H C Hornback of Portland, Oregon

[Uncle Buddy]

Well I can't believe my luck, I finally found Solomon Henry Hornback in both the 1870 and 1880 census. I also found his military record in which he states he was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky. The 1880 census was the hardest one to find since it was the one we needed the most. We find on it his son Clay, for the first time in any census, and he's listed as "Henry Clay Hornback". The census was hard to find because it was hard to read so the transcription was mis-spelled. I found it by using the old trick, don't give the search engine a surname. Then just scan through the surnames found till you see one that could be a mis-spelling of the one you're looking for. In this case, if you look for "Henry Homluck" of Erie, McDonald County, Missouri, born about 1838 in Kentucky, the search engine will go right to it. You don't have to use ancestry.com since familysearch.org has the census for free, and so does archive.org for that matter.

In 1870 Henry was working as a fisherman in Calhoun County, Illinois. Close to Pike County, Illinois where a branch of the Kentucky Hornbacks settled. In both 1870 and 1880, Henry is taking care of a young nephew or stepson named Charles Hornback who was born in Illinois, so this might help link him to the Illinois Hornbacks. Which would be helpful since Solomon Henry Hornback's grandfather isn't that easy to find. His father was named Peter.

In 1870 S. H. Hornback was married to his first wife Columbia Powel. Their marriage record is easy to find on familysearch.org for free but the pay copy at ancestry.com is illegible so they have his wife's name transcribed/guessed as "Maria Harris"! So poor Solomon has an extra wife he never heard of.

Well this is the encouragement I was looking for so I might go ahead and spend my wife's grocery money on the H. C. Hornback prison record from Colorado. We now have proof that Clay Hornback of Rocky Ford, Colorado's full name was also Henry Clay. The evidence that the inventor in Portland was you guys' grandfather who died in SF in 1915 is now very strong. He said he was from Colorado. When he no longer lived with Lillian in Portland he is found living with Bessie in Portland (1914-1915) and when your grandfather died in SF he'd only been there one day. Lillian started calling herself a widow in 1916. The evidence is not yet overwhelming or proof but at this point I'd be surprised if the mug shot from Colorado archives--if there is one--is not the same person as the inventor. Clay of Rocky Ford is not only "H. C." but now we know he was in fact named Henry Clay and was born about 1877-78. In Texas, apparently.

Solomon got around. He was in the cavalry in the civil war, a detective and spy. His job was to find "southern men" and arrest them. We now have some depositions in his own words as well as an awesome photo of him, his 2nd wife Eliza Parilee Edmonston and her brother Henry Clay Edmonston. I'll get these things to you after the 10th when my internet allotment renews. For now, I'm chomping at the bit to order that prison record from Colorado so if someone else is already planning to do it please let me know and I won't spend the $20. My goal is to always do everything for free but sometimes I have to know.

I've upped my subscription at ancestry.com so I could search for international documents, military records, and old newspapers. No trace of this family in Australia so that lead might dry up, especially now that we have a possible Texas birth for HC.

[Uncle Buddy]

Here's another case of Morgan's foster mother and real mother living at the same address. This is from the 1924 Oakland CA voter's registration. We now have the two young widows living together in both San Francisco and Oakland. I'd theorize that they were in boarding houses reserved for nurses but haven't looked into that yet.

I've been searching for Morgan's foster mother and she's hard to find before 1920 except in a few city directories. After that she's easy to find in city directories, voter registrations, and three censuses. The only candidate so far is a German immigrant born about 1886 named Lucie Koopmann. She and some of her siblings came to San Francisco in the early years of the 20th century. Her siblings are easy to find but Lucie disappears, which means she probably got married and we don't know her last name. She might be Lucille Gretchen Hutchinson, Morgan's foster mother. If anyone has any info on Lucille it would be interesting.

Lucie Koopman's family lived pretty much in only two parts of San Francisco. The same two parts where Bessie Cullen lived. Around 1922, Lucille & Bessie lived only a few blocks from Lucie Koopman's brother Claus.

