This unmarked red brick funeral vault sitting by itself in Bismarck's old Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) Cemetery has been an enduring town mystery for decades. Farmington resident Jeanie Devine Medley took on the project of discovering the identity of the person interred in the vault after she learned her relatives had built the structure in the early 1900s.
Standing in front of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows Cemetery's once-mysterious red brick vault in Bismarck are, from left, Robert (Rob) G. Devine with his granddaughter; Rylee White, daughter of Jayne Devine; and Robert L. Devine, all related to the men who built the structure. Standing on the far right is Joe Snyder, Bismark resident, cemetery caretaker, and Jeanne Devine Medley's cousin, not pictured, who did the detective work involved in discovering the person interred in the red brick vault.
An old joke that’s made the rounds for more than 100 years asks the seemingly obvious question, “Who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb?”
While the answer may appear to be an easy one, in truth, there is nobody buried under the monument, a classical domed mausoleum located in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. However, Civil War General and later 18th President of the United States Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia are entombed there above ground.
It appears that St. Francois County has had, until recently, its own tomb mystery — a brick vault where someone had been interred sitting in Bismarck’s old Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) Cemetery. Still, nobody in town seemed to know who that someone might be.
Enter “amateur sleuth” Jeanie Devine Medley, who had a keen interest in discovering the answer of whose body laid in the tomb — she was an ancestor of the men with the surname of “Devine” who had built it. Medley, who grew up in Bismarck and now lives in Farmington, gathered the information “in bits and pieces” that eventually led to the answer she sought.
“I have so much information about ancestors that it sometimes gets lot until I have a ‘lightbulb’ moment,” she said. I have had several of those moments working on this,” she said. “I wanted to be able to prove which of my ancestors built the vault, and I think that the person buried there needs to be recognized.”
According to Medley, her search began with an item from “Bismarck Brevities,” a column that appeared in the old Iron County Register newspaper she found posted on rootsweb.com. She was later aided in her quest by additional information she found on the ancestry.com website.
“I had saved a piece from an old newspaper because it had information about my great-great-grandfather, Reuben Wilson, on it,” Medley said. “Later on, I read the entire piece and found to my delight another item about a vault that the “Messrs. Devine” had built.”
Medley knew the vault of which the article spoke and knew it to be unmarked. Reading on, she soon discovered the answer to her question of whose body was interred there.
The newspaper clipping reads, “The pale horse and his rider have been busy in our town and as a result we chronicle the following deaths: On February 12th, 1904, M.L. Houk died at Steelville, Mo, and was brought to Bismarck for interment.
“Sometime previous to his death Mr. Houk had requested a vault built in the I.O.O.F. cemetery here, and having died before it was completed the remains were taken to Mr. Wm. Horton’s and kept till Monday, the 22nd last, when the burial took place.
"Mr. Houk was a member of the Odd Fellow’s lodge in California. Bismarck lodge No. 349 I.O.O.F. took charge of the funeral, which notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, was attended by a large crowd of friends and relatives.
"Messrs. Devine worked at the vault night and day after the arrival of the material. It was necessary to put up a large tent and a stove to enable the men to work. The deceased was a few days more than 74 years old and was single, having never been married.”
In her notes, Medley mentioned that the home in which Houk’s body was kept until the funeral was that of William M. Horton and his wife, Meekee, Houk’s niece, and she surmises that the builders of the vault were most likely her great-grandfather William Peter and his brothers.
“They were stonemasons and concrete workers,” Medley said. “They knew M.L. Houk by way of marriages of their relatives. ML’s grandnephew married William Peter Devine’s niece, Mae, and M.L.’s sister Eliza’s second husband was Zachariah K. Wilson, father-in-law of William Peter Devine.”
Census and voter registration records discovered by Medley show an M.L. Houk lived in California, which corresponds with the article’s mention of Houk having been a lodge member in the state.
Further credence was given to Houk being the person interred in the vault when Medley’s cousin, Bismarck resident and cemetery caretaker Joe Snyder located an old map of the cemetery that showed an “M Houk” was in the lot where the brick vault is located.
It was an old newspaper clipping of Houk’s obituary that provided Medley with missing details of the man’s last days. Found in the papers of Opal Westover Allen, “Grandma Westover’s brother” was written at the bottom.
“Mr. M.L. Houk of near Westover, died on last Friday after an illness of only a few hours. He was stricken on the day before and although unconscious for a time soon rallied and on Friday morning arose and took breakfast, saying that he felt as well as usual. In the afternoon he became suddenly worse and expired before a doctor could be summoned. Mr. Houk was well and favorably known, and would have been 74 years old in March.”
Kevin R. Jenkins is the managing editor of the Farmington Press and can be reached at 573-756-8927 or kjenkins@farmingtonpressonline.com
“I wanted to be able to prove which of my ancestors built the vault, and I think that the person buried there needs to be recognized.” – Jeanne Devine Medley
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August 27, 2020 at 02:30AM
https://dailyjournalonline.com/news/local/history/sleuth-solves-red-vault-mystery/article_c8a7b560-c882-5e0d-ad9b-19f14555a914.html
Sleuth solves 'red vault' mystery - Daily Journal Online
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