Sara Canoy Letter

In late 1985 Earl Homer Crismon's mother, Sara Jane Canoy, wrote a four page letter.  One page of the letter is shown here.  The following is the text of the letter.  It is believed that neither Bessie nor any of her children ever met Sara.  In her letter Sara talks about how she met and married Uncle Herman (Pop's brother) and how they parted.  Sara comments that Herman had been previously married before their marriage.  Earl said even though Herman abandoned her, Sara said she never stopped loving Herman over all those many years.

Many years ago Bob Crismon initiated a telephone conversation with the daughter of Herman and Esther Barnhart (Herman's first wife), who lived in Kansas.  She said that her twin sister died at a very young age.  She would not discuss her father Herman and was quite bitter.  Perhaps ten years later Bob received a telephone call from Esther, he had invited her to a Crismon Family reunion to be held in Kansas.  She wanted to learn as much about her father as possible.  During that conversation she became aware of Herman's life after he abandoned her mother and the two small girls.  Comments about Uncle Herman were not judgmental but candid.  After a lengthy conversation she regretted she did not have the information years earlier.  If she had,  she would have contacted her father.  She said she intended to contact her half-brother, Earl, whom she was not aware of until that conversation. 

Heppner Oregon 10-23-1985

Dear Robert and all of the Crismons,

I am sorry I haven't written sooner but so much going on and sickness. I never had high blood pressure all these years then had a spell of food poisoning and blood pressure had to be put under control so now it's normal. I will start with myself. I was born February 15, 1895 Sara Jane Canoy at Blooming Rose, Missouri. Was raised there. My brothers went to Montana to file on land and I went out there to work for them but went back home. And when I went back your Uncle and family was living on our old place next to Mother and Step Dads place. So Herman came to visit them and they all came to our house and that was the way I met him. I never knew he had been married as he had come from St. Louis to Uncle Tom and Aunt Millie Dixon as Cora was there. They had a store and post office and Herman had been living there when he was around and he had horses so I think he had been there a time. I went back to Montana. So we wrote and fell in love. Your Dad and Herman was living together in St. Louis and Herman came to Montana and your Dad reenlisted in the Army, that was 1917. We were married in Sidney, Montana on June 25, 1917 and came back to St. Louis and lived in Granite City, Illinois. Herman worked in the big steel foundry all through the war. Herman was real close to his cousin Charley Dixon. Charley and wife had a little girl Geneva. Charley and his wife both died young. I kept track of Geneva for several years after she married. I think you have also. My son Earl Homer Crismon was born May 5, 1919. Herman left us in Granite City, Illinois when Earl was three weeks old. He was working in the steel foundry and just didn't come home. This was when Andy disappeared, his wife had just wrote to me. Cora had to go to see her father in Arkansas. She come back by my place in Granite City, Illinois and I packed up and went home with her to my mother's first and then Uncle Tom come over and got us. Earl was just a real small baby. We crossed the Piney River in a buggy. Uncle Tom had the post office and store there called Adamsville, Missouri. They had two girls married and living where Herman and his first wife had lived. Her name was Esther Barnhart. It was quite a while before I found out he and that woman Betty White had left me together. She had a little boy and her husband was in the service in Germany. When he come home he come over to Granite City and said if I find them it will be their last breath. I said no you have your son to raise. I could write on and on but will stop. Earl and wife just got home. I am sorry we never met. Maybe where your family reunion is Earl can go. I had my 91 birthday February 15. How I ever made it I do not know. What town was it where Herman passed away? A person could find the undertaker and find where he was buried. Write me.

Best wishes, Aunt Sara.

The photos below tell an interesting story.  The first photo is of Sara and Herman on their wedding day and what a handsome couple they made!  The next photo is of Herman and Sara on the Harley Davidson motorcycle Herman rode from St. Louis to Montana to claim his bride.  They purchased another motorcycle in Montana and Sara rode it on their trip back to St. Louis.  The final photo is of Sara, Earl and Sara's motorcycle around 1923.  A woman riding a motorcycle in the early 1900s was almost unheard of.  Sara was certainly before her time; we wonder if she had any tattoos?  Sara Jane Canoy passed away on February 19, 1997 at the age of 102.  Her will to continue living began to fade when her only child, Earl, unexpectedly died seven months to the day earlier.

                                                                          

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