The Shop in 1920

This photo is a pretty interesting one. In the album it's easy to zip right past. It's dark and hard to make out details, but after scanning it at 1200 dpi, it looks very interesting. Click the image and take a look at the details. It is captioned as follows:

1920
left to right
Floyd Brassfield
Clifford Bates
Boss of shop
office girl
Clarence Brassfield (partner in shop)

This shop was probably in Sioux City, Iowa. You may remember that Clarence and Floyd are brothers, sons of Elvis H. Brassfield and Nellie Bell Bates. Clifford Bates is a cousin of theirs, son of Robert Bates, Nellie's brother. Notice that Floyd is leaning on an engine block. There is also a large "Bull Dog" No. 52 vise made by Prentiss Vise Company on the bench.

Everyone has some kind of tool, but I found it a bit amusing that the "office girl" has the largest one, a huge pipe wrench. Floyd moved on to being a rancher near Fairfax, South Dakota sometime after his son Elvis John Brassfield was born in November 1920.

Moses Bates - The history of Black Hawk County via Google Books

Following up on the census records from Saturday, here is a paragraph or two from the book "The history of Black Hawk County" (Iowa) by Western Historical Company, 1878. Moses Bates was the father of Gipson Bates, father of Nellie Belle Bates-Brassfield-Evers. Gipson Bates was also the namesake of Floyd Gipson Brassfield. Moses Bates would be my 4th great grandfather.

Moses Bates was an early settler of Black Hawk County. His family was one of only 26 families and was one of 135 people in the county in 1850. I linked the middle of section 14 of the township in the location field below. More info at Rootsweb - Rea Genealogy.

The history of Black Hawk County - Google Books

Couldn't Scare Him.

About 1847, Moses Bates, from Western Indiana, located on Section 14, Township 87, Range 11 (Spring Creek Township), on the bank of Spring Creek. Bates appears to have been connected with the gang of prairie bandits, and was a 'hard case.' On one occasion he went to the cabin of Henry Gray, who had settled near him. Abruptly entering his neighbor's house, he roughly inquired of Gray if he knew who his visitor was. Gray said he had that honor, whereupon Bates, who was armed with a rifle, tomahawk, three revolvers and a bowie-knife, informed his quiet neighbor that he might have just three days to pack up his 'traps' and leave the county. Gray, however, did not belong to a timid family ; he didn't ' scare' worth a cent. His trusty rifle was hanging just over his head. He coolly took it down, 'drew a bead' on his surly neighbor and exclaimed, 'D--n you, Bates, I'll give you just three minutes to get out from here. Git!' It is needless to add that before the three minutes had expired, Bates had placed himself at a safe distance from Gray's rifle.

On another occasion a German from Allamakee County, in search of some horses that had been stolen, found them in Bates' possession. There were other evidences of Bates' propensity to appropriate to his own use the property of others, without rendering compensation, and about a dozen stalwart settlers gathered, took the offender into the woods, stripped him and tied him securely to a tree. The men then prudently formed a ring with their backs to the center while the irate owner of the stolen horses applied a liberal dose of hickory to his bare back. Bates afterward had his castigator arrested, but as there were no witnesses who had seen him chastised, he was unable to maintain his accusation. Bates sold out to John Clark in 1852, and removed to Boone County, where he died.

Census Saturday - Gipson Bates

I conducted a search of census records via HeritageQuest online. I was looking for details on Gipson Bates, father of Nellie Belle Bates. She was Elvis John Brassfield's Grandmother. Basically all I'm starting with is Census Records and a gravestone in Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, saying Gipson Bates and dated January 7, 1834 - June 15, 1910. The Census records seem to differ on spelling and date of birth, but that is fairly typical for the census.

The executive summary of this information is:

• Gipson Bates was born in Vermont in 1834, his father appears to have been Moses Bates. Moses Bates was apparently a rather infamous person and mentioned as a "Prairie bandit" in the "History of Black Hawk County, Iowa" book in 1878. Gipson moved from Vermont to Iowa between 1835 and 1837. 
• In 1850, he was living in Black Hawk County, Iowa.
• In 1860, he was living with his brothers in Sergeant Bluff Township, Woodbury County, Iowa.
• In 1870, he was married to Elizabeth and had three children living in Sioux City Township, Woodbury County, Iowa. Their first child was born around 1864.
• In 1880, he was still married to Elizabeth and had eight children living in Liberty Township, Woodbury County, Iowa.
• In 1893,his wife Elizabeth died buried at Sergeant Bluff Cemetery, Sergeant Bluff, Woodbury County, Iowa.
• In 1894, Gipson married Lorena (Jett) Brassfield.
• In 1900, he was living in Liberty Township, Woodbury County, Iowa and was married to Lorena. He had 2 children with Lorena at that point.
• In 1910, he was still married to Lorena and was living with their two daughters in Sergeant Bluff, Woodbury Township, Woodbury County, Iowa.
• Gipson Bates died June 15, 1910 and is buried at Sergeant Bluff Cemetery, Sergeant Bluff, Woodbury County, Iowa.

Gipson Bates is connected to the Brassfield surname through his daughter Nellie Belle. She married Elvis H. Brassfield. Another very interesting thing is that his second wife Lorena (Jett) Brassfield appears to have been previously married to Nelson P. Brassfield. Nelson was the brother of Elvis H. Brassfield, so Gipson married the former wife of his daughter Nellie's brother-in-law. No blood relationship, but still a complicated situation.

Bates siblings 1932

Here is another photo in the sequence of Bates family photos in from 1932. On the reverse it is captioned Nellie Belle Evers, Dr. Smith Bates, Mrs. Rose Smith, Will Bates, Mrs. Lizzie Barbour, Robert Bates. It is also stamped by the photo developer, "Toller's Photo Finishing, A Mirro-tone print, Sep 7, 1932, Davidson Building." The Davidson Building was located in downtown Sioux City, Iowa.

This photo was on the same page as the photo of just the Bates sisters and the photo of just the Bates brothers that I posted earlier this week. This photo depicts 6 children of Gipson and Elizabeth Bates of Woodbury County, Iowa. According to my notes there were at least 9 children in that family, but several died at a young age. I need to do a bit more research on this family. The woman listed as Rose, is also listed as Rosie and Rosa so that is a variable in searching for details on this family. I have Lizzie listed as Elizabeth as well.

The connection to the Brassfield surname is that Nellie Belle Bates (1873-1940) married Elvis H. Brassfield (1870-1904). Nellie was Elvis John Brassfield's (1920-2006) Grandmother.

Bates Brothers circa 1932 - Smith, Rob and Will

This one is a followup to the Bates sisters photo on Monday. It appears to have been taken the same day. It is captioned "Smith Rob Will" on the front. On the back it says "Bates Brothers, Uncles of Floyd Brassfield, Smith, Rob, Will" It is also stamped by the photo developer, "Toller's Photo Finishing, A Mirro-tone print, Sep 7, 1932, Davidson Building."

These are brothers of Nellie Belle (Bates-Brassfield) Evers. My notes from the census records differ a bit, I have no males named Smith in that family. I have a Willie, James S. and Robert G. Bates. I'll have to do a bit more research, maybe the S. is James Smith? The Bates family lived in Woodbury County, Iowa during the 1880 census. Their parents, Gipson and Elizabeth Bates were buried at Sergeant Bluff Cemetery, Woodbury County, Iowa. Several Brassfield's and Bates family members are buried there as well.

The Bates Sisters circa 1932 - Nellie, Rosie and Lizzie

I finally finished scanning Elvis's Brassfield-Hunt memories album so I have quite a few photos to post again from the 1930s and early 1940s. They a few of them were quite difficult to remove from the "magnetic" sticky album, and I used that trick with the dental floss to remove them with out much damage. Still tricky to remove, but no bending. Luckily the majority of the sticky stuff had dried and most fell right out.

This photo is captioned 1932, Nellie, Rosie, Lizzie on the front, but on the back it says Bates sisters, Nellie, Lizzie, Rosa. Another photo captions the woman on the right as Lizzie (Bates) Barbour (spelling?) and the one in the center as Rosa (Bates) Smith. My notes have a Rosa and an Elizabeth Bates, from the 1880 census of Liberty, Woodbury county, Iowa.

Nellie Belle (Bates-Brassfield) Evers (1873-1940) was Floyd Gipson Brassfield's mother and Elvis J. Brassfield's Grandmother.

A photo of Nellie Belle Evers

This photo is captioned "Grandma" and is from one of Elvis John Brassfield's photo albums. It appears to be Nellie Belle (Bates) Brassfield around the 1910s, she was born in 1873, if you would like to estimate a date based on her appearance. She was Elvis's grandmother, the mother of his father Floyd Gipson Brassfield. Following her husband's death, she remarried and took the last name of her husband, Ben Evers.

See this post for more details about Nellie.

Wordless Wednesday - Floyd, Nellie and Clarence

Floyd, Nellie Belle and Clarence Brassfield

This is another photo from Elvis John Brassfield's photo album. It is captioned, Floyd, Grandma and Clarence.

Floyd Gipson Brassfield was Elvis John Brassfield's Father. Floyd and Clarence were the sons of Nellie Belle (Bates) Brassfield (later Evers). I can only estimate that this photo was taken in the 1910s, Floyd was born in 1898, Nellie in 1873 and Clarence in 1895. The third brother Adrian died in 1919, so perhaps he is not in the photo because it was after his death.

Nellie Belle Evers

Nellie Belle (Bates) Brassfield/Evers

This photo is simply captioned "Grandma" in Elvis John Brassfield's photo album. It is grouped with pictures of the tombstone of Nellie Belle Evers. Based on that and the fact that Elvis's Grandma Hunt died in 1914, prior to his birth, I have to assume this photo is Nellie Belle (Bates) Evers.