Lewis D. Vanness’ 1914 Probate Inventory

Lewis D. Vanness of Shabbona Grove, Dekalb, Illinois is my 4x great grandfather on my mother’s paternal side. He died in 1914 and left a will which asked for the following items to be sold and the funds (which totaled to almost $13,000 in today’s money) to be left to his wife of 49 years, Laura Ellen Spicer Vanness, who died in 1920. The couple had the following children: Anna Vanness, Lewis Aaron Vanness, Bartholomew Vanness, Nettie E. Vanness, and Willard Vanness.

A 1914 Magazine

Typical for a farmer at that time, Lewis kept bees, a cow, a horse, chickens, and grew corn.

Most interesting to me was that he had an automobile and a talking machine (phonograph) and records, for a farmer in a small town he must not have lived too shabbily.

I loved the fact that he had an organ. Organs were huge on my Great Grandma Grace Decker‘s side of the family, Grace would have been Lewis’ granddaughter. I was seven when Grace died, but I remember going to her home and seeing an organ on her enclosed porch. Her mother, Mary Smith Decker also had one which was given to her by her father Samuel Smith.

Little Anna Decker

Anna Decker, the daughter of my 3x great grandparents Lewis Luther Decker and Margurite/Margaret Edith Layton Decker. She was born in Hopkins, Allegan, Michigan on February 3, 1894. She lived on the family farm in Hopkins with her siblings Oren George (b.1887), Lee Aaron (b. 1889), and Maude (b. 1891). Her life ended in tragedy on the farm one warm fall day on November 9, 1899 when she asked to run and play in the yard without her shoes.

**Caution, this is a very graphic and sad story**

Little Anna was running through the yard while her brother Lee Decker (if the news article is accurate in saying the brother was about ten years old) was cleaning a stable when he unintentionally hit his sister with the fork. It punctured her eye and entered her brain four inches… she died almost instantly. It is also worth note that at the time of Anna’s death, Mrs. Decker was seven months along with her sixth child, my 2x great grandfather William Decker. In 1902, the Decker’s would have another daughter and name her Anna in honor of the little girl they lost so tragically.

Below is the actual news article from the paper in Otsego, Allegan, Michigan:

“If there is no Struggle, There is no Progress”

I am impatient, I don’t like waiting. Right now in my personal life this is a very difficult thing, I am frustrated with how long it is taking to make progress. So, I thought I would share part of a story I found in A Twentieth Century History of Allegan County, Michigan (compiled under the supervision of Dr. Henry Franklin Thomas of Allegan in 1907) about my 4x Great Grandfather, Ransom Aaron Layton who made his progress slowly with hard work.

“He always manifested the progressive spirit which has been the dominant factor in the upbuilding and development of agricultural interests in this great state.”

Ransom was born to Francis Layton and his wife Margaret Ann Wagner Layton (both originally from New Jersey) on July 16, 1841 in Genesee County, New York. His mother died when he was four, and when he was nine he and his father relocated to Cooper, Kalamazoo, Michigan where he was educated and eventually became a laborer on a nearby farm until he had earned enough to purchase his own land and begin his own farm.

He chose Watson, Allegan, Michigan as the site of his homestead and farm and purchased 80 acres. As he continued to work, he was eventually able to purchase 80 additional acres. Making his total 160 acres – which was all forest land at the time of his purchase. In addition to clearing his own land and farming, Layton also worked at an area sawmill for a number of years spending half the day and half the night being spent at the mill and the remainder of his time was spent working on his land. On that land, he built a home and several outbuildings. 

In 1868, Layton married Hannah Elvira Leach (born 1848 in Ohio), daughter of Justus Leach and Mercy D. Mason Leach. He and Hannah became the parents of three daughters and one son:

• Margaret Edith Layton Decker (my 3x great grandmother), wife of Luther Decker. They had seven children: George Oren Decker, Lee Decker, Maude Decker, Roy Decker, William Decker, Annie Decker, and Leota Decker.
• Arthur J. Layton who married Gertrude Mabel Goucher. Their children were Garnet Clara Layton and George Russell Layton.
• Alta Almeda Layton, wife of Simon Fox. Mother of Pearl Myrtle Fox and Juanita Fox.
• Bell Ethel Layton

In politics Layton was a Republican, and he never ran for office, instead focusing on his farm, but he was always interested in what was best for the people. 

“He may, without exaggeration be called a self-made man… Starting out in early life in the humble capacity of a farmer being employed by others, through industry, economy and careful management he worked his way year by year until he was the possessor of a valuable property of 195 acres”

“To know him was to respect him, and his many friends yet cherish his memory, for he was a man of excellent character and was ever ready to lend a helping hand to every worthy cause.”

John Chauncey Fults

Rewritten from the History of Montcalm, MI Vol.II 1916
Biographical by John W Pasef

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 Wm. and Mariah Mckoon Fults, natives of NY state, the former of German descent and the latter of Scottish descent. Wm. 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.

NOTE:
Mariah/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”

John lived with his mother until the age of 7. Then he became a part of Wm Garris’ home, Garris was a farmer in Macomb County, John resided there until the age of 10. During that time he received education at the common schools in Macomb Co. In about 1840, John went to live with the Sutherland Family for about 5 years, after which he began making his way in the world, working at different places in various lines of activity, chiefly farming. Until a few years later, he purchased 40 acres in Macomb Co, a place where he engaged in farming for a short time. He then moved to St Clair Co. where he lived for several years. During the year 1879, John moved to Montcalm, purchasing 146 acres in Sidney Twp, on the south side of Lake Dickerson, which prior to his arrival was without settlement, and occupied solely by a mill. On his farm he has placed extensive improvements and now lives there as a successful farmer.

