Prices - Then and Now (1877 and 2024)

My grandmother used to line her two birdcages with newspaper, usually the parts that no one cared to read - the advertisements.  By the time I was a teen, she had amassed quite a stack for her two birdcages.  I found myself interested in the dates on the newspapers and by the prices on everyday items. I wondered what they would cost today and decided to write an article about "then and now."  

Newspapers weren't a necessity in every household but they were good reads if one could afford to buy them.   In the 18th and 19th century, it was a real joy to read the stories published in local newspapers, and it was even better when the stories were about far away cities and towns.  Besides travelers coming to their town, newspapers were one of the few ways to learn what went on in places where people couldn't afford to travel.  

Most newspaper editions ran about four pages in length, rarely more than six pages due to the high cost of printing which was passed on to customers in the cost per copy and to merchants who paid high advertising costs. 

Cities that had many local newspapers saw their favorite presses close down because they couldn't compete with all the others who ran ongoing series of novels and short stories, and the few who ran comics.  People liked continuing features - serials -  because the news was repetitive when there wasn't much to report of local or national news. The quality of some of the remaining larger newspapers didn't stand the test of time and as we can see today on old newspaper websites, it became hard to read because of splatters of black ink that spread unevenly on the pages, blotted out some of the paragraphs and in some cases, full pages.  

To compensate for when news days were slow, readers were encouraged to submit their own articles, recipes and homey stories which ran alongside the comings and goings of notable citizens, especially when there wasn't much news about Hollywood stars, or the US President and news from the federal government.  The newspapers that didn't have many submitted articles had to fill in space with something so they copied the stories and news from other newspapers around the world, which was common practice.  Some newspapers ran those stories multiple times just to fill up page space.  

Advertisements mainly focused on the local establishments in each city. When the railroads expanded, more ads appeared for hotels, vacations, patent medicines, druggists, clothing and mercantile stores.  Out of state newspapers were delivered by railroad to local post offices and mercantiles who offered some store space to serve as a depot for newspapers and packaged deliveries. 

The price-conscious newspaper publishers and editors always made one exception in finances -  no expense was spared on typesetting for paid advertisements, no matter how much space the ad took up - be it one column, multiple columns, or half page to a full page. These kept a newspaper in business. The ads easy jobs for typesetters because once the type was set, the ads on those plates were good for six months to one year as long as no changes were made in the merchant's prices or text copy. When those plates were put aside, the typesetter could put his attention on setting type for single-run ads or articles that ran only one or two times. 

The joy of reading the local newspaper waxed and waned according to the popularity of the content. At the times when crime increased, crime stories remained the running theme for weeks, sometimes months. When the crime wave was over, the newspapers went back to normal publishing of around five crime articles per month.   If a novel was being serialized, newspapers made a profit because more newspapers were bought by the followers of that serial.

In small-town America, newspapers varied by management styles, cost, the number of editions per week, the number of pages per edition and the prices they charged.  Here is a sample of prices for the Topeka Daily Blade in 1877:

1877 price of Topeka Daily Blade newspaper

The costs of things - then and now - are always interesting to read.  Here is a price list for The Republican Journal in Kansas in 1877.

Price of Republican Journal Newspaper in 1877 Kansas

Compare the above two ads with the Phillipsburg Herald newspaper in Phillipsburg, Kansas. It was founded in 1877, originally doing business as the Phillips County Herald. It was published once per week under editor Charles F. Jenkins. The subscription cost was rather high given the economy at that time: cost for one year - $1.50; for six months -$1.00; and for three months - $.50.  

Not everyone could afford to pay for a subscription, so they could either pay per copy or get the newspaper second hand. It was quite common when you were done with your newspaper to either hand it to a passerby, give it to your neighbor, or leave it at the railroad station for someone who could not afford to buy one.  

 In mid-west states besides Kansas, advertisement prices in 1877 were rather high too, the rates had to be paid in advance for one full year but some charged quarterly:   for  one column - $90; for 1/2 column - $50; for 1/4 column - $25; for 1/3 column - $15; and for business card size - $10.

Then and Now:

To put those costs into perspective, here are the 1877 prices adjusted for inflation in 2024.

Newspaper Costs (converting 1877 dollars to 2024 dollars):

$1.50 is worth $44.79

$1.00 is worth $29.86

$.50 is worth $14.93

Advertising costs (converting 1877 dollars to 2024 dollars):

$90 is worth $2,687.28  

$50 is worth $1,492.93

$25 is worth $746.47

$15 is worth $447.88

$10 is worth $298.59

What that shows is the value of a single US Dollar decreased over time.  So for an item that cost $1.00 in 1877, you would need $29.86 if you wanted to buy that item in 2024. For an item that cost $10 in 1877, you will need $298.59 to pay for that item in 2024.

Here are more examples:

In June 1879, the Kansas Pacific Railway advertised one-way train tickets from Phillipsburg, Kansas to Denver, Colorado at a cost of $9.42. The distance from Phillipsburg to Denver was about 314 miles. The cost formula calculated the $9.42 price of the train ticket was at about three cents per mile.  Converting the June 1879 price of $9.42 into 2024 dollars, that one-way ticket would cost $295.33.   In late October 1879, a round trip ticket was advertised for $38.00.  In 2024 dollars, you would need $1,191.36 to pay for your ticket.

