Alford ULLOM

Alford ULLOM (1847-1928). Innkeeper. Restaurateur. Farmer. Born in Wheeling, Ohio Co., West Virginia on May 12 to Lorenzo Dow (1821-1908) of Greene County, PA. & Hannah EMERICK (1823-1911) ULLOM. He was their second child and first son of approximately eight children. He immigrated with his parents from West Virginia to Illinois sometime after 1859, eventually settling in Streator, LaSalle Co, IL before 1874.

Alford married twice and had a total of fourteen children.

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1st Family = 1st row: Alford, Linna, Hannah, Samantha, Ollie;

2nd row: Jim, Clarence, Bert

When his first wife, Samantha Jane PITMAN (1848-1891) died in childbirth (their daughter, sweet baby Sam following a month later) in Coffeyville, Kansas, he married his second wife, Tacy Emmaline BERRY (1868-1937), daughter of Benjamin Franklin (1841-1904) and Elizabeth MCCLOUD BERRY (1846-1902) about two weeks before the outlaw DALTON'S raid on the banks in Coffeyville. Tacy, first employed as a nanny for Alford's six motherless children, she began to cook for his cafe on the west side of the main street (Walnut) and later married her boss. Alford also had a small inn in Coffeyville called the Farmer's Home a few blocks away from the cafe at 115 West 8th St which burned in the early 1900s.

When news of an impending stork delivery to his house reached Alford's ear, they returned to Streator, IL in the early spring of 1893. Eventually, all seven children of his second family were born there.

The Ulloms moved again in 1915, this time by railroad and wagon to Postle, Oklahoma. All the children of his first family grown by then, his second family moved also except his oldest son. All his children scattered from Illinois and Oklahoma, making homes for their descendants in California, Indiana, Illinois, Kansas, Missouri, and Washington, but his youngest son and bride remained on the homeplace, raising children and in due time welcoming their great-grandchildren.

Click to enlarge.
2nd Family = 1st row: Laura, Alford, Tacy, Mabel;
2nd row: Ellsworth, Frank, Lawrence, Ronald, John

Historical Note: There are some conflicting reports that Emmett DALTON may or may not have recooperated in Alford's inn before he was taken away to the county jail in Independence, KS depending on who you talk to. Emmett's brothers are buried about 300 yards from where Samantha, Alford, and Tacy are buried in Elmwood cemetery in Coffeyville, KS. Emmett eventually was pardoned and ended up in Hollywood, CA. where he directed a movie of the raid from the sidelines. But until his death in 1937, he controlled all information concerning the raid, threatening to sue anybody who published anything he didn't like.

More to Read:

1. See Paper Trail documents, letters, and recipes posted on this blog for BERRY, EMERICK's and ULLOM'S 
2. Documents of Alford Ullom's First Family 

3. See Hamlet History article on Postle, OK.

4. The DALTON Brothers and Their Astounding Career. By An Eyewitness. 1892, reprinted in 1977.

5. The Last Raid of the DALTON'S: A Reliable Recital of the Battle With the Bandits at Coffeyville, Kansas; Oct. 15, 1892. By David Steward ELLIOT, Editor of Coffeyville Journal. 1893; reprinted 1971.

6. Northwest Flats Heritage: A History of Five Townships in Northwest Texas County, OK. Compiled by the Committee: Ida Brewer, Marie Cooper, Delpha Dain, Maxine Fowler, Minnie Johnson, Allie Mitchell, Emma Weeks, & Lydia Wessler. Times Publishing, Texhoma, OK., p. 216.

7. Findagrave #25885749

Places to Visit:
1. Earline (Griffith) Spinney's Clock Collection, Port Jefferson, NY.

2. Dalton Museum, Coffeyville, KS (Dalton Days, first weekend of October)

3. Elmwood Cemetery, Coffeyville, Montgomery Co., KS.
4. Morton County Historical Museum, Elkhart, KS.

Biography written by Dolores J. Rush. Updated: 10/6/2019.