JOHN CALVIN VAN HORN

JOHN CALVIN VAN HORN, son of John C. Van Horne and Malinda Hinton, was born in Council Bluffs, Pottawatomie County, Iowa, on July 13, 1843, and died in Atoka, Atoka County, Oklahoma, on February 3, 1921, of arteriosclerosis and nephrisis.

John Calvin Van Horn married Elizabeth H. Page on November 17, 1865. They had no children (that we know of at this time). They were married by A. Baker, Minister of the Gospel. We do not know at this time where this marriage took place.

John Calvin Van Horn married (2) Sarah Unknown, before 1868.

John Calvin Van Horn's and Sarah's children were:

1. Ida Van Horn, b. about 1868

2. Ella (Ellen) Van Horn, b. abt. 1869

3. Shenandoah "Shen" Van Horn, b. abt. 1872

John Calvin Van Horn married (3) Mary Francis (Frances) Canfield, after 1880, in Miami County, Kansas.

John Calvin Van Horn's and Mary Frances Canfield's children were:

1. Verna E. Van Horn, b. April 4, 1882, d. August 8, 1970

2. Johnnie Van Horn, b. 1883, d. 1884

3. Myrtle Van Horn

4. Marcus Tenney Van Horn, b. September 24, 1893, d. November 19, 1980

5. Pearl Margaret Van Horn, b. June 17, 1896 (or 1898), d. December 23, 1990.

6. John Francis Van Horn, b. 1901, d. January 13, 1919.

John Calvin Van Horn died in a hotel room in Atoka, Atoka County, Oklahoma. He had been living, since about 1911, in a tent on the banks of the Muddy Boggy River. He and Mary Frances Canfield-Van Horn separated before the 1910 census. He died a pauper, and is buried in "Potter's Field" in Westview Cemetery, north of Atoka, in a grave marked only by a large stone.

John Calvin Van Horn's death certificate states: "This man was said to have been 75 years old. Occupation: none. No family history could be obtained. Cause of Death: Arteriosclerosis for several years; contributory: nephritis."

John Calvin Van Horn's nickname was "Bud".

John Calvin Van Horn moved from Kansas to Aldine, Harris County, with his wife and children in about 1898, when the Canfield family (his in-laws) moved. He stayed for one year and decided he wanted to go back to Miami County, Kansas. He loaded up all of his farming equipment, plows, etc., into a boxcar of a train heading north from Harris County. The plan was to go find a job, then send for his family. The train made a three-hour lay over in McAlester, Pittsburg County, Oklahoma, and while waiting for his connection, he got to talking to some fellows about jobs. They told him that there was plenty of work there in McAlester, since he was a master stone mason. He decided to stay in McAlester to work, and sent for his family.

The following letter from Dr. Thurman Shuller, M.D., of the Pittsburg County Genealogical and Historical Society, written to the researcher, dated March 22, 2000 states:

"The family does not appear in our index to the 1900 census of the entire Choctaw Area of Indian Territory. They show up earliest in the oldest City Directory that is available to us, which is 1904 - 1905, copy enclosed. It shows John and Frances living together at 108 E. Monroe, with John listed as a stone mason. The next City Directory we have is 1907 - 1908, which shows Frances living without her husband at 3 W. Cherokee. That address is adjacent to the underpass under the Katy railroad, so there is a steep embankment up to the rail line. (I had mentioned in my letter to Dr. Shuller that my grandmother mentioned playing on long "steps" up to the railroad tracks when a child.) Our next City Directory is 1914 - 1915, in which no Van Horns appear.

In the 1910 Census John C. Van Horn is listed as a boarder living on West Monroe Street, age 66, born in Iowa, occupation stone mason. Interestingly, the space for marital status is left blank. Since Frances is not listed in the census, it would seem to indicate that she had already moved to Texas without her husband (which she did . . . she took all of her children except Marcus Tenney, who stayed with his Dad). There is no record of divorce in McAlester, so if she was divorced it probably was in Texas.

As for her operating a boarding house (which she did) she could have taken in boarders at 3 West Cherokee, though the City Directory doesn't indicate it. She could have operated one on 7th Street (this was MY recollection, and obviously wrong), but if so, it had tohave been for a short time. No licenses were issued in Indian Territory days. There were lots of boarding houses in McAlester at that time. Practically all widows took in boarders."