Edwin Hannibal YEARY

Edwin Hannibal "E.H." YEARY, son of Napoleon Bonaparte YEARY (1840 VA-1899 IT) and Virginia Angeline "Jensie" KESSLER (1844 MO-1912 OK), was born on July 12, 1875 in Crawford county, Missouri.

Ed Yeary's parents moved their family from Missouri to Texas about 1882, eventually settling in Greenwood, Wise county, Texas. Their last child was born there in 1887 and then they moved to Lexington, located in the "Unassigned Lands" of Oklahoma Territory in what is now the state of Oklahoma.

It is not known exactly when the family moved to Lexington, but their son Horace died there in 1897 and they are found living there for the 1900 census. (The Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889 allowed some 50,000 settlers to lay claim to land in the Unassigned Lands and they may have participated in that.) The first post office was established at Lexington in 1890.

Ed YEARY was still at home with his parents for the 1900 census, his father having died the year before. He married Ruth Alice McCANDLESS (1879 MO-1971 OK) daughter of John McCANDLESS (1829-1899) and Eliza BRIGGS (1843-1881) on June 26, 1904 (i.e. his funeral home had nothing to do with Bea's death ten years earlier in 1894.

Yeary Funeral Home

Ed Yeary worked at the Elmore General Store (aka Black's General Store) selling caskets. After his marriage in 1904, he opened the Yeary Funeral Home.

Ed and Ruth YEARY had 5 children: Dr. Glenn Hannibal YEARY (1905-1975); Evelyn Leon YEARY (1907-2003); Doris F. YEARY (1909-2001); Agnes YEARY (1911-2010); and Edwin Curtis YEARY (1916-2002).

His daughter Evelyn married Wm. Thos. VAUGHN in 1937. In 1938 Ed had a heart attack and William and Evelyn VAUGHN returned to Elmore City to help run his business. They became licensed embalmers and funeral directors in 1939.

E.H. YEARY died on January 14, 1958 in Elmore City and was buried in Elmore City Cemetery.

William VAUGHN purchased half interest in the business after Ed YEARY died and later purchased the rest. The funeral home transitioned from being the Yeary Funeral Home to the Yeary-Vaughn Funeral Home and finally the Vaughn Funeral Home. Shortly before William's death, the business was sold and became the Wooster Funeral Home.

Susan Vaughn wrote:

I am Edwin Hannibal Yeary's granddaughter. Evelyn Yeary was my mother, and William Thomas Vaughn was my father. When my mother and father were married on May 13, 1937, my father was working in New Mexico. They returned to Elmore City in late 1938 because my grandfather had had a heart attack then a stroke, and my grandmother needed help. They lived next door until after my grandmother's death.

To my knowledge there was never an Elmore Funeral Home. Ed Yeary worked at the General Store where they sold caskets - no services - just caskets.

Ed Yeary did not have a funeral home until after he married my grandmother Ruth Alice McCandlis on June 25, 1904. At the beginning, the name was Yeary Funeral Home - never Elmore Funeral Home. In 1939 my father and mother went to Kansas City long enough to attend Williams Institute of Mortuary Science. They were both then licensed embalmers and funeral directors. The business remained Yeary Funeral Home until after Ed Yeary's death on January 14, 1958. My father then bought a half interest in the business, and it became Yeary - Vaughn Funeral Home. Dad later bought the other half and it became Vaughn Funeral Home.

It had never been out of the hands of my family until Dad sold it to Charles Wooster not long before Dad's death.

Addressing your questions:

1. I don't see how he (E.H. Yeary) could have had anything to do with the burial in question when he didn't live in Elmore City. I'm not sure when the family moved from Greenwood, Texas to Lexington, Oklahoma Territory, but the last of his sisters was born in Texas in 1987 (sic 1887), and Granddad still lived with the family in Lexington at the 1900 census, his father having just died in 1899.
2. E. H. Yeary was not ever out of the business after 1910 until his heart attack.
3. I think the question about records for 1894 is moot, but the records stayed with the Funeral Home when Dad sold it. If you want to check with the Woosters, they could certainly check to see if there are records there. Charles Wooster is now at Wooster Funeral Home in Pauls Valley, OK, and Gary Wooster is at Wooster Funeral Home in Elmore City.
4. At the 1940 census time, I think Granddad was in the hospital in Oklahoma City, but I'm not sure. He definitely still lived next door to my parents in Elmore City.

Susan Vaughn

Source: email from Susan Vaughn of March 9, 2014.