Acree/Sachse/Hoover/Ogden/Skipworth/Nelson/TenEyck/Williamson
& Associated Families


PHOTO PHOTO
Vonce Skipworth                             Stella Nelson
Taken 1945 at age 70                        Taken 1945 at age 70

Photos from Robert E. Miller
Vonce DeLeon Skipworth
was born in New Madrid, Missouri, in 1874, the oldest of four children. He grew up living all around the mid-West in railroad towns. His father was a Civil War veteran. He married Stella Nelson in 1895 and they raised two children. In 1900 they were living in Kansas City, Missouri, with Stella's family. They moved to Chicago some years later, where Vonce did very well for himself - eventually becoming a vice-president of the Wilson Meat Packing Company. In 1938 he started the Skipworth Packing Company in Ohio. Unfortunately, some years later it went bankrupt. However, he kept his dignity intact until he died in 1945 in Ohio, where he once had had high hopes for his business.

Ozella Nelson,
known as Stella, was born in Iowa in 1875, one of four children. There are indications that she moved around the mid-West in her early years - her father, a Swedish immigrant, was a saloon keeper and her mother ran a boarding house when necessary. She married Vonce Skipworth in 1895 and eventually raised two children in Chicago. Her and her family's circumstances went from lean to plenty to lean again, but she wasn't deeply fazed by it. She died in 1962 in Florida, where she and her sister, Minnie, then lived.
Above vignettes by S. Acree

THE SKIPWORTH HOME c1940

47 S. Kensington Ave., Springfield, Ohio


PHOTO

Photo from Frances (TenEyck) Skipworth

TIMELINE

1874Vonce was born near Point Pleasant, New Madrid Co., Missouri, probably at his parents' farm, as the eldest of four children (with an older half-sister).
1875Stella was born in Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa, as the third of four children.
c1890Vonce's parents moved to Kansas City, Jackson Co., Missouri, after living seven years in Blue Mound, Linn Co., Kansas.
c1890Stella's parents moved to Kansas City to open a new boarding house there.
1895Vonce and Stella were married, presumably in Kansas City.
1896Their daughter, Helen N., was born in Kansas City, shortly before Stella's father died there.
1900Vonce, Stella and Helen were living at Stella's mother's boarding house in Kansas City, as Vonce, then a clerk, was beginning his career in the meat-packing & distribution industry.
c1902-1926The family lived in Chicago, Illinois, where Vonce eventually became a vice-president of Wilson and Company. In 1905, Vonce, then an assistant traffic manager, pled guilty, with superiors in the Schwarschild & Sulzberger Packing Co. of Chicago, of conspiracy in illegally accepting rebates from railroads, being fined $5,000.
1910Stella's mother died of heart disease in Sioux Falls, Minnehaha Co., South Dakota, having lived with her younger married daughter there for several years.
1916Their son, Edward Nelson, was born at a Chicago hospital.
1922Vonce's mother died of neuroasthmia in Sulphur, Murray Co.,Oklahoma.
c1926-1930The family lived in New York City, where Vonce was president of the Silz Packing Company.
1927Vonce's father died of heart disease at his daughter's home in Denison, Grayson, Co., Texas.
c1930-1933The family lived in Detroit, Michigan, where Vonce was general manager of Parker-Webb Co.
c1933-1937The family moved back to New York City (Forest Hills), when Vonce was named president of Adolf Gobel, Inc., a larger packing company.
c1938The family moved to 47 S. Kensington Ave. in Springfield, Clark Co., Ohio, when Vonce purchased the Springfield Abattoir Company, established about 1890, and re-named it the Skipworth Packing Co., Inc., becoming its president.
c1941The Skipworth Packing Co. went bankrupt and Vonce opened a small second-hand furniture store, which he managed.
1945Vonce died, at age 71, in Springfield, eight months after their golden wedding anniversary.
c1952Stella moved to 609 Palm St., in West Palm Beach, Florida, for her retirement years.
1962Stella died of heart disease, at age 87, in West Palm Beach.

HOME

Copyright © 2001-current year by Charles Acree. All rights reserved.