Irad Goodsell and Permelia A. Ingram Linton Goodsell

Irad Goodsell was born on a sweltering June day in 1820. (I’m making that up. How do I know what the day was like? He could’ve been born in the middle of the night for all I know!) What I do know is that it was a Saturday–June 3, 1820–when Irad’s mother, Louisa Garlick Goodsell, brought her little boy into this world. Irad’s father, David, was a farmer and the family lived in Portage County, Ohio, near Nelson Township. Irad was the youngest of seven children.

When Irad was 24 years old, he married Lydia Brown, who was three years his senior. The couple were married on August 28, 1844 in Portage County. They had three children–David, Dennis, and Evander.

When the census taker came around in 1860, they found the Goodsell family living and working right where we’d left them, near Nelson Township. Irad was farming, and they had a few extra people living with them. Louisa, Irad’s widowed 78-year-old mother, was in the household, as was his brother Samuel. Another man, 25-year-old Henry Graham, was also living with the Goodsells. Both Samuel and Henry were also farming. Henry could have been a hired hand, or maybe simply a boarder.

Lydia passed away on July 28, 1864, leaving Irad a widower at the age of 44. The couple’s sons were 19, 14, and 12 when their mother died.

On Wednesday, September 14, 1864, I found a mention of Irad in the Western Reserve Chronicle, from Warren, Ohio:

‘ASSAULT–On the 16th ult, some young men from Warren visited the ledges in Nelson and were well provided with “liquid comforts.” Having imbibed the proper quantity of “fighting ardent,” they set upon Geo. Bruce, of Parkman, who happened to pass their quarters, and knocked him from his sulky under is horse’s heels. The horse kicked him and the rowdies pounded him. Irad Goodsell undertook to go to the assistance of Bruce, but was repulsed and driven back. The assaulting party again pursued Bruce, and coming up to him, again pounded him. Constable E.A. Stockwell, accompanied by H.L. Bancroft and L.O. Mills, went to Warren on the 17th, to arrest the party engaged in the fray. Officer Stockwell was severely handled by the rogues, but succeeded in arresting them. They were brough back to Nelson, accompanied by Attorney Forrist, and settled the matter by paying Bruce and Stockwell $25 each.–Portage Co. Democrat.‘

Even though Irad wasn’t successful, I’m glad to see he tried to help the man! The ‘ledges’ the article mentions is Nelson Ledges Quarry and it looks beautiful!

Two years later, Irad married for the second time. His bride was Permelia A. Ingram Linton, a widow herself.

Now, Permelia was born about 1937 or 38, also in Ohio. I have not been able to determine with any certainty who her parents were, though there were a lot of Ingrams in Ohio at the time.

Permelia’s first husband was a man named Joshia Linton. The couple was married about 1858 in Ohio, and had one daughter–Anna, born on January 3, 1860 in Port Clinton, Ottawa County, Ohio.

By July of 1860, when the census takers found the Linton family, they were living in New Rochester, Wood County, Ohio, where Josiah was working as a blacksmith. This census shows both Josiah and Permelia as having been born in Ohio. (Of course, that information is only as good as the person who jotted it down!)

What we know about this time in history is that in April, the first shots of the Civil War were fired. Permelia’s Josiah didn’t waste any time. He enlisted on April 16th, 1861 in the Ohio Volunteer Infantry, fighting on the Union side. I don’t know all the particulars, but I believe he was mustered in and out of several companies. This was pretty common, as many times the soldiers served three months stints. Records show he worked as a farrier while serving. Josiah mustered in once again to the 6th Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company F, on October 28, 1863. The next record I find is when he died on January 28, 1864 from pneumonia in the U.S. General Army Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio. Josiah was 33 years old.

The Civil War is still raging and now Permelia is a widow with a four-year-old daughter. In April of that same year, she applied for a widow’s pension, but for whatever crazy reason, was denied. As I sit her typing that these 160 years later, I’m angry for her and little Anna. How dare they deny a paltry pension to the widow of a man who fought for our country. How dare they!

With the death of Irad’s Lydia and Permelia’s Josiah, we see the two coming together to blend their families two years later. On March 5, 1866, Irad and Permelia were married in Portage County, Ohio. Irad’s second son, 16-year-old Dennis, signed as the witness swearing both parties were old enough to marry and neither had a living spouse.

The Western Reserve Chronicle printed a Partnership Notice in the Oct. 3, 1866 edition of the newspaper. It states that four men are forming a partnership to manufacture and sell boots and shoes, developing an invention started by L.M. Brett for putting batting into irregular forms and felting them. The four men were J.P. Tuttle, Irad Goodsell, John L. Greer, and M.L. Brett. It stated the partnership would continue for three years and would be called Tuttle, Greer, and Company.

