Donald Park, Jr.

Notes:

Other Events and Attributes:

• MILF: Y

Notes:

Found FAG memorial that is no doubt Don’s. Lists wife as Lillian Darlene Park (1943-2013).

Buried:
Houston National Cemetery, Section U, Site 318

Donald + Lillian Darlene. Lillian was born on 16 Nov 1943; died on 14 Feb 2013 in Houston, Harris Co., TX; was buried in Houston, Harris Co., TX. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Buried:
Houston National Cemetery, Section U, Site 318

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Barber/Taxi Co.
• Religion: Cumberland Presbyterian Church
• Baptism: 26 Mar 1922, Fisher, Champaign Co., IL

Notes:

Parks to hang up cab keys By Rick Baker

PONTIAC--Almost three decades in the taxi game have left them with some good stories to tell--like the one about the woman who thought she was in Pontiac, Mich., and the millionaire he thought was a bum. this is forest and Albert Park’s last week at the Safeway Cab co., a small taxi business they opened here in 1941. “I got into cabs because I was a barber and I saw the war taking all my customers away,” Forest said.

He started with the family car and made $8.25 his first day on the job. He built it up at one time to a fleet of six cabs and a gross of more than $300 a day in this town of 10,500. Odds are pretty strong that he has driven over the streets of Pontiac more than any man ever has or will. He’s covered every street in the city hundreds of times and worn out a lot of cars on them.

“I’ve seen a lot of things come and go,” he said in his small office Monday. One of the strangest things he’s seen come and go was a man he picked up in 1971 in front of the old Pontiac Hotel, since demolished. “That guy had me worried from the moment he got in my cab,” Park recalls, describing a poorly dressed and dirty man. “He was the oddest rider I ever had in one of my cabs.”

The man had been living at the hotel a while, Park learned, and he had some odd habits--like sleeping with his shoes on and keeping his bedroom mirror covered with a blanket. “Well, this dirty fella says he wants to go on up to Joliet. So I said, ‘get in.’ All the while we drive along, he keeps looking out the back window as if something is after him,” Park said.

It was beginning to get dark near Dwight, Park said, when the man changed his mind and began telling him to drive down dirt road. “Finally we got to Morris, when he said he wanted to go to Seneca. I stopped at the first gas station, grabbed the keys out of the ignition, and told him that was as far as we were going,” Park said.

Park said he had given the ride up as profitless soon after leaving Pontiac, but still asked if the man had the money to pay him something. the man pulled several bills out of his shoe. The bills were waded into little balls. “He started peeling them open, and when he came to a $50, he handed it over. I gave him the change, and then called the police. I figured he was wanted for something,” Park said.

A few days later the sheriff called Park and told him his dirty customer was a millionaire--the owner of a few prosperous California orange groves. “If I had known that then, I would have driven him anywhere in the world,” Park said.

Then there was the elderly woman destined for Grand Rapids, Mich., by train from St. Louis, Mo. Grand Rapids is in western Michigan. When the train conductor announced the train was moving into Pontiac, she thought she had somehow gotten off course and wound up in Pontiac, Mich., in the eastern part of the state. “Well,” Park said, “She said she wanted to go to Grand Rapids, so I took her up there. It cost her $125. Our fares were quite a bit cheaper then,” he said. He’s also made runs to Indianapolis, Ind., and St. Louis for people who didn’t have the time or patience to wait for a bus.

But most of his driving--hundreds of thousands of miles of it--has been right here in Pontiac. With a 10-year leave from the business from 1951 to 1961, he’s been at it for 27 years. So has she. Alberta has spent most of her time answering calls in the office, but she used to drive a cab for her husband’s company.

When he started, his fare was a flat 25 cents for any ride in town. Today there is a minimum $1 far, with zone rates applying after a certain number of blocks are travelled. While his cabs have never been involved in a major accident, he has seen his insurance premiums double. He’s also seen his gasoline bills triple.

He’s also seen eight other cab companies in this town come and go since he opened his business. Safeway has been the only taxi business in Pontiac since 1961. The Parks plan to turn the business over to one of their three sons next week.

