Hi and welcome back to The Hogue Connection! In this post, Family Focus #3, we’ll take another deep dive into the family of another of William M and Mary Jane Hogue’s six children and their descendants. Previously we looked at the families of William A. Hogue (go here) and John Calvin Hogue (go here). Now we’ll look at John’s next-youngest sister, Nellie Luvenia Hogue, and her children and grandchildren.
Nellie Hogue Dyer Adams ca. 1940’s (courtesy larry60041 and Trails of History)
She had a bunch of them, too! Her obituary mentioned 29 grandchildren. My count was 45. Maybe she lost track of some of them, or whoever wrote the obituary did. Nellie lived the longest of all of the Hogue siblings, and had 8 children, plus 8 more children she was stepmother to by her second husband. I can understand how some might get lost in the shuffle!
North Carolina or Tennessee?
So where does this issue of Family Focus begin? With a bit of confusion, of course. Nellie was born 21 Aug 1873 in either Blount County, TN or Stecoah, Graham, NC. Her story was consistent with Stecoah throughout her life. We know that William and Mary’s family lived in Blount County in 1870. They were recorded there on the census. We also know that the family moved back and forth between here and Stecoah during that period.
Younger brother John usually thought he was born in Tennessee quoted that most often. Is it possible they moved to Stecoah after fourth child Cordie was born, and then back to Blount County before John was born? Yes. So, we’ll give her the benefit of the doubt. Her obituary (last item, below) states that she was born in North Carolina and came out to the Indian Territory with her parents when she was five years old. That fits with my belief that they came out west in 1880. Pretty close, anyway. We also know that her father, William, acquired land in Stecoah in 1878.
Her First Marriage, in Indian Territory…
…was to William Oliver Dyer in 1891. I haven’t found documentation of this, except in the 1900 Census. There it is noted that they were married for 9 years. William was born on 3 March 1863 in Sullivan County, TN. When he came to I.T. is unclear. It appears most of his family lived near Johnson City, TN. I’d say he came out alone, met Nellie and married her in 1891. In 1900, they lived in District 116, Township 6, of the Choctaw Nation.
In 1907, they lived in Sasakwa, Seminole County, near brother William A., from 1910 to around 1930 in Newberg, Hughes County, before moving back to Seminole County that year. It is in this region of the Choctaw Nation that William and Nellie began to raise their children. Nellie gave birth to nine children between 1892 and 1912 but lost one somewhere between 1900 and 1910. I can find no records on that child. Below is the census showing 8 children born with 7 still living.
Family Focus #3 Roll Call of the Children…
Charles Monroe Dyer (1892-1984)-married Ida Howell (1893-1972) on 28 Mar 1910. They had 10 children: Dillon (1910-1959), Alvin (1916-2012), David (1918-1993), Lee (1920-1966), Gladys (1922-1992), Alta (1924-2009), Herman (1926-1994), Raymond (1929-1996), Irene (1931-1932) and Ellis (1993-1997). Charley and Ida were married 62 years, until her death. He died in Cushing, OK on 10 Aug 1984 and is buried in Sunny Lane Cemetery in Del City. Their marker is here. According to his obituary, Charley and Ida had 22 grandchildren, 34 great grandchildren and numerous great-great grandchildren!
Mary Rebecca Dyer (1895-1990)-married Harrison Lee Howell on 29 Aug 1911. They had four children: Ruby (1916-1921), Clarence (1919-1990), Floyd (1924-1969), Doyle (1933-2018). She died in Miami, Ottawa County, OK on 26 Apr 1990 and is buried next to her husband here.
Joseph Wilburn Dyer (1898-1954)-married Willie Taylor Estes on 12 Apr 1916. They had 11 children: Clarence (1918-1988), Ernest (1920-2012), Elbie (1922-1954), Allien (1925-2005), Clara (1927-2011), Harvey (1930-2010), Joe (1933-2010), Rosetta (b.1936), Shirley (1939-2016), and Marjorie (b.1949). Joseph and Willie were in their 50’s when their last child was born. Joseph died 10 Oct 1954, aged 56. in Vallejo and Willie died in Napa on 30 Nov 1973. They are buried here, in Tulocay Cemetery. His obituary mentions 17 grandchildren surviving him.
James Daniel Dyer (1901-1982)-one of a set of twins, married Maudie Farris on 23 Aug 1923. They had 6 children: Leroy (1924-2009), Billy (1928-2017), Loyal “Shorty” (1931-2022), Donald (b. 1932), Arlus (1934-1978), and Philip (b.1939). He died in Wetumka, OK on 7 Jun 1982, less than a year after Maudie. Here is a link to their markers. His obituary mentioned 17 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren.
