Payne Gap Cemetery Directory

Birt Steele (1896-1903)

Names Detail

First Name

Birt

Last Name

Steele

Birth and Death

Birth Date

July 8, 1896

Death Date

February 2, 1903

Age at Death

6 year(s), 6 month(s), 25 day(s)

Cemetery Location and Disposition

Cemetery Location

Row 05, Grave 19 | Map

Disposition Type

Burial

Relationships to Others at the Cemetery

External Links

Notes

“Son of J.M. & M. Steele”–Monument

Birt was the son of James Morris Steele, born in Missouri in 1855, and Minerva [Kirkpatrick] Steele, born in 1857, likely in College, Iowa. Somehow they made their way to Llano, Texas,  where they were married on Jan 14, 1882. The 1900 U.S. Census reported that the family was living in Mills County on a farm near Robert E. Duncan and Mary Francis “Mollie” [Dodson] Duncan. The household at the time included parents James and Minerva, and children Ida, Denver, Alta, Fred, and Bert [Birt], who was three at the time of reporting. By 1910, the family had moved to Turlock, Stanislaus County, California, and the family included children Ida, Denver, and Fred. By 1920, the parents, now in their 60s, were living in Ceres, Stanislaus County, California. James died on October 17, 1933. Minerva died on November 6, 1944. Both are buried at Ceres Memorial Park, Ceres, California.

Incidentally, John L. Steele (1858-ca. 1940) was James Morris Steele’s brother. Like his brother, he married in Llano, Texas (August 30, 1883).  John was father to Austin Calvin Steele (1890-1979), who married Amber Duncan (1894-1976) and was father to Willie F. (Fayette) Steele (1917-2001), a close friend and relative of Glenn Dale Duncan. Birt Steele would have been Willie Steele’s uncle. Willie married Elizabeth Mills (1908-1990) in 1936. In 1940, the couple was living in the Payne Gap area, where Elizabeth’s profession was listed as teaching, according to census records. She taught at the Payne Gap School in 1938/1939 and then later at Star School starting in 1940 and through at least 1944 (Glenn Dale Duncan was her student at the time).

Birt is buried next to his grandmother, Rachel Ann Nelson and near Orbie, Willie “Bill,” and Glenn Dale Duncan.

Images and Documents

Monument
Father's Obituary, The Modesto Bee Tue, Oct 17, 1933, Page 3
Parents' Monument
Willie F. Steele Obituary, San Angelo Standard-Times Tue, Apr 17, 2001, Page 2
Elizabeth Steele Obituary, San Angelo Standard-Times Thu, Dec 13, 1990, Page 2

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