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Individual Record for: Edward Ferguson Hotchkiss (male)

Notes:

!Source: 34

Notes:

!Notes: (Edited from a narative by James A. Hotchkiss) -- Edward F.
Hotchkiss was born February 2, 1882 at Osage City, Kansas. About one
year following his birth, his parents, Cornelius and Christina Hotchkiss,
moved to Burlingame, Kansas, where they remained until he was about
ten years old. They then moved to Trenton, Missouri in 1892, which was
their home for the following six years. In 1898, when he was sixteen
years old, he returned with his family to Burlingame, Kansas, where he
spent the remainder of his life.

Notes:

!P: Edward inherited most of his characteristics from his mother's side
of the family. Edward Hotchkiss was five feet one inch tall and the very
most he ever weighed was one hundred twenty-five pounds. Edward was
more familiarly known to his friends as Little Ned. The Fergusons had
several members of their family who were small in stature, but were
intelligent, and acrobatic, with a flare for showmanship, and dextrous in
the arts of skating, dancing, swimming, and wrestling. Two such were
William Ferguson (Wee William Ferguson), and one of Margaret and
Joseph Sharp's children. (Note that Joseph Sharp's children were doubly
related, as he was a cousin to Edward's mother Christina and Joseph
Sharp's wife, Margaret, was Edward's Aunt on his father's side. Other
such double relations included Thomas and Mary Washington's children
and Clifford and Anna Vandervord's children.)

Notes:

!P: Since early manhood, Edward was identified with coal industry in
Burlingame, first as an employee of his father. Then for many years, he
operated the Central Coal Company on behalf of his father. Cornelius
Hotchkiss had vested his authority for management of the mine to his
eldest son, while he was attending to other aspects of his coal business,
this being the greater part of his time as he became older. Upon the
death of his father in 1931, Edward joined with his three brothers, Neal,
Thomas, and Alexander, in a partnership to operate the business. Edward
took an active part in this business until 1945, when ill health forced
him to cease work at the mines.

Notes:

!P: Edward met Nellie Washington in 1904. Edward F. Hotchkiss and
Nellie Washington were married December 6, 1905 at Burlingame,
Kansas. To this union were born nine children.

Notes:

!P: Edward and Nellie rented their first home in Burlingame, which was
the first house on the south side of the street, when facing the
Burlingame Cemetery from the James and Harriet Washington Home. It
has since been incorporated into a nearby farm owned by Elias Wight's
descendants. This house, along with the barn, chicken coops, garden
spot, orchard, berry patch, front yard, and flowers that go to making up a
home in Kansas have long since disappeared, along with several other
homes that stood along this stretch of road. At this home, Edward and
Nellie's first three children were born. Neal the oldest was born in July
1906, Harriet in August 1908, and Christine in September 1910.

Notes:

!P: Sometime during 1911, or the earlier part of 1912, Edward and Nellie
moved their family to what they refered to as the Brown place, where
they rented one of the two appartment's of a duplex building, in which
Neal and Mary Hotchkiss rented the other. The building is located one
block south and one block west of the Burlingame water tower on
Rainbow Hill. It still stands, and is referred to as the Lindy Newkirk
place. Here their fourth child, Olive, was born in September 1912.

Notes:

!P: During the period of time from 1913 to early 1914, Edward and Nellie
purchased their first home, which was located across the Alma Branch of
the Sante Fe Railroad tracks, just North and East from the Black Diamond
Coalmine, which was in full operation at this time. Still further west
along the railroad tracks was situated another coalmine in full
operation, which was managed by James Washington. Yet further west,
was another coalmine adjacent to the railroad tracks which was
managed by "Big Ed" Hotchkiss.

Notes:

!P: From our home, at this time, you could see the coal minors on cold
frosty mornings, attired in their pit clothes and miners caps, with lamps
assembled to the caps, their lunch buckets in one hand, and perhaps a
pick in the other, walking down the railroad tracks to whatever mine
they worked at. You could see the railroad locamotives switching empty
coal cars into the coalmine's loading docks and returning with their
loaded coal cars. You could also see the teams of horses pulling their
coal wagons loaded with coal for delivery to their local customers in the
vicinity of Burlingame. There were no substancial roads for traveling or
transportation, such as pavements, oiled roads, or graveled roads, until
about 1924 in and around Burlingame. Without good highways
automobiles are almost useless, especially the type they had in 1914.
Even the horses would sink into the mud clear to their stomachs.

Notes:

!P: Sometime later, Edward and Nellie had all of the buildings from this
home moved East to within one block West of the location of the home
they eventually finished out their lives in. Here were born their fifth
child James on December 6, 1914 and their seventh child Virgene on
June 21, 1917.