By January 9, 1867, just a few months later, the men must have had a falling out, because the paper now printed a Dissolution of Partnership. Two of the men had dropped out and the business would now be called Tuttle and Goodsell and carried on by J.P. Tuttle and Irad. I wish I knew what kind of shoes they were making!

In 1870, the census taker came around again. Irad and Permelia were living near Nelson Township. Irad was still farming and Permelia keeping house. Twin girls, Ada May and Ida June, had been born t the couple. Permelia’s daughter, Anna, is now 10. I honestly don’t know who the Joseph is who is living with the family, unless he is one of Irad and Lydia’s boys who goes by his middle name. That is entirely possible. Irad’s brother, Samuel, is also still living with the family.

Fast forward ten years to June 17th, 1880 and the census taker is knocking on the door again. The Goodsells are still in the same spot. Irad is still listed as a farmer, though it is noted he is ill will paralysis, at least on the day the numerator was visiting. The twins, Ida and Ada, are attending school, and Anna is now 19 and working as a milliner, (a hat maker). A young man named Eli Overly is living with the family and working for them as a hired hand.

On January 6, 1892, The Democratic Press out of Ravenna, Ohio printed some sad news for the Goodsell family:

‘Nov. 10th, Mrs. Ada Hurd, wife of Frank Hurd and twin daughter of Irad Goodsell, residing with her father, died, aged 24 years. The other daughter, Mrs. Ida Hescock, with her husband, residing on the Pacific coast, has just arrived from the far off Washington State, to gladden the heart of her aged father. May she long remain as his comfort and consoler. Probably but few men are as unconsolable as the bereaved husband over the death of his young bride, as is Mr. Frank Hurd.’

‘Of mirrored smiles and golden curls, and bridal wreaths with blossoms crushed, and hopes, that lived but one short day, then died of grief-in sorrow hushed.’

I’m a little confused by this, because it doesn’t mention Permelia, the girls’ mother, at all. Was she not living with Irad for some reason at this time? She died three years AFTER her daughter, so I’m not sure what was going on there.

Permelia passed away on November 26, 1895 at the age of 57 or 58. Irad was a widower for the second time. Permelia is buried in the Prentiss Cemetery in Nelson Township, Ohio – Plot #R07 606

On June 6th, 1900 here comes those pesky census takers again. Irad is now 80 but still farming his place. Daughter Ida has married a man named Ward Hescock and the couple is living with her father while Ward is farming with his father-in-law. The Hescock’s have three little girls–Anna May, Ada Gertrude, and Mildred E. Two nineteen-year-old women, Mabell Hopkins and Winfild Hankin are working for the family as servants.

A year later, on February 14th, 1901, Irad passes away 80 years of age. Interestingly enough, he has two gravestones very far apart. One is in Nelson Township, Ohio and the other is in Wallowa, Oregon. I think I have a solution to the mystery.

Here is the headstone for in Ohio where it appears Irad is buried with his first wife, Lydia.

Here is the headstone in the Wallowa Cemetery in Oregon, where Irad is buried next to his great-grandson, Willard Sannar. I took this picture and the next one myself.

Here’s my theory – I believe when Lydia passed away, Irad had his name engraved on the headstone as well, fully intent on being buried next to her. In the meantime, life moved on, her remarried, had more children, and ended up, very late in his live, in Oregon living with his daughter. After he passed, his sons from his first marriage had the dates of his birth and death engraved on the original headstone. Again, this is just my theory and I’m not about to dig up two graves to find out which one he is really resting under!

Irad and Permelia are my 3x great-grandparents.

John Adam Drumheller and Susannah J. Hestland Drumheller

John Adam Drumheller was a tanner by trade. He worked with animal pelts to turn them into leather in order to provide them to other craftsmen who would then make saddles, shoes, and many other things out of the tanned hides.

When John was born on May 27th, 1804, Thomas Jefferson was president of the United States. John was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, one of the ten children of Jacob F. Drumheller and Susan “Sally” (Davis) Drumheller. John’s great-grandparents had immigrated to the US from Germany in 1754.

When John was twenty-two, he married seventeen-year-old Susanna Hestland. The young couple tied the knot on December 17th, 1826 in Albermarle County, Virginia.

Now, Susanna is a bit of a mystery. She was born about 1809 in Amherst, Virginia, and her surname is recorded on documents several different ways – Hestland, Hiestand, Hesland. I haven’t been able to determine with any amount of certainty who her parents were. There is a possibility I looked at that are linked to her on the Family Search website, but zero records to actually tie them together, so for now, my own records show that her parents are unknown.

