Elsie Jane Eubank

I wish I knew more about my great grandmother, Elsie Jane Rouser Eubank, but unfortunately, she died in 1918 which was about 33 years before I was born, and since her son, Stephen James (AKA Uselle, Eucell or Euzell) Eubank, deserted my grandmother, Dortha Evelyn Rollins Eubank, after they had been married only about 10 years and had 3 children, I don't know much about him either, unfortunately. However, I did recently learn through an Ancestry.com DNA match that Elsie was the daughter of Jesse Rouser (or Rouzer) and Mary Ann Hays, who were married in Ohio in 1839. They had two children, Elsie J., in 1840, and Thomas in 1841, but then, sadly, Jesse died in 1842 at the age of just 32. On September 17, 1845, Mary Ann Hays Rouser married George W. Stillwell in Jackson County, Ohio, who was nearly 20 years older than Elsie.

George Stillwell had previously been married and had at least two children with his first wife. In the 1850 census, they were listed as follows, living in Madison, Scioto County, Ohio: G.W. Stillwell, 52, Mary A., 33, Fredrick, 19, Sarah J., 16, (George's children with his previous wife) Josephine, 2, (George and Mary Ann's first daughter), Elsie Jane Rouser, 10, and Thomas Rouser, 7, (their names were mis-spelled as Rowzen in the census record). George was listed in a Kansas State Census in 1857, living in Doniphan County, but the names of his family members were not listed, since the census only stated that there were a total of 8 people living in his home.

By the 1860 census, Mary Ann and George were living in Marion, Doniphan County, Kansas, with their family, who were listed as follows in the census record: G.W. Stillwell, 65, Mary A., 43, Elsie J. Rouser, 19, Thomas Rouser, 17, Josephine Stillwell, 13, George Stillwell, 8, Mary Stillwell, 8, Melvina Stillwell, 5, and William Stillwell, 3 years old. George Stillwell was working as a farmer and was born in New York. All of the children were born in Ohio except Melvina and William, who were born in Kentucky, so they must have come to Kansas in about 1857 after William was born.

Sadly, Mary Ann passed away April 13, 1865, at the age of 48, just 4 years after the birth of her last child, in 1861. My great grandfather, James Joseph Eubank, probably met Elsie in about 1865 or 1866 after he finished his Civil War service for the Union Army. James Joseph's father, Stephen Green Eubank, had moved to Kansas from Illinois about 1859, and James probably went there to visit his father, and his father's third wife, Sarah Armstrong Waggoner Eubank, and their children. James and Elsie were married in Wathena, Kansas, in 1866. Their first son, Stephen James (AKA Uselle, Eucell or Euzell) Eubank was born in Sedalia, Pettis County, Missouri, in February of 1868. They may have moved to Missouri since Elsie's brother, Thomas, was living there with his wife and children at that time. Their first child was born in Missouri in 1867, and they had 2 more children there after that.

In the 1870 U.S. Federal Census, the families of both Stephen Green Eubank and James Joseph Eubank were living in Clay, Lafayette County, Missouri. Elsie and James went on to have two more children, another son, Lee Edward, and a daughter, Elsie Laura. They were still living in that area in 1880, but by about 1883 they were living in San Diego, California. By the 1890's they were living in Tulare County, California, and by the early 1900's Elsie and James had moved to Los Angeles where James passed away at the age of 80 June 4, 1907. Their daughter Elsie Laura Eubank had married Otto Classen in Los Angeles, California in 1898. Lee Edward married a neighbor girl, Jessie Pugh, about 1905 but by 1910 they were divorced, and Lee was once again living with his mother Elsie.

In the 1900 census, Elsie, 59, and Lee Edward, 27, were living at 947 E. 54th Street in Los Angeles, a home they owned but had a mortgage. Lee was working as a carpenter. Neither James Joseph or Stephen James Eubank were living with them at the time, or at least they were not listed in the census record.

