posted by Brett M. on Apr 18
The following news clip was from the Sedalia (MO) Democrat-Sentinel, exact date unknown, but apparently late November or early December, 1908:
UNITED AFTER FORTY YEARS
John E. Deering Finds His long Lost Sister in Morgan County.
Separated in childhood, without having seen or heard of each other in forty years, John E. Deering, a cabinet maker at the M. K. & T. shops, has been reunited with his sister and brother. The reunion occurred at his sister’s home in Morgan county, near Glensted, last week.
The Deerings, in childhood, lived near what is now Lookout, in the northeastern part of Pettis county. During the Civil war[,] Elizabeth, aged 12[,] William, aged 10, and John E. aged 6, were left orphans while the war was in progress, and were separated by being taken in by acquaintances.
Days, months and years passed without them hearing or seeing each other. Time took them further apart until each, after vain efforts to locate the others, gave up in despair and all believed the others were dead, and that further search was useless.
About four months ago J. E. Deering, while partaking of a dish of chili at a local parlor, was approached by a lady who mistook him for his brother, William. A conversation followed and it was from the woman that the first news of Mr. Deering’s brother came, and he immediately left for Talequah, Oklahoma, where the woman said William was living. The information proved correct and John and William Deering met and greeted each other for the first time in forty-one years. An extended visit was made in Oklahoma, when one day a man giving his name as Stevens drove up to William Deering’s home and recognized him to be a Deering and asked him questions concerning his past life. It was soon learned that this man Stevens had known the Deerings years ago in Missouri, and it was from the information gotten from him that the two brothers determined to find the sister, feeling certain that from what Stevens had told them she was living somewhere in Missouri. They came to Sedalia, went to the neighborhood, but inquiry failed to give them any clue whatever and they moved onto Cooper county. They went then to Benton county, following a slender clew [sic], and after a long search turned their attention to a slight trace of the woman in Morgan county. They stopped at a farm house near Glensted for the night on Sunday last, and after an introduction found that they were at the home of Mr. Milburn, who proved to be the father of F. Milburn, of the grocery firm of Gehlken & Milburn, on East Saline, [sic] street, this city. The Deerings stated their mission and a son-in-law of Mr. Milburn, recalling a conversation held with a neighbor during which the ancestry of a family by the name of Hayes had been mentioned, he called the neighbor over the telephone, and the Hayes woman turned out to be the long lost sister.
A reunion of the brothers and sister occurred the following day[,] Monday, Nov. 23. It had been just forty-two years since the brothers had seen their sister, whose name now is Mrs. James Hayes, and who is the mother of five daughters and two sons. She is the wife of a substantial farmer.
A reunion of the Deering and Hayes families will be held in Sedalia Christmas. –Sedalia Democrat-Sentinel