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.

Rankin Moore: Not the Mystery we Thought

Rankie Moore with wife Bertha Daniels Moore, Harlan KY. Photo uploaded to Facebook by Linda Murr-Barnes.

My 2x Great Grandfather Rankin Moore has always been shrouded in mystery. There were stories that he took his new bride’s late first husband’s name, that no one raised him, that his mother abandoned him in a hog pen because he was illegitimate. These are the stories we grew up with. But no one knew the truth, or how to find it.

When I began looking at my ancestry, I nagged my Mamau incessantly about her grandfather’s history. She told me all that she knew: He had a brother named Albert Powell who lived in Cincinnati and his mother’s name was Nancy Jane Jackson – she was blind and her family was from Pineville (in Bell County, KY). She also said that no one knew who his father was.

On May 8, 1919 in Harlan County, 25 year old Bertha Daniels Moore married my great-great grandfather. An 18 year old by a familiar name, Rank Moore, a miner and farmer. This Rank claimed on the marriage record to be the son of Nancy Jane Jackson and Rank Moore, Sr. Family lore has it that the ever stubborn Bertha refused to give up her surname, instead making her new husband take the name Moore.

For years, we assumed that Rankie made up a name on his wedding day to assume his wife’s surname. I just figured that that branch would never be filled out. But recently, while trying to find articles on the family in Kentucky I stumbled upon something fantastic from The Corbin Times Tribune on January 2, 1969…

A funeral notice for a man I’ve never heard of, Isadore Moore. The word “half brother” next to Rankin Moore sparked my interest, although I assumed that it was just another dead end. Knowing better than to turn down a lead, I looked up Isadore on the 1930 Census and found he was living in Harlan County with his mother, Ellen Moore. In 1920, he was going by his middle name Washington and lived with his widowed mother Ellen and siblings in Upper Martin’s Fork, Harlan County. In 1910, his father was still living. His name was Rankin Moore. At first, my heart sank a little when I saw that Ellen and Rankin had an 11 year old daughter, but viewing the record I saw that they had only been married 9 years.

Locating Rankin Senior on the 1900 Census in Upper Martins Fork I found that at age 36, he was a widower who could read but could not write. He married Ellen Lawson in November 1901, mere days after Rankin Jr. would have been born on October 25, 1901.

A granddaughter of Rankie’s said that she did recall her father telling her about his uncle Tom Moore, so it seems to corroborate with the funeral  notice. Because I was still very shy of the idea that the bit about Rankin the half brother wasn’t a mistake I was very excited to see Mrs. Sarah Katherine Moore Walton‘s which also stated that she had a living half-brother named Rankin Moore.

So why did we not know where he came from when his half-siblings (possibly even his father) claimed him? We might never know. What I, and the rest of our family, know and have known all along is that no matter where he came from he was widely regarded as kind and gentle. He wore a suit and could often be found lingering outside the Harlan County Court House even in the summertime.

Relations we Didn’t Know We Had: A Murder Victim (& The Murderer)

Mary Eichler Nightingale was the daughter of Asenath and Dean Eichler (my 5x great grandparents). On March 5, 1913 she was shot by her son-in-law Joseph Byron Hatfield in Gobleville, Van Buren, Michigan.

Hatfield and Florence A. Nightingale, Mary’s daughter, were married on October 21, 1909 in Bloomingdale, Van Buren, Michigan. On August 2, 1910 she birthed him a son in Otsego, Allegan, Michigan they named him Lawrence Jay Hatfield. On the 1910 Census, Florence is living with her parents and listed as single although she had been married to Hatfield for 10 months and was 6 months pregnant with Lawrence. Hatfield also had a record for petty crimes.

Apparently, Florence repeatedly refused to live with Hatfield and chose to stay with her parents, claiming that her husband had been extremely cruel with her a number of times. He had tried several times to get her to live with him as man and wife again, even attempting to have law enforcement help him but the motion was denied.

