Charles in Washington

After their second child was born, Charles and Mintie left Kentucky and moved to Wenatchee, Washington. They arrived in Wenatchee on 21 April 1903. While living in Wenatchee they had seven more children. They lived in Washington for the remainder of their days.

The 1930's were challenging economic years. The harsh economy took its toll on Charles as well. Several years after his wife died, at the end of his life, Charles moved to Seattle, Washington, and lived at Camp Carnation. He had heard that the government had people live there in order to avoid paying them a pension. At first he thought it was just a rumor, but then he found out that it only cost $5.00 a month to keep a man in the camp. Since most monthly pensions were about $18.00-$25.00 per man, Charles decided that perhaps it was true that the government would rather have a man in a camp than pay them a pension. After all, it saved the government money to have men live in a camp, rather than pay them money for a pension.

It was while living at Camp Carnation that he wrote a letter (20 April 1939) to his daughter Bessie, in response to her inquiry about the history of his family. At the time of his letter, he was lonely and felt his life had been a failure. He was quite ill at the time he wrote the letter. Having been a widower for 12 years, it was probably a welcomed event when he died later that same year, on 27 Sep 1939. He was buried in the Wenatchee City Cemetery, Chelan, Washington.