Giboney's 1890 fire claim

In an 1891 court case, Robert T. Giboney testified that he had filed a claim with German Insurance Co. of New York for fire damage to his farming equipment and stacks of hay. He asked for $300 plus 10% damages, and that previous receipts be canceled. The insurance company took the position that the hay wasn't covered by the policy -- which, Giboney said, it clearly was. The ensuing dispute played out in the Common Pleas Court, and generated more than a few documents, now housed at the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center in Jackson.

In the four folders holding the case file, among the pages of court testimony transcriptions and filed motions, there's a note about an oversized document: an insurance certificate from the German Insurance Co. to Robert Giboney, measuring about 13 by 17 inches. It was an exhibit in the original court case, according to the file.

When I first saw it several months ago, this certificate was in tatters. Rips and tears marked not just the creases from having been folded for a century or so, but also the edges were crumbling. Curled edges, wrinkles, holes marred the surface. This particular paper was also brittle and darkened with age, stained and just overall in very bad shape.

Then Renae Farris, Southeast Region field archivist with the Missouri Secretary of State's Local Records Program, asked the State Archives' conservation lab staff to evaluate the condition of the document in anticipation of preservation work. They agreed, and the certificate was delivered to this state-of-the-art facility in Jefferson City.

There, staff undertook a meticulous testing process to make sure the document wouldn't be damaged by cleaning, and after sending a report to me, they started the painstaking process of cleaning and mending the document.

Everything the lab did to the document is, in theory, reversible. That way, if future advancements in preservation allow, this document can be mended to those, hopefully better, specifications.

This insurance certificate came back to us, beautifully mended, and I set to researching the involved parties.

A hazard in researching people is same-name syndrome. I found four Robert Giboneys in the Archive's probate records, none of whom were the Robert Giboney in question. The dates of probate (not necessarily the same as the date of death) didn't match. So I checked findagrave.com for his name, and there he was, buried in New Lorimier Cemetery, married to an Emma Houck. I checked on her, and found she had a brother named Louis. Not, however, the Louis Houck who brought a railroad to Southeast Missouri.

This Robert had a sister named Louise Giboney Wilson, who, according to testimony Robert gave during the trial, also had fire damage to her equipment.

The case was ultimately dismissed, but the case file lives on as part of the county's history.

To view a video of this document being mended, go to facebook.com/watch/?v=214323027024994.