Person Page - 102

      Dalton Stanley Hill was born on 11 April 1920 on the Hill Family farm, in Valley Township, Reno County, Kansas. The Hill family farm was in S32 T23S R4W of 6th PM. Dalton graduated from Haven High School in 1937 and then attended Kansas State University.^1,2,3

Dalton appeared in the census of 1925 in the household of his father Fred Bates Hill at Valley Township, Reno County, Kansas. He was 4, born in Kansas.⁴

Dalton appeared in the census of 1930 in the household of his father Fred Bates Hill at Valley Township, Reno County, Kansas. He was 10.⁵

Dalton appeared in the census of 1940 in the household of his father Fred Bates Hill at Valley Township, Reno County, Kansas. He was 20.⁶

Dalton married Anna Louise Johnson on 15 October 1944 in Hutchinson, Clay Township, Reno County, Kansas. Dalton and Anna were married in the Johnson residence..^2,7,8

Dalton was a farmer and longtime member of Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church. He was a former member of the Haven School Board and the Haven Co-op Board. In 1998, he lived on the family farm in the NW1/4 & N1/2 SW1/4 S32, T32N R4W of 6th PM.^9,3

Dalton died on 27 April 2012 in Hutchinson Regional Medical Centerl, Hutchinson, Kansas, at age 92. A funeral service was held at the Pleasant Grove Memorial Church in Haven Kansas, with Pastor Mike Graber presiding..^10,8 He was buried in the Fairlawn Burial Park at Hutchinson, Kansas.⁸

      Neva Gail Hill was born on 28 March 1929 at Hutchinson, Clay Township, Reno County, Kansas.^1,2,3

Neva appeared in the census of 1930 in the household of her father Fred Bates Hill at Valley Township, Reno County, Kansas. She was 1.⁴

Neva appeared in the census of 1940 in the household of her father Fred Bates Hill at Valley Township, Reno County, Kansas. She was 11.⁵

Neva married John Robert Jones on 15 September 1954 at East Lansing, Ingham County, Michigan.^6,2,7

Neva was divorced from John Robert Jones on 10 January 1977 at Flagstaff, Coconino County, Arizona.^6,7

Neva remarried John Robert Jones on 26 March 1983 at Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, California.⁸

Neva died on 30 December 2007 in the Riverside Methodist Hospital at Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio, at age 78. She was cremated and her ashes were scattered on the farm where she grew up..^9,3

     Dorothy Marie Hudson was born on 20 April 1939 in Hutchinson, Reno County, Kansas. She was subsequently adopted by Jesse and Mabel Hudson..^1,2  

Dorothy was a retired school bus driver. She had a passion for playing bingo, rummy, and slot machines. She loved her cats and listening to older country and western music.²

Dorothy died on 13 February 2016 in Dillon Living Center, Hutchinson, Reno County, Kansas, at age 76. Memorial services were handled by Old Mission - Heritage Funeral Home in Hutchinson..² She was buried in the Memorial Park Cemetery at Hutchinson, Reno County, Kansas.²

      Eugene Lowell Stanley was born on 5 June 1923 at Jetmore, Hodgeman County, Kansas.^1,2,3,4 He was generally known as Gene in the family.

Eugene appeared in the census of 1930 in the household of his father an unknown person at Pueblo, Pueblo County, Colorado. He was 6.⁵

Eugene appeared in the census of 1940 in the household of his father Frederick Lowell Stanley at Precinct 18, Pueblo, Colorado. He was 16.⁶

Eugene registered for the draft for WW II in 1942 at Pueblo, Pueblo County, Colorado. At the time he was working in the Dalton Grocery.⁷

Gene married Dixie Lee Moss on 10 November 1942.⁸

Eugene and Dixie resided at 1956 Bway, Apt 3, at Denver, Denver County, Colorado, in 1947.⁹ He divorced Dixie circa 1948.¹⁰

Gene married Millie Johnson on 5 December 1952 in Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado.¹¹

Gene became William David Pierce's adoptive father after his marriage to William's mother, Mildred Anna Johnson Pierce.¹²

In 1962 Gene was VP of Strato Aeronautical Co and lived in Resada, CA (Retta Ratliff to Grace Hill, 4/29/62). In 1979 he went to work in Santa Barbara for 3 months. But prices were too high to buy a house and he returned to Resaca to work for American Jet and consult for Aero Spacelines.

