Ambrose married (1) Martha Drusella (“Mattie”) Rhoades in Chase County on 27 October 1879.  She had been born 25 April 1856 in Ash Grove, Shelby County, Illinois, the daughter of John and Lyda (Prettyman) Rhoades.  Her family had moved to Chase County sometime after her youngest brother was born in 1872.  The 1880 census shows Ambrose and Mattie in Toledo Township of Chase County, in a household with Ambrose’s parents and his sister Mary.  Mattie’s parents and six of her siblings are also shown in Toledo Township, on the previous census page, so the two families must have been near neighbors.

Ambrose and Mattie apparently moved with Ambrose’s parents to Lyon County, Kansas, in 1882.  Together, they had three children during their brief marriage, a daughter born in Chase County and twin boys born in Lyon County:

• Anna Mary Worrall, ~1881–1966 (married Warren Robinson Jaillite).
• James Worrall, 1884–1884.
• John Worrall, 1884–1884.

Mattie died on 4 June 1884, one day after giving birth to the twin boys, and the boys also died soon thereafter:  James on 26 August 1884, and John on 9 September 1884.  The three of them are buried together at Agnes City Cemetery.  I have found no obituaries for Mattie or for either of the boys.

The 1885 Kansas state census shows Ambrose, now widowed, still in the household with his parents, his sister Mary Jane, and his one surviving child, 4-year-old Annie.  That census shows Ambrose’s occupation as “Farmer,” but beginning in December 1886 he apparently co-owned and co-managed his father’s grocery store in Bushong, which was then known as “Worrall & Son.”  The following June, though, his father sold a half-interest in the store to James C. Croyle, and the name changed to “Worrall & Croyle.”

It was right around that time that Ambrose married (2) Mrs. Nancy A. (Jackson) Adams in Lyon County (13 June 1887).  She had been born 7 February 1860 in Hendricks County, Indiana, the daughter of Elihu and Elizabeth (Simmons) Jackson.  She had previously married John W. Adams in Lyon County in November 1878, and she had had two children with him (Mary, b. 1879, and Elmer, b. 1882) before he died of “lung fever” in March 1884.  Although Nancy was originally a Jackson, there is no known relationship between her and Dyson Jackson, who married Ambrose’s sister Annie.

When Ambrose’s parents moved a few miles west into Morris County, about 1889, Ambrose stayed behind and continued farming in Lyon County.  Subsequent news items mentioned that he was then living south of the town of Bushong.  It seems, therefore, that he was not farming his father’s land (the former Agnes City town site), which was about 3 miles north of Bushong, but had instead acquired some land of his own.  The Real Estate News of Emporia had reported a few years earlier (1 Mar. 1884, p. 5) that “Worrall” (no first name given) had purchased an 80-acre plot about a half-mile southwest of Bushong, so this probably is where Ambrose lived and farmed.  After marrying Nancy, he probably also farmed a quarter-section (160 acres) a couple of miles farther south that Nancy and her first husband had owned together.

Ambrose and Nancy together had one child, born in Lyon County:

• Jennie Mae Worrall (known as “Mae”), 1893–1931 (married Clyde Coppers).

Newspaper reports show that Ambrose actively participated in the Populist Party throughout the 1890s, and he was also active in the Bushong Lodge of the AOUW (Ancient Order of United Workmen), where he was elected “overseer” in 1894 and “Master Workman” in 1895.

In December 1905, Ambrose, Nancy, and Mae moved to Council Grove, Morris County, Kansas, leaving Nancy’s son, Elmer Adams, in charge of their farm back in Lyon County.  Ambrose joined his brother-in-law Dyson Jackson in operating a livery and horse-breeding business in Council Grove:  The Good Luck Percheron Horse Company.  Then, in 1906, he and Dyson joined with a local veterinarian, L. Fredenburg, to form the Council Grove Veterinary Remedy Company.  They marketed a kit of commonly used veterinary medicines for farmers and ranchers to keep on hand for emergencies.  Sales were reportedly quite robust during the next couple of years.  I’m not sure what became of the company after that, or what became of the earlier-formed horse company.  I haven’t seen any further mention of either of them in the Council Grove papers.

