Sarah McGehee

The picture to the left is Melvin Stahl, son of William Robert and Laura Connel Stahl

Ben and Rebecca Stahl had brought John Monroe Stahl and Rebecca Jane Stahl into the world.  Ben and Sarah, however, would birth nine more.     John Monroe Stahl married his step-cousin, Matilda Pennington, daughter of Corbin and Elizabeth Pennington, and went to Texas, living out the rest of his life in Coryell County, Texas.       

I believe I was told that Rebecca Jane Stahl was sent back to Muhlenberg, Kentucky, after her mother passed away.  I think she married John Wesley Christian in Ohio County Kentucky, however by 1880 was in Williamson County, Texas.  She passed away in 1914 in Hamilton County, Texas.      

George Washington Stahl was born in 1841.  On the census, for 1860, George is listed as "idiotic" under column 14.  In 1860 this was a technical term meaning "a person the development of whose mental faculties was arrested in infancy or childhood before coming to maturity."  No further information is found after 1860.  The outcome of this life is a mystery. 

Elizabeth Ann Stahl was born on January 5, 1842.  She married the son of another Lawrence County, Missouri pioneer family, John Isaac Bryant, on October 21, 1858.  

Nine children were born between 1860 and 1875. Harrison Henry Bryant migrated to the state of Washington, where he married Susan Catherine Jeffords.  He ultimately ended up in Colorado Springs, where he is buried.  He and Susan had four children, Otto, Ora, Orville, and Oma.  

Newton Bryant was their next child.  I have nothing on Newton except a birth year and a death year.  I was told he was born in 1851 and died in 1875.  

The third child of Elizabeth Ann and John Bryant is Mary Susan Bryant, born in 1863.  On December 14, 1884, she married Joseph Y Lovelace,  in Lawrence County, Missouri. They had four children that I know of, possibly a fifth in 1885 that did not survive.  I was told that Mary Susan Bryant Lovelace passed away around 1907.  One of her children married into the Stotts family of Stotts City, Missouri, just west of Mt Vernon.   

The next child was George Wesley Bryant,born on October 21, 1869.  We know he was married because his death certificate states that he was "divorced" however, I am not sure of his wife's identity.  One possibility is Myrtle Emmerson.  I found a marriage record for George W Bryant and Myrtle Emmerson, November 10, 1921.  George died in Lawrence County, Missouri, on July 25, 1943.  His death certificate states he was born on July 16, 1868, which differs from his tombstone.  

Next is Francis Asberry Bryant (a boy), born December 17, 1870, in Missouri.  Francis married  Nettie Joseph on November 11, 1893, in Lawrence County, Missouri.  It seems that from March to June of 1897, they moved to  El Dorado Kansas, where Nettie Joseph's sister, Mrs. Daniel Boyle, resided.    After returning to Lawrence County, they remained there and had six children in total, three girls and three boys.   

Dora Bell Bryant was born March 29, 1873, in Missouri.  She married George Ed Blalock in 1900 in Lawrence County, Missouri.  To my knowledge, the Blalock's did not have any children.  In 1930, her brother George is living with her family.  Dora Belle Bryant Blalock passed away on April 20, 1958 and is buried in Stahl Cemetery.  Flora, Ira, and David C Bryant.  

Elizabeth  Ann Stahl Bryant, died April 21, 1918, and is buried Stahl Cemetery. Her husband, John, passed away just three months later. 

Benjamin Franklin Stahl was born in Miller, Lawrence County, Missouri, on October 24, 1843.   It appears that Ben F Stahl never married.  There is some information that he may have served in the 15th Missouri Cavalry, Company B, during the civil war. In the 1870 census, he is listed as having $1800.00 worth of real estate property, but it lists Ben as "sickly."   

In 1880 he was living with his brother David.  In 1900, he was living alone as well as in 1910.   Ben died suddenly on June 30, 1914, in Lawrence County, Missouri.  His death certificate states that this cause of death is unknown "probably fatty degeneration of heart" and noted that Ben was an alcoholic.  

It's interesting that while there would have been family members around, the informant for the death certificate was George W Bryant.  If this were his nephew, son of his sister Ann, he would have known information about Ben's family.  However, Ben's death certificate states an incorrect birth state for his father, no name for his mother, and a wrong state of birth.   Ben was buried on July 1, 1914, in the Stahl family cemetery.

Mary Louise Stahl was born in Dec 1845 or1846, in Missouri.  She was married to John H Holoway on December 1, 1867.   In 1870 the family lived in Jasper, Taney County, Missouri, and had one child named Benjamin Holloway.  This is likely Benjamin Almarine Holloway, who died and is buried in San Antonio, Texas.   

After the birth of Ben, Mary and John divorced.  In 1880, John Holloway was married a second time and lives in Arkansas; Ben lives with him.  In 1880, Mary was listed as divorced and living back in Lawrence County Mo with her mother Sarah and her siblings, Robert, Phillip, and Henry. Recorded with her is a little girl named "Emma."  The little girl is listed as a "niece" of Sarah Stahl, Mary's mother.  This information comes in handy later. 