Gene collects stamps.¹⁰

The following description of Eugene Lowell Stanley - Treasure Hunter was posted on Ancestry by his daughter, Holly Elaine Stanley, on 5 February 2013:
My father, Eugene Lowell Stanley, was born June 5, 1923. He was born in Jetmore, Kansas, but very shortly thereafter, his family moved to southern Colorado. He had one younger sister, Beverly Rae Stanley (born in 1925). My grandparents - Fred Lowell Stanley and Elizabeth Retta Howard Stanley - were not wealthy people, but they held their own. When my father was 6 years old the Great Depression hit, and although his parents lost nothing personally in the stock market, the economy was so devastated that it seemed as if no one was spared. My grandfather lost his job with the railroad, but was fortunate to find work on a huge ranch in the San Juan Valley. My grandmother took in laundry. They were very resourceful people and extremely hard workers. She used to say with pride that her family never missed a meal during that very difficult time.
Children were expected to do their share. My father worked in the fields starting at the age of 8. As a teenager his job was to slaughter chickens. For the rest of his life he would not eat poultry of any kind. We had beef on Thanksgiving along with our turkey. He was 18 and a half the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and World War Two officially began for the United States. This may all sound very bleak and miserable, but as we all know, life has a way of compensating for the nastiness. My father loved the ranch, he loved its beauty and isolation. He loved the mountains surrounding it, and he loved the stories of gold and buried treasures that had become part of their magic.
Shortly after his return from the war, my father happened to be in a tavern in Pueblo, Colorado. He noticed an old gentlemen at the bar who was quite drunk and ready to tell his story to anyone who would listen. His ramblings caught the ear of my father after he heard the words "lost gold". The man claimed to have a treasure map, which he said had come down through the generations of his family. He went on to explain, that he had been looking for the gold almost all of his life, and that it had cost him his wife, children and job. It had become an unsuccessful obsession. Knowing that his own search was over, he was eager to pass his knowledge on to someone else. His own children would have nothing to do with it. In fact, his daughter had taken the map and had hidden it away, so that no other family could be hurt by it. My father and the man sat and talked long into the night.
After much persuasion, my father was able to convince the man's daughter to show him the map. He offered to buy it, but she would not sell it. She did let him make a simple copy of it, however, so he had something to follow even though many of the details were lost in the translation. My father also wrote the legend down (both his copy of the map and his written version of the legend disappeared before I was born). It went something like this:
In about 1790 a French expedition came to America to look for mineral resources within the Louisiana Territory. The expedition was made up of about 300 men - miners, geologists and soldiers. They were successful in their quest and were able to mine and transport back to their camp, as the story goes, between 5 million and 33 million dollars worth of gold. Until they were ready to return to France, they knew the gold had to be hidden. They buried it in a cave that they had excavated and made maps showing its location. It was also marked with a pile of stones and as many other markers as they could think of to leave behind. Now, the only other people in the area at that time were Native Americans, and the Frenchmen were constantly on their guard, but things started to fall apart - people fell ill, supplies ran low and the Native American's took this opportunity to attack. Only a handful of the French were able to escape and, by the time that any type of rescue arrived, only one survived.
He was the old man's ancestor.
Believe it or not, my father spent the rest of his life looking for this cache of gold. Unlike, the old man, however, he also held down a full-time job, remained married for 50 years and raised 2 children. How did he do this? Vacations. We would go to the "diggens" as the site was affectionately called, every year for 2 weeks. When I was a very little child, my mother and I would be dropped off in Colorado Springs to stay and visit with her family. My father and brother would then head out and meet up with the other men involved in the search. My father had shared the tale with certain of his close friends, who became "investors". The "diggens" is located north of Del Norte, Colorado, in the middle of nowhere, yet every year these men somehow arranged to have all sorts of heavy digging equipment brought in. Eventually, as children got old enough, whole families would show up to watch and participate in the excitement! I can remember times when, because of the hollow sound coming from the ground under the bulldozer, everyone was sure that they were mere inches away.
I loved it there! My mother and I stayed in an old hotel in Del Norte. It had to have been built around 1860, and it could have been used in any Clint Eastwood western - it was so sterotypically Old West. At the site, the kids would climb a small hill that was flat on top. This, we were told, was where the original French fort had been located. We looked for arrowheads and wondered about the old burnt timbers that remained.
The last time my father and I went to the "diggens" was about 22 years ago. My husband was involved by then, and a crew got together to give it one last go. They tried something new and came at it from a different direction but, sadly, found nothing. We have not been back since and my children know little or nothing about their grandfather's search. Since they both read my blog, this will be a nice piece of family history for them.
I think of my father's life as being very hard, and I am sure that there are things, if given the choice, he would have chosen not to have experienced. His quest for buried treasure would not have been one of them.¹³