Lucille Hutchinson later married John H. McBride and then was widowed again.

Attachments:

[Uncle Buddy]

My website www.aircaraccess.com is back online after taking a few months off. A few pieces still need to be adjusted and some pictures might be missing, but the website is essentially there.

The newest page is just a mock-up or preliminary example page for the direction I've been going in--Air Car Hall of Fame--but it's worth looking at, in fact it's kinda cool: aircaraccess.com/achf-intro.htm

[Uncle Buddy]

I just learned that my grandpa, who I didn't know and only met a few times, was married in Rocky Ford, Colorado where Clay Hornback grew up. I was born not far from there.

Still planning to get that record from the Colorado archives on Clay, if no one else does. I'm just waiting for the dust to settle from the holiday season.

[lksteward]

Hi all,

Scott reached out to me on Ancestry.com and told me about this thread. I have some additional information about Henry Clay Hornback (1878-1915), who went by Clay, as he was the younger brother of my great-great-grandmother (Katie Steward, nee Hornback).


Most of the information I have about Clay comes from newspaper clippings from the Rocky Ford Enterprise, which has archives on the genealogybank website for the years 1893-1916. Katie Steward was active in the social community there and there are many mentions in the "personal and social" columns from that paper over the years which provide small insights into the family. It is known in our family that Katie sometimes doctored some of the information that was not socially acceptable, so this should be viewed primarily as guidance rather than hard facts. There is an obituary for their mother Eliza P. Edmonston (married name Hornback) written by Katie which provided some details about the family's history, as well as a note about Clay's death in San Francisco in 1915 from asphyxiation.

Here is my basic understanding of Clay's life in movements:

Henry Clay P. Hornback

Name: Seems to be named after his mother Eliza's younger brother Henry Clay Edmonston, perhaps also after his father Solomon Henry (went by Henry), but he went by Clay. I believe the middle initial was not T. but rather P., and may stand for Pearlie/Parilee, which was Eliza's middle name and perhaps a family name somehow. In one of the newspaper clippings he was mentioned as C.P. Hornback which supports P being his middle initial.

Birth: Either Missouri, Kentucky, or Arkansas. Eliza Edmonston and Solomon Hornback were married in Mississippi County, Missouri in April 1870 or 1874 (there is a blurry record which supports 1874, Eliza's memorial says it was 1870, but that may have been doctored by Katie to support her birth being in wedlock, since Katie was born 1872). Eliza's Memorial says the family lived in Kentucky until 1878 when they moved to Arkansas, but it seems clear that they were in Missouri at least part of the time. I have not been able to find an 1880 census record for anyone in the family, but I believe they lived in Rogers, Arkansas because of a photo I have of the family with the inscription "Rogers, Arkansas" as well as mentions of Katie receiving visitors from Rogers, Arkansas later in the Rocky Ford Enterprise.

According to Eliza's memorial, around 1890 the family moved from Arkansas to Rocky Ford, Colorado, where Solomon died and was buried in 1892.

From the Rocky Ford Enterprise, we have these snippets:

August 9, 1894: Clay Hornback, who has been brakeing on the Rio Grande Western, is home again.
May 30, 1895: Town Cows wanted to herd. Call on Clay Hornback.
May 19, 1898: Clay Hornback is now doing efficient service as cook for the Columbia L.&C. round up outfit.
March 5, 1915: Mentioned in Eliza P. Edmonston Hornback's obituary: "To this union was born three children, who are still living, as follows: Mrs. Ford J. Steward of this city; Mrs. Platt Russell of Salt Lake City, and Clay Hornback of San Francisco."
Mar 26, 1915: Mrs. Ford Steward is enjoying a visit from her brother, C. P. Hornback and his daughters, Mrs. Stafford and Miss Crystal Hornback, who arrived on Tuesday from their home in Chester, Ark.
May 7, 1915: Mrs. Ford J. Steward on Tuesday received a message from San Francisco telling of the death of her brother by being accidentally asphyxiated by gas. Mr. Hornback was well known to many in this city, who will deeply sympathize with Mrs. Steward.

