Daniel Busby Part 2 - California Busbys

After Dan Busby returned to Kansas, I don't know how much contact went on between the Kansas and California relatives.  There were several others of the Busby clan that had already moved to California or would move there subsequently.  Dan's brother Cy (Abram Cyrus) died in the Los Angeles area in 1968.  Some descendants from Dan's uncles Phineas and Rueben Busby lived there at times in Tulare County.   I am not privy to any communications between Dan and his California family, but he did revisit the family once in the 1930s as shown below.

Image 01: Visalia (CA) Times-Delta, 27 Jan 1932, pg 4, col 5

Whether there was much news traveling across the country, newspapers reported some things.  Like newspapers in the present day, the more sensational the better and with that warning, here is what I have gathered about Eva and the children.

We pick up the story in 1900.  Dan and Eva have been divorced for a couple of years and Dan is living in Kansas.  So we find that just after the turn of the century, Eva married again.

Image 02: Daily Delta (Visalia, CA), 31 Jan 1900, pg 4 col 2

A clip from the 1900 Census would be helpful at this point to capture the family at the turn of the century, except that this page is damaged and hard to read.  The following transcription of some details might be more profitable.  Some of the age and birth information seems inaccurate or perhaps I am reading it wrong.

1900 U.S. Census, ED 69, Visalia Twp, Tulare Co., California

Name	Relationship	Age	Birth Mth/Yr
John Menteer	head	30	Feb/1870
Eva Menteer	wife	39	Jan/1861
George Cahoon	stepson	20	Jan/1880
Cahoon Cahoon	stepson	16	Mar/1884
Pansy Busby	stepdaughter	13	Nov/1886
Zinnia Busby	stepdaughter	9	Aug/1890
Rose Busby	stepdaughter	7	Jan/1893
Violet Busby	stepdaughter	11	Jan/1889
Forest Busby	stepson	5	Apr/1894

A few months after the marriage more trouble appeared.  The three clips below show that the public side of the spat passed quickly but it like left a reputational scar.

Image 03: Visalia (CA) Times-Delta, 19 May 1900, pg 8, col 3

Image 04: Daily Delta (Visalia, CA), 20 May 1900, pg 4, col 2

Image 05: Visalia (CA) Times-Delta, 29 May 1900, pg 4, col 2

The only thing that can be added is from the Sheriff's Office records.  They identify the arresting officer as Charles E. Mackay and they don't give any descriptive info about Eva (most entries give hair and eye color, age and height information).  Possibly these charges were never seen as serious.
On 31 Jul 1900, Eva's son J. M. Cahoon (a. k. a. James Mark Cahoon) was arrested for burglary by officer Ben Parker according to the Sheriff's records.

Image 06: Visalia (CA) Times-Delta, 1 Aug 1900, pg 4, col 2

Sheriff's records add that the young man had a dark complexion, dark hair and brown eyes.  He stood 5 ft., 8 in. and had $7.35 a watch and a knife in his pockets.  As to whether his mother supplied him with money to repay the debt, I don't know but the next clip indicates his stepfather was not sympathetic.

Image 07: Visalia (CA) Times-Delta, 3 Aug 1900, pg 4, col 2

The Sheriff's records show that they took Mr. Menteer's advice and James was transferred to the Preston Reform School on 7 Aug.

Perhaps the rest of the year saw happier times.  The annual rite of the children's Christmas program included several of the Busby children.  Below are most of the scheduled acts of the program.  Particularly intriguing is the "Song" by Forest Busby who would have been about 5 1/2 years old.

Image 08: Visalia (CA) Times-Delta, 26 Dec 1900, pg 1, col 3

Things continued to be quiet for the next couple of years.   I don't know what prompted the following act, but Eva presented her girls with a fine gift.

Image 09: Daily Delta (Visalia, CA), 10 Aug 1902 pg 3, col 2

Pansy would have been nearly 16, Zinnia 13, Rose 12 and Violet 9.  The word 'distination' is either a rarely used synonym for or typo meaning 'distinction'.

