Theron's life, written by Idons Jul 2011
Theron Sargent was born on the 23rd of September 1870, in Keota, Keokuk, Iowa. He was the eighth and last child of James Henry and Eliza Eunicy Sargent. Sometime prior to 1880 Theron’s parents moved from Iowa to Kansas. In the 1880 US census, when Theron was nine years old, the family was living in Pawnee, Smith County, Kansas. Pawnee is no longer shown on most maps. In reading United States history, we find that the plains Indians were just being moved onto reservations. It is possible that this small village was once the location of a Pawnee Indian village.
Theron, as a boy, worked alongside his father and older brothers doing the necessary things that needed to be done. It was hard work some times, but the family always had something to eat on the table. The family, that is, those who were at home, and those that went, attended the Methodist church in the Smith Center area. Each night, according to Lila, Theron’s oldest daughter, the family gathered together and read from the Sargent Family Bible. As we look at that Bible today, we can see the wear that their devotion created. This was the home that Theron grew up in.
By 1900, when James Henry, Theron’s father was almost seventy years old, there were only the three, James Henry, Clair and Theron, going out into the fields to work. James Henry was sixty nine years old. Clair was thirty one and Theron was twenty. Some of us wonder why Theron did not get married until he was twenty six years old, maybe he was too tired to do anything but farm work. He was seen as a “blessing” to James Henry and Eliza Eunicy, in their “old age”. He stayed with his parents and helped them, as they got older.
While attended the Methodist Church, Theron met the Sunday School Superintendent’s daughter, Jennie Mae McArthur. They became friends and apparently the relationship developed into something more. Theron wrote a letter to Jennie about two weeks before they got married and ended the letter: “Your Friend, Theron”. They were married on April 2nd, 1896 in Cora. Theron and Jennie continued to live in the Sargent farm house with James Henry and Eliza Eunicy.
Jennie was twenty two years old and Theron was twenty six. By this time, James Henry was seventy five years old, and Eliza Eunicy was sixty nine. Jennie had looked forward to having her own home that she could do what she wanted to with. Eliza Eunicy thought that this was her home and she would like it to be kept just like she had it before Theron and Jennie married. There were difficult times, during this adjustment period. I suspect that Theron was happy to be able to go work in the fields.
We have no record of what happened, but in 1909, when Theron was thirty nine years old, it was decided that Theron, Jennie, their children and Eliza Eunicy would move to Franklin Nebraska. Lila, Theron’s oldest daughter reported that the move was made because Jennie’s heart was bad and the doctor recommended that she move into “town”.
When the family got to Franklin, they bought a house and Theron went to work for a livery stable. He did the work that was required, but what he enjoyed most was driving the hearse for funerals. It was not long before automobiles came to town. At that time, Theron went into partnership with the livery stable operator and opened an auto dealership. One of the models of cars that they sold was a Reo. Automobiles required a lot of mechanic type tinkering in those days. Theron had kept those new “fangled” tractors running down on the farm so he was use to the tinkering required. There is no question, the work that Theron did after he moved to Franklin, was much easier to do.
Jennie’s health began to improve about the same time they moved into town. Eliza Eunicy was now living in Jennie’s house and this changed the position of power. Eliza still insisted that the family gather together each evening and read the Bible. On February 14th, 1911, Theron’s mother, Eliza Eunicy, past away and they took her body back to the Cedar Hills Cemetery to be with her husband and daughter Flora Belle.
Soon after this, Theron’s health began to be a problem. He could still go to work, most days, but it was a concern for the family. Jennie began to do her practical nursing on a full time basis. Ray was still a boy but Carolyn and Jay took turns taking care of him, when he was not out playing with some of his friends.
Ray remembered the family going to Idaho to have Theron take “Hot Springs Treatments”. The family apparently had relatives in the area. The treatments were not effective and Theron died on March 30, 1914. The family took him back to Cora where his body was buried next to his parents.