George Wayne Nash Jones writes that on the back of this photograph it reads, "our family, or what is left of it since mother died. 1. Harry, 2. John, 3. Father, 4. Charlotte, 5. Culbert, 6. William."

Samuel Nash was the oldest child born to Jeremiah Nash and Charlotte Fanny Miles Nash. Born about 1876 at East Dean, Gloucestershire Co, England, Samuel died before 1910. Samuel Nash married Anna (Annie) Gaffey, date of marriage unknown. Anna Gaffey Nash was born in May of 1872 at Streator, Illinois. Anna died about 1902 at Nokomis, Montgomery Co., Illinois. Samuel Nash and Anna Gaffey Nash had 5 children; Harry Nash, born in 1892, Culbert N. Nash, born July 13, 1894, William Stanley Nash, born February, 1896, Charlotte Nash, born September 25, 1897, John Nash, born May 8, 1901.

Samuel married for the 2nd time about 1904 to Frances Elizabeth McClellen. Frances was married a total of 4 times. Her first husband was James L. Cloven, her second husband was our Samuel, her 3rd husband (who she married in 1916) was Thomas Headen and her 4th and apparently last husband was Chris Cloven.

According to the Nash family history, Samuel Nash, was the first one of our Nashes to leave England. After he left it was a steady exodus for the rest of them other than their father, Jeremiah Nash and their brother, George Nash. One other brother, Thomas Nash did return to England and died at South Wales where he was living with George Nash and his family.

I had to stop this article because it seemed to me that the dates could not jive with the written comment on the back of the picture. "since mother died." According to data recorded by Mark Wakenshaw & Janet Hurtte Nash, Anna Gaffey died about 1902. Which means that if this picture had been taken when their own mother, Anna Gaffey died, the kids would be much younger than they appear in this picture. In fact, John would only have been about a year old...you can see that it is obvious he is much older than that. What is equally confusing is that the data I have claims that Samuel Nash died before 1910....once again, the kids look too old for that to be possible. John Nash would have only been about 9 years old when his father died. John looks to me to be at least 16 years old.

New Discovery...I found Sam Nash, 60 years of age, living as a boarder in the 1920 census of Nokomis, Illinois, he lists himself as male, white and widowed (Sam and Frances must have divorced). He was a coal miner. He was living at 8184 Cedar Street in the home of Peter Carzini (?) (very difficult to read), Peter's wife, Rosa, and several other people, both family members and boarders. I cannot find Samuel in the 1930 census...so at least for now we could possibly assume that Samuel died between 1920 and 1930. We do not know who wrote the notation on the back of the picture, nor do we know who the mother is that the writer was referring to, perhaps someone will see this and give us more insight.

Thanks to Harry Nash, the grandson of Samuel Nash, we have the following information that he was so very kind enough to share with us;

From the Marriage License :

Samuel Nash and Annie Gaffey were married on 24th of December 1891 at Streator, La Salle County, state of Illinois by Ira D. Bullock, Justice of the Peace. Samuel's age was 22 and Annie's was 19. Samuel's occupation was miner. Place of birth was Gloucester, England. Parent' names are Jeremiah Nash and mother's maiden name was Charlotte Miles. This was the groom's first marriage. Annie's place of birth was Wilkstown, Ohio. Father's name was John Gaffey and mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Wolfe. This was the bride's first marriage.

From Samuel's Death Certificate: Place of death Nokomis, Montgomery county, Illinois. Full name given as Samuel Nash, white, male. Date of birth given was February 16, 1869. Age given was 52 years, 9 months and 27 days. Occupation given as miner. Birthplace given as England. Names of father and mother given as Not Known. Birthplace of parents given as England. Informant's name given was Tom Nash of Decatur, Illinois. Date of death given as December 12, 1921. Cause of death given as pneumonia. Where disease contracted given as Gallespie, Illinois. Place of burial given as Nokomis and date December 15, 1921.

It is kind of difficult to understand why Thomas Nash who was Samuel Nash's brother could not or would not give the names of their parents on Samuel's death certificate. Who knows? We know now that Charlotte was still alive and residing with either Harry or Daniel Nash. Who knows when she heard of Samuel's death unless she kept in touch with his kids...which it appears as though they at least kept in touch with their Uncle George in Wales.

Any and all information is always welcome, the more we share, the more we learn.