Thomas Buchanan King’s Parentage

Thomas B. (possibly Buchanan) King has been a mystery in our family for longer than we know. My great grandmother, Mazie Mae King (daughter of Thomas’ son John William King) told me as a child that he had been adopted, taking the King surname as his own.

Today though, it seems that the parentage of Thomas Buchanan King may be closer to being solved.

The supposed birthdate for Thomas is March 1850-2, according to census records following his marriage – always the same age as his wife – which leads me to think that since he was illiterate and possibly adopted, he may have not known his exact age or birthdate. I knew that Thomas B. King was married on November 12, 1880 to Eliza Jane Starkey in Gallia County, Ohio. And that the King family left behind records of moves to multiple counties including Jackson, Lawrence, Ross, Fayette, Pike, and Greene. Unfortunately, both Thomas and Eliza Jane continue to evade me where the 1880 Federal Census is concerned, so after having no luck there I tried searching for Thomas King in the area of Gallia County in 1870.

After clicking through several pages and nearly throwing in the towel, I located a Thomas B. King in Bloom, Scioto, Ohio – but his age was 13, giving him a birth year of about 1857. Seemingly way too far off for my Thomas, but his mother’s name struck me. Sandalan King. A very unique name that is eerily similar to one of Thomas’ daughters names, Sandaline “Ann” King, born in Cabell County, West Virginia.

Marriage record of Thomas B. King’s daughter Standalone “Ann” King.

Sandalan was living with the following children in 1870: Alexander (17), Nancy (14), Thomas B. King (13), and Rebecca J. King (4). Sandalan was 50 at this point, so Rebecca may have been a granddaughter.

I located Sandalan on the 1860 census under the name “Sandall Keeton” living in the home of John King and his children; Viletta (13), Alexander (10), Nancy (5), and Mary (3).  At this point the family is living in Bloomfield, Jackson, Ohio. This time, Sandalan had a son named Buchanan Keeton, 5. This is the same family she was living with in 1870, but there is no evidence that she and John King were married.

In 1850, “Sandal Keyton” is living in Cabell, West Virginia, USA with her husband George Keyton and children Mack Harriet 23, Nancy 20, Roxy 19, Emmaletta 16, Mary C. 15, and John 13. Sandalan King (maiden name?) married George Keyton June 4, 1848 in Putnam County, West Virginia, so the children were probably from his previous wife.

Although I do wish there was more recorded evidence to attach Thomas Buchanan Keyton King and Sandalan Keyton to our family tree, I do think that the circumstantial evidence is pointing to this being the answer so many people in our family thought we would never receive.

 

The Lacota Cemetery Vandalism (March 2016)

Last Saturday, I made the short trip from my home to a tiny corner of South Western Michigan to see the cemetery where my Eichler and Reames ancestors were buried. This trip was due to the fact that I had found out that vandals had knocked over around 33 gravestones, many of which appeared from the local new stations photographs appeared to be old.

Instantly upon seeing the article and name of the cemetery, I feared for the graves of my 5x great grandparents: Silas Zane Reames and Mary Polly Phillips Reames. I was also concerned about my 3x great grandparents graves: Minerva McKeeby Eichler and Platt Eichler. Walking into the cemetery was surreal, toppled stones laid every where. My heart sunk more when I realized the markers that were damaged were among the oldest in the cemetery. I quickly located the Eichler family plot (luckily the family stone was not damaged) Minerva and Platt’s stones to the left stood sturdy as they had for 52 and almost 100 years, respectively.

I continued looking around for the grave of Silas Zane and Mary Polly Reames, Minerva Eichler’s maternal grandparents. While I looked, I considered the life of my ancestors. Silas Zane moved his family to the area from Indiana to Cass County, Michigan where at 45 he left his occupation as a sawyer and became a Union Soldier fighting in the Civil War. Following the war, Silas returned to Michigan and worked as a farm laborer up until he was unable to work, probably due to heart trouble and asthma. On March 19, 1910 his bedridden wife of nearly 65 years passed away at the home of their son Isaac Reames in Casco, Allegan, Michigan which is very close to Lacota. Silas died May 18, 1910 and the two were buried under a shared stone in the Lacota Cemetery.

