Fellow Capps researchers,
I attended the Capps family reunion today (Sunday) at Harmon Park, Eureka
Springs, Ark. While I have found no connection to my Capps line (dating back
to Willis Capps 1780, Chitham County, NC-1855, Camden County, Mo), there
might be some information here of use to some of the rest of you. My contacts
for this family are Mary Jane Rohr (mjbroker(a)aol.com) and her son, David Rohr
(dave(a)bak.org).
This Capps family is stymied at Marshal Pinkey Capps, born Feb. 14, 1847, in
Kentucky. It is believed his father may have been born in Tennessee, and his
mother in Pennsylvania. Possibly before 1851, the family may have traveled
with the Fielding Samuel Sr. family an others from Kentucky into Missouri.
This Samuel family appears in the 1830 and 1840 censuses for Owen County, Ky.
An oral story in some lines of this Capps family indicates Marshal had two
older bothers and two sisters who were nearer his age. The children were
orphaned when the two older boys were old enough to care for themselves. The
older boys are reported to have remained in the Cottonwood Falls, Chase
County, Kansas, area while the younger children were relocated to Missouri.
One story reports that Marshal's parents were killed during an Indian raid on
their wagon train, which, if true, would likely have occured on the trail
between Kentucky or Kansas and Missouri. Marshall and a sister were reported
to have been hidden by their father in a trunk, and were possibly raised by
their father's brother. It is also possible that Capps may not have been
Marshal's surname, but that of the family which took them in.
This family may have arrived in Missouri around 1850, settling mainly in the
LIberty area of Clay County, just northeast of Kansas City.
An unverified story is that Marshal fought in the Civil War, holding a
corporal's commission on both sides. This seems unlikely, as he would have
been only 16 when the war began, and 20 at its end.
Marshal Caps (sic) appears in the household of Wilson and Amanda Davenport as
a farm laborer in the 1970 census for Everett Township, Cass County, Mo. He
married Mary Davenport, 20, on March 14, 1871, in Cass County, Mo. Their
first child, William, was born in 1872 in Missouri. By 1873, the three had
migrated with Mary's sister's family (surname Bryant) to the Flint Hills of
Chase County, Kan., Matfield Green. Children born during this time were Anna
Frances (1873), Wilson (1876), and Julious (1878). It seems there may have
been two other girls, Anna and Hannah, who died by 1873.
Between 1882 and 1887, the family left Kansas and headed for the Ozark
Mountains of Arkansas. It is reported that during these years, twin sons were
born, who apparently were stillborn or died shortly after birth.
The family settled in Hogscald Hollow of Carroll County, where sons Jeremiah
(1887), John Nicholas (1888), and Thomas Jefferson (1893) were likely born.
Of these children, William Henry (Will) settled in Holdenville, Hughes
County, Okla.; Anna Frances in Eureka Springs, Carroll County, Ark.; Wilson
(Wils) in Carroll County, Ark.; Julious M. in Carroll County, Ark.; Lucy Ann,
in Eureka Springs, Carroll County, Ark.; Jeremiah (Jerry) in Lane County,
Oregon; John Nicholas in Manteca, San Joaquin County, Calif.; and Thomas
Jefferson (Jeff) in Eureka Springs, Carroll County, Ark.
Marshal remarried, after the death of his first wife, to Mary Catherine
(Cassie) Turney Sturgill. He died on March 1, 1991, and is buried at Rambo
Cemetery, Benton County, Arkansas.
I'm sure Dave and Mary Jane would be glad to hear from anyone who links in
with this Capps family, as well as anyone who can fill in some of the blanks
regarding Marshall. And I'd love to know if my Willis ties in anywhere with
Marshal.
Happy hunting,
E. Alan Long
Holiday Island, Arkansas