in a rented home in Oxford, Indiana, where Harris was a manager of a local grain elevator. In the 1930 census they owned their home valued at $4,200. Harris was still manager at the grain elevator in Oxford. By the 1940 census, Harris, Clara, and his nephew, Joseph, had moved to Kentland, Newton County, Indiana, a town about 15 miles northwest of Oxford. Harris was manager of a grain elevator, most likely one closer to his new town.

Harris and Clara had no children, but when Harris's brother's wife died in 1938 (see the entry for Howard Earl Stembel below), they agreed to take in their son, Joseph, and raise him. Joseph was about nine-years-old at the time. Joseph had to move from his Boone County, home to Elbert's home in Kentland, Indiana. It must have been tough losing his mother, then moving to a new home, but Joseph did well, graduating from high school, then serving in the military, and then earning a degree in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University.

Harris died on June 24, 1974. Clara died on October 2, 1980. Both are buried in the Justus Cemetery, Oxford, Indiana.


2. Walter R. Stembel (1892-1982). Walter was born July 26, 1892, in Clayton, Missouri. His early childhood was punctuated with frequent moves as his family moved from Missouri, to Kansas and then the Indian Territory. But in his early teens his family moved to Benton County, Indiana, where his father had grown up. After Walter graduated from high school, he enlisted in the military and served during WW I. He was a farm laborer on his family's farm all his life. He never married and lived with his parents until their deaths. He died in 1982 in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, at the age of 90. He is buried in Maple Lawn Cemetery, in Thorntown, Indiana.

3. Howard Earl Stembel (1899-1994). "Earl", as he was known, was born October 8, 1899, in Lafontaine, Kansas. He served in the U.S. Army during WW I and WW II.⁽¹⁹⁾ On January 26, 1928, in Martinsville, Indiana, he married Beryl Gregory. They had two children, Joseph and Barbara. In 1938, Earl was cleaning a rifle when it discharged and hit Beryl who died. She was 32. Earl was devastated at the loss of his wife. He moved back in with his parents who lived nearby. It was decided that their children, then ages 8 and 6, should be raised by others. Joseph went to live with his Uncle Harris and Aunt Clara, and Barbara went to live with a sister of her mother's.

Joseph had to move from his home in Boone County to Kentland, a town in northern Indiana. His aunt and uncle had no children of their own, but Joseph adapted easily, graduated from high school, joined the military during WW I, then attended Purdue University and earned a degree in Electrical Engineering. At the age of 42 he married Harriet Hays, but a few years after they wed, Joseph was diagnosed with cancer. He died two years later he died in the VA Hospital in Indianapolis. Joseph's sister, Barbara, married Charles Hagee and had two children. They moved to San Diego.

Earl never remarried. He died in 1994 in San Diego where he was living with his daughter's family. Earl was 95. He is buried in Maple Lawn Cemetery in Thorntown, Indiana.

Earl was a Civil War buff. He read Civil War magazines and enjoyed discussing the war with his grandchildren according to his grandson, Robert Hagee.

4. & 5. Emmett Stembel (1902-1902) and Clarence Jerome Stembel (twins) (1902-1990). They were born August 14, 1902, near the Hominy Trading Post in the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). Emmett died as an infant.


Clarence's family returned to Indiana sometime before 1910. He graduated from Oxford High School in 1920,⁽²⁰⁾ and attended Butler University. He then moved on to Indiana University where he did graduate work. Clarence taught high school, coached cross-country and track, and was later a vice principal.⁽²¹⁾

Clarence was known to everyone as C.J. In 1928 he married Anna Erwin. They had one child, Mary Alice. Anna died in 1936. She was just 33 years old. Clarence was left to raise his daughter who was just 6 years old. In 1937, Clarence married Ethel Larm, who happily agreed to raise Mary as her own. Clarence and Ethel also had a son, John, together. Ethel was a graduate of Indiana University where she was the first woman editor of the student newspaper.

In the 1940 census, Clarence and Ethel were living in Indianapolis where Clarence was a high school teacher, earning $1,480 a year, and Ethel was a stay-at-home mom, raising their two children. The census shows that both Ethel and Clarence had completed 5 years of college.

Eventually Clarence and Ethel moved back to Benton County where Clarence had grown up, and taught school. Their daughter Mary Alice attended Indiana University, married, had two children, but she died young at the age of 43. John remained in Benton County where he was a farmer. Clarence died in 1990 at the age of 88. Ethel died in 1996. She was 100 years old. Clarence, Anna (Clarence's first wife), and Ethel are buried in Oxford's Justus Cemetery.

