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Roots Reunited, Kansas City, MO (2026)

01/08/2023

🌿Rehomed: William Davenport was born near Paris, Kentucky in the winter of 1823 to Col. Rice Davenport and Letita Musik. The backdrop of his childhood was painted with the colors of conflict. Abolition was sweeping southward from New York and shifting the economic landscape of the bluegrass region. In 1826, William’s father joined a group of other slaveholding Kentucky families and caravanned seven wagons, 150 sheep, 75 cattle, and a large number of horses west to settle in Smithville, MO. No mention of the enslaved people that were no doubt with them.

Missouri was still a wild place, populated by many southern families seeking a sympathetic environment to their choice of livelihood; ripe with opportunity for these rich settlers to influence local politics and fight the anti-slavery movements in the midwest. The Davenport’s became a prominent family in Clay County, MO. According to the 1840 census, they lived on a large farm where 29 people were enslaved and 23 farmhands employed.

In 1853 William Davenport married Rachel Malone, his ward. She was a wealthy young woman who inherited a small fortune and eight enslaved people from her late father. One year later on Feb 6th, 1854 each of those enslaved people were sold at public auction in order to split the profits equally among Rachel and her siblings.

The names and ages of those enslaved were:

Verginia age 41, Ben age 21, Dick age 14, Jack age 10, Harriet age 8, Henry age 3, Ellie age 5 months, and Elizabeth age 24.

William purchased Verginia and what I believe were her children, Jack, Henry and Ellie. They remained enslaved on his farm and it would be another nine years before they experienced freedom. I am still searching records for what happened to them after the war ended and hope to share a follow up post with more details about their lives in the coming weeks.

Post continued in the comments…

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10/10/2022

Hello! My name is Jacque and I am the 2nd half of Roots Reunited. My roots span from east to west with strong ties to Ellis Island, Virginia and the Southwest.

My romance with family history research began when I helped a loved one reunite with family by tracing decades of genealogy records.

I enjoy the challenge that goes into figuring out who a person is in each lost photo. I wonder what their life was like, where they lived, and what major events happened during their lifetime. By the time I’m ready to send a photo home, I so am invested in the story. It’s a wonderful feeling to know they’re finally going home.

10/09/2022

It was remiss of me to never properly introduce myself to each of you until now. Especially because I truly value each follow, like, and comment. My name is Megan and I’m one half of Roots Reunited. My roots are in the Midwest but I have a gypsy heart that pulls me towards adventure and mystery. Perhaps that’s what inspired this page and my passion for old forgotten people and places. It’s a juxtaposition to use modern technology to return a hundred year old photograph to its family, or to be able to see what my own face looks like one hundred years ago. My own family has so few photos of my ancestors, but maybe one day, they too will find their way home to me. ❤️🎞

08/27/2022

Who else thinks International Dog Day should last all weekend? 🙋‍♀️I couldn’t resist sharing these photos from our collection of dogs and their humans. P.S. a few of these photos will be headed back to their family soon! 💌

08/16/2022

🌿Reunited: Viola C. Weidman was born in Pawnee, Illinois during the hottest month of summer in 1907. Her sister Eva followed suit in 1909. The year after that, their parents John Weidman and Cora Case, moved the family west to Idaho in search of cleaner air and a better future for their growing daughters.

They settled in Boise, an established but growing city with public transportation, civic organizations, and good schools. Most men of this time would have purchased a farm or opened a mercantile. Not John Weidman. He caught gold fever (about twenty years after the gold rush) and decided to try his hand at gold mining. Unfortunately, he did not strike it rich, but would later say to anyone who asked how much gold he found, “only found enough gold for bacon and beans.” It was an outcome Mrs. Weidman was satisfied with, but not ecstatic about.

Eventually Mr. Wedidman made his fortune in silver, and built a silver mining operation in Stanley, Idaho called the Stanley Sawtooth Reservoir. Viola’s childhood in Idaho was a happy one. Her father loved the outdoors and she loved her father. Her second passion in life was knowledge.

Viola graduated from the first high school in the state of Idaho. She continued her education at the University of Idaho, where she trained to become a teacher. After graduating in 1929 she was employed as a high school teacher in a nearby town. Five years later, she met and married a fellow teacher, Virgil Evans. The next six years went by steadily until the United States entered WWII. Viola’s father was recruited to work at the Handford site in Benton County, Washington, where plutonium was mass produced for the Manhattan Project.

