PEARL MARGARET "PEGGY" VAN HORN, was born in Osawatomie, Miami County, Kansas, on June 17th 1896 (or 1898). She died on December 23rd, 1990, at Riverside Nursing Home, Jenks, Tulsa County, Oklahoma, of complicatons of Parkinson's Disease. She is buried in Memorial Park Cemetery, Section 49, Tulsa, Tulsa County, Oklahoma, beside her husband, Maurice Harmon Canfield. The discrepency in her birth year has to do with the fact that she always said she was born in 1896, however, the 1900 census, which was used to reconstruct her birth certificate in the 1950s states that she was born in 1898. She was the daughter of John Calvin Van Horn and Mary Frances Canfield.
Pearl Margaret "Peggy" Van Horn was married to (1) John Napoleon Parsons, (2) John Abraham, and (3) Maurice Harmon Canfield, her first cousin.
Children of Pearl Margaret "Peggy" Van Horn and John Napoleon Parsons are:
1. Mary Frances Parsons, b. January 27, 1914, d. January 9, 2000.
2. Virgil Thomas Parsons, b. 1919, d. 1974.
3. George Ernest Parsons, b. 1924, d. 1987.
4. Glenn Carlton Parsons, b. 1929, d. 1984.
Pearl Margaret Van Horn moved with her family to Houston, Harris County, Texas, in about 1900, and in 1901-1902 they moved to McAlester, Pittsburg County, Indian Territory (Oklahoma). They lived in McAlester until about 1908, when her parents separated. Her mother took Pearl, and her youngest brother, John Francis, and moved back to Houston to live near Pearl's maternal grandmother and family.
She married John Napoleon Parsons in Houston, October 11, 1911, and they set up housekeeping in a little rented house. There, Pearl made extra money to supplement the salary her husband made as a grocery clerk by sewing, crocheting and tatting, and later, making ham sandwiches to hawk at the local construction sites.
On Thanksgiving Day, 1918, Pearl came down with the Spanish Influenza that was running in pandemic fashion over the world. She took to her bed and was there for six months. During her illness, her younger brother, John Francis, passed away from the same illness (in January, 1919), at the age of seventeen. When Pearl became ill, her hair was coal black, but due to high fever, the new hair that grew was snow white. She was white-headed from that point on for the rest of her long life. She had to learn to walk over again from the weakness that was caused by her illness, as well.
Pearl was a very strict mother, beliving in "spare the rod, spoil the child," and was particularly brutal in the beatings she meted out to her only daughter. Her frustrations at living with an alcoholic husband, trying to raise her four children while dealing with the humilation of the neighbors' gossip, and the reality of day-to-day hardships, plus her overall poor health after the flu, seemed to be the triggering factors for her taking out her fears and anxieties on her children. As years melted away her anger and fear, it was obvious to those who loved her that her heart broke each time she remembered those days of instability, particularly where her parenting was concerned.
She divorced John Napoleon Parsons in 1933 after her daughter, Mary Frances, who was her oldest child, married James Mayo. She then had three boys to support, her youngest being only four years old. Mary Frances watched over her little brother, Glenn, and also kept watch over the two older boys, Virgil and George, while her mother found work where she could, including housekeeping, and sewing burlap bags in a local bag factory.
Later on, she obtained her license as an LPN (Licensed Practical Nurse) and was able to find work caring for mostly elderly people. She practiced her nursing skills for many years, even after all of her children were away from home.
Her marriage to John Abraham, born in Bulgaria on April 3, 1878, d. in Houston, Texas, January, 1968, was a very brief and turbulent one. He was an abusive, controlling man, and she could not live with him and feared for her life due to his temper. She divorced him after only a couple of years of trying to make the marriage work.
Her grandchildren remember her as a friend to whom they could always go when they wanted to learn the skills of needlework, cooking, or just to hear a good story. Her storytelling was unmatched, as was her imagination and willingness to embellish the tales which grew with each re-telling. When she came to visit her grandchildren in Oklahoma and rode the bus from Houston to get there, the children always waited anxiously for her arrival to hear of the "characters" she would encounter on that trip. And they were never disappointed. Whether she actually met up with the people she described will never be known, but it didn't really matter . . . it kept her grandchildren occupied and entertained for hours.