On the 106th anniversary of Mary Polly Reames’ death three bored kids (two fifteen year old boys and a thirteen year old girl) decided to knock over some of the stones in the more historic portion of the cemetery. Perhaps they figured no one cared since the stones were older. But inscribed at the very bottom of Silas and Polly’s marker are barely legible words that still ring true 106 years later: “…not forgotten.”

It is my sincere hope that these kids will realize that people still care about the individuals beneath these old markers, and maybe someday they will grow into the kind of person that will care about individuals buried beneath old stones as well.

Elijah Swift & Sarah Mongold

Elijah Swift, son of James Swift and wife Mary Teats married Sarah E. Mongold (parentage uncertain at the time of writing) were married on October 1, 1873 at Pickaway County,Ohio.

From a previous post concerning Elijah Swift  and brother, Thomas.

Elijah was the son of a farm laborer from Ross County, Ohio. On the 1880 Census, his occupation was written as a farm laborer and the family of five were living in Elijah’s native Ross County, Ohio. In 1900, the family included 11 children, all of which were living in Ross County.

 

By the 1910 census, the family had relocated to Center, Delaware, Indiana after 37 years together and 12 children (11 surviving) the family had relocated. Oddly, only one individual on the page has an occupation listed. The couple was renting their home at the time, but had rented back in Ohio as well.

In 1920, the couple had moved back to Ross County, Ohio where they rented a farm. Also in the home were son James Swift, and a man named Charles Mongold (possibly a brother or cousin of Sarah). Elijah and James found work laboring on neighboring farms.

Elijah Swift died February 9, 1926 of a cerebral hemorrhage. His last known residence was Muncie, Delaware, Indiana and he was laid to rest in the Beech Grove Cemetery. Funeral costs were paid by his sons: Ervin, Earnest, Pearl, Grover, and James Swift.

Sarah lived in Muncie with her son Grover C. Swift and his wife Anna King Swift in 1930. She passed away on March 10, 1933 in Losantville, Randolph, Indiana at the home of Grover Swift. Grover paid her funeral expenses and she was laid to rest beside her husband of 52 years on March 13, 1933.

Charles J. Pfiffner

Charles J. Pfiffner was born to Alexander Pfiffner, a Catholic Swiss immigrant, and Lucinda Bevert in November 1865 in Illinois. Charles is my 3x great grandfather on my paternal grandfather’s side.

His mother, Lucinda died at about 40 in on August 28, 1875 in O’Fallon, St. Clair, Illinois. Charles would have been nine when he lost his mother. In 1880, fourteen year old Charles was living in St. Clair, Illinois with his 53 year old father, 23 year old brother Alex, 20 year old sister Kate, 16 year old brother Louis, his uncle Joseph Pfeiffner, and cousin Edward Miller.

Charles was married to Emily Anderson on April 20th, 1896 in St. Clair, Illinois. And fathered my 2x great grandmother, Irene Rose Pfiffner on January 8, 1897 in East St. Louis, St. Clair, Illinois. In 1900, he worked as a laborer and still lived in St. Clair.

In 1901, Emily and Charles had a son named Eugene Charles Pfiffner and in 1906, another son named Harry A. Pfiffner was born.

On February 21, 1910 Charles died of Pneumonia leaving his wife and three children behind. On the 1910 Census, Emily is listed as widowed and head of household to their three children; Irene, Eugene, and Harry. Emily went on to marry Charles’ older brother Louis, but was buried next to Charles upon her death in 1958 (48 long years following his death).

Mariah McKoon Fults (Brick Wall Work)

Mariah (sometimes Maria) Mckoon Fults Thornton was the mother of John Chauncey Fults, my 5x great grandfather (by following the link you can read his biography from History of Montcalm, MI Vol.II 1916, which includes all I knew about John’s parents).

John C. Fults, successful farmer and pioneer citizen of Sidney Township, Montcalm, MI was born in Herkimer Co., NY on July 11, 1830 son of William Fults and Mariah Mckoon, natives of NY state, the former of German descent and the latter of Scottish descent. William died shortly after his marriage. Following which, Mariah and only child John, came to MI in 1835 settling in Romeo, Macomb, MI then moving to St. Clair County where Mariah married Benjamin D. Thornton, a union to which 2 daughters were born; Hulda and Esther (Sally) both of whom and the mother are deceased.

