My Grandmother Odell's Death

I remember well the phone call my father got informing him of his mother's death. We left immediately for Jamestown, ND and he arranged her funeral. This is the very first funeral I had even been to so I was not prepared for what transpired. Grandma was a member of the Presbyterian Church, which still stands today. If memory serves me well, I don't believe that we had a gravesite burial at the time. She died in January so I think it was later in the spring when she was buried.

Grandmother, Edna Odell, and Jamestown ND

This is the Jamestown Hospital as I remember it while visiting with my grandmother.

This is the back of the hospital and tho you cannot see the back door because of the truck in the way, the back door is where my grandmother collapsed on her way to work from a heart attack and eventually died.

This is the Jamestown water tower which was just up the hill from my grandmother's home.

This is the spot where my grandmother's home was located before someone bought it and moved it off the land so the hospital could have more parking space.

I have so many memories of my grandmother and Jamestown, North Dakota. My sister, Kathi, and I usually spent 2 weeks with my grandmother during summer vacation. The pictures I am posting have significant value to me since they represent my grandmother. My grandmother worked and died at the Jamestown Hospital. She worked until the day of her death and she would have been 82 years old in 1966. Her work was her life. She always got up early and would leave for work as a medical records librarian between 5 and 6 a.m. and probably never came home from work until 9 or 10 p.m. My sister and I would go to movies or go swimming or go to the park during the day while she was working. We would go over to the hospital for lunch and dinner with her. At night, we would usually have root beer or orange crush floats for a treat before bed. To this day, I cannot drive by Jamestown on my trips to and from Minnesota without stopping in and reminiscing. My only regret is that I didn't know my grandmother the way I do now back then. She and I have a lot in common I am finding. The home my grandmother lived in was next door to the Jamestown Hospital, however, after her death in 1966, someone bought her home and moved it onto farmlands close by.

Two memories that always remind me of my grandmother and our visits. That is a train whistle and the smell of a hospital. A train whistle because my grandmother lived several blocks from a train station which I believe is no longer in operation and we always heard the train whistle in the distance. The hospital smell is because we spent many times at the hospital with my grandmother. Also, we ate many meals at the hospital with my grandmother but back in the 1950s and 1960s the food tasted so much better than it does now. And the meals were not fast food, but healthy meals.

My Visit to Epping, North Dakota in 2009

I had the opportunity to visit this little community where my grandparents, Edna and Charles, resided. I was given a tour of each of the still standing buildings in which my grandparents may have set foot in. I felt as though I were walking in their footsteps. It was an experience I will not soon forget. The buildings were the same buildings which stood in 1908-1912 that stood at the time my grandparents resided there. It would have been an experience of a lifetime if my grandfathers feed store had been standing but it was destroyed by fire shortly after he died. I have included pictures of the fire of 1912. It is interesting to note that the main street of Epping is still gravel and not paved.

Epping North Dakota Present

Epping North Dakota Past

Odell Pictures

I know these pictures are kind of out of order but I still wanted to post them for you. The pictures are of my grandparents, Edna and Charles Odell and their son, Charles, Jr. The tombstone is one of the three tombstones for my grandfather. It is located in Jamestown, North Dakota.

In Memory of Our Brother, Charles M. Odell, Jr.

My brother was known by "Butchie" by many in my family, though I always thought and still think of him as "Charlie". Charlie was 8 years younger than me, so I didn't know him very well, as well as maybe I should have. He was killed at an early age, 15, when he and a couple of his friends decided to go bicycle riding on a dark night and while rounding a corner a car, which was passing another car, hit him from behind and he was killed within minutes of hitting the pavement. His friends survived as they fell into the ditch. I have always felt guilty because I spent Christmas of 1971 in Hawaii and never got to spend this last holiday with him.

I had an extraordinary experience happen to me at his funeral. I had this indescribable feeling of comfort come over me as if he were telling me "I am all right". I will never forget this experience for as long as I live.

Charlie was the only son of my parents and as you can imagine, it was very hard on my parents to lose him. My Dad was an avid hunter and fisherman and he lost his partner when my brother died. I can well imagine the reunion they must have had when my Dad died in 1992.

My Mother and Sisters Present Day

Back Row L-R: Ellen Lager, Jeannie Vaneps; Front Row L-R: Kathi Wilcox, Mother Gertrude Odell, and Linda Geren.

A LITTLE HISTORY OF MY FATHER

My father was Charles Marion Odell born on November 20, 1911 in Epping, Williams County, North Dakota to Charles Otas Odell and Edna Katherine (Harris) Odell. My father never had the privilege of knowing his father since he died 6 months after he was born. My grandmother raised him by herself. In my grandfather's diary and in my grandmother's handwriting, my father's birth name was written "Marion Otis Odell" and my grandmother always called my father by the name "Marion". However, I remember when my father applied for Social Security, he could not find a birth record for "Charles Marion Odell" and he had to use a Cradle Roll card as proof of his birth. I believe my grandmother simply changed his name after my grandfather died to Charles Marion Odell. I hope to stop in Bismarck, ND on my way back to Minnesota this summer for a visit to check to see if I can find a birth record for him.

AN INTERESTING NOTE: IF my grandmother was born on November 20, then my father was born on her birthday. She died on January 6 as did my father. My father died from emphysema and cancer and he wanted to die the same day as his mother and waited 15 minutes into January 6 before he passed away. So, I think it is interesting that he was born the same day and died the same day as his mother.

My father is buried next to my brother, Charles, Jr., in the Biwabik Cemetery. My brother was killed by a car on his bicycle on March 17, 1972. He was 15 years old at the time.

My father served his country in World War II as a Sergeant in the U. S. Army. He served in Germany and helped to liberate one of the concentration camps there.

My father was an avid reader of anything dealing with history but especially World War II. He would read books on this subject from cover to cover. He also liked the National Geographic magazine and read that from cover to cover. Before the War interrupted his life, he was going to college to become a history teacher.

He and my mother were married for 45 years.

MY GRANDFATHER'S PLACE OF REST

My Father, Charles M. Odell, As A Child

Grandfather Odell's Diary 5

Grandfather Odell's Diary 4

Grandfather Odell's Diary 3

Grandfather Odell's Diary 2

Some Entries From My Grandfather's Diary

Grandparents Odell

This is a picture of my grandparents, Edna Katherine Harris Odell and Charles Otas Odell in front of Grandpa Odell's feed store in Epping, North Dakota.

A LITTLE HISTORY OF THEM

Charles was born in Girard, Macoupin County, Illinois on May 6, 1871 and died in Epping, North Dakota on May 28, 1912 at age 41 years, 22 days. The story I heard was that my grandmother came home and found that he died sitting in his rocking chair. In reading his diary, he seemed like a very busy man, always doing something. Charles was married previous to my grandmother to Ida V. Garst in Illinois on July 24, 1895 and she died on September 15, 1908 and buried in Girard, Illinois. In my grandfather's journal he relates "my dear wife the angle(sp) of my life passed through the pearly gates this morning at 8:30 and I am left alone in this sinful world." On September 16, he started for Illinois to have her buried there. It's interesting to note that my grandfather has gravestones in three different places, one with his wife, Ida, in Girard, Illinois, one in Jamestown, North Dakota where my grandmother, Edna, is buried and the place where his body actually is, is Epping, North Dakota. I have been there and have seen his gravesite.

Edna has a very interesting life. We always celebrated her birthday on November 20th, however, I have doubts about that date since she was adopted around that date in 1889. She was adopted because her father had died and her mother had 8 children in which to care for by herself and found it daunting to say the least. I have her adoption papers from Leavenworth, Kansas but have been unable to verify her correct place and date of birth. Her birth name was Lula Mae Thurmond. Her biological parents were Elizabeth McCord Thurmond and William Anderson Thurmond. Her adoptive parents were Lucy Little Bonham Harris and George Washington Harris. Her biological father was supposedly buried in the Lath Branch Cemetery in an unmarked grave in Fort Scott, Kansas. My grandmother was born in Missouri in 1884 but I have not been able to locate a record. In 1880 in the census, her family was living in Cedar County Missouri and in 1886, her brother was born in St. Clair County, Missouri so she was born in one of those counties is my guess but cannot find a record of it. Later in life, one of her biological brothers found her and my father. Her biological mother wrote a letter detailing her birthdate and if memory serves me, I think she said in the letter that my grandmother was born in January. Have not been able to locate that letter again so my memory of it is what I have. My grandmother, Edna, died on January 6, 1966 in Jamestown, North Dakota. A note of interest is that my grandmother was on her way to WORK when she died. She worked as a medical records librarian at the Jamestown Hospital which she lived next door to. She was 81 years old! In her lifetime, she was a teacher and a bank teller. She had only one child, my father, Charles Marian Odell.

Edna and Charles were married in Epping, Williams County, North Dakota on December 31, 1909, by Reverend John Cornelius Wilson.

My Parents' Wedding Day

Pictured in front row left to right: my father's mother, Edna Katherine Odell, Ellen Wilson, my mother's mother, Olga Durose; back row left to right: my father, Charles Marion Odell, my mother's father, James Thomas Durose, and my mother, Gertrude Amelia Durose. Their wedding day was August 17, 1946.

Odell Family Ancestry

FAMILY

FAMILIES: ODELL, THURMOND, MCCORD, MILLER, DAVIS, CROWDER, JOHNSON, NORVELL, FINLEY, JOHNSON

Since I know how important family is and I know how exciting searching for ancestors is, I have decided to post my "family" research online in hopes of helping others get connected and help others get started researching our families. Also, I hope we can help one another in our search.

I have been researching for over 30 years now and still get "excited" finding a record!

I hope to help others by posting these records online so others can have the actual records.

So, if you are interested in any of these families, you will connect with me through this blog.

I will be posting another blog with the VANEPS ancestry, so if you are interested in that side of my family, please check that blog.

If some of my posts seem out of order, it is because I am not all that organized even though for right now I am trying to put things in order of ancestors. I know that as I do more researching and find more documents, etc. things will be out of order. If you get confused, I am sorry!