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Chase County Kansas Historical Sketches
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Overstreet, John Turner Family
The John Turner [J.T.] Overstreet Family
By Beth Overstreet Bledsoe
John Turner and Margaret Gurney Overstreet came from Maquoketa, Iowa, in a covered wagon along with other wagons, to Wichita, Kansas about 1881. They were accompanied by her brother, Frederick Gurney. Margaret was born June 6, 1863 in Dubuque, Iowa. She died January 31, 1941 in Peabody, Kansas, where she had lived with her daughter, Charlotte Overstreet Renfro. John Turner (J.T.) Overstreet was born November 18, 1859, in Springfield, Missouri, and died at their home near Cedar Point, Kansas on January 4, 1935. They are buried in the Wonsevu Cemetery along with their youngest daughter, Fanny Edith, who was born in 1903 and died in 1906 of spinal meningitis.
While living in Wichita, two sons were born to J. T. and Margaret Overstreet, Amos Berton (Bert), and Clarence Russell. Then J. T. bought the original Cowley farm near Cedar Point (area is now included in Homestead).
1. Amos Berton (Bert) Overstreet was born in Wichita, Kansas on May 2, 1884. He died in the Topeka Santa Fe Hospital May 30, 1967 at the age of eighty-three years. The cause of death was cancer.
He married Elizabeth Brecht, oldest daughter of Adam and Regina Gates Brecht, at Elk, November 28, 1909. Elizabeth was born December 10, 1881 in Strong City and died in Emporia, February 10, 1980. Both are interred in the Strong City, Kansas cemetery.
Bert and Elizabeth lived in a brand new home near Cedar Point, Kansas which Enos Heckendorn had built. They had three children: Isabel Elizabeth (Beth), born August 22, 1913 at home; John Berton (Jack), born June 15, 1916 at Bethel Hospital in Newton, Kansas; and Marjory June (June), born September 18, 1918 at home. Bert and Elizabeth sold their home in 1920 and bought a home in Strong City so their daughter, Isabel Elizabeth (Beth, now Mrs. Hazen P. Bledsoe), then seven years old, would not have to go to a country school. Bert got a job at the Santa Fe Railroad's round house.
The children, Beth, Jack and June, were lucky, as we got to go to the South Side grade school, a stone building on the site where the American Legion building is now. Bridget Anna Quinn, from Ireland, was the teacher. As I, Beth, was seven years old, Miss Quinn put me through grades one-five in three years, then we all had to go to the Northside School (this was a two-storied stone building). That site is now the Rodeo grounds. Beth graduated from eighth grade at the Northside School. She attended the Cottonwood Falls high school her freshman year, then graduated from Strong Township Rural High School in Strong City in 1931. John B. (Jack) Overstreet and Marjory June (June) Overstreet, attended the South Side and Northside grade schools, and both graduated from the Strong Township Rural High School.
Amos Berton (Bert) Overstreet was transferred to the Emporia railroad shop in about 1937. They first lived at 611 West 4th in Emporia, then for many years they lived at 1006 West 6th.
John N. (Jack) Overstreet attended Kansas State Teachers College at Emporia. The great depression of the 1930's was still on, so Jack worked at several jobs at Newton, Kansas and helped Aunt Charlotte Overstreet Renfro at her hotel.
He finally got a job at Graber's Hardware in Newton and became a buyer, and was also with an Investor's group. He married Geraldene Vivian (Jerry) Whipple, the only child of Maxine Peace and Harry Whipple, at Newton, Kansas, on September 4, 1938. They were the parents of two sons: John Lanning, born April 13, 1941 at Newton, and David Berton Overstreet, born July 11, 1945. John Lanning, married Pamela McCarter, daughter of Lila and Jim McCarter of Wichita. John Lanning and Pamela have two children: a son, Chris, and a daughter, Kristen. "Lanny" as he was called, has been with Boeing Aircraft for many years, first at Wichita, and now (July 1984) at the Seattle, Washington Boeing plant.
David Berton Overstreet married Francey Folb. They have two children, Coy and Krista.
In 1959, Jack and Jerry Overstreet moved to Escondido, California, near San Diego, where he got into the same type work he had done in Newton, an Investor's group. Jack had served in the Marines in World War II. Their son David B. Overstreet owns a pharmacy called "The Apothocary" at Escondico, California. Both David and Lanny have college degrees. Jack's wife, Jerry, has been ill for many years now (July 1984).
For more about Isabel Elizabeth (Beth) Overstreet, see the Hazen Bledsoe family, this volume.
Marjory June Overstreet married Edward Eugene Balsley in the Lutheran Church in Emporia when the church was still in the south part of Emporia. They had three children: Edward Eugene (called Gene), born July 4, 1940. He is with IBM in San Jose, California; Connie June, born May 1, 1943, is an R.N. and is married to Hal Compton; and Linda, born May 28, 1952. She is married to (first name unknown) Katsenda.
