(Online version of a booklet with photos prepared by Susan Reed Burneson for the Eschbacher/Farmer Family Reunion, Bluebird Park, Ellisville, Missouri, June 10, 2023.)
From a very early age, I’ve known that Hazel Veronica Farmer Reed was my dad’s mother and that she died in 1919 when he was 3 years old. In early photos, she is smiling, her eyes soft and deep dimples showing. To me, she looks happy being a wife and mother, and my dad looks healthy and happy. Like Hazel, Dad had dimples. I do, too. (Right, Hazel, son Leslie George Reed, and husband George Leslie Reed, St. Louis, about 1918.)
I’ve always wanted to learn more about Hazel and her family, including younger brother John R. Farmer Jr., and in the past 10 years I have. Someday, I hope to learn where in Ireland her maternal grandmother, Bridget, lived. I’d also like to know where her father John R. Farmer Sr.’s family lived before they settled in Alabama. I believe it might also be Ireland. How exciting it would be to visit there and meet newfound Irish cousins!
It was my mother, Lois, who first told me about Hazel, based on what my dad had shared with her. (Left, George and Hazel Reed, about 1914.) She and my dad also were in touch with a few members of the Farmer family in the 1960s and 1970s.
Dad was not one to share deep feelings easily, just as he seldom talked about his World War II service, which included investigating war crimes. When he and I went to Europe together after I graduated from college, he did point out Cologne Cathedral, with its 515-foot-high twin steeples. He told me how it had been damaged and had miraculously survived the extensive bombing of the city.
Growing up, I remember being shown a few photos of Hazel and a small gold and green-enameled shamrock pin with a tiny pearl in the center. When I was in grade school, more than once I asked to wear the pin on St. Patrick’s Day but never was allowed to. Now I understand why. The pin’s latch, like my dad’s connection to his mother, was a delicate one.
For more than 100 years, many mementoes my dad had of his mother and his early years have been tucked neatly into a cigar box. It was kept first by his dad after Hazel died in 1919, then given to my dad, and passed on to me after Dad died in 1990.
The box holds a locket with a photo of Hazel and my dad inside, a gold cross with her name engraved on it, her 1909 Key of Heaven book, simple gold rings which likely were her and my Grandpa Reed’s wedding bands (he wore the same ring during his marriage to Hazel and later to Elsie), a watch, my dad’s baby bracelet and tiny gold ring, several of his first-place music medals, and a handful of photos. My dad kept his earliest address book in there, too. Inside, one Farmer is listed, Anthony, Louise Osinski Farmer’s husband, who lived not far from him. Anthony was Hazel’s and John Farmer Jr.’s youngest brother.
I also have a mahogany bed I was told my dad was born in and his baby bowl and silver cup and spoon. I keep Hazel’s shamrock pin (below, left) in my jewelry box, next to a similar one with a tiny diamond in the center (below, right). I bought it for $1 at a church rummage sale in 1974, when I lived in Champaign, Illinois.
Hazel was born March 22, 1889, in St. Louis, a daughter of John Robert Farmer Sr., an electrician and inventor with a handful of patents (see below), and Emma Empson Farmer. John and Emma married in 1884. Hazel was the third oldest of their seven children, a year older than her brother John Jr. In almost every record I’ve found, John Sr.’s birthplace is listed as Alabama. If that’s true, he is my only known ancestor from the Deep South. I haven’t found any records of his birth or his family there. On February 8, 1901, John Sr. died at age 40 in St. Louis. Between 1910 and 1919, six of Emma and John’s seven children were married; the youngest, Anthony Walter, married in 1925. (Below, Hazel, far left, with her oldest sister Lillian and husband John P. Halley, at their wedding in 1910.)
Emma was born in St. Louis on March 29, 1867, daughter of John H. Empson, born in England and likely a Civil War veteran, and Bridget (maiden name unknown), born in Ireland. For years, John was a longtime cooper, making wooden barrels. Bridget was a seamstress. She died in 1875, when Emma was 8. In 1880, there were two Missouri censuses taken. In June, Emma, 13, lived with John, Bridget, a brother, and her half-siblings. In November, Emma was a servant with the Peter Dreher family. Her half-sister Mary Louise was his wife. (See Long/Dreher, below.)
I haven’t confirmed Bridget’s maiden name or where she came from in Ireland. According to one record, a Bridget McMenemy married John Long in St. Louis in 1852. When Bridget married John Empson, she had two children, Mary Louise Long, born 1854, who married Peter Philip Dreher, and Eliza Long, born 1856. Some records show Mary Louise and/or Eliza were born in Louisiana, so Bridget might first have arrived there. I haven’t found any record of Eliza beyond 1870.
In the 1800s and early 1900s, the Empsons and Farmers lived and worked mostly just north of downtown St. Louis. It was in the vicinity of Kerry Patch, an impoverished area where many Irish immigrants in St. Louis settled beginning in the 1840s. Beginning in the early 1960s, I became very familiar with that part of the city. We lived in Granite City and crossed McKinley Bridge to go shopping in downtown St. Louis. We often passed or drove through this area, and I remember the red brick rowhouses, some of which might have been original; few are left today. Years later I learned that some of my Empson and Farmer ancestors had lived there and gradually moved farther west of the downtown area.
