NOTE:  The conversations quoted in the following story occurred in August 1995 at the home of Lynn White in Branson, Missouri.  Lynn is the daughter of Annie Henley and William Box.  Present were Lynn, her husband Ernie, Geneva (Box) Boothe, and me.
 
    Florence Morgan was the 6th child born to Bone and Mank.   She was born on February 23, 1887, probably in Christian County Missouri.  As usual there is a difference between family records and census records as to the  year Florence was born.
 
NOTE:  At this time I am beginning to suspect that there are significant errors in the birth years verses the ages shown in the 1900 Christian County census.  I have noted several entries where the Enumerator has changed either the year or age in an attempt to get them to agree.  For this reason, I am going to rely on family records in lieu of census records for the family.
 
    About 1903 when Florence was 16 years old she married Sam Allen.  They lived together about four months then Sam disappeared and was never heard from again.  No one is sure if they were ever divorced.
 
    Geneva - "This woman, I can't remember her name, it was one of those set-up deals on the marriage.  She got Mama [Florence] and this boy...man...I  think he was quite a bit older than Mama was.  Now that I won't say for a fact, but I think it was.  And they lived together for four months and he completely disappeared!  And nobody ever knew what happened to him!"
 
    Samuel Loranza Box was the 2nd child born to John Box and Alice Harris and was called "Ranz".  Ranz had an older brother William (Bill), a younger sister Katy, and a younger brother Jesse.

    His father, John Box, was the son of Pleasant Box and Rebecca (last name may be Northern).  Pleasant and Rebecca were both born in Tennessee.  With Rebecca, Pleasant Box had six children.  After she died (about 1852) Pleasant married Cathrine East. An additional ten children (that I have identified) were born of that marriage.
 
NOTE:  I have spent about six hours checking census and marriage records on the Box family.  It appears to be an easy family to trace.  If anyone wants to research it further than I have, contact me and I'll direct you where to look.
 
    Pleasant's daughter Ida married John Baker's son George.  Another daughter, Laura, married Bob McTeer.  Their son, Bob Jr., married John Baker's daughter Nezzie (Inez) (see THE MORGAN NEWSLETTER: FALL 1995).
 
    Pleasant's parents were Samuel Box and Jimima (or Jemmima) Murphy.  Samuel was born in North Carolina and Jimima was born in Tennessee.  I found that they were married in Grainger County Tennessee (Northeast of Knoxville) on June 9, 1814.  
 
    Jimima had a sister Elizabeth Murphy.  She appears in their household in the 1830 through 1860 census (these are the only ones I checked).  She is listed on the 1850 and 1860 census reports as "insane".  Since Elizabeth is shown with her maiden name, I suspect that she was born with whatever problem she had.
 
    Sam's father was also Samuel.  The 1830 census in Jefferson County Tennessee lists them in separate households but on the same page.  There is no adult female living in Sam Sr.'s home and Sam is shown as 70-80 years old.  It would appear that his wife had died before this time (I did not check any earlier census records).  In the 1840 census, Sam Sr. is living with Sam Jr. and Jimima.
 
    Without checking further, my best guess is that sometime before 1814, Samuel Box Sr. moved from North Carolina to Tennessee and settled in Jefferson County. 

    About 1840 - 1842 the Box families moved to Polk County Missouri.  Sometime between 1860 and 1870 Sam's wife Jimima died (see census records).  Most of the Box families remained in Polk County through 1870.  I have not checked subsequent census records to see when they left that area.
 
    William P. Box, who appears in the 1850 ensus in Polk County Missouri, is probably a brother of Pleasant Box.  There are additional Box families
living in Polk County who are undoubtedly related to Samuel Box.
  In 1900, when Ranz was 15 years old, his family was living in Christian County (Linn Township) near the Morgans.  At that time Florence would have been about 13 years old.

    I found the following census record for the John Box family:
 

NOTE:  In the 1900 Census for Christian County John Box was Family 83 and N. B. Morgan was Family 99.
 
    It is unclear just when Ranz and Florence first met.  His daughter, Geneva (Box) Boothe, told me that his older brother Bill had a crush on Belle Morgan (Florence's sister) when he was a young man. 
 
    S. A. Morgan - "[Geneva] What was the story you were telling me when I first came [to your house] today about someone sweet on someone?"
 
    Geneva - "Oh yeah!  Her [Lynn's] dad was sweet on Aunt Belle.  That's the reason that I know that the Box's and the Morgans had lived close together 'cause that would have been in Uncle Bill's real early years."
 
    S. A. Morgan- "Do you have any idea where in Christian County they lived...[the] general area?"
 
    Lynn - "The only thing I ever heard them mention was around Chadwick and in there.  Now that's all I know.  It was around Chadwick and Sparta...and I don't know of anything else."
 
    S. A. Morgan - "Now...my father [Curt] listed Sparta as his birthplace but I've never dug-out land records or anything else to see just where the farms were [located]."
 
    Geneva - "Well now I remember Mama and them always talking about just living on Bull Creek."
 
    In 1906 or 1907 Ranz and Florence were married.  In July 1908 their first child Hubert was born, followed by Jessie in 1911/12, Nancy in 1914/15. and John in 1917/18.
 
    Ranz's older brother Bill first married Pearl Terry.  Pearl was the daughter of N. B. and Armenty Terry who were neighbors of John Box.  One child, Earl, was born of this marriage.  Pearl died and Earl was raised by his grandparents John and Alice Box.

    About 1906 or 1907 Bill married Anna (Annie) Henley.  In 1910 Bill and Annie were living in Stone County Missouri.  I found the following census record for them which listed Bill as "Laborer - odd jobs":


    So far I have been unable to locate Ranz and Florence in the 1910 census.  I have checked the Soundex Index for both Missouri and Arkansas but have not located them.  I have not checked Oklahoma to see if they could have possibly been living there.
 
    In 1920, both Bill and Ranz were working for the railroad as laborers and were living in Melva, Missouri.  Melva was a small mining town located about three miles south of Hollister on Turkey Creek.  According to Geneva and Lynn, they were living in boxcars that had been setup as housing on the railroad siding.
 
    By now, Ranz and Florence's family had grown to four children (2 boys & 2 girls) and Florence was seven months pregnant with their 5th child.  Bill and Annie now had three children (Mearl, Oleta, and George) and Annie was pregnant with their 4th child.
 
    The 1920 census in Melva was taken on February 5, 1920 and listed the following information for the two Box families: