Why Could the Sheriff Not Find Great-Grandma Fannie Neill in 1908? Part 2

This sale referenced in this sale bill was the result of a 1908 Hancock County, Illinois, court case involving the widow of Riley Rampley and his children. Riley had died in 1893 leaving a farm, a widow, eleven children, and no wil. His estate was never brought to probate and in 1908, this partition suit was filed in the Hancock County court.

This is the court case to which Fannie Neill received a summons in February of 1908 when the sheriff returned a notice that she could not be found in the county and left a notice with her husband.

I'm not certain why Nancy  and her one son William (along with his wife Amanda who had a dower interest in the interest in the real estate her husband had inherited) were the plaintiffs in the suit. There were defendants in the case besides Riley's heirs. The Berrys and Alva Kelley were also defendants in the suit because they held mortgages to the farm that had been executed by several of Riley's heirs after his demise.

The tenants on the Rampley farm also had to be defendants--but they were also heirs.

And that may have been part of the problem---but just a part. Stay tuned.

Why Could the Sheriff Not Find Great-Grandma Fannie Neill in 1908?

On 10 February 1908, Carl Bertschi, Hancock County Sheriff went to the farm of Charles and Fannie Neill in Walker Township.

The problem was that Fannie was no where to be found and the summons was left with her husband Charles.  The sheriff made no comment about Fannie's whereabouts, just that she could not be found in Hancock County.

Where was Fannie Neill in February of 1908? Was she missing? Why didn't she come to the door?

Do you always look at the summons that appear in the court records you utilize? Are there clues or stories hiding in those seemingly innocuous slips of paper?

Stay tuned. There's more to this story...I think.

Why Were They All Dressed Up? And Who Took the Picture?

Charles and Fannie (Rampley) Neill family--probably taken West Point, Hancock County, Illinois.  Identification is from left to right. Front: Pat Neill, Roger Neill. Back: Cecil Neill, Mae (Randolph) Neill, Ralph Neill, Ida (Trautvetter) Neill, Keith Neill, Armin Shanks, Fannie (Rampley) Neill, Nellie (Neill) Shanks, Charlie Neill

I wondered why they were all dressed up.  There had to have been some sort of  "occasion" as most of the snapshots of the Neills show the men in more traditional farmer attire (son-in-law Armin Shanks was a school teacher as was his wife Nellie) and the ladies in less formal dresses. Common sense told me it was not that all the Neills had been to church.   The attire also indicated that the picture was probably not taken in  the summer or in the depths of winter. But why were they all dressed up? This is one of the few pictures I have of the entire family in one shapshot. The other photographs from the 1920s and on do not include the entire family group.

This picture was one that was in Fannie Rampley Neill's collection of photographs which are in the possession of a family member. The same picture was also in an envelope in her daughter Nellie's collection of photographs. Written on the envelope was a note indicating that the pictures were taken when son Herschel had come back with his new bride. The couple had married in Texas where he was stationed during part of World War Two.

There was a second photograph including the newlyweds.

Charles and Fannie (Rampley) Neill family--probably taken West Point, Hancock County, Illinois.  Identification is from left to right. Front: Roger Neill, Pat Neill. Back: Cecil Neill, Mary Ann (Hartman) Neill, Herschel Neill, Ralph Neill, Mae (Randolph) Neill, , Ida (Trautvetter) Neill, Keith Neill, Fannie (Rampley) Neill, Nellie (Neill) Shanks, Charlie Neill

Identifying the people in the photograph also led me to believe that Herschel took the first picture (he and Mary Ann are not in it) and that Armin Shanks took the second picture as he is the only one absent from that picture.

One cannot always tell the reason why a family got together and it's not always obvious who took the picture either. But sometimes there are clues--one just has to look. Before we found the envelope explaining why the pictures were taken, we were using my father's birth to approximate the picture's date (he's the one being held by his mother in both snapshots).

My Grandma Neill (Ida [Trautvetter] Neill) would have said they were "all dolled up" for the occasion. Somehow I just can't bring myself to use that phrase to describe my grandfather.