Bessie Bricker FIELDS

  General Notes:

Photo: Twin sisters Bessie Bricker (Fields) King, 1882-1952, and Bonnie Darr Fields, 1882-1967, are together in this photograph taken in later years. The original photo was a gift to DeeAnna in 1965 from Bonnie. Bessie's middle name "Bricker" originated with Dr. John Bricker of Ladora, Iowa County, Iowa. Bonnie's middle name "Darr" represented Dr. D. B. Darr, also of Ladora, Iowa County, Iowa.

Photo from DeeAnna Allum Granston



1882 BIRTH of Bessie Bricker Fields

Bessie was named for Dr. John Bricker of Ladora, Iowa County, Iowa (see a biography of Dr. Bricker below)

1885 CENSUS, Iowa State Census, Jasper County, Washington Township, Colfax (no specific date) ("Bessie Field," age 2, is with her parents)

1886 DEATH of mother, S. Emma L. (Meacham) Fields

1893 MARRIAGE of father Alexander to stepmother Margaret

1895 CENSUS, Iowa, Jasper County, Washington Township, Colfax (no specific date) ("Bessie B. Fields," age 11, born in Iowa County, Iowa)

1900 CENSUS, Iowa, Polk County, Beaver Township, Mitchellville (June 5) ("Bessie," age 17, "At School," is with her father Alex and stepmother Margaret)

1902 DEATH (approximate) of grandfather, Lewis Fields

1904 DEATH of father, Alexander Teagarden Fields

1905 CENSUS, Iowa State Census, Polk County, Beaver Township, Mitchellville (no specific date) ("Bessie B. Fields") (names only are in the 1905 Iowa State Census)

1910 CENSUS, Iowa, Pottawattomie County, Kane Township, Council Bluffs (April 29) (Bessie, age 24, "Nurse" in Jennie Edmunson Memorial Hospital)

1920 CENSUS, Wisconsin, Milwaukee County, Milwaukee (no specific date on census page) ("Bessie B.," age 34, Nurse, Private")

1923 MARRIAGE of Bessie Bricker Fields and Rufus B. King on October 15 in Kerrville, Kerr County, Texas by Caspor G. Wright, M. G.

1926 DEATH of stepmother, Margaret (Eckles) (Leighner) Fields

1930 CENSUS, Texas, Kerr County, Kerrville (April 12) ("Rufus B.," age 34, occupation "none"; "Bessie," age 37, "Nurse, Private Homes"; with Rufus and Bessie was his mother, Addie King, age 58)

1952 DEATH, Bessie Bricker (Fields) King at 69 years 3 months 11 days

Cause of death: "Acute pulmonary edema, hypertensive cardiovascular disease" --death certificate

1974 DEATH of husband, Rufus Berry King at 78 years 9 months 21 days

Cause of death: "Pneumonia, secondary to ' Chr. obstructive pulmonary disease ' ... and ' Chr. brain syndrome due to cerebral arteriosclerosis ' " --death certificate



MILITARY SERVICE (Rufus): World War I

DESCRIPTION (Rufus): "Medium height, medium build, gray eyes, dark brown hair" (World War I Draft Registration)

SIGNATURE (Bessie): From her handwritten sentiment in her mother's autograph book

OCCUPATION (Bessie): "Bessie received her nurses' training in Omaha, Nebraska. She was a very fine nurse and was registered in 5 states; her patients never forgot her. One time she cared for the wife of one of the Ringling Bros., and they just begged her to be the nurse for their circus. Bessie and I were both nurses during the 1st World War. She was in Ft. Riley, Kansas, and I served in France, 11 miles out of Paris." --Bonnie Darr Fields

According to her death certificate, Bessie was in the armed forces from October 2, 1918 to February 8, 1919

DOCUMENT: State of Texas Death Certificate No. 19023 for "Bessie B. Fields King" signed by Bessie's husband, Rufus B. King

DOCUMENT: State of Texas Death Certificate No. 57617 for Rufus B. King, informant, "Veterans Administration Records," signed by D. L. Berni, M. D. (According to the death certificate, the parents of Rufus B. King were William King and Addie Sanders)



BOOK: GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF DESCENDANTS OF ABRAHAM TEAGARDEN, From Arrival in America, Including European Background, by Helen Elizabeth Vogt, published 1967, page 341, regarding Bessie Bricker (Fields) King:

"Attended Simpson College in Iowa and graduated from Council Bluffs Hospital in Nurses Training. No issue and lived in Kerrville, Texas."