A couple of items need to be mentioned in the chronology.  First of all, I don't know much about John Menteer.  In particular, I don't know anything about what happened to him beyond 1900.  At some point he was out of the picture and on 28 Apr 1903, Eva married George Joseph Long in Tulare County.
In preparation for the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition to be held in Portland, Ore. from June to October 1905, the Fresno Democrat newspaper held a contest for a free trip to the Exposition.  Pansy Busby and James Cahoon (apparently then out of reform school) and even "Miss" Eva K. Long got in on the action.  Here are two clips showing the voting over time.
 

Image 10: Tulare (CA) Advance-Register, 10 Mar 1905, pg 4

Image 11: Tulare (CA) Advance-Register, 13 Apr 1905, pg 4

The family had grown up in some pretty wild country and had learned to take care of themselves.  Whether you believe that the girls' target in the following three clips were coyotes or "wolves" of the two-legged variety, they knew how to use the weapons at hand.   (The first clip is cut into two images for formatting reasons, making 4 images total.)

Image 12: Tulare (CA) Advance-Register, 10 Nov 1906, pg 1, col 1-2

Image 12: Tulare (CA) Advance-Register, 10 Nov 1906, pg 1, col 1-2

Image 14: Visalia (CA) Times-Delta, 23 Nov 1906, pg 1, col 3

In 1909, tragedy visited the family.  James Cahoon had been a troubled young man, but the following article (of which this is only the first few lines) shows there must have been some deeper issues.

Image 15: Tulare (CA) Advance-Register, 4 May 1909, pg 2, col 4

California death records show James M. Cahoon died on 6 May 1909.

Apparently, George Joseph long passed away before 1910.  I have found very little information about him except for the above-noted marriage.  The following clip from the 1910 Census shows Eva as a widow  and living with the Busby offspring (although the census taker labels them as "Long"

Image 16: 1910 US Census, District 0192, Lemoncove, Tulare Co., CA

Eva and her children continued to live mostly in the Tulare County area for the rest of their lives.  In the 1920 Census, Eva is listed as Evelyn K. Clough (reverting to her birth name).  In the 1930 Census, she is listed as Eva K. Busby despite the fact she has been married twice since her marriage to Dan Busby.  The name she used might be influence by the fact she is enumerated adjacent to her son Forest Busby.
At any rate, she was married once more to Delbert Dillon Jr. sometime between the taking of the 1930 Census and the incident below from 1932.  He was about 26 years younger than Eva.

Image 17: Visalia (CA) Times-Delta, 7 Sep 1932, pg 2, col 7

Fred Maxon was the father-in-law of Eva's daughter Violet, so it was somewhat of a family feud that got out of hand.  Another report says that the horse belonged to Fred's wife Belle.  I don't know the outcome of the dust-up.  All three were charged with a violation of California Penal Code 597 which, as Sgt. Joe Friday could no doubt tell you, involves cruelty to animals.  They were released after furnishing a $500 bond.
That was the last we hear of Eva until her passing five years later.

Image 18: Visalia (CA) Times-Delta, 23 May 1938, pg 1, col 2

Dan's and Eva's Children

Although he had his share of scrapes with the law, Forest Wiles Busby was a poet at heart.  He had a few of his poems published in the local paper.  Here are a couple of examples.  The reader will probably notice a common theme.

Image 19: Visalia (CA) Times-Delta, 31 May 1925, pg 2, col 3-4

Image 20: Visalia (CA) Times-Delta, 14 Jun 1925, pg 5, col 4

In May 1941 the Aircraft Warning Service, a civilian arm of the Army's Ground Observer Corps was formed to spot enemy aircraft operating in the skies over the east and west coast.  With the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December, it was perceived as an imminent threat.  The 'Busby/Cahoon Girls' (Zinnia Pawley, Rose Root and Pansy Kirk) answered the call and volunteered for the task of defending the nation and apparently logged over 4000 hours of observations in this wartime effort.  They were recognized for their important work as noted in the clip below.