As I’ve researched, I’ve looked online to find the houses where ancestors had lived. Few of them still exist. One is the modest home at 8708 Ezra Drive that appears to be where Emma Empson Farmer was living in 1947, the year she died. It’s in St. Johns Station, north of St. Charles Rock Road and west of 170. Based on all the addresses I found for her, she likely moved more often than others in the family. (Above, 8708 Ezra Drive, St. Johns Station, Missouri.)
Emma’s oldest grandson was Empson John Halley, namesake of her father John H. Empson. He was the son of Emma’s oldest daughter Lillian and John P. Halley, who were married 26 June 1910. Empson was born May 27, 1911, and his mother died in September. Growing up, he often lived with Emma and sometimes with his father. Empson graduated high school, worked in St. Louis, and served in World War II. (Above, Empson John Halley, about 1916.)
In 1944, Empson married Blanche Kiely of St. Louis. They had three children, Harriet Marie Halley Brekalo, 1947-2015, who lived in Grand Junction Colorado; Gerard J. Halley, 1948-2008; and Mary Patricia Halley Sampson Boernemann, 1951-1991. Harriet had a son, two daughters, and four grandchildren. Her son, Joseph, died in 2016. Gerard had two daughters, two sons, and a granddaughter. Empson and then his family lived in Emma’s home at 8708 Ezra Drive for many years until he died in 1980.
Hazel Veronica Farmer married George Leslie Reed in St. Louis on June 25, 1914. They likely met at the Brown Shoe Company, where they both worked. My dad, born April 19, 1915, was their only child. They named him George Leslie Reed Jr., according to a note in his baby book (above, right). My dad never liked being called “Junior,” so he almost always went by the name Leslie George Reed. In some records, his dad is listed that way, too. (Above left, George, Hazel, and Leslie, St. Louis, about 1915.)
Hazel died on February 8, 1919. Her funeral was held at St. Matthew’s Catholic Church in St. Louis. (Left, George and Leslie, about 1919.) By 1920, Dad lived at 2837 St. Louis Avenue with his dad, Reed grandparents, Uncle Dick Reed, and Aunt Eula and Uncle Ollie Hague. Grandpa Reed married his second wife, Elsie, later that year. Like Hazel and three of her siblings, Elsie worked at a shoe factory before she married.
Grandpa Reed and Elsie had two children of their own—Quentin, known as Bunk or Bunky, born in 1921, and Eileen, known as Ike, born in 1923. My dad was first nicknamed Muggins and later was called Mush. Both my dad and his half-brother became physicians. (Above, Quentin, Eileen, and Leslie, St. Louis, about 1924.)
Throughout the 1920s, Grandpa Reed worked at the Brown Shoe Company. In Summer 1929 he got my dad, then 14, a job there, too, working nine hours a day (it was not his favorite experience). Then, my Grandpa Reed lost his job because of the Depression. The family moved to Murphysboro, Illinois, about 1931, and he got a job at Brown Shoe Company there. My dad graduated from Murphysboro High School a year later. (Below, Leslie, Murphysboro, about 1933.)
By 1940, my dad and his half-brother (then students at Southern Illinois Normal University, now SIU in Carbondale) and Grandpa Reed all worked at the shoe factory. It was only a few blocks from where they lived, so they walked to work. Elsie was a clerk in a dry goods store. When Grandpa Reed retired, he had worked for the company for more than 50 years. Not long before he died at age 89, my mom and I visited him. His eyes lit up when we mentioned his first wife, Hazel, who died 60 years before.
In college, my dad first studied to become a music teacher. He always loved music. Growing up, he discovered Big Band and classical music on his crystal radio set, using bed springs as an antenna. For most of his life he played the piano; Chopin, Haydn, Liszt, and Schubert were favorites. In later years, he enjoyed even more styles of music, especially mariachi, inspired by travels to Mexico. His half-brother encouraged my dad to go to medical school and become a doctor, just as he was doing. They both had the intelligence to see it through and the stamina to also work at the shoe factory to help cover expenses.
My dad attended college and medical school before and after World War II, where he served in the 195th General Hospital and 12th Army Group in the European Theater. The G. I. Bill helped make his years of education more affordable. (Left, Leslie, about 1944.)
In 1951, Dad established his first doctor’s office in Herrin, Illinois, near Murphysboro. My mother, Lois, and her three-year-old daughter by an earlier marriage lived with her parents in Herrin. She applied to become my dad’s assistant, and he hired her. They began dating and were married after three weeks. I was born in Herrin a year later. (Right, George and Elsie Reed with Susan and half-sister Laura Kay, Division Street, Murphysboro, 1952.)
Over the years, my dad stayed close to his Reed relatives in St. Louis, especially his Aunt Eula Hague and her family, who lived in North St. Louis County, and Aunt Eugie Van Kranenburgh and her family. She lived off West Florissant near Calvary Cemetery, where her younger brother Henry Wilson Reed was buried. (Below, standing, from left: Leslie, his Aunt Hattie, his dad; seated, from left, his Aunt Eula, Eula’s granddaughter Sue, and his Aunt Eugie, in Eugie’s backyard, 5450 Gilmore Avenue, St. Louis, about 1950.)
Dad was not often in touch with his half-brother and half-sister and their families. Most of them lived in or near Carbondale, Illinois. After Dad died in 1990 and Mom in 1995, I reconnected with Uncle Bunk, his wife Smoky, Aunt Ike, and my Reed cousins. I enjoyed many good visits with them, thanks to Aunt Smoky. The last of my aunts and uncles, she died in August 2021 at age 99.
During his career, Dad was a physician and surgeon in Herrin, a coal-mining town; several farm towns in Central Illinois (Maroa, Argenta, and Ramsey); a steel town, Granite City (including long, often overnight shifts as an emergency room physician at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital); and at John C. Cochran Veterans Hospital in St. Louis. He retired in 1984, when he was 69. (Leslie, 1970s, below.)
My parents looked forward to traveling more, but my mom’s parents in Southern Illinois began to have serious health issues, and she needed to go there often to help them (her dad died in 1985 and her mom in 1987). By 1988, my parents began to have their own health issues, which further limited their travel.
After 33 years as a busy doctor, my dad wasn’t sure how to spend his newfound free time. I knew he liked to write down his observations about life. He had large and small notebooks full of them. So, I encouraged him to write his life story. “Do you think anyone would want to read it?” he asked. “I would!” I said. He wrote about 100 pages in his clear, very precise longhand—not so common for a doctor). To me, his handwriting looked almost like it did 40 years before, when he signed his World War II draft registration. In the excerpt below, he writes about his dad, George Leslie Reed.
I’ve shared copies of my dad’s story with my Reed cousins, and they were glad to learn more about their uncle and our family. I’m more grateful than ever to have it now as I write this, 33 years after Dad died. It’s filled with so many good memories and insights I overlooked before.
Sometime in the 1980s, my dad purchased a marker for his mother Hazel’s grave at Calvary Cemetery. My mom said when she and Dad first went to see the marker after it was placed, she saw him cry for the first time in their more than 30 years together. The next time I visited St. Louis from Texas, they took me to see it. Now I understand better how important that was to him. (Left, Lois and Leslie, St. Louis, 1980s.)
Before that, only Hazel’s mother, Emma Empson Farmer, had a marker in Section 22, Lot 327. Emma is listed as the owner of the lot, likely purchased after Hazel died. Unmarked family burials in the lot include Emma’s son Elmer Joseph Farmer, his wife Josephine Knox Farmer, Emma’s daughter Emma Farmer Finn, and Emma’s son-in-law (Lillian’s husband) John Halley (listed in Calvary Cemetery records as John Holley). Emma’s husband John R. Farmer Sr., who died in 1901, is buried in Section 16, reserved for charity burials. Their daughter Lillian, who died in 1911, is buried in Section 5, with other members of the Halley family. (Below, Hazel’s and Emma’s markers.)
Among the many other family members buried in Calvary Cemetery are Emma’s parents, John and Bridget Empson, and their son Walter Louis. The last time I visited, their graves were unmarked. (As a Civil War veteran, John is entitled to one through the U. S. Department of Veterans Affairs.) They are in Section 1, not far from where Dred Scott is buried. John’s son Joseph P. Empson died in 1874. Possibly he is buried near them, although I haven’t found a record of it.
My only memory of meeting someone from the Farmer family was in April 1962. My parents and I went to a visitation for John R. Farmer Jr. at the former Buchholz Mortuary on West Florissant in St. Louis. I remember it was not far from Riverview Circle. We had recently moved to Granite City, Illinois, so it was not a long drive. It was a friendly, rather than somber, gathering. As my dad introduced himself, he was greeted warmly, and it made him very happy. I don’t know how my parents learned about John’s death.
Sometime later, they saw Ray Eschbacher, Oneida Farmer Eschbacher’s husband, several times at the former Pope’s Cafeteria at Central City in North St. Louis County and enjoyed visiting with him. In 1975, the same year I moved to Texas, my parents moved from Granite City to North County. They also stayed in touch with Anthony and Louise Farmer, who lived not far from them in Ferguson, Missouri. I met Louise in 1979, the year I was married. (Below, Rob, Leslie, Susan, and Lois, St. Louis, 1979.)
I have yet to solve a few mysteries about Hazel—including her health, cause of death, and place of death. In my dad’s life story, he wrote that he and his parents lived in Kirksville, Missouri, when his mother died in February 1919. Then he described what seems to be, instead, the two-story, multi-family, shotgun-style home where the family lived on Belle Glade Avenue in St. Louis, the address on Hazel’s death certificate. According to the document, she died at 2404a Belle Glade, where her mother, Emma, lived (she also was the informant). Hazel’s home address is listed as 2404 Belle Glade.
My dad was 3 years and 10 months old at the time. He didn’t remember his mother’s death but recalled this: “There was a feeling of sadness and emptiness as I walked down the hall. The bed where my mother and father slept was neatly made up with a sort of long roll covered by a bedspread at the head of the bed.” Perhaps by then Hazel had moved upstairs to her mother’s when she became more seriously ill, or she already had died. (See photo of the house on Belle Glade below.)
Hazel wrote in my dad’s baby book that “Baby’s Journeys” included Kirksville, Missouri, on July 4, 1915. She didn’t mention they lived there. One photo I have is of Hazel, wearing an apron, with a woman who possibly was her older sister Emma (right). On the back is written, probably by my Grandpa Reed, “Kirksville, Missouri, 1915 or 1916.” At the time, he was a machinist at Brown Shoe Company, and there were shoe factories in Kirksville where he also could have worked. Possibly they lived there a short time in 1915 and 1916 and then returned to St. Louis before Hazel became ill and died?
After 1916, I found only St. Louis addresses for the family. In 1917, they lived on St. Louis Avenue. In 1918, Grandpa Reed lived with his sister Eugie, her husband Fred, and their son Fred Jr. on Gilmore Avenue. Did Hazel live there, or was she hospitalized, and Eugie helped take care of my dad? Until she died in 1974, Eugie stayed in close touch with our family and often seemed concerned about my dad. Was it because he had lost his mother at such a young age, or something else? By early 1919, the family—George, Hazel, my dad, Hazel’s mother Emma, and likely Emma’s youngest son Anthony and grandson Empson—had moved to Belle Glade Avenue, where Hazel died on February 8.
My parents told me that Hazel died in the influenza epidemic. She did die near the end of it. Her name is listed as Hazel V. Reed on her death certificate, in her obituary, and in my dad’s baby book. In my dad’s old family notes, I found that her middle name was Veronica. Her cause of death is listed as pulmonary tuberculosis, and she had been ill for three months. With such a contagious disease, I wonder if everyone, including my dad, had to wear masks, as we did during the recent pandemic. He once admitted that, even as a physician, he felt claustrophobic when he had to wear a surgical mask. Perhaps it reminded him of his mother’s illness and death and the sense of fear and loss he felt but couldn’t find a way to express.
Dad’s half-brother told me he heard that Hazel died from tuberculosis contracted from spending time in a mental hospital. A Farmer cousin and one of Grandpa Reed’s sisters said they were told that Hazel “never got over” my dad’s birth. I know that some members of Hazel’s family have had emotional struggles. Her father was known to drink and anger easily, her brother Elmer died in the St. Louis State Hospital after being a patient there for many years, and my dad was treated for depression as he got older.
When I look at Hazel’s photos, I see a kind, contented person. I haven’t found a record of her being in a mental hospital or other facility. If Hazel did suffer from a mental illness, I feel only compassion and love for her and my dad and for all those who provided comfort and support to them. During that time, there was even more of a stigma about such a condition than there is today. It would not have been easy for any of them.
My dad always enjoyed finding patterns in life, and so do I. When I met my husband, Rob, I discovered that he, my dad, and my mom’s dad all lost their birth mothers when they were about 3 years old and their mothers were 29. How they each responded has been different, depending, I believe, on the care they received from family and close friends and how well their mother’s memory was kept alive.
From all I’ve learned, my Empson, Farmer, and Reed ancestors did their best to live humbly and keep going, despite challenges. Dad lived that way. I do, too. (Below, Leslie, Susan, and Lois, St. Louis, 1980s.)
This is what I remember most about my dad, as his only child—His eyes were hazel. He always was trim and well-groomed and had beautiful hands. One of my Reed cousins has hands that look just like his. Dad’s posture was very erect, like Doc Martin on the PBS series. From the time he was a young man until a few years before he died, my dad loved to go dancing and learn new steps. He had a good sense of humor and laughed easily. I’m glad I often captured that when I took pictures of him. He also could be stern, moody, and quick to anger. I have often wondered if he suffered from post-traumatic stress from his experiences in World War II (although it was not known as that until 1980). Growing up, he often was a mystery to me, and I wanted to learn “what made him tick.” Over time, I believe that has helped me have deeper insights about other people and myself. And, even as I grow older, I’m still curious and open to learning all I can, just like he was.
My dad often seemed most at home and relaxed when he was traveling, whether to Canada, Mexico, Europe, the British Isles, or even Chicago, where he attended many medical meetings. He also loved San Antonio and visiting us in Austin. When he served in Europe during World War II, he visited Paris and was enchanted by it. (Left, Rob and Leslie, Austin, 1980s.)
My dad and I shared passions for tea, swimming, music, films, museums, and photography, and we often enjoyed them together. He took hundreds of photos when he was in Europe during the war and somehow found a way to print some of them while he was there. I now have all the photos and negatives. Thankfully, he wrote descriptions on the back of many photos. (Below, London.) Many negatives have never been printed. I also have slides he took on travels after the war and 8mm family films, now preserved on DVD, that he shot in the early 1950s, when I was very young.
A few weeks after he was born, Dad was christened in the Catholic faith. After Hazel died and his dad remarried, the family joined a Baptist church. His parents didn’t attend often, but they sent the children.
“I went dutifully until I was about 12,” he wrote, “but I didn’t always like what I heard.” After that, he said, “I would take a long walk instead of going to Sunday School, arriving back home at the proper time. I took a lot of long walks.”
