Marshall Uyzel Skaggs

Marshall Uzell Skaggs was born September 26, 1874, in Waggoner, Montgomery County, Illinios, to Andrew and Laura Jane Eubank Skaggs. In the 1880 U.S. Federal Census for Pitman, Montgomery County, Illinois, Marshall, was living with his parents and siblings, and they were listed as follows in the census record: Andrew, 33, Laura J., 28, Clara M., 7, Marshall, 5, Daisy A., 4, and Author E., 2. Marshall's father, Andrew, was working as a farmer. By the 1900 census, Marshall had already left Pitman, but his parents and siblings were still living there and were listed in the census record as follows: Andrew, 53, Laura, 47, Orrin A., 19, Daisy A., 23, Laura A., 16, and Sarah E., 8. Andrew was still farming.

In the 1900 U.S. Federal Census for St. Louis, Missouri, Marshall, 25, was living as a boarder with the following people: Ellen J. Chism, 53, (his aunt, and mother's sister, Helen J. Eubank Chism), her daughters, Bessie M. Gates, 23, and Pearl B. Chism, 14, grandson, Frank Gates, 6, and boarders, Stephen Olmstead, 21, Joseph Thomassen, 22, Edwin J. Kendall, 26, Samuel Lowry, 35, W. Leland Shattuck, 23, and servant, Jennie Stowers, 35.

Helen Chism was the head of the household, a widow, and Bessie was her divorced daughter, and Pearl B. was listed as a son, but was really Ellen's daughter, and Frank was listed as a grandson. I believe that Helen J. Chism, 53, was, in fact, the widowed sister of Marshall's mother, Laura Jane Eubank Skaggs. Helen had been listed in some census records as Ellen and Helen, but the fact that she was 53 years old in this census leads me to believe that Ellen was Helen, Laura's older sister, Helen J. Eubank Chism, and Marshall's aunt. Helen was born in 1846 so this makes sense.

Marshall was listed as a boarder and all of the others in the household were listed as lodgers except for Jennie who was listed as a servant. Hllen had given birth to 6 children, 3 of whom were still living. Her daughter, Bessie, had given birth to two children, one of whom was living, who was her son, Frank Gates, 6 years old. Marshall was working as a carpenter as was Stephen Olmstead, Joseph Thomassen was working as a waiter, Edwin J. Kendall as a rail road car repairer, Samuel Lowry as a granitoid contractor, and Leland Shattuck as a laborer doing granitoid work. Jennie was doing housework.

In the 1910 U.S. Federal Census for Shipman, Macoupin county, Illinois, Marshall, 35, was working as a merchant in the grocery and dry goods business. He was a boarder in the home of Candace Christopher, a 73-year old widow, and her sister, Elizabeth Kuhn, 80, and another boarder in their home was George W. Brown, 23, who was working as a school teacher. The home was located on Front Street. I don't think that Marshall was related to either Candace or her sister, Elizabeth.

Marshall Uyzel Skaggs married Marsha Andrews on November 16, 1916, when she was 28 and he was 41 years old. Martha was born November 11, 1888, in Illinois. She was the daughter of Charles Arthur Andrews, who was born in Illinois in 1860, and died in Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas on January 1, 1960, and Eva Alice Black, who was born in Macoupin County, Illinois, in 1868, and died October 7, 1952, in Wichita, Sedgwick, Kansas. Martha was the eldest of their three children, and her brother Charles Edward was born in 1896 and Everett Arthur in 1908.

When Marshall Uyzel Skaggs completed his U.S. World War I Draft Registration card on September 12, 1918, he described himself as being of medium height and build with gray eyes and black hair. He was 43 years old, having been born September 26, 1874, in Waggoner, Montgomery County, Illinois. He was working as a merchant for himself in Shipman, Macoupin, Illinois, and was married to his wife, Martha.

In the 1920 U.S. Federal Census for Shipman, Macoupin, Illinois, Marshall, 43, and his wife, Martha, 27, had one son, Charles, 2 years old. Marshall was working as a merchant on his own account in a general store, and he owned his own home free from a mortgage. They also had a daughter, Eva Alice, born in 1921. Sadly, Marshall's wife, Martha, passed away just two years later on August 24, 1923, at the very young age of just 34 years old.

By the 1930 census, Marshall, 55, was still living in Shipman with his son, Charles, 12, and daughter, Eva Alice, 9, and sister, Alice, 45, and Lucille Wheeler, 21, a boarder. Marshall was still listed as married, even though his wife, Martha, had passed away seven years earlier. Marshall owned his own home, which was valued at $4,000 and they had a radio in their home. Marshall was still working as a grocery merchant. The boarder, Lucille, was working as a public school teacher.

Just 7 years later, Marshall Uyzel Skaggs passed away at the age of 62 years old on Valentine's day, 1937, in Litchfield, Montgomery County, Illinois, and was buried in the Shipman Cemetery in Shipman, Macoupin, Illinois. At the time of his death, his son Charles was only 19 and his daughter, Eva Alice, was only 16 years old. I don't know what happened to Charles, but I did find Eva Alice in the 1940 census as shown below.

In the 1940 census Eva Alice, 19, was living in St. Louis, Missouri, as a boarder, and was working as a secretary for a machinery manufacturer. Previously in 1935 she had been living in rural Macoupin County, Illinois. For the 27 weeks she worked at 42 hours per week in 1939, her income was $325. Also living as a boarder in the same home was Dorothy Woods,19, who was from Carliinville, Macoupin County, Illinois, and was working as a stenographer for a credit business. Maybe Dorothy was a friend of Eva Alice's from school. They both had a 4-year high school education.

Eva and Dorothy were living in the home of Ada Henley, an 80-year old widow and her widowed daughter, Sarah Herold, 49, and Sarah's daughter, Ruth, 19, and Ada's brother, Maury Wightman, 78. I don't think Eva was related to any members of the household.

I wonder if Marshall Uyzell Skaggs middle name was given to him in honor of one of his relatives. Laura Jane Eubank Skaggs' half-brother, James Joseph Eubank, was the first born son of Laura's father, Stephen Green Eubank and his first wife, Susannah Quarles Branch Eubank. James Joseph had named his first born son with his second wife, Elsie Jane Rouser Eubank, Uselle, according to the 1870 U.S. Census record for Clay, Lafayette County, Missouri. Uselle was born in February, 1868, in Sedalia, Missouri, and I think he may have been named in honor of Mary Ann or Sarah Uzell, the sisters who married the twin brothers of Susannah Quarles Branch Eubank. The twin brothers were William Minor Branch and James Goode Branch. Mary Ann was the wife of William Minor Branch, and Sarah was the wife of James Goode Branch.

When Susannah died in 1833 from a cholera epidemic in Palmyra, Missouri, Stephen Green Eubank sent James Joseph Eubank back to Tenneseee to live with her Branch family. James Joseph Eubank was born in December of 1826, and would have been about 6 years old when his mother died. After his mother's death, James Joseph may have lived with Susannah's parents, James and Martha Minor Branch. However, Martha died in 1839 and James Branch died in 1844, so James Joseph Eubank may have gone to live with either William and Mary Ann Uzell Branch or James Goode Branch and Sarah Uzell Branch at that time.

In 1844 James Joseph would have been about 17 years old. Perhaps the Uyzel middle name given to Marshall was in honor of the Uzell sisters who helped raise James Joseph Eubank, Laura Jane Eubank Skaggs half-brother, after his mother died. Then in about 1848 James Joseph Eubank left Tennessee and joined his father, Stephen James Eubank, in Petersburg, Menard County, Illinois, where he was living with his third wife, Sarah Armstrong Waggoner, who was the mother of Laura Jane Eubank, Marshall's mother. James Joseph Eubank married his first wife, Nancy Ann Trent in Petersburg in 1849, and their first son, William, was born in 1850. Three years later their second son, James Gideon Eubank, was born in 1853. It appears that James Joseph Eubank's first two sons were named after his mother's twin brothers, William Minor Branch and James Goode Branch.

Part of an obituary for Marshall Skaggs of Shipman appeared in the February 17, 1937, issue of the Alton Evening Telegraph of Alton, Illinois, and reads as follows: Marshall Skaggs Of Shipman Dies....Merchant Succumbs After Long Illness....Marshall, operator of a general store here for many years died on Sunday of complications after a long illness. Funeral services were held at 2 o'clock this afternoon at the Shipman Methodist Church and the burial was in the village cemetery. Skaggs was born 1874, the son of Andrew and Laura Jane Eubank Skaggs. He came to Shipman 29 years ago. In 1916 he was married to Miss Martha Andrews. He is survived by two children, a son Charles, and a daughter, Eva Alice, and a sister Alice Skaggs of Shipman. His wife preceded him in death in 1923.