G. Isabella Stembel Phares (1858-1937). Isabella (the spelling of her name on the first census after her birth) was born May 27, 1858, in Oxford, Indiana. She grew up on the family farm and attended school in Oxford. On October 11, 1881, she married William Rufus Phares. William was born in Ohio in 1853. His family had moved to Oxford when he was three. William sold boots and shoes. In 1883 they had a son, and three years later they had a daughter.

The marriage apparently ended, for at the time of the 1900 census Isabella was back on the Stembel farm, living with her parents. Her daughter, Ruth. Isabella's marital status in the census was 'Divorced'. William was living nearby with a new wife. William died in 1926. His obituary indicates he had remarried in 1898.

Isabella never remarried. She lived with her younger brother, Walter, in the Stembel family's house until Walter's death in 1936. Isabella died April 1, 1937, just three months after Walter. She was 78. Isabella is buried in Oxford's Justus Cemetery.

Isabella and William Phares's two children:

1. Perry S Phares (1883-1932). Perry was born July 28, 1883, in Boswell, Indiana. In the 1900 census he was living in Oxford, Indiana, with his father and step-mother. On June 10, 1903, he married Laura Perigo. At some point, Perry and Laura moved to Lafayette, Indiana, where he opened a shoe store, according to relatives.


Perry and Laura had two children. In the late summer of 1932, Perry developed an inflammation of the gallbladder. He was taken to St. Elizabeth's Hospital nearby where they operated for gallstones. Sometime after the surgery, he developed a pulmonary embolus (a clot in his lung). There was nothing the doctors could do to save him. Perry, who was conscious the whole time, and his family could only wait for death. A few days later, on September 4, Perry succumbed. He was 49.

Laura lived 15 more years. Three days after her brother, Frank, died, Laura - returning from his funeral, with her two daughters and a son-in-law, leaned over to take off her boots and collapsed to the ground. The family quickly carried her to the couch where she began to vomit blood. An ambulance was called, but it took a long time to arrive. When it arrived, Laura was in a coma. She never regained consciousness and died at 8:00 on the evening of April 29, 1947.

Perry and Laura are both buried in Lafayette's Rest Haven Memorial Park.

Perry and Laura Phares's two children:

a. Esther Marion Phares Whalin (1907-2002). Esther was born in Lebanon, Indiana, on November 12, 1907. She attended Purdue University, graduating in 1929. She went on to earn a second degree in Library Science at the University of Illinois. While working at the university library, she met Hazen Whalin who also worked at the library. They fell in love, but could not get married because one of them would have to quit their job (during the Depression the library had a rule that only one family member could work there). In the end, they were forced to elope. Unfortunately, Esther's father died before they could reveal their secret.


Esther and Hazen had one child, Barbara Ruth, who was born in Champaign, Illinois.

After graduation from the University of Illinois, Hazen worked for the Federal Land Bank of St. Louis. He worked there for 38 years before retirement. Hazen died in 1996. Esther died November 17, 2002, in Jacksonville, Illinois.

Esther and Hazen are both buried in Diamond Grove Cemetery in Jacksonville, Illinois.
b. Eleanor Ruth Phares McNeil Stivers (1913-1987). Eleanor was born in Lafayette, Indiana, on March 14, 1913. Eleanor married William Wells McNeil (known as "Wells") in the 1930s. They had one child, Don Wells, who was born on May 19, 1939.


Wells and Eleanor divorced at some point. Eleanor then married Alonzo Stivers.

Alonzo died in 1972. Eleanor lived another 15 years. She died on May 12, 1987. Both Eleanor and Alonzo are buried in Lafayette's Rest Haven Memorial Park.

[Much of the information about Perry & Laura Phares, Esther & Hazen Whalin, and Eleanor & Wells McNeil was provided by Esther's daughter, Barbara Whalin Makant, Tallahassee, Florida.]

2. Ruth Violet Phares Atkinson (1886-1967). (The name on her tombstone). Ruth was born November 10, 1886, in Oxford, Indiana. In 1909, at the age of 22, she married Elmer Atkinson. Elmer was a 24-year-old farmer. It appears they lived in the Oxford area all their life. They had two children, Harriet (who married Harley McDonald), and Olive Rosamond (who married Maurice Roberts). Olive and Maurice had a son, Maurice Paul Roberts. Elmer died in 1954. Ruth died in 1967. Both are buried in Oxford's Justus Cemetery. Much of my information about Ruth comes from her grandson, Maurice Roberts.

