Born: 10 Jul 1898 Mountain Home, Baxter Co., AR |
Died: 3 Sep 1954 Modesto, Stanislaus Co., CA Buried: 7 Sep 1954 Arcadea Memorial Park Cemeter, Modesto, Stanislaus |
Anderson Whitfield Thompson
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Johann "John" Failner |
Married: 1 Jul 1915 Baxter Co., AR |
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Married: 1930 |
Rose Florence ThompsonHer mother Jennie died in 1904 when Rose was just about six years old. Her father then married Lou Stone. Then after Lou died he married Lucy Ann Paine. So she grew up with three mothers that she knew and loved. Rose grew up in Mountain Home on a farm. As her father was a farmer. She grew up in a religious family. The family were members of the Church of Christ. Her father was well known in the area, and had a good heart. Helping others along the way. She grew up in a very rural area in the back hills of the Ozarks. Near an area called Pigeon Creek which is a few miles north of Mountain Home. That was where the family farm was at. At this time the family farm is under water since the government built a dam, and the lake covered this land. When Rose was just nine days short of being seventeen years of age she married Johann Failner. Otherwise known as John Failner. Who was thirty years older than herself. He was born in Germany, and was very much a member of the Catholic church. Two very different cultures, religions, and generations coming together in this marriage. He was a good man. Her father and other family members thought highly of John. John was a farmer and they had a farm that was in the Pigeon Creek area too that they homesteaded. It was very close to her brother Harrison's farm. They cleared the land, and worked hard there. They lived there from July 1915 until sometime in 1919. In 1920 John and Rose is on the Census in Eden, Idaho. While living in Pigeon Creek they had three children born into their family. Winford Threewood Failner (Win) on 14 April 1916, Margarett Marie Failner (Mikki) on 6 April 1918, and Edward Brennet Failner (Ed) on 20 May 1919. Then they moved up into Idaho and homesteaded in Eden, Jerome County, Idaho. While there they had three more children born to their family. Eva Ruby Failner on 7 February 1921, John Whitfield Failner (Jack) on 17 Jan 1923, and Oscar Failner on 30 Aug 1925. Oscar only lived for three hours. Their marriage had been very rocky for a while at this point in their marriage for Rose and John. With the death of Oscar, Rose blamed it upon John. Thus Rose and John were separated.. They had homesteaded in Eden, and also in Twin Falls area until 1925 or 1926. While the children lived in very poor conditions with their mother Rose, the State of Idaho saw fit to take the children away to an orphanage. Rose won back the right to take the children under the condition that her brother, Harrison, vouched for their well being. Rose and John were divorced. Harrison cried at his kitchen table when he heard that Rose and John were divorcing, he loved John so much. Harrison took Rose and the children back to Arkansas to live. The children were farmed out to different aunts and uncles homes and lived a very unstable life as they grew. This was during the depression time and work was scarce. They lived in Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Nevada, and California. Maybe even more places I do not remember at this time. After leaving Arkansas the children were farmed out to other farmers. They worked for their room and board on these farms during this time, and in these places. Rose worked for other farmers too. Rose worked at many things during this time. She met a man and married him by the name of Alanzo Rolland in 1930. This may have been in Carson City, Nevada or near Bakersfield, California. We are not sure where this was at. This marriage did not work out, as he was not good to the children or to her. Rose also met a man later in California named Jesse Skaggs. She may or may not have married Jesse, but became at least a common law marriage with him. I believe they lived in Lindon, California and then Modesto, California later on. She ran a establishment called the Blue Front (I believe that was the name of it). They ended up living in Modesto, Stanislaus County, California for the last part of her life. Rose was a beautiful woman with many talents. She had brown hair, brown eyes, and beautiful facial features. She was not a tall woman. She was part Chickamauga Cherokee Indian so her complexion was slightly dark. She was described as looking like an Indian squaw. She was a jolly woman, as was described to me by a grandchild who knew her. She had a good sense of humor. Still she could be stern, getting her way when she wanted to. She could take on someone with fist to cuffs, when necessary to take care of herself. She had a good singing voice. She liked country western music. She would sing a lot according to her son Winford. He once recorded her singing a song. After she heard the recording of her own voice, she said she wasn't going to sing again because she did not like the way her voice sounded. Never the less she had a good singing voice. She did love to dance. Winford told me that while he was a child they would go to neighbors on Saturday nights and move all the furniture out of the house. Then dance until the wee hours of the morning or until dawn many times. This was a community activity done in the back hills. Often times the people would walk for many miles to come to these occasions dance all night and walk many miles home to do their chores. She had a healthy fear of thunder and lightning storms and would take the children into the closet when these storms came for protection. She grew up from areas where tornados and cyclones were often found, and knew of their power. She could cook wonderfully, and was famous for her biscuits and gravy. She did not like to cook frog legs, because they would twitch as she cooked them. She did however, have a knowledge and a talent of how to make any kind of food taste good from possum to squirrel. She had a talent for gambling. This was what she did all the way up and down California with Jesse Skaggs for a living. Even before that time in Idaho, she gambled a lot. I was told she also ran a casino in Reno, Nevada for a while. I believe that some of her children became involved with one of those establishments as partners, but I could be wrong. She had a good business head. She died in Modesto, Stanislaus County, California from Cancer on 3 September, 1954. She was buried in the Arcadea Memorial Park Cemetery, in Modesto on 7 September, 1954. She was buried under the name of Rose Skaggs. All of her children except Oscar, of course, came to her funeral.
