BIRTH: 24 Mar 1919, Chicago, Illinois, USA
DEATH: 20 Jun 1959, Sacramento, California, USA
FATHER: William Edward Sammons (1884-1967)
MOTHER: Amy Larson (1885-1979)
SPOUSE: Harold Wareham Staggs (1915-2009)
When Jeanne Wilma Sammons was born on March 24, 1919, in Chicago, Illinois, her father, William, was 34, and her mother, Amy, was 33. She married Harold Wareham Staggs on March 14, 1942, in her hometown. They had four children during their marriage. She died on June 20, 1959, in Sacramento, California, at the age of 40, and was buried there.
Her story
The following is an excerpt from Staggs Genealogy – Harold Wareham Staggs – His Book
Jeanne, the most wonderful girl of my generation, and I met when we were in high school. She was not only beautiful, but very intelligent as well as a fine horsewoman and ice skater. When she was in college, she won several blue ribbons at horse shows.
Our homes were about two blocks apart and we would walk to school (two miles) rather than spend six cents to ride the trolly: This may have been young love, but when the snow was deep it was downright foolish.
After high school we waited for six years for my last year in college before we married. She had taken a job in a plant that made torpedos, saving her money to buy a car that we would need in our practice.
Load the wagons, we’re on our way.
Jeanne and I planned that she would buy a car with money she would save from the pay she received while working in a plant where they made torpedoes. We had married the summer of my last vacation before I graduated. 1 would order drugs to be sent to General Delivery, Milan, Missouri; and meet her at the train station there at noon on the Sunday after my graduation. Neither of us had ever been in Milan before but as it had no veterinarian, we felt that it would be a good place to practice. Milan was a small town; less than two thousand people. When I arrived at the station where I was to transfer to the local train to Milan, I was told that there was no train to Milan on Sundays. Great! I was about fifty miles from my bride and no way of letting her know I was stranded. I could just see her, the first bride left at a railroad station rather than the church. The station agent found a man who felt pity for me and he loaded me and my gear into his car and took me to Milan. It was about three o’clock when we came down into the station at Milan, and, gad, how wonderful it was to see Jeanne sitting in the Ford patiently waiting for her wayward spouse.
We spent our first winter in debt and with cold feet. The drugs we were to have paid for in thirty days were finely paid for after three months. Everyone was kind, even the woman we rented from told us not to worry when we were unable to pay the rent. But once the farmers decided that the college kid could be trusted, things turned around, and we started eating a little higher off the hog.
The country was cold! One night Jeanne forgot to empty the water pitcher and the next morning we found that the glass had broken but the still stood on the table in the perfect shape of the pitcher. The honeymoon was over, we put on more clothes than we took off when we went to bed. Getting through drifts of snow was a problem, I used horsedrawn sleds at times and when one was not available would walk.
When spring came it brought mud and I used buggies or a tractor to get to farms located off the main road. But we enjoyed it and yet decided to move to Cassville where the roads were much better.
Cassville was about as big as Milan, so we soon knew about everyone, and they too were nice people. I remember the old bachelor who would call me out each fall to do his yearly vet work then invite me to stay for supper. Always the same meal, yams and a nice young roasted racoon, which had grown fat eating his field corn. We would eat by lamplight with the fireplace keeping us warm until our jaws gave out.
As money was in short supply, a number of our clients paid us in trade. One time, remember that Jeanne was a big city girl, Jeanne met me at the door when I came back from a call and, with a puzzled look on her face, asked me just what in the world were we to do with four bushels of cucumbers. “Make pickles” I said. “From cucumbers?” she gasped. So, we got a mess of Mason jars and went to work making ice-box pickles. Now, anyone can make ice-box pickles, you just can’t go wrong. For years we were so proud of the racks of jars of beautiful green pickles stored down in the basement. Too bad we couldn’t eat, them but they tasted more like an ice box than a pickle. As far as I know they may still be there – we left them when we moved.
I remember the time Mr. Wilson left two crates of young guinea hens and one of the Boy Scouts left the barn door open. Each time we wanted to eat a guinea hen, I had to get out the rifle and hunt one down in the woods behind the house.
There was one time in the summer when everyone, including .us, was trying to give away tomatoes from their gardens and dear old John Bates bought two bushels of them and left them after telling Jeanne that they were part payment of his bill. Jeanne wanted to know how much to credit his bill. I told her that as bookkeeper that was her problem. So, she got smart-aleckey and cancelled his entire bill. May have saved us from getting God knows how many more bushels of tomatoes, smart gal, Jeanne.
While in Cassville we were blessed by the births of Barbara, 1946, and Steve, 1950, two of the best.
While in Cassville, I met a big black bull who didn’t understand that I was trying to help him. He got me down and after I got out of the hospital I used a leg brace for three years. Unable to stay in large animal practice, we moved to Sacramento and worked first for the Federal then the State Government. While in Sacramento we found David, born 1956.
The world came down on us when Jeanne died, but we went on as she would have wanted us to. All the children went through their schooling in great style and I’m proud that for four generations the Staggs in our line were able to go to college. I’m very thankful that I’m the father of these three fine people. I have been so rewarded for what little I’ve done just by being able to watch them grow into the individuals they are today.
