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© February 19, 2008 William Thomas "Bill" Sillix July 27, 1855 ~ March 23, 1927 My grandfather, William Thomas "Bill" Sillix was the second of 9 children of Jacob and Mary [Elben] Sillix. He was born July 27, 1855 in Ohio. In May of 1858 Jacob and Mary Sillix, with their two children, Ellen and Bill relocated to Vienna Township, near Havensville, in the Kansas Territory. In 1865 Jacob sold the farm to Mr. Pitcher and moved the family to Atchison, Kansas. Jacob and family returned to the area a few years later and moved to the Moses Day farm. They occupied the old House that Mr. Day built when he first settled in Kansas. The family lived there two years before moving to the Dick Guffy farm. Later, in the 1870's the family moved to the Jennison farm. When the family left the area Bill, who was 15, stayed with the Moses Day family. Jacob, who was a wagon maker, moved to Topeka and Mary went to Wichita. The rest of the family scattered to various parts of Kansas. Moses Day was the uncle of Bill's soon to be wife, Mary Rosetta "Rhetta" Day. Bill and Rhetta married 19 Feb 1880, when Bill was 24 and Retta was 15. They had three daughters, Anna Rosetta, Grace Florence and Ada Belle Sillix. Rhetta died just 2 ½ years after Ada was born. June 26, 1890, 1 ½ years after Rhetta's death, Bill married Mary Jane Lee. Mary Jane was the sister of Sara Elizabeth Lee Day, who was the wife of Rhetta's brother Hamilton Day. The Day family was not happy about the marriage and it did not go well. Family stories are Mary Jane left Bill twice and returned, but the third time she did not. In 1900 Bill, with his three daughters, migrated to Oklahoma Territory and homesteaded a farm just outside of Perkins [Then known as Italy and then Cimarron]. Perkins was in the unassigned lands of Indian Territory that was opened to setters in 1889 and the town was officially named Perkins February 26, 1891. Bill ran for political office after settling in Oklahoma. He was a member of the Eighth Legislative Council of Oklahoma Territory, later, in 1907 he was Mayor of Perkins. According to the family he held other offices but this is all I can find record of. Bill, a 32° degree Mason, transferred membership to the Perkins Masonic Lodge in 1900 and later was Worshipful Master of the Lodge for 6 to 8 years running. Bill's estranged wife, Mary Jane died January 4, 1906; she had an unhappy, lonely life. Bill had homesteaded a farm next to the homestead of Isaac Reed Dungan and his wife Mary Bryan Dungan. On June 3, 1907 Isaac accidentally shot himself. He was cutting alfalfa and had taken a shot gun with him to shoot rabbits. The gun was across his lap and slipped down, the hammer striking the wheel. The contents entered his left side. He drove the team to the house. He was conscious until the last moment, five hours later. Mary was now a widow raising five children. Bill and Mary Alice Bryan Dungan married January 14, 1909. On January 1, 1912 their daughter Carrie Wilhelmina Sillix was born. Bill and Carrie were close and would go horseback riding together when she was a child. Her mother called her "Little Bill" [not always fondly] which later morphed into Billie. Bill had many professions, he was a politician, known as an orator. He was a farmer; he ran the Nichols Hotel in Perkins. In his later years he transported the US Mail. He raised his first three daughters well and was well on his way with his 4th when he died of pneumonia. Billie was only 15. Mary was again a window. She never remarried. All three of Bill and Rhetta's daughters married men named Frank. Bill said, "The devil is a Frenchman and paid me off in Francs!" |
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