Her Oklahoma grandchildren also fondly recall the early morning walks around the small town (then) of Jenks, when she would gather them up and take miles-long walking tours of the railroad tracks and backroads, pointing out and teaching them all about various wildflowers, and identifying different species of trees for them. She was a naturalist and shared her knowledge with those around her.
Pearl could sit for hours in a rocking chair, telling stories and visiting with anyone around her, and her fingers would literally be flying while making either crocheted or tatted lace. All of her grandchildren treasure the many doilies, trimmed pillowslips and even washcloths that have a touch of her "fancy work" decorating them. One of her grandsons, Jim, was always fond of leaving his tee-shirt tail hanging out from underneath his overshirt. Grandma told him repeatedly to tuck it in, but being a young teenager, he just couldn't remember. Finally, she took everyone of his tee-shirts and crocheted pink lace around the bottoms of each one. Jim never left his tee-shirt tail hanging out again!
In the 1950s, she became reacquainted with her first cousin, Maurice Harmon Canfield, who had come to Houston to visit relatives from his home in Montesano, Grays Harbor County, Washington. He only visited for a couple of weeks, but during that time he and Pearl enjoyed spending time together as they visited kinfolks, went to movies and the theater, and had dinner together. When Maurice returned to Washington State, he and Pearl wrote to each other for almost a year, and discovered they had fallen in love. Despite the fact that they were so closely related, they decided they wanted to be married.
Their struggle in finding a state that would legally marry them became quite a quest. Even though Pearl was well-past childbearing age, the law was on the books for most states that first cousins could not marry. After searching far and wide from coast to coast through telephone calls and letters, they discovered much to their surprise that Pearl's home state of Texas would make arrangements to marry them. Maurice returned to Texas and they were married in Houston.
Pearl packed up the few belongings she had and move to Washington with her new husband, and found that he had, over the years of being a bachelor, made a wonderful home for them in the Chehalis Valley of Gray's Harbor County. It was the same home that his parents had built in 1910 when they moved to Washington from Aldine, Harris County, Texas, and Maurice had expanded it somewhat and kept it up. Its old-fashioned style and huge wrap-around porch took Pearl's eye immediately, and she felt, probably for the first time in her life, that she "was home." Pearl, who always loved having flowers growing around her yard, found that the Washington climate was perfect for growing many different varieties of flowers, bulbs and rhizomes that she couldn't enjoy in the hot Texas environment.
Their home was located near a stand of wooded acreage, complete with many deerand other small animals, and Pearl spent many happy hours hiking through those woods discovering beautiful ferns and other plants that she would dig up with her shovel, and using the scoop as a kind of a "stoneboat", would drag them up to the house to transplant in her gardens. When Maurice got home from his job at the Montesano Post Office, he was always amazed at the new things he would find growing in the yard that Pearl had discovered, hauled up, and planted while he was gone.
One evening as they sat at the supper table, a strong, strange smell wafted through the opened windows. Neither could figure out what the horrible aroma was. It smelled like a skunk had moved into the house with them. Maurice went outside and looked around to see if perhaps an animal had crawled under the large porch to die. There was nothing there. They continued walking around the yard to see what in the world could be producing such a strong "fragrance." Then, when they got to the front sidewalk leading up to the steps, Maurice noticed something new. "Oh, you brought new plants up from the woods today." Pearl replied proudly, "YES! And they have the most beautiful yellow blooms on them. I thought they'd be perfect for along this little walk." It was then that Maurice introduced Pearl to a native woodland plant that Pearl had never seen before . . . called SKUNK CABBAGE! Everyone laughed for years about that one!
So, Pearl dug up the skunk cabbage and it was discarded. But she was pleased with the huge blossoms she got from the dahlias, gladiolas, and peonies. The Wisteria planted at one corner of the front porch had grown completely along the roof line, and in the Spring the blossoms hung like a purple veil with their perfume permeating the whole house. So many photographs were sent to her family that pictured the abundance of flowers she was able to grow and enjoy in Washington State.
Pearl and Maurice were members of the First Presbyterian Church in Montesano, attending services regularly and participating in the various groups sponsored by the church. Their faith was strong, deep and active in their lives. They were very social and had many friends they spent much time with, visiting, traveling to nearby areas, and fishing. Although they had no family there, the numerous close neighbors and Maurice's long-time associates that welcomed Pearl into their circle helped to fill that void.