On March 5, 1913, Hatfield came to the home of his mother and father in-law to ask his wife to come home with him, but she refused. He then wept over his son, kissing him and left the residence. From there, he went to Kalamazoo where he purchased a revolver and took a cab back to Gobleville.

At about 8:30 that evening he knocked on the door at the Nightingale home. Mary Nightingale answered, he asked if he could speak to his wife and she refused. Then he shot point-blank her in the neck, severing her spinal cord. Afterwards, he turned the gun on himself.

Mary didn’t die right then, she lingered paralyzed and with the bullet in her body, but able to give statements to the sheriff about the incident. Hatfield also lived, and was tried for assault with intent to murder which he was sent to serve a life sentence at the Northern Michigan State Prison in Marquette on April 18, 1913.

On May 21, 1913, 45 year old Mary Nightingale passed away from the injuries she sustained two and a half months earlier at the hand of Hatfield. Hatfield himself died ending his imprisonment on January 6, 1914 when he dropped dead while working in the box shop at 11:30am. A blood vessel in his brain had ruptured, stemming from his self inflicted gunshot wound. He was 25. After his death, Florence remarried. She had four more children and died in 1951 at 59.

Hatfield stated to reporters at the Kalamazoo Gazette that his mother-in-law had tried to persuade Florence to leave him ever since their marriage. He said if it had not been for her, he and Florence would have lived happily. Together. One has to wonder what would have become of Florence and little Lawrence if Mrs. Nightingale had permitted him to see them.

BONUS RELATION: Turns out I am also related to the murderer. His mother, Mary Eliza Reames Hatfield (1860-1944) was the daughter of Silas Zane Reames & Mary “Polly” Phillips. Her older sister was Melvina/Lovina Jane Reames Mckeeby who had a daughter, Minerva Mckeeby (b.1869) who married Platt Eichler (my 4x great grandparents). Platt is the son of Asenath and Roy Dean Eichler, making him Mary Nightingale’s brother.

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:

Asenath & Dean Eichler

Dean Eichler, my 5x great grandfather, was born in February 1825 in Chenango County, New York to John Eichler and Ruth Warner. Asenath Elvina Nostrant, was born in August around 1825-28 in Onondaga County, New York to James Nostrant and Laine VanPetten. The two were married in about 1847-1850 in Onondaga County, NY.

In 1850, the Eichlers are living in Lafayette, Onondaga, New York with their daughter, 2 year old Ellen Eichler.

Between 1854 and 1856, the family moved to Michigan. In 1860 Dean, Asenath, Ellen, Rosette, William, Sarah, Ruth, and Platt (my 4x ggfather) were living in to Pokagon, Cass County, Michigan where Dean farmed. Asenath’s maternal uncle Arent “Aaron” Van Patten died in Millgrove (in Valley Twp.), Allegan, Michigan in 1857.

In 1870, the family was living in Keeler, Van Buren, Michigan and now included Matilda, Ida, George, and Mary. Dean was still farming and his son William helped on the farm.

In 1873-74 the family moved from Keeler to Lee, Allegan County. Youngest child Lana was born there, their second youngest David was born in Keeler. Dean was still farming and was ill on the day the enumerator came in 1880, but I can’t make out what it says specifically. Widowed daughter Rosette Eichler Houghton and her two children were living in the household as well. Rosette remarried later that year to a widower named Silas Randall of Pine Grove, Van Buren, MI.

In 1900 the couple was living with their daughter Mary J. Eichler Nightingale and her family in Hamilton, Van Buren, Michigan. In 1910, Dean and Asenath are living in Marcellus, Cass, Michigan with their daughter Ida Eichler Knoll and her family. 

Dean died in about 1911 (I haven’t located his death certificate on Seeking Michigan yet). Asenath died August 12, 1919 in Benton Harbor, Berrien, Michigan, according to her death certificate she was buried in the Grand Junction Cemetery.

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.