I never knew my dad to be interested in traditional religion. Still, at age 70, he wrote in his life story that “I think a God is out there.” Over the next five years, until he died at age 75, he became fascinated by the world’s mysteries, as explored by Carl Sagan and Joseph Campbell and as symbolized in ancient cultures, especially Mexico, where he often travelled. He read the works of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel and Buddhist philosopher Alan Watts, and he was drawn to programs featuring Leo Buscaglia, who often spoke about the power of love.
For most of his life, Dad was not one to say “I love you” to anyone. Around this time, I began telling him I loved him, and soon he told me he loved me, too. The last time I visited him at home before he died, he sat down next to me and thanked me for coming to see him. I knew that wasn’t easy for him, and it meant the world to me.
Before my dad died on October 26, 1990, he entered hospice, and a young minister from a nearby Methodist church began to visit him. I believe their time together was very healing for my dad. Perhaps he was able to share feelings with the minister he didn’t feel comfortable sharing with anyone else.
At Dad’s memorial service, th
e young minister became very emotional when he spoke about him, especially when he said my dad wondered why he had to die just when he was beginning to see things clearly. That sounds so much like what my dad would say.
Dad faced many challenges in his life, including the death of his mother when he was very young. Throughout his life story, he also described miracles he experienced—surviving dangerous stunts and electrical and chemical experiments in his parents’ basement when he was growing up, close calls when he served in World War II, and, later, several serious car accidents that left him with only minor injuries. On one page he wrote, simply, “Miracles—Susan,” as if he planned to expand on that later. On another page, “If married, everyone should have at least one child, even if you have to adopt one. Watching a child grow and being amazed at how much a small child can learn quickly is one of the joys of parenthood.”
About seven years ago, I decided to look online for a photo of the Belle Glade home where Hazel and her husband, son, and mother once lived and where Hazel died, to see if it was still standing. It was. (As of May 2023, the inner-city home looked relatively well-maintained and was on the market for $65,000.)
Looking at the photo, I imagined Hazel and her family living there and wondered if I ever would have the opportunity to meet any of my Farmer cousins. Five years later, I discovered that Julie Lyons was researching some of the same family lines, and we connected online. As I write this in 2023, Julie and Margaret Lyons are planning a family reunion for June 10, and I’ve been invited. That feels like a miracle in my own life.
In gratitude, I’ve written this to share what I know of Hazel, my dad, and some of our Farmer, Empson, and related ancestors. My hope is that they, and everyone in our family, will be remembered with compassion, with love, and with a light heart. (Left, Leslie, Murphysboro, about 1933.)
A final note . . .
When my dad, Leslie G. Reed, began medical school, he seriously considered becoming a medical researcher but chose to be a general practitioner instead. I ended up being a researcher, doing professional genealogy and archive research. That followed earning a journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin and and working for 20 years as a writer, designer, and meeting planner at an Austin nonprofit and UT and as a freelancer.
I became a professional researcher in 1998, after years of learning more about my own family. My most mysterious ancestors—my dad’s mother, Hazel Veronica Farmer Reed, and my mom’s paternal grandmother, Annie Laurie Stout Kenner—inspired me to start digging. I learned later that they both died when they were 29 and their sons were 3.
I enjoy helping my husband, Rob, research his family, too, including Ruthlee Winkel Burneson, his mother, who also died at 29 when he was 3. He and I have coordinated five family reunions and produced four family history videos. I began volunteering in my community as an event planner and fund raiser in 2003. I also research neighborhood history and share it through exhibits, films, articles, and this website.
Rob and I have lived in Austin almost 48 years (so hard to believe!). We both still have family and friends in the St. Louis area and enjoy visiting them as often as we can.
—Susan, June 2023
ADDENDUM
John R. Farmer Sr.: Inventions & Patents, 1895-1900 (click to enlarge)
Empson/Farmer Family Timeline, 1850-2023
1850 (U. S. Census)
New York, Brooklyn Ward 6, Kings Co., New York
John Emsen, 30, born England, cooper—Possibly John H. Empson of St. Louis?
Catharine, 27, born England
Mary, 2, born England
Bridget Shannon, 49, born Ireland
1860 (U. S. Census)
Illinois, Henderson Co., Shohokon (south of Burlington, Iowa)
John Empson, 35, born England 1824—Possibly John H. Empson of St. Louis?
Living with Joseph Carman, born New Jersey, and family
1860 (U. S. Census)
Missouri, St. Louis Independent City, Ward 8
Bridget Long, 31, born Ireland, seamstress, real estate $2000, cannot read (no husband listed)
Mary L., 7, born Missouri, attended school
Eliza, 4, born Louisiana
1861 (John’s death certificate)
John Robert Farmer Sr. born in Alabama
Civil War (Online records)
John Empson
Sgt., 10 Missouri Infantry, Company B (Captain Davis) (Union)
2 August 1861, enlisted, Macomb, Illinois (near Shohokon, Illinois)
5 August 1861, mustered in, St. Louis, Missouri
24 August 1864, mustered out, St. Louis, Missouri
February 22, 1864 (Death records)
Bridget Empson died (born in Ireland)—Not John Empson’s wife, but related?