I am new to this platform but will try to post some photos and documents later.

Best,
Laura

[lksteward]

This photo was found in Katie (Hornback) Steward's scrapbook, of the Solomon Henry Hornback family in Rogers, Arkansas in 1887. Henry Clay Hornback is the young boy in the center back row. Pictured here:

Back left: Katie Hornback (1872-1954). Married Ford Steward. Died Rocky Ford Colorado.
Back center: Henry Clay Hornback (1878-1915)
Back right: Olive Beatrice Hornback (1875-1926). Married Jesse Platt Russell. Died Salt Lake City, UT.
Front left: Eliza P. (Edmonston) Hornback (1844-1915). Died Rocky Ford Colorado.
Front right: Solomon Henry Hornback (1837-1892). Died Rocky Ford Colorado.

You can see the U.S. Marshall badge on Solomon Hornback's chest.

Attachments:

[Uncle Buddy]

Laura,

Thanks so much for participating in the conversation. I don't know if the family of Morgan Hornback is still watching the forum but will send them an email so they can see that it is confirmed: Morgan's father was in fact the one from Rocky Ford, Colorado. I still have to prove that my inventor is the same person but based on this photo and the other one you posted of him as an adult (at ancestry.com), I'm pretty sure they are the same person. Certainly no reason to be sure they are not, at this point.

Due to mail being completely stopped between the U.S. and where I live, there has been no reason to bother ordering Clay's prison records. I am sending an email with a more complete response.

I will try to summarize (not something I've ever been good at but at my age I no longer have a good memory so I'll probably forget some things) the evidence that the Portland inventor was Clay Hornback of Rocky Ford, Colorado.

--The inventor H. C. Hornback said he'd lived in Colorado a long time. The span of years he gave are not inconsistent with what we know about Clay. No one else in Colorado is a candidate for this person.

--Both worked on the railroad.

--Both worked as cooks.

--Both were married to a woman named Bessie.

--Both were unsettled, somewhat transient types, hard to find, tended to live in hotels.

--H. C. disappears from Portland at the same time that Clay appears in San Franscisco.

--H. C.'s wife Lillian (who had already divorced him) started calling herself a widow right after he died.

--There is no negative evidence to the contrary (none).

When he was about 18, Clay stole a bike... I hope to find in his prison records a statement something like, "I needed the parts for an invention..." Other than something like that, a mug shot could prove or disprove the connection. I can't order online since the Colorado archives website has blacklisted the only ISP I can use here in the Philippines but if no one else wants the files, I still do, and will provide copies if I ever get around to spending the $20.

I would like to thank everybody who has participated and provided information to solve this mystery. I hope we're all doing well in these harsh times.

[Uncle Buddy]

Morgan Hornback's foster mother was married to Edgar W. Hutchinson, a carpenter of San Francisco and Oakland, California. It looks like he was from Kalamazoo, Michigan, born about 1859. His first wife's name was Rebecca. I still can't find Luciel Gretchen Hutchinson's maiden name. She was not Lucie Koopmann, I found her married name finally.

Lucille G. Hutchinson and Edgar W. Hutchinson split up and she called herself a widow till she married Mr. McBride. Edgar Hutchinson and his brother lived together in Oakland and ran a grocery store for a while. I think he died in 1930.

No clue where in Germany Luciel/Lucille came from.

[whrecks]

On Dec 17, 2019 you posted a url for Shirley Hornbeck's website. I sent her an email, which quickly bounced. The whois lookup shows the following info for website s-hornbeck.com
Registrar Info
Name Network Solutions, LLC
Important Dates
Expires On2021-06-17
Registered On1998-06-18
Updated On2020-06-19
Name Servers
NS1.PENDINGRENEWALDELETION.COM207.204.40.151
NS2.PENDINGRENEWALDELETION.COM207.204.21.151
So someone is paying to keep the site going, but the email doesn't work.

[Uncle Buddy]

Rex, thanks for joining the forum. It's nice to have you join the discussion.