Image 21: Visalia (CA) Times-Delta, 3 Aug 1943, pg 2, col 5-6

Obituaries of Rose, Pansy, Forest and Violet

Many descendants of Dan Busby and Eva Clough still occupy the central California valley and probably are spread far and wide.  We will end this part of the tale with the obligatory obituaries and one last fitting tribute.

Image 22: Tulare (CA) Advance-Register, 23 Jul 1956, pg 2 and 6

Image 23: Exeter (CA) Sun, 22 Jan 1962

Image 24: Exeter (CA) Sun, 14 Mar 1964

Image 25: Exeter (CA) Sun, 31 May 1967

Zinnia Busby's Life

I do not have a copy of an obituary for Zinnia Pawley. However, I do know some facts and stories about her adult life.  She was born 4 Feb 1889 to Daniel Eva (Clough) Busby.  She was married to Manuel Pestana sometime in the early 1910s (possibly on 22 May 1911 per an unsourced ancestry.com family tree). By the election of 1914, she was registered as Zinnia Pestana in Hammond Precinct.
Manuel was born in Portugal perhaps in May 1865.  He immigrated to the U.S. in 1887 and in 1900 was living in San Jose, Santa Clara Co., CA.  That year he married Nettie Sellers who was the step-daughter of J. W. Griffes who lived in Visalia, CA in Jan. 1900.  On Nov. 28, 1905, she was admitted to the Stockton State Hospital as she had been judged insane.  On Dec 21, 1905, she died of pneumonia there. So in 1910, Manuel is widowed, living by himself in Lemoncove, Tulare, CA.
Manuel's and Zinnia's marriage only lasted a few years as shown in the clip below.

Image: 26: Visalia (CA) Times-Delta, 07 Aug 1918, pg 8

However near this time, Zinnia struck out on her own.  According to the liner notes associated with a ballad written about her by Belinda Gail and Curly Musgrave. "At age 20 she went against Victorian convention and struck out on her own with a string of pack mules to homestead a ranch in the Sierra Mountains.  It was a working ranch until her death in the early 1970s.".  Indeed two land patents were filed for some land in Township 18 South, Range 29 East in Tulare Co., California for "Zinnia M. Pawley, formerly Zinnia M. Pestana".   One hundred twenty acres were patented on 15 Aug 1922 in sections 14 and 23 and an additional 500 acres were patented on 7 Jan 1936 in sections 2, 11,12 and 13.   The U.S. Bureau of Land Management Tract Books seem to show she started the process of acquiring land in as early as 1916 In 1921 Zinnia was married again.  Note her name is misidentified as "Prestana" not "Pestana."

Image 27: Visalia (CA) Times-Delta, 24 Jul 1921, pg 10

The 1930 Census shows Zinnia and Charles living near Lindsay.  Charles is listed as a farmer and Zinnia as the forelady at a packing house.  In 1940 they are enumerated on "65 highway south of Exeter" where Charles is said to be a "Cattleman" I don't believe Zinnia had any children, but in the 1940s she did take in a young man named Elmer Leroy Stillfield and raised him.  His daughter would eventually write the ballad previously mentioned in tribute to "Aunt Zinnia".   A portion of the lyrics tell a bit more of the story.

While Victorian ladies stayed home and had babies
Zinnia rode far ahead of her time.
The land and the livestock were her life and her rock
They anchored her soul and her life they defined.

She cooked at a cow camp was even a fruit tramp
Whatever was needed to hold to the land.
Through wars and depression, bad luck and oppression,
Stayed true to her dream and true to her brand.

- From 'Zinnia Pawley' by Curly Musgrave and Belinda Gail ©2008 Creakin' Leather Music (lyrics transcribed by Calvin Wylie)

Zinnia passed away on 11 Feb 1971 and Charles on 9 Oct 1977.