Mapping Out a Life: Joseph Travis

Courtesy Jack Cavanaugh -Kent, WA

Last spring, we went on a roadtrip to visit relatives in the Seattle area. While there we had a mini-reunion for my mom with her Proctor cousins. During the get-together, our host, Cleo Proctor Cavanaugh's son Jack allowed me to go through his late mother's photo albums and scan family photos. Over the next few months, I am going to post some of them here and discuss the people in them.

This photo is of Joseph Travis and his wife Florence Byram Travis of Sidney, Fremont County, Iowa. He was the brother of my great grandmother Amelia "Millie" Travis Proctor. As you can see from the writing on the photo, it was taken in July 1913. It is a Real Photo postcard and was sent through the mail from Sidney to Seattle. On the back, it discusses Millie and Joe's father Abraham Travis' deteriorating health, who died on January 5, 1914. Their mother was Ruth Ann Stolebarger Travis who passed away June 23, 1901.

Joe (26 Dec 1866-21 Nov 1942) lived his entire life in Fremont County, Iowa. Like most of his siblings, he didn't marry until relatively late for that time and did not have any children. He and Florence married on October 6, 1897.  He appears to have lived a pretty simple life, running a farm and spending time with his eleven siblings. Most of the Travises stayed in Sidney and they remained a very close family.

Julia M. Travis' book All in the Family discusses this family in great detail and is, undoubtedly, what first sparked my interest in genealogy when it was published at the end of 1975. Detailing the many descendants of Asa Travis, the book included me and my family in its pages - very exciting for a six year old.

To get a better look at Joe, I cropped and enlarged the photo below. His horses made the cut since they were probably an important part of his family.