John and Susanna spent their entire married lives in Amherst County, Virginia. They were the parents of six children: John Jacob, born 1830; Margaret B., born 1833; Jeannette Malone, born 1836; Abraham Alexander, born 1837; Mary “Molly” L., born 1844; and Frances, born 1850.

Speaking of 1850, that is the first year I find them on the federal census. The census taker came around on December 9th of that year and recorded the Drumheller family living in Amherst County. John was 46, working as a tanner, and Susannah was 41 and keeping house. Their oldest son, Jacob, was 20 and worked as a shoemaker, as did a 20-year-old man by the name of George L. Snead, who lived with the family. He was possibly a boarder.

In the April 23rd, 1853 edition of the Lynchburg Daily Virginian newspaper out of Lynchburg, Virginia, John is listed as having been appointed to the district Vigilance Committee for the Whig party. The Whig Party was a conservative political party formed by Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and a few other men. It pretty much disintegrated in 1854, so unless John had been involved before that newspaper mention, he didn’t have much time as a committee member.

The census takers stopped by the Drumheller house again on June 12th, 1860. John is still tanning hides but has now added currier, (horseshoer) to his occupation. Son Alex, at 21, is still at home and working as a farmer. Daughter Margaret is 27 and working as a seamstress. Jeannette is 24, and “at home” which I’ve recently discovered was the term used on censuses for unmarried, unemployed women. Daughter Mary is 16, and young Frances is nowhere to be found, making me think she may have passed away before 1860. A 50-year-old man from Saxony, Germany is living with the family and working as a farmer.

In April of 1861, the Civil War broke out. From records, we know that both of John and Susannah’s sons fought for the confederacy. Their oldest son, Jacob, was killed in May of 1862 during the Battle of Williamsburg, and son Alex was wounded in the same battle.

The 1870 census finds the Drumhellers still in Amherst County. John is now 66 and Susannah 61. Wounded soldier Alex is 32, farming, and living with his parents. John is still working as a tanner, and a 24-year-old man named Zachariah Larahorn in living with them and working at the tannery.

John passed away at the age of 70 on June 16, 1873. The registration of his death notes the cause as jaundice.

After John’s death, the next time I find mention of Susannah is in the record of son Alex’s marriage. In 1877, Alex married a young woman named Ellen Peters and the couple settled Pedlar, still in Amherst County, and now I believe a part of Lynchburg.

With the 1880 census, Susannah is now living with Alex and Ellen, and their growing family. Alex is farming, Ellen keeping house, and they now have two young children – Lilia and James. Ellen’s sister Susan is also living with the family. A thirteen-year-old girl, Marie Hicks, is listed as a mulatto and is living with the Drumheller family and working as their cook. 13! Oh, Marie. I need to know your story.

As I mentioned earlier, Susannah is a bit of a mystery. Not only are her parents elusive, but I haven’t been able to find any information about her death. Some people on Family Search and Ancestry have it listed as 1882, but again, I haven’t been able to verify that. When I do, I’ll update this post.

Since John and Susannah’s son Alex is mentioned often here, and she spent her last years living with him and his family, I thought I’d share the following picture of him.

Alexander lived to be 91. A woman named Tonya Frederick shared this picture to Family Search. So, Abraham Alexander Drumheller was a confederate civil war veteran. He enlisted with the 19th Virginia Infantry on Apr. 15, 1861, and, as mentioned earlier, was wounded in the Battle of Williamsburg where his older brother, Jacob, was killed. He died at age 91 of pneumonia in his home at 605 Cabell Street in Lynchburg, Virginia. He is buried in the Spring Hill Cemetery in Lynchburg.

(John and Susannah are my husband Riff’s 3rd great-grandparents. Alexander is his 2x great-uncle.)

William Wilkins Newton and Nancy Haley Newton

War Eagle Mill – War Eagle, Arkansas – Photo by Jeff Weese/Flickr

Wilkins and Nancy Newton raised their family of nine children in Madison County, Arkansas near War Eagle.

In my research, I haven’t been able to find out a whole lot about either Wilkins or Nancy but I’ll keep looking! Maybe a trip to Arkansas and Tennessee is in order.

What I do know is that Wilkins was born about 1810 in Pulaski, Giles County, Tennessee to John and Elizabeth (Harris) Newton. His full name was William Wilkins Newton and I believe he was the oldest of seven. I believe the Newton family remained in Tennessee for the entirety of Wilkins’ childhood.

