Getting to the Truth of the Matter

 

Originally posted June 2021 and updated May 2022 with new military information and conclusions drawn from that information. See the end of this original post for an annotated timeline and summary.

8 Jan 1899 Elmer (Thomas Elmer or Elmer Thomas?)  born in Wakeeney, Kansas

Elmer Thomas Nixon was the first husband of Isabelle Chesney. They were married 12 Jun 1923, in Paradise, Kansas. – verified by Russell County, Kansas, Vitals and Newspaper Records.

The family story about Elmer and Isabelle's early life together has always bothered me a bit. It went something like this:

• Elmer lied about his age and joined the Army at age 16, and served as “messenger boy – on a motor bike” in WWI, and was “shell-shocked” on the front lines.

• Tom [their son] was born while Isabel was teaching school in San Antonio, TX.

• My mother, Ruth who was Isabelle's only sister, went to live with Isabel in San Antonio, after Ruth graduated from High School to take care of Tom so Isabel could teach.

• Elmer, disappeared and Isabel spent many years looking for him only to discover him in a hospital in the Denver area.

• Ruth was with Isabelle in San Antonio, the day Elmer came home.
  

So a few years ago (thanks to records now available online and new research work) I set out to put together a timeline with documentation of the events in the story.

Here’s what I initially found from Elmer's pension records which showed his military history.

29 Jan 1918; enlisted  -  2 Feb 1918; discharged

2 Feb 1918; enlisted  -   3 July 1918; discharged

3 July 1918; enlisted  -  3 Mar 1919; discharged

*14 Aug 1918, Pvt. Elmer T. Nixon (1114460) was listed on the embarkation manifest, as being with the 7th Division, Company "L" 64th Infantry, as a passenger on the transport, "Manchuria" from New York. His father, Thomas J. Nixon, is listed as his emergency contact, and his residence is shown as Natoma, Kansas.

*25 Aug 1918, Pvt. Elmer T. Nixon (1114460) was listed on an embarkation manifest, as being with the 7th Division, Company "L" 64th Infantry, as a passenger on a transport, "La France"  from New York. His father, Thomas J. Nixon, is listed as his emergency contact, and his residence is shown as Natoma, Kansas.

3 Mar 1919; enlisted  -  21 Jun 1919; discharged 

21 Jun 1919; enlisted  -  12 Jul 1919; discharged

19 April 1929 Filed for a pension

 See the link below to the compilation furnished to me by a professional genealogist and military historian 5/27/2022/

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/5565940547701955057/7567047184532793147

At this point, I had no more information about the occupations of Elmer and Isabelle or where they were living the next five years. However, the following newspaper articles picked up their lives in July/August 1928.

STEALS' CAR AND CASH 

ARKANSAS CITY KAN., July 19. - Elmer Nixon of this city, was finishing changing a tire on his car on the paved highway, five miles south of here early last night an unmasked bandit covered him with a revolver and stole his car and $12 cash The car, a Ford was recovered later.

Pastor Missing After War Service

• Lincoln Evening Journal, Lincoln, NE, Thursday, August 9, 1928, Page 4:

SEEK MISSING PASTOR. 

ARKANSAS CITY, Kas., Aug. 9 --

 

A nation wide search has been started for the Rev. Elmer T. Nixon, missing from his home here twelve days. Mr. Nixon, twenty-nine years old was pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and is described as five feet, nine inches tall, weighing 150 pounds, with curly hair, ruddy complexion and a scar on his left hand. He is believed to be suffering from temporary mental derangement caused by shell shock in the world war. He saw active service fourteen months.

 

• The Wichita Eagle, Wichita, Kansas 03 Aug 1928, Fri  •  Page 13 

WAR VETERAN MISSING

ARKANSAS CITY KAN Aug 2

 

Believed to be suffering temporary derangement of mind due to shell shock in the war Elmer T Nixon has disappeared leaving no traces of his whereabouts. He was last heard of In Newkirk Okla. He was 'selling books in that vicinity the past week.

• Waco News-Tribune, Waco, TX, Saturday, December 8, 1928, page 1 

MISSING PASTOR FOUND

ARKANSAS CITY, Kas., Dec. 7.— (A3)—

Preacher, Who Deserted Family, Found in Army 

The Rev. Elmer T. Nixon, 31, a former Methodist Episcopal pastor, who disappeared July 24. is serving in the regular army at San Antonio, it was learned here today. A message from San Antonio said he had enlisted for a three-year term under the name "Ernest F. Nelson.” Mrs. Nixon and her two children, left nearly destitute, now are living with her parents in Boulder. Colo.

• El Paso Times, El Paso, Texas 11 Dec 1928, Tue  •  Page 3 

TO SEEK HUSBAND IN ARMY HOSPITAL SAN ANTONIO, TEX.  

