This post is the 13th and finale in a series of posts about the life of my cousin and con man Elridge Solomon Price, Sr. You can find the other installments here:
This is the final post about Elridge Solomon Price Sr (1893-1964), infamous con man from Texas who just happens to be my cousin. It has been a rollercoaster ride, that's for sure. The greatest thing I got out of this series is making contact with Elridge and Edith's granddaughter, Andrea. While I had the information about Elridge and his exploits for years, I had never written about him. Andrea was the catalyst for getting me off my duff and starting writing and sharing. It has been my honor to share the information I gathered with his descendents, who had little to no inkling of any of this.
When we left Elridge in 1960, he had been captured by the FBI and was being held in an El Paso, Texas jail, awaiting transfer to a federal prison to serve seven years on a fraud conviction he received in 1957.
There was not a whisper about Elridge in the newspapers between 1961 and 1964. Nothing about his transfer to federal prison, his bankruptcy, IRS liens, what happened in the bad checks case against Edith...nothing.
Elridge died of a heart attack on June 17, 1964 at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Seagoville in Seagoville, Dallas County, Texas, USA.
"Because he died while incarcerated, a traditional family obituary detailing surviving members or funeral arrangements is not widely published in standard public records. However, his passing was heavily noted in local Texas news due to his reputation as the "kingpin among all Southwestern confidence men". - Google Gemini
However, I was unable to locate an obituary for Elridge at all, even in the local Texas newspapers.
He was buried in Crown Hill Memorial Park, Dallas, Dallas, Texas, USA.
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FCI Seagoville  Photos courtesy of Andrea's son who moved to the Dallas area recently. He was kind enough to go take these pictures of the FCI and Elridge's grave for us - August 2026 Edith Shanklyn Wynn died in January 1970 in Oklahoma. I'm told she worked as a housekeeper after Elridge's death. Their oldest child, Alsace, passed away in 2009, also in Oklahoma. She never spoke of the things that her father did and would probably be scandalized by this series of blog posts. Elridge Solomon Price, Jr. passed away in 2004. He changed his name, presumably to distance himself from his father's legacy. He served in the U.S. Marines during World War II. He never spoke of his father either. His son, Elridge Solomon Price III, also changed his name. Alvin Armington"Al" Price passed away in 2014. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and Korea. As far as I know, he was never in the oil business. Sterling Woodrow Price passed away in 2006 in Tyler, Texas. He served in the U.S. Navy and according to his obituary, he retired as an Oilfield Businessman. Elridge and Edith's youngest child (the subject of the ugly child custody case), Jeamisean Edith Price, a/k/a "Jeamsie" or "Jeep" never married. She was a reverend in New Mexico. She was never willing to speak about her childhood or her father either. She passed away in 2023. A legacy of family secrets, lies, and possibly threats to "keep your mouth shut" passed down. Hopefully, the information shared here has helped the grandchildren understand their grandparents and their own childhoods more. Secrets are like cancer. They are insidious; they spread; and ultimately they help no one. They just put off the inevitable. Thank you for coming along on this journey with us. All families are full of good, bad, and everything in between. It's real life. I am glad to be able to share my family's stories with others.  Thank you to those who have stayed until the end. I just wanted to share one more little tidbit that doesn't really mean anything, but is interesting. Turns out that ole Elridge was buried in the same cemetery as the infamous Bonnie Parker!  Also, Andrea received some information, unverified as yet, that she is related to Clyde Barrow on Edith's side of the family! Oh the irony! |
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