Nancy Haley was also born in Tennessee, according to census records. Her birthdate was September 8, 1814, but I have not been able to determine with any certainty who her parents were.

Regardless, Wilkins and Nancy married about 1834 in Tennessee when Wilkins was about 24 and Nancy 20. From everything I can find, Wilkins was a farmer and Nancy worked right along beside him.

The couple’s first three children were born in Tennessee – George Grandason Newton, 1840; William James Newton, 1842; and Amanda D. Newton, 1844. By the time their next daughter, my 2nd great-grandmother, Nancy Jane Newton, was born in 1845, the family was living in Mississippi. Mary Catherine Newton, 1846, and John W. Newton, 1848, were also born in Mississippi.

When the federal census takers came around in 1850, they found our Newton family living near War Eagle Township, Madison County, Arkansas. Wilkins was listed as a farmer. The following year, 1851, little Mary M. Newton joined the family, followed by Tennessee Addina Newton in 1854, and finally, Pulaski A. Newton in 1855. (Though I have a copy of Pulaski’s obituary that states he was born in Missouri.) Nine kids in all! I love that they named one of their daughters Tennessee. Was Nancy and Wilkins missing home?

The 1860 census finds them still in Madison County, Arkansas, (which makes Pulaski’s obituary’s claim that he was born in Missouri seem a little strange). Wilkins is 49, Nancy 46, and they are both farming. Their oldest son, George, is working as a mail carrier and their residence is listed as California Township. They do not own their own land.

In 1861, the Civil War began to rage around them. From the little bit of research I did, it seems that Madison County was divided, with many citizens taking the side of the confederacy but others joining the union side. The county was razed by bushwhackers who stole everything they could get their hands on, burnt down homes and farms, and even killed people. It must have been an incredibly scary time. From what I read, the war left so much devastation and poverty in Madison County that it took years to recover.

For our Newton family, the two oldest boys, George and William “Billy,” fought for the confederacy. William James Newton was killed in battle near Kingston, Arkansas in January of 1865. I believe he died in the Battle of Dardanelle, but again, not one-hundred percent sure on that, though the dates match up.

It’s been a struggle to find records, some of which is caused by the how badly entire towns were razed during the civil war. Scads of records were lost. It looks as if our Wilkins died during the thick of all that mess – either 1864 or 1865. I believe he is buried in Rush Cemetery in Berryville, Carroll County, Arkansas.

The war has come to an end. Nancy has been left a widow at about the age of 50. She’s lost one son to the war and still has young children at home. We find her in 1870 living in Prairie Township, Carroll County, Arkansas with son George and his family. Six of her kids, ranging in age from 25 to 15, are living there as well. George is farming, married to a woman named Francis, and has two young children of his own.

At the age of 62, Nancy passed away on August 20th, 1878. She is buried in the Rush Cemetery in Berryville, Arkansas.

(Wilkins and Nancy are my 3rd great-grandparents.)

William Henry Fullerton and Mary Hall (Ford) Fullerton

The 38th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry portrayed on dress parade at Camp Belger near Baltimore, Maryland in the fall of 1862. By E. Sachse & Co., lithographer and printer (Baltimore, 19th Century) – Lithograph, Public Domain

William Henry Fullerton was 24 years old when he enlisted with the Union Army to fight the Civil War on August 6th, 1862 in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts. He was mustered in to Captain Allen’s 38th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry on August 20th and received $13 advance pay for his troubles.

The third child of Harvey and Mary (Gurney) Fullerton, William was born on January 11, 1838, in Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. He joined two older sisters, Mary E. and Almira J. A younger sister, Calista W., and a younger brother, Noah A., joined the family later.

During the 1850 United States Federal Census, William was 12 and his father was listed as a shoemaker. The family rented their home in East Bridgewater. By the time Will was 17, he was working alongside his father as a shoemaker, and occupation he would stick with for much of his life.

On the 8th of November 1859, William married a young woman named Mary Hall Ford.

Mary was born in 1839 in Pembroke, Plymouth, Massachusetts to Charles T. and Deborah H. Ford. She was the oldest of six children–Hannah, Charles F., Angelia T., Samuel D., and Deborah F. Ford. Mary’s father worked as a stonecutter, and the census shows several other Ford families living in the same neighborhood, so it’s likely Mary grew up with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins living nearby.

Will was 21 and Mary was 20 when the couple wed. On the marriage record, Will was listed as a bootmaker from Abington, and Mary was from Pembroke. The couple was married in East Bridgewater and made their home in Abington. All three towns–Abington, East Bridgewater, and Pembroke–are fairly close to each other.