I will add some updates now. A descendant of one of Clay Hornback's sisters purchased the Colorado penitentiary file so we know the file is on Clay and have a good photo of him at age 19. No hair though, compared to the grandiose hairdo of H. C. Hornback the inventor who moved to Portland in 1909. I think they're the same person but over ten years age difference and no hair in the 1896 mug shot so I really can't say for sure, based on the photo, whether they're the same person. I'm 99% convinced that Clay Hornback of Rocky Ford, Colorado and the inventor H. C. Hornback are the same person but lacking final proof. The evidence at this point is nearly overwhelming but not quite. Finding the 1910 census was helpful because the Portland man was cooking for a work party at a lumber camp, and we have Clay cooking for a roundup party back in Colorado. One more piece of evidence is needed but I don't know what it will be.

Clay's prison record didn't give much personal information except for a catalog of scars and marks on his body. This made me take a second look at a similar prison record from Texas in which a locomotive engineer named Henry C. Hornback from a town called Rocky Ford stole three bales of cotton in Texas and served some time. The age given by the Texas prisoner was years off, he was supposedly much older than Clay would have been, so I'd assumed he was from Rocky Ford, Texas (a ghost town, if that). Then I remembered to compare the catalog of scars... and how many guys from Rocky Ford named Henry C. Hornback have three small scars on the top of their head, as well as other matching marks. It's not proof but they're probably the same person. No mug shot from Texas. But no one else, no one in Texas or anywhere else I could find, is the right age so the age he gave to the Texas authorities was probably just not factual. Since they didn't have databases back then he might have been aiming to not have the prior conviction noticed when arrested in Texas, by lying about his age.

So getting back to Portland. After I wrote you I took a look at the city directories I have and I doubt there are any others to see, unless directories were put out by more than one company for the same year in which case you never know what might turn up. My posts get too long so I'll summarize what's known about the Portland H. C. Hornback in the next post.

[Uncle Buddy]

H. C. Hornback, inventor and railroad engineer in his early 30s, first appeared in Portland, Oregon late in 1909 after having lived in Colorado for fifteen years. Except for two newspaper articles which don't say what "H. C." stands for, we have only city directories, some of which give spouses, addresses, and occupations.

Henry Clay Hornback of Rocky Ford, Colorado moved to San Francisco, California with his pregnant wife Bessie Cullen and died shortly thereafter by accidental asphyxiation in an apartment they'd just moved into the previous day. He had experience as a roundup cook, a brakeman on the railroad, and assisting a snake-oil salesman who went from town to town with his medicine show. Clay was born in Texas in about 1877.

In this list I will include mentions of Henry C. Hornback, railroad engineer, from Colorado and Missouri also. There's no proof they're all the same person but there are no other candidates either. I'll also include information we have on Lillian Josephine Baldwin, the wife of the Portland man, who would be theoretically Clay's first wife before he married Bessie.

1907 Denver, Colorado directory:
Mrs. H. C. Hornback rooms 1928 Lawrence (very close to Union Railroad Station)

1908 Denver, Colorado directory:
Mrs. H. C. Hornback rooms 1848 Larimer (very close to Union Railroad Station)
Harry C Hornback, engineer, 754 Broadway

1909 Denver, Colorado newspaper want ad:
Harry Hornback, man and wife, 1540 Larimer St room 35,seeking position in charge of a stock ranch. Experienced.

1909 Portland newspapers:
inventor H. C. Hornback, La Porte Hotel 251-1/2 Yamhill, no mention of a Mrs. Hornback

1910 Portland OR census:
Harry Hornback, age 30, single, cook at camp, roomer at 592-1/2 First St.
Lillie J. Hornback, married(2), living with her child at her brother's house, 493 E 32nd
Mrs. H. C. Hornback, mother of 11-year-old, advertising for housekeeping work, 493 E 32nd
1910 Portland OR directory
Harry C Hornback, cook, 592-1/2 First St.
1910 Kansas City MO directory:
last mention of Bessie Cullen in KC

