My daddy called John Mark Hardin "Uncle Mark Hardin". So did my paternal grandaunts, the daughters of Helena Olivia ZIEGENFUSS and her husband, James Andrew CAUBLE. James "Jim" Cauble was the son of Julia HARDIN and William Jefferson Lonzo (called "Bill") CAUBLE.
The first time my daddy told me about "Uncle Mark Hardin" (always using the last name, never just "Uncle Mark"), I was like, "Ummm, wait a minute. He died in 1933 a few months after you were born. You talk like you knew him."
My daddy laughed and said, "Oh, we all knew about "Uncle Mark Hardin". He lived at times with the Caubles. Something happened with him and his wife, and she left him for another man." I asked about children. Daddy didn't know anything about children, if any.
I left it at that and pondered on "Uncle Mark Hardin". My grandaunts had the same story my daddy had told me, but they knew that he did have children. I searched for several years to find more out about this man everyone called "Uncle Mark Hardin", and I did come to know some of his descendants, my cousins, through genealogy research. I learned the story passed down in their family about his wife leaving him. And then one day, I hit the jackpot in Knox County, Texas. But I'm saving that story for another day!
This is about his obituary.
On 24 July 1933 (a Monday), the Wichita Falls Times (Wichita Falls, Texas), page 7, the obituary of J.M. Hardin can be found here at Newspapers.
J.M. Hardin, 85, died Sundaynight at his home southeast ofWichita Falls. The body was takenin charge by the Thomas Funeralhome of Burkburnett. Relatives in-clude a nephew, J.W. Cauble, 1004Eighth street, Wichita Falls, and aniece, Mrs. J.B. Basham of Roby.
That's it??? I'd hoped it would shed more information on this 2nd great-granduncle of mine. But it wasn't full of names or information like I'd hoped. You know the kind of info we genealogists want - his parents' names, the children, what his occupation was, etc. Sometimes we just get what we get.
The two people named in the obituary I recognized:
(1) J. W. Cauble was James William Cauble, the son of Arrenia Malinda Hardin (sister to my Julia Hardin Cauble) and James Monroe Cauble (brother to my Bill Cauble).
In other words, two Hardin sisters had married two Cauble brothers down in McLennan County, Texas. Arrenia and James Monroe married in 1869; Julia and Bill married in 1875.
(2) Mrs. J. B. Basham named as a niece is Louisa Mae Cauble, a daughter of Julia Hardin and Bill Cauble. I knew the Basham name because Louisa Mae and her husband, J. P. (not J.B.) - John Peter Basham - were my daddy's grandaunt and granduncle.
Even though I wished there had been more details about "Uncle Mark Hardin's" life in his obituary, it did give a glimpse of what I'd find in upcoming research. Later findings would answer some of my questions about the obituary, such as why weren't any of his children named in it.
Stay tuned as I'm not finished with the Hardin's of Missouri, Arkansas and Texas yet.
-Revis