Family Focus #3 Roll Call, Continued…
Daniel James Dyer (1901-1958)- the twin of James, married Laura Revel on 10 Dec 1927. They had 3 children: Harold (1932-2001), Jackie (1934-1988), and Charles 1936-2007). Some trees on Ancestry list two more living children, but I did not confirm that. Daniel died 26 Mar 1958 and Laura died 6 May 1974, both in Ada, OK. Their FindAGrave memorial is here.
William Andrew Dyer (1906-1985)-married Iva Fugate on 2 Oct 1924. They had four children: Helen (1925-2010), William (1928-1991), Dorothy (1930-1936) and Mary (1936-1944). William died 7 May 1985 and Iva died in 1991. Both are also buried in the Tucolay Cemetery in Napa.
Luvenia Nellie Dyer (1908-1994)-Luvenia had three marriages, the first to Robert Murray Vance (1907-1994) on 16 Oct 1927 in Seminole. They had three children: Victor (1928-2008), Robert (1935-1993), and Helen (1942-2004). They divorced soon after Helen’s birth. She then married Archer Lee Parsons (1894-1974) and had a son, Gary (b. 1945) with him. Her last marriage was to Theodore Eld in about 1956 and was married to him until his death in 1977. Luvenia died 6 Dec 1994 and is buried in College City Cemetery, Colusa County, CA, link here.
Josephine Dyer (1912-1989)-married Walter Lorne Jackson (1906-1984) on 24 Dec 1930 in Oklahoma.. Together they had three children, Vernon (1931-2002), Mildred (1935-2014), and Virgil (b.1946). They came to Napa in 1943. Josephine died 11 Apr 1989 in Napa and is also buried in Tulocay Cemetery.
Nellie’s Second Marriage in Seminole County…
The 1930 Census shows Nellie and William living in Econtuchka, Seminole County, OK with their two youngest children, William and Josephine. They lived next door to their daughter Mary and two doors down from her brother John’s son Ernie and his family. This town is located about halfway between the current cities of Prague and Shawnee, OK. At this time, many folks worked in the fast-growing oil business, just south of the Canadian River. Recently retired, “None” was listed as William’s occupation in the census. Previously he had been a farmer and a “tie maker” as the railroad was likely expanding as well.
On 7 Oct 1931, William Oliver Dyer passed away, aged 67. William and Nellie were married for 40 years. He is buried in Atwood Cemetery in Hughes County, OK. There is no record online of his cause of death. Since Atwood is about an hour away from Econtuchka, William and Nellie may have moved to this area nearer to their son Charley. Charley’s infant daughter Irene was buried in the same cemetery in 1932.
Nearby, in another township, a widower by the name of Oliver Thomas Adams was farming and raising his family of seven children with help from his oldest daughter Inez and her husband. His wife Kate had passed away in 1926. Hopefully there is a part of Dyer family lore that shows how Oliver Adams and Nellie Hogue Dyer met. I’m not sure at this point. They were married about 1933 and remained in that area until 1937.
The Big Move to Napa, California…
Oliver’s daughter Martha married John Plowman in 1932, and in 1937, decided, along with John’s older brother Estell, to move to Napa, California with Nellie and Oliver in tow. Also, along for the ride were Martha’s sister Emma and brother Robert. Emma was born in Alberta, Canada on one of Oliver and Kate’s previous wanderings. Eventually five of Oliver’s children would make the move west, and Nellie’s three youngest. Her five older children remained in Oklahoma.
Oliver Thomas Adams died 14 March 1959 in Napa. His plot is in the Tulocay Cemetery. Oliver and Nellie celebrated 26 years of marriage. Based on a story I found on Nellie’s page at Familysearch.org, left by one of her Vance descendants, Nellie lived out her final years at her daughter Josephine’s home in Napa. Nellie Luvenia Hogue Dyer Adams passed away on 21 March 1965, aged 91. She is buried alongside Oliver. Her FindAGrave memorial is here.
Nellie Hogue Dyer Adams ca. 1960 (courtesy Mike Morgan)
Family Focus #3…a Look into the Life of Charley’s Sister…
As it turns out, Nellie was the only relative of that generation to live during my lifetime. Maybe it’s just because I spent many hours researching her, but it seems like my Grandpa Henry talked about driving up to visit his Aunt Nellie once or twice. The number of descendants we can credit Nellie with is impressive. 8 children and 45 grandchildren! Can’t really add up the great grands, but there were 90 mentioned in her kids’ obituaries. Altogether, her kin must add up to numbers in the hundreds!
To wrap up, I hope you got some insight from this article. I also hope that if you are one of my Dyer cousins, you’ll contact me with additions and corrections! Doesn’t happen too often, but I always hold out hope that I can make another connection with this blog, which is how it got it’s name. Thanks for reading and visiting The Hogue Connection! If you would like to return to the home page, go here. See you next time.