1911 Portland OR census:
no Hornbacks
1911 Denver CO directory:
Harry C. Hornback, engineer, rooms 440 Elati
1911-01-07 Multnomah County marriage index
Lillian Baldwin (wrong one--married Lew Riggs, younger than Lillian Hornback)

1912 Portland OR directory:
Harry C. Hornback, engineer, 5611 SE 39th Ave

1913 Portland/Denver/Kansas City directory:
no Hornbacks

1914 Portland OR directory:
Harry A. Hornback, mechanic and Bessie Hornback, seamstress, 387 Yamhill

1914 Monett, Missouri newspaper:
H. C. Hornback, brakeman for Frisco line

1915 Portland OR directory:
Harry C. Hornback, janitor, and Bessie, 304 College
Mrs. Lillian Hornback, 427 Ross

1915-05-03 San Francisco CA police report, death certificate, and death notice from Rocky Ford, CO newspaper:
Henry Clay Hornback of Rocky Ford, CO found dead by wife Mary Elizabeth (Bessie) Cullen

1916 Portland OR directory:
Lillian Hornback, 427 Ross

1917 Portland OR directory:
Lillian J Hornback, 255 Hancock

1917 Portland OR funeral notice:
mother of Mrs. L. Hornback

1918 Portland OR directory:
Lillian Hornback, widow of Harry C., 255 Hancock

1920 Portland OR census:
Lillian J. Hornback, widow, restaurant waitress, 283-1/2 Grand Ave.

1920 Vancouver WA marriage license:
Lillian J. Hornback, widow, waitress, 293-1/2 Burnside, marries Ernest C Tollman

Based on the above, what we might want to focus on is marriage and divorce records for Lillian J Hornback. Marriage licenses for people over the age of 21 tend to be short on personal information but there are occasional exceptions. Since Lillian's family lived in Portland these records might be available there. Lillian's first husband was Frank Gannon. We're missing marriage records of Lillian Gannon to Harry Hornback and divorce records of Lillian Hornback from Harry Hornback.

Bessie Cullen's marriage to Clay Hornback could also be interesting, but it could be anywhere from Kansas City to Portland. He was on trains and we don't know where they met or got married.

For fun I will attach a photoshopped version of Clay Hornback, age 19 with a hairdo added by me, to compare with H. C. Hornback's photo published in Portland in a 1909 newspaper article. I'll also post the 1896 mugshot that was acquired by Laura, thanks to her for doing that.

I doubt that H. C. Hornback had any property in Portland. I'm very much open to suggestion as I've never done much genealogy that can't be done online. But the few times I've been able to tap into the resources of locale-specific genealogy associations there have been good results.

Funny thing, in spite of being divorced or abandoned by 1913 or 1914, Lillian didn't start calling herself a widow till after Clay Hornback (Bessie's husband) died. If her husband was Clay, she might not have known about his death right away, especially if they'd never gotten properly divorced.

Attachments:

[Uncle Buddy]

Here is the last photo I have of Clay Hornback of Rocky Ford. This is from around 1897. It was contributed by Laura also. It's fuzzy but it's him. I think it looks like the inventor.

Attachments:

[Uncle Buddy]

More newspaper findings. The 1909 Denver want ad is another perfect fit for the hypothetical timeline linking Clay Hornback of Rocky Ford, Colorado to inventor H. C. Hornback of Portland, Oregon.

The Lamar accident is probably Clay. Lamar is 50-60 miles straight east of Clay's home in Rocky Ford. I don't know of any H. C. Hornbecks in this part of Colorado at this time ("Hornbeck" with an "e")

The 1905 "Harry Coffee" a.k.a. for a Harry Hornbeck who can't stay out of trouble... right part of the country and unfortunately this might be him too. But not every Hornbeck is a mis-spelling for Hornback. I'll reserve judgement till I find another instance of this a.k.a "Harry Coffee".

See attached clippings.

Attachments:

[Uncle Buddy]

The attached clipping is no doubt Clay Hornback even though it's spelled "Hornbeck" with an "e". The timing, topic, and county are correct.

Attachments: