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Laura Ellen Blanton Showers

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Birth	:	4 May 1868 Rohnerville, Humboldt County, California, USA
Death	:	12 Oct 1933 Eureka, Humboldt County, California, USA
Burial	:	Myrtle Grove Memorial Cemetery, Eureka, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate	:	40.7990800, -124.1497900
Description	:	Since Laura's husband Jacob Oscar Showers, Jr. is buried in this cemetery, doubtless she was buried there as well. They married January 31, 1886 in Rohnerville. Her pioneer parents were John H. Blanton, Sr. of Missouri who came as a young man to Oregon in 1847, and Elizabeth Shepherd of Arkansas who also came west to Oregon with her family in 1852. See the family links below. Children: - Annie Elizabeth (b. 27 Jan. 1887, Elk River, Humboldt, Ca., d. January 28, 1889, Elk River); - Alice Ellen (b. 13 Sept. 1889, Elk River, d. 30 Oct. 1970, Fortuna, Humboldt); - Oscar... Read More	Since Laura's husband Jacob Oscar Showers, Jr. is buried in this cemetery, doubtless she was buried there as well. They married January 31, 1886 in Rohnerville. Her pioneer parents were John H. Blanton, Sr. of Missouri who came as a young man to Oregon in 1847, and Elizabeth Shepherd of Arkansas who also came west to Oregon with her family in 1852. See the family links below. Children: - Annie Elizabeth (b. 27 Jan. 1887, Elk River, Humboldt, Ca., d. January 28, 1889, Elk River); - Alice Ellen (b. 13 Sept. 1889, Elk River, d. 30 Oct. 1970, Fortuna, Humboldt); - Oscar Jacob (b. 3 July 1891, Elk River, d. 7 Jan. 1954, Ca.); - Lloyd William (b. 1 Oct. 1896, Elk River, d. 29 Dec. 29, 1969, Eureka, Humboldt, Ca.); - Ora John (b. 29 Sept. 1899, Elk River, d. 10 April 1949, Humboldt); - James Leona Showers, b. 14 Feb. 1903, Elk River, d. 23 Feb. 1963, Ca.); - Elmer Henry (b. 3 Dec. 1905, Elk River, d. 16 Sept. 1936, Ca.); - Mart Wallace (b. 5 May 1907, Elk River, d. 27 July 1952, Humboldt); - Louise Susan Showers (married Jake Peter Lorensen); - Francis Marion (b. 4 Aug. 1911, Elk River, d. 7 Dec. 1957, Ca.); - Lucille Camille (married Peter Fredrick Lorensen). What I know of Laura has come in part from my father who was raised by her on the Showers dairy ranch on Elk River south of Eureka, California. She was also much loved by her son Lloyd, my grandfather, who saved his formal picture of her taken when he was perhaps 10. Another picture of her when she was much younger before she married has the name "Lorie" written on the back, and this might have been her name in the family. My grandmother Merle always said her former mother-in-law was part Indian, but others in the family denied this. There was great prejudice against Native American in northern California, and the denial might be a reluctance to accept this part of the family heritage. The picture from her younger years certainly could be of a woman whose ancestry was part native American. That heritage was through her mother's family, the Shepherds and Peters of Crawford County, Arkansas. As the story goes, on both sides the Shepherd and Peters men were pioneers on the country's frontier and married women who were all or part Cherokee, and thus Laura's grandfather James Shepherd was perhaps one quarter Cherokee, and her grandmother Hannah Peters was possibly half. That would make her mother Elizabeth three eighths Cherokee. Laura was raised on Blanton Prairies in Humboldt County, but we do not know how she met her husband Jacob Oscar Showers, Jr. We do know that Jacob, Sr. owned and developed land in Rohnerville, so it seems he might have known John Blanton through this. Both were ranchers in the county as well, so there would have been many occasions when men of similar interests came together for agricultural development. Laura and Oscar, Jr. inherited the Elk River dairy ranch when Jacob, Sr. died in 1902, and there they continued to raise their large family. Indeed, there is a picture ca. 1911 of the family posed with a new Rambler 63, and in addition to Laura holding one of her babies (perhaps Louise), her oldest living daughter Alice is probably seated besdie her and holds a child as well who could be her own child Elizabeth Anne Olesen. In fact Laura gave birth to 11 children over a period of about 25 years between 1887 and 1912. My father Eldred Lawrence Showers was raised by his grandparents when his parents divorced. As the story goes, Laura cherished my father more than most of her grandchildren, and she and her husband Jake were willing to help my grandmother Merle who wished to leave Humboldt and start a new life in San Francisco, but the requirement for their help was that my father would remain behind on Elk River with them while Merle took her two younger children, Marge and Bob (Robin), south to San Francisco. She agreed and left my father behind, initially with his father Lloyd who was a heavy, angry drinker at that time (before he reformed later in life and tried to make up for his earlier mistakes). My father left his father and moved in with his grandparents. There he lived, rising every day before sunrise to milk the cows that never took a day off or a vacation. Even as a boy he wore large hip boots for mucking around in the barn and pastures, and his brother and sister who saw him on occasion when they came up from San Francisco, nicknamed him "Boots." To their children he was always "Uncle Boots." Toward the end of her life Laura had some illness that gave her pain, and she seems to have taken an liquid opiate that ate away some of the roof of her mouth. My father must have helped her in those last years when the Depression had started and times were lean on the farm when milk prices dropped. He remembered eating mush a couple times a day for meals, and as an adult he would not touch the stuff. My father grew so close to Laura and Jake that many in the family though they would leave him the dairy ranch. But the work as a child milking cows before dawn had made up my father's mind that as soon as he finished high school in 1937, he would head south to his mother's second family in San Francisco where he would make a different life for himself. However, his grandmother Laura had already died in 1933 of kidney disease (according to Myrtle Grove Cemetery Records), and when he left, his grandfather Jake passed the farm to his daughter Lucille who had married Peter Fredrick Lorensen. Today the farm is too small to compete on its own, and so Lucile's daughter Betty and her husband Gene have leased it to a dairy company. However, the old two story family farmhouse where Jake and Laura lived is still there on Showers Lane.

