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WILLIAM GEORGE MAKINSON William was my great grandfather . He was born August 19,1842 and died a few minutes before his 70th birthday on August 18,1912. He had a stroke several weeks prior to his death. It occurred as my Uncle Warren was helping him hitch up the buggy. We have only one photo of William taken about 1860 when he was 18 years old. William was over six feet tall, quite tall for his time, and had black wavy hair. Williams second child, by his second wife, a daughter named Gertrude also resembled him in appearance. He married Elizabeth Daniels in January 1870 in Kewanee, Illinois. In March 1871 my grandfather Leroy Albert Makinson was born of this union. At the time of the 1870 US Census, William and Lizzie were living on a farm at Galva in Henry County Illinois. In 1877 William and Lizzie moved west to Shenandoah, Iowa and bought a farm in an area where some of the richest farmland in the USA is found. They farmed until 1886 and then moved to town. After that William retired and entered politics working for the Democratic Party. He somehow became a close confidant to William Jennings Bryan and this association later led to the appointment of Williams son Al (or Roy) as he was sometimes known, to position as deputy postmaster. Later Roy was appointed Inspector General for Nebraska during the Spanish War in the Nebraska National Guard where he had the rank of Colonel. Wm Jennings Bryan's brother was also appointed to a military post on this same Governors staff and later became three times Governor of Nebraska. William's wife, Elizabeth Daniels Makinson died on Dec 24th, 1895. She had been sick for several years of an arthritic condition. Clara Makinson about 1900 After his first wife's death in 1895, William was introduced to Clara Osborne, a 22 year old friend of William's sister-in-law who lived near Shenandoah. They married on Oct 6,1897.. On May 13,1900, a daughter, Gertrude was born to this couple. Clara lived to be 91 years old. She never remarried after the death of her husband in 1912. She died in 1967 at Ottumwa, Iowa. The newspaper article on William's wedding to Clara mentions "The groom is a respected and influential citizen of many years residence in Shenandoah and vicinity. He is a member of the City Council and a leading politician in Democratic circles." Clara and William lived together fifteen years before his death and Clara never remarried. Instead she raised daughter "Gertrude. Due to a bank failure because of misappropriation of funds by the bank president, who was one of William's friends, the family lost most of what they owned. Gertrude graduated from high school and went to work in a doctor's office while her mother worked in a dry goods store. Clara died in Ottumwa, Iowa on April 4,1967 at the age of 91 and is buried beside William in Rose Hill Cemetery in Shenandoah, Iowa. This link is to a picture of Shenandoah, Iowa around the beginning of the last Century.
Probably the best statement of what William was like is the following eulogy in the Shenandoah Sentinel newspaper shortly after his death. A TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM MAKINSON (BY COL. J. R. RATEKIN) EDITOR WORLD----- There is even in the natures of all men more or less under the scrutiny of the public eye, an inner or more sacred personality that only the intimacy of long acquaintanceships and close personal friendship can reveal. It a thus with my friend William Makinson. William Makinson was a peculiar man. Even a continuous and almost brotherly relationship of 30 years did not tell me all the many lovable traits and sterling bedrock qualities of character that governed his daily life. I suppose I knew him better than any other living man. We were close friends and each succeeding year of our friendship only cemented the bond the closer- for I think I can speak for him as well as myself. He was, indeed, a lovable man. The one thing above all others that called forth my admiration was his steadfastness and fidelity. You always knew where to find "Bill" Makinson; time made no difference to him; the years called for no change in his attitude toward those whom he called his friends. You might not see him for a month or a year. Yet, when you met him you could absolutely rely on his position- it was the same as when you saw him last. He had his critics, to be sure, strong characters always have. What man, unless he be a jellyfish or a non-entity hasn't? Yet, he met his enemies openly. He was as frank and above board with those with whom he did not agree as with his truest friend. Deception or underhandedness was as foreign to his nature as floods are to the Sahara desert. He was positive in his views. Possibly, if any fault was ever found with him it was because his opinions were too definite and too decided. Yet, the very positive ness of his attitude eliminated any censure that might be attributed to this characteristic. For it was always stated in public with due regard to an equal opportunity for his opponent to explain or defend himself. He believed in fair play, a square deal and justice to every human being. He was brave as a lion physically, mentally and morally. I have no doubt but what he went to meet his maker with the same firm indomitable courage and spirit that we saw and admired in him day after day as he lived among us. Honesty was an inherent quality with him; it was not a virtue- it was a fixed quantity. He could not have committed a dishonest act if he exerted all his will power to that end. And we will miss him- we fellows who knew and understood and loved him. How much we'll miss him is difficult to put into words. The old town will not seem the same- does not seem the same- without him. The only balm we remember, and in truth, the only assurance I and others can, or care, to remember is that he was honest in his convictions and always true to his friends, and I only wish the world was made up of men and women of his solid character and honest convictions; right or wrong, he was a character worthy of emulation, in his loyalty and steadfastness of what he believed right.
