DAISY NEFF

I was fascinated by this picture when I found it among my grandmother’s pictures. A friend, but who was she? I still haven’t found the answers I’m looking for. In March of 1895, Daisy is living with a family named Pownell, in Halstead, Kansas according to the Kansas state census. Two months later she is dead from injuries suffered in a tornado. A tornado did in fact hit Halstead, Kansas on May 1, 1895, killing a number of people. Daisy is the only member of her family listed in the Pownell household that year, but a Halstead Independent news article from August 4, 1977 says that “Daisy Neff and her mother were in the chicken house, and were blown over into Smith’s pasture across the road, and through the wire fence.” The census doesn’t list her as being in school or working at any particular job, so I don’t know why she wasn’t living with her family. I think that her family is that of John and E J Neff, living in Rock Creek, Wabaunsee, KS according to the 1895 Kansas census. I have never seen anything about her mother dying, and Daisy is the only Neff buried in the Halstead Cemetery around that date. I have not been able to find that particular family in the 1880 federal census or in the 1900 federal census. The Pownell’s had a son about her age living at home when she was there. Were they planning on marrying? She was about 18 years old at the time of her death. How is it that my grandfather had a picture of her? Was she a special friend? He was single and would have been about 27 when this happened. I did find a couple of answers about this picture, but there are still many questions. Some will never be answered, but maybe someday, I will be able to find out more about her family.