Anna & Delia Staples

Anna Staples (1887 - 1968) lived with the Bryants in Towanda in 1896, but her obituary indicated that she was raised by the Huffman's in Monticello. She was the daughter of George and Mary Staples of New York and was married in Chicago to Harry Edward Patterson in 1910. In 1910 Anna was still living in Bloomington and working in the William Bracken household as a servant. The Pattersons farmed in McLean County and had five children: Robert, Thelma, Dorothy, Daisy and Kathryn. Anna died in 1968.

In 1896 Delia (1883 - 1967) lived quite close to Anna, and she may have stayed in the same home for several years, because in 1900 she was living in Money Creek, IL, a township not far from Towanda at all. She lived with Susan Baker, a widow, who lived on a farm with her elderly father, a grown son and two children in their teens. She also housed another teen boy who was a farm laborer. Delia was sixteen and listed as being "at school."

Delia first married John S. Rudicill and had four children with him, Frank, Margaret, Erma and Helen. After his death she married James McReynolds and had three more children: James, Madeline and Edith. All of Delia's children continued to live with her after her second marriage, which is significant because some children who were sent on the orphan train were discarded by their families once a parent had remarried and the new spouse did not wish to be a step parent.

A granddaughter of Delia contacted me and assured me that these sisters were very close throughout their lives. They returned to New York City for a visit, but were disappointed by their reception there. They returned to Illinois after the visit, to live out the remainder of their lives in contentment.