Susan Haddock
May 7, 1896, Cassville Republican A Happy Surprise: The Seventy-third Milestone passed by Mrs. Susannah Haddock Saturday was the 25th of April. It was more than that. It was the seventy-third anniversary of the birth of Grandma Haddock, so well-known to the old settlers of the north-western part of the county by association and all the young people round about are as her children. The good old lady had been visiting near Sarcoxie and the storm of Friday evening nearly upset the plans of the conspirators as it prevented her returning home that night, and the next morning the Kansas train was wrecked. Neither floods nor wrecks, however, prevented a drive across country and by noon she was safely brought to her home on Capps creek, where they raise golden wheat and pretty girls. There being service at Walnut Grove church that morning conducted by Eld. J. T. Brattin of Cassville, assisted by Eld. A. F. Pierson and Rev. C. F. Fain of Pierce City, it was an excellent place to rendezvous, and at its close over two hundred people went to do justice to the dinner and enjoy themselves. They did both right royally and it did not need assurances to make one believe that the ladies were accustomed to preparing such feasts and the men to relieving the tables of their contents. It was the writer's good fortune to be taken charge of by Hiram Horine and directed to that part of the long table where the viands prepared by Mrs. Horine and Mrs. T. P. Withers were easily accessible. Had the fond friends been present who in our childhood prophesied that we would some day make our mark, they would have been satisfied that their prophecy had come true. And while doing so we could not refrain from wondering how with such cooks to please their appetites, and such larders as the supplies must have come from, the good husbands of these excellent ladies could find excuse for howling calamity and voting the Populist ticket. But that's digression. The good old lady in whose honor this dinner had been prepared was a daughter of Phillip and Margaret Myers, born April 25, 1823 in Armstrong Co., PA, which she left at the age of twelve with her parents for Indiana. April 23, 1844 Susanna married Solomon Rumbaugh and moved to near Washburn, settling on the farm now owned and occupied by S.D. Thompson, adjoining the new town. By Mr. Rumbaugh she had three children: Charlotte Crumley, now in Idaho, Margaret Russell and Sol Rumbaugh with whom she lives. Mr. Rumbaugh dying Aug. 13, 1850, in March, 1852 she married Charles Haddock, Jr., and moved to the Capps Creek where she has since resided and where were born Ransom Haddock of White River, Rachel Banks of Capps Creek, Alonzo Haddock of Purdy and a child now dead. At the time of moving to Capps Creek, it was not the thickly settled and well improved community that it is now. Instead of land being in cultivation and worth $25 to $40 an acre, the government owned the most of it and offered it as slow sale for $1.25 per acre. The nearest church was on Clear Creek and the school house three miles away. Their trading was done at Jolly, Granby, Newtonia and Cassville and it took a day to do it. Indians frequently passed back and forth to and from the hunting grounds along White River and many a deer Mr. Haddock shot from his own yard. Since 1863 Mrs. Haddock has been a widow. For nearly forty years she has been a member of the Baptist Church. Physically she seems sprightly and does much work that should be left for the younger ones. She never weighed over 110 or 111, and her 100 pounds now is easily carried. Hale and hearty, she promises to see many an anniversary yet, each one of which we hope will be as pleasantly passed as the seventy-third." Research Note: Mrs. Susanna (Meyers) (Rumbaugh) Haddock lived 4 more years and died on Dec. 23, 1900 and was buried in the New Site Cemetery near Monett, MO. Susan (Meyers) Rumbaugh was the second wife of Charles Haddock, Jr.. There was a sketched drawing of her included in the paper, which was taken from the photo given above. State Historical Society of MO Microfilm Submitted in 2006 by Donna Cooper |