More About Harry Joseph Abernathy (1901-1984)

(Cropped from original by Kbh3rd. Arrows added.
Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.)

My second great-aunt Gladys Marie Campbell's marriage to Harry Joseph Abernathy opened the door to my Abernathy family research. I quickly learned many Abernathy family members in Harry Joseph's ancestry came to southeast Missouri from North Carolina. Specifically, they began settling in Cape Girardeau and Perry counties, filtering south into Scott and Stoddard counties. And lest I forget Bollinger. Harry was born there in 1901.

In Harry's direct line, a Robert Abernethy emigrated from Scotland to colonial Virginia. A grandson, also named Robert, later took his family from Virginia to North Carolina. And, finally, a grandson of the latter Robert left the Old North State for Cape Girardeau County, Missouri. (That's an oversimplification, of course, but you get the idea.)

As stated previously, Harry Joseph was one of ten children born to Marry Elizabeth Kirn (1877-1950) and Joseph Noah Abernathy (1875-1957). Harry spent his life as a farmer. Even as a young adult, he labored on his father's farm.

A month and a half before his 24th birthday, Harry married Gladys Campbell. They would have six children together before Harry became a widower at the young age of 39 when Gladys died in January 1941. He was suddenly a single father with six children, all under the age of 15, including a son of just 6 months.

Though the loss of his wife was a tragic, life-changing event, Harry did not come to that circumstance as a stranger to the circle of life and death. When he was 11 years old, Harry's sister Olga Mary died at the age of 3 years. Three weeks later, his sister Bertha Mae was born.

When Harry was 27, his youngest brother Hersel died at the age of 7 of acute nephritis after contracting pneumonia. Four months later, wife Gladys gave birth to Harry's second son, Lentice Melvin.

Three years after the death of his wife Gladys, Harry married Helen Huffman Williams on 1 February 1944 at Jackson, Cape Girardeau County, Missouri. Four years later, tragedy would strike the Abernathy family in a likely unimaginable way.

Sikeston Herald (Missouri), 10 June 1948

"Willard Abernathy, 12-year-old son of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Abernathy, who live near Whitewater in Cape Girardeau county, was fatally shot by his grandfather, George M. Campbell of Morley, who was visiting in the Abernathy home." I cannot fathom the trauma.

Notes from young Willard's death certificate: Immediate cause of death was Shock & Hemorrhage due to being shot by a 12 gauge double barrel shot gun. The charge going into the right frontal bone. Death was ruled an accident. Injury occurred at Crump, Cape Girardeau County on Roy Grindstaff's farm.

Harry Joseph Abernathy was 83 when he died on 10 December 1984 at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. During his lifetime, Harry witnessed his country go to war four times, the Great Depression, the Civil Rights Movement, the assassination of a U.S. president, and the Apollo moon landing. What a life.

Finding Julia:
The Early Development of Southeast Missouri*

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