Dec. 10 (AP). Convinced that her husband, Elmer T, Nixon, former Kansas minister who disappeared July 24, 1928, Is now a patient In the base hospital, Fort Sam Houston here, under the name of Ernest F. Nelson, Mrs. Elmer T. Nixon, of Boulder, Colo, will come to San Antonio to see him. 

Identification of "Nelson," who enlisted in the army at Tulsa, Okla. July 29, 1928. and since served in company D, Third Repair battalion. Camp Normoyle, was made by the Rev. Harold W. Bennett, San Antonio pastor. 

The Rev. Bennett is convinced that Nixon is a victim of Amnesia. Nelson has recovered his memory to the extent that he Is able to write to Mrs. Nixon, and to remember details of his trip during which the lapse of memory occurred. 

Captain II. S. McKenzie, adjutant of the base hospital, Fort Sam Houston, said today that a patient named Ernest F. Nelson from the Third Repair battalion, Camp Normoyle, entered the hospital December 5, for mental treatment. He said no reports of amnesia had been made in the case, and refused to allow the patient to receive reporters. Hospital records show "Nelson" had been In the army two years, McKenzie said. 

The Rev. Bennett attributes Nixon's lapse of memory to World war shocks and from after effects of influenza and sunstroke. Mr. Bennett went to the hospital on advice from Nixon's father, a retired minister of Boulder, Colo. Nelson has been able to recall that on July 24 he started out from Newkirk, Okla, to Ponca City, riding In an automobile with S. F. Morse, an automobile salesman from Arkansas City, Kan. At that time he was working as a book salesman. At one time he was pastor of a church in Kansas.

As these articles show, Elmer became a Methodist Episcopal pastor sometime between 1923 and 1928 and at the time of his mysterious disappearance 24 Jul 1928, was the pastor of the ME Church in Arkansas City, KS, and a traveling book salesman (not unusual for a Methodist minister in that time).

These articles also indicate that it was not until he enlisted in San Antonio that he began using the alias, Ernest F. Nelson.

At this point, the following dates should be noted:

24 July 1928; Elmer is a ME Church pastor in Arkansas City, KS and disappears and is described in the newspaper as having a "temporary mental derangement caused by shell shock in the world war."

Aug 1928; Isabelle listed in Arkansas City, KS city directory

7 Dec 1928; Elmer is discovered in San Antonio, TX where he enlisted using an alias. Isabelle has by this time moved to Boulder, CO where she is living with her in-laws (not her parents as stated in the article).

29 Apr 1929; Elmer applies for a military pension

29 Oct 1929; Elmer and Isabelle have a son, Elmer Thomas, "Tom", who is born in Boulder, CO.

1930 Census, Elmer and Isabelle living in South San Antonio, TX with Tom and a housekeeper.

MILITARY HEADSTONE

27 Jul 1928; Occupation: Chauffeur Discharged 18 Jan 1929. 

Note: His Military headstone record uses a combination of his original service record and his term of service in the period of his second enlistment when he "disappeared" and served under his alias.

Name: Elmer Thomas Nixon
Death Age: 66
Birth Date: 8 Jan 1899
Service Start Date: 27 Jul 1928
Service End Date: 18 Jan 1929
Death Date: 23 Jul 1965
Interment Date: 29 Jul 1965
Interment Place: Colorado, USA
Cemetery Address: 4400 West Kenyon Avenue Denver, Co 80236
Cemetery: Ft. Logan National Cemetery
Plot: Section Q Site 345
Notes: Chauf Us Army World War I  

 

The following is a brief analysis that de-bunks the family story (that I learned).

 Keep the following in mind:

Elmer ran away from home and joined the Army at age 16, and served as “messenger boy – on a motor bike” in WWI, and was “shell-shocked” on the front lines.  Elmer enlisted the first time when he was 19. Granted his pension records attempt to re-create his military service, i.e., dates and military assignments and might not have had any records to use before he was 19. But there are no records of any kind that indicate he skipped high school (he graduated from the same high school in Natoma, KS, as Isabelle) presumably in the same year or perhaps one year later. He was a sophomore at Kansas Wesleyan University in 1922 (per the KWU yearbook, Coyote. Isabelle was a senior that same year per the yearbook. The timeline now has them attending the same University, graduating one year apart, and marrying in June, 1923, presumably right after Elmer graduated.   Elmer's military service in WWI is recorded in several U.S. Military records now online. They show he enlisted at Ft. Logan, CO, at age 19, just a few months after Congress authorized the first national conscription system in 1917, requiring registration of all males age 21-31. This fact is probably behind the family story that he "ran away from home at age 16". He may well HAVE run away from home to enlist, but he was 19, not 16. He was living with his parents in Salina, KS, in 1920 (after his 19 months of WWI service). I believe it is significant that he is buried in the Ft. Logan National Cemetery.   It is correct, I believe, to assume that when he was discharged in July 1919, he enrolled in Kansas Wesleyan University and graduated in 1923. Both he and Isabelle went to KWU, as explained above. Elmer was a "PK" - preacher's kid. His father was a Methodist Episcopal Church pastor in Salina, KS. in 1920. Rev. Nixon, had previously been the pastor of the ME church attended by the Chesney family in Natoma, KS. For the compiled WWI service record for Elmer see https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/5565940547701955057/7567047184532793147 Elmer and Isabelle's son was born while Isabel was teaching school in San Antonio. This one can probably be classified as a "whopper"! Tom's death certificate plainly states that he was born in Boulder, CO. In fact, Boulder played an important role in the life of Elmer, Isabelle, and Tom. Elmer's parents were living in Boulder at the time of his disappearance. And from the census records it looks like they had retired from ministry and moved there to "raise chickens and garden".  Elmer received all his medical care at the VA hospital in Denver, often serving as a "guinea pig" for experimental treatments for Parkinson's disease (he was disabled by this disease, probably at the time of his disappearance which was blamed on a mental problem caused by "shell shock". We now know that this would have been PTSD.) Isabelle moved from Arkansas City, KS to Boulder to live with Elmer's parents while he was being searched for. After he was located in San Antonio, and received his discharge, he too must have moved to Boulder to be with his family and was probably hospitalized in the Denver VA. Their son Tom was born in Boulder. Although Tom was reared in San Antonio, (the family is in South San Antonio in the April 1930 U.S. Census of Bexar County, TX) he had a career as an architect in Boulder and lived there until a business trip lead to his untimely death in 1999, when the plane in which he was the pilot crashed in the Montana mountains. Elmer died in the VA hospital in Denver and is buried in the Ft. Logan National Cemetery near Boulder.  Sister, Ruth, went to live with Isabel after she graduated from High School (1928) to take care of Tom so Isabel could teach. Ruth Mary Chesney (my mother), is listed in the 1930 U.S. Census as still living with her parents in Natoma, KS. She graduated from Natoma High School in two years earlier, in 1928. A close family member tells that Ruth's finance was killed in a motor racing accident (no year given, but there are bits of family memorabilia that indicate his name and their relationship). It was after his death, and while she was grieving that her parents thought it was a good idea to send her to live with Isabelle and help with their infant, Tom, so her sister would no longer need to pay a housekeeper (the 1930 Census indicates there was a housekeeper in their home. Isabelle would be able to teach school and care for Elmer, who was unable to work because of his disability (he applied for Social Security based on his disability - year not shown in online records). Elmer, disappeared and Isabel spent many years looking for him only to discover him in a hospital in the Denver area. Another "whopper"!  It's plain from the two newspaper articles that Elmer was not missing "many years" but only for a few months. Saying Isabelle was the one who searched for him, is rather doubtful, given the fact that there was a "nation wide search" for him and that he was found out as having enlisted under an alias where he enlisted in San Antonio. If he was "found" in a hospital "in the Denver area" that would not jive with the newspaper reports. It's more likely that, Isabelle (pregnant, "destitute", and only a couple of months away from giving birth to their son) having already moved to Boulder, CO, shortly after his disappearance to live with Elmer's parents, that the family requested that he be brought from San Antonio to Boulder and admitted to the VA hospital near them. Ruth was with Isabelle in San Antonio, the day Elmer came home.   This one probably has a grain of truth. It's probably just been put in the wrong context. Maybe there was a point at which Elmer came home after being hospitalized for a period of time and surprised them by coming home unannounced.  