Singiser Family
The
Immigrant Genealogy Society's First
Immigrant Ancestor's List, indexing
the head-of-household of an emigrant family
first entering the United
States. The index lists Johann Ludwig Singiser, immigrating in
1749 from Rotterdam,
the second largest city in the
Netherlands in the province of
South Holland. In 1720 a dam was
constructed in the Rott River
"muddy water",after which people settled
around it for safety.
Rotterdam is Europe's largest port.
James
Arthur Singiser was born November 18, 1887
at McCune, Kansas, the son
of Albert G. (1848 Pennsylvania -1901) and
Nannie Singiser, born 1850
in Fleming Co., Kentucky. Alfred, aged
34, and Nannie Masterson Bell,
aged 32, married on Wednesday, October 4,
1882 in Mound Valley, Labette
Co., Kansas, at the bride's parents' home.
Two daughters, Fannie E,.
and Florence B. were born and died before
James Arthur's birth in 1887.
The family moved about 15 miles due
west to Parsons, Kansas, a major
hub for several railroads including the
Missouri, Kansas, & Texas
Railroad about 1896, when Arthur was 9 years
old.
Parsons, Labette County, Kansas
An 1898 obituary
for Miss
Frances E. Willard,
President of the World's Womans Christian
Temperance Union, was
held in McCune, Kansas, indicates that
Arthur and his mother both participated in
the memorial service, Mrs. Singhiser [sic]
presenting a reading, "Our Beloved
Leader" and Arthur presenting
a recitation. Either Arthur and his
mother returned to their old
home of McCune to attend the funeral or
possibly the Singiser family
didn't move to Parsons, Kansas until Arthur
was 10 years of age.
Alfred
G. Singiser,
a grain merchant, died in 1901 from
"paralysis." 14-year-old
Arthur and his mother, the only surviving
members of the family, roomed
at 1703 Corning Avenue. Arthur began
working for the MKT Railroad
before the end by September 1902 in
which The
Sun
credited young Arthur with a
quick-thinking reaction to a
situation that arose on the train. He
may have dropped out of
school to support himself and his mother or
he may have worked for the
railroad part-time while going to school.
After several years of
courtship 22-year-old, Arthur married
19-year-old Dorothy Bernice
"Dora" Kennedy, daughter of James L.
Kennedy, at the Catholic Church in
Parsons, Kansas, in
June 1909. The bride was the daughter
of James L. Kennedy, a
railway conductor. After a 10-days
trip to Colorado, the young
couple made their home in Parsons, Kansas.
From 1913 to 1916 Arthur was a ticket agent
for the MKT Railroad. In January 1916
was reelected correspondent for the Katy
Employees' Magazine;
as correspondent he was responsible for
providing the magazine with
news items about his fellow employees in and
around Parsons.
In 1915 an
article in Parsons Daily Eclipse
noted that Dora Singiser was traveling back
and forth to Coffeyville, a distance of
about 40 miles, to take violoncello
lessons from an artist in that city; the
violoncello, which can be
played as a solo instrument or with
accompaniment, often plays the bass
in chamber music and in the orchestra's
string section. By the end of
1916 she was accomplished enough to perform
with the Kennedy Orchestra
at a meeting of the Knights of Columbus.
In
the fall of 1916 Arthur resigned from the
Katy to go to work for
Standard Oil in Independence, Missouri.
Less than a year later,
in July 1917, Arthur returned to Parsons to
take the position of chief
dispatcher with the Katy Railroad, in the
place of J.B. McCaffrey, who
transferred to "the South." Arthur had
received his training in
the telegraph service with the Katy in
Parsons, Kansas, starting as a
caller, later a telegrapher, and later as
the Ticket Agent.
Three
months later in mid-October 1917 Arthur
moved to Wichita Falls, Texas
to be the chief dispatcher. Newspaper
reports reported that Dora
traveled back and forth between Wichita
Falls and Parsons, Kansas.
In the 1920 census, taken in January,
she is listed in the home
of her parents in Parons. Sometime in
1920 Arthur and Dora moved
to Denison, Grayson Co., Texas, where he
once again took the position
as chief dispatcher.
From 1920 to
the early 1930s Dora and Arthur lived at 3
different addresses on Gandy Street. The
International Musician,
official journal of the American Federation
of Musicians, reported in
the March 1922 issue that Dorothy Singiser
resigned her membership in
Local No. 250 in Parsons; by that time she
had been in Denison for 2 years. By 1934 they had
moved to 1301 W. Main St.
From 1922 to
1957, Arthur and Dora lived at 1306 W.
Woodard Street in Denison, Grayson Co.,
Texas.
On August 1, 1935
Nora Odle
sold her family home located at 1306 W.
Woodard to James Arthur
Singiser and his wife, Dora, for $3,500.
The house sits on "lot,
2,
block 52, Miller's Second Addition."
According to the 1934
Denison
City Directory the Sinisers lived at 1301 W.
Main Street. The
Singisers moved across the alley to their
recently acquired hom at 1306
W. Woodard St. Altogether they lived
in Denison for about 37
years, the last 21 of them were at their
home on W. Woodard St.
J.A.
and Dora were golf enthusiasts; Dallas, Ft.
Worth, Corsicana, and other
city newspapers frequently mentioned the
couple in the sports section
of the papers. Not long before moving
to 1306 W. Woodard St.,
J.A. became the director of the Katy Golf
course. In 1937 he was
named Chairman. A trophy for the city
championship was named the
J.A. Singiser Cup. By 1942 it had
become the Mr. and Mrs. J.A.
Singiser Cup. The Singisers were not
championship-caliber
players, but they both won tournaments in
their respective skill-level
groups.
In 1947 J.A., age 60, and Dora, age 57,
began to take an active interest in
baseball, specifically the Sherman-Denison
Twins,
minor league team. In fact, J.A.,
along with several Sherman and
Denison men who formed a corporation to
acquire the team. Three
years later he was still active in the
management of the team. A
story in the Abilene-Reporter-News,
dated March 28, 1950, said he was
on the Twins' bus that traveled to Miami to
pick up a group of Cuban
pitchers.
The Singiser left Denison in 1957, selling
their home at 1306 W. Woodard Street to J.M. & Roberta
Daniels, and returned to Parsons,
Kansas. A 1961 issue of The Train
Dispatcher included a letter
from Arthur that said he retired on November
2, 1954. Earlier
that year he had undergone eye surgery in
Dallas. The 1957
Parsons, Kansas City Directory lists James
and Dora living at 1519
Grand.
James
Arthur Singiser
died October 11, 1969 and is buried in the
McCune Cemetery, McCune,
Crawford Co., Kansas, along with his father
and his two infant sisters.
Only a graveside service was held
because Dora, 79, was an
invalid. Research has not provided a
death notice or burial
information for Dora.
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