While Maurice was working every day, Pearl spent her time (besides dragging skunk cabbage up to the flower beds) quilting, sewing, going to rummage sales with her friends, and baking "do-dab" cookies. "Do-Dab" cookies were an invention of Pearl's that she was "famous" for. Sometimes she made "Do-Dab" cookies, and sometimes "Do-Dab" cake. The difference was in the amount of flour she added! "Do-Dab" cookies were always a traditional treat that Pearl sent in her many packages to her southern kinfolks. Since Maurice worked at the post office, he never EVER complained about the amount of money she spent on postage (he called it 'job security'), so some of the boxes she sent were quite large and often very heavy. Those boxes would contain her latest sewing creations, interesting shells, rocks, and other things she'd "found" along the way. Sand dollars were a favorite of hers and she sent them in almost every box . . . along with the "Do-Dab" cookies. Consequently all of the cookies took on that "fishy" flavor. If you have never sunk your teeth into a "fish cookie," you have missed quite an experience!
Some of the rocks they found while they were walking the beaches or hiking the mountain trails were beautifully colored and unique, and much too special to be sent loose. Those were collected and Maurice took them to be highly polished. Then they painstakingly glued those rocks to simple wooden hinged boxes, planters, even picture frames. Then they were varnished to an even higher sheen. Many of her grandchildren still treasure the "rock art" they sent.
While Pearl was kept very busy with her chores, activities and adventures, she never stopped pining for the family that were so many miles away from her. Finally, in the 1970s, she convinced Maurice that they should sell their Montesano home and move back to Houston where two of her sons lived. Maurice consented to this move to keep his wife happy, so they moved back to Houston to a little house on Gardenia Street. They lived there until 1980, when they moved for the last time to Jenks, Oklahoma, to be near Pearl's only daughter, Mary Frances Parsons-Mayo. Her son, Virgil had passed away in 1974, son George was living in Hayward, California, and her youngest, Glenn, was busy raising a young family. She strongly desired to live near her daughter and the family living in Oklahoma.
Pearl and Maurice bought a home at 505 East Comanche Street in Jenks, just a few blocks from Mary, and she made sure her new home was large enough to accomodate all of her grandchildren that lived in the area for dinners, parties, etc. Unfortunately, the move and the stress of selling their home in Houston took its toll on Pearl's health, and not too long after they were settled into their Jenks home, her health began to fail. In addition to her overall lassitude, she suffered a severe bout of shingles. Tests and examinations were conducted to try to discover the cause for her general decline, and finally, she was diagnosed as having Parkinson's Disease.
Within only about five years of that diagnosis, Pearl was hardly able to get from one place to another in the house, her memory was failing rapidly, and Maurice was unable to care for her alone. She got out of the house in the dark of the night, having had an hallucination of strangers invading the home and beating Maurice. She was going for help and tripped and fell in a ditch. There she lay for at least an hour in the chill of the early morning until a neighbor heard her calls for help and woke Maurice up and called an ambulance. That seemed to be the turning point for Pearl, as Maurice had to hire nurses to come in and help him with her, and finally a housekeeper/caregiver. He was unable to care for Pearl himself.
After a short period of time, Pearl took another turn for the worse and hospitlization was required once again. Maurice knew that he would not be able to bring her back home, and arrangements were made to move her into Riverside Nursing home, about six blocks from their home.
Each and every night, without fail, he went to the nursing home to sit with Pearl from about 5:30 until her bedtime at 8:30 p.m. He only missed two nights out of about three and a half years . . . the two nights he himself had to spend in the hospital with pneumonia. Their evenings were spent together, sitting side by side, remembering their travels and experiences together. By this time Pearl's vision was gone except for vague images, and it was easy for her to imagine they were sitting in a bus station together, waiting for the bus that would take them "back home" to Washington State.
Pearl's health continued to decline until, on December 23, 1990, the Lord granted her freedom from the body and mind that were no longer functioning. She had lived a colorful, full, and at the last especially, an enjoyable life, knowing the love of a man who never mistreated her. She was the love of his life; she was the Grandmother we cherished; she was a woman of strong faith and fortitude. She is, and always will be, deeply missed.
* * * A QMS Deezyne * * *