In 1891 she married George W Young.  The two lived in Spencer, Ralls County, Missouri, in 1900.  In 1910 the two are still in Ralls County, Missouri, and on this census, interestingly, Mary Louisa says that she has two children and that both children are still living.  We know about Ben Holloway, but who is the other child?  This caused me to do further digging, and I noticed on the death certificate for Mary, the informant's name is "Sarah E Vannoy."   At first, I assumed this might be a worker at the home where she lived. However, I don't know that a worker would know Mary's information.  Upon research of Mrs. Vannoy, I found that this is, in fact, Mary Louisa's daughter.  The "Emma" on the census earlier was  Emma Holloway.  It must have been that when John and Mary divorced, Ben went with his father, and Emma went with her mother.  

Mary's husband, George,  had passed away in 1917 as a patient of the county hospital.   In 1920, Mary was living as an inmate in the poor county farm.  

Mary died, January 13, 1924.  Her cause of death is listed as Chronic Nephritis.  Burial for Mary Louisa Stahl Holloway Young was in St. Paul Cemetery, Center, Ralls County, Missouri.

David Crockett Stahl was born in 1848 in Missouri.  If David was ever married, I do not have that information. Through the 1880 census, there is nothing that seems out of the ordinary except that David was not married. 

In January of 1892, David's brother William Robert was appointed his "guardian," and David was listed in the newspaper as "a person of unsound mind."   These things were publically announced in the newspaper so that anyone who had financial and other concerns with David would know who to contact. 

By 1900, David has moved to Vernon County, Missouri, and in the census, he shows up as an inmate in the "State Lunatic Assylum number 3".   His marital status is listed as "unknown."  He is only about 52 years old.  In 1920 he was listed as "widowed" and is still in the same state hospital in Washington Township, Vernon County Mo.  

On August 9, 1918, David died with a cause of death listed as "aortic insufficiency."  He was 70 years old.  I was not sure if this was the same man in Vernon County, Mo until I saw the death certificate.  It lists his "formal or usual residence" as Lawrence County, Missouri.  He was buried at the state hospital and was not brought home to the family Cemetery. 

Henry Clay Stahl was born in November of 1868.  He would marry Susan Holloway (sister to John Holloway, who married Mary Louisa Stahl) on October 20, 1867.  The two had one son named John S Stahl.  John is believed to be John Sherman Stahl, who died in Ozark, Franklin County, Arkansas.  I do not know if this is true, and I have not researched it out for myself. 

Henry and his wife Susan apparently divorced sometime before 1878 because on January 24, 1878, Susan married Joseph Bowles.  

In 1880, Herny and Susan's son John S Stahl was listed with Joseph and Susan as "Sherman Bowles."   No further proven records are known for Henry.  

There is a Henry Stahl in Lamar County, Texas, in 1900 that might be our Henry Clay Stahl, but the birth date is wrong (which isn't unusual), but I have not been able to find proof that the two men are the same.  

Sarah Francis Stahl was born on June 24, 1853, in Missouri, and she married Nathan Tartar about 1874.   Anna May Tartar, their only child, was born in 1875.  To my knowledge, no other children were born to Nathan and Sarah.  Then, on February 2, 1883, Nathan passed away and was buried in Stahl Cemetery.  I do not know what caused his early death.  It's unclear why the two only had one child between 1874 and 1883, as it is highly unusual during that time frame.  

After Nathan's passing, Sarah Francis married Elisha M White, on July 23, 1884.   I know of six children for Elisha and Nancy.  

Bird Theodocia White

Sarah Ida White

Lowering White

Vina Bertha White

Rosy Odessey White  

and an unknown daughter.  

Of these six, the only two grew to adulthood were Bird Theodocia White and Vina Bertha White.  All the others are buried as babies in the Stahl Cemetery.  One of the grave records indicates that there may have been as many as eight children in total, with only two surviving. 

Sarah passed away on January 25, 1931, and her body placed in Stahl cemetery with her parents, first husband, and all her many small children. 

Elisha died in 1933. 

William Robert Stahl was born on February 27, 1856, in Lawrence County, Missouri.  On August 5, 1885, he married Laura Ann Connell, daughter of William Connell and Amanda Tartar.  Amanda was the sister of Nathan Tartar, who married Sarah Frances Stahl. 

His oldest daughter, Della, married John Couchman, and I believe she gave birth to one son, Cecil Couchman, in 1906.  Only four years later, on February 31, 1910, Della passed away.  Her cause of death on the death certificate is not clear but reads something like "Pneumonid Labor" or "Pneumonic Lobar."  

Roberts's second daughter, Belva, married John W Henson. Henson had two children of his own already, and Belva became the mother to them.  She also adopted a daughter named Gladys.  She never had any biological children but was by accounts a loved, and loving mother to the three God gave her.  Belva lived until June 2, 1972, and was buried alongside her family in Stahl Cemetery.

The third daughter, Zella, was born on June 9, 1891, in Lawrence County, Missouri.  Zella never married and spent her life as a nurse.  She died on June 14, 1949, in the hospital in Springfield of Coronary Sclerosis and was buried in Stahl Cemetery.

Lastly, was Melvin Stahl, Robert, and Laura's only boy.  He was born on January 1, 1894, in Lawrence County, Missouri.  He served as a private in   Supp Co 69th Infantry, and on October 11, 1918, he died of pneumonia at Fort Riley, Kansas, at the young age of just 24 years old.  His body was returned home, and he was buried in Stahl Cemetery.  

 Phillip Stahl.  I believe Phillip was born in 1860 in Lawrence County, Missouri, but as of the 1880 census, he was single, 20 years old, and living at home with his mother and siblings.  No other information is known about Phillip.