Bio-Brown, Emma-McGirk

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Emma (Brown) McGirk
(1879-1918)

Emma Linda (Brown) McGirk was born in Medicine Lodge, Barber County, KS on March 14, 1879, the daughter of James R. and Lydia (Miner) Brown. She was the first of the couple's children to be born in Kansas after the family had migrated from Cardington, Morrow County, OH, with a stopover in Iowa.

In 1889, Emma and her parents migrated to Kingfisher (Crescent), OK, taking part in the great Oklahoma Land Rush.

Emma and her sister Bertha attended the one-room Excelsior Schoolhouse, seen here, during the winter of 1894-1895. The school was taught by their future sister in law, Nannie (Snyder) Brown. (Click to seen an enlarged version of this image, our "Photo of the Month" in September 2002.)

As a young woman, Emma and her sister Bertha moved with their parents to San Diego, California. She is enumerated with them there in the 1900 federal census, with her occupation listed as "sales woman - grocery."

On May 9, 1901, she married Leonidas Soland "Lon" McGirk Sr. (1876-1955) in San Diego, in the Central Christian Church.

Lon was born on Sept. 19, 1876 at McGirk, TX, the son of John A. and Ellen (Shobe) McGirk. He came to California with his parents in 1885 and settled in El Monte, Los Angeles County.

They had three children -- Alba Laura Kristensen Peck, Naomi Linda Walker Herrington and Leonidas Soland "Lon" McGirk Jr.

Lon made his living primarily as an ore miner over the years. He labored in Death Valley, CA; Bisbee, AZ, Hermosillo, Mexico; Sonora and Baja, CA, said to be "the Mother Lode country of California;" in Alaska and in Northern Siberia.

When the federal census was taken in 1910, the family made its home in Bisbee, Cochise County, AZ. That year, Lon's occupation was marked as "commercial teacher - correspondent school."

One of the McGirks' dwellings is seen here. This bluish image is from a postcard sent to Emma's nephew in Oklahoma, with handwriting on the back: "To George Barnum from his Aunt Emma with a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year." The date is not known, but is thought to be from the turn of the 20th century.

The McGirks' time together lasted just 17 years. On Aug. 30, 1918, Emma passed away in Santa Cruz, CA, where she is buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery. The cause of death is not known, but she was just 39 years of age.

In 1918, after Emma's death, the three motherless children were sent to live with their paternal grandparents, John and Ellen McGirk, on their farm in El Monte. Lon left for an expedition to Northern Siberia.

According to a manuscript by daughter Alba, he was "on a boat that had originally belonged to Robert Louis Stevenson -- 'The Casco.' The [ship] is mentioned in the book Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson. 'The Casco' was shipwrecked off the coast of Siberia and Lon McGirk and some of his party lived with the Eskimos for two weeks before they were rescued by the U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear."

The census of 1920 shows Lon in San Francisco, boarding in the home of Amy R. Hoffmann on Ashbury Street. His occupation was given as "mining engineer." His children appear on the census in the home of the McGirk grandparents in El Monte.

Lon outlived Emma by 37 years. He married again during the decade of the 1920s, to Doris (?) (1886- ? ). She was a native of New York and had been married at least once before. They resided on First Street in El Monte, and brought Lon's teenage son, Lon Jr., into their home. They all appear together in the census of 1930.

He died on Aug. 7, 1955, in Ventura County, CA, at the age of 79. He is buried in the Rose Hill Cemetery in Whittier, CA.

Doris survived Lon by 14 years. She passed away in Los Angeles County no May 31, 1969.

~ Daughter Alba (McGirk) Kristensen Peck ~

Daughter Alba Laura McGirk (1904-1991) was born on July 1, 1904 in or near in Bisbee, Cochise County, AZ. She played a large role in collecting genealogical and historical information about the Brown branch of the Miner family.

She grew up in California. As a girl, she was told the story of her ancestor George Fluckey (father of Margaret Miner) who was a Hessian soldier during the American Revolution and deserted from the British Army to join the American colonists.

"My mother passed away when I was only 14 years old, and, of course, she had never told me much about her family," Alba wrote in 1973. "I knew that they lived in Oklahoma -- but as we lived in California I didn't actually know any of them."

She was married twice -- first to Harold Magnus Kristensen (1891-1963), an immigrant who taught school in Denmark before coming to America in 1918. He later taught at Atterdag College in Solvang, Santa Barbara County, CA, a Danish community.

Harold passed away on Oct. 31, 1963, in Los Angeles, at the age of 71.

Alba later married Edward B. Peck (1901-1977), a native of South Carolina.

Circa 1972, Alba resided at 5943 Coldbrook in Lakewood, Los Angeles County, CA. She once wrote that "I am a true 'desert rat' so I always love to be on the desert. My sister came in from Texas this past Sat., & she will be taking her grandsons out to our shack in Death Valley. Wish I was going to be with them."

Her extensive correspondence with cousins Hazel (Jones) Bearly, Blanche (Clark) Tarter and Gladys (Barnum) Armstrong produced a number of important letters and papers preserved today in the Minerd-Minard-Miner-Minor Archives.

Alba's first letter to Blanche Tarter, January 1972

Alba first wrote to Blanche in a letter dated Jan. 16, 1972, saying:

I don't know if Hazel Bearly has written to you about me... I have been searching for such a long time trying to locate some of my Mother's people and I am so very happy that I have been successful. Hazel wrote that she and I are first cousins and that you are our 3rd cousin. I surely am glad to find all of you folks. Hazel and Clyde wrote me that you had written a "Family Tree" from 1665-1971, and that you were going to make a revision of the "Tree." If you would let me know just what information you would like from me I will be most happy to send it to you... It was through the Oklahoma Historical Society that I was finally able to locate you all. They sent me a copy of my grandfather's obituary. Among the survivors was listed a Nellie Jones of Garnett, Kansas. I wrote to the Postmaster of Garnett and he sent me the three names of my Aunt Nellie's children, and that is when I wrote to Hazel.

Alba also wrote to Gladys (Barnum) Armstrong "to see if she might know of the old Family Bible." As well, she typed letters to the Somerset (PA) Historical and Genealogical Center and to the Ohio Auditor of State, seeking information about her great-grandfather Daniel Miner Sr.

In July 1972, she advised Blanche that "I had a letter from Hazel the other day. I had written and asked about other dates that were in the family Bible that she has. I thought I could find out maybe just when my mother was born. But all she sent were the dates when J.R. and Lydia (Minor) Brown died." At some point in time, circa 1977, Alba and Blanche actually met. Alba later wrote to her: "I have loved knowing you Blanche and I am so grateful that I got to meet you in person - and to know that there is a strong family resemblance."

She applied and was accepted for membership in the Daughters of the American Revolution, in recognition of George Fluckey's service. As she wrote in November 1977, "I still can't believe it that I was so lucky. I now am in correspondence with many, many Fluckey descendants -- all the way from Florida to the State of Washington. I am very proud to have been able to honor our George Fluckey through the DAR."

Continuing to be interested in her Miner roots, she typed nine pages documenting Lydia (Miner) Brown and her descendants. After Blanche Tarter died in 1978, her son Paul took up the cause and continued a correspondence with Alba. In a letter to Paul, dated Aug. 16, 1978, she wrote: "It would be wonderful if only we could learn more about our Daniel Miner -- but it seemed as if I ran into a stone wall."

Edward passed away on New Year's Eve 1977 in Los Angeles.

Alba outlived her second husband by 13 years. She died in Los Angeles on New Year's Day 1991, at the age of 86.

~ Daughter Naomi Linda (McGirk) Walker Herrington ~

Daughter Naomi Linda McGirk (1911-1996) was born on Feb. 7, 1911 in or near in Bisbee, Cochise County, AZ.

She married (?) Walker and (?) Herrington (?).

Circa 1976, she lived in Texas.

Naomi passed away on July 26, 1996 in Victorville, San Bernardino County, CA, at the age of 85.

~ Son Dr. Leonidas "Lon" McGirk Jr. ~

Son Dr. Leonidas Soland "Lon" McGirk Jr. (1913- ? ) was born in 1913 in or near in Bisbee, Cochise County, AZ.

A surveyor, served with the U.S. Geological Survey in 1950, mapping the Inyo Mountains east of Owens Valley, CA. He later received a doctorate in economic geology at Stanford University, taught at the Mackay School of Mines in Reno, NV, and was listed in American Men of Science and Who's Who in the West. He is believed to have been a member of the Colorado Mountain Club.

Mary Louise (Blair) McGirk's 1964 book, 'Tis the Set of the Sails

Lon encouraged students to publish their research and is acknowledged in several related volumes. Among them is Economic Geology and the Bulletin of the Society of Economic Geologists, Vol. 57 (published 1962) and Norsk Geolgisk Tidsskrift, Vol. 42, Issue 2 (1962).

After he suffered a debilitating stroke, his wife Mary Louise (Blair) McGirk authored a book, 'Tis the Set of the Sails (New York: Pageant Press, 1964) detailing her husband's "illness, his recovery, and the varied and unexpected problems and incidents presented to me, his wife, as a result of this episode."