Buried at Holy Trinity (a cemetery for the poor; moved to Calvary Cemetery)
About June 1866
John Empson married Bridget Long
1870 (U. S. Census)
St. Louis, Missouri
976/1588
John Emson [Empson], 40, born England, cooper
Bridget 38, born Ireland, seamstress
Louise Long, 16, born in Missouri—Bridget’s daughter
Eliza Long, 14, born in Louisiana—Bridget’s daughter
Joseph P. Emerson [Empson], 14 (From an earlier marriage of John’s?)
Emma Emerson [Empson], 3—John and Bridget’s daughter (married John R. Farmer Sr. in 1884)
Walter Emerson [Empson], 6/12—Son of John and Bridget
[Living in the same dwelling (possibly related?):]
976/1587
John Henesy, 32, born Ireland, $3000 real estate, $200 personal
Mary, 30, born Ireland
William Bagat, 26, born Ireland, grocery merchant, personal $3000
2 May 1874 (Death record)
Joseph P. Empson, 16, son of John Empson (and his first wife?), died
1102 Carr, St. Louis
Burial unknown—Possibly Calvary?
April 15, 1875 (Death record)
Bridget Empson, 43, wife of John, died
1102 Carr, St. Louis, Missouri
Buried Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis (Section 1, Lot 267)
June 4, 1876 (Death certificate)
Walter Louis Empson, son of John and Bridget Empson, died
2701 Papin, St. Louis, Missouri
Buried Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis (Section 1, Lot 267)
June 1880 (U. S. Census)
906 Biddle St., St. Louis.
John Empson, 50, born England, cooper
Emma Empson, 13, born Missouri, keeping house, mother born Ireland
November 1880 (U. S. Census) (Missouri had two census enumerations that year)
1822 7th St.
Emma Emsen, 13, servant, living with the Peter Philip Dreher family
(Peter was the husband of Emma’s half-sister Mary Louise Long Dreher)
January 26, 1884 (Marriage record)
Emma Empson, 17, married John R. Farmer Sr., St. Louis
1890 (City directory)
John Empson, 3945 Sarpy Avenue, St. Louis
1895 (City directory)
John Empson, 2726 Randolph, St. Louis
April 28, 1897 (Death certificate)
John Empson, of 2726 Randolph, St. Louis, died
Buried Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis, (Section 1, Lot 267)—No known marker. (As a Civil War veteran, can receive a marker from the Department of Veterans Affairs)
1900 (U. S. Census)
1725 Ellliot, St. Louis
John [R.] Farmer [Sr.], 39. Married in 1884 at age 23
Emma Empson Farmer, [33]. Married in 1884 at age 17
Lillie [Lillian Gladys] Farmer, 15
Emma Farmer, 13
Hazel Farmer, 11
John [Robert] Farmer [Jr.], 8
Elmer [Joseph] Farmer, 7
Myrtle [Dorothy] Farmer, 5
Anthony [Walter] Farmer, 1
April 8, 1901 (Death certificate)
John R. Farmer, Sr., husband of Emma Empson Farmer, died. Buried Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis (Section 16, Lot 000S—charity section)—No marker.
1910 (U.S. Census)
2929 Madison St., St. Louis
Emma [Empson] Farmer, 43, widowed, no occupation
Lelie [Lilly], 25, shoe stitcher, shoe factory [probably Brown Shoe Company]—Married later in 1910
Emma, 23, shoe stitcher, shoe factory—Married at age 26 in 1913
Hazel, 21, Shoe stitcher, shoe factory—Married at age 25 in 1914
John R. [Jr.], 18, driver, newspaper—Married at age 21 in 1913
Elmer P., 17, shoe worker, shoe factory—Married at age 26 in 1919
Myrtle Gladys, 15, no occupation—Married at age 21 in 1916
Anthony Walter, 11, no occupation—Married at about age 26 in about 1925
June 26, 1910 (Marriage record)
Lillian Gladys Farmer, 25—Married John Halley. One son, Empson John Halley, born in May 1911. Lillian died four months later.
September 3, 1911 (Death certificate)
Lillian Farmer Halley died. By 1920, her son Empson lived with his grandmother, Emma Farmer and her son Anthony.
June 11, 1913 (Marriage record)
Emma, 26, married James Joseph Finn. No known children.
At the time, Emma lived at 1423 Webster and James lived at 2623 Whittier in St. Louis. Emma died in 1938.
December 16, 1913 (Marriage and birth records)
John R. Farmer Jr. married Oneida Murphy. Two children, John W. Farmer and Oneida Farmer Eschbacher.
1914 (City Directory)
Emma Empson Farmer lived at 1423 Webster, St. Louis
1914 (City Directory)
Leslie Reed (George Leslie Reed Sr.) lived at 2837 St. Louis Avenue, St. Louis
June 25, 1914 (Marriage record)
Hazel Farmer, 25, married George L. Reed Sr. One son, Leslie G. Reed, born 19 April 1915. Hazel died 8 February 1919.
April 19, 1915 (Baby book entry by Hazel Farmer Reed)
Leslie George Reed, son of George Leslie and Hazel Reed, born in St. Louis.