The following year, William and Mary welcomed their first, and only, child. William Martin Fullerton was born on September 28, 1860, in East Bridgewater.

Two years forward finds us back with William as he enlists to fight in the Civil War. The company spent its first two months in Baltimore before being sent to Louisiana. The area, not far from New Orleans, was marshy, full of swamps and the diseases that go along with camping in the swamp. The first big battle that the company fought was the Battle of Fort Bisland, however William did not participate as he was hospitalized in New Orleans two days before the battle broke out. This was the first of many times William spent in various hospitals during his service. For all of the hospital stays, his military records are marked “sick”, as opposed to injured. Malaria was rampant in the swamps and my best guess is that is what William suffered with.

From the records I could find, I believe it is likely William fought beside his fellow soldiers in the Red River Campaign in the spring of 1864, which was a failure for the Union troops. By July of 1864, William was once again marked “Absent” and hospitalized for the duration of his service. At some point, he was sent north to recuperate in a hospital in Massachusetts. William was mustered out of service on June 30, 1865, in Savannah, Georgia.

Five years later, in June of 1870, the census takers find William, age 32, back in Abington with Mary and their son. He’s once again working as a shoemaker. The family owns their own home, which is valued at $2,000.

By 1900, William and Mary had relocated to New Haven, Connecticut, where they rented a home and William worked as a clerk in a grocery store. The 1910 census finds them in the same place. William is 72 now and still working at the grocery. The Fullerton couple have three of their son’s children living with them–Ione, 12, Frank, 8, and Muriel, 7.

In 1920, at age 82, William is still working as a grocer while Mary tends to the house. The grandchildren have moved on.

On July 29, 1922, William passes away at the age of 84. It’s not clear if he and Mary were still living in Connecticut, but William is buried back in the area of his birth, in the Colebrook Cemetery in Whitman, Plymouth County, Massachusetts.

Colebrook Cemetery – Whitman, MA – Lot 624, Burial #2799

Eight years after William passed, the census takers arrived again, finding Mary, at the age of 90, living back in Pembroke with her youngest sister, Deborah and Deborah’s husband, Harris Ramsdell.

Mary lived for another eight years, passing away at the ripe old age of 98 on March 2, 1938. From The Boston Globe – Boston, Massachusetts, dated 3 Mar 1938:

MRS. MARY FULLERTON – PEMBROKE, March 2 – Mrs. Mary Hall Fullerton, 98, oldest woman resident of this town, died this morning at the home of her nephew, Alfred Anderson. Until two years ago she had been unusually active and vigorous, keeping house for her brother-in-law, Harris Ramsdell, 91. She was the widow of William Fullerton and had spent her whole life in her native town of Pembroke. She leaves one son, William Fullerton, Short Beach, Connecticut.

The obituary was mistaken about Mary having spent her whole life in the area, since the couple had lived in Connecticut for about 20 years, but it was still a treasure to find!

When Mary passed away 16 years later, she was buried beside her husband. She also has a flat stone similar to William’s at the base of their standing stone, but it’s degraded enough you can barely see the initials.

(William and Mary are Riff’s 2x great-grandparents)

Emily Permelia Sheffield Kenison

Emily, in black, at her Ashland, Kansas home with daughter Lizzie Lockhart and grandchildren. David Randall originally shared this photo to ancestry.com .

John Quincy Adams was president of the United States when Emily Permelia Sheffield was born on June 20, 1826 in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. I’ve not been able to find definitive records of who Emily’s parents were, though I believe her father was a man named John Sheffield, and her mother, Anna Minor. The 1880 census indicates both Emily’s mother and father were born in New York state. If my information is correct, then Emily was the youngest of ten children.

The first record I find where I know for sure, yes–this is our Emily, is a marriage record from June 20, 1853 when Emily married David Kenison in Bowens Prairie, Jones County, Iowa. Emily was twenty-seven years old and David was a fifty-one-year-old widower with four children.

The 1860 federal census found Emily and David living in the area of Scotch Grove, Iowa where David is farming. Since their marriage, they have added three children to their family – John A. Kenison, Mary Ann Kenison, and Abram Martin Kenison. Over the next few years, Emily would give birth to three more children–Samuel Peter Kenison, Silas David Kenison, and Elizabeth “Lizzie” Mariah Kenison–six children total.

For the 1870 and 1880 censuses, the Kenison family remains in Scotch Grove while the children grow up and David continues to farm their land.

When Emily was fifty-six, she became a widow. David passed away from severe gastritis on April 7, 1883.