H. Jerome Stembel (1860-1941). Jerome was born in Oxford, Indiana, on December 11, 1860. He grew up on his family's farm. The Stembels of Oxford were a large family. Jerome had seven older siblings (two of whom died when he was about 5-years-old), and four who were born after him. He worked on the family farm until he was 22, when, in 1883, he and his older brother, Elbert, left home to explore opportunities west of the Mississippi River. They eventually ended up in Fort Scott, Kansas, and after a time there, they went their separate ways. In 1886 Jerome married Addie Potter in Vernon County, Missouri (about 15 miles southwest of Fort Scott, across the state line). Jerome was 26, Addie was 19. For the next 30 years they would travel the west looking for the right place to settle⁽²²⁾. Addie was a willing partner in Jerome's wanderlust. We know some of the places where they lived after their marriage based on the places their four sons were born, various censuses, city directories, and a one page list of places where they lived even briefly, and the dates when they left.

At the dawn of 1889, Jerome and Addie were living in Fort Scott, Kansas. In April, after two years of marriage, they loaded all their possessions into a covered wagon and set out for Salt Lake City, Utah, about 950 miles west of Fort Scott as the crow flies. But people can't fly, and they didn't take the most direct route, so the total miles traveled likely exceeded 1,500 miles. They made good time to Denver, where they entered the Rocky Mountains. They got as far as the small community of Grant, Colorado (40 miles southwest of Denver, elevation 8,600 feet), where their first child, John, was born. A month after John's birth, they hit the road again. They traveled west and north, through spectacular mountain passes, until they reached Mercur, Utah. Mercur was a large mining town (now a ghost town) where gold and silver had been about mined out by the time of the Stembel's visit. Even so, seeing the mines and talking to miners likely excited Jerome, who owned and worked his own mine later in life. Jerome and Addie remained in Mercur for a month or so, then continued their journey to Salt Lake City, where they arrived in late 1889.

Four years after their arrival, they were still living in Salt Lake City, where their second child, Theophilus, was born in September of 1894. During his time in Salt Lake City, Jerome ran a butcher shop, helped pave the city's roads, and did some mining. But by 1897, Jerome was anxious to move again, this time to Los Angeles, where they appeared in that year's city directory. Jerome's occupation was "fruit dealer". Los Angeles was where their third child, Jerome, Jr. was born. Soon after his birth in July 1898, they moved again. This time they moved east, to Kansas City, Missouri, where they were living when the 1900 census was taken. The census showed the family was living in a rented house and Jerome's occupation as "day laborer". They may have only recently arrived. But two years later, Jerome and Addie moved again, this time back to Vernon County, Missouri, where they had married, and where Addie's parents also lived. Jerome bought a farm near her parents' farm, and began farming. Soon after, their youngest child, Perry, was born, in September 1903.

Seven years later, the 1910 census shows they had moved again, this time to a farm in Miller County in central Missouri. It was there, in 1912, that Jerome and Addie received word that their oldest son, John, had died in a terrible train accident (John was a fireman on the train) in Washington State.

But wanderlust continued to call, and once again the Stembels moved, this time to Denver, Colorado. And this turned out to be their last move. Jerome and Addie arrived in May,0 and Jerome immediately bought a grocery store. The 1917 Denver city directory showed that 'Stembel's Grocery', was located at 400 Kalamath Street. The next year's city directory shows Jerome had moved both his store and his residence to Tejon Street.

Jerome's family settled permanently in this location. However, the 1920 census shows that while his family was still living in Denver, Jerome was living apart from the family, living alone on a mountain above Lawson, Colorado, about 40 miles west of Denver. He was a miner, and it appears he was part owner of a mine, the 'Walt/Stembel Mine'. Jerome spent the rest of his life there as a miner. This is where Jerome was recorded in the 1920 and 1930 censuses. I suspect this is what he was looking for in all his travels around the west. He lived at his mine year around until his death⁽²³⁾. His wife, Addie, occupied their residence in Denver, visited Jerome at the mine frequently, and provided a home for their family until her death.

Jerome died on February 2, 1941. Addie died February 25, 1950. Both are buried in the Crown Hill Cemetery in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

Jerome and Addie Stembel's four sons:

1. John Hudson Stembel (1889-1912). John was born June 22, 1889, at Grant, Colorado. John was a fireman for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, on their new route from Chicago to Seattle. He was killed in a railroad accident on August 12, 1912, near Keechelus Lake, Washington. The train, drawn by two locomotives, was approaching Snoqualmie Pass at the summit of the Cascade Mountains when the forward engine derailed on a bridge over a small stream. The pounding of the wheels over the ties broke down the bridge. Both engines, the mail car and the baggage car fell into the creek. For 14 photographs of the accident, click here. John was just 23 and single at the time of his death. He is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery, Fort Scott, Kansas.

2. Theophilus Stembel (1894-1969). Theo, as he was known, was born September 7, 1894, at Salt Lake City, Utah. He was also known as "Silver." He never married. He served in the Army in WW I. He was a Private in the Aero Squadron. According to the Denver city directory he worked for the Shaeffer Tent & Awning Company in 1920. He continued to work there until at least 1932. In the 1945 city directory, Theo was a manager at the Acme Sun Tent and Awning Company. In 1947 he was Secretary-Treasurer of the same company. He evidently held that position until his retirement. He died in 1969 in Hawaii. He is buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. The name on his tombstone is Theodore H. Stembel

3. Jerome Stembel, Jr (1898-1924). Jerome was born July 25, 1898. He saw service in the U.S. Navy during WW I. At one point he was an Electrician 1st Class on the U.S.S. Maumee. He was discharged in 1919. In the 1920 census, he was living with his father at his mine near Lawson, Colorado, his occupation was miner. In the 1923 Denver city directory Jerome was back in Denver, living in his parents home. He was a driver for a fruit company. Jerome died after a tonsillectomy on February 15, 1924, in Silverton, Colorado, in the southwest part of the state. We don't know why he was there at the time. He was 25 years old. He is buried in the Crown Hill Cemetery in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. He never married.

4. Perry Stembel (1903-1972). Perry was born September 1, 1903, in Vernon County, Missouri. His parents moved frequently around the west. Perry was in his early teens when his parents settled for good in Denver. In the 1920 census, 16-year-old Perry was recorded with an occupation of salesman. In 1926, Perry married Lucille Ehlinger at Golden, Colorado. They had two children, Nona and Paul.

In the 1930 census, Perry was a presser in a dry-cleaning establishment. In the 1945 city directory his occupation was manager of a dyeing and cleaning firm. By 1960 he owned his own establishment, "Perry's Cleaners."

Perry died on June 17, 1972. Lucille died June 27, 2000. Both are buried in Crown Hill Cemetery, Wheat Ridge, Colorado.





Perry and Lucille Stembel's two children:

a. Nona Marie Stembel Rivera (1937- ). Nona was born on Christmas Eve, 1937, in Denver. In 1960 she married Germán Rivera in Oaxaca, Mexico. She was working for the Denver Board of Education at the time.

Nona and Germán had four children: Julieta (Julie), Jorge, Jacquelina (Jackie), and Germán, Jr. (Gerry). All four were born in Mexico. Jorge died in infancy. Julie and Jackie are both married and live near Denver. Gerry died in 1998 of injuries suffered in an auto accident. Nona is retired and lives in Denver.

b. Paul Jerome Stembel (1943- ). Paul was born in Denver on December 15, 1943. After serving in the U.S. Army, he married Barbara Deslongchamp on November 4, 1967. They have two children, Troy and Traci.


Paul was a police officer for the Commerce City, Colorado, Police Department. He retired from the department in 1989. He lives in the Denver area.

I. Perry Stembel. (1862-1947). Perry was born September 2, 1862, near Oxford, Indiana. He was Theophilus and Martha's ninth child. Three more would follow. Perry was also the second of four boys born within six years of each other (December 1860-January 1867). Living on a farm, they probably became quite close, working and playing together.

Perry worked on his family's farm until early adulthood when he decided he'd rather work in a bank than on a farm. From age 17 when Perry was a farm laborer - in the 1880 Census - to age 37 in the 1900 census, we have no record when Perry began working in a bank, but by the 1900 he was a bank cashier, and living with his parents on the Stembel farm. His marital status was M[arried] for nine years, but no wife was present in the census. I have not found any record of a marriage for him. It may have just been an error on the census-taker's part. Ten years later, the 1910 census shows Perry had moved to Fowler, Indiana, a larger town about ten miles northwest of Oxford. Perry was 47 and single. He was a bank cashier.

It appears that Perry worked in a bank all of his working life. He was also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF), a men's social organization, similar to the Masons, that was particularly popular in small towns in that era. The creed of the IOOF was to "visit the sick, relieve the distressed, bury the dead, and educate the orphan".

