Frances Eugenia Duncan - July 8, 1849 to April 9, 1921
The first time my
mother mentioned Frances Eugenia it was to tell me that it was she
who had loved and owned the cherry-wood bedstead that came with
the family to Colorado Springs. It traveled slung over the necks of
the oxen that pulled their covered wagon. I played on this bed when
I was a child and my mother cherished it as a memory of her
Grandmother. It was a beautiful piece of work; turned wood that felt
like satin to the touch.
Along with being a gifted cook and
tatting, mending clothing and doing beautiful embroidery when she had
time, she did plain sewing in delicate little stitches.
It seemed very unfair to me that her
children are listed under the name of a husband who battered her and
abused them all in various ways. So since in this I have all the
control I could want along with doing all of the work I am listing
the children as hers alone.
She married Joseph
Ellis McReynolds on August 5, 1866, so she would have then been
16 years of age. She had been born in Coshocton County, Ohio, July
8, 1849.
Frances Eugenia Duncan
Orval Omer McReynolds – b.
1868, Marion Co. Iowa
Bernal Bly McReynolds – b. 1872,
Marion Co. Iowa
Clyde Carl McReynolds – b. Marion
Co. Iowa
Darling Daisy
McReynolds – b. Feb. 28, 1879, Nodaway Co. Mo.
Red print denotes a likely psychopath.
Red print denotes a likely psychopath.
Researching Frances
Eugenia is work still ongoing. This is the line from which I was
told the Cherokee heritage originates. I believe the infant noted
below is Frances Eugenia, named for a second French Empress to match
the first daughter, named after Josephine.
The question of Frances Eugenia’s
origins bring us to the question of her relationship with her husband
who abandoned her and her children to run off with a saloon girl by
the name of Elizabeth McWilliams, erroneously thought to be Lizzie Wilson by some unknown researcher.
Later my mother, Mary Alice Reasoner,
visited him, Joseph Ellis (Mack, a nickname) McReynolds and Elizabeth, when Darling Daisy, her mother, took her to
their tiny run-down house at the bottom of the hill from the large
home occupied by Elizabeth's aged parents. This visit took place in Indiana, which could have been in Marion, Indiana.
That is all of the information Mother gave me specific to her biological father and Elizabeth McWilliams, previously believed to have the last name 'Wilson'. Elizabeth, or Lizzie, is believed to have been his second wife.
That is all of the information Mother gave me specific to her biological father and Elizabeth McWilliams, previously believed to have the last name 'Wilson'. Elizabeth, or Lizzie, is believed to have been his second wife.
I believe it was all my mother, Mary Alice Reasoner (Married name) Pillsbury, remembered. She was not yet 12 when
the visit took place. The visit was tense and brief.
I believe Frances Eugenia Duncan's father's name was Mathew. During this period of American history, families were on the move constantly looking for new land for large broods of children. The Trail of Tears was still wet and many Cherokee were passing as white.
I believe Frances Eugenia Duncan's father's name was Mathew. During this period of American history, families were on the move constantly looking for new land for large broods of children. The Trail of Tears was still wet and many Cherokee were passing as white.
After arriving in Colorado Springs, Frances Eugenia made a living for herself and her children working as
a housekeeper for a retired gentleman. She had many friends and was
highly respected for her good cheer, hard work and gentle ways.
The "Maude" who contributed a recipe for dressing in our family cookbook was a friend of hers. Frances Eugenia Duncan McReynolds died of pneumonia in 1921, rarely having seen her grandchildren by Darling Daisy, after Daisy took them away, first to Chicago and then to 40 different homes in the next 15 years.
The "Maude" who contributed a recipe for dressing in our family cookbook was a friend of hers. Frances Eugenia Duncan McReynolds died of pneumonia in 1921, rarely having seen her grandchildren by Darling Daisy, after Daisy took them away, first to Chicago and then to 40 different homes in the next 15 years.
Mother, Mary Allice Reasoner (Pillsbury) left
Colorado Springs too early to remember very much about the family
into which Frances Eugenia Duncan was born, and finding them has been a long
and exasperating process.