I’m sure this came from Karin also. It’s a telegram from the early 1900s showing the death of Collins McArdle in TonganoxieKansas. It says he died ‘this PM.’ and I’d swear it says ‘Come Answer’ It’s signed Henry Gieb. Reading documents like this is never easy. As time goes on they have yellowed or darkened with age making them difficult to ready.
Looking at my records Henry Geib was the husband of Lulu McArdle – Henry Geib was the son in law to Collins McArdle and Collins is listed as passing away in 1909 matching up with the telegram. I have been trying to figure out the to on the telegram though. It looks like it’s a Clarinda Keltner – I did find a Claude Keltner so that most likely is the person. Claude is the husband to Jennie Mae McArdle (also a daughter of Collins McArdle). Jennie Mae moved from Kansas to Oklahoma.
From all this I think this telegram was the method that one daughter (and Son in law) used to tell the other that their father had passed away….
Collins was the first rural mail carrier in the Covington, Garfield Co., OK area – selling the route to John Fortnay, his assistant, sometime around 1920-1923 when he & his family moved to Vinita, OK.
Collins T. McArdle was born in Virginia, but lived most of his early life in Vermilion Co, IL. where my part of the family stayed. He moved his family to Leavenworth Co, KS in 1866. Collins took part in the Cherokee Strip Land Rush – taking along several of his sons & daughters. He & a few of his children remained on his claim long enough for his patent to be completed, then sold his land & returned to Leavenworth (Tonganoxie area), Kansas where he died in1909. Collins T. McArdle was my First Cousin 3X Removed. (His grandfather was my 3rd great-grandfather)
My records list this as a picture of Collins T. McArdle. It shows him in uniform getting ready to deliver mail. I think the source of this picture is Karin McArdle. Her husband is descended from Collins T. McArdle and she has done a lot of research on that branch of the family.
I’m sure this came from Karin also. It’s a telegram from the early 1900s showing the death of Collins McArdle in Tonganoxie Kansas. It says he died ‘this PM.’ and I’d swear it says ‘Come Answer’ It’s signed Henry Gieb. Reading documents like this is never easy. As time goes on they have yellowed or darkened with age making them difficult to ready.
