Cora Dunavan Watts was born June 20, 1879, in Baker, La Salle County, Illinois. She died May 22, 1964, in Ottawa and is buried in the Precinct Cemetery in Earlville. She was a member of the large Green clan, a great-grandaughter of John Green, through his daughter Nancy, who married Joseph Albert Dunavan.

When she was a young girl she took an art course at the Art Institute in Chicago and later a correspondence course. Then she married and went to reside on a farm near Leland. Her duties as a wife and mother filled her time, but her love of art remained.

She renewed her hobby when, at the age of 78, she became a resident of the Cora J. Pope Home in Ottawa. She began her new career by taking a three-year correspondence course. She believed her early art training helped her to complete the course in only one and a half years.

She did some portrait work, as well as still life and scenes, and exhibited at the Allen Park Art Show and the Town and Country Art Show in Ottawa. She frequently worked from photographs as well as from life. Many of her relatives have pictures she painted from a favorite photograph.

Linderhof Palace, painted by Cora Watts for Candace Wilmot

Charles Benton Hess

Jesse Green’s son-in-law, C. B. Hess, was an owner of the Hess, Williams & Hess company, makers of firebrick and drain tile. The business was housed in the old stone mill in Dayton. Despite the injury described here, C. B. lived another twenty-seven years, not dying until the age of seventy-nine.

C. B. Hess Sustains Some Serious Injuries At Dayton

Mr. C. B. Hess met with a very serious accident at his works in Dayton Tuesday afternoon. The bricks that are made on the top floor of the building are lowered to the drying room through a chute. Mr. Hess was standing close to the chute, talking to one of the workmen, and a brick fell from the chute and struck him on top of the head. The brick weighed seven pounds and fell a distance of twelve feet and fell with such force that it produced concussion of the brain. Mr. Hess was brought to his home in this city [Ottawa] in an unconscious condition, and Dr. Dyer was summoned.

He examined Mr. Hess’s injuries and found that he was not only suffering from concussion of the brain in serious form, but also neuralgia, which was greatly aggravated by the concussion of the brain. He was very restless and suffered intense pain last night, but today he rested very comfortably and is considered out of danger by his physician.¹

1. The Ottawa [Illinois} Free Trader, 13 Jun 1891, p 5, col 1

guardianship request of Esther Stickley Daniels

In June of 1854, Christian Stickley died in Dayton, leaving a widow, Esther, and two sons, Edward, age 7, and Henry, age 3. Esther married again on February 22, 1855, to Aaron Daniels.

Christian Stickley was the heir at law of Samual Stickley of Ohio. In the spring  of 1855, the Samual Stickley estate was ready to distribute the assets. Since Christian was dead, his sons were the heirs. However, the heirs were minors and needed a guardian to act for them. In the May term of the La Salle county court, Esther Daniels appeared and requested that Aaron Daniels, her husband, be named the guardian of her Stickley sons. On May 25, 1853, Aaron Daniels was sworn as guardian to the boys. He (with the assistance of Washington Bushnell) had to swear a guardianship bond of $800; said bond being null and void if he faithfully discharged the office of guardian and submitted yearly reports to the court.

From 1855 to 1862, Aaron fulfilled his duties, including paying the taxes on the Dayton lots the boys had inherited from their father. In 1863, Aaron wanted to move West with his wife and their young children. Edward and Henry apparently wished to stay in Illinois where they owned property, but they were still minors. Since Edward was now 14 years old, he was old enough to choose his own guardian. His choice,  Elias Trumbo, was then sworn as guardian and took out the guardianship bond, with the same caveats as before. Aaron Daniels filed a final report of his stewardship and moved to Kansas.

In 1870, Edward reached the age of twenty-one and Elias Trumbo turned over the assets he had been administering for him. Elias was released by the court from acting as Edward’s guardian. In September 1873, Elias was back to be released as guardian for Henry, who had also reached his majority.