I’m sitting here trying to remember why I was researching Kansas LeForce’s but all I can tell you is it’s a good thing I did.
Many sites state that on 11/10/1915 “Eight homes were destroyed and 3 people were killed at Zyba.” and “This is the latest time in the year that a fatality can be attributed to a tornado for our county warning area. The total number of deaths for these tornadoes was 15.”
I can’t find an official list of the dead anywhere. If not for this site: http://www.danielcfitzgerald.com/correspondencewithdanfitzgerald.html we wouldn’t know that a Mrs. LeForce was 1 of the 3 dead. A Mrs. Hartle & “a hired girl” were the other 2.
Do you know how many Mrs. LeForce’s there have been just in this country alone? Good grief Charlie Brown!
The family of John Baronet Steuben LeForce Sr lived/died & were buried in Zyba KS: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=20142519. Maybe that’s what happened to his headstone – it got smacked by the tornado?
This daughter-in-law died in 1915: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=20092266. If it was 11/10 then she’s the “Mrs. LeForce”. Then a grand-daughter-in-law: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=58903618 gets killed by a tornado in KS in 1955. I think they should’ve stayed in KY.
There’s a pic of the damage in here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ghost_towns_in_Kansas
This place has the wrong date:
http://www.sumneremergencymanagement.com/severe_weather.html
LaForce & Family Site 