1916 (City directory)
George T. Reed (George Leslie Reed Sr.’s father) lived at 2837 St. Louis Avenue (see 1914). No record of his son George, Hazel’s husband, in the directory (possibly they lived in Kirksville, Missouri, at this time).
1916 (Marriage record)
Myrtle [Dorothy] Farmer, 21, married William A. Ramelkamp. No known children.
1917 (City Directory)
Emma Empson Farmer lived at 2702 Glasgow in St. Louis
June 4, 1917 (News article)
John P. Halley, widower of Lillian Farmer Halley, also lived at 2702 North Glasgow, St. Louis, likely with his son Empson John Halley
June 1917 (World War I registration)
George Leslie Reed Sr. lived at 4432a St. Louis Avenue, St. Louis
September 12, 1918 (Anthony’s World War I registration)
Emma Empson Farmer and son Anthony lived at 2404 Belle Glade, St. Louis
1919 (City directory)
Emma Empson Farmer lived at 2404a Belle Glade Avenue, St. Louis
February 8, 1919 (Hazel’s death certificate)
Hazel Veronica Farmer Reed, wife of George Leslie Reed Sr. and mother of Leslie George Reed, died at 2404a Belle Glade, St. Louis. Buried Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis (Section 22, Lot 327). (Name listed incorrectly as Hazel N. Reed in Calvary Cemetery records.) Leslie purchased her grave marker a few years before he died in October 1990.
1920 (U. S. Census)
3110 Whittier, St. Louis
Emma Farmer, 51, widow, head, born Missouri, father born England, mother born Ireland
Anthony Farmer, 21, son
Epsom [Empson] Halley, 8, grandson (son of John and Lillian Farmer Halley)
1920 (Census)
2837 St. Louis Avenue, St. Louis
George Leslie Reed Sr., lived with his son Leslie, his parents (George Thomas and Fannie Wilson Reed), his brother Dick (Henry Wilson) Reed, in the household of his sister Eula and brother-in-law Ollie Hague.
Later in 1920 (Estimated)
George Leslie Reed Sr., father of Leslie George Reed, married Elsie Catherine Moore. Their son Quentin Harry (Bunk) was born 26 May 1921, and their daughter Eileen (Ike) born 6 May 1923, both in St. Louis.
1930s (Newspaper articles)
Myrtle Ramelkamp, daughter of Emma and John R. Farmer Sr. and wife of William A. Ramelkamp, competed in and won many golf tournaments at Norwood Country Club in St. Louis. (Above, Myrtle is the middle golfer in the inset photo at left, 1934.)
1930 (U. S. Census)
George Leslie Reed Sr., wife Elsie, and children Leslie, Quentin, and Eileen lived at 6521 Hobart, St. Louis. About 1931, they moved to Murphysboro, Illinois, where George and sons Leslie and Quentin worked at Brown Shoe Company.
1931 (City Directory)
Emma Empson Farmer lived at 4446 Lexington, St. Louis
January 27, 1938 (Emma’s death certificate)
Emma Farmer Finn, born 1886, wife of James and daughter of Emma and John R. Farmer Sr., died. No known children. She is buried in Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis (Section 22, Lot 327)—No known marker. Her husband, James Joseph Finn, a fireman for more than 40 years, died April 18, 1959, and is buried in Calvary Cemetery, next to his second wife, Alta F. DeGraff Finn (Section 30, Lot 819).
December 19, 1947 (Emma’s death certificate)
Emma Empson Farmer, born 1867, wife of John R. Farmer Sr., died at DePaul Hospital, St. Louis. She is buried in Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis (Section 22, Lot 327), under a double marker with only her name on it. Her husband, John Robert Farmer Sr., who died in 1901, is buried in Section 16, Lot 000S (charity section)—No marker.
December 18, 1961 (Death certificate)
John P. Halley, born 1884, husband of Lillian Farmer Halley and father of Empson John Halley, died. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis, under the name John Holley (Section 22, Lot 327) —No known marker.
April 1962 (Death certificate)
John R. Farmer Jr., born 1890, husband of Oneida Murphy Farmer, died. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis (Section 12, Lot 927).
August 25, 1966 (Death certificates)
Anthony Walter Farmer, born 1899, youngest child of John R. and Emma Empson Farmer and husband of Louise Osinski Farmer, died. No known children. Buried in Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis (Section 26, Lot 218)—Double marker with his wife.
August 8, 1970 (Death certificate)
Elmer Joseph Farmer, born 1893, son of John R. and Emma Farmer and husband of Josephine Knox Farmer, died at St. Louis State Hospital. No known children. Buried Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis (Section 22, Lot 327)—No known marker.
August 19, 1973 (Obituary)
Oneida Murphy Farmer, born 1893, wife of John R. Farmer Jr., died. She is buried in Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis (Section 12, Lot 927).
November 1973
Myrtle Farmer Ramelkamp, born 1895, was the last of John and Emma Farmer’s seven children to pass away. Her husband William died February 1976. Buried in Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis (Section 4B, Lot 108)—No known marker.