Phillipsburg Kansas was a newly established town in 1877. They saw the arrival of railroads and the birth of new startups of local businesses.  The economy was supported by farming, ranching and people with trades like blacksmiths and carpenters.  Also in demand were hardware stores, drug stores and places that offered personal grooming.  Professions like lawyers, doctors, and those in similar education-based professions were paid on a different scale, their services could be paid for in goods or if paid in money, it was according to what people could afford. 

Farm hands were paid from $10 to $25 per month which included room and board.

If one were skilled in a trade like carpenters or roofing, the pay ranged from $1 to $2 per day, more if the particular trade was rare in that town.

Teachers were paid by funds or collections taken up by the townsfolk, which means their salary was whatever the people could afford (or collect) and included lodgings in someone's home with meals.  

In the Southern states, the salary was determined differently: white teachers with experience were paid more than black teachers with little or no experience, and black teachers with experience were paid less than white teachers with little or no experience.  This was the way it was in the Jim Crow South which existed until the 1960s.

Some of the more affluent residents who had house servants paid them $10 to $12 per month including room and board. 

The basic hourly rate for menial jobs in the United States was $1.00 to $1.30 per day for a 10-hour work day if they did a good job.

In 1902, the Rock Island Railroad system advertised a round-trip ticket from Phillipsburg Kansas to stops in Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo, Colorado for $15.00 but the price was good only during June, July, August and September.  

These were advertisements that catered to parties of four to six persons to enjoy an inexpensive vacation of "camping and fishing."  The $15.00 price was actually bargain because it was a round-trip ticket, but the ads did not state if the fare was for Coach, Pullman, or Sleeper berths nor did it allow for lodging at the end of the line.  

The lodging prices varied widely according to the type of resort which could be an inn, a hotel, a boarding house, or a luxury resort with amenities like golf, spa, and meals.  Typically, the longer the stay at an inn or boarding house, the rates  were discounted for monthly or quarterly bookings.   If it was a new inn or hotel, imagine the disappointment of weary travelers to find that it was not exactly up and running smoothly or that all the amenities were not completed.  Sometimes funds were needed to complete, and bringing in paying customers helped to finish the job. 

An advertisement for the Buena Vista Hotel at the corner of 2nd and Colorado Avenue in Grand Junction, Colorado offered the following first class accommodations: "well ventilated rooms, baths, electric lights for $2.00 per day."  It sounds like a very basic room,  but the ad did not mention if it included meals so it is a reasonable assumption that if they were included, it would have said so.  

Reading the society column about the activities of some of the city's leading citizens shows that the Buena Vista Hotel had "an excellent dining room which was open to the public as well as hotel guests." But there was no mention of the cost or pricing.    

In contrast, here are some costs of everyday necessities and a few luxuries: 

Ladies shoes (buttons or laces) - $1.50 pair;  Latest styles - $3.00

Ladies silk gloves, two button in red, black, white - 75 cents

Ladies lace gloves in white or black - 25 cents

Boy's or Girl's dresses - $1.25

Girls chemise - 75 cents to $1.00

Men's suits - complete with fitting and shirt - $5.00 to $15.00

Men's ready-to-wear suits with custom tailoring starting at $10.00

Men's hosiery - 25 cents pair

Boys suits, ages 14 to 20 - $4.75, $7.50 and $10

Boy's caps - 35 cents

Boy's Straw and felt hats - 35 cents to 75 cents

Window shades - felt - 25 cents; cloth on spring rollers - 35 cents

Ruffled Swiss curtains for bedroom or dining room - $1.50 

Crescent Bicycles $30.00 - with Coaster Brakes - $35.00

A case of two dozen bottles of whiskey delivered to your home was priced at $1.25.  The size/volume of the bottles was not mentioned in the advertisement.

A $15.00 rail ticket price in 1902 traveling one week total leaving from several Midwest States to the West Coast offered a comfortable sleeper berth (for one) and exclusive dining car seating - The $15.00 converts to $546.83 in 2024 dollars.  

Tuesday, June 18, 1901

Phillipsburg Herald in Phillipsburg, Kansas

Established in 1877

J. M. Tadlock, Publisher and Proprietor

Published twice per week

Cost: $1.00 per year, $.50 per six months - this was not a discount in price, just offered some ease in the payment terms.

Here are some print ads that might be of interest:

Some prices from 1877 in Topeka Kansas 

1877 food prices

1900 grocery prices Butte Montana

 

To put some of the salaries into perspective, consider the following data:

In 1877, teacher salaries in Kansas were relatively low compared to the rest of the United States and it varied by county, age, whether you were male or female and how much salary the community or if organized, a school board was willing to pay the teachers.  Also keep in mind that men were paid more because they were considered the breadwinners in their families and they needed higher salaries to support their families. Females were treated with a lower respect for their education so they were paid lower salaries because it was assumed their income was a second income in the household.  

In 1877 in Lincoln County, Ford County, and Geary County, Kansas, the average wage ran from $50 to $60 per month for a female teacher and nearly double that for a male teacher.  In Geary County, male teachers averaged $49.44 and females earned about $39.92 per month. However, in Hodgeman County, Kansas in 1880, the average monthly salary for a male teacher was $11.66 and $10.22 for a female teacher.

A governess could earn ten dollars a month while a housekeeper was paid $20 a month.

A sewing machine operator was paid fifty (50) cents per day and a tailoress was paid $1.00 a day.

Unskilled laborers were paid between 13 cents and 15 cents per hour.

Skilled laborers were paid $1.38 to $1.50 per day averaging $30 to $40 per month.

