Elizabeth Butler Gentry (1874 - 1940)

Born 1 Oct 1874 in Columbia, Boone, Missouri, United States

Ancestors

Died 5 May 1940 at age 65 in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States

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Biography

Genealogically Defined

Elizabeth was born in Columbia, Boone County, Missouri in 1874. She was the daughter of Richard Gentry and Susan Butler.

The family lived near Mexico, Audrain County, Missouri in 1880. The household included the her parents and younger brother. Her father was working as a miner.^[1] Later that year, they moved to Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri. The family built a home at 2600 Troost Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri in 1882. Elizabeth lived there for over forty years.^{[2] [3]} They entertained regularly during this period, such as the Dec 1887 reception with nearly 100 guests at their Troot Avenue home with guests including former Missouri Governor Thomas Theodore Crittenden.^[4] Elizabeth attended Monticello Seminary^[5] in Godfrey, Madison County, Illinois and then Missouri University.^[2]

When she was 22-years-old, she rode a Kansas City Street car and decided to don gloves. To expediate the process, she removed two rings from her fingers and put them in a small purse. One ring was set with two diamond having a total weight of 3.5 carets. The other was a marquise ring with fifteen small diamonds. She lost the purse and the rings were never found.^[6] Her father offered a $100 reward for the return of the two rings.^[7]

By 1900, the household consisted of her parents, five siblings, and two servants. Elizabeth was active in the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), the organizing regent of the Kansas City Chapter. Elizabeth spent the first half of 1904 on a tour of Europe with her mother Susan Emeline (Butler) Gentry and sister Ruth Russell (Gentry) Bush^[8] She toured the West Indies, the Spanish main, and Panama with her father and her sister Ruth Russell (Gentry) Bush in Jan-Mar 1907. She toured the Panama Canal while it was under construction. In 1910, only Susan, Elizabeth, their parents, and a gardener lived in the Troost house. Richard was retired from the railroad and in poor health.^[9]

In 1920, after her father's death in 1916, she lived with her mother and sister where they rented at 4039 Locust Street. A married couple were janitor and servant, completing the household.^[10] Elizabeth was heavily involved in a variety of society events and social causes in Kansas City, including chairing pageant committees, reception committees, DAR activities, She frequently visited and vacationed with her sisters and their families. In 1922, she was the director of a night school that met weekly to educated "foreigners in the English language and to make them better American citizens."^[11] Her mother died in 1924. In 1930, she was a boarder with no occupation at a hotel on Locust Street, Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri.

She passed away in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois in 1940.^[12] She is buried in Forest Hill Cemetery, Jackson County, Missouri.^[13]

Sources

1. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M66Z-MK7 : 14 January 2022), Richard Gentry, Salt River Township, Audrain, Missouri, United States; citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm .
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} Gentry, Richard. "The Gentry Family in America, 1606 to 1909". The Grafton Press, 1909. (https://archive.org/details/gentryfamilyinam1909gent). Accessed on 31 December 2018.
3. ↑ "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8HX-LDZ : 2 February 2021), Elizabeth B Gentry in entry for Susan E Gentry, 1920.
4. ↑ Mrs. Gentry's Reception: Troost Avenue Society People Entertained (1887, December 18) The Kansas City TImes, p. 9 (Kansas City, Missouri) https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101869015/mrs-gentrys-reception/
5. ↑ Wikipedia contributors. (2021, December 21). Monticello Seminary. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 06:16, May 15, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Monticello_Seminary&oldid=1061398533
6. ↑ A Costly Street Car Ride (1895, September 22) The Kansas City Times (Kansas City, Missouri) https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101829401/a-costly-street-car-ride/
7. ↑ Reward (1895, September 28) The Kansas City Times (Kansas City, Missouri) https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101843644/reward-for-rings/
8. ↑ Gossip of Society (1904, January 21) The Kansas City Star, p. 2 (Kansas City, Missouri) https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101870741/gossip-of-society/
9. ↑ "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M2YN-L2B : accessed 15 May 2022), Richard Gentry, Kansas Ward 12, Jackson, Missouri, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 157, sheet 8B, family 209, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 788; FHL microfilm 1,374,801.
10. ↑ "United States Census, 1920", database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8HX-LDZ : 2 February 2021), Elizabeth B Gentry in entry for Susan E Gentry, 1920.
11. ↑ To Talk at Night School (1922, April 20) The Kansas City Times, p. 9 (Kansas City, Kansas) https://www.newspapers.com/clip/101887651/to-talk-at-night-school/
12. ↑ "Illinois, Cook County Deaths, 1871-1998," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2M6-61C7 : 18 March 2018), Elizabeth B Gentry, 06 May 1940; citing Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States, source reference , record number , Cook County Courthouse, Chicago; FHL microfilm .
13. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #220263399

Acknowledgements

Richard Gentry - author of The Gentry Family in America, 1606 to 1909, the seminal genealogy text upon which this profile is built.