frequently asked questions (FAQ):

Where is Laura Ellen Blanton Showers's memorial?
Laura Ellen Blanton Showers's memorial is located at: Myrtle Grove Memorial Cemetery, Eureka, Humboldt County, USA.
When did Laura Ellen Blanton Showers death?
Laura Ellen Blanton Showers death on 12 Oct 1933 in Eureka, Humboldt County, California, USA
Where are the coordinates of the Laura Ellen Blanton Showers's memorial?
Latitude: 40.7990800
Longitude: -124.1497900

Family Members:

Parent

John Harvey Blanton

(1830 - 1918)

Elizabeth Shepherd Blanton

(1836 - 1918)

Spouse

Jacob Oscar Showers Jr.

(1858 - 1949)

Siblings

Mary Jane Blanton Look

(1854 - 1907)

Martha Blanche “Mattie” Blanton

(1872 - 1960)

Elizabeth Annie Shepheard Blanton, Stange

(1877 - 1964)

Children

Ann Elizabeth “Annie” Showers

(1887 - 1889)

Alice Ellen Showers Olesen

(1889 - 1970)

Elmer Henry Showers

(1905 - 1936)

Martin Wallace “Mart” Showers

(1907 - 1952)

Flowers:

Nearby Cemetories:

1. Myrtle Grove Memorial Cemetery
Eureka, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7990800, -124.1497900

2. Fishermens Memorial
Eureka, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.8083400, -124.1664560

3. Ocean View Cemetery
Eureka, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7719002, -124.1883011

4. Saint Bernard's Cemetery
Eureka, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7717934, -124.1895065

5. Sunset Memorial Park
Eureka, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7658600, -124.1891300

6. Spear Family Cemetery
Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.7705700, -124.0698100

7. Saint Alban's Memorial Garden
Arcata, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.8579200, -124.0622800

8. Saint Mary's Cemetery
Arcata, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.8767014, -124.0860977

9. Greenwood Cemetery
Arcata, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.8778000, -124.0858002

10. Saint Patrick's Catholic Cemetery
Loleta, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.6607600, -124.2146700

11. Blue Lake Cemetery
Blue Lake, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.8800230, -123.9824400

12. Table Bluff Cemetery
Loleta, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.6493900, -124.2094300

13. Sunrise Cemetery
Fortuna, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.5976831, -124.1320603

14. Rohnerville Pioneer Cemetery
Rohnerville, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.5732470, -124.1335280

15. Iaqua Cemetery
Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.6497250, -123.9237920

16. Catholic Cemetery
Fortuna, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.5669310, -124.1265560

17. Ferndale Cemetery
Ferndale, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.5748558, -124.2637100

18. Saint Mary's Cemetery
Ferndale, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.5708008, -124.2530975

19. Masons and IOOF Cemetery
Rohnerville, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.5563180, -124.1224520

20. Hydesville IOOF Cemetery
Hydesville, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.5442850, -124.1040710

21. Hydesville Cemetery
Hydesville, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.5433330, -124.1022330

22. Trinidad Lighthouse Lost & Buried at Sea Memorials
Trinidad, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 41.0582900, -124.1431000

23. Trinidad Cemetery
Trinidad, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 41.0626400, -124.1429500

24. Moon Ranch Cemetery
Blue Lake, Humboldt County, USA
Coordinate: 40.9758310, -123.8441430