In 1885, the state of Iowa took a census and found Emily still in Scotch Grove, with son Silas farming her land. Her address was listed on the census as SE SE.

Some historians mention that David had purchased land in Kansas, but died before he and Emily were able to make the move. Emily must have been a woman of resolve, because by the 1900 census, at the age of 73, she had moved to Center Township, City of Ashland, Clark County, Kansas where she owned her own home on 6th Avenue. (That home is shown in the photo at the top of this page.)

In the Thursday, Nov. 24, 1910 issue of the Ashland Clipper, we find a notice of Emily’s youngest daughter visiting:

Mrs. Carl Lockhart and two children came in last Thursday from their home in Higgins, Texas. Mrs. Lockhart is a daughter to Mrs. Emily Kenison.

Emily lived in Ashland until her death on December 12, 1911 at the age of eighty-five. Her cause of death was listed as “Senility.”

From The Leader-Tribune (Englewood, Kansas), dated Thursday, Dec. 14, 1911:

Mrs. Emily P. Kenison, an early settler of this county, died at her home in this city Tuesday morning about one o’clock, at the advanced age of 85 years. She was born in Ohio in June, 1826, and has lived alone here for several years. Her illness was of short duration and she peacefully passed away. Funeral was held from the Christian Church, Thursday.

Emily Permelia Sheffield Kenison is buried in the south part of lot 143 in St. Joseph’s and Highland Cemetery in Ashland, Clark County, Kansas.

A year before her death, Emily created a handwritten will:

Know all men by these presents that I, Emily P. Kenison of Ashland, Clark County, Kansas being of sound and disposing mind and memory and in my eighty-fifth year of age, do make and declare this my last will and Testament hereby revoking all former wills by me made on this 13th day of December A.D. 1910.

First, I will and desire that all my just debts and funeral expenses be paid and out of the funds remaining. I direct that my Executor erect a suitable stone at the head of my grave.

Second: I give, devise and bequeath my beloved son, John A. Kennison, the sum of five ($5.00) dollars.

Third: I give, devise and bequeath my beloved daughter, Mary A. Kennison, the sum of five ($5.00) dollars.

Fourth: I give, devise and bequeath to my beloved son Abram M. Kennison, the sum of five ($5.00) dollars.

Fifth: I give, devise and bequeath to my beloved son Samuel P. Kennison, the sum of five ($5.00) dollars.

Sixth: I give, devise and bequeath to my beloved son Silas D. Kennison, the sum of five ($5.00) dollars.

Seventh: I give, devise and bequeath to my beloved daughter, Elizabeth M. Lockhart, all the rest and residue of my property both real and personal that I may own or devised at my death wheresoever found, to have and to hold as her own to be disposed of as she may choose.

Eighth: I constitute, appoint, and declare my daughter, Elizabeth M. Lockhart, Executrix of this my last will and Testament and that she have power to collect all debts due my estate and transact all business pertaining to my estate and that, she have the power to sell and dispose of all my property and convey title on such Executrix to all my real and personal property.

In Testimony of I hereunto have set my hand and seal this thirteenth day of December A.D. 1910 at Ashland, Clark County, State of Kansas and do hereby acknowledge this to be my Last Will and Testament and hereby revoking all former wills made by me.

Signed, Emily P. Kenison Witnessed by Lettie M. Snyder and Effie P. Smith

(Note: In 1910, $5 was equivalent to approximately $155 in 2023.)

Emily was my 3rd great-grandmother.

David Kenison – 1802 to 1883

David Kenison was born on April 21, 1802 in Shefford Township, Quebec, Canada. He was the fourth born child of Jacob and Mary (Berry) Kenison, and had a total of ten siblings. I haven’t been able to verify much information about his early life, but from several accounts it seems that David, along with a couple of his brothers, was a shipbuilder as an adult.

At the age of twenty-one, David married Mary “Polly” Allard on October 27, 1823 at St. John’s Anglican Church in West Shefford, Quebec. The couple had four children–Jonathan, Henry, Sarah Jane, and Miriam Roxanna–all born in Canada. Some historians say the family lived in Nova Scotia for a short time, but there are no solid records of the family’s time there.

The 1842 Lower Canada Census finds the Kenison family still in Shefford where it lists David as a yeoman. A yeoman was a person who owned and cultivated land, so David was a farmer at this point. He was forty years old.

In the spring of 1849, David and Mary moved their family to the United States. They arrived in Chicago, Illinois via Montreal on June 22, 1849. The following spring, on March 1, 1850, David’s naturalization papers were recorded in Lee County, Illinois.

