Amanuensis Monday - Obituary of W E Peters

Transylvanian Dutch blog author John Newmark started the Monday blog theme called Amanuensis Monday. According to John, “amanuensis” means:

"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."

For this week's Amanuensis Monday post, and in keeping with the spirit of writing about my brick wall ancestors, I am highlighting the obituary of my 2nd Great-Grandfather, William Edward Peters.

Here is a copy of his obituary taken from the Pocahontas Star Herald (Pocahontas, Randolph Co., AR), Feb 3, 1948. Unfortunately, I cannot remember if I pulled this from microfilm or if my Grandfather had a copy of it in his personal collection.

Here is the transcription: 

W. E. Peters
-----------------
William Edward Peters, aged 74, died at the home of Daniel Persful of Route 2, February 3. He was born in Thomasville, Mo., March 10, 1874 and had lived in the Brockett community for the past several years.
Funeral services were conducted at the McNabb Funeral Chapel Wednesday afternoon at 3 o'clock. Interment was in Masonic cemetery here under the direction of McNabb's.
He is survived by a son, Herbert Peters of Texas; five daugthers, Mrs. E. S. Pendergrass of T hayer, Mo., Mrs. Nova Godwin or Ft. Smith, Mrs. Mary Lark of St. Louis, Mrs. Lula Franceis and Mrs. May Bonds of California.

The information about William matches up with what was reported in his death certificate and unfortunately, his death certificate did not identify who his parents were which is why he continues to be a brick wall ancestor.

I knew about the son, Wm Herbert Peters and the 3 daughters, Nova Godwin, Mary Lark, and Mrs. E. S. Pendergrass. However, I was surprised to see mention of Mrs. Lula Francis and Mrs. May Bonds of California. There had been mention of a Melinda M and an Ollie M Peters on the 1920 Census report, with Melinda M then being referred to as May on the 1930 census report and Ollie having disappeared all together. William was living with a different wife on the 1930 census than he had been living with on the 1920 census, so Ollie could have gone to live with her mother. I've never seen mention of a daughter named Lula, though. I have not been successful in finding either of these two daughters in California to date. I hope they will show up sometime soon.