Carpenters earned about $2.00 per day an averaged $60 to $75 per month.

Blacksmiths could earn $2.00 to $3.00 a day

Cowboys did well at $15 to $25 per month and averaged $180 to $300 per year.  If they were employed outside Kansas in other Midwest states, they could earn $25 to $35 per month. If he was a cowboy on cattle drives, a standard three month drive from Texas to the northern states could pay $100 to $150 per route.   Food, shelter and medical care cost extra. 

The chuckwagon cook on the trail and cattle drives made about $60 per month - a well paying job as long as he was a good cook!

Hotel workers such as porters and dining room waiters were paid $20 a month if they were negroes and $25 a month if they were white.

U S Congressmen, Senators, and other white collar government professionals were paid a flat rate of $5,000 per year.

To see how far their money went:

A loaf of bread costs about one to five cents, depending on if your home was rural - located far from town.   

A shot of whiskey cost ten cents to twenty five cents,  and a bottle of whiskey cost $1.00 to $3.00.  A mug of beer or standard glass of beer was five cents in most parts of the United States.  In boomtowns they charged more - about 12 cents for what they called "upscale" beer and for premium beer the cost was ten cents.

A steak dinner in a hotel restaurant in the 1880s cost between 15 cents and 25 cents.  A premium cut like porterhouse started at 25 cents and were served with potatoes and sometimes a green vegetable like peas.  The beverage was extra.  

In a small restaurant located in the town proper, for 90 cents your dinner consisted for a slice of roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, peas, a dinner bun (roll), and a cup of coffee.  If you wanted a slice of pie for dessert, that would cost you 15 cents extra.

In 1870, a good working horse or a decent riding horse cost between $75 and $150  depending on the breed, training and what the horse was going to be used for.  A farm horse might cost about $150.  Wild horses or range bred horses (like mustangs) could cost $10 to $40 because they were not broken.  Premium horses like saddle horses and thoroughbred studs could cost $300 to well over $1000.

Considering the average worker earned $1.00 to $1.50 a day, it could take up to four or five months to save enough money to buy a horse.

A typical house located away from the town proper ranged from $1,000 to as much as $5,000 depending on style, size and location.  

Farm houses and smaller homes could be purchased for under $800, or you could  build it yourself for $200 to $800.  The opulent mansions of the Gilded Era could cost well over $20,000.

Since most people could not afford to buy a  house, the rent on a small 4-room house in Kansas was low, between $4.00 and $10.00 per month.  

Houses in the country sold for much less than houses in the city - averaging $200 to buy outright. To pay for rent, heat and light, the housing costs were about 23 to 25 percent of their income.

Sources:  

libraryguides.missouri.edu - Prices and wages.  

Kansas newspapers 1800 through 1900.

The Story of the Donor Heart - Updated

When Cheryl's second husband died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, his heart was donated to a man who, nine years later, would become Cheryl's fifth husband.  

When that husband also died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, was it a coincidence or did Cheryl's demands for the finer things in life drive two husbands to suicide?  

*****

First Marriage - Bo Carter

In 1988, Cheryl Sweat had been married for three years to her first husband Isaac “Bo” Carter, living happily in an apartment building in South Carolina with their two small children. Cheryl’s father, Archie Sweat, owned several apartment complexes and Cheryl and her husband were managers for all of them.  

Cheryl learned in April 1988, shortly after the birth of her second child Timmy, that her husband was still married to someone else.  She was so distraught, she threatened to blow her brains out with a .38 pistol. Bo Carter stopped her, they fought, she kicked him out, and he moved to another apartment. They agreed to split the management of the buildings while each lived in their own apartment. 

Cheryl’s mother, Doris, babysat their children a few times a week. Around the same time Cheryl was dealing with her duplicitous husband, her babysitting arrangement with her mother was about to blow up as well.

Cheryl’s father was not a hands-on property owner. He had his own troubles with alcoholism and with his wife, Doris Busbee Sweat and her multiple DUI arrests.  For years, Doris got by without spending a single night in jail, but in December 1986, a judge gave her a choice: turn in her driver’s license, pay a $1000 fine or go to jail. But then the judge had a change of heart. He sentenced her to one year in jail, then suspended it to 15 days of public service, $400 in fines, and probation for three years.  Cheryl’s father paid the fines and set out to find Doris more busy work.  (Source: The Press and Standard )  

Cheryl thought her problems with her husband were solved when their marriage was annulled on February 4, 1987.  She retained custody of the children and Bo Carter paid child support and visited often. Two  months later in April of 1987, Cheryl began an affair with a married man named Terry Cottle.

Doris’s troubles only got worse. Another arrest in July of 1987 involved an accident while driving under the influence. It should have violated her probabtion, but again luck and someone’s wallet was on her side so it only cost Doris her driver’s license for 30 days.

 

Second Marriage - Terry Cottle

Cheryl's new beau, Terry Cottle was living with his wife and two young daughters in an apartment in one of the buildings that Cheryl managed. He worked full time as an exterminator, was on call nights and weekends so his “emergency” calls accounted for his many absences from home.  

Cheryl and Terry thought their affair was a well-kept secret, but they didn’t count on actions by Cheryl's former husband.  In September of 1987, Terry’s wife kicked him out after she got a phone call from Cheryl’s ex-husband who said "I just want you to know that that your husband is seeing my wife." 