Knowing the above information, I didn’t think of one huge detail: What widow in the 1830’s moves to a new state alone? I’m sure it happened, but it must’ve been rare. “Michigan Fever” had began and settlers from the east were making their way into the territory but even so the land was a mosquito ridden wilderness with long, harsh isolating winters. A popular chant in the East went: “Don’t go to Michigan, that land of ills / The word means ague, fever, and chills.” Michigan did not gain statehood until 1837 (Side note: Funny that I would have ancestors here two whole years before Michigan became a state when I always felt so detached from my home state’s history).

Mariah Mckoon Fults married B.D. Thornton of Berlin, St Clair Co October 3, 1843 she was 31 and living in Ray TWP, Macomb. Her surname was given as “Collins”… I assume she may have married a Collins after arriving in Michigan, but I could find no record for that marriage and no children confirming that she had married a Collins. But I find it unlikely that she would have lived as a widow in such a harsh state for seven years during the her prime. Together, the couple had two documented children: Hulda A. Thornton Snell and Esther Sally M. Thornton Hamner.

John C. Fults petitioning the estate of Mariah/Maria Thornton as a heir along with his two half sisters, Hulda and Esther Thornton.

So with that, let’s talk about widows who don’t move to a new state with their 4 or 5 year old son alone… So recently, while revisiting my brick walls as I do about once a month to once every two months, I tried something I should’ve done a long time ago: I looked for other McKoons living in Macomb County in 1835-1850 (Duh, right?!). And I found one: Morgan Lewis McKoon of Bruce, Macomb, Michigan in 1850. In May of 1837, Morgan McKoon of Macomb County purchased 40 acres in Michigan. This matches the timeline I have for Mariah and J.C. Fults. James was born in 1817 and Mariah McKoon Fults was born around 1811, were they siblings?

Morgan’s parents were James McKoon and Huldah Cummings. At first, the only children I could locate for them were: Thana McKoon Cummings (1801-1865), Huldah McKoon Gillet (1803-1883), Polly McKoon Johnson (1805-1884), A child that died in 1807 at 11 months old, Zadoc McKoon (1815-1850), Morgan Lewis McKoon (1817-1907), Esther McKoon Ward (1819/1820-1903), and another infant buried with Huldah Cummings McKoon in 1821.

Esther McKoon Ward’s obituary states she was the youngest of eight which implies that at least the infant buried with her mother was not counted in the eight children, possibly because the child was stillborn. The gap between the child who died in 1807 and Zadoc McKoon is quite big. Mariah would’ve been born in about 1811, making her roughly 19 when she had her son and fitting right into that gap. The names of her daughters Hulda and Esther are also both names of her sisters, and Hulda her mother’s name as well.

Guardianship records for James McKoon’s minor children, 1831.

James McKoon died in October of 1830, the guardianship of his minor children was decided in May 1831. Esther, Marcia, and Morgan L. all went to live with Polly McKoon Johnson and her husband Thayer Johnson in Richfield, NY. Ladoe went to live with Thana McKoon Cummings and George Cummings of Erie, Erie, New York.

If Esther’s obituary was not including the infant siblings that passed away Marcia and Ladoe would make eight children, but because Zadoc would have had to have been about 15 at the time of his father’s passing, Ladoe may have been him. Marcia is awfully close to Mariah/Maria and in census records Mariah’s son J.C. Fults’ birth year varied from 1830-1832.

Because I can’t locate a marriage for Mariah McKoon and William Fults, or a birth record for John Chauncey Fults I don’t know if Marcia McKoon and Mariah are the same person. I also have nothing more to connect Mariah to James McKoon and Morgan Lewis McKoon besides a few very ironic coincidences… But in a few months, I’ll try looking again.

Etta Lowe, the first wife of John Wm. King

Before marrying my great-great grandmother, Lillie Ann Coder, my great-great grandfather John William King was married to Etta Jane Lowe (daughter of Rosa Atwood and George Lowe) just after his 17th birthday on October 17, 1907 in Ross County, Ohio.

