Greer County, OK -- History: Reunion of Brother and Sister
Saturday, March 26, 2007

Submitted by: jamesr@localaccess.com  (Jim Milton)
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News item written by Dorothy Forrest for an unnamed newspaper, about 1943  

A separation of sixty-eight years, which had its beginning in Freeport, Ill, 
when Nancy Milton, a girl of about  20, tearfully bade goodbye to her little 
brother John  and watched him leave with their father and three other young 
children for a new home in Texas,  ended Saturday when Mrs. Nancy Milton 
Niles, now a white haired, bent shouldered  little woman with faded blue eyes 
was clasped in the fond embrace of her long-lost brother, John Milton of 
Pocasset, Okla.  Again there were tears but this time they signified happiness, 
for the reunion has been  anticipated for a year, since the two found trace of 
each other through an unusual coincidence and began corresponding. Their meeting 
after the long separation occurred in Freeport Saturday when John accompanied 
Mrs. Marie Funk of Moline to East Moline where yesterday the brother and sister 
were honored at a family celebration in the home of Mrs. Niles’ son and daughter
-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Jerry Niles of 539 Second Avenue. Besides bringing the 
couple together, the occasion  marked the 89th birthday anniversary of Nancy 
Niles, Which was yesterday, and the 79th birthday anniversary of her brother 
which will be next Sunday and the two shared an attractively decorated birthday 
cake made by Mrs. Arthur Gotthardt of Rock Island.
                                  Sixty-Six Attend
Sixty-six relatives, most of them from out of town, gathered for the reunion, 
the group including  all of Mrs. Niles children and many of her thirty-nine 
grandchildren and thirty-eight great grandchildren.  Needless to say,  there 
were many tales to be told of the happenings of the last three score years and 
much getting acquainted to be done, especially by Mr. Milton; who being the 
last of the four children who made the trip to Texas and having lost his only 
son in the first World War, was delighted to find himself possessed of an entire 
new family of considerable proportions. It was in 1874 that the family was broken 
up after the death of the mother, the older four children, including Nancy’s 
sister, Ellen, and two brothers, remaining in Freeport to make their own way 
while the father and the four youngsters took the pioneer trail into that 
section of Texas that later formed part of the state of Oklahoma.  Though but 
5 years old, John, the only one of the children born after the Miltons came to 
this country from England, did his bit toward establishing the new home and the 
family managed very well, but in the stress of the new life, contact with the 
other children was lost. In Freeport Nancy had been married to John Niles in 
the fall of 1875 and had reared a family of ten children, five of whom are 
still living.  As the years sped on, she had become a widow, a grandmother and 
a great grandmother and her days were filled with the cares of a large household.
                                Relationship  Discovered 
  The stranger-than-fiction part of this account is a marriage which took place 
in Iowa one day between George Milton of Oklahoma and Grace Webb of Doty, Wash.  
George, completely unaware of any family relationship, wrote of his marriage to 
his uncle John and mentioned that the bride’s mother was Mrs. Ellen Webb whose 
name had once been Milton.  John wrote a letter of inquiry to her but fate 
delayed developments again when Mrs. Webb moved to Canada and his letter went 
unanswered for a long time.  Finally, however, the story was pieced together and 
it was definitely settled that they were brother and sister. Last summer Mrs. 
Niles received a letter written by John from Pocasset and about three weeks ago 
came the joyful news that  he would arrive to help her celebrate her 89th 
anniversary yesterday.  She was showered with attention and presented many gifts 
as remembrances of the occasion  but she will undoubtedly describe it as “the day 
my brother John and I found each other again.”  The only regret of either was 
that the other sister,  Ellen, was not able to participate in the reunion.
  Mrs. Niles will spend an indefinite time with her granddaughter, Mrs. Funk, 
where she visits each summer, and Mr. Milton expects to spend a month here and 
in Freeport.
                                Out-of-Town Guests
Rockford--Mr. and Mrs. John Niles, Mrs. Catherine Niles and Miss Mickey Ary.
Plano--Mrs. Ardith Fritsch and son Bobby, Mr. and Mrs. Walter Niles and sons 
Walter and John, Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Niles, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Niles and children, 
Paul and Glenda, Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Schmitz and Miss Genevieve Phelper.
Fairfield, Ia.--Mrs. Mary Roland and daughters, Edith and Ethel, Mr. and Mrs. 
Ralph Roland and son Raymond, Mr. and Mrs. Trevor Roland and children Donald, 
James and Verda, Cyrus Niles and Mrs. Thelma Stansberry.
Muscatine--Alvin Kilburn.
Burlington--George Roland.
Freeport--Mrs. Jennie Sturtevant and sons John and Charles, and Lawrence Kavados.
Low Moor, Ia.--Mr. and Mrs. Louis Thomsen and daughter Shirley Lou.
Carbin Cliff--Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Belowske.
Quad-cities--Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Niles and Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Milton of 
Davenport; Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Gotthardt, Mr. and Mrs. James Miers and children 
Barbara Jean and James jr. of Rock Island; Mrs. Marie Funk and daughter, Joyce 
Marie, Hugo Storr, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Sands and Miss Maude Rinehart of Moline 
and Mr. and Mrs. William Bartels of Slivis.