From: "Crystal R. Brazzel" <jcarey@texhoma.net>
Subject: Re: Thomas Dutton and Mary K. Bates Desc.
Date: 1998-07-22 00:48:59
Eula, I live about 25 miles from Rush Springs and remember the heart-breaking story of those little boys well. Apparently, this all happened before I knew I had a "Dutton" connection, because the surname didn't stick with me, meant nothing at that time. Janice ---------- > From: ECol91234@aol.com > To: [old-list] > Subject: Thomas Dutton and Mary K. Bates Desc. > Date: Tuesday, July 21, 1998 12:08 AM > > Dear Sonya and all the others: > Found the Thomas Dutton and Mary Katherine Bates descendant who > contacted me years ago: She is Ilene (Starkey) Willingham, 2158 E. > Palo Alto, Fresno, CA (209)-299-0588. She is the granddau. of Laura > Bell Dutton, daughter of Thomas and M.K.(Bates) Dutton. We never > exchanged much information. She told me more than this on the > phone when she called and I scribbled the whole time, but mixed it > up so some of it made no sense. She said that Thomas Dutton was > born in the TUSCALOOSA area, that he left AL and went to MS before he > married and married Mary Katherine in MS. That much I was sure of > and filed in my card file. Ilene works at the Church of Latter Day Saints > Family History Library in Fresno part time. The way she got my name > and phone number is through a very sad chapter in the story of the Sam > B. Dutton family. My cousin Luther whom I mentioned before had very > much alienated himself from all his family years ago after an accident > at work that left him bitter, so when that story hit the news, it came as > gigantic surprise to all his relatives. You may remember the story of > a Herman and Drury Dutton in Rush Springs, OK who shot and killed their > father, Lonnie Dutton, whom all the community agreed needed to me > put out of commission. That was our Luther's son. The boys were young, > the mother had left them, there were two very young children besides > Herman and Drury. The boys were prosecuted but the community defended > them to a person and the news called their dad a totally cruel and mean > person who beat the children and was sexually abusing the boys younger > sister, the latter being the reason for the shooting. The mother then > wanted custody, but the two boys were put in foster home for two years > or so then given to Luther and his wife. The two younger ones were > given by the court to Luther's daughters. Anyway, the story made the > talk show circuits through the mother. Ilene saw her and one of the > boys' teachers on one of those sensational talk shows, I think Geraldo. > When she heard the Dutton name she called information in Rush Springs, > talked to Luther who knew zilch of family history, but referred her to > my cousin Mae McClure, who referred her to me. (Mae is the one who > put her family history files on a disk and sent in to The Family Tree > Program. Cousin Joe saw those records, contacted Mae, Mae referred > him to me - - and as they say,"The rest is history"--in the making...) > Now all of you know the skeleton in my family closet. A bigger > (worse) scandal would be hard to top. . . . > > Changing the subject. Why does my correspondence have all those little > arrow marks at the beginning of each line? And why to the lines print > out in a different pattern than I type them??? I am making the lines > shorter on this communique and hitting the return bar before the > print gets to end of this internet message box. Is that the answer? > Help to educate me! > > Eula Coleman