Wherever we went, Jeanne made lots of friends. She was always helping people and doing something for the neighborhood. After her death a bell was erected in a Girl Scout camp east of Sacramento in her memory by the other Scout Leaders in the area.
Her children were her greatest love. She never raised her hand or voice to them no matter how bad her health was. I’m sure that her children have become the fine people they are in great part because of Jeanne’s calm, loving ways.
Jeanne would have been so proud of you and how she would have loved her grandchildren.
Public Service
Jeanne was an active leader in the Girl Scouts of America.
The Sacramento Union, Wed, June 22, 1960: Camp to Hold Open House – Sacramento Girl Scout Council will hold open house Sunday at Camp Bear Paw for all Scout families and friends. During the afternoon, the new staff house and a bell in memory of Mrs. Harold Staggs, a former leader, will be dedicated. Nancy Moak, director, Carol Liden, assistant director, and 45 staff members will greet guests, who are invited to take picnic lunches. First of the four summer sessions will begin Monday with 750 girls expected at the combined camps of Bear Paw and Meadow Rock.
Obituary
STAGGS-In Sacramento, June 20, 1959, Jeanne W. Staggs, beloved wife of Harold W. Staggs, loving mother of Barbara, Steven and David Staggs, sister of Mrs. Dorothy Spidell of Chicago, Ill.; a native of Chicago, Ill., aged 40 years. Friends are welcome at the Mission Chapel of Andrews & Greilich, 28th and W Streets until tomorrow (Tuesday) noon and are invited to attend the funeral at the East Lawn Chapel tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1:30 PM. Interment East Lawn.
Legacy of Jeanne Wilma Sammons
Parents
Father: William Edward Sammons (1884-1967)
Mother: Amy Larson (1885-1979)
Married
Harold Wareham Staggs (1915-2009). Married March 14, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois.
Children
- Barbara Jeanne Staggs (1946- )
- Infant (female) Staggs (1948-1948)
- Steven Barry Staggs (1950- )
- David Randolph Staggs (1955- )
Documents
- Birth Records
- Illinois, Cook County, Birth Certificates, 1871-1953 > Name: Jeanne Wilma Sammons; Sex: Female; Birth Date: 24 Mar 1919; Birthplace: Chicago, Cook, Illinois, United States; Father’s Name: Wm Edward Sammons; Father’s Sex: Male; Father’s Age: 33; Father’s Birth Year (Estimated): 1908; Father’s Birthplace: Pennsylvania; Mother’s Name: Amy Mathilda Larson; Mother’s Sex: Female; Mother’s Age: 31; Mother’s Birth Year (Estimated): 1910; Mother’s Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois; Event Type: Birth Registration; Event Date: 15 Apr 1941; Event Place: Cook, Illinois, United States; Event Place (Original): , Cook, Illinois; Certificate Number: 54976
- Marriage records
- Marriage License Chicago, Illinois, March 14, 1942
- Death records
- California, U.S., Death Index, 1940-1997 > Name: Jeanne W Staggs; Gender: Female; Birth Date: 24 Mar 1919; Birth Place: Illinois; Death Date: 20 Jun 1959; Death Place: Sacramento; Mother’s Maiden Name: Larson; Father’s Surname: Sammons
- U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014 > Name: Jeanne Staggs; Social Security Number: 335-12-4732; Birth Date: 24 Mar 1919; Issue year: Before 1951; Issue State: Illinois; Death Date: Jun 1959
- U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007 > Name: Jeanne Wilma Sammons; Gender: Female; Race: White; Birth Date: 24 Mar 1919; Birth Place: Chicago, Illinois; Death Date: Jun 1959; Father: William E Sammons; Mother: Amy M Larson; SSN: 335124732
- Find A Grave
- Burial: East Lawn Memorial Park, Sacramento, Sacramento County, California, USA
- Obituary Notice, Sacramento Bee, June 22, 1959
- Census Records
- 1920 United States Federal Census > Illinois > Cook (Chicago) > Chicago Ward 29 > District 1791 > Jeanne Sammons age 0, 66th St., Chicago, Illinois. Living with parents William Sammons (35) and Amy Sammons (33) and sister Dorothy Sammons (8). Also living at the residence was a cousin, Harold Larson (Stock Keeper at a Washing machine Company, 18)
- 1930 United States Federal Census > Illinois > Cook > Chicago (Districts 501-750) > District 0582 > Jeanne Sammons age 11, 3522 West 60th Street, Chicago, Illinois. Living with parents William Sammons (45) and Amy Sammons (44) and sister Dorothy Sammons (18). There was a border, Adolph Shomka (28) living at the residence.
- 1940 United States Federal Census > Illinois > Cook > Chicago > 103-862 > Jeanne Sammons age 21, 3522 West 60th Street, Chicago, Illinois. Living with parents William Sammons (56) and Amy Sammons (54)
- 1950 United States Federal Census > Missouri > Barry > Cassville > 5-9 > Jeanne W Staggs (bookkeeper, age 31) 1601 Main St, Cassville, Missouri, living with husband Harold W Staggs (34) and Barbara J Staggs (3).
Gallery
Relation of Jeanne Wilma Sammons to Steven Barry Staggs: mother
Page last updated November 10, 2025
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