I have found it's difficult to keep up with writing every day! Although I do some bit of family history work almost every day. Right now I'm working extensively on the Batdorf Line. Here is how you get from me to the Batdorf line:
Leesa D. Ross
Ronald F. Ross - Father
Oda Veralee New - Grandmother
Zoe Zuelika Prather - Great Grandmother
Alice Elmina Batdorf (born in 1858) - 2nd Great Grandmother
Here is a little bit about Alice. She was born in March 3, 1858 in Iowa (probably Linn County.) She was the eldest of six children born to Daniel and Sarah Batdorf. At the age of 15, on June 19, 1873, she married Francis Asbury Prather. They met as student and teacher. Here is the story, as told by her daughter Iva:
"When he first met my mother she was then thirteen years old. He was her teacher. The first dozen children that came to school were cousins or brothers and sisters of my mother. She had red brown curls and my father thought she was the prettiest girl in school. He began courting her and visiting her home. Her mother thought my father was a good catch but her father wasn’t very enthusiastic. My father promised to wait until my mother was eighteen. But as time went by he asked to marry her when she was fifteen. So she was fifteen in March and they were married in June."[Iva Prather Clover] Frank got the marriage license on 7 Jun 1873 at the courthouse at Ottawa, Franklin County, KS. Finally on 19 Jun 1873 at 9 o’clock, P. M., Frank Prather aged 24 years married Alice Batdorf aged 15 years in Franklin County, KS by Alice’s Uncle George. W. Batdorf, Justice of the Peace. [National Archives Records/Franklin Co., KS Marriage Certificate]
"When she married my father he took her to live on a farm not too far from her parents." [Iva Alice Prather] In 1875, Francis had 40 acres under a hedge fence worth $200 in Wellsville on which he grew corn.[KS State Census] "The farm was my mother’s idea of a fine place to live, not so my father."[Iva Prather] This difference in opinion between husband and wife resulted in a decision where "she would stay on the farm while he stayed on in town where he taught school. He would come home on weekends and if the weather was bad she would be alone two weeks." [Iva Prather] He taught for 34 years, five years of this time as principal of the Wellsville High School. [Newspaper obit]
In 1878, Alice's mother passed away following difficulties in childbirth, and she was called upon to help her father with her younger brothers and sisters. This would be the beginning of a long life of raising children for Alice.
Alice and her husband had interesting living arrangements. She was a farm girl and wanted to raise her children out on the farm where they could "play across acres of land and never bother anyone." [Iva Prather] Her husband, Frank, however, wanted to live in town. They were obviously a stubborn duo because they never lived together. He stayed in town throughout the week, coming home on weekends, weather permitting. She stayed out on the farm, raising the children and running the farm.
Alice and Frank had seven children. A doctor attended the birth of their eldest, George. After that, Frank delivered all of the children.
Sometime between 1900 and 1905 the family settled in Grant Township, Cowley County. They built a two-story stone house where Alice would spend the next 40-some years. Remnants of the stone house are still standing today.
Here is a picture of the Alice and her family. I don't have a date for the picture, but I would guess it was taken about 1907-1908. That would put the youngest, Ada, at about 6 or 7 years old.