Viola and Virgil relocated to Eugene, Oregon so Virgil could attend the state university. In 1942 the couple parted ways. Viola never remarried or had children. Her love of her family and her many students provided a full and satisfying life. The portrait of her has been returned to a cousin and his wife who live in Pennsylvania. They shared this humorous tidbit with me when I asked what Viola was like in her later years…[continued in comments]

08/11/2022

✨FEELING GRATEFUL ✨The vintage photo and genealogy community is amazing. We have followers from across the globe…400 of them in just over six months!! 😱Thank you to everyone that supports us through likes, comments, and shares. You all rock and your passion for preserving family history is beautiful.

08/08/2022

🌾 Reunited:Pearly Eugene Macy was born in the spring of 1877 in Daviess County, Gallatin, MO to William (W.C.) and Mary Macy. He had his father’s thick curly brown hair and his mother’s blue eyes. The only boy of seven children, Pearly was his father’s pride and joy.

The Macy family settled in Daviess County 12 years earlier and enjoyed a prosperous life running a 500 acre farm and later a large marble works. Mr. Macy was well respected in their growing community, a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and member of the school board, and the town's public administrator.

In 1883, Life in Gallatin, MO must have been exciting for young Pearly. At just six years old he would have witnessed the dirt roads in his town become wide paved streets and the sidewalks covered with bricks.

The famous outlaw Frank James, brother of Jesse James, would face trial in Gallatin for robbery and murder that same year. The trial received major news coverage, but was held in the town opera house due to the poor condition of the old court house where bats and owls had taken roost. I wonder if Pearly was peeking through the window of the opera house as a jury of 12 men cleared Frank James of all charges.

In the fall of 1898, twenty-one year old Pearly Macy married twenty year old Scottie Pen*ston, the daughter of a prominent Daviess County pioneer family. They exchanged vows in a quiet morning ceremony at her family home. With dreams of making their own way in the world, they packed up and moved 109 miles south to Hodgeman, KS. Together they built and worked a large ranch, eventually adding four small farm hands to their ranks: John, William, Hugh, and Pearly Jr.

All but one son followed their father’s occupation. William Macy had a slightly different path in mind for himself, exploring careers in both oil and banking throughout his life. In 1924 he married Elinor Ruff, and they welcomed two daughters into the world, Evelyn and Eileen.

This handsome photo of Pearly Eugene Macy is headed home to a direct descendant, his great great grandson Justin who lives in Colorado.

07/09/2022

William Arthur Bonham was born on December 18, 1876 in Richwood, OH to Joseph and Jerimiah Hudson Bonham. About an hour outside of Columbus, Richwood boasted one newspaper, two banks, three churches, one brick school-house, and several stores and factories in 1877. William grew up in the nearby village of Magnetic Springs, named for the magnetic spring discovered in 1879. The legend goes that a knife blade dipped in the waters could pick up small metal objects like a magnet.

The Magnetic Bath House was opened in 1883 and the springs became known for its healing powers. Magnetic Springs quickly became a resort town. New hotels and even an amusement park were constructed, attracting up to 10,000 guests every summer. One hotel was eventually converted into a Polio clinic.

With the perfect honeymoon destination in their backyard, William Bonham married Emily Jane Shaw in the winter of 1898. They had four children, but only two sons survived into adulthood. After a 27 year career at Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, William passed away on Feb 6, 1943. His obituary remembered him as a law abiding citizen who was respected by all. Sadly, Emily passed just two years later from pneumonia.

As for the resort town of Magnetic Springs, it slowly returned to triviality. During the Prohibition it became the temporary home of bootleggers and other shady characters.The last of the resort hotels were destroyed by fire or razed in the 1980s. Today the residents of Magnetic Springs number just 349.

This photo is awaiting its return to William's great niece.

05/23/2022

The Waite Postcard Album - Part 4

Bud the Explorer:
To tell the final part of this story, we must to leap forward twenty-five years and meet the 32 year old grandson of Mrs. Waite, Amory Hooper Waite Jr., known to all as “Bud”. A Navy man, he served as the radio operator onboard the USS Florida during WWI.

He didn’t get enough adrenaline during the war, or maybe he just didn’t read about what happened to Shakleton, because in September of 1933 he joined a party of 178 men going on a rescue mission to the Antarctic and Bud had a very important job as the chief radio operator. He maintained contact with the outside world during the grueling four months they were away trying to reach their leader, Admiral Richard E. Byrd, who was alone and stranded by bad weather at an isolated weather observation station; where temperatures were 86 degrees below zero.