In April 1910, the couple was living in Marion, Fayette, Ohio along with their son John King Jr. who was born May 15, 1908. John was working as a farm laborer to support his son and pregnant wife. On September 19, 1910 they became the parents to Bessie H. King. Sadly, a little over one year later on September 28, 1911 their little daughter died of enterocolitis (an infection of the digestive system caused by bacteria) the contributing cause was listed as “filth and lack of care”. *NOTE: The death certificate for Bessie INCORRECTLY states that the mother was “Anna Lowe”*

Unfortunately, this would not be the last time tragedy touched the King’s lives: On February 28, 1913 the couple’s six month old son, Charles Albert King would die of broncho-pneumonia and pertussis (whooping cough). The marriage was dissolved about 10 months after Charles’ death.

On December 24, 1913 Etta married Isaac Wiles (the son of Anna Mullen and William Wiles) in Delaware County, Indiana. On the marriage certificate she claims her previous marriage to John King was dissolved that same month on December 13, 1913. (Working on getting the record for their divorce!)

On August 9, 1917 Etta married again to Randolph Grant Smullen (son of Milton Smullen and Anna Keglice) also in Delaware County. On that marriage record she claimed she had been married twice and that both marriages had been dissolved by divorce. The first divorce is incorrectly listed as occurring in 1910, ending the marriage with King. And the second divorce from Isaac Wiles taking place in 1916. Etta, her husband Randolph, her son John King, and her daughter Nannie Smullen lived in Muncie, Delaware, Indiana in 1920. 

By 1930, Etta was working as a dishwasher at a restaurant and had divorced Smullen who was now her neighbor, they also had become the parents to a son prior to divorcing. In 1940, he was also living next door with their daughter, Nannie Smullen Chesterman while Etta lived with their son Vernon Smullen.

John King Jr. married Dorothy M. Hundley who was the daughter of Harvey Hundley and Clara M. Shingledecker Hundley Baker sometime after 1930. I haven’t definitively located him on the 1930 US Census yet.

“Where liberty dwells, there is my country.” – Benjamin Franklin

This Independance Day, I’d like to put the spotlight on to two brothers who fought for the Independence we are celebrating; Israel Bissell (1752-1823) and Justus Bissell (1759-1832) (my 7th great grandfather through my maternal grandmother). The Bissell brothers were born to Israel Bissell Sr. and Hannah Sackett Bissell in East Windsor, Hartford County, Connecticut.

“Listen, my children, to my epistle
Of the long, long ride of Israel Bissell,
Who outrode Paul by miles and time
But didn’t rate a poet’s rhyme.
A postman was this Israel Bissell.
Who on his horse, sped like a missile”

                                                 I. Bissell’s Ride by Clay Perry

Israel Jr., a post rider, out rode the other freedom riders sent to warn of the British Attack at Lexington on April 19,1875 including Paul Revere, William Dawes, Samuel Prescott, and Sybil Ludington in both miles traveled and time. He rode for four days and six hours (345 miles) from Watertown, Massachusetts to Philadelphia along the Old Post Road. According to legend, his first horse died from having been ridden too hard.

After Israel returned home to Connecticut, he and his younger brother Justus enlisted in the continental army and served until the end of the war. Israel settled in Hinsdale, Berkshire, Massachusetts where he was buried with a modest marble headstone until the Daughter’s of the American Revolution gave him a plaque commemorating his ride. 

Justus returned home to East Windsor and married Ann Blodgett (1760-1839) December 20, 1779 they were the parents of at least 10 children. The Bissells first moved to Middlefield, Massachusetts around 1782, while living there Justus worked as a carpenter and served on the school board. In 1809, the family moved to Ohio where Justus is buried in Aurora, Portage, Ohio.

Benders in Mercer County, Ohio

When I was 15, I was almost too excitable to do genealogical research. I found the 1890 marriage record of my great-great grandparents Martha (Mattie) Magnora Fast and William G. Bender, and that lead to my first major mistake… I connected the first William Bender I found in Mercer County, Ohio to my family tree. I told myself “No one will see this, if I need to change it I can.” But, a lot of Fast Descendants must’ve seen it and soon it was all over the internet. The William I had tied to my family was the son of Jonathan Bender and Hannah A. Murlin in Mercer County in 1870. But, the entire family ended up moving to Iowa by 1880, where that William was married in 1888.

But, there was another William in the county in 1870, William G. B. McClellan Bender was born in 1865 in Mercer County, Ohio to Henry Bender and his wife Clementine Lavina Long (she seems to have gone by Clementine/a until her husbands death in 1875 at which time she switched to Lavina). Henry and Clementine Lavina moved to Mercer County, Ohio between 1860-1865 from Hempfield, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania.

