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MARY JANE WELLS AND JOSEPH GENO CONKLIN
MYSTERY STORY We are searching for information on another relative, Bill's paternal great-grandpa JOHN "Jack" WILLIAM BOSCH, who disappeared
in Astoria, OR in 1894. We understand he came from Holland and his father had an import/export business in South Africa. He was married to Mary Catherine Larkins, b 11 May 1862, Oregon City, OR, (all of her family were born in Oregon); died 9 Dec 1917 at Salmon, ID; buried in Bull Run Cemetery in Sandy, OR. (Bull Run Cemetery is now Cliffside Cemetery at Sandy, OR on Ten Eyck Road. The grave is not marked, but we do know that is her final resting place - found out through the Oregon City Historical Society.)Mary Larkins had two sisters, Lillian and Mattie and two brothers, Arthur and William (Billy) and possibly another brother, unknown.
The family has a 1907 Pilot's Pass belonging to Capt. William Larkins, her brother, who was a pilot on the Columbia River. We took a jaunt to Astoria, OR, last week (second week in Jan. 1999) and found out more about William. He was indeed a ship captain and died at the wheel of his ship, the Lurline. The headline of the Astoria Daily Budget, January 28, 1908 paper reads: "Captain Larkin Drops Dead, Expires While at the Wheel of the Steamer Lurline." He was near the Burnside Bridge when he had his heart attack. He was in the river business for forty years, and was well-respected. This article went on to state that he left a wife and daughter. Here's a photo of his ship. 
While looking for info on William, we also discovered a picture of Bill's great aunt,Rennie Bosch, who was in a historical publication done by the Clatsop County Historical Society. The article shows a picture of her and her class (she was a school teacher), and lists the students' names - 1905 or 1906. Small world!
Before Jack Bosch's disappearance, family stories indicate he had just done a business deal in Astoria, OR. Later they found his money sack in an alley there, but there was no trace of him. Where did he go? Was he shanghied? Who knows what happened to him. Do you?
Later Mary Larkins married a Mr. Calvin. She also owned a store, hotel and post office building at North Fork, ID. This is a picture of the store in 1911. It was mentioned in a newspaper clipping of her death.
This picture taken in 1894 is of Mary Larkins, her daughter Lydia Racine Bosch, and her son Herbert William Bosch when Jack Bosch disappeared. Herbert was 13; Lydia was 11. Herbert (b1 Nov 1880, died 26 Jun 1946) was the second in the family of three children: an older brother who died young and his sister, Lydia , born 30 Aug 1882.
Exciting News!!!!!!! Through the GenWeb Forum, I was directed to a cousin of the Larkins family! We will be adding six more generations to our family tree! We now know the Larkins were Oregon Trail pioneers. The internet is amazing!! I recommend you try this resource at http://www.genforum.com. The Larkins family source asked that I not put the information on the computer, as it is compiled by several family researchers. If you are related, I am happy to send you to the resource for information.
EDWARD EBERLY CONKLIN This is a picture of Bill's paternal great grandpa Edward Eberly (Eb)Conklin in 1903 with his wagon. (The original photo was not well-cared-for; this is the best I can do on the Web.) The location: the family ranch he homesteaded at Round Valley near Adin, CA. They used to have dances in Round Valley; Eb played the fiddle and called square dances for the neighboring ranchers. He had two sisters, Mit and Min, and two brothers Bob (wife Orhoing?) and Bill, the oldest; there may have been more siblings. Bill Conklin's daughter, Ivy, lived with her sister, Zora (last known residence, Alturas, CA), and never married. Zora married Robert Lions.
This is a picture of Edward Eberly Conklin. 
Eb was born in Tillamook, OR, 3 December,1864; died in Adin, CA 28 Sept 1922. We have his newspaper obituary, which says he died of a heart attack, though seeming in good health the day before. He was 57. He was well known and liked, and people came from all over for the funeral.
Eb had a sister Orella Dobbs from Chicago, who was quite well-to-do. We don't know much about her.
Eb was Mary and Joseph's son, and husband to Louisa Eliza Griffith (from San Luis Obispo, CA; b 21 Apr 1868, d 15 Dec 1929 in Seattle, WA. We think in the poor house as they called it then; we don't know where). Here's her picture. 
This is Louisa Eliza at seven years old with her siblings. (She's on the left in this picture.) We know the brothers names are Clint and Jim and a sister is Josephine. Josephine married John Johnson of the Johnson Ranch in Wilderville, OR. The picture was taken in 1875 at San Luis Obispo, CA in the Gold Photo Palace. (1875! Imagine! One-hundred and twenty-three years old! The photo is still in good shape, and has just been kept loose in a photo album.)
Louisa's parents were Palmira Crank and John Griffith from Iowa. 
We think they both died in 1873 and are buried on John Johnson Ranch in Wilderville, OR.
Here's a picture of the John Johnson Ranch prior to their death, probably mid-1880: 
This is all we know about the Crank family.
OTHER BROOKER/BOSCH FAMILY RELATIVES WE ARE RESEARCHING:
Joseph Brooker (b 31 May 1888, Tillamook or Eugene (currently working to validate Eugene, OR - that's what his WWI draft card says - the family always thought it was Tillamook); d 19 Jun 1919, Adin, CA) and his wife, Bessie Pearl Conklin (b 16 May, 1893, Adin, CA; d 31 Oct 1958, Port Angeles, WA). They were married in Sacramento (or Cottonwood?), CA Jan 24, 1912.
Joseph Brooker had sisters named Ella and Annie. Aunt Ella married Charlie Ramsey? and/or Otto Gunnison? and Ella and Otto had two daughters, Mayme and Marjorie.
His son, Walter Brooker (Bill's Dad)(had two brothers: Lloyd Brooker and Al Collett, and one sister: Nola Collett.) remembers when Joseph worked at a mine on Hayden Hill (CA - between Redding and Adin, where Lloyd was born). There was a big ore track. Walt fell on the track and a big ore tram went over him. He was okay, and Dad Joseph locked him in a phone booth for the rest of the day until he got off work because he was afraid Walt would get hit.
Bessie left him when the kids were little, and he raised the boys with help from her mother until he died at age 32 on 6 June, 1919 in Adin, CA. Bessie then returned to raise the boys and she married Bob Collett.
Joseph Brooker's Dad was John Brooker. He came from IA (b 12 Aug 1851, d 23 Feb 1918). He had brothers in Great Bend, KS (HD Brooker), Barnett, KS ( CR Brooker,) and Hutchinson, KS (WH Brooker who owned Brooker Brothers Queen City Marble and Slate in the mid to late 1800's). Note 12/2/98: We found out from the Reno County Historical Society (in Hutchinson, KS) that Harry D and William H Brooker did own a marble cutters shop which made headstones. They were listed in the Edwin Green and South Hutchinson Directory for 1888! It is so exciting to find links to research information!
This picture shows his wife, Mary Zelvira Moore, (he left the family; we don't know when) on the right. Ella Gunnison, her daughter is holding her son, Joe, on the left. In front is Ella's daughter, Marjorie Gunnison.
When John was eight he was listed in an 1860 census in Farmington, Van Buren, IA, with father Joseph, mother Mariah, siblings: Mary A., William A., Albert, Jennie and Charles. In an 1870 census in Bonaparte, Van Buren, IA, he was 19. That census shows his siblings as W.H., Jennie, Charles, H.D - this is the link to the stonemasons, William and Harry. His Dad, Joseph, was also a stonemason.
John Brooker was born August 12, 1851 in Iowa and married Mary Zelvira Moore who was born in 1848 in North Carolina. John met Mary at a candy factory where she worked in Red Bluff, CA. That new information (12/01/05) came from a cousin in California that I just met through ancestry.com.
His father was Joseph Brooker, born in Sheepridge, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England in 1818. He died October 9, 1874 in Bonaparte, IA. He married Maria ? who was born in Virginia in 1822 and died in March 7, 1904 in Farmington, IA. Besides John they had eight more kids: William H., Jennie, Charles, Harry D., Mary Ann, Amanda, James and Elizabeth. He died October 9, 1874 in Farmington, IA. Maria died March 7, 1904 in Farmington, IA.
Bessie Pearl Conklin's parents are Edward and Louisa Eliza Griffith. Edward's father is Joseph Conklin from NY; his mother is Mary Jane Wells (b 1/7/1842 in Iowa; d Aug. 7, 1910 in Napa, CA).
Bessie's siblings (all born in Modoc Co., Adin, CA) were: Johnnie E. Conklin, b 13 Oct 1888; Nonie Conklin, b 13 April, 1891, d 14 May 1891 and Albert Conklin, b 1 Oct, 1905.
Herbert William Bosch (b 1 Nov 1880, Sandy, OR; d 26 Jun 1946, Bremerton, WA) married Ila Aurora Wilson on October 16, 1911 in Clyde, OR. Ila was born the 3rd of Jun 1890,Dallas, TX; d 16 Mar 1976, Boise, ID and was buried in Bremerton, WA).
Herbert William Bosch's parents were: John William Bosch (nicknamed Jack or Willie) (whose Astoria story is above), and Mary Larkins. Her parents were James and Lydia Hillary from Illinois.
9/26/98. As mentioned above, we found out about our Larkins roots and now know Bill is related to an original pioneer who crossed the Oregon Trail and arrived in Oregon in 1847. William E. Larkins (James Larkins' father)is Bill's great-great-great grandfather. He and his family crossed the Oregon trail with a wagon train of twenty wagons. They met many misfortunes, and arrived with barely the shirt on their backs, half-starved. Later, two of William's daughters married Barlow sons (Oregon Trail Barlow Road fame).
Back to Herbert William Bosch: Herbert's siblings were an older brother who died young and a younger sister, Lydia Racine, born August 30, 1882.
Ila Aurora's parents were Jay Jackson Wilson (b in Tennessee; d and buried in State Hospital North, Orofino, ID 4 July 1932) and Lulu Elizabeth Perry (born in Tennessee, d 1901 in Boise, ID and buried Morris Hill Cemetery, ID).
Ila Wilson's siblings: Bryce Albert, Lois Nina, Eunice Eva, Sara Elizabeth (Betty), C. Whitsen, Benjamin and Bernice. Benjamin died at birth. Ila's parents were both orphans from Tennessee.
Not much to go on, hmm? Are we related? There are a lot of good genealogy sites on the Internet. As you peruse these for your family, we are hoping you can help us if you discover something about these folks. You may send a message to brooker1@comcast.net
if you have information. Thank you in advance.
Get your own Free Home PageCopyright 1998 - 2007 Jerri Brooker Updated January 22, 2007 brooker1@comcast.net