GERTRUDE NAOMI MAKINSON WOODS
Great Aunt Gertrude Makinson in 1986 at age 86 with Elaine Makinson Birdsley My dear great Aunt Gertrude was born on May 13, 1900 in Shenandoah, Iowa. She was the only child of the second marriage of my great grandfather William George Makinson and Clara Alice Osborn. William and Clara were married October 6,1897. At the time of their marriage, Clara was 22 and William 55 years old. William's former sister-in-law introduced William and Clara. The sister-in-law was Sally Daniels Miller. Gertrude went to school in Shenandoah and later went to work for a doctor by the name of Dr. Gottch. Gertrude told me she worked for the doctor for 16 years and two of the years were after her marriage in 1932. The Doctor was the team Doctor for the local school football team and I believe Gertrude told me that he started this activity in 1923, one year after my father left the team. Gertrude says she knew and played with my father who was four years younger than she. Gertrude's half brother, my grandfather, was about 29 years older than Gertrude. As a young girl Gertrude remembers a frequent visitor to the family home that of William Jennings Bryan, former congressman, two time nominee for the President of the U.S.A. and later the Secretary of State from 1913-1916. Gertrude remembers sitting in Bryan's lap as a young girl when he came to talk with her father. Mr. Bryan was also famous as a lawyer in the famous "monkey trial" in Tennessee in 1923. This was the case of the "Bible vs Evolution", and Mr. Bryan pleaded the case on the side of the Bible. He lost the case and died the next day of a heart attack. When Gertrude was five or six years old, she went to live on the farm her father had bought for my grandfather at Nevada Missouri. I place the time at about a year or so after my fathers birth in the summer of 1904. Her father took Clara and Gertrude to live on the farm and they stayed about a year. During the year that they lived in Missouri, Clara and Gertrude were homesick for Iowa. Gertrude remembers that the house had a fireplace in every room and all the rooms were wallpapered. When the family left the farm Gertrude and Clara rode back on the train and William drove the buggy and their family horse all the way back to Iowa, about 200 miles or so. Gertrude married Alan Woods on September 17, 1932. Alan was an employee of the Burlington Railroad and his first wife had left him and run off with another railroad employee. Alan had three children and the oldest boy was about 16 years old when Alan and Gertrude were married. The children stayed with their mother, who married the man she ran off, with the day after the divorce. In 1938 Alan was transferred by the Railroad to Ottumwa Iowa as the General Agent. Alan was quite active in civic affairs and he and Gertrude entertained frequently. I saw pictures of Gertrude with the Governors wife and in another picture she and Alan were christening a warship during WW-II at a shipyard. During this time they lived on Plum Street in Ottumwa. Alan died on August 3,1978 in Ottumwa. He was born on January 5, 1892. After Gertrude's father died in 1912, she and her mother lived in the family home until about 1917. Clara bought a smaller house in Shenandoah and eventually Clara went to work in a dry goods store. After Clara's brother Fred's wife died, she went to California to be with him for a year in Los Angeles. Later Fred came back to Iowa and lived with Gertrude and Clara and helped out with the expenses of the home. The photo on the left was taken at time of Gertrude's wedding in 1932
LEROY ALBERT MAKINSON Leroy, Al, or Roy, as he was known, was my grandfather. Born in March 1871 in Henry County Ill, probably in the township of Galva where his parents, William and Elizabeth were living at the time of the 1870 US Census. He was the only child of the marriage. He went to school in Shenandoah Iowa, where the family moved in 1877, and later to Highland Park Normal School in Des Moines, Iowa. He later went to England to visit his cousins and meet the family members. He visited England in 1892. Soon after Roy's trip to England, he was offered and took an assistant postmaster's job in Shenandoah, Iowa. His father had been offered the postmaster position but he did not want it and instead a job was given to Roy. This job offer may have been due to the influence of William Jennings Bryan, a family friend. According to a letter written to me by my Uncle Warren in 1971, Roy would have been appointed a Consular to Great Britain if Bryan would have been elected President of the U.S.A. Roy married one year after the death of his mother. The bride was Anna Shunick, a red haired Irish catholic from a family of fourteen children. They were married on December 31, 1896 and moved to Palmyra, Nebraska and set up housekeeping on a farm there. Two sons, Reginald Warren, and Harold John, were born on this farm in 1899 and 1897 respectively. Roy later moved his family to a farm near Nevada Missouri where my father, Leroy Alexis Makinson, was born on July 17,1904. By 1912, Roy and Anna were apparently having difficulties in their marriage and Roy and Anna separated. She returned to her brothers home near Shenandoah with her three children. She was living with her brother at the time that she met and married. Roy was living in Kansas City and not doing very well. He had bought a row of flats there after convincing his father, who apparently was bank rolling part of Roy's deals, that they should sell the farm in Missouri. Shortly after the separation of Roy and Anna, Roy's father died in August 1912. Anna stayed on in Iowa until at least 1922 when all the boys had either married or left home and then she moved to Omaha, Nebraska. Roy moved around and somehow ended up in El Paso on the Mexican border during the Mexican War in 1916 where he wrote a letter to Anna at that time. Roy drifted into show business and supposedly was some how connected to the film star, Clara Bow, possibly as an agent to her. Pictures of Roy during this period of his life show him with dapper clothes and a expensive automobile. Great Aunt Gertrude remembered Roy stopped by here place of work about 1929 in Shenandoah, Ia. He He told her that he was working at selling advertising to radio stations. When she asked how to get in touch with him, he said "just write to me in C/O Billboard Magazine". Very shortly thereafter, the stock market crash and Gertrude got a letter from him asking for money. She never heard from him again after she replied she couldn't help him. Apparently, Roy then went to live with his son Harold in North Platte, Nebraska. Harold had a small house where he and his wife lived with his wife's mother and Roy had a place in the basement of the home where he stayed. Roy lived there for ten years until he died on February 18,1943. He is buried at the North Platte, Nebraska. In this photo taken on the steps of the Nebraska Capital building in 1899 during the Spanish War, is the governor and his military staff. Roy is in the back row on the far right side with the mustache. Roy was a Colonel and Inspector General. The man in the back row on the left side is Charles Bryan, later a three time governor of the state. He was a brother to Wm Jennings Bryan. I do have the names of the other men in the photo.
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