Two years later, Terry’s divorce was final on May 4, 1989, and nine days later, he married Cheryl Sweat on May 13, 1989. 

Terry and Cheryl Cottle, 1989

Cheryl continued splitting the management of the apartment complexes with Bo Carter, but the newlyweds decided they didn’t want to live there so they bought a single-wide trailer close by.  In 1990, shortly after Cheryl gave birth to baby Teri Jessica, Bo Carter stopped visiting his sons and stopped paying child support. 

In October 1992, Terry filed papers to adopt Christopher and Timmy.  Around that same time, Cheryl decided to go to nursing school and she enrolled in a full time two year practical nursing program. She was not able to work while going to school so she gave up the management of the apartment complexes. Terry continued working for the exterminating company while he also went to school to get his real estate license.  Cheryl's mother was still their babysitter.

After months of hectic schedules of work and school, Cheryl and Terry were not getting along at home. Between her mother having more DUI arrests and Cheryl overhearing Terry venting to his ex-wife on the phone, Cheryl demanded that he stop talking to her.  But Terry shared two daughters with his ex-wife and still needed to talk to her so he told her to only call on his exterminating business phone so he could keep the peace with Cheryl.

Things got better when Terry started making some money selling real estate but after a few months, he wasn’t making sales.  The state of their finances brought out the hostilities which always resulted in Cheryl nagging Terry about money, that she wanted more than what they had - a real house with better furniture, nice clothes, and most of all, she wanted a new car.  

Terry said he would take on another job. He enrolled in an accelerated course for Emergency Medical Technician, became certified and was hired as a full time EMT while still working full time for the exterminating company.  Around Christmas, Cheryl told Terry it still was not enough; he told her that he couldn’t do any more than he was already doing.  

Cheryl's father, Archie Sweat died suddenly on March 1, 1993 at the age of 68.  Shortly before Christmas in 1993, Doris Busbee Sweat, had another brush with the law, lost her license for good and was ordered to pay fines or do the time.  Cheryl paid her fines and Doris came to live with them full time. In 1994, Cheryl and Terry moved their family to a double-wide trailer in Moncks Corner, South Carolina.  

Cheryl Cottle graduated with her LPN license in the spring of 1994. She was hired immediately after graduation and relied on her mother for babysitting more now than ever.  Even though Cheryl was earning a good salary as a nurse, she always let it be known that she was still not happy with her homelife or her finances.  They had some loss of income when Bo stopped paying child support and from Terry's child support paid for his two children by his first wife, plus they both had loans for school tuitions, a mortgage and all the expenses that come with owning a house, causing Cheryl and Terry to fight constantly. 

The police were called to their home often.  Cheryl blamed Terry for everything that was wrong in her life but mostly she blamed him for not making enough money to give them a better life. 

At Christmas in 1994 after a terrible fight, Cheryl took off her wedding ring and, according to her son Timmy, she pitched it over the back fence.  She kicked Terry out of the trailer and he went to live with his sister, Tammy Erickson, who was expecting a baby very soon. She let him use the room she was decorating for the baby. 

In February 1995, Cheryl had a sudden change of heart and decided she wanted Terry back, so she started showing up at Tammy’s house to cook dinner for him and often stayed overnight.  After a a week of this, his sister Tammy grew frustrated because she needed the bedroom for the baby. She told Terry if he wanted to make his marriage work, he had to go home and live with his wife.  

Terry went home but three weeks later, they got into a terrible fight that brought the police to their home again. Their domestic disturbance calls were numerous but the advice from police was always the same, either work it out or separate.   

On March 16, 1995, Terry agreed to leave. After packing his belongings and leaving them at the door to load them in his pickup truck, Terry went into the bathroom with his 22-caliber gun, placed it behind his right ear and he shot himself.  There was no exit wound.

At the hospital, doctors offered little hope and put Terry on life support. After four days, Terry's father urged Cheryl to turn off the machines and to donate his organs to people who were waiting on the transplant list. 

Terry Cottle officially died on March 20, 1995.  Cheryl signed the papers to donate his organs and then began planning his funeral.

The transplant team sent pages to all the beepers of those who would be transplant recipients of Terry Cottle's organs so they would call in their estimated arrival times at the hospital.

*****

The Heart Recipient - Sonny Graham

At five o’clock that evening, the beepers worn by Sonny and Elaine Graham sounded while they were in a department store shopping for clothes for their son’s wedding which was three days away.  They immediately called the transplant center and learned the good news, that a heart had become available and it was a near perfect match.  

Because there was a very limited window of time to get to the hospital, a close friend broke speed records and drove them from Hilton Head Island to the Medical University of South Carolina.  

Fast forward six months after his heart transplant, Sonny returned to most of his regular activities.  He even went on a fishing trip to Alaska with one of his best friends, Bill Carson. While grateful for his new heart, he told Bill about some strange things he was experiencing. He said he had the sex drive of a 30 year old and cravings for beer, hot dogs and other foods he never ate before the transplant. He said he read somewhere that organ recipients sometimes experienced certain cravings for their donor’s favorite foods or they picked up some of their donor’s habits, both good and bad.  By November 1996, Sonny was more curious than ever about his donor and the family and mentioned he wanted to send a letter of thanks.

Per protocol, organ recipients are not told the circumstances of death or the name of the donor, and likewise, the donor’s family doesn't know who received their loved one’s organs. Sonny said he was okay with the rule, but that didn't keep him from wondering about the man whose life ended on March 20, 1995 so he could have his heart.  His friends and family warned not to try to find the donor’s family because it could breach the integrity of the program.   