By the time Henry and Clementine moved to Ohio, they had three children:
Elizabeth Mathilda (b. November 13 1854), Charles J., and William H. (They must’ve changed his name to John H. Bender in his early childhood) Below is the Bender family on the 1860 census in Hempfield, Pennsylvania.

In 1870, Clementine and Henry are living in Hopewell, Mercer County, Ohio with William, aged 5 and Eliza, aged 4. It is unclear where the other children are. I think it is likely that the older daughter, Elizabeth Mathilda had passed away due to the younger sister’s name and the fact that Elizabeth Mathilda was the only child not listed in Henry’s probate records from 1875.

Charles Bender had settled in Portland, Jay, Indiana by June 1887 when he married Mary Chapman there (she was remarried in 1895 to James McGill in Jay County). There in April 1898, he was married again to Sadie Hearn (divorced and remarried in Jay County 1899 to William Little). On census records he always listed his birthplace as Ohio and his parent’s as being born in Pennsylvania, his maternal grandfather died in Portland in 1893. Charles died May 4, 1939 in Portland, Indiana.

John H. Bender married Mary A. Crouch on August 15, 1897 in Mercer County. After she died in 1917, he married Donna Lawson Chapman. Together, they had two children John R. Bender born about 1926 and Mary Ann Bender born 1929. He died in Mercer County in 1946 and is buried in the Swamp College Cemetery.

William (G.?) B. Mclellan Bender is my possible link to these Bender’s. He is not living with his mother, stepfather, and sister on the 1880 Census. If this is my William G. Bender, he was married in Mercer County to Martha M. Fast on November 27, 1890. And had two children with her before he disappeared around 1896…

Eliza Ann Bender was born in 1865 in Mercer County. She applied for a marriage certificate to marry Henry Lehman in 1883, with her stepfather giving consent for her to marry, but the two never went through with the ceremony, they had an illegitimate daughter born in November 1883 named Nora E. (Elizabeth) Lehman. In July 1885 Eliza married Seth Adams in Mercer County. They moved to Auglaize County, Ohio where she died in 1944.

A Victim of a Forgotten Plague

Lillie Cardin Murr was the first wife of Louis Murr and the mother of my great grandfather Raymond Amos Murr. Lillie was born in January 1878 in Monroe County, Tennessee to Thomas Barrett Cardin and Amanda Manis. She died at the age of 49 on August 11, 1927 of Pellagra at the Eastern State Hospital in Bearden, Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee. Her life had been largely a mystery, until I located her death certificate…

Two facts from it helped me figure out the end of her story:

• Pellagra is vitamin deficiency disease frequently caused by a chronic lack of niacin (which is instrumental in the circulatory system). It is classically described by three D’s: Diarrhea, Dermatitis, and Dementia. In order to have a decisive diagnosis, skin legions must also be present. A common cause is a corn-based diet. Following the corn cycle, the symptoms typically appear in the spring and worsen in the summer due to sun exposure until eventually becoming constant. Without treatment, death usually occurs in four to five years. Between the years of 1906-1940 their were an estimated 150,000 deaths caused by Pellagra in the Southern United States with the majority of victims being the impoverished, African Americans, and adult women. Of the infected, only about 2% of pellagrins were institutionalized.
• The Eastern State Hospital, located in the Bearden area of Knoxville, was primarily a mental institution and where she had been a patient for the last 20 days of her life.

In 1896, Lillie had her first child despite being unwed, his name was Charles “Charlie” Cardin, he went on to marry Mary Ann Giles in 1914 in Monroe, Tennessee.

Lillie married Louis Murr on November 25, 1900 in Monroe County, Tennessee. The couple went on to have the following children there (not including at least one other child who died prior to 1910):
Andy Murr b. July 12, 1904
Gibson Murr b. July 25, 1906
Bessie Murr b. abt 1908
Virgil C. Murr b. December 25, 1910
Earnest Murr b. August 5, 1913
Raymond Amos Murr b. October 17, 1914

The family lived near Tellico Plains, Monroe, TN where Louis farmed, the Murr family probably had grits or cornbread at almost every meal. Today, the recommended daily value for women over 19 years of age is 14mg of niacin and we typically receive enough due to the amount of meat we consume. But back in the 20′s, meat wasn’t as readily available to the impoverished families of the Southern US. Corn was, and it was a heavily relied on staple in their diets. The prosperity of the “Swinging Twenties” was much more prevalent in cities, as the First World War had created an agricultural boom and after the war ended prices on corn, cotton, and wheat plummeted. The 1920′s created a growth in cities while the rural communities suffered a lull in their economy, and in 1921 Pellagra cases spiked because of it.