Eugene died on 9 July 2007 in Woodstock, McHenry County, Illinois, at age 84.¹⁴

     Freida Mae Harmon was born on 19 September 1920 in Salisbury Mills, Orange County, New York. Her parents were William S harmon and Clara Youmans..¹

Freida appeared in the New York Census of 1925 in the household of her father, William Harmon, in Blooming Grove, Orange County. She was 4. Included in the census were her mother, Clara (23) and a brother Brunce (3).²

Frieda appeared in the census of 1930[ in the household of her father, William Harmon,] at Blooming Grove, Orange County, New York. She was 9, born in New York.³

Frieda appeared in the census of 1940 in the household of her grandfather, Albert Terwilliger, at Blooming Grove, Orange County, New York. She was 19, born in New York.⁴ She died on 21 May 2006 at Portland, Multnomah County, Oregon, at age 85.¹

     Dixie Lee Moss was born on 13 March 1926 in Colorado.¹

Dixie married Gene Stanley on 10 November 1942.²

Eugene and Dixie resided at 1956 Bway, Apt 3, at Denver, Denver County, Colorado, in 1947.³ She divorced Eugene circa 1948.⁴

Dixie died on 26 June 2003 in Colorado at age 77.⁵

     Mildred Anna Johnson was born on 2 December 1932 in Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado. Her parents were Jose Gabriel Johnson and Alvina Emma Boucher..^1,2 She was generally known as Millie.

Mildred appeared in the census of 1940 in the household of her fatherGabriel Johnson at Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado. She was 7, born in Colorado.³

Mildred was apparently first married to William Robert Pierce (1916-1976) and had a son William David Pierce born in 1950. She apparently divorced Pierce shortly after that. William David was subsequently adopted by Mildred's second husband, Eugene Lowell Stanley.⁴

Millie married Gene Stanley on 5 December 1952 in Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado.⁵   Her son, William David Stanley, was adopted by Eugene Stanley after her marriage to him.⁶

The following description of Mildred Anna Johnsonr was posted on Ancestry by herdaughter, Holly Elaine Stanley, on 19 Sep 2013: I will talk about the good, great and awesome things first. Her name was Millie. She was beautiful. Tall, with raven black hair andexotic olive skin. She had delicate features and a small frame.I used to grab her by her wrists when we would play, and her boneswere so small I was afraid that they would snap. She wore jewelry better than anyone I have ever known. She looked like a Native American queen.She was so very intelligent! She could have been anything. She should have been a doctor. She was creative. Always working on something - a painting, a mosaic, making a piece of jewelry. She loved to garden. Our yard wasa mass of flowers. She was friendly andnon-judgmental.She was a caregiver. Everybody loved her. She had a clever, quick and wicked sense of humor. You always had to be on your toes around her, because she could blindside you with one of her pranks before you ever saw it coming. She was a great cook...everything from scratch...everything delicious. When I was little, she let me know how muchshe loved me and how important I was to her!