The Letter That Started It All

Initially Sonny did not personally contact the family but he worked around the rules by sending a letter to the organ donation agency in November 1996. He asked them to forward it to his donor’s family.  The letter thanked his donor's wife for the gift that saved his life and he asked some questions.  

Cheryl Cottle answered the questions and in her reply, she included several photographs.   They kept writing letters back and forth, and in one letter, Sonny gave Cheryl his phone number.  In January 1997, they agreed to meet at a restaurant in Charleston.  When Sonny and his wife Elaine met his donor's 30-year old widow. Sonny said he fell in  love with her at first sight.

Third Marriage - George Watkins

Sonny and Cheryl met regularly after the first meeting, sometimes with and sometimes without Elaine. Cheryl told Sonny about her life up until Terry died and her life since Terry died. She told him about her father’s death and how her mother came to live with her. At each meeting, Sonny found himself very attracted to Cheryl but he soon learned that it wasn't mutual because when they met in March, she said she was getting married in one month to George Watkins, her third husband. 

Sonny and Elaine attended the wedding; Sonny stepped in to give away the bride.  He met some of Terry's family and mentioned that he had developed strange cravings for beer and hot dogs, foods that he never liked before the transplant. They turned out to be Terry's favorite foods. 

In January 1999, Cheryl welcomed her fourth child, Kyle. A few months after Kyle was born, Cheryl learned that George Watkins was still married, that he knew it, and married Cheryl anyway. This smacked familiar of her first marriage to Isaac “Bo” Carter. 

Cheryl kicked him out of the mobile home, the same one she and Terry Cottle bought in 1994, and she filed for an annullment. 

The Affair

Sonny started showering Cheryl with gifts for her and the chidren. She wanted a car, so he bought her a car. He told her he owned some acreage in Vidalia, Georgia and put a mobile home on it for temporary use while he contracted with a builder to construct another home on the land per her specifications. He lived there part of the time, until 2001 when his wife found out that he bought Cheryl a house. She threw Sonny out and filed for divorce. Sonny gave Cheryl a diamond engagement ring.  

George Watkins tied Cheryl up in court with litigation regarding the division of property because Cheryl still owned the mobile home she and Terry Cottle bought. 

After Sonny's Divorce

In October 2001, Sonny received his divorce papers, dissolving his 38 year marriage. He wanted to marry Cheryl right away but she still didn’t have her annullment from George Watkins.

Their relationship started changing; each made accusations against the other.  Sonny accused her of not paying back some loans and said he wanted his ring back. In May of 2002, Cheryl left Sonny in his mobile home and returned to her own home.  Sonny sued her for refusing to return his diamond ring.  Cheryl countered that he was threatening her and being too possessive.

Fourth Marriage - John Johnson Jr.

After Cheryl updated her nursing license so she could work in the state of Georgia, she signed a contract to work in the infirmary of Georgia State Prison, a maximum security facility in Reidsville.  While going through the orientation classes, she met John Johnson Jr., who lived in Baxley, not far from her home in Vidalia.  Johnson had been employed by the Department of Corrections for more than 20 years. 

Two days after Cheryl got her final annullment papers, John Johnson Jr. became husband number four on July 18, 2002. The couple appeared to be happy but within a year, that marriage also began to crumble. When Sonny started coming around more often, Johnson asked about it and Cheryl admitted that she was “seeing Sonny Graham but he was more like a sugar daddy.” She said that Sonny owed her a debt “because of the heart thing.”   

In November 2003, police were called to the Johnson home because the couple accused each other of domestic abuse and filed police reports.  In a newspaper article published in 2008, John Johnson told a reporter from the Hilton Head Island Packet that the turning point came in December 2003: “We were just lying in bed one night, and she said she thought about reuniting either with George Watkins or with Sonny Graham. She’s married to me and she’s talking about that. A minute later she said she often thought of killing herself and asked me if I had similar thoughts.  No, I hadn’t. Then she got up to go to the bathroom, and as she closed the door, I remembered she kept her .22 pistol on a shelf in the bathroom. I panicked, jumped out of bed, ran into the bathroom just as she was pulling the gun out of its case. After a struggle, I got the gun away from her and took it to my parents home down the street from us.”  John Johnson filed a police report the day that Cheryl tried to shoot herself with the revolver she kept in the house.  

They separated in February 2004.  When their divorce was final in August 2004, Johnson said he noticed that Sonny moved into the house and she was wearing Sonny’s ring.  

Fifth Marriage - Sonny Graham

On December 8, 2004, Sonny Graham became Cheryl’s fifth husband. They lived in his mobile home in Vidalia while the other house was being built.  When he turned 65, he officially retired from Hargray Communications and gained access to his retirement funds.  

Just before their second anniversary, Cheryl and Sonny went to Hilton Head Island to attend an event that honored families of organ donors.  Sonny was interviewed for the Hilton Head Island Packet newspaper and told the reporter: "I felt like I had known Cheryl for years.”

He talked of some of his experiences, certain changes in his food preferences, having a libido of much younger man, and he wanted nothing more than to please his wife.  Their love story ran in newspapers all over the world.  

Heart transplant recipient Sonny Graham and his wife, Cheryl, 
 Dec. 1, 2006, at Hilton Head Regional Medical Center.  