In August of that same year, 1850, the census takers came around and found the Kenison family living in Lancaster Township, Stephenson County, Illinois. David was farming, Mary keeping house, and all four children were with them. The two girls were attending school.

Sometime shortly after, David became a widow when Mary passed away. I wasn’t able to find her death date with any certainty, but most family historians agree she died in 1850.

David married again on June 20, 1853 in Bowens Prairie, Jones County, Iowa. His bride was Emily Permelia Sheffield. David was 51 and Emily was 27. The couple would have six children together–John A., Mary Ann, Abram Martin, Samuel Peter, Silas David, and Elizabeth “Lizzie” Mariah. David had a total of ten children, all told.

From History of Jones County, Iowa

In a history of Jones County, Iowa, I found a mention of David as having run a sawmill with one of his brothers about 1853.

An Iowa State Census was taken in 1856, and found the Kenison family living in the Scotch Grove area where David was still farming and owns the land he is farming and living on. The same for the 1860, 1870, and 1880 federal censuses. As the boys got older, they worked on the farm alongside their father.

David and Emily were respected members of the Presbyterian church.

On April 7, 1883, at the age of 81, David passed away from gastritis. A funeral service was held the following day at the church David attended and he was buried in the South Mineral Cemetery in Onslow, Jones County, Iowa.

(David is my 3rd great-grandfather.)

All For the Love of Milk

Harry and daughter Shirley, about 1925 (Harry’s father, Sam, is in the background.)

Little did Harry Kennison know the day he walked onto the Weaver farm in search of fresh milk, that his life was about to change. Harry was in the picturesque Wallowa Valley in Northeastern Oregon to build roads through this remote region. The road crew had been told that Lige Weaver had a herd of prize Jersey cows and his milk was the sweetest around. As it turned out, milk wasn’t the only sweet thing on the Weaver farm.

Harry Alvin Kennison had been born on February 28, 1903 in Cushing, Oklahoma as the second son of Samuel Peter Kennison and Sophia (Roddy) Kennison. His big brother, Billy, adored the new baby.

By early March of 1905, the Kenison family was living in Belleville, Kansas in Chautauqua County, but soon moved on to Larned in Pawnee county. A little sister, Ellen, was born in 1906 but both Harry’s baby sister and his mother died in July of 1907 from consumption. Little Harry was only four years old. What a sad time it was for the three Kennison men left on their own.

Not long after, Harry’s father packed up his young boys and moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Kennison’s lived in a boarding house while Harry’s dad went to work as a streetcar conductor. When Harry was seven, his dad remarried and Florence Ball, the woman who owned the boarding house they lived in, became his stepmother.

Harry and Billy – Probably 1910

Harry grew up in the midwest. His dad had become a civil engineer, building roads, and Harry followed in his footsteps and joined a road crew–which led him to the Weaver farm in Wallowa County, Oregon in search of milk. And that search for milk led him to the farmer’s oldest daughter, Edna Winifred Weaver. Harry became a regular to the farm. One day he popped the question and Edna answered, “yes.” The two married on October 28, 1921.

Edna and Harry – Shaniko, Oregon

From the picture above, it appears that Edna went on the road with Harry after they wed, at least until the babies came along. Their first child, my grandmother, was born on July 4th, 1923 in Wallowa. They named her Shirley Marcilee. The family lived in Wallowa Valley while Harry continued to build roads. Two more children followed–Harry, Jr. in 1926, and Laurena Winifred in 1930.

Harry began to have problems with his health. The doctors had told him that he needed to go to the desert to convalesce and regain his health. The Kennison’s weren’t wealthy and couldn’t afford to send him, so their friends and neighbors pulled together to raise the funds. It was the great depression and times were tough for everyone, but people donated what they could in the efforts to save Harry’s life. As family stories go, there was one well-to-do family, (I’m not naming names), who refused to donate to the fund raising, and my family has never forgotten that snub to this day.

Unfortunately, before enough funds were raised to send Harry to the sanitarium, he suffered a heart attack and died. The date was December 14, 1934 and Harry was only 31. In my research, I found a copy of his death certificate. Harry’s cause of death is listed as “chronic pulmonary nephritis”–code 131. I looked up the code and found that Harry had pulmonary and kidney failure caused by an autoimmune disease. The desert would not have saved him.

Harry is buried in the Wallowa Cemetery.

(Harry is my great-grandfather.)