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General Sources
1900 Baxter County, Arkansas Census - June 1900 |hn|fn|Name |rel |r|s|birth |ag|m|ym|n|l|birth |father |mother |occu |a|rd |wri|eng|o|h|twp |pg# |49|49|Thompson, Anderson |head |w|m|Mar 1857 |43|m|10| | |Missouri|Kentucky|Kentucky|Day laborer| |yes|yes|yes|R|H|Pigeon|44a | | |Thompson, Janie |wife |w|f|July 1872|27|m|10|6|2|Arkansas|Michigan|Michigan| | |yes|yes|yes| | | | | | |Thompson, Ralph O. |son |w|m|Mar 1892 |8 |s| | | |Arkansas|Missouri|Arkansas| |0|yes|yes|yes| | | | | | |Thompson, Elsa |daughter|w|f|Sept 1895|4 | | | | |Arkansas|Missouri|Missouri| | |no |no |yes| | | | | | |Thompson, Rosa C. |daughter|w|f|July 1898|1 |s| | | |Arkansas|Missouri|Missouri| | | | | | | | | | | |Thompson, Henry C. |son |w|m|July 1898|1 |s| | | |Arkansas|Missouri|Missouri| | | | | | | | | | | |Thompson, Winnie E.|daughter|w|f|Mar 1882 |18|s| | | |Arkansas|Missouri|Missouri| | |yes|yes|yes| | | | | | |Thompson, Myrtle |daughter|w|f|Jan 1888 |12|s| | | |Arkansas|Missouri|Missouri| | |yes|yes|yes| | | | | | |Thompson, Ben H. |son |w|m|Jan 1890 |10|s| | | |Arkansas|Arkansas|Missouri| | |yes|yes|yes| | | |
1910 Baxter County, Arkansas Census - April, 1910 |h|f|Name |rel |r|s|ag|m |birth |father |mother | |occu |trade |wk|rd |wri|sch|o|h|f|twp |pg# |2|2|Thompson, Anderson|head |m|w|53|wd|Missouri|Tennessee|Tennessee|Eng|Farmer|Home Farm|OA|yes|yes| |R|F|2|Pigeon|51a | | |Thompson, Ralph |son |m|w|17|s |Arkansas|Missouri |Missouri |Eng|Farmer|Home Farm|OA|yes|yes|yes| | | | | | | |Thompson, Elsie |daughter|f|w|14|s |Arkansas|Missouri |Missouri |Eng|none | | |yes|yes| | | | | | | | |Thompson, Henry |son |m|w|11|s |Arkansas|Missouri |Missouri |Eng|none | | |yes|yes|yes| | | | | | | |Thompson, Rosy |daughter|f|w|11|s |Arkansas|Missouri |Missouri |Eng|none | | | | |yes| | | | | | | |Thompson, Joshuay |son |m|w|7 |s |Arkansas|Missouri |Missouri | |none | | | | |yes| | | | | | | |Thompson, Delila |daughter|f|w|3 |s |Arkansas|Missouri |Missouri | |none | | | | | | | | | | | | |Thompson, Birtha |daughter|f|w|2 |s |Arkansas|Missouri |Missouri | |none | | | | | | | | | |
1920 Census - Jerome, Idaho - January 7, 1920 |fm|sa |h# |Name |rel |h|s|r|age |m| | |sc|rd |wri|birth |father |mother |trade |type |em|f#|twp |pg |date |fm|175|178|Failner, John |Head |R|m|w|50 |m|1903|1910| |yes|yes|Germany|Germany |Germany |farmer|general farm|oa|86|Eden precinct|36b|January 21, 1920 | | | |Failner, Rosa |Wife | |f|w|21 |m| | |no|yes|yes|Akansas|Missouri|Missouri|none | | | | | | | | | |Failner, Winford |son | |m|w|4 2/12|s| | | | | |Akansas|Germany |Arkansas|none | | | | | | | | | |Failner, Margarite|daugher| |f|w|1 6/12|s| | | | | |Akansas|Germany |Arkansas|none | | | | | | | | | |Failner, Edny |son | |m|w|9/12 |s| | | | | |Akansas|Germany |Arkansas|none | | | | | |