June found her husband, Eddie Balsley, dead in bed of a heart attack on December 18, 1979. Eddie is buried in the Strong City Cemetery. After her husband's death, June moved to California where all three of her children live. They all live in the San Jose vicinity. June moved to California on June 19, 1980. She has five grandchildren.
2. Clarence Russell Overstreet, born March 15, 1887 at Wichita, married Nancy Edna Bradley (born January 10, 1888). Nancy Edna died February, 1972, at the Hillsboro hospital. Clarence died in 1974. They are buried in the Homestead Cemetery with an infant son, Clayton Russell, who died at birth.
Clarence and Nancy Edna (called Edna) had three other children: Opal Charlotte, born February 14, 1922. She lives in Wichita; Ardis, born in 1924, who married Marion L. King. They have one son, Michael; and J. T., born April 5, 1929. He married Mary Frances, the daughter of Jess and Flora Long, who was born December 1, 1929. (See Britain history, this volume.) J. T. and Mary were married August 12, 1949 and are the parents of two children: James Russell, born August 28, 1952 and died in a train-car accident March 31, 1972; and Rebecca Ann, born September 20, 1954, who married Jerry Kimberlin. They have a son, Kelby James, born September 22, 1978. All three of Clarence and Edna's children graduated from the Clements high school. J. T.'s wife, Mary, graduated from the Chase County Community High School. J. T. is in the Insurance business and Mary worked in the People Exchange Bank in Elmdale, Kansas for many years. (Additional information submitted by Kelby Kimberlin: Mary Frances Long Overstreet died Dec 02, 1999 and John Turner (J.T) Overstreet died Nov 29, 2004. Both were lost to complications from cancer.)
John Ross Overstreet of Newton, Kansas, was born in 1901 and died in June of 1979 at age seventy-eight. He attended the Chase County High School, and married Amy Maria Byram on November 7, 1919. She died at Newton, Kansas in October 1949 at age fifty-three of cancer. They had one daughter, Margurite Esther, born September 21, 1926. Margurite Esther married William Julius Flick (born April 8, 1929). They are the parents of Kristine, born October 24, 1951, who married Craig Ryan Dewell. They have two boys: Ryan Christopher and Matthew Craig. John William Flick, son of William J. and Margurite E. Flick was born November 6, 1956. He is not married. Margurite is still teaching at Winfield High School.
Charlotte Ann Overstreet Renfro, born July 24, 1898 near Cedar Point, died November 4, 1979 at age eighty-one years. She had been married to John Renfro but they were divorced. She went to Chase County High School, then taught in several schools in Chase County. She was a member of O.E.S. #5 in Newton, Kansas. Later she moved to Wichita where she went into the real estate business. She started working in ceramics as a hobby, and did it so well that a ceramics school hired her as a teacher.
Fredrick Marion Overstreet was born at home near Cedar Point. Fred, or F. M., as he was called, went to Chase County High School, then he taught in many country schools in Chase County. He bought the Harvey County State Bank at Newton. He married Glendene Martin, who was very much a French lady. They had one daughter, Jean, born on December 16, 1922. In 1945 Jean married Richard Stranzel Brown, who was City Manager of El Cerrito, California. He retired from that and is now helping as a city manager in many small towns. They have a daughter, Barbara, born in March 1954 in St, Louis, Missouri; also a son, Richard. There are no grandchildren (1984).
On the youngest Overstreet boy, I have almost no information. He is Charles Phillip, who married Vella Odle in Chase County, then moved to Idaho. They were the parents of a daughter, Justine Marie, who married Frank Richardson of Battle Ground, Washington. Justine and Frank have a son, Morris. Charles and Vella are buried at Portland, Oregon.
Mary Laura Overstreet was born at home on February 8, 1896. She died May 9, 1975. She married Victor A. Bocock, born in Cottonwood Falls on November 28, 1897. He died January 23, 1967. They had lived in Olathe, Kansas, as they owned the Maytag store there. Victor was in the Navy during World War I. They had one child, Doris Marie, born October 27, 1922. She married Merven
Sturgis Disharoon October 7, 1948 at the Mission Methodist Church, Mission, Kansas. Doris and Merven have four children, Mary Charlotte Holsinger, Tom and Dick (twins), and Merven S. Dick died in a car wreck when he was about twenty years old. Mary C. Holsinger has a son, Andy. Tom and Diane have a son, Richard, who was born May 16, 1982.
Victor Bocock had been on the railroad, then was elected for two terms as County Clerk of Chase County. Victor and Mary lived in Strong City at that time.
by Lorna Marvin
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