Living just a block or so away was Jessie Pugh who married Lee Edward Eubank. Jessie was living with her parents and brother at 5107 Central Avenue, and they were listed in the census record as follows: James Pugh, 65, Hattie, 58, Charles, 36, Jessie, 27. James Pugh was working as a pension agent and Charles as a lather, and since he was in the construction industry, perhaps that is how Jessie met Lee Edward, since he was a carpenter. They were not married long, however, since by 1910 Jessie was living with her mother and brother, and her father had passed away.

In a 1903 U.S. City Directory Listing for Los Angeles California, Elsie was still living at 9467 East 54th Street in Los Angeles, with her son, Lee Edward, who was working as an employee of Alta Planning Mill Company. A 1904 directory listing showed her at the same address, and her oldest son, Stephen James Eubank, was living with her at that time, and was working as the manager of Tatum & Bowen Company. In the same directory was Joseph E. Eubank(s) living at 1910-1/2 East Main Street, and he was working for Eubanks & Snyder, a saloon located at 502 Moulton Avenue, but I don't know if he was related to James, Stephen or the rest of their family.

Elsie and James's oldest son, Stephen James Dortha Evelyn Rollins in Phoenix, Arizona, in April of 1909. They were living in Phoenix, Arizona, in the 1910 census, and were listed as Stephen J., 40, Evelyn D., 22, and Stephen was working as a house carpenter. By about 1910 or 1911, they had moved to San Diego, California, and my mother, Frances Amelia Eubank was born there October 14, 1911.

By 1913 they were living in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Canada, where my mother's sister, Elsie Louise, was born in September that year, and by 1915 they were living in Seattle, Washington, where their brother, James Rollins Eubank, was born in September of 1915. They were living in Portland, Oregon, by 1917. Stephen deserted his wife and 3 children in 1919, and by 1920, Dortha Evelyn was living in Bakersfield, California, with her mother. She obtained a divorce there in 1923 for "willful desertion" by her husband, Stephen James Eubank.

By the 1910 census Elsie was living with her daughter Elsie Laura and her husband, Otto Classen, in the Cahuenga part of Hollywood, California, at 415 North Highland Avenue. Otto was 41 years old, Elsie, 35, and her mother was a 68-year old widow, her husband, James, having passed away June 4, 1907, probably while living at the Old Soldier's Home on Sawtelle Boulevard in West Los Angeles.

A 1911 directory listing showed Elsie as the widow of James, still living at 415 N. Highland Avenue. A 1915 directory showed Elsie was living at the rear of 1815 Highland Avenue. In 1916 she was living just a couple of blocks away at 2015 Highland Avenue. Elsie lived out her days with or near her daughter, Elsie Laura, and her husband, Otto Classen, although I did find a 1918 directory listing for Elsie, and she was living at 158 Raymond Avenue in Ocean Park, California, not far from Santa Monica where her daughter was living at the time with Otto.

Elsie passed away in 1918, her daughter's husband, Otto in 1939, her son Lee Edward in 1951, and her daughter, Elsie Laura in 1956. Unfortunately, I still don't know what ever happened to my grandfather, Stephen James Eubank, Elsie's first son. If Elsie knew what happened to Stephen after he deserted his wife and children, she certainly never shared that information with my grandmother. Instead she kept Stephen's secrets and took them with her to her grave. My mother and her brother and sister always wondered what ever happened to their father, but Elsie would never divulge information about him to my grandmother or her children. Maybe if she had, I would know more about my grandfather.

I've also seen Elsie's maiden name spelled as Rewsen on a California Death Index Record for her daughter, Elsie Laura Eubank Claussen, which was an obvious mis-spelling of the name Rouser. Actually, since finding a Rouser descendant through Ancestry.com DNA test results, I've learned that Rouser was spelled many different ways, including Rowzer, Rowser, Rouser, Rousser, and even Rauscher, which was the name of Elsie's ancestor born in the 1600's in Germany and came to America. Martin Rauscher was his name and he was Elsie's 3rd great grandfather and my 6th great grandfather. He was born February 19, 1686, in Duhren, Ansbach, Bayern, Germany, and died at the age of 33 in 1720 while living in New York, New York, New York, British Colonial America.