52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, Week 4: A Theory in Progress

This week, for Amy Johnson Crow's  52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, we are to talk about a genealogical theory we are working on.  This one is not pleasant, but it's been nagging at me.

In the obituary for my granduncle Edmund McKee Reed (1893-1921), who died in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, there is mention of Edmund's brother, my grandfather Benjamin Franklin "Frank" Reed, who also died in Detroit.(1)

Frank died 20 October 1917, when he was hit by a yard engine in the Wabash Railroad yard in Detroit.(2)

 His death certificate states the cause of death as "crushing injuries to head, run over by steam engine."(3)  The mention of Frank's death in Edmund's obituary states, "It will be remembered that a brother of [the] deceased, Frank Reed, was decapitated in an accident in Detroit about two years ago."

This raises some questions . . . 

Frank Reed was married to Ruth Nave.  They wed 25 November 1913.  Their first child, a son named Donald Francis Reed, was born 19 May 1913.  A tad early.  Donald was followed in making his entry into the world by sisters Margaret Elizabeth in 1914 and Martha Shideler, my mother, in 1916.  There is no way of knowing for sure what their home life was like.  The only photograph I have of my grandmother Ruth is one taken about 1920, with her and Donald and Margaret, Martha having already been taken from Ruth by the Reed family and placed with Frank's oldest brother Perry and his wife Mary LeSourd after Frank's death.  In that photo, Ruth has a very slight smile, but to me her eyes hold a sadness.  My Aunt Margaret, Ruth's other daughter, told me that Ruth had lived a sad life.  There might have been stress in the marriage caused by the rapid arrival of three children, close in age, and all the exhaustion and tension involved in child care.  The possibly unhappy couple had not begun their marriage with time alone to explore their relationship and engage in any family planning. 

 I just wonder if Frank saw no other way out of a stressful and possibly deteriorating situation except suicide.

Is it possible to be partially or totally decapitated when hit by a railroad yard engine while standing up, walking, or running?  Did he cross in front of the engine, badly underestimating its speed and/or distance from him?  Or did he, in a moment of despair and psychic pain, lay his head down on a rail with the engine bearing down on him?

 I want to find out if any records of the Wabash Railroad exist, and if, in those records, there is a report on the incident.  Would the Detroit police department have had any cause to investigate the death?  Where would a report issued by that department on the incident be housed, if it exists?  

I just would like to know.

(1)  "Obit of Edmund M. Reed" Newspapers.com, database with images, The Pharos-Tribune (Logansport, Indiana, United States) 28 Jan 1921, page 6, Imaged: https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-pharos-tribune-obit-of-edmund-m-ree/189449669/ (accessed 21 January 2026).

(2) "Engine Kills a Switchman," Newspapers.com, database with images.  The Pharos-Tribune (Logansport, Indiana, United States) 22 October 1917, page 3.  Imaged: https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-pharos-tribune-death-notice/95893929/ (Accessed last 26 January 2026).

(3)  State of Michigan, Department of State, Division of Vital Statistics, Transcript of Certificate of Death, Benjamin Franklin Reed.  Verified by Glenn Copeland, State Registrar, Michigan Department of Community Health, Lansing, Michigan, 3 April 2009.  Registered no. 10695. 

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2026, Week 1: An Ancestor I Admire

Starting a new Year with Amy Johnson Crow's  52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, she asks us to talk about an ancestor we admire.

I'm going to choose my maternal great-great grandmother Sarah Ann (Sunderland) McKee Rogers (1842-1922).

Sarah was the daughter of Benjamin Sunderland (1813-1890) and Margaret Emeline Weller (1814-1810). She was born in Ohio and died in Allen County, Indiana.  She married my great-great grandfather Nelson Reed McKee (1838-1908) 8 April 1859 in Allen County, Indiana.  They had three children, Florence Elizabeth (1862-1943, my great-grandmother), Benjamin Franklin, called Frank, (1865-1890), and Charles Preston (born in 1873; death date not yet discovered).

 As related in my blog post "The Mystery of Nelson Reed McKee" (https://karenaboutgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/05/blacksheep-sunday-mystery-of-nelson.html), the family's life changed when Nelson disappeared on the night of 31 May 1879, never to be seen again in Indiana.  The town turned out to search for him.

He turned up later in Beloit, Rock County, Wisconsin.  In Indiana, he had been a jeweler and watch repairman.  He took up the same occupation in Beloit, first under the name Nels R. McCuren, then later under his true name, Nelson R. McKee.  He married Ida Josephine Colby 1 August 1880.  There was a slight problem with that: he was still married to Sarah Ann.  

Here's where her story begins, though not as richly documented as Nelson's.  I see Sarah as holding out hope for a while that Nelson would return or be found.  That hope must have eventually faded, and Sarah sought a divorce from Nelson, which was granted in mid-November of 1882.  The divorce was uncontested, and Sarah was awarded custody of the children.  She was left to raise her three children by herself.  Her 16-year-old daughter, on the cusp of 17 years, went to work as a schoolteacher in a one-room schoolhouse to help support herself and her mother and brothers.  For the same reason, by the 1880 U.S. federal census, Frank, then 15, was earning a living as a wagon driver.

Sarah obtained the divorce to enable her to marry again, which she did 29 October 1884, to a man named Luke Rogers.  She faced the grief and shock of her husband Nelson's disappearance, and later the knowledge that he had abandoned the family.  She had to endure six years of being a single mother, and the strain of seeing two of her three children having to go to work at early ages to help support the family.  One did what one must.

Luke Rogers died in 1915.  I have not found out much about him.  I hope he was a decent man who treated my great-great grandma and her children well.  I hope they had a happy life together.  Sarah deserved it.