Before his starring role in 1933 as a human popsicle, Admiral Byrd was a bit of a celebrity in his day and he looked every inch the part. His black slicked back hair, neatly trimmed mustache, and square jaw gave off a young Clark Gable vibe. Among his achievements was being the (claimed) first aviator to reach both the North and South pole, leading multiple successful Arctic and Antarctic explorations, and being best friends with the son of Henry Ford (who financed his many adventures).

His 1933 rescue was a successful one and Bud Waite was one of the three men who reached the 9x13 cabin and found Byrd malnourished and suffering from kerosene poisoning. Bud was the person that tapped out a message in morse code that Admiral Byrd was alive! That message was published in nearly every major newspaper in the United States, and just like that, Amory Waite Jr. was a national hero. Years later he received a congressional medal for heroic efforts and was writing a book about his adventures when he passed away in 1985. He was 83 years old.

I’ve contacted his niece by way of a handwritten letter. She isn’t active on social media so it was a fitting way to communicate with her about the postcards. She still lives in Massachusetts near her ancestors' family home.

05/22/2022

The Waite Postcard Album - Part 3

Mr. H.E. Waite:

1912 was a difficult year for the Waite family. Junior entered a mental institution and Mr. Henry Edward Waite passed away. The father of the Waite children isn’t mentioned very often in postcards home to Mom. Perhaps he also suffered from some type of ailment that prevented traveling or writing. Perhaps he just didn’t have much to say to his children. Victorian fathers aren’t historically warm and fuzzy figures. According to his obituary, Henry was a highly respected person in his community. Among his many achievements was the invention of a machine that the U.S. Postal Service used to cancel used stamps, aka a postmark. Before this invention, stamps were canceled by hand. If you ever want to travel down a very interesting rabbit hole, Google “The Machine Cancel Society” and enjoy!

1908:

The postcards from the Waite children end in 1908. It could be due to the fact that the residential telephone system was growing rapidly in popularity. By this time over 6 million people had a telephone in their home. The trusty postcard shifted from being a quick and affordable way to stay in touch in between letters, to something you only sent home from your seaside vacation or your travels abroad.

There are a few random postcards in the album with later postmarks. Two of them caught my eye. They were sent during WWII to Mrs. Waite, but instead of the usual “Dear Mother” salutation, they were addressed to a loving (and probably still worried) Grandmother. Accompanying one of these postcards from 1943 is a small snapshot of a very snowy scene. In the background are a few small rounded structures and people dressed in heavy winter gear. These messages came from the eldest son of Amory Waite. It turns out this member of the Waite family led a very different life from his ancestors. He shook off a life of being trapped behind a desk shuffling numbers, and traded it for a life filled with adventure, tragedy, and a little bit of fame.

Tomorrow I will share the final part of this story, including my somewhat unusual efforts to return this treasured heirloom to a direct living descendant of the Waite family.

05/20/2022

The Waite Postcard Album - Part 2

-E for Edward:

Postcards from Chicago begin to appear more frequently from Edward. A son who was educated at both Harvard and MIT, has little to say, and is clearly only sending postcards to satisfy a worried mother. His one line notes feel like the Victorian equivalent of a “MOM. I’M FINE.” text message today. He signs them simply… -E. According to the 1900 and 1910 census he occupied his time as both Engineer and Astronomer, so perhaps he was just too busy for lengthy correspondence.

Your affectionate son, Amory:

Lastly, are postcards from Amory. The middle son and according to the 1900 census, an “expert accountant”, who I feel missed his calling as a writer. His postcards are always of seaside views from his home in Marblehead, MA. Messages to his mother typically occupy every available space on the postcard in the tiniest script I’ve ever seen. In 1905 he wrote of the health of his wife and children, the sadness of losing a school friend in a car crash, “arriving safely home with Jr. for a much needed rest” and invited her to visit soon and often.

Just "Jr.":

Junior is mentioned frequently in the postcards from his siblings. He was the eldest brother who lived at home with his parents, never held an occupation and never married. Over the years of correspondence, the family wrote often of hiring a caregiver for him. Included in the album is a postcard that Henry’s mother wrote home to him while she was visiting Eleanore in Brooklyn. Dated May 29, 1907 it says, “Dear Henry, your gray felt hat is in a box on the wardrobe in my closet.
- Mother”.

In 1920 Henry died in the State Hospital for the Insane. According to his death record he had been a resident there since 1912. It’s not clear what illness he suffered from, but what is clear is that his family loved him dearly and cared for him until they were no longer able.

Come back tomorrow and meet the quiet patriarch of the family, Mr. H.E. Waite.

Roots Reunited

01/08/2023

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