H C Hornback of Portland, Oregon

[Uncle Buddy]

Here's the California Death Index for Henry Clay Hornback. I found a fairly legible copy at familysearch.org/search (the awesome Mormon site, which is free--this is also where I found the coroner's death report which you can get from dropbox) and they have column headings transcribed for some of the columns. All you probably need is the certificate number which is 15995 although the most important part now that I look at the request form is name, spouse's name, date of death. Spouse's name should be everything we know, for example "Mary Elizabeth Hornback nee Cullen aka Bessie Hornback". For his place of birth I'd put "Kentucky or Australia" since Bessie has said both. Mother's name is unknown. Date of death is May 3, 1915 in San Francisco, SF County. Soc Sec No is None. That should do it.

The relevant Calif. Death Index portion is attached. You can get the whole page at
www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-G1SL-DCF?i=530&cc=1932433&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQK91-PJNK

Attachments:

[Uncle Buddy]

I uploaded 24 files on Bessie Cullen to the dropbox site. They're in a folder called "Bessie Cullen". Let me know if any of them won't open. This will give you the whole Cullen family as they can generally be found living together closely.

[Uncle Buddy]

I've been working on the Clay Hornback of Rocky Ford, Otero County, Colorado who I believe to be the same person as Henry Clay Hornback who died in San Francisco on May 3, 1915, Morgan's father. Or the same person as the inventor H. C. Hornback who moved from Colorado to Portland, Oregon in 1909, or both.

I finally found proof that Clay is related to the only Hornback family in Rocky Ford. Unfortunately he had to steal a bicycle in 1896 for me to find this proof. The reporter was nice enough to not mention his mother's name but it's obviously the right family. His father died in 1892 and was a U.S. Detective, at least during the civil war. I haven't been able to find the father in any census except maybe/probably Nicholas County, Kentucky.

Clay was taken away by train by the chief of police of Colorado Springs, and the next we hear from him in 1898 the newspaper is happy to report that he's working as a cook in a roundup outfit. (H. C. Hornback of Portland is also found working as a cook.) Another newspaper mention has Clay advertising for "town cows to herd". At one time he is working as a brakeman on the railroad. If my guess as to his birthdate is correct (about 1878), he was 16 years old at the time he worked as a brakeman. This might be possible depending on the person and his abilities. We're not talking about the big city here.

One online tree is calling him "Clay T. Hornback" born 1878 but my query as to their source hasn't yet gotten a response. There's a woman named Shirley Hornback who has published books called "Hornback Hunting" who used to look things up for people (since her book is out of print) but there has been no response to my query. Someone who used her as their source called him "C. P. Hornback" so I sent a message to this person and he responded that he couldn't help me.

Clay's two sisters are well known and easy to find. We have pictures of Katie Steward and Olive Beatrice Russell. They were born in the 1870s. Their parents, Solomon Henry Hornback and Eliza Pearlie/Parilee Edmonston, were married in Mississippi County, Missouri in 1874. Eliza had a brother named Henry Clay Edmonston. Since Clay was probably at least 18 when he was arrested, he probably spent a little time at the Canon City, Colorado penitentiary. There is a prisoner number 4084 for an "H. C. Hornback". The Colorado archive sites are not usable from where I live due to official government paranoia.

It could be extremely advantageous to look up the arrest and prison records for this H. C. Hornback. It could be the wrong person (not Clay Hornback) but who knows, the wrong person could be the right person. In any event, we are likely to get one or more high quality photos, names of parents, where this "H. C. Hornback" is from, how old he is, his occupation, etc. So whether he's Clay or not, this lead should be pursued. I'll attach the article about Clay's arrest, and I'll put the links to the Colorado archives at the bottom of this post.

Inventors have a strong tendency to be individualistic and sometimes lone wolves who do not understand or appreciate social conventions as other people do. I've succeeded in my research in the past when the inventor made a bad mistake and landed in jail. I've gotten great photos, handwritten autobiographies, letters from the mother, character references from ex-employers, relatives and friends. I hope someone will carry out this part but I can't do it myself. The same goes for the death certificate of Morgan's father which will probably tell us at least one or two things we need to know to continue the quest.

Here's an informational site:
coloradogenealogy.com/history/prisoner-records-available-at-the-colorado-state-archives.htm
And the related prisoner number:
coloradogenealogy.com/history/h-surnames-colorado-state-penitentiary-prisoner-records.htm
And the Colorado archive sites that have blacklisted my Asian internet provider:
www.colorado.gov/pacific/archives/penitentiary-records
www.colorado.gov/pacific/archives/corrections-records
In case Clay went to a reformatory and not the penitentiary (also can't be accessed from where I live):
history.denverlibrary.org/research/reformatory/index.html

