Return to Top 
Home      Census Images      Charts       Documents    Immigration Portraits Maps / Places Personal Gallery

Information was to be given "as of" 1 March.



1915 Kansas State Census,
   Wyandotte County
Kansas City, Kansas, Ward 7

BECK, George Dobson ("Pony")
and Sarah (King) Beck
with unmarried daughter:
Beck, Edna;


 and married daughter and son-in-law:
(BECK) WAGNER, Lula Belle
WAGNER, George;
and Lula Belle's son by a prior marriage:
Hayes, Joseph A.


Scroll down to view the Census image.

Source:   1915 Kansas State Census,
microfilm reels K-1 – K-271,
Kansas State Historical Society;
ancestry.com image 156 of 537 (in 2011).

No street address is provided, but they were the 5th house (5th AND 6th families) enumerated on this list.
The dwelling was owned free and clear, and seven people were living there:


•  George Dobson Beck, age 66 (= born 10 Apr 1849), born in Louisiana, came to Kansas from Missouri.  Whatever was originally written as his occupation is marked out illegibly, but the words "at yds" [yards] remain visible.  This probably relates to the Kansas City stockyards, as he was a cattle shipper.

NOTE:  George Dobson was actually born aboard the sailing ship EMBLEM just before the Beck family landed in New York.  They were on their way to New Orleans, which is probably why "Louisiana" is cited here, however incorrectly.
 Question:  Why say Louisiana, rather than give his usual census response, "at sea" or "high seas"?  Perhaps another family member was the census informant that day.

•  Sallie (Sarah, Sally) (King) Beck, age 51 (= born 15 Mar 1864), born in Missouri, came to Kansas from Missouri, a housewife;
•  Edna (Edna Estelle) Beck, age 16 (= born 18 Jun 1898), born in Missouri, came to Kansas from Missouri.
•  George Wagner, age 40 (= born 24 Jun 1875), born in Russia, came to Kansas from Missouri.

NOTE:  His occupation is marked through illegibly, but the words "Leather worker" remain visible.
 Question 1:  The Wagners were now married for nearly two years.  Why was George, then nearly 40 years old, living with his new wife's parents?  Is it possible the advent of automobiles had made his trade largely obsolete?
 Question 2:  George married Lula Belle after his first wife's death.  Where were his children by that marriage?

•  Lula Belle (Beck) Wagner, age 34 (= born 30 May 1881), born in Texas, came to Kansas from Missouri, a housewife; •  Elmer (Otto) Wagner, age 15 (= born 24 Jul 1900), born in Missouri;
•  Joseph Hayes, age 12 (= born 3 Oct 1903), born in Missouri, came to Kansas from Missouri.

NOTE:  Joseph A. was the only child of Lula Belle and her first husband, Ray H. Hayes.  Lula Belle and Ray separated after Joseph's birth.  She had married George Wagner in 1913.