William F Gander

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William Franklin and Mary Margaret Avery White
	Around 1879	Our grandparents. Mary Margaret Avery - born 12-11-1843. Married James White in 1860. They had 6 children; Scottie, Alice, Mary Ellen (Mollie), James, Thomas and John. Widowed, she married William Franklin Gander in Holden, MO, in 1879. At the time, William Franklin had 3 children: Al, Bill and Lou. To Mary Margaret and William Franklin were born four children: Milton Robert (1879), Harvey Smithton, born July 24, 1881; Catherine Paulina, always called "Pliny", and Isaac Newton, better known as "Ike". I do not know when they moved from Holden to the farm north of Monroe City. William Franklin had owned a hedge nursery in Holden. After the move he built a two-story house, part log, with a great fireplace of limestone blocks. Mother believed he may have also grown hedge-row plants there. In my early days almost all farms had hedge-row fences. Today we know the plants as the Osage Orange. One winter day, during the 1960's, my Father, Harvey Smithton, took me to the old farm. He showed me where the house stood, the well, the garden. The pond his father had dug. We walked to the exact spot where he, at 7 years old, had gone with his father to repair fences. The axe slipped, William Franklin's knee cap was split. A doctor was sent for. Mary Margaret kept kept poultices on the wound; infection (they called it Blood Poisoning in those days) set in. He died within two weeks. Very difficult times followed. Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	c. 1879	William Franklin Gander Photo courtesy Edith Gander Young.
	c. 1879	Mary Margaret Avery White Gander Photo courtesy Edith Gander Young.
	About 1920	Mary Avery White Gander Photo courtesy Cecilia White.
	Around 1885	John William (sitting, born 1867) and Albert Francis Gander (standing, born 1864). "Al" married Rosa Gay in Shelby County, MO, in 1896. In later years they lived in the Kansas City, Kansas area. It was said he made his living "horse trading". "Al" died in 1927. Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	About 1904	Children of Al Gander: William Francis (b. 1897) and Florence Lulu Gander (b.!-1902). We do not know anything about William Francis, except that he had a grandson named Maynard. Florence married a man named Frank Schneider, in 1920. They had one child, named Albert (b. 1921). Frank died around 1930 and Florence later married Orville Woolsey. Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	Around 1885	John William Gander, "Bill" to everyone (b. 1867). The second of the three children born to William Franklin Gander and his first wife. Bill married Mary "Mollie" McClure in Shelbyville October of 1899. They had no children. We children all adored them and going to visit them, especially because there was always so much to eat on the table! People said Bill was the best rifle shot in Missouri. I remember once seeing him pick up his rifle and cut a telephone wire on the first shot! He then took his pliers and mended the wire! Bill was very rough spoken, but underneath, very kind, gentle and honest. Mollie was a very large woman - I remember she used a size 52 dress pattern. One of my great treasures is the wedding ring quilt top she pieced for me for my high school graduation. They died just 10 days apart in July of 1933, 'he with "dropsy", she with gangrene. We were with them a lot those last weeks as both were bedfast and required care. Once, when the doctor came, he asked me to come help as he changed the bandaging on Aunt Mollie's foot and leg! Ever since I have lived in horror of gangrene! They are buried in the "Old Cemetery" in Clarence. Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	Summer, 1934	Lulu Gander Burke, with her half brother Harvey Smithton Gander in Denver , summer of 1934. That was the summer of the triple whammy of the great depression, the great drought, and the great heat. The hot, searing winds seemed to blow continually over the Great Plains that summer. Harvey had not seen his half sister since he was a little boy. So Mother, Dad, Edith and Bruce loaded into the old car and headed for Denver. They stopped over in Manhattan, Kansas, for a day or two to visit with Doc and me. They had a great time in Denver with Lulu and her husband Billie Burke. This picture belonged to Bruce. Strangely, the Gander Genealogy Book makes little mention of her except born 1863-64. Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