Shirley Hornback's website:
homepages.rootsweb.com/~hornbeck/hsrc/hornbeck.htm

A site which can be accessed from a subscribing library, where you can find images of old documents referring to Solomon Henry Hornback's civil war career as a detective:
proquest.libguides.com/historyvault
www.proquest.com/products-services/film/military-intelligence-during-the-civil-war-provost-marshal-records-on-spies-scouts-guides-amp-detectives.html
This site contains a series of online images of microfilmed documents in a collection called "Military Intelligence during the Civil War: Provost Marshall Report on Spies, Scouts, Guides, and Detectives". There's an index to these volumes which is online. To make this easy I went through it and here are the pages you'll need from the index to find the documents which refer to Solomon H. Hornback, Clay's father: iii-ix, 1, 35, 84, 85, 87, 92-3, 94, 99, 109, 134. There could be something interesting but it could be pretty boring data so you might want to wait till we find out if Clay is the right person before we go into depth on his father. In any case, here's the link to the index for the pages listed above:
www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/17360781/military-intelligence-during-the-civil-war-provost-marshal-proquest

Attachments:

[Uncle Buddy]

There are photos of Solomon Henry Hornback, his wife Eliza Pearlie Edmonston, their daughter Katie, and Eliza's brother Henry Clay Edmonston at ancestry.com. I can't upload them right now but can do it after Jan 10 when my bandwidth allotment is renewed, so let me know if you can't find them. In my opinion there is a family resemblance between Katie Steward (Clay's sister) and the inventor.

[Uncle Buddy]

I found a better copy of the article with the inventor's picture. Now we know what he really looked like.

oregonnews.uoregon.edu/lccn/sn83045782/1909-12-05/ed-1/seq-32/#index=4&rows=20&proxtext=hornback&searchType=basic&sequence=0&words=Hornback&page=1

Attachments:

[Uncle Buddy]

I was able to take a look at the Colorado Archives site by connecting to it via a proxy. It looks like the cost to order the prisoner records for H. C. Hornback (prisoner number 4084) will be $20 assuming there are less than ten pages in the file or $50 for up to 50 pages. For stealing a bike I doubt there's more than one or two pages in his file. Possibly a photo which will get us very close since we now have a good photo of the inventor.

As for whether this inmate H. C. Hornback is going to turn out to be the same person as Clay Hornback of Rocky Ford, Colorado, it's very likely. Take a look at this chart from the archives site and you'll see that the prisoner number 4084 could have been assigned in 1896 (the year Clay was arrested).

Quick Cross-Reference for Inmate Number / Date
Inmate Number Date
1 1871
2661 1891
3860 1895
5591 1902
etc.

If this is the right person then it confirms that Clay is probably Henry Clay like his uncle, and went by his middle name when he lived in Rocky Ford. His father Solomon Henry Hornback sometimes went by his middle name too, so Henry Clay Hornback would have not used "Henry" till he left home in order to not be called "Junior". (I've been called by my middle name my whole life since I was named after my dad.) When he lived in Portland, H. C. apparently went by "Harry".

[mdhii]

Hey, Uncle Buddy!

When Emily reaches out to me about this, I was a bit stunned. I passed the message along to Patti (my aunt) and dad (Mike) and then sat back and watched the mystery unfold. This is SO fascinating! I know you answered this question, but it still intrigues me to no end how you came down this path. Oh how my grandfather would have loved to come across this history.

Perhaps the most stunning thing for me is the change in my grandfather’s name. Apparently it isn’t as stunning to my family members that had the birth certificate! My son, Morgan Joshua Hornback, has a name inspired by him. Josh is the only boy that will most likely be the one continuing on the name, despite the original Morgan having five kids with Ann and over a dozen grandchildren!

It is truly that we though we lived, grew up in the Bay Area, we now find ourselves (my family, along with my dad’s) in a Portland suburb (as well as some of Ann’s family!). I’m super curious if there are any other remnants or even artifacts of Henry/Harry’s time here in PDX.

Am I understanding correctly that you trace Henry to Australia? Would that mean his lineage would likely trace to Britain? A possibly unsavory lineage? 😉

You’ve given our family a wonderful Christmas surprise. Thank you so much. Hope your holiday season is full of joy!

Michael Hornback II

[shadowlander]

I feel altogether silly. I have kept checking back to this thread to see if anyone has posted anything new and couldn't find anything....until I noticed that there was a page 2 to click on. Duh.

I agree with my nephew -- this is such a wonderful Christmas gift!! More than I had ever believed I would find out in meh lifetime. I had all but given up hope of knowing anything of my father's history. You are beyond awesome and I am so grateful for what you have done.

I hope to find the time in the coming weeks to check into some of the things you have linked above. Especially can't wait to look into relatives of Bessie Cullen! Who knows, we may have relatives!!

I changed my photo to one that includes myself as well as my two brothers. Mike, Michael -- is it just my wishful / hopeful thinking or does the inventor have a resemblance to Daddy (Morgan)? What do you think? I see a resemblance (especially if you can picture him with his hair combed the other way)!

More soon but I echo Michael's sentiment. May your holiday season be full of joy and happiness. Thank you so much!

[Uncle Buddy]

Hey Michael! It's great to hear from you and thanks for joining the forum.