BOOK: THE HISTORY OF IOWA COUNTY, IOWA, Union Historical Company, Birdsall, Williams & Co., Des Moines, Iowa, 1881:

Pages 567 and 568:

BRICKER, JOHN, M. D.--Section 14. No man in Hartford township, or perhaps in the county, is better known and more highly respected than the subject of this sketch. He was born in Richland county, Ohio, on the 6th day of July, 1831, where he lived on a farm until about twelve years of age, when he went to Fostoria, Ohio, and became engaged in the dry goods store of Mr. Charles Foster, who is now Governor of Ohio. He remained there as a salesman about six years. He then attended school at Tiffin, Ohio, where he finished his education and commenced the study of medicine at the age of twenty years with S. and J. W. Bricker, of Fostoria, with whom he read about three years, after which he took one course of lectures at the city of Cincinnati and one in the city of New York, where he graduated. He commenced the practice in Hartford township, in this county, in the year 1854, when the county was entirely a wilderness. His rides were necessarily very long and over wild prairies and without roads or bridges, but the Dr. being young and active enjoyed the hardships and after the work was done the money was already ready. He has always resided in the same place since coming, and besides his extensive practice he has superintended the opening and cultivation of a large farm of 225 acres of land, in sections 14 and 23, in Hartford township. He has fine buildings, large two story house and large barn. His farm is well stocked. Dr. B. was married on the 6th day of April, 1856, to Miss E. J. Shedenhelm, a sister of his former wife, who is still living and by whom he has had six children: John L., Mary L., Ulysses S., Isaac and Rush, besides McCurdy, who died at the age of fourteen months. Besides his extensive practice and his farm he has a store in Ladora in company with L. W. WILSON, who is a fine business man and one of the oldest and most honored citizens of the county. He was born in Indiana in the year 1839, and emigrated to this county in 1849, where he was brought up on a farm and attended the common schools in his younger days. Attended Cornell University and graduated for Eastman's Business College. He has been five years an agent for the C. R. I. & P. R. R., in Ladora; has been engaged as a salesman for different parties in the goods business in the towns of Marengo, Belle Plaine, Koszta, Ladora and other places; is perfectly trustworthy and a fine salesman. He was married on the 23rd of June, 1867, to Miss R. J. Arbuckle, of Marengo, who is still living and by whom he has one child, a boy of twelve years, John W.



VINTAGE PHOTOGRAPHS, gifts to DeeAnna in 1965 from Bonnie Darr Fields (1882-1967):

Group photo, Bessie Bricker Fields (King) and Bonnie Darr Fields with two friends (photo taken at Davison, Colfax, Iowa) (measures 5 1/4" X 7 1/2")

Bessie Bricker Fields King and Bonnie Darr Fields

Bessie Bricker (Fields) King (photo taken at Guttenstein, Milwaukee, Wisconsin)

Plus:

Gravestone of Bessie Bricker Fields King, Kerrville, Kerr County, Texas, inscribed as follows:

BESSIE B. KING
1882 - 1952

Bessie married Rufus Berry KING, son of William KING and Eliza Adaline SANDERS, on October 15, 1923 in Kerrville, Kerr County, Texas. (Rufus Berry KING was born on October 6, 1895 in Diana, Giles County, Tennessee, died on July 27, 1974 in Bonham, Fannin County, Texas and was buried in Garden Of Memories Cemetery, Kerrville, Kerr County, Texas.)