More on my Ohio Trip

I went to Ohio feeling extremely giddy and hopeful to find out more about Louella, Martha, and Martha’s parents; Sarah Ann Keyser & Jacob Ginter Fast.

For Martha Magnora Fast Bender Couts, I thought I would certainly be able to locate a marriage announcement from December 1890 which would tell me who William G. Bender’s parents were. But there was no announcement following their marriage and no announcement of Jesse Preston Bender’s birth in 1892. I also thought I would be able to find articles concerning her second marriage in 1903 to James McClellan Couts and subsequent divorce after between 1910 and 1920. I anticipated finding out if Martha’s daughter, Louella Bender was born with a mental disability or if it was caused by illness or injury, but I found nothing on her. Not even a birth announcement.

I was also looking for more on Martha’s parents. Especially on Jacob G. Fast’s stomach troubles and his red automobile which he supposedly drove through his barn.

Even though I didn’t find all I had hoped to find on the Fast’s and the Bender’s, I was glad to finally stand at the Riverside Cemetery and see their graves in person. There they were, all next to each other and next to family. To the left of Sarah and Jacob is their daughter Laura Ethel Fast Pennell and an infant. Martha and Louella are in two different rows, but you can walk almost in a straight line from one to the other. I think Louella was buried next to Pennell relatives.

Above: Louella’s marker in the foreground with her mother Martha’s directly across.

For me, visiting a grave in person instead of just seeing a photo that a stranger posted for Findagrave is a way for me to pay my respects. I’ve seen so much lately about cemeteries being “pointless” because everyone forgets about the people buried there, but not me. I may not be able to visit every grave, but the ones I do just fill me to the brim with gratefulness. I exist because they pressed on in the face of challenges. So much had to go right (and perhaps more had to go wrong) in order for my existence to be possible. If that isn’t enough to make someone appreciate life just a little more, then I don’t know what will.

Three Sheets of Paper

Sometimes, you bring home a stack of papers with details on the lives of your ancestors. Sometimes, you bring home lost family photographs gifted from a distant relative. Sometimes, you bring home three sheets of paper…

That’s all I got. Three sheets. But, this is the best lead I’ve had on William G. Bender in years. 

My three pages are all from a guardianship of estate record dated 1875. For twelve hundred dollars of a deceased man by the name of Henry Bender’s money. The guardian was Lavina Bender of Mercer County. Henry’s children were named Charles J. Bender (19), John H. Bender (16), William Bender (13), and Eliza A. Bender (9).

Of course, William is my primary interest. When looking at his name on the record it appears to say “William B McC Bender” but what is that little thing between his first name and the letter “B”?

This page states that Lavina Bender was in charge of the money and that she is the guardian of Charles J. Bender, John H. Bender, William B. McClellin/McClellan Bender, and Eliza A. Bender. William’s other middle name peaked my interest because Martha M. Fast Bender’s second husband, James Couts whom she married after divorcing William, shared that middle name. Couts was born in 1863 and this particular William Bender was probably born between 1862-1865. So, I did a simple Google search for “McClellan Civil War” and I found George Brinton McClellan. So, if William was named after this Union General turned Democratic President Nominee in 1864, his name would be William George Brinton McClellan Bender. It’s a long name, but I think it is a possibility. It also would explain those little marks between William’s name and the middle initial “B”. It kind of looks like someone attempted to stick in a “G”.

I’ve already begun looking into this family but I don’t have enough to share yet, when I do I will post more about them! 

“Deserted and Abandoned”

I received the full divorce file of Martha Fast and William G. Bender from an extremely helpful Deputy County Clerk in Mercer County, Ohio and although unsurprised that the full record did not shed any light on the residency of William, I am a bit disappointed.

Martha Magnora Fast, wife of the ever elusive William was about 24 in the year 1896. She had two little children; a two year old daughter, Louella, and a four year old son, Jesse Preston (my great grandfather). This was also the year that her husband of six years, William G. Bender, vanished seemingly without a trace. He left his wife and children and failed to provide necessities such as food, clothing, and a home. Martha waited four long years before filing for divorce.

By the time Martha started trying to divorce her husband, she was just five days past her 28 birthday. She now had an eight year old son and a six year old daughter, they were all living in the home of her parents. Because she could not find her husband even after a diligent search and inquiring his whereabouts, she turned to a publication of her intent to divorce William in an attempt to notify him. The publication ran every Thursday for six weeks beginning on August 2nd 1900 in The Celina Democrat, ending on September 6th, 1900. On September 26th, 1900 the final paper was filed and the divorce, along with custody of the children was granted to Martha.

Although I haven’t succeeded in my ultimate goal of locating William Bender, it is amazing to know how brave Martha must have been during all of this. I have to wonder why she waited four years, maybe it was the stigma that came with being a divorcée back then, or maybe she wanted him to come home to her.

52 Ancestors #5: Jesse Keyser is my 4x-great grandfather on my father’s paternal side. He was born on July 16, 1816 in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania to Jacob and Rebecca Keyser.

He married Martha Yost, daughter of Eli and Susan (Hendricks) Yost, on April 25, 1835 in Pennsylvania. That same year, the newlyweds and their firstborn daughter Audora Keyser Fast moved to Ohio, first settling in Miami County and then moving in 1837 to live in Mercer County. Jesse, on of the pioneer settlers of Mercer, bought and cleared a tract of land and built a round-log cabin, later building a cabin of hewed logs.  In time the latter was replaced by a frame house and this in turn by a brick residence.

The Fairview Church of God was established on January 30, 1868 in the Keyser residence with nineteen members.

Keyser passed away on August 29, 1895 at the age of 79 years, 2 months, and one day. He was buried next to his wife Martha in the North Grove Cemetery in Celina, Mercer County, Ohio