Sonny was enjoying his life, being able to do activities again, and often went fishing and golfing with friends.  He used much of his retirement funds to buy things for his new wife and family, and in 2007, he started a home-based business, C & S Landscaping.  He built a shed in the backyard for his equipment and to store his guns. 

During the last week of February 2008, when Sonny’s nephew Larry Lockley went fishing with him, Sonny asked him if he would be an alternate executor of his will.  Larry worried Sonny had a terminal illness and was going to die soon. But Sonny assured Larry that nothing was wrong, he was just doing what folks his age do to plan for his family.  

April 1, 2008 was April Fools Day but for Sonny, it was a normal spring morning. A golf tournament was on his calendar as well as his landscaping schedule for the next few weeks. He finished his coffee, told his 9-year-old stepson to get ready for his dentist appointment. He then went out to the backyard shed, picked up a 12-gauge Remington shotgun, pointed the muzzle at the right side of his throat and pulled the trigger. 

He killed himself the same way as his heart donor did in 1995. The other commonality was they had married the same woman who wanted much more than they could give her.

 

The Investigation

The official report signed by Greg Harvey, special agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) said that "Sonny Graham was found dead inside a utility building in his backyard. He shot himself through the throat with a 12-gauge Remington shotgun that he used for dove hunting."

Although the coroner ruled Graham’s death a suicide, his family and friends don’t believe it. They have asked the authorities not to close this case, to keep on investigating it as a murder, not a suicide.  They insist that someone else loaded the shotgun with birdshot because Sonny knew guns and he would never have used birdshot in a 12-gauge shotgun if he intended to kill himself. 

As an aside, some friends and family members noticed on March 26, six days before Sonny’s death, that Cheryl put up a man’s photo with a flitratious message on her MySpace Page identifying him as her “new boyfriend.”  The GBI contacted the man and after listening to what they had to say, the man told the Island Packet newspaper that he no longer sees Cheryl.  

Family members think Sonny saw the post and coupled with his exhausted finances, believe it contributed to his despair.

While friends and family believed Cheryl had a lot to do with the suicides of Terry and Sonny, mostly regarding finances, the GBI said there was no evidence that could be used to prosecute her. 

The Will

Sonny's will was read at the end of April 2008 and Cheryl got the shock of her life. She expected to get money from the retirement funds and bank accounts but Sonny died broke. While they were married, Cheryl never questioned where the money came from to pay for the houses and other gifts that Sonny bought her and the children. She told friends she couldn’t understand why her husband died in debt and didn’t leave her a dime.  

Sonny's friend Tommy Hilton said: ‘The truth is Sonny had blown through his retirement funds and ran up large debts trying, as he once put it, “to keep Cheryl in the style she wants to live."  

Husband number four, John Johnson said, "so far, Cheryl Graham has been married five times, and she drove all of her husbands to despair. She’s a tyrant. One day she hates you, and one day she loves you, and the next day she hates you again. I guess I’m lucky to be alive.”

 

 

Today in 2023

Today Cheryl still lives in Vidalia, Georgia. Her children are all adults now. She changed her name to Watkins, sold her 1994 mobile home and the 2001 house she lived in with Sonny. She bought another house a few streets away and the Vidalia property website shows the owner names on her present home are Cheryl Watkins and her mother Doris Busbee Sweat.

Note: Cheryl Sweat Carter Cottle Watkins Johnson Graham was not contacted regarding this blog post. All events and quotes in this post are public information. 

Share your thoughts about transplant organ recipients

Do you believe transplant organ recipients can experience or exhibit some of the habits of their donor and, if not, do you have another explanation to offer?

Your comments are welcomed.

Sources:

Cheryl’s first marriage to Isaac "Bo" Carter on December 23, 1983

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-and-democrat-cheryl-cottles-f/128493640

Terry Cottle’s notice of adoption of Cheryl’s two sons

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-press-and-standard-adoption-notice-t/128493583

Birth announcement for baby Teri Jessica born February 8, 1990.

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-press-and-standard-birth-announcemen/128493297

Death Notice for Cheryl's father, Archie Sweat

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-state-cheryl-cottles-fathers-death/128495471

Reunion of Transplant Recipients and Donor Families - April 2006

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-greenville-news-cheryl-cottle-sonny/128493809

Terry Cottle’s gravesite

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/79963483/terry-jason-cottle

Archie Sweat’s gravesite, Cheryl’s father

 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40274180/archie-l-sweat

Sonny Graham’s gravesite

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/125732161/remus-terrell-graham

Details of Sonny Graham’s Death April 1, 2008, in two clips

Part 1

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-island-packet-cheryl-cottle-part-1/128494059

Part 2

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-island-packet-cheryl-cottle-part-2/128494045

Knute Rockne - Coach at Notre Dame

Today we go back to the mid-1920s and early 1930s for a glimpse of the life of Knute Rockne, famous All-American football player and coach at the University of Notre Dame.  He was applauded as one of the greatest coaches in football history and his death caused a national grief that was akin to that reserved for US Presidents.

Knute Rockne (1888-1931)

Knute Rockne

Born: March 4, 1888 in Voss, Norway

Died: March 31, 1931, age 43, in Kansas in a plane crash

Parents:

Lars Knutson Rockne (1861-1912)

Martha Pedersdatter Gjermo (1859-1944)

Siblings:

Anne L. Rockne Leggett (1884-1963)

Martha Rockne Stiles (1890-1974)

Louise P. Rockne (1894-1959)

Florence Jeanette Rockne Fairfield (1899-1967)

Married on July 14, 1914
Bonnie Gwendoline Skiles (1891-1956), 4 children: William Dorais Rockne (1915-1960), Knute Lars Rockne (1918-1988), Mary Jeanne Rockne Kochendorfer (1920-1992), John Vincent Rockne (1926-2008).