Her reality was that she was born into a poverty ridden family. Her father was afrustrated, overly rough, functioningalcoholic and her mother had an undiagnosed brain tumor that made her behavior volatile and abusive. The tumor was a contributing factorto her early death.My mother got pregnant at 17,and entered into a marriagefilled with more violence. At 19 she met and married my father. He was a kind and gentle man, and she thought he was wealthy. She cared about him, but was not "in love"with him,yet they remained married until her death 50 years later. My father did his best, but the damage was done long before he ever met her. When my brother and I werechildren,wewere her focus. As we grew more self-sufficient, however, her life seemed to fall into pieces.It was the 1950's and early 1960's. She was a housewife and mother.She did not work outside of the home. I have always thought that if she had beenborn even 20 years later, she would have made it. I am sure that she would have found a way to go to college and medical school. Medicine was her passion. Instead, that opportunity went to my brother, her son.

Shebecame deeply depressed, and was prescribed several different types of medications. On a good day, she would admire the pink and blue kittens that she insisted were climbing our livingroom walls. On bad days, which werecommon, she would not leave her room at all. And, on one horrible day, I came home from school to find an ambulance outside of myhouse. She had tried to endher painwith a pair of scissors. She did not succeed, but was institutionalized for several months.

As a teenager, life with her was difficult. She was up and down - very unpredictable! I was never sure, when I came home after school, if she was going to kiss me, or chase me around and beat me with her favorite belt. It was a toss-up. We fought constantly, to the point that when I reached 18 I moved out. Things got better between us then.

Over time, her emotional strength grew, but her health declined. She left California, where I was born and raised, andcame to live with meand my family over 20 years ago. Eventually, she was able to live on her own, in a beautiful little house not far from us. She spent most of the last few years of her life enjoying her grandchildren, cooking, gardening and spending time with the people she loved and who loved her.Those years were an incredible gift. My daughters got to see her at her best. They played with her. She danced with them. They laughed so much. She and I were given the opportunity to reconnect in the best way. I can't begin to explain how thankful I am for that time!

I am writing this because everyone has a back story. I have written,am writing, and will continue towriteabout my mother. She deserves a context. She was a character of the first magnitude. She wascomplicated,sad, not always nice, and funny as can be! Her funeral was wild. That was said with no disrespect. She would have loved it! She has been gone almost 10 years, and I love and miss her everyday!


Mildred died on 2 January 2003 in McHenry County, Illinois, at age 70.^1,7 She was buried in the McHenry County Memorial Park at Woodstock, McHenry County, Illinois.⁸

     William Robert Pierce was born on 22 June 1916 in Colorado.¹

William died on 17 January 1976 in Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado, at age 59.^2,3 He was buried in the Memorial Gardens Cemetery at Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Colorado.³

      Larry Dwight Bottoms was born on 21 July 1926 at Burrton, Burrton Township, Harvey County, Kansas.^1,2,3

Larry appeared in the census of 1930 in the household of his father Adrian Bottoms at Burrton Township, Harvey County, Kansas. He was 3.⁴

Larry appeared in the census of 1940 in the household of his father Adrian Bottoms at Burrton Township, Harvey County, Kansas. He was 13.⁵

Larry married Ruby J. Lewis on 22 December 1947. The marriage took place in Miller County, Arkansas..^2,3,6

Larry resided at 7281 1/2 E. 6th, at Hutchinson, Reno County, Kansas, in 1951.⁷

Larry resided at 711 Cessna Rd, at Hutchinson, Reno County, Kansas, in 1953. He was listed as a machnist at Cessna..⁸

Larry served in the US Navy in WWII and the Korean War.⁹

By August, 1974, Larry & Ruby had sold their home in Hutchinson and were running a gas station on Hiway 56 about 20 miles east of Lyons where they had a nice trailer home. Larry was a member of Masonic Lodge No. 172, the Salina Consistory, and the Isis Shrine, Salina.¹⁰

Larry died on 19 February 1986 in the Hutchinson Hospital at Hutchinson, Kansas, at age 59. Funeral services were at his graveside in Burrton Cemetery, Rev. Robert Hummer officiating..^11,1,3 He was buried in the Burrton Cemetery at Burrton, Harvey County, Kansas.^12,1,13