Baptism:
East Bend Mennonite Church, by J.A. Heiser

Buried:
Memorial Park Cemetery

Forest married Alberta Leota Pearl Lehmann on 13 Jul 1930 in Pontiac, Livingston Co., IL. Alberta (daughter of Albert W. Lehmann and Emma P. Bose) was born on 11 Jul 1912 in Girard, IL; died on 3 Oct 1983 in Pontiac, Livingston Co., IL; was buried on 7 Oct 1983 in Pontiac, Livingston Co., IL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Religion: Central Christian Church

Notes:

Daughter of Albert W. and Emma (Bose) Lehmann.

Died:
Social Security Info

Buried:
Memorial Park Cemetery

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: 1905, Employed as clerk In a dry goods and grocery store near New Haven, MO for four months.
• Occupation: 1912 R. R. Section laborer, according to Laura Mae’s birth certificate
• Occupation: A.O.Smith, Mfg. In Kankakee, IL
• Occupation: Abt 1913 Coal mines in southern Illinois
• Occupation: Abt 1919 Farm Laborer In Fisher, IL Area
• Occupation: Assembly Operator, Paramount Textile, Kankakee, IL
• Occupation: Thomas Lawless’s grain mill in Cerro Gordo, IL
• Reference Number: 12
• Religion: Christian
• Residence: Kankakee, Kankakee Co., IL
• USR1: Cardiac Failure--Due To Recurrent Virus Infection Lung, And Coronary Disease
• Census: 1910, Boone Twp., Franklin Co., MO
• Residence: 1912, Leslie, Franklin Co., MO
• Residence: Abt 1913, Southern Illinois
• Residence: Abt 1919, Fisher, Champaign Co., IL
• Census: Jun 1920, East Bend Twp., Champaign Co., IL
• Baptism: Jan 1921, Fisher, Champaign Co., IL
• Residence: 27 Apr 1942, Chatsworth, Livingston Co., IL

Notes:

Before his marriage, Grover lived for a while in Kiel, MO. Mr. Kiel, in the Kiel File, probably answered the question of why. He reports that “Grover spent several months in 1905 working in a store in New Haven, “during which time he no doubt lived in Kiel.

Grover and his family moved from Missouri to Illinois in order to find work. They moved first to two southern Illinois communities--Carlyle and Taylor Springs--where Grover worked in the coal mines. One day Grover met a man who knew a farmer from Illinois needing help. So, in 1913 Effie and Grover pulled up roots in Southern Illinois and moved to Central Illinois with their family in order to work on the farmlands, remaining in Illinois until death. Grover began working as a farm hand on the Alvin [August?] Sperling farm near the small village of Fisher. Later he worked for John Teuscher, a Mennonite family that attended the East Bend Mennonite Church near Fisher. Grover was so impressed with the life of this family that the Park family became a member of the Mennonite community, and several children married Mennonites. Grover later worked for many years at the A.O. Smith plant in Kankakee.

Several days following the wedding of granddaughter Donna Schrock and Del Birkey, Grover had a heart attack and died five months later in Kankakee.

Residence:
521 W. Water Street. Lived there in 1952 when I was married.

Census:
Lived on Antioch Rd.- Laborer/Section Hand, Grover 25, Effie, 20, Forest 2, Mamie 2, Roy 0