******

When Knute Rockne was five years old and his sister Anne was nine, his parents emigrated from Norway to the northwest side of Chicago.  Knute played neighborhood football for the Logan Square Tigers.  After grade school, he went to North West Division High School where he ran track and continued playing football.

After high school, he worked for four years as a mail dispatcher. He returned to school at age 22 to finish his education at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.  He carried mostly chemistry courses and of course, played football, becoming Notre Dame's star player. He rose to assistant coach in 1912 and won All-American in 1913.  

During the summer of 1913, Knute worked as a lifeguard at Cedar Point Amusement Park where he met his future wife, Bonnie.  After he graduated in June 1914 with a pharmacist degree, he was hired as a laboratory assistant at Notre Dame for their chemist Julius Nieuwland and helped out occasionally coaching football.  When an offer came to coach football for the Akron Indians, he gladly chucked chemistry in favor of football and perfected his "forward pass" that he learned from Notre Dame's quarterback Charlie "Gus" Dorais.  On July 14, 1914, he married Bonnie Skiles in Sandusky Ohio and they named their first son after Gus Dorais.

 

Knute Rockne at Notre Dame

In 1915, he began his professional football career with Dorais and introduced the forward pass into the pros. Rockne became famous as a head coach of Notre Dame with 105 victories, 12 losses and 5 ties. 

Knute Rockne, Bonnie, and Baby Anne

He worked hard to promote both the Notre Dame school and their football team, nicknamed "The Fighting Irish," and was rewarded when the team became financially successful.  He was a favorite of the sports reporters, radio stations and later television networks, but there was a method to his madness . . . he only gave them his time because he wanted the free advertising for Notre Dame.

In 1925, Rockne converted from Lutheran to Catholic in the chapel on Notre Dame's campus.  

Some of his football players went on to become famous, honored with streets, automobiles (The Studebaker Rockne car), towns and schools named after them:  Jim Thorpe, George Gipp, George Pfann, and Red Grange. 

In 1924, the national champion team included the Four Horsemen backfield: Harry Stuhldreher, Don Miller, Jim Crowley, and Elmer Layden.  Rockne often said the 1929 and 1930 teams were his best years. 

In January 1931, Chicago newspapers offered Rockne an annual salary of $25,000 to be a journalist and write a syndicated column. The $25,000 is equivalent to about $450,000 in today's dollars. Then a publisher offered him the same money to write stories about his life and travels. However, he took his time to consider both offers because he was a sick man with hospitalizations several times since 1929. When the offers were widely covered in the daily newspapers, he opted to turn down both offers.

On March 31, 1931, Rockne was flying aboard a Transcontinental & Western Airlines plane enroute to a screening of the film "The Spirit of Notre Dame" when the plane crashed in Kansas.  Rockne had just left Kansas City where he visited his two sons at boarding school there.  After taking off from Kansas City, the wings broke up in the air and the plane crashed in a wheat field near Bazaar, Kansas.  Seven of the eight people on board were killed.

Headline News of Air Crash

Jess Harper, the coach whom Rockne had replaced at Notre Dame, lived about 100 miles away and was called to make positive ID of Rockne's body.  Today there is a memorial standing on the spot where the plane crashed, and has  been maintained since the crash by one of the first people to arrive, 13-year old James Heathman.

Memorial - Knute Rockne Crash Site

In Rockne's home country of Norway, King Haakon VII knighted him posthumously. In the United States, President Hoover called Rockne's death "a national loss." His funeral was huge because everyone wanted to attend.  More than 100,000 people lined the streets and it was broadcast live on radio throughout the United States.

Knute Rockne Funeral at Notre Dame (1931)

The airplane crash caused public demand for changes in aircraft design, operation, inspection, and scheduled maintenance. It spawned new safety guidelines to make air travel one of the safest modes of transportation. Several movies have been made about Knute Rockne's life but at least one is clearly the "Hollywood" version with just a smidgen of actual fact.

Pat O'Brien as Knute Rockne

His wife Bonnie Rockne died on June 2, 1956. All four children survived her.

Bonnie Rockne and children (circa 1932)

The Rockne Children

William Dorais Rockne, the oldest son, got into a scrape with the law on April 13, 1936 when the truck he was driving for Maule Ojus Rock Company was overloaded with rocks and spilled out onto the road.  William claimed to not have noticed it (!).  When police stopped him in Miami Beach, they noted that he seemed "out of it."  He appeared before a judge, acted disinterested in his surroundings, and a psychiatric evaluation was ordered.  

On August 14, 1936, William appeared before Judge Daniel P. Galen who fined him five dollars plus court costs OR five days in jail for the rock incident. The judge then suspended the sentence while waiting for the psych evaluation from Dr. Francis Gerty, medical director of the Psychiatric State Hospital for the Insane in Elgin,. His report said he felt that William Rockne was suffering from dementia praecox, with symptoms of disorientation, restlessness, ideas of suicide, depression, auditory hallucinations, lack of focus, psychosis and paranoia. 

The name of the disease leads one to believe that the 20-year old actually suffered from dementia, a stigma by itself, when that term was a catchall term used for several psychiatric disorders such as: manic depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.