Notes:

!P: During the fall of 1917, when the Black Diamond Coalmine burned
down, you could witness the whole affair from where we lived.

Notes:

!P: During March 1918, our home caught on fire and burned to the extent
which left no other alternative except to rebuild. At that time Edward
and Nellie purchased the Charles Bush place, located in the south-west
corner of the city limits of Burlingame, in an area called South Park.
They moved into the home sometime around the date of March 23, 1918.
This was the date that William Washington transported his six children
by automobile to the Topeka Children's Home Society to discuss their
adoption, due to his unsuccessful attempt to care for them after his
wife's death. On their way home, they stopped to visit their Aunt Nellie.
The children present were Lillian, Ruby, Harriet, and either Thelma or
Helen (it seems as though the older children were calling her Thelma).
All the children had either red or blond hair.

Notes:

!P: Edward and Nellie's last three children were born in this house. The
seventh, Maxine was born September 19, 1920. The eighth, Anita, was
born September 4, 1922, and Esther, the ninth and youngest, was born
September 3, 1924. The house remained in the family until the 1980's,
when it was finally sold. Edward and Nellie both lived out their lives in
this house.

Notes:

!P: After the house which had burned was rebuilt, they first rented the
property, for a short while, to a family who had come to the United
States from Russia. Then they sold the property to a couple who had
come to the United States from Germany in their younger years, the
Streeters. They were then retired, and lived next door to Edward and
Nellie for many years.

Notes:

!P: In November 1918 World War I ended and Burlingame celebrated by
burning the Kaiser in effigy at the intersection of downtown Mainstreet,
where they place the Christmas tree during Christmas season.

Notes:

!P: During 1918, Edward and Nellie had four children in Burlingame grade
schools, Cornelius in seventh grade, through Olive in first grade. By
1920, when James went to first grade, and Cornelius was a Freshman in
High School, they had five children in school.

Notes:

!P: In fall of 1920, Cornelius (called Shorty), who was then a Sophomore
in High School, went to work in the coalmines to help his father with the
Central Coal Company. He never returned to school, but worked with his
father until July 1927, when he was married to Zona McLeod. Thus,
Shorty contributed nearly seven years of his life to helping his father
and his family.

Notes:

!P: The oldest child started school in September of 1912 when Edward
was thirty years old. The youngest graduated from high scool in June
1942 when Edward was sixty years old. There were at least four years
when they had six children in school at the same time. There were at
least twelve years when they had five children in school at one time.

Notes:

!P: During the year of 1923, Nellie was in ill-health and remained so until
February 1924, at which time the doctor transported her by ambulance to
Stormont Hospital in Topeka, where she was hospitalized for about two
weeks. At this time Anita, the youngest child at two years old and
Maxine at four years old were not yet of school age. Harriet at fifteen
and Christine at thirteen accepted the responsibility of caring for the
young children, and the rest of the family, as Edward and Shorty had to
work long hours in the mines at this time of the year in order to provide
winter fuel (and thus the families income). However, nearby relatives,
who had families of their own, did manage to help them with cooking,
washing, and house cleaning.

Notes:

!P: Although Nellie returned from the hospital two weeks later, she had
not recovered from her ill health. She remained semi-ill until 1930.
During this time, Esther, the youngest child, was born, in September
1924. In addition, other members of the family contracted different
types of diseases which required a lot of time and care to recover from.
All of this resulted in a large expense in medicine and doctor bills which
was a great drain on the family's finances, which were in a very low
state in those times.

Notes:

!P: It seems that the years of 1923 through 1930 were the worst for
Edward and Nellie. As the children grew older and became capable of
providing a living for themselves, they had more time to relax and
provide for some of their own needs. On a few occasions they even had
enough money to provide for short vacations, such as a trip to the World
Fair in Chicago during the 1930's. By 1937, there were only three of the
younger children at home and attending school.

Notes:

!P: During the early years of the forties, it became increasingly clear
that the United States would become involved in the War in Europe,
which had started in 1939. There was more work and more jobs
available in and around Burlingame. As the forties bore on, both labor
and materials grew scarce.

Notes:

!P: During this time, their oldest son, Neal (Shorty), purchased a
restaurant in Burlingame. As the proprietor, he was finding it difficult
to recruit people capable of performing the work of cooking and cleaning
in the restaurant. So, Nellie worked for a few years in this restaurant
as the cook. Also at this time, there was a greater demand for coal, so
Edward was busy in the coalmine all the time.

Notes:

!P: During a city election, Edward F. Hotchkiss was elected to serve as a
council-man for the governing body of the city of Burlingame. Edward
was interested and took pride and enjoyed being able to serve and help
the city of Burlingame in this manner.