Residence:
R.F.D. #2 Source: Laura Mae’s birth certificate. . . .
Place name: Indian Paint Mine
Description: A prehistoric paint mine, near Leslie in the northeast part of Boone Township. This mine, which is said to be the only one ever found in the United States, was discovered about 1903 by Dr. Walter S. Cox, of Cuba, Missouri, who happened upon it while he was opening what he supposed was a new mine. He developed the first fire-clay pit at Owensville and later interested himself in iron mines along the Colorado River. Dr. Cox removed over 1200 primitive iron sledges and rock tools from the Indian Paint Mine. Evidently great numbers of Indian laborers had worked for many years to tunnel for long distances along the soft seams of red ungent intermingled with solid iron. Here the aborigines mined and mixed the glowing red mineral colors he used for so many purposes. Some of the ways he utilized the paint were: for personal adornment to discomfit his foe or to charm his admirer, for decorations of his habitation and pottery; for painted pictgographs on the walls of hills and caverns; for decorated altars; and for his protection from the sun and insects. The pigments were derived from many sources, but usually were of mineral origin, particularly the oxides of iron and carbonate of copper. These Indians were usually adept at mixing their colors, which were ground in small mortars or rubbed down on a flat stone, and in extracting the stains and dyes from vegetable substances. The colors were applied as dry paint with a piece of clay, chalk, or charcoal; or, when mixed with oil or water, with the hand or fingers, or a stick. Occasionally the colors were even sprayed with the mouth as was the case with the Pueblo mask painters. Several tribes prepared dry paints by mixing the pigments with sand, meal, or clay. Dry paints made in this manner were usually used to adorn ceremonial chambers or altars. (Hodge, "Painting"; MHR XXXI; Washington Library Records)
Source: Harrison, Eugenia L. "Place Names Of Four River Counties In Eastern Missouri." M.A. thesis., University of Missouri-Columbia, 1943.

Residence:
Near Shelbyville, IL

Residence:
Mae said she was 2 when they came to Fisher, Mamie’s recollection is that she was 12 and they came in 1919.

Census:
Parks, Grover, 35, head of household; Effie, wife, age 30; Forrest & Mamie, age 12; Roy, age 10, May, age 8. Listed just following John S. Teuscher family.

Baptism:
East Bend Mennonite Church, by A. Schrock

Died:
St. Mary Hospital

Buried:
Kankakee Memorial Gardens in Aroma Twp., Kankakee, IL

Eli married Effie Louella Blackwell on 22 Apr 1906 in Gerald, Franklin Co., MO. Effie (daughter of James William Henry Thomas (Tom) Blackwell and Clarissa Jane West) was born on 6 Jul 1889 in Walbert/Gerald, Franklin Co., MO; died on 30 Apr 1964 in Gibson City, Ford Co., IL; was buried in Apr 1964 in Kankakee, Kankakee Co., IL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Hairdresser
• Reference Number: 13
• Religion: Christian Church, Mennonite, Interdenominational
• Residence: Chatsworth, Livingston Co., IL
• Residence: Kankakee, Kankakee Co., IL
• USR1: Daughter Mae Said Death Was Caused By Cancer Of The Lymph Nodes.
• USR1: Passive Congestion Of The Lungs Due To Cardiac Decompensation. Other Significant Conditions Contributing To Death, But Not Related To The Terminal Condition: Metastatic Carcinoma-Primary Unknown.
• Baptism: Jan 1921, Fisher, Champaign Co., IL
• Residence: Abt 1914-1932, Fisher, Champaign Co., IL

Notes:

Place name: Walbert https://shsmo.org/manuscripts/ramsay/ramsay_franklin.html
Description:
A post office in the western part of Boone Township. It was established in 1895 and discontinued in 1910. Ulrich K. Baur, a merchant, was its first postmaster. His sons were named Walter and Herbert; and the first syllable of Walter's name and the second syllable of Herbert's name were combined into Walbert, which was made the name of the place. (Postal Guide; Kiel's BIOG. DIR., 212 & map; Miss Johnson: F.L. Notting)
Source:
Harrison, Eugenia L. "Place Names Of Four River Counties In Eastern Missouri." M.A. thesis., University of Missouri-Columbia, 1943.

Birth:
Marriage record, Clark Co. MO, 22 Apr 1905 presented as proof, as well as birth date of daughter Laura Mae, 2 May 1912.

Residence:
521 W. Water Street

Baptism:
East Bend Mennonite Church, by A. Schrock

Buried:
Memorial Gardens

Notes:

It seems their marriage certificate was registered in Clark Co., but they were married in Franklin Co.

Married:
Antioch Church, by W. B. Adams. Marriage date from Family Register in Effie’s Bible.

Notes:

Buried:
Memorial Park Cemetery

Albert + Emma P. Bose. Emma was born in 1886; died in 1951; was buried in Pontiac, Livingston Co., IL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Buried:
Memorial Park Cemetery