The judge ordered William Rockne to be institutionalized at the Psychiatric State Hospital in Elgin, Illinois.  He was there for three years and was released in 1939.  He had several other minor run-ins with police in the 1940s. In 1951, he broke into the home of Joe Novacek, a wealthy used car dealer in Wichita Kansas who shot him three times because he attempted to flee the house before police arrived. William had emergency surgery and recovered.  It was the first time his mother visited him in over two years. For the rest of his life, he continued to be treated in many mental facilities. He died in June 1960. He never married.

Daughter Mary Jeanne Rockne Kochendorfer married in 1959 to Anthony Joseph Kochendorfer. In 1964 they had one child, named after her mother Bonnie Marie (1964-2018). Mary died on December 22, 1992.

Knute Lars Rockne Jr married Margaret Alice Siewert in 1941. They did not have any children. Knute Lars died on May 6, 1988 at the age of 69.

The youngest Rockne child, John Vincent (Jack) Rockne married Joann Hays in 1948 and they had four daughters and four sons. Joann died in 2005 following the death of all four sons who died between 1986 and 2004.  Jack Rockne died on August 10, 2008 at age 82.  

Sources:

Time Magazine

Wikipedia

Sagepub Journal

World Cat.org

UCLA Library

1607 - The First Settlers of the New World

On April 26, 1607, at around four o'clock in the morning, three ships that had long been sailing the oceans - the "Susan Constant" and her consorts, the "Godspeed" and the "Discovery" - finally landed at Jamestown.  A few days earlier, they had arrived at a cape on the south side of the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. 

About 20 of the 54 men aboard went ashore, led by Captain Christopher Newport, who named the land "Cape Henry" in honor of the Prince of Wales.  The party then ventured to the north and named the land "Cape Charles" in honor of the Duke of York.

Their diaries and letters recorded that the land was of "faire meaddowes and goodly tall trees, with fresh-waters running through the woods."

The Susan Constant

The three ships sailed up the great river from Cape Henry and the next day they founded the land that Captain Newport named Jamestown in honor of King James I.  

It was decided that Jamestown was a better place to disembark and establish their settlement.  That very day, Reverend Robert Hunt held the first Church Service in the "New World."  

Diaries recorded that the land jutted out "on an extended plaine, a spot of earth which thrust out into depth and midst of the channell."

Thirteen years before the Pilgrims landed at what became know as Plymouth, Massachusetts, the three passenger ships traveled under the direction of the Virginia Company loaded with a group of settlers, all men, most of whom were in search of gold to make their fortune in the New World. 

Today in 2019, the replica of the 17th century ship, "the Susan Constant," was built in 1991 by the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation and financed by the Commonwealth of Virginia at a cost of $2.1 million.   Manned by a crew of 25, when not cruising the waters of the Chesapeake Bay, the ship stands on exhibit at the Jamestown Settlement in Virginia, alongside the replicas of the "Godspeed" and the "Discovery. "

The original Susan Constant was built in 1605 in London, weighed 120 tons and was estimated at 116 feet from tip to stern.  The ship was used primarily as a freighter for transporting goods.  However, for her 1606-1607 voyage, she was leased to the Virginia Company by the English firm of Dapper, Wheatley, Colthurst and Company.  

The voyage was staffed by all men and set out to sea on December 20, 1606, lasting four and one-half months and arriving at Jamestown on April 26, 1607.  For the first six weeks, the three ships floated side by side in the English Channel waiting for the right winds to carry them on their voyage.

The Susan Constant carried 54 men, the second ship carried the remaining 51 men and the third ship transported all their belongings.  Colonist John Smith was one of the 105 men. 

A passenger, The Reverend Samuel Purchas, wrote a manuscript in 1625 called "Pilgrims" in which he stated the name of the ship as the "Sarah Constant." But researchers and genealogists believed he was mistaken given that nearly twenty years had passed and that he was confused.  Centuries later, looking over the leasing company documents, many newspaper reporters as well as some of the writings of the first settlers said that the ship was always the "Susan Constant" or "Susan."  

Though Reverend Samuel Purchas stood firm by his manuscript, no record of a ship named the "Sarah Constant" was ever found for that time period.

The Susan Constant did not stay long in Virginia. As soon as she was filled with timber, she sailed back to England abut she never returned to Virginia again.  

Sources:

National Museum of American History, Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation.

The House With The Vintage Kitchen

In 2010, Nathan Chandler bought a house that was a 1956 model home. Except for the new roof, windows and the upgraded vinyl siding and windows, the house remained as it was in 1956.

It has never been occupied.

Rancher-style home built in 1956

The brand new kitchen was state of the art for that time period. Today, some house hunters might call it "vintage."

Vintage 1950s kitchen in pink

Triple door wall refrigerator

Inside triple door refrigerator

Inside vintage dishwasher

Dishwasher is pulled out to fill from top

Dishwasher controls

Three views of the dishwasher

Nathan Chandler has a furniture business. As hard as it may be for vintage lovers to hear, Nathan Chandler chose to rip out the kitchen, install all new appliances, cabinets, and countertops , then he put the fixtures up for sale.

We thought this kitchen was cool and we wondered what our readers would do.

Poll Question:

If you bought a house that had never been lived in and if it had a vintage kitchen with appliances that had never been used, would you rip everything out to install new up-to-date appliances or would you leave the vintage kitchen as it is?

Thank you for your visit.