Family Stories

 Recollections of Virginia "Belle" Johnson Belsha

Virginia "Belle" Johnson Belsha was the daughter-in-law of our great grandfather, John Logan Belsha. She was married to James Lawrence Belsha, son from John Logan's second marriage to Maria Susannah Tucker. James Lawrence Belsha was our mother's (Rose Gibbar Bohnert) half uncle. Mabel Belsha Oliphant would have been our mother's (Rose Gibbar Bohnert) half first cousin. 

Soon after the death of her father, James Lawrence, on January 1, 1930, Belle dictated her recollections to her daughter, Mabel Belsha Oliphant, who then passed the recollections on to her daughter (name unknown) who passed them on to her son, Joe Martinez. With Joe's permission, they are recopied here. 

Some of the details are not completely accurate. However, much of what is recounted here is in amazing detail and there are details that, until recently, had not been verified by documentation. At the end of the document I include additional comments and clarifications.

"I am copying this just as my mother wrote it soon after my father's death on January 1, 1930. Altho she had talked to me many times about her family and my father's family she felt I needed tangible information as I was only fourteen years old when my father died and could not remember all the details and dates. John Logan Belsha was my grandfather.

John Logan Belsha was born October 21, 1844 (I think)1, I suppose in Missouri. In his early manhood he married a woman of the name of Bailey, don't know her age or given name nor any of her relatives.2 She died in a short time, perhaps two years more or less, leaving a baby girl who also died soon after. Some time around the year 1869 he married Maria Tucker of Perry County, Missouri. To them were born John Napoleon, Sallie3 and James Lawrence. The girl died in infancy before James was born, I think. Maria died the year of 1873, or there about, leaving John, about four years old and James, less than a year.

Some time around the year 1876 he married Felicita Melton, also of Perry County. To them were born five children, Thomas Edward, William, Twins whose names I don't know,4 and Mary (Mame).

William died when a few years old, probably three, the twins died in infancy. In January 1891 Felicita died leaving Edward aged 13 , and Mamie, 8. She died on Mamie's birthday.

Then as near as I can calculate in 1893 he married Mary Hagar5 also of Perry County. To them were born five children, Ella, November 4, 1894; Annie and Pearl. Pearl was born June 6, 1898 and Annie some time between (January 27, 1896). Elmer was born November, 1902 and Clyde was born October 1908. 6

Grandpa was a farmer all his life and during his whole life of more than eighty one years I don't think he was ever farther away from his home then St. Louis, which is about eighty miles north directly on the line of the Mississippi River. He did almost all his farming on different farms in the Mississippi River bottom in Perry County about 10-15 miles from Perryville, the County seat. (In Missouri).

Grandpa died in May, 1926 after having been sick and bedfast for about fourteen months. His wife Mary, survived him, also nine children, thirteen grandchildren and one great grandchild. If he had any brothers or sisters he never told his children of them.7 He had two half or step brothers who went to Oregon and settled. They were older than he.8

Your daddy's aunts - uncles: Thomas Tucker, Vincent Tucker, Hillary Tucker, James Tucker, Ann Tucker, one Uncle who was killed, one aunt whose given name I don't know, she married Thos. Styne, a Belgian. She died before any children were born.

I suppose Maria Tucker (2nd wife of Grandpa Belsha and James Lawrence's mother) was born in Missouri. Her mother's maiden name was Knot.9 I do not know of her sisters but I think there was one who died after she married. One of her brothers was brutally shot by bushwhackers during or just at the close of the civil war. He was not married. Her brother, Thos. E. Tucker married Martina Hagan and they had eight children, Rose, Arthur, Roy, Glen, Tom, Lessie, Theresa and Willie, cousins to James Belsha. He seemed more attached to that family of cousins and uncle and aunt than any of the rest. (This family lived in the area of Belgique and Perryville at the time my folks lived there so my mother knew them pretty well - around 1905 - 1920) (Mabel)

Vincent Tucker was another brother of Maria. He married Louise Style. To them were born fourteen children, the last being twins who died in infancy. The children were: Julia, Georgia, Frank, Glen, May - Eugene lived until grown, Frank was killed by a train running over him - Julia died of flu in 1918 leaving a bunch of little ones.

Vince Tucker died about 1927, quite an old man. His wife is still living at this writing (1930).

Hillary Tucker, also a brother of Maria married a German girl. Don't know anything of her people. They had two boys and one girl. Hillary died of cancer of the face about 1921-22 before he was sixty five years old.

James Tucker (Monkey Jim) married and they had two children, Alpha and Tom. Don't know who his wife was, she died while the children were small. He then married a widow, Susan Moore with five children, James, Lorena, Theresa, Adolph and William Moore. He did not live long after the second marriage and the children drifted apart.

There was another brother who married a girl of whom I never learned her name except that Daddy called her Aunt Ann. They had one boy named Nick. The uncle died and the widow married Romanus Melton, a brother of Felecita Melton. They had one girl named May. Thus Nich was cousin to Grandpa's second wife's children (John and James), and May was a cousin to his third wife's children (Ed and Name). Romanus and Ann died within a short time of each other. Nic and May were about grown and kept in touch with each other.

John Napoleon Belsha was born February 5, 1879 in Perry County, Missouri near the Mississippi River. When he was 21 years old he married Rosa Rice, who was twenty-six years old. They went to St. Louis to live, but returned to Perry County twice to try farming. Their first child, Rice was born in St. Louis after they had been married about nine years. He lived until two years of age. On October 4, 1901, about a year after Ricie died James Kevens (afterward called Harry) was born in St. Louis.

In the summer of 1906 John and Rose moved to Perry County when Harry was five years old. AT that time Grandpa decided to try his luck farming in the hills, John and Rose renting the place he had been on in the bottom. They lived there until 1910. Rose was dissatisfied, so they sold out and went back to St. Louis thinking of trying some other part of the country in the spring, probably Colorado. During the fall Rose had an operation performed to relieve her of a rectal problem she had been bothered with since she had been injured when a horse she was riding stumbled and caused the saddle horn to bruise her. The operation was not successful as it left her with no bowel control. However she died during the second operation and was taken to Perryville for burial. Both John and Rose are buried in Mt. Hope Catholic Cemetery, Perryville. ​Harry was nine years old when his mother died and John put him in an industrial school until he was fourteen years old. In the meantime John worked different places for farmers, went to S. Dakota and other places. After Harry came out of the school he went around with his dad until the World War, then with his father's consent (as he was under enlistment age) he enlisted and went to France. He came through the war without a scratch. During the time Harry was enlisted, John worked in a shipyard some where on the southern Atlantic seacoast, but came back to Missouri after the war was over.

When Harry came back to the U.S. he never left the east. He went to New Jersey, worked awhile and then married a girl of those parts around Princeton. He worked in some kind of terra cotta works. In a short time after Harry married John went to New Jersey and worked about a couple of years, then came back to Missouri again and worked here and there at different kids of jobs but got homesick for Harry again and in 1927 or 28 went back to New Jersey. Harry as two boys, one born on his twenty-first birthday and one May 1927.

Thomas Edward Belsha was born October, 1877 in Perry County, Missouri. He lived with his father and step-mother until he was about 22 or 23. He then married Gertrude Hagan, a sister of Mrs. Thomas Tucker. In April 1903 twins were born to them - Clarice (Tess) and Agnes. In 1904 Gertrude died. Her mother lived with Ed for a while and took care of the babies. Then she took Agnes and went to her daughter's, Martina Tucker. Clarice (Tess) the other child was with one or another of the relatives for a while, then Ed put her in St. Ann's Orphan's home in St. Louis, for which he paid a small amount, he himself leaving the farm and going to St. Louis to work. (note: my mother, Belle took care of "Tess"" for a period of time when she and James were first married.) Things continued that way with him until the girls were about ten years old. He then married a widow in St. Louis with whom he had boarded and who had four grown children and one grandchild. He then brought the twins to his new home to live. They went to school awhile and then to work. Agnes went back to her aunt, Mrs. Tucker after awhile but I think she did not stay long.

Mary (Mame) Belsha was born in Perry County, Missouri January, 1883. Her mother died when she was eight years old. John and Rose went to keep house for her father but only stayed a year or so, taking Mame with them when they left and afterwards taking her too St. Louis with them. After a short time they put her in an industrial school with little or no pay, only what her relatives wanted to furnish her in the way of clothing. She would not stay there very long, left of her own accord and found her way back to John and Rose. They found her work as a nurse girl there. She did housework and supported herself almost continually until she married at the age of twenty five. She married Harry Thee and they have two boys, Melton, born August 1910 and George was born May, 1914, I think. They have lived all their married life in St. Louis except about a year they spent in Colorado Springs when Melton was a year or so old.

Ella Belsha was born in Perry County, November 4, 1894. She went to school in Belgique until she was about twelve then she went to school a few years more in a school house that stood on the same farm where they lived in the hills west of Perryville. When she was about fifteen or sixteen she went to St. Louis where she worked as a nurse girl until she was married to James Gibbar10, also a Perry County boy working in St. Louis. She married on her nineteenth birthday in 1913.11 She has since had four or five boys and two girls. Jerome, Harold, Jane, Paul and I think another boy whose name I don't know, then Rose born May, 192712 then James Junior, born Dec. 1929. (Note: update - Jerome, Harold, Jane, Paul, Jeannette, Rose, James, Harry). James Gibbar and Ella Belsha were married on Crane's Island belonging to Randolph County, Illinois some five miles down the Mississippi River from Chester, Ill. where her parents had moved about two and a half years before. They lived in St. Louis for about five years, where he worked as a street car conductor. On his Doctor's advice he left the city and took up farming on Crane's Island.

Annie Belsha was born sometime during the year 1896 (January 27, 1896). She lived with her parents until she married with the exception of a year or so when she was nurse girl in St. Louis. She married Pius Mattingly, a boy who was raised around Belgique. They were married in St. Louis during the fall of 1919 but soon came back to Belgique and went to farming. In 1929 after they had been married almost ten years a baby girl was born to them. (note: Her daughter, Doris Hansen lived at 1052 W. St. Joseph St. Perryville, Mo. in 1975).

​Pearl Belsha was born June 6, 1898. James L. Belsha stood as God-father at her christening. She also lived with her parents until she married in 1919 just a short time before Annie married. She married Lawrence Mattingly a younger brother of the young man that Annie married. They have never had any children.

Elmer Belsha was born Nov. 1902 and lived with his parents until about eighteen when he went to St. Louis to work. He married there a few years later. I do not know anything about his wife except that his mother wrote me that he had married a Dutch girl. I don't think his folks knew much about her either. The last I knew of them several years after they were married they had two children. (note: In the fall of 1934 Elmer and his wife Elsie made a trip through Colorado and made a surprise visit with us. We had just moved down to the telephone office where I had started to work just a few weeks before. Mother would take them up to our house at night to sleep. They had a boy and a girl at home staying with relatives. In 1973 Nevin and I stopped for a few hours visit with Elmer, Jr. in St. Louis. His mother Elsie was still living at that time. His sister had died a few years before, leaving a family).

Clyde Belsha was born October, 1908 and lived with his parents until his father died, before he was seventeen years old. He then worked around the country or stayed with his sisters as long as I knew anything of him. (Note: In 1934 during their visit Elmer and Elsie said that Clyde had married Elsie's sister but that they were separated at that time.)