In 1916 Perry was involved in a tragic automobile accident that took the life of his companion, Iva Markle. Iva was a 26-year-old from Nebraska who was a nurse in Indianapolis. She and Perry planned a day drive in the countryside. Sometime during the day, Perry let Iva, an inexperienced driver, drive his car. In the town of Waynetown she became disoriented and made a turn onto some railroad tracks just as a fast-moving train was approaching. The train hit their car and Iva was killed instantly. Perry was severely injured, but lived. I don't know if any of his injuries were permanent, or how it affected his life after the accident.

In the 1920 census, Perry was recorded twice, once in Fowler, and once back on his family's farm in Oxford. His occupation was the same however, bank cashier. It appears he was in the process of moving back to the farm, for that's where he was living in the 1930 census. Moving home, Perry joined his older sister, Isabella, and his younger brother, Walter. The large Stembel house that was once home to 12 children must have felt strangely quiet to the three childless adults (Isabella had two children, but they were now grown and living elsewhere).

According to a nephew, Perry inherited his father's love of horses, it was his passion in life, for he never married. A relative who visited Perry in 1940 - he was living alone by then - recalls watching Perry drive his 25 horses to pasture one morning and still remembered, 45 years later, what a beautiful sight it was. They were extraordinary animals.

As he grew older, Perry became severely crippled by arthritis, to the point where he could no longer spend time with his horses. The two siblings he once shared the house with, Walter and Isabella, died in 1936 and 1937 respectively, leaving Perry to live alone. He eventually became so despondent that on July 17, 1947, he took his life with a revolver. His youngest brother, Basil, had died just a month earlier. With Basil's death, Perry was the last of his parent's 12 children still living, at the age of 84. Perry is buried in Oxford's Justus Cemetery.

J. Walter Stembel (1864-1936). Walter was born on October 10, 1864. He was the 10th of the family's 12 children, and it is likely all 10 were living in the house when Walter was born. However, one month after his birth, Walter's oldest brother, Austin, died of typhoid fever. Three months later his oldest sister, Eleanor, also died of Typhus. Walter grew up on the Stembel family farm, and probably began helping his father at an early age. As his father grew older, Walter took over most of the farming responsibilities. After his parent's death, Walter and his sister, Isabella, continued to live on the family farm until their own deaths. Walter died on New Year's Eve, 1936. He is buried in Oxford's Justus Cemetery.

K. Basil Justus Stembel (1867-1947). Basil was born January 29, 1867, near Oxford, Indiana. After high school he continued his education at the Indiana Dental College in Indianapolis. After graduation he remained in Indianapolis where he set up his practice. In 1902 he was involved in a bizarre scandal that was widely reported in the regional press for a few days. He claimed he was the victim of a "Badger Game" scam. The scammers were an out-of-town couple who set him up and then tried to blackmail him. The incident didn't appear to have hurt his dental practice, however. You can read about it Here.

Ten years later, at the age of 44, he married Frances Sarah Robinson. Frances was 27. They had no children, but they adopted a son, Howard, who took the last name Stembel.

Oddly, Basil's age recorded in the federal censuses beginning in 1900 was always 5-6 years younger than his real age, not an unusual practice since census agents merely recorded what they were told.

Basil died on June 15, 1947, in Indianapolis at the age of 80. He was cremated and his ashes were spread over the Stembel family's cemetery plot in Oxford's Justus Cemetery. Frances remained in Indianapolis and died in August, 1972. I don't know where she is buried.

L. Olive Stembel Morse. (1868-1934). Olive was born November 21, 1868. She went by the name of "Ollie". She was the youngest of Theophilus's 12 children. The 1900 census shows that Olive was 31 years old, single, and living with her parents. Seven years later she married Joseph Morse. Olive was 38, Joseph was 31. On their marriage application, Joseph's occupation was Drainage Engineer. After they married, they moved to a farm in Chester Township, Wabash County, Indiana.

Olive and Joseph had two daughters, born in 1910 and 1912, but both died soon after birth. In the 1910 and 1920 census, Olive and Joseph were living on their farm in Wabash County. Between the 1920 and 1930 census they moved to a farm a few miles south in Lagro Township, where Joseph raised livestock.

However, in February 1934, they moved back to Olive's hometown of Oxford⁽²⁴⁾. Olive may have been in failing health and wanted to return home to be with her family and friends. Eight months later, Olive was taken to Central State Hospital in Indianapolis, where she died three weeks later, on November 12, 1934⁽²⁵⁾. Olive is buried in Oxford's Justus Cemetery. Joseph never remarried. He died 28 years later in 1962. He, too, is buried in Justus Cemetery.