Individual 18: Rebecca Jane Ellison

Individual Record 18

Name} Ellison, Rebecca Jane (Becky or Anna)

Family History} Hancock

Title}

Race} White

Sex} Female

Birth: Date} Fam 16 Sep 1881

Place} , , Missouri

Marr.: Date} Exa 21 Mar 1897

Place} , Carroll, Arkansas (Link)

Marr.: Date} Cir 1936

Place} (Link)

Death: Date} Exa 19 Mar 1938

Place} Dallas Hotel, Coffeyville, Montgomery, Kansas

Burial: Date} Exa 21 Mar 1938

Place} Fairview Cemetery, Coffeyville, Montgomery, Kansas

Grave Marker} No

Source 1}	60 = Family notes
Source 2}	550 = Marriage rec
Source 3}	62 = 1900 USA cen
Source 4}	96 = 1910 USA cen
Source 5}	360 = Newspaper
Source 6}	1705 = Newspaper
Source 7}	361 = Town directry
Source 8}	715 = Land deed
Source 9}	1706 = 1938 city cen
Source 10}	362 = Mortuary
Source 11}	363 = Obituary
Source 12}	675 = Photographs
Source 13}	701 = Photographs
Source 14}	375 = Biography
Source 15}	9 = Biography

Parents: } Rev. John Harding Ellison & Sarah Elizabeth McCord
Relationship No.} 25

1st Household No.} 227 = Golden, Barry, Missouri

Occupation 1} Board house operator
Occupation 2} Manager/administrator

Religion/Church}

Spouses: Prime} McFarren, William Henry (Will)
Brown, ?
Total Number of} 2

Notes: Rebecca Jane Ellison was born 16 Sep 1881 in Missouri. She was the second daughter of John Harding Ellison and Sarah Elizabeth McCord. She had an older sister, Joanah, and two older half-sisters from her parents' prior marriages. In the 1880 U.S. census, a year before her birth, the family was living in Pattonsburg, Daviess, Missouri.

Rebecca J. Ellison married Wm. H. McFarren on 21 Mar 1897 in Carroll County, Arkansas. In the 1900 U.S. census, Rebecca and William were enumerated in separate states. Her husband and his brother were day laborers in Colorado Springs, El Paso, Colorado. Becky was living with her parents, John H. McFarren, 57, and Sarah E., 57, in Cedar, Carroll, Arkansas. In the household was Mary Ellison, 39, her sister, and a cousin, Pearl Meeds, 22. Becky had two daughters, Alltie McFarren, 2, and Bessie McFarren, 4 months.

In the 1910 US census, Rebecca 28, and William H., 33, were living in Noble Ward 2, Cleveland County, Oklahoma. William was a laborer doing odd jobs. They owned their home, free of mortgage. Their children were Bessie, 9, Ruby, 7, and Roy, 4. The two daughters attended school. Their oldest daughter Alta Mabelle had died in 1906/7.

The marriage did not last, and probably before July 1914, William took the three children, Bess, Ruby, and Roy to California's Imperial Valley. Rebecca stayed in Oklahoma, moving on to Coffeyville, Kansas, before 1916.

In the Coffeyville City Directories, in 1916, Anna McFarren is listed as renting out furnished rooms at 122-126 W. 9th, above a furniture store. There was a brief mention of her in September 1917 in The Coffeyville Daily Journal, being charged with keeping a house of prostitution.

From 1920 through 1928, Anna operated the Cash Hotel at 1212½ Walnut. Her granddaughter Viola Williams, was born here in September 1920. From 1930 to 1935, Anna is listed as running the Dallas Hotel at 108½ S. Walnut. These were all boarding houses with furnished rooms.

In her last years of life, Anna married a man, last name Brown. They had separated prior to her death. She died 19 Mar 1938 after a short illness in her Dallas Hotel. She was buried 21 Mar 1938 as a charity case in an unmarked grave, Lot 78, in the Fairview Cemetery, Coffeyville, Kansas.

Her grandaughter Viola had the following to say about Rebecca: Rebecca loved good cars and fine clothes, and was very neat and was quite good looking.

Rebecca bought one lot of land in Napa in October 1922. Eleven years latter she paid off the mortgage and sold the lot to her daughter Bess for $1.00 (per Source 715).

Viola remembered when Grandma Unnie (Rebecca) came out to visit in 1928 — the only visit she ever made to Napa. "I remember when we all went with Grandma Unnie to see Uncle Dode (Theodore G. McFarren) at Eel Rock on the Eel River."

Rebecca would send a trunk full of toys to Napa each Christmas. She gave Bess and Simeon a three-piece grey mohair sofa set.

All of Rebecca's relatives called her Becky. However, Aunt Jo was with her during an illness when it came time to renew her hotel license. Aunt Jo went to the city hall to get it and somehow they put Anna on the license. From that day on she was called Anna.
The photo at the left shows Rebecca and her new 1932 Studebaker roadster.

Bess and granddaughter Lorraine went to Coffeyville in December of 1937 while Viola was running the lab and x-ray at Imola. Rebecca had cancer of the uterus and a maid in the hotel had called Bess to tell her to come. They stayed back there for a couple of days.

Rebecca married a man named Brown a couple of years before she died. His first name might have been Simpson or Ward. He was in Western Kansas when she died; they had separated. He came to Napa to see Bess at the Green Lantern during World War II.

Rebecca died at her Dallas Hotel at 108½ East Eighth Street in March 1938. She was a very good business woman and a good manager. However, she was generous to a fault and illness left her penniless when she died. Bess's cousin Pearl took care of the funeral arrangements when Rebecca died. Aunt Jo was there also.