The 1910 census showed Ambrose and Nancy still in Council Grove, with their 16-year-old daughter Mae (listed in the census as “Mary J.”).  Ambrose’s occupation was listed as manufacturing, in the stock farm industry.

In March 1913, the Council Grove Weekly Guard reported that Ambrose had left for Burns, Kansas, “to take up his work on the road.”  The paper did not specify the nature of that “work,” but we know that by 1916, at least three Topeka newspapers were listing Ambrose as their “authorized solicitor” or their “traveling representative” for various locations in Kansas.  These include Capper’s Weekly, The Daily Capital, and The Farmers Mail and Breeze.  Also, by 1916, Ambrose and Nancy had moved to Topeka.  When his sister Annie died in February 1916, her obituary referred to him as “Ambrose Worrall of Topeka,” and the Topeka city directory for that year lists him as a “trav agt” (traveling agent) with an office at 526 Madison Street.

Ambrose and Nancy’s daughter Mae apparently also moved to Topeka along with her husband Clyde Coppers (whom she had married in September 1915).  The Council Grove Daily Guard of 17 June 1916 (p. 2) referred to her as “Mrs. Mae Coppers of Topeka.”

In January 1917, several Kansas newspapers carried alarming reports about Ambrose.  From a hotel in Atchison, Kansas, he had written to Nancy, in Topeka, that he planned to end his life by jumping off the Missouri River bridge there.  Nancy asked John Wolf (husband of her daughter Mary) to go to Atchison and search for Ambrose.  John found Ambrose’s grip at the hotel in Atchison but no sign of Ambrose himself.  In desperation, Ambrose’s daughter Mae went over to the state capital (also in Topeka) and implored Governor Arthur Capper to assist in the search (which is not as surprising as it may seem, since Capper was also the publisher of two of the newspapers that Ambrose worked for).  Capper reached out to the mayor of Atchison, seeking any information that could be learned about Ambrose, but the mayor had no information to share.

A few days after Ambrose disappeared, a couple of papers reported that he had been seen at the East Atchison depot boarding a train for St. Joseph, Missouri.  Unfortunately, I have found no further reports about how Ambrose was eventually found and reunited with his family.  The next information I have is from the 1920 census, which shows that he and Nancy were then living at 632 12th Street in Sedalia, Missouri.  His occupation then was listed as salesman for a stock food company.  The census also shows that Ambrose and Nancy’s daughter Mae and her husband Clyde Coppers had also moved to Sedalia, and by then they had a 1-year-old daughter, Marcella.

Around the first of July 1928, Ambrose, Nancy, Mae, Clyde, and Marcella all left Sedalia and traveled to Herrington, Kansas, where Ambrose’s daughter Anna Jaillite lived.  Newspapers in both places reported that the Worralls and Coppers were enroute to Los Angeles, where they planned to make their new home.  I can’t confirm how long they stayed in Los Angele (or whether they even made it there at all), but the 1930 census shows Mae’s family back in Sedalia and shows Ambrose and Nancy in Smithton, Missouri, 7 miles east of Sedalia.  According to that census, Ambrose’s occupation then was “Tire volkennizing” (vulcanizing?) in his own shop.

In July 1931, Mae died, following a protracted illness, and was laid to rest at Sedalia’s Memorial Cemetery.  Her husband, Clyde Coppers, continued raising Marcella on his own and later remarried, after Marcella had grown and moved out.

Ambrose and Nancy both remained in Sedalia the rest of their lives and eventually passed away there, Ambrose on 8 April 1936 and Nancy on 10 March 1942.  The Sedalia Democrat ran obituaries for both of them, and they were laid to rest together in Memorial Cemetery.

If you can suggest any corrections to the information above or provide any further details about the lives of Ambrose, Mattie, Nancy, and their descendants, please contact me at the address shown in the image below:

Thanks,      
     —Pete Martin

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