Osceola Sentinel-Tribune
Osceola, Clarke County, Iowa
March, 2006

Her name was Amanda Elvina Duly (or Duley, Dooley, Dewley). She lived near Hopeville, Clarke County, Iowa in 1872 and was thought to be a Native American of the Fox Tribe. Her half brothers and sisters plus their descendants have lived in this area for years so we hope they can provide stories, letters, or some sort of documentation about Amanda. We are interested in anything that might inform us about her early years and was she a Native American.

Amanda’s mother (according to her sketchy obituary) was Maria (or Marial) Duly who married John L. Watson on 22 May 1853 in Harrison County, Missouri. Amanda was born 19 September 1850 in the same county. We wonder if Amanda was born to Native American parents and then was taken in by Maria and John Watson before their first child, Lucretia Jane Watson, was born in 1857. Their second child, Thomas W. Watson, was born in 1859 in Missouri before the family moved to Clarke County, Iowa. In that county John W. Watson was born in 1862 followed by William H. Watson in 1864.

Lucretia Jane Watson married Salomen Shafstoll and they had children Gladys and Dewey.

John W. Watson, who was buried in the Hopeville Cemetery in 1948, married Rebecca Booth and they had five children: Royal Dell in 1884, Edith Leona in 1886, Ira Everett in 1891, Ethel Mae in 1895, and Beulah in 1897.

Searches of the U.S. Census and the Clarke County Census have not answered any of our questions. Our searching and that of genealogists have not provided the wanted information in Harrison County, Missouri or Clarke County, Iowa.

Then in 1872 Amanda Elvina Duly married Solomon Bear at his home in Ringgold County, Iowa. We understand that Hopeville was the supply town for this developing neighbor county. Solomon had been recently widowed with a 10 year old son to raise and a farm that needed much work. Amanda and Solomon had four daughters (Dollie Ann, Nellie E., Mary M., and Elizabeth Agnes) and one son (William Franklin) who is my grandfather. Amanda and Solomon were both buried in the Bear Cemetery, which was a short distance from the Oliver Cemetery. Solomon’s heritage was Swiss Mennonite with a last name spelling of Bar which was eventually changed by census takers to Bear.

The 1880 U.S. Census lists all of the people identified above. And the Ringgold County genealogy records present information about Amanda and Solomon after they married. But there is nothing about the early years of Amanda Elvina Duly Bear. Can you help us?

Ramon L. Bear
Secretary of Solomon Bear Family Reunion
rbearr@yahoo.com