Notes:

!P: Edward retired from the Central Coal Company in 1945, due to his
black-lung condition, which had become increasingly worse each year,
until it was no longer feasible for him to work, or even attempt anything
that would cause exertion. At the very last, Edward had to go to the
Sanitarium/Hospital at Norton Kansas for care, and there he died on
September 10, 1947, at 65 years old. Following funeral rites at the
"Presbyterian" Church of Burlingame, he was buried in the Burlingame
Cemetery. At this time Nellie was fifty-eight years old.

Notes:

!P: Edward F. Hotchkiss was a kind considerate husband and father, who
commanded the love and respect of all of his family. As a friend and
neighbor, he enjoyed the esteem of all who knew him.

Notes:

!Obituary: (Burlingame Newspaper, September 1947): -- Long Ilness Ends
For Ned Hotchkiss --

Notes:

!P: Funeral services for Edward Hotchkiss were held at the Methodist
church at 2:30 o'clock Sunday afternoon, conducted by Rev. Wm.
Zimmerman, and burial was in the Burlingame cemetery.

Notes:

!P: Edward Hotchkiss, oldest son of Neal and Christina Hotchkiss, was
born in Osage City, Kansas on February 2, 1882. Following a long illness,
he died in a hospital at Norton, Kansas on September 10, 1947 at the age
of 65 years, 7 months and 10 days.

Notes:

!P: About a year after his birth, the family came to Burlingame where
they remained until he was 10 years old at which time he moved with his
parents to Trenton, Missouri which was his home for the next 6 years. In
1898, he returned with his family to Burlingame where he spent the
remainder of his life.

Notes:

!P: On December 6, 1905, he was united in marriage to Nellie Washington
of Burlingame and to this union, 9 children were born, all of whom with
his wife, survive him. The children are: Neal S. Hotchkiss and Mrs. Esther
Denny of Burlingame, Harriet and Mrs. Anita Archibald of Wichita; James
Hotchkiss of Houston, Texas; Mrs. Christine Arnold of Merriam, Kansas;
Mrs. Maxine Anstaett of Kansas City, Missouri, Mrs. Olive Anstaett of
Osage City, Kansas; and Mrs. Virgene Gaines of Topeka, Kansas.

Notes:

!P: More familiarly known to his friends and associates as Ned, Mr.
Hotchkiss since early manhood had been identified with the coal industry
here, first as an employee of his father who established and for many,
many years operated the Central Coal Company here. Upon the death of
the father in 1931, he joined with three brothers in a partnership which
continued to operate the business, a relationship in which he took an
active part until about two years ago when ill health forced him to cease
work at the mines. The three brothers, Neal, Thomas and Alexander, with
whom he was associated also survive as do four sisters, Mrs. Thomas
Jones of Burlingame, Mrs. Walter Hastings of Scranton, Mrs. Leo Connors
of New York and Mrs. Anna Henderson of Topeka. Another brother,
William, died several years ago. Numerous other relatives and many
friends also mourn his passing.

Notes:

!P: Kind and considerate, Mr. Hotchkiss was a good husband and father
who commanded the love and respect of his family. As a substancial
citizen of the community, he served not long ago as a member of the city
governing body, and as a friend and neighbor, he enjoyed the esteem of all
who knew him.

Notes:

!P: (Following article, same newspaper): -- Here For Funeral --

Notes:

!P: Many relatives and friends from a distance were here Sunday
afternoon to attend the funeral of Ned Hotchkiss. They included all the
children and their families; two sisters, Mrs Anna Henderson of Topeka
and Mrs. Margaret Hastings of Scranton; a sister of Mrs. Hotchkiss, Mrs.
Emma Beeson of Topeka and a brother, Thomas Washington of Denver.
Others were Mr. and Mrs. H. C. Perry and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Forest
Lindsey. Mrs. Roy Beeson, Mrs. Rebecca Randell, Mr. and Mrs. John Misurn,
Mr. and Mrs. Wm Chalmers, Irving Meggison, Harold Meggison, Mr. and Mrs.
Loren Spencer, Mrs. Lula Cole, Mrs. Lucille Raub, Mr. and Mrs A. Archibald,
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Moran, Mr. and Mrs John Morrison, Mrs. W. M. Ridgeway,
Mr. and Mrs. W. M. Hewstis, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Melchoir, Mr. and Mrs.
Kenneth Anstaett, Mr. and Mrs. Earl Apps, all of Topeka; Mr. and Mrs.
Rakes of Emmett, Kansas; Mrs. Annie Curley of Osage City; Mrs. Gus Fritz
of St. Louis, Mo.

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