Now for the finale! The real Earnest F. Nelson, was a veteran of the U.S. War with Spain. He enlisted 9 Jul 1898 and was discharged 28 Feb 1899. His widow, Ida M., filed for his pension in Pennsylvania 24 Jul 1918. Earnest died 4 Mar 1916 in Baltimore, MD. He has two pension cards that can be found on Ancestry.com. Elmer's pension cards (along with the cards showing his alias) are available on Fold3.com. In order to locate Elmer's records, the records of Civil War veterans have to be searched, because, apparently, when Elmer applied for his pension and provided the alias under which he also served, his records were combined with Earnest's. Using the newspaper articles that revealed his alias and a search of Ancestry.com led to this discovery. The original records are on Fold3.com but through a cooperative arrangement with Ancestry.com, are searchable there. This miss-attribution, of course, makes it difficult to find Elmer's records as they are not where you would expect them to be located with WWI pension records. This is the obituary for Ernest Franklin Nelson (b. 1877; d. 5 Mar 1916) found on Findagrave https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/179683664/ernest-franklin-nelson  ___________________________________________________________________ Timeline and Commentary: The Life and Military Service of Elmer Thomas Nixon 8 Jan 1899               Elmer (Thomas Elmer or Elmer Thomas?) is born in Wakeeney, Kansas. 12 Jun 1923               Elmer Thomas Nixon marries Isabelle Chesney in Paradise, Kansas. This is verified by Russell County, Kansas, Vitals and Newspaper Records. 29 Jan 1918               Elmer enlists in the military for the first time. 2 Feb 1918               Elmer is discharged from his first enlistment. 2 Feb 1918               Elmer enlists again in the military. 3 July 1918               Elmer is discharged from his second enlistment. 3 July 1918               Elmer enlists for the third time in the military. 14 Aug 1918               Pvt. Elmer T. Nixon (1114460) is listed on the embarkation manifest with the 7th Division, Company "L" 64th Infantry on the transport "Manchuria" from New York. His father, Thomas J. Nixon, is listed as his emergency contact. 25 Aug 1918               Pvt. Elmer T. Nixon (1114460) is listed on another embarkation manifest with the 7th Division, Company "L" 64th Infantry on the transport "La France" from New York. His father, Thomas J. Nixon, is listed as his emergency contact. 3 Mar 1919               Elmer is discharged from his third enlistment. 3 Mar 1919               Elmer enlists for the fourth time in the military. 21 Jun 1919               Elmer is discharged from his fourth enlistment. 21 Jun 1919               Elmer enlists for the fifth time in the military. 12 Jul 1919               Elmer is discharged from his fifth enlistment. July 19, 1928             Elmer Nixon's car and $12 cash are stolen by an unmasked bandit while he is changing a tire on a highway near Arkansas City, Kansas. The car is recovered later.24 Jul 1928             Elmer, now a Methodist Episcopal pastor in Arkansas City, Kansas, disappears. He is described in the newspaper as suffering from "temporary mental derangement caused by shell shock in the world war."   Aug 1928             Isabelle is listed in the Arkansas City, Kansas city directory. 3 Aug 1928               Elmer is reported missing and believed to be suffering from temporary mental derangement due to shell shock from the war. He was last seen selling books in Newkirk, Oklahoma. 7 Dec 1928               Elmer is discovered in San Antonio, Texas, where he enlisted under the alias "Ernest F. Nelson." Isabelle has by this time moved to Boulder, Colorado, living with Elmer's parents. 19 Apr 1929               Elmer files for a pension.   29 Oct 1929               Elmer and Isabelle's son, Elmer Thomas "Tom," is born in Boulder, Colorado. 1930 Census               Elmer and Isabelle are living in South San Antonio, Texas with Tom and a housekeeper. 27 Jul 1928 - 18 Jan 1929               Elmer's military headstone record indicates his service during this period, listing his occupation as Chauffeur. 23 Jul 1965            Elmer Thomas Nixon died at the age of 66. He is buried in Ft. Logan National Cemetery in Colorado.             ____________________________________________________________ Analysis of the Family Story:  Elmer's Age at Enlistment: Contrary to the family story, Elmer did not enlist at age 16 but at 19. There are no records indicating he skipped high school; he graduated from the same high school in Natoma, Kansas, as Isabelle. Elmer was a sophomore at Kansas Wesleyan University in 1922, and Isabelle was a senior that same year. They married in June 1923, right after Elmer graduated.Elmer's Military Service:             Elmer's military service in WWI is well documented, showing that he enlisted at age 19, a few months after the first national conscription system was authorized in 1917. He was living with his parents in Salina, Kansas, in 1920 after his 19 months of WWI service. He is buried in Ft. Logan National Cemetery. Elmer and Isabelle's Son:              Contrary to the family story, Tom was born in Boulder, Colorado, not San Antonio. Boulder played a significant role in the family's life. Elmer's parents lived there, and Elmer received medical care at the VA hospital in Denver. The family lived in South San Antonio, Texas, as per the 1930 census, but Tom had a career in Boulder. Ruth's Move to San Antonio:              Ruth Chesney, Isabelle's sister, is listed in the 1930 census as living with her parents in Natoma, Kansas. After her fiancé's death, her parents sent her to live with Isabelle to help care for Tom. Elmer's Disappearance:              Elmer was missing for only a few months, not many years. The nationwide search and discovery of Elmer using an alias in San Antonio contradicts the story of Isabelle searching for him for years. Elmer's Return:              There may be some truth to the story of Ruth being with Isabelle when Elmer came home, but it is likely misplaced in context. The family moved to Boulder, Colorado, after Elmer's disappearance and eventual discovery in San Antonio. Ernest F. Nelson:              The real Earnest F. Nelson was a veteran of the U.S. War with Spain and has a separate and distinct military record. Elmer used his alias when he enlisted in San Antonio. This detailed timeline and analysis provide a clearer picture of Elmer Thomas Nixon's life and military service, debunking several aspects of the family story while corroborating others.