October 8, 1979
George Leslie Reed, born 1890, husband of Hazel Farmer Reed and father of Leslie George Reed, died. Buried in Memorial Park Cemetery, St. Louis.
July 9, 1980 (Cemetery record)
Josephine Knox Farmer, born 1890, wife of Elmer J. Farmer, died. No children. Buried in Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis (Section 22, Lot 327)—No marker.
July 17, 1980 (Death certificates and cemetery and other records)
Empson John Halley, born 1911, son of Lillian and John P. Halley and namesake of his great-grandfather John H. Empson, died. His wife Blanche died in 1965. Empson and Blanche had three children. Mary Patricia Boernemann died in 1991. Empson, Blanche, and Mary are buried in Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis (Section 31, Lot 7). Son Gerard J. Halley, who died in 2008, is buried at Jefferson Barracks. Daughter Harriet Brekalo (right—click to enlarge), who died in 2015, is buried in Colorado. Her son, Joseph, died in 2016.
October 26, 1990
Leslie George Reed, M.D., born 1915, son of George Leslie and Hazel Veronica Farmer Reed and husband of Lois, died. Buried in Memorial Park Cemetery, St. Louis.
November 29, 1992 (Obituary)
Oneida Farmer Eschbacher, daughter of John R. and Oneida Farmer and wife of Raymond L. Eschbacher, died. Her body was donated to the St. Louis University School of Medicine.
March 25, 1995 (Obituary)
Louise Osinski Farmer, born 1902, wife of Anthony W. Farmer, died. No known children. She is buried in Calvary Cemetery, St. Louis (Section 26, Lot 218).
May 8, 1995
Lois Lelle Kenner Reed, born in 1923, wife of Leslie George Reed, died. She is buried in Memorial Park Cemetery, St. Louis.
September 22, 1998 (Obituary)
Raymond L. Eschbacher, born 1912, husband of Oneida Farmer Eschbacher, died. His body was donated to the St. Louis University School of Medicine.
February 21, 2001 (Obituary and World War II registration)
John William Farmer, born 1919, son of John R. and Oneida Farmer and husband of Jeanet Weber Farmer, died. His body was donated to the St. Louis University School of Medicine.
January 27, 2013 (Obituary)
Eileen M. Nikodem, born 1937, daughter of Raymond and Oneida Eschbacher, died. She is buried in Sunset Memorial Park Cemetery, Affton, Missouri.
October 21, 2013 (Obituary)
Jeanet Weber Farmer, born 1924, wife of John W. Farmer, died. Her body was donated to the St. Louis University School of Medicine.
June 10, 2023 (Invitation)
2023 Farmer/Eschbacher Family Reunion, Bluebird Park, Ellisville, Missouri
Long/Dreher Family
Mary Louise Long Dreher was a daughter of Bridget Long Empson and Mr. Long (first name unknown) and a half-sister of Emma Empson Farmer, daughter of Bridget and her second husband, John H. Empson. Mary Louise married Peter Philip Dreher about 1870 in St. Louis.
All are buried in Calvary Cemetery, except as indicated otherwise.
Mary Louise Long Dreher, 1854-1933, Section 21, Lot 1519
Peter Philip Dreher, 1857-1927, Section 21, Lot 1519
According to Findagrave.com, they were married in 1870, although I’ve found no marriage record.
Children—
1. John W. Dreher, 1871-1951, All Saints, St. Peters, Missouri
2. Mary E. Dreher Hildreth, 1872-1925. Possibly Mary Eliza, named after Mary Louise’s sister Eliza; listed as Lida Hildreth in her mother’s obituary.
3. Peter H. Dreher, 1874-1934, All Saints, St. Peters, Missouri
Wife: Katie Kaufmann Dreher, 1878-1954, All Saints
Daughter: Katie Dreher, 1887-1900, All Saints
4. Walter Louis Dreher, 1877-1945 (Section 26)
Wife: Ann Redemeier Dreher, 1886-1966 (Section 26)
Son: John A. Dreher, 1905-1976, All Saints, St. Peters, Missouri
Wife: Salome L. Pfaff Dreher, 1909-2001
5. Mabel Dreher Twellman, 1884-1936, Mount Lebanon Cemetery, St. Ann, Missouri
Husband: Arthur, 1881-1965, Mount Lebanon Cemetery
Likely these also are children of Peter Philip and Mary Louise Long Dreher, all of whom died very young:
6. Kate Dreher, 1879-1881 (Section 1, Lot 267)
7. Maud Dreher, 1885-1887 (Section 1, Lot 267). Listed as Mandeola in her obituary, with parents Peter and Lulu Long Dreher.
8. Leo Dreher, 1888-1888 (Section 1, Lot 267)
9. Child of Peter, 1890-1890 (Section 1, Lot 267)
All four are buried in the same section and lot as John Empson (1830-1897), Bridget Long Empson (1832-1875) (Mary Louise Long Dreher’s mother), and their son Walter L. Empson (1870-1876). The burial location of John’s son Joseph P. Empson (1858-1874) is unknown.
Likely a tenth child, Therese, was born to Peter and Mary Louise Dreher in October 1885. Only a birth record, listing her parents, has been found for her.