8^th generation:  sons of Joseph Jackson Ransdell

Burnice Ransdell

(1891-1980)

Lettie Fay Sims

(1892-1963)

Burnice and Fay Ransdell

Photos-thanks to M. Meredith

Fay and Burnice Ransdell, 1951

          Burnice Ransdell[1] was born 30 July 1891 in Mercer County, Kentucky, the third of six sons of Joseph Jackson Ransdell and Laura Bell Terhune Ransdell.

          He married Lettie Fay Sims, the daughter of Samuel Julian Sims (1862-1915) and Sally Wickersham Sims (1862-1948), on September 24, 1909.  (I have  more information on the Sims and Wickersham families on my Rootsweb posting.)

          Burnice and Fay Ransdell are listed in the 1910 Mercer Co., KY census, ages 23 and 18.

          Burnice and Fay had 11 children:

          i.        Vernetta, b. 2 Feb. 1910, d. 10 Mar 1910 (5 weeks old)

          ii.       Samuel Julian Ransdell (b. 18 Jun 1911, d. 9 May 1991) m. 10

                     Jan 1937 Flora Etta Walters (1911-1978); 2 children 

          iii.      Viola Catherine Ransdell (b. 26 Aug 1912, d. 20 Aug 1979) m.

                   7 Jan 1930 Marshall Thompson Matherly (b. 17 Jan 1909, d. 9

                    Apr 1979), no children

iv.      Thomas Allan Ransdell[2] (b. 26 Jun 1915, d. 9 Jun1989) m. 21

           Jul 1940 Mary Ruth Nelson (b. 19 Jan 1922); 3 children

          v.       Curtis Ansel Ransdell[3] (b. 3 Dec 1916, d. 28 May 1996) m. (1)

                   Hazel Mae Charles (b. 13 Mar 1922, d. 22 Nov 1958), 1 child;

                   m. (2)  Florence Alberta Merrill (b. 10 Nov 1909, d. Nov 1989)

                   7 Jan 1949– no children

          vi.      Dwight Lee Ransdell[4] (b. 11 May 1918, d. 19 Jan 1984) m. 25

                    Mar 1941 Alice Elizabeth Hagadorn (b. 3 Mar 1921, d.

                   19 May 1990); 3 children

          vii.     Wilma Ray Ransdell[5], b. 2 Jan 1920, d. 13 Oct 1998[6]; m. 3

                    Jun 1944 LIVING Harrison (b. 27 Jun 1916);  2

                    children 

          viii.    Helen Lucille Ransdell (b. 23 Feb 1921, d. 21 Aug 1996) m. 27

                    May 1942 Robert Allen Carpenter (b. 24 Jul 1922, d. 20 Jul

                   1992); 2 children 

          ix.      Joseph Jackson Ransdell (b. 10 Mar 1923, d. 23 Dec 1943)

                    (missing in action, WW II) (see newspaper article at end of this

                   biography)

x.                 Burnice Ransdell, Jr.[7] b. 21 Jan 1926, d. 24 Oct. 2000[8]; m. 6 Jun 1947 LIVING;  4 children. 

          xi.      LIVING

Burnice and Fay's youngest daughter described her father as being about 5 feet, 8 ½ inches tall, weighing about 160-165 pounds, with light brown hair and blue eyes.  He had a quiet personality, but was a strong Democrat and a great political conversationalist.  He was an amiable man who respected all people regardless of race, color, or creed.  A Christian, he attended church regularly in his later years. 

          Burnice could make all sorts of repairs around the house, whether it be electrical, carpentry, or whatever.  His daughter said he was a great tinkerer and loved to work in his garage.  During his lifetime at different times he was a farmer, a roads supervisor for the county, and a night watchman for a high school.  He took a "back seat" when it came to running the house and disciplining the children, which he left to his wife Fay.

          Fay was very strict in a warm, loving way, according to her daughter, and was a wonderful mother, an excellent cook, and a great quilter.  She loved to garden, both flowers and vegetables.  A strong Christian believer, "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you," was her motto.  She always looked on the brighter side of life.  She loved a good, clean joke, was always smiling and loved people.                                    

          Their daughter wrote, "Our house was always filled with family and friends.  Rarely was there less than six guests for dinner on Sundays. I remember when there would be between thirty and forty guests for special holidays."

          The family is listed in the 1920 Mercer County, KY census as follows:

          Ransdell, Burnice, a farmer, and that he owned his farm, age 29

                   wife Fay 28

                   Julin 9,

                   Viola 8,

                   Allen 5,

                   Curtis 4,

                   Dwight 2,

                   Thelma 1 (should be Wilma)

          Burnice and Fay both enjoyed travel and saw much of the eastern United States before Fay's sudden death of a massive heart attack at age 70.  Burnice was in good health all his life until, in his 80s, he discovered he had colon cancer.  He lived a little more than five years after having a colostomy.

          Fay died Feburary 11, 1963.  She is buried in the Lexington Cemetery, Lexington, Ky. 

          Burnice died January 30, 1980, at the age of 88 ½ in Lexington, and is buried in the Lexington Cemetery, Lexington, Ky.

 

          
   Burnice & Fay Ransdell tombstone
                                                     

Additional source of information:  His nephew C.E. Ransdell 1998.

From The Kentucky Post & Times-Star, January 12, 1970:

Kin's Grave Found

by Si Cornell

            Sgt. Nancy Sue Ransdell, 21, works in a hospital at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines.  The airfield is 60 miles from Manila.

            Nancy is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lee Ransdell of Ft. Mitchell.  Lee was general manager of the Lookout House and soon will be boss at the new Beverly Hills.

            "She got a ride into Manila for Christmas leave," said Sgt. Nancy's mother, Gussie.  "She was walking around and she found a cemetery."

            Sgt. Nancy looked at the American crosses, row upon row, and her eye stopped at a name:  Joseph J. Ransdell, Lexington, Ky., 1943.  She took a photograph of the cross, and phoned home.

            "Your first cousin," said Lee, and the family contacted Burnice Ransdell, of Maryland Avenue, Lexington, widower, who never had been informed of what became of his airman son who fell over New Guinea so long ago.  All the Lexington Ransdells knew was Airman Joe had gone down and was "presumed dead."

            Possibly, little things like this do not matter.  There are many families over the last 30 years with sons never recovered from battle, and there is no guarantee Joe's remains lie at the foot of the neat white cross.  Still, the Ransdells are beginning to probe the military records to see if Joe truly was recovered by his buddies, and laid to rest.

            "At least, that little cross is a place to pass by and leave a wreath," said Gussie.  Yes, and it also shows that in the last war this nation actually fought, instead of half-way fighting, the military took care of its own fallen, even if it neglected to tell the warrior's parents the last 26 years.

Photos-thanks to M. Meredith

Joe Ransdell, October 13, 1943

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