Isabell Rebecca Atwood

Isabell (Isabelle) Rebecca Caldwell was born Christmas Day, 1865 in Quincy, IL to Pennsylvania Irish Rebecca Jane Graham Caldwell. Her Irish immigrant father William Morrison Caldwell died in September and sister Mary Ann died in October before Isabell was born. Surviving sister Margaret Jane was three years old when Isabell was born.

Her mother took her two girls and moved to Sullivan County, Missouri in 1866, where she married Elias W. Waller in that year. To this union six Waller girls were born. Viola Elizabeth, Catherine Ann, Susan Matilda, Bethell E.(died at age 2), Erva Harriet and Delila E.

Isabell married Charles William Atwood on 4 Jul 1888 in Clay, Missouri. Daughter Nellie Ann was born 13 May 1889 in Newtown, MO. The couple then traveled to Colorado where son John William was born 22 Feb 1891 in Ft. Collins and son Clarence Sumner was born 20 Jan 1893 in Denver.

They were back in Sullivan County, MO when Ethel Rebecca was born 26 Jun 1896 in Newtown. Isabell's sister Margaret Jane had married and moved to Kansas and other western states, ending up in California while Isabell was a teenager. She was close to her six half-sisters all her life.

In 1898 the Atwood family packed their horses, two wagons and personal belongings on a train and set off for the end of the line in El Reno,Oklahoma and on to Weatherford, where Indian Territory had been opened for settlement by whites. They remained there for a few months until a friend from Berlin, Oklahoma came to drive one of the wagons over the Canadian River to Roger Mills County.

The family lived in a dugout two miles SE of Berlin until Charles was able to build them a home on the property. He farmed, worked in the general store in town and eventually became the Postmaster. Three of Isabell's half-sisters, Susan, Erva and Delila eventually settled in Oklahoma. Viola and Catherine stayed in Missouri near their mother.

Charles and Isabell's children grew up and moved on and Charles died in 1919. Isabell lived in Elk City, Oklahoma with her daughter Ethel Rebecca Atwood Webb and husband William Riley Webb for some time but eventually moved to Tonkawa, near half-sister Susan and family.

The Atwoods, Barnes, Webbs, Grudiers, Grimmas and Broyles families were close in Oklahoma and visited the Atwood and Waller families in Missouri regularly.

Isabell died in Ponca City, Oklahoma 25 May 1951, surrounded by her family and was interred in Newkirk Cemetery.* Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Feb 25 2020, 19:58:22 UTC

GEDCOM Note

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