Other Events and Attributes:

• Census: 4 Jun 1900, Washington Township, Gravity, Taylor, IA
• Military Note: 1918

Notes:

Census:
1900 census at Washington Township, Gravity, Taylor, IA shows: Joseph J McElfish, b. Apr 1866, age 34, married 9 years, b. IA, parents b. MD/VA, occupation, Telegraph "illegible"; Mary G. b. July 1870, age 29, married 9 years, children born/living, 3/3; b. IL, parents b. IN/OH; Stella M. b. May 1891, 9, b. MO; Edith G., Feb 1893, age 7, b. IA; Nora M., Apr 1895, age 5, b. MO.

Military Note:
Joseph was a PFC in Co E, 32 Engrs. and died in France.

Died:
The Bedford Times Republican, December 12, 1918, reports, on page one the following. GIRLS INHERIT SMALL FORTUNE
The McElfish Girls Notified Their Father Left Them $10,000.
It was a number of years ago that Jas. McElfish left Bedford, and his four small children, and the first they have heard from him since was a notice from the war department that he had died in line of action in France, where he was serving in the engineer corps. He had left his insurance, amounting to $10,000 payable to his four daughters, all living here. Further investigation shows that he also left other property to them, the extent of which is not yet known. He enlisted from Pocatello, Idaho and names a friend of his out there the executor of the estate. The Enoch Arden cases are not all fiction and this is another of the sam (sic) kind.
The friends of the girls will be glad to learn that they have been so well provided for.

Notes:
The four daughters were aged 19, 23, 25, and 27 in 1919.

$10,000 in 1919 is about the equivilant of about $152,000. in 2019.

Enoch Arden was a poem (Tennyson) that lent its name to a principle in law that after being missing a certain number of years (typically seven), a person could be declared dead for purposes of remarriage and inheritance. Joseph is present, with Neva, in the 1900 census but not the 1910 census.

Joseph married Mary Geneva CRAWFORD on 1 Nov 1890 in Maryville, Nodaway, MO, and was divorced in Aug 1916. Mary (daughter of Francis Marion CRAWFORD and Nancy Rebecca DAILEY) was born on 13 Jul 1872 in Galesburg, Knox, IL; died on 18 Feb 1955 in St. Francis Hospital, Maryville, Nodaway, MO; was buried on 20 Feb 1955 in Fairview Cemetery, Bedford, Taylor, IA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Stella MCELFISH was born on 21 May 1891 in Worth Co., MO; died on 16 Jun 1982 in Corning, Adams, IA; was buried on 17 Jun 1982 in Fairview Cemetery, Bedford, Taylor, IA.
2. Edith Geneva MCELFISH was born on 21 Feb 1893 in Gravity, Taylor, IA; died on 11 Sep 1955 in St. Francis Hospital, Maryville, Nodaway, MO; was buried on 15 Sep 1955 in Fairview Cemetery, Bedford, Taylor, IA.
3. Nora M. MCELFISH was born on 26 Apr 1895; died on 14 Aug 1985 in Pittsburg, Crawford, KS; was buried in Highland Park Cemetery, Pittsburg, Crawford, KS.
4. Helen M. MCELFISH was born on 19 Nov 1900 in Gravity, Taylor, IA; died on 26 Sep 1955; was buried on 28 Sep 1955 in Lincoln Memorial Park, Lincoln, Lancaster, NE.