Daniel Francis Mackey Corkins

Daniel Francis Mackey Corkins, son of Florence Winnifred Branson and Ernest Lee Corkins, was born 16 November 1915 in Stockton, San Joaquin County, CA. He was named for Daniel Francis Mackey, a good friend his parents had known during the short period they had lived in the Altaville/Angel’s Camp area of Calaveras County. There is some uncertainty whether Daniel was given a shorter version of the name, as in Daniel Francis Corkins or Daniel Mackey Corkins. His parents seem to have disagreed on that point, giving one answer or the other. Public records do not resolve the issue. In the 1930 census, he is Daniel F. Corkins, yet Daniel himself in adulthood went by Daniel M. Corkins. On this webpage he is given all the names in the interests of genealogical thoroughness.

Daniel was raised in Stockton. In his mid-teens, his mother and father divorced -- rather dramatically so, with Florence leaving her husband for a younger man who had been a lodger in the family home, whom Ernest in a fit of rage subsequently attempted to murder with a pistol.

Daniel graduated from Stockton High School in February, 1934. (For some odd reason, the school had two graduating classes of 1934, one in February, and another at the usual time in June.) He was the first member of his family to reach that level of formal education. Later that same year, his mother and stepfather moved to Pollock Pines in El Dorado County. Daniel did live with them for a period in the mid-1930s; however, he had already reached eighteen years of age even before the move, and he did not linger. He preferred not to remain subject to his stepfather’s authority. He returned to Stockton. He would dwell for the rest of his life in some part of San Joaquin County, variously in Stockton and Manteca. Almost at once -- certainly by no later than the end of the 1930s -- he became a molder at a foundry. This occupation would carry him all the way through his adult working life. However, he changed employers several times, Stockton being replete with foundries. He worked for Engineering and Foundry Company at first, continuing through the World War II years, then was employed briefly by Monarch Foundry and Engineering Corporation in the mid-1940s. He switched to Super Mold Foundry of Stockton and Lodi in about 1946. This would be a long-term employer -- his obituary even says erroneously that Super Mold employed him for his entire half-century career. This however not only fails to acknowledge the two early employers, but ignores Valley Pattern and Manufactering, for whom he worked in the late 1950s and early 1960s before returning to Super Mold.

Daniel wed Henrietta Estelle Richards 25 January 1939 in Reno, NV. Henrietta, daughter of George Richards and Pearl E. Courtright, was a native of Jackson, Amador County, CA, born 24 January 1919. As a small child she had lived in Amador County and Calaveras County, but by the time she was school age the family had settled in Stockton. Her middle name is also subject to variation. It is clearly Estelle in several official records, but it is just as clear from others that she used Estella -- sometimes as her primary name in place of Henrietta.

Daniel and Henrietta produced three children, all born during the first fifteen years of the marriage. The union was long-lasting. This was unusual among Daniel’s immediate family. His siblings all married multiple times and all went through at least one divorce. Daniel’s only “extra” marriage came late in life after Henrietta had passed away. Daniel led a steady life in general. This again was not something his siblings could boast -- at least not to the same degree. This meant Daniel was able to act as an anchor figure when his sister Mildred’s fifth marriage hit the rocks in the early 1960s. Mildred’s youngest daughter, then age ten to eleven years old, spent over half a year living with Daniel and Henrietta. Later in his niece’s adolescence and teen years, there were additional, somewhat briefer encore intervals of sanctuary.

Henrietta worked outside the home, and this became more true as the kids no longer needed a stay-at-home mom. She was a cook for about ten years for San Joaquin General Hospital. Likewise, she was a cook for the local Epsilon Lambda Sigma sorority house. Eventually she was able to channel much of her industriousness toward one of her favorite beneficiaries, the Mayfair Christian Church. She volunteered for many tasks there. For example, right up until her somewhat untimely death at age sixty-five, she was the church’s building-and-maintenance manager.

Henrietta died 20 July 1984 in Stockton. Her remains were laid to rest in Cherokee Memorial Park in Lodi. The loss of his wife was the first of two major misfortunes to strike Daniel in the mid-1980s. The other occurred when he suffered a stroke that paralyzed much of one side of his body. Despite this handicap, he maintained an active lifestyle -- easily more vital than others his age who did not have to endure the same limits. This included the big step of marrying again. His bride was Nellie Mable Earnest, who had been born 26 June 1913 in Buffalo, Johnson County, WY. She had been a wife twice before. Her marriage to Leo Thomas Misner had produced a son and a daughter. Daniel played no role in raising these children inasmuch as they were both in their fifties when he became their stepfather, but he embraced his new role and both are referred to as his children in his obituary. Daniel and Nellie’s wedding took place 26 April 1991 in Carson City, NV.

Daniel was a member of Stockton Amateur Radio Club, Sons In Retirement, the International Order of Foresters, and the Molders Union.

Daniel passed away at home in Stockton 23 September 2001, to be buried in Lodi as his first wife had been. Nellie survived him, perishing 29 July 2005 in Stockton.

The Branson/Corkins clan of Stockton, CA in the mid-1920s. The four kids in the center are Daniel and his siblings. His little sister Alice is in the very front. Daniel is the younger boy just to the right of her, unfortunately captured in an uncomplimentary pose -- this photo is, unfortunately, the only one in the archive that displays Daniel’s entire face in focus at any age. (You will no doubt agree that the image shown at the upper left of this webpage, a cropped section of another photo taken that same day, doesn’t really show Daniel in focus.) The other two youngers are, left to right, Alvin Franklin Corkins and Mildred Elaine Corkins (behind Alice). The adults arrayed beside and behind the children are, left to right, Alvin Thorpe Branson, Walter Henry Branson, Maude Ethel Branson Curtis, Florence Winnie Branson Corkins (face obscured behind her son Alvin), Ernest Lee Corkins, Ivan Thorpe Branson, Mary Eliza Simmons Branson, and Marion Christian Branson.

Children of Daniel Francis Corkins with Henrietta Estelle Richards

To go back one generation, click here. To return to the Branson/Ousley Family main page, click here.