		Mary Ellen White Collins - Haney. Born July 3, 1863 - died 1950. Stricken with polio as a child, a cripple all her life. Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	Around 1890	Tom White and Pearl White (Tom b. 1869 - d. 1945). My Father, Harvey Smithton, bought the Happy Hollow farm from Tom. They were still living there when we moved down from Shelby County. We arrived after dark. Aunt Pearl had dinner cooking for us. They had a large family. When they left Happy Hollow they moved to a house on the Palmyra gravel Road, just a little East of the Dinwiddie Corner. That old house is still standing. Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	?? Around 1870	Owen Cobb married Alice White Cobb. Alice died in 1921. Owen was in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. The newspaper article says he had a brilliant Civil War record. I am trying to get more information on this from the National Archives. Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	??	Children of Owen and Alice White Cobb: Sam, on the right, was the oldest, then Ike, and Pearl. They lived on a farm somewhere west of Philadelphia. After Owen died, in 1926 - 1927 -Sam had passed away several years earlier - Pearl married Kilby Coleman; Ike married a lady from near Monroe. Her last name was Mudd - first name unknown. She and Ike had one daughter. Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	??	Carson and Carl White, sons of John D. White and Annie Gay White. There were six boys born to John and Annie. The others were David, Harry, Lee and Ira. After John (b. 1873) died in 1945, Annie married a Mr. Porter. Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	Unknown	Child of Tom White Photo courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	Unknown	Children of Tom White Photo courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	Unknown	Ola White Photo courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	Unknown	Unknown child. Photograph was among the collection of Iona Branch Gander but there was no identification. It is possibly one of the children of Tom or John White. Photo courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	Around 1907	Harvey Smithton Gander - b. July 24, 1881 - d.-January 4, 1968. Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	About 1906	Ike Gander Photo courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	1908	Isaac Newton Gander (b. 1886, d. 1977) and Virgie Haun were married in Shelbyville in 1908. They always lived in the Leonard (Shelby County) area. They rented and lived in the great old brick house, known as the "Perry Place" which had been built before the Civil War. The bricks were fired and formed by slave labor. Iona and Harvey had lived there for two years before moving to their own place in Marion County. Ike and Virgie had eleven children. One (Faye) died shortly after birth. Delbert died of a ruptured Appendix around 1925; Margie Lou lost her life in an accident in 1974; Goldie Marie had a birth defect. She died at age 6. Raymond passed away in 1999. They always seemed such a happy family. Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	About 1910	Ike Gander Photo courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	Around 1912	Isaac Newton and Virgie Haun Gander with their children, Raymond and Virginia. They were married in 1908. I do not know where they first lived, but after Iona and Harve moved away from "Aunt Mandy's" place to the "Perry Place", Ike and Virgie moved to "Aunt Mandy's" place. They lived there for a good many years. I used to go up to "spend a week" with them. By then I was 11 or 12 and they were getting to be a large family. They had the larger of two houses - there was a board walk between their house and "Aunt Mandy's" house. Amanda Henderson and her husband were freed slaves. They came with their former masters, Vandivers, I believe, from Kentucky. Mandy rode one of their horses and led another; her husband drove one of their wagons. When the Vandivers passed on, they left that forty-acre farm to Amanda. Her husband had preceded her in death. Amanda lived to be way over a hundred years old. The last time I saw her was in 1925 when we drove up to Shelby County to visit. She was in the garden, weeding the onion patch. Her hair was as white as a cotton boll. Ike and Virgie later moved to the larger farm and house on the "Perry Place" west of Leonard. Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	Around 1902	Robert Milton Gander (b. Holden, MO, Dec. 1879-d.Mar, 1955) came to live in the Cooper School district, north of Monroe City with his parents, William Franklin and Mary Margaret Gander. He moved to Shelby county he married Mary Main. Their first child, Wilbur, was born in Leonard in 1906. Bob and his family farmed in Shelby County. Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	About 1902	Robert Milton Gander Photo courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	Around 1916	Children of Bob and Mary Gander - Wilbur, Alvin (b. 1908) and Velma Gladys (b.1912). The fourth child, Darrel, was born in 1918. I believe Bob was the first of the Gander boys to buy a car. A Ford, perhaps. I can remember its shiny brass radiator. When they drove down to see us in 1916. Aunt Mary "bobbed" my long stringy hair. They stayed overnight. I set the supper table while mother cooked. She had been teaching me how to set a table properly. I placed the white linen napkins in the plates very carefully. When we set down at the table, Wilbur whispered to Alvie "Alvie, Alvie, before you start to eat, get that rag out of your plate!" Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	Around 1905	Catherine Paulina Gander, (b.Holden 1883, d.1972). We never knew her to be called anything but "Pliny". She married Sam Sandifer in 1904. Sam did not like her name, so he called her "Kate". They always lived and farmed in the Monroe City area. Their family grew to five children, Addine, Elbert, Fay, Charles and Russell. Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	Around 1914	Children of "Pliny" and Sam Sandifer: Addine and Elbert. Elbert died in 1948. As I recall, he was working under a car, which slipped off a block and crushed him. Addine was a great favorite-Fay was my special friend. I will always hold treasured memories of Russell-those wonderful December nights coon hunting with Russell, Harve and brother Cliff, and the coon hounds baying on a fresh trail. Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	1915	Russell Sandifer, son of Sam and Pliny Sandifer Photo courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	1917	Harvey Joe, he of the snappy black eyes and hair and blue-eyed, blonde Clifford Robert, with their "big sis", probably taken in the spring of 1917, as my long braids had been cut. I remember the blue plaid dress! Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	1915	Pea Ridge school, probably spring 1915. Hazel Paugh took the picture. I am just behind the dark haired boy with his hand over his face. Next to me is Zora Paugh, the teacher's little sister. Elmer Nall is in front of her. Herb is in the back, almost hidden. Percy Powell is to the right of Zora, in the dark clothing. Perhaps some of the big girls in the back are Hathaways. A rural school teacher had her hands full teaching 8 grades in a one-room country school - especially with a shortage of books! A good friend of mine, who at age 16, started teaching in a rural school in North Dakota had no text books. She taught from the Sears Roebuck Catalog! Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	About 1929	Unknown man, Bruce Gander, Harvey S. Gander, Bill Gander Photo courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	Late 1930's	Again "Aunt Mollie" Haney. This snapshot made sometime in the late 1930's. Dad and I managed to bring her, her "scooting chair" and all out to the farm to spend a whole week. She so seldom ever got away from her own little house. Here she is on the big front porch, happily puffing away on her old clay pipe! Dear "Aunt Mollie" a truly courageous woman! Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	??	Jim Collins, her son. I believe he was older than the daughter, Pearl. I last saw Jim when Dad, Cliff and I were deer hunting. Jim then lived "somewhere" there south of Monroe City. Dad and I managed to leave our "deer stand" and show up at his nephew's conveniently right at lunch time. Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	March, 1936	Our family photo by Belle Johnson. Dad wanted a family group photo made. It was March, 1936. The children, Charles, Robin and Carol and I had come "home" to escape the bitter winter of 1936 in South Dakota. So here we are, Harvey, on the right, sitting slightly crooked. A tractor had turned over-cutting off a part of one toe. Next to him, our dad, Harve who had been ill, and showed it. Our Mother Iona, being her sweet self, Bruce Eldon, being natural. In the back row, Clifford, (behind Harvey) had the giggles. Next Jackie who had a case of the hiccoughs - imagine trying to pose for a photo when you're going "hic, hic, hic", next Edith who was also giggly - and then Herb looking stern! It had become so seldom that we were all together at one time, we who always had been so close. Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	Late 1950's	An old picture from an early Gander family reunion, probably sometime in the late 1950's. Harve, Iona, Mary, wife of Bob, and Ike and Virgie. Photo and commentary courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	1954	Gander family reunion: Harvey and Iona Gander, Sam and Pliny Gander Sandifer, Rob and Mary Gander, Virgie and Ike Gander, three unidentified women. Photo courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	Unknown	Sons of Emma Avery White, names unknown. Emma was a sister to Mary Avery White Gander. We don't know if she was married to a relative of Mary's first husband James White. The photo was taken in the State of Washington. They worked on the Railroad. Photo courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.
	Unknown	Sons of Emma Avery White, names unknown. Emma was a sister to Mary Avery White Gander. We don't know if she was married to a relative of Mary's first husband James White. The photo was taken in the State of Washington. They worked on the Railroad. Photo courtesy Jackie Gander Deets.