In the beginning stages, Pellagra causes depression and fatigue. Next, painful blistering occurs on the sufferers hands, chest, and neck (often made worse by the skin being exposed to sun). It isn’t uncommon for the tongue and throat to turn bright red and for hair to fall out, as well as mental confusion to begin. As the disease progresses, the minerals from bones and teeth deteriorate causing osteoporosis and tooth decay. In advanced stages, sufferers may become extremely sensitive to light, have heart muscle damage, some sufferers get nerve damage and paralysis of limbs. In the months before death dementia takes hold of the brain. The stigma for those afflicted with Pellagra was almost as horrible as the disease itself.

Because Lillie was hospitalized in July of 1927, it is likely she had been suffering from dementia for some time and that her family just couldn’t care for her anymore. Pellagra no doubt wreaked havoc on her body, mind, and personality. Ten years after Lillie Cardin Murr’s death, in 1937, niacin was identified as the vitamin responsible for preventing the malady and by 1960, it was almost completely eradicated in the US.

Violence in the Family Tree

John Douglas Jenkins is my 2x great grandfather on my paternal grandfather’s side. A first generation American, he married Irene Rose Pfiffner  around 1913 and had four children with her; Elizabeth (my great grandmother), Harold “Harry”, Dorothy May, and Kenneth Floyd. The two divorced in about 1921, after which time. Elizabeth and Dorothy lived with Irene in Chicago, Cook, Illinois, Harry lived with John in Edwardsville, Madison, Illinois, and Kenneth was raised by his maternal grandmother Emily Anderson Pfiffner in Bellville, St. Clair, Illinois and East St. Louis, St. Clair, Illinois. It appears that John never remarried, he lived in Edwardsville with his mother Elizabeth Jenkins from 1930 until her death in 1940 working at the family service station.

In June 29 1931, the Decatur Evening Herald of Decatur, Illinois reported that two men were being held for the beating of a hitchhiker named John D. Jenkins, 35, a service station attendant who lived in Edwardsville. 

The men picked up a man who, according to them attacked them with a hammer. A witness claimed that one of the men; Othal Ivy, of Huston, Texas struck Jenkins on the head. Witnesses said that the car pulled to a stop, where a man got out of the back seat and another man wielding a hammer got out of the front seat and struck the man from the back seat in the head before reentering the vehicle which then sped away leaving Jenkins behind with a fractured skull and a satchel. The satchel was found to be containing identifying papers for the driver of the car, Robert Craig, WWI Veteran from Long Beach, California whom Jenkins was originally identified as.

On July 3, 1931 more of the story ran in the Decatur Herald. In this article, both men (the afformentioned Ivy along with the driver, a WWI Veteran named Robert Craig of Long Beach, California) claimed that when they picked Jenkins up he was intoxicated and quarrelsome and that Ivy had only struck Jenkins to prevent the theft of Craig’s satchel. Jenkins had told police that the men stole $271 dollars from him, but the police only found $27 on the proposed assailants. The paper claimed that the idea that Jenkins could attack two able-bodied men with a hammer was fantastic.

Jenkins’ side of the story was reported by his hometown newspaper, The Edwardsville Intelligencer. He claimed that the men picked him up in St. Louis, and he paid $4 to ride with them to Chicago. He claimed that on the way the two strangers purchased liquor and that he personally only took one drink and that in Pana, Illinois the men threw the bottle out of the car before attacking him in an alley.

This was not Jenkins’ first or last encounter with violence… according to their youngest child, Kenneth Jenkins, his parents divorced because of John’s anger problems. And In 1936 in Edwardsville, John was found guilty of assaulting an Illinois Power & Light Company worker named Harold Gunter. Gunter entered the Jenkins Service Station (which John’s mother Elizabeth owned) to check power levels and believing that no one was there, he turned to leave. The two began speaking to one another, and soon after that is when John struck him.