Individual Details
Loren Alava PRATHER
(8 Oct 1900 - 16 Mar 1950)
Sources:
Personal communication with my grandmother, Charlotte Inez Prather Loverde, c. 1972.
Personal communication with my mother, Elizabeth Loverde, including 28 January 2003 e-mail. She says, "The mention of Loren jogs my memory. There was one boy in my mother's family who was severely developmentally disabled. I'm not sure but I think it might have been Loren. That would explain why a 29-year-old was living at home. As wasoften the practice in those days, he was hidden away in a room by himself and spent his whole life in isolation. I only saw him for a few minutes once in my life, during one of my visits to Kansas as a child. My memory is of a grown man with the mental age of a small child, and maybe some physical disability as well. Very sad. I don't remember any more whose house he lived in or where it was, except that it was somebody'sprivate house and he lived in a bedroom upstairs. I'm pretty sure it wasn't with my Aunt Leva and Uncle Gaye Smith in Garden City, as I stayed in their house quite a bit. I also don't think it was with my Aunt Jennie and Uncle Vernon Madison (Mattison? Matthieson???) on their farm in Hutchinson, Kansas. I guessit could have been with my grandmother Mamie in Dodge City, Kansas, who was still alive then."
1910 U.S. Federal Census. Dodge City, Ford Co., Kansas. Ward 1, ED 45. (Images 2 and 3 when accessed through Ancestry.com.) Accessed on-line through Ancestry.com and printed, 20 July 2003. This census shows J.M. Prather, railroad engineer, and wife Mamie, music teacher, and their children Luella, Jennie, Loren, Leora, Daisy and Thompson (Tom), living in a rented house at 508 Avenue B. This is a within a couple of blocks of the house they moved to soon and occupied for many years, at 909 Avenue D. Both houses are within a coupleof blocks of the railroad tracks, one of the major routes of the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, which employed James Prather as an engineer.
1920 U.S. Federal Census, Dodge City, Ford Co., Kansas. Accessed online and printed 15 August 2002. ED 53, Images 3-4 when accessed through Ancestry.com. Loren appears in the 1920 census under the name of his father, James Marcus Prather, living at 909 Avenue D, Dodge City.
1930 U.S. Federal Census, ED 5, Dodge City, Ford Co., Kansas. Accessed online and printed 27 January 2003. Ancestry.comcites roll T626_702, page 3A, image 649. Loren and father James Marcus Prather appear on image 5 when accessed through Ancestry.com.
Both the 1920 and 1930 federal census give Loren's occupation as "none."
Personal communication with my grandmother, Charlotte Inez Prather Loverde, c. 1972.
Personal communication with my mother, Elizabeth Loverde, including 28 January 2003 e-mail. She says, "The mention of Loren jogs my memory. There was one boy in my mother's family who was severely developmentally disabled. I'm not sure but I think it might have been Loren. That would explain why a 29-year-old was living at home. As wasoften the practice in those days, he was hidden away in a room by himself and spent his whole life in isolation. I only saw him for a few minutes once in my life, during one of my visits to Kansas as a child. My memory is of a grown man with the mental age of a small child, and maybe some physical disability as well. Very sad. I don't remember any more whose house he lived in or where it was, except that it was somebody'sprivate house and he lived in a bedroom upstairs. I'm pretty sure it wasn't with my Aunt Leva and Uncle Gaye Smith in Garden City, as I stayed in their house quite a bit. I also don't think it was with my Aunt Jennie and Uncle Vernon Madison (Mattison? Matthieson???) on their farm in Hutchinson, Kansas. I guessit could have been with my grandmother Mamie in Dodge City, Kansas, who was still alive then."
1910 U.S. Federal Census. Dodge City, Ford Co., Kansas. Ward 1, ED 45. (Images 2 and 3 when accessed through Ancestry.com.) Accessed on-line through Ancestry.com and printed, 20 July 2003. This census shows J.M. Prather, railroad engineer, and wife Mamie, music teacher, and their children Luella, Jennie, Loren, Leora, Daisy and Thompson (Tom), living in a rented house at 508 Avenue B. This is a within a couple of blocks of the house they moved to soon and occupied for many years, at 909 Avenue D. Both houses are within a coupleof blocks of the railroad tracks, one of the major routes of the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, which employed James Prather as an engineer.
1920 U.S. Federal Census, Dodge City, Ford Co., Kansas. Accessed online and printed 15 August 2002. ED 53, Images 3-4 when accessed through Ancestry.com. Loren appears in the 1920 census under the name of his father, James Marcus Prather, living at 909 Avenue D, Dodge City.
1930 U.S. Federal Census, ED 5, Dodge City, Ford Co., Kansas. Accessed online and printed 27 January 2003. Ancestry.comcites roll T626_702, page 3A, image 649. Loren and father James Marcus Prather appear on image 5 when accessed through Ancestry.com.
Both the 1920 and 1930 federal census give Loren's occupation as "none."
Events
| Birth | 8 Oct 1900 | Spearville, Ford Co., KS | |||
| Census | 1910 | Dodge City, Ford Co., KS |  | ||
| Census | 1920 | Dodge City, Ford Co., KS | | ||
| Census | 1925 | Garden City, Finney Co., KS | | ||
| Census | 1930 | Dodge City, Ford Co., KS | | ||
| Death | 16 Mar 1950 | Garden City, Finney Co., KS |
Families
| Father | James Marcus PRATHER (1875 - 1941) |
| Mother | Mamie Elmira YOUNKIN (1877 - 1956) |
| Sibling | Luella 'Abigale' PRATHER (1895 - 1925) |
| Sibling | Lillian 'Jennie' PRATHER (1897 - 1987) |
| Sibling | Leora Margaret PRATHER (1902 - 1980) |
| Sibling | Leroy Younkin PRATHER (1904 - 1904) |
| Sibling | Daisy Bernice PRATHER (1906 - 1983) |
| Sibling | Thompson Alvenon PRATHER (1908 - 1972) |
| Sibling | Walter Homer PRATHER (1910 - 1975) |
| Sibling | Charlotte Inez PRATHER (1912 - 1995) |
| Sibling | Norman Ellsworth PRATHER (1915 - 1988) |
| Sibling | Leva Orvetta PRATHER (1917 - 1987) |
| Sibling | James 'Verdun' "Fud" PRATHER (1918 - 1990) |