On Nov 13, 1850 John C. Fults married Catherine Youngs, who was born in Wayne Co, NY on June 1835 to Harry Youngs and wife.

9 children, 7 living:
• Cornelia w/o Josiah Decker, Douglas TWP, Montcalm
• Mariah w/o John Trumble of Pinnconning, Bay, MI
• Catherine Abyer w/o John Coleman of Stanton, Montcalm
• Ira, deceased
• Annie w/o John Adams of Stanton, Montcalm
• Andrew, lives on the homestead
• Lincoln, died in infancy
• Johnson of McBride, MI h/o Minnie
• Eva Grace w/o Seth Pickett Day TWP

Catherine died March 26, 1915 at 80 yrs. They were devout Seventh Day Adventist’s. Fults has been a lifelong republican, casting his first vote for John C Fremont.

Luther Taylor and his Girls

My 5x great grandfather Luther Taylor was born about 1805 in Connecticut according to US Census records. He married Desire Norton/Newton prior to 1831. Desire died prior to 1860 (probably even before 1850). Sometime before 1860, Luther had relocated along with his three youngest daughters to Kalamazoo, Michigan. He died September 11, 1895 in Watson, Allegan, Michigan.

The Taylors had five known children, all daughters:

• Cynthia Marie Taylor (my 4x great-grandmother) was born May 6, 1831 in New York. She married Levi Decker, the son of Wilhelmus and Mary Decker of Wayne Co, NY in 1850. Cynthia and Levi moved to Michigan in about 1858, settling in Allegan County. She died on the Decker family farm on Big Lake in Watson, Allegan, Michigan of Jaundice coupled with Senility on March 4, 1907. She rests in Hicks Cemetery in Watson.
• Melissa Surviah Taylor was born May 3, 1833 in Fowler, St. Lawrence, New York. She married Eli Charles Spencer in Kalamazoo County, Michigan on June 24, 1855. Together they had three known children and she helped raise his older children from his previous marriage. They moved to Kansas where he passed away around 1877. She eventually moved with her son Allison to Delta County, Colorado where she passed away on April 27, 1919.
• Caroline E. Taylor was born in 1836, also in New York. In 1850, a sixteen year old Caroline was living with her newlywed sister Cynthia in Ontario, Wayne, New York. She married a soldier with the Michigan 1st Regiment of Mechanics and Engineers named William Bates May 1, 1861 in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. They had one daughter; Edith Bates. William died in 1863 in Tennessee. Caroline married James M. Flanagan of the same company and regiment as Bates on December 4, 1865 in Kalamazoo County. James and Caroline moved from Michigan to Kansas where she died sometime before 1902.
• Emaline Louisa Taylor was born February 21, 1842 in NY. She married Irish immigrant John Shaw in Kalamazoo on April 1, 1862. They settled in Texas Township, Kalamazoo, Michigan and had many children. She passed away there on June 1, 1921 of Dropsy and is buried in the Hope Cemetery in Texas Corners.
• Mary Taylor was born November 3, 1845 in NY. She married Charles Campbell in Kalamazoo on May 9, 1863. They lived in Cooper, Kalamazoo, MI with her father Luther in 1870, at that time their family also included their 10 month old son, Charles Jr. and Adeline Fuller and her husband farmhand Jonathan Fuller. Mary died of dropsy of the heart August 30, 1873 and was buried in the West Cooper Cemetery. Campbell then went on to marry Adeline Fuller, who was by then 21 and had been divorced from Jonathan prior to 1872. In 1880, Luther Taylor was still living with the Campbell family, his grandson was by then 11 years old.

Quick Brick Wall Update: Levi Decker’s Parentage

Levi and Cynthia Decker are my 4x great grandparents on my maternal grandmother’s side of the family. According to a family bible (not in my possession) they were married on July 1, 1847 in Puttneyville, Wayne, NY.

Based on their graves located in the Hicks Cemetery, Watson, Allegan, Michigan I knew that Levi was born on February 22, 1818 and died August 27, 1891. Cynthia was born May 6, 1831 and passed away on March 4, 1907.

On the 1850 Census the couple was living in Ontario, Wayne, New York along with a sixteen year old named Caroline Taylor,her closeness in age to Cynthia makes me think that they could be sisters. The couple’s first child, Mary, would be born in October of that year.

By 1860, the family had relocated to Watson, Allegan, Michigan and had grown to include Mary, Francis, Levi Luther (my 3x great grandfather and the first to be born in Michigan), and George. Caroline Taylor is no longer listed as living with the family. The Decker family operated an 80 acre farm on Big Lake in Watson, and grew to include five more children by 1873.

Doing various Google searches on Levi, I found an article ordering all the children of Wilhelmus Decker to see the county judge on March 20, 1854 at 10 o’clock to prove their age and claim their inheritance.

This notice indefinitely ties Levi Decker of Watson, Allegany (Allegan), Michigan to to the late Wilhelmus Decker formerly of Ontario, Wayne, New York – where the couple lived while still newlyweds.

An interesting note is that George W. Cowles of Gallen, Wayne, NY, “special guardian of Nancy Decker”, was a republican member of the New York Congress from March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1871 and wrote a book on the history of Wayne County, New York. Why he was the “special guardian” of Nancy I do not know… yet!