SERVIS / CARMAN Families Submitted by: Donna L. Connell
Most photos are clickable to enlarge
Taken at 1015 Fuller Street in Winfield, KS - 1912.

Back row L-R: Mary Kibbe (Haskell)[paternal aunt of Jennie's] Jennie May Kibbe (Servis) William Sumner Servis [husband of Jennie] Orville C. Servis [a son of William and Jennie] Aurelia Estella Servis (Carman) [older sister of William & widow of A.P. Carman] Cordelia Carman [I don't have her maiden name][2nd wife of C.H. Carman(CH was a son of Anson)] Front row L-R: Jim Carman [probably a son of Anson] Currie Carman (Baker)[sister to Anson and the late A.P. Carman] Anson G. Carman [the sole survivor of the 1885 drowning tragedy] May Mayloe ___(unk)___ The two kids in front are Mary Aurelia Servis and Lester William Servis, both kids of William Sumner Servis and Jennie May Kibbe. Lester W. Servis was my grandfather.

William Sumner Servis, abt 1890.He came out to Cowley County in I believe the summer of 1888, from Vinland, Winnebago County, Wisconsin...after having taken a few slight detours through Bennet, Lancaster County, Nebraska to visit his father's brother Joshua B. Servis who lived there with his 2nd wife Anna Everett (Servis). William had also stopped in Clifton, Washington County, Kansas, to visit his father's other brother William H. Servis who was living there with his wife Elizabeth Patterson and their family. William Sumner Servis had followed his older sister Aurelia Estella Servis (Carman) out to Cowley County, Kansas. The Carman family... brothers Anson G. Carman, Albert Porter Carman, and Charles G. Carman (and probably their sister Currie Carman (Baker) had come out to Cowley County in I think 1883. Aurelia Estella Servis was Albert Porter Carman's 2nd wife. His first wife had been Mattie E. Thompson, who ironically had drowned on July 4, 1873 in Green Lake, (probably Green Lake County), Wisconsin. I haven't had time to research that yet, but I would assume there had been some type of family outing. Albert Porter Carman and Mattie E. Thompson had 1 child, who had been born in 1849, and who died 6 months later. Albert Porter Carman (who went by the name of "A.P.") and 2nd wife Aurelia Estella Servis never had children. They were married in Princeton, Green Lake County, Wisconsin on January 23, 1881.

Aurelia Estella Servis Carman What I didn't know until I was going through the old abstract that the McBee family has for the old William Sumner Servis place (outside Rock), is that A.P. Carman apparently was a banker. Each year, Jennie and her husband would go and see his sister Aurelia E. Servis (Carman) and arrange for a loan to cover their expenses until they could get some money in from the sale of their crops. She'd take out a mortgage on her brother's farm and hold it as collateral. They did this year after year after year. I'd always thought that William and Jennie had bought their land after they were married, but that wasn't true. The land was in William Sumner Servis' name for about a year before he got married to Jennie.

My grandfather, Lester William Servis.
Orville must have already been away from home by that point.
They were harvesting oats east of the "Servis" house outside Rock, KS abt 1915.
Home of W.S. Servis - Circa 1915

I've been back out to the house and last I knew, the McBee family was restoring it, and doing a terrific job. They had closed in the little front porch, but that was OK. It looked wonderful. This is just outside Rock, KS. This photo was actually a postcard.

Barn on Servis homestead outside Rock, KS

William Sumner Servis & his corn in 1912

back row: William Sumner Servis and wife Jennie May Kibbe (Servis) Their 3rd son Orville C. Servis is sitting with his big feet sticking out. Mary Aurelia Servis was their only daughter...and looking so solemn sitting crosslegged with a piece of watermellon almost bigger than he was, is my grandfather Lester William Servis. This was probably the summer of about 1910/11/12 at their home outside Rock, KS.

William Sumner Servis, their grandson Harold Servis, and Jennie May Kibbe (Servis) on their farm outside Rock, Cowley County, Kansas in 1928. They only lived there about another year or two, and then "retired" in I think 1930. William had been having dizzy spells and Jennie had to trudge across the fields to try and find someone to help him... and she said that was enough of that. He died in 1931 from extreme high blood pressure/stroke/etc. After having a series of strokes, Jennie died in 1935.

William Sumner Servis and wife Jennie May Kibbe (Servis) in 1917, outside their home outside Rock, Cowley County, Kansas. I don't know who dated this. It wasn't my grandfather. If it was Jennie, it was before her series of health problems, because I've got her last few letters in the 1930's and this doesn't look like her writing at all.

Original wedding invitation of Wil Servis and Jennie May Kibbe. They were married at the home of her father former state senator William Egbert Kibbe (and his 2nd wife) just outside Princeton, Franklin County, Kansas.

back row L-R Orville Charles Servis, Mary Aurelia Servis, Donald Carman Servis front row L-R William Sumner Servis, Lester William Servis, Jennie May Kibbe Servis

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