Interesting that the family wound up in Portland where the inventor moved to in 1909. It could be significant or it could be a coincidence. I've also lived in Portland off and on, as well as Lake Oswego and Tigard. I've been in the Philippines for 14 years. I've got quite a few relatives in the Portland area and visited there less than a year ago.

Bessie, Henry's widow, told the police when Henry died that he was born in Australia. A few months later when Morgan was born she reported on the birth certificate that Henry was from Kentucky. Both could be true in a way. With the name Henry Clay and the surname Hornback, "Kentucky" is bound to be correct. Many people were named after the Kentucky statesman Henry Clay, and most Hornbacks seem to be from Kentucky. But I can't find Henry or his theoretical parents in the 1880 US census so possibly they were in Australia in 1878 or thereabouts when he was born. I'd say if he was born in Australia then the family was just visiting there. Kentucky is more plausible as where the family would be from. Also if he was an Aussie the newspaper article would have said so. It just said he'd lived in Colorado but didn't say where he was born.

I've done some preliminary searching in Australia at trove.nla.gov.au and www.naa.gov.au/ but nothing yet. My subscription to ancestry.com doesn't go outside the US but I might upgrade the subscription to cover worldwide records. Hornback alligators are common in Australia but Hornback people are common in Kentucky.

I wouldn't be surprised if there might be a trace of Henry in Portland somewhere. I don't recall if there's a railroad museum or something like that. Or a list of railroad employees somewhere. Since the invention was announced there, it's possible that there's more paperwork lurking there somewhere. Maybe a pamphlet file or something at the library, anything's possible. More newspaper articles are possible since the index at Multnomah Co. Library works differently than the online searches I've been using.

Harry C. Hornback's first wife Lillian Josephine Baldwin is buried in Portland. Her whole family lived there so I wouldn't be surprised if someone there has a picture of him at least. Lillie married Ernest Tolman after Harry died. There's a picture of her grave here: www.findagrave.com/memorial/8884229/lillian-josephine-tolman but the memorial writer has her married to a Charles H Hornback which is incorrect. She's at Lincoln Memorial Park, Hillside Section, Lot 149. Local genealogy societies might also have collections such as obituaries and who knows what else.

I haven't yet proven that the inventor is Morgan's dad but the evidence is just short of overwhelming. Gotta be careful though, because coincidences can lead to wrong conclusions. I'm pretty sure I've found him but we'll see. The most important documents needed now are Henry's death certificate which I can't order because I'm unrelated, and Clay Hornback's prison record from the Colorado archives.

I'm glad you're enjoying the discussion and thanks again for writing. Happy Christmas!

[Uncle Buddy]

Patti, it's nice to hear from you again and thanks so much for your kind words. It means a lot to me that someone is following the thread with such enthusiasm. I'm pretty jazzed that I was able to find your grandparents.

Based on comparing photos I don't see any reason why Morgan couldn't be the inventor's son. I think it will work out that way. I'd say the same thing about Clay Hornback's sister, Katie Steward of Rocky Ford, Colorado.

I wouldn't be surprised if there's a picture of Bessie Cullen out there somewhere waiting for us to find it. Since she lived for decades in Bay Area hospitals where she worked I'd be very surprised if they don't have pictures of her there in old employee files. San Francisco General Hospital (now renamed for Mark Zuckerburg who donated 75 million for renovations) is where she started out as a pantry maid and by 1940 she was working as a practical nurse and apparently living at the Fairmont Hospital in San Leandro. If I was related to her I'd send a notarized request stating your relationship and asking for her employee records. They'd at least have to say boo. Me, they just ignore since I'm not related. She died on May 6, 1961 in Alameda County.

I don't know if you and Mike saw the private messages I sent a while back. That page 2 thing has gotten me in the past too, for some reason I always think it should open to the most recent post but it doesn't.

Have a nice holiday season!

[shadowlander]

Thank you so much! (Maybe it was a bad thing but I downloaded the pic in case you have to remove it -- I am so starved for anything related to my father's side of the family).

So I bit the bullet and went to vitalchek.com and submitted a request for Henry C Hornback's death certificate. I should get it in the mail in the next few days and will post once I receive it.

Will be in touch! Thank you again!

Patti

[shadowlander]

(Oh and yes, I did see the message just a little while ago. Looking forward to checking it out. Abundant thanks our new friend!!)

[Uncle Buddy]

I'll send more when my internet allotment renews on the tenth. Still looking in the meantime. Once I see what's on Henry's death certificate I might order the records for Clay H. of Colorado since it's very likely to either make or break one of my theories.

[mdh]

Patti received the death certificate for our grandfather Henry C Hornback and asked me to post it here.  It is attached.

[Uncle Buddy]

Thanks for getting the document. I see they were new in town or just passing through. Here's an aerial view of his gravesite but there doesn't appear to be a stone. I'll see if someone will go there on foot and take a picture of what is there anyway. The details on the document are sparse but Bessie was pregnant and the police probably didn't press her too hard for information under the circumstances. I'm sure we'll be able to learn more, all in good time.

www.cypresslawn.com/cemetery-map/