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas from the Sannar Girls – 1969

Stacey, Susan, and Paula Sannar with their gifts – Christmas 1969 – Ketchikan, Alaska

Doctor L.J. Dallas (1812-1874) Poem by Shilo Niziolek

Doctor L.J. Dallas (1812-1874)

“May his memory by green.” – Obituary, Weekly Kansas Chief

~~

With what hands can a man

lift his children toward sky,

suture up a lacerated wound,

dance with his aging wife,

set a broken bone, pluck garden weeds,

pet the coarse fur of his goats,

throw feed to chickens,

tug bright orange carrots from

silt loam soil of Kansas earth?

~~

With what heart does a

teetotaler turn from drink,

build the state’s largest apiary,

pour time serving bees,

extracting their honey,

enveloped in a sea of buzzing,

spend days crouched low,

hunkered over hives,

studying culture of honey-makers?

~~

What sir, did you learn?

Is it here, in my blood?

Am I honey-suckle lined,

tender-hearted?

~~

Is it my lineage that pulls

me to the window,

draws me in to woods,

stoops my back

over dew green moss,

bends my knees in wonder?

~~

Poem by Shilo Niziolek, 4th great-granddaughter of Doctor L.J. Dallas

Published by Ghost City Press in I Am Not An Erosion–Poems Against Decay

Rev. William Lewis Bostwick and Susan Maria (Smith) Bostwick

Masonic Lodge in Decatur, Illinois

Father William Lewis Bostwick preached to the congregation of St. John’s Episcopal Church in the basement of the Masonic Lodge pictured above. He was the first rector of the parish. In 1857, he decided the parish needed a proper church for the growing congregation, so purchased a lot on North Water Street in Decatur and had a church built for $1500. You can read more about the history of the church on the St. John’s website.

William was born on December 20, 1830 in Hammondsport, Steuben County, New York, to Rev. William Warner Bostwick and Mary (Lewis) Bostwick. He was the older brother of two sisters–Mary Jane and Celeste Parmelee. William’s father was not only a reverend, but he is also credited with planting the first grape vines in the finger lakes region of New York and establishing the area as wine country.

In the early to mid-1840’s, the Bostwick family moved west to Illinois, where William’s father took a church in Joliet.

William was a student at Trinity college in Newtown, Connecticut from 1849 to 1851. From 1854 to 1855, he was assistant to the rector of Trinity Church, and assistant to the principal of the academy.

Back east, and back in time, a little girl named Susan Maria Smith was born on January 21, 1933 to Perry Smith and Susan (Gurley) Smith. Susan’s mother died shortly after she was born, leaving her an only child. The Smith family lived in Hartford, Connecticut where her father was a respected grocer and local politician.

Sometime along the way, Susan and William met. When Susan was 22 and William was 24, the couple married. The date was July 25, 1855. They married in New Haven, Connecticut. The following year, the first of the Bostwick’s eight children was born – Emma Susan, Mary Annie, Harriet Gurley, William Perry, Ellen True, Francis Russell, Matilda Amelia, and Susan Celeste.

In 1855, William was rector of Christ and Grace Churches in Trumball, Connecticut before moving on to St. John’s in Illinois.

The 1860 census finds the family living in Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois. William was an Episcopalian clergyman at St. Paul’s Church in the small town. The family consisted of William, Susan, three-year-old Emma, one-year-old Mary, and a servant girl named Mary Hoffman.

Sadness visited the Bostwick’s on March 15, 1864 when Emma, age seven, died. The family was now living in Hartford, Connecticut. Three years later in 1867, little Ellen, not quite two years old, died. I found a burial note stating that “this little child died very suddenly.” What a sad time. William was then the rector of Christ Church in Redding, Connecticut.

For the 1870 census, the Bostwick family had relocated to Wilton, Fairfield County, Connecticut. William was still preaching, this time at St. Matthew’s, and Susan “keeping house.” Five children, ages eleven to under a year, were living at home.

The next church William took charge of was Trinity Church in Northfield, Connecticut. He was rector there from 1871 to 1876. By 1876, his health was deteriorating, but he occasionally officiated as Assistant Minister, or preached in parishes who didn’t have a minister.

In 1880, they were in New Britain, Hartford County, Connecticut. William was fifty years old and still an Episcopalian clergyman, but now he was listed as having asthma that interfered with his duties. Susan was forty-seven, and five children, ages 18 to 4, were at home. Of those kids, son William, 16, was farming, and three of the children–Harriet, Francis, and Matilda–were all listed as disabled.

On March 13, 1895, at the age of 64, Rev. William Lewis Bostwick passed away. He was buried in Spring Grove Cemetery in Hartford, Connecticut. Susan was a widow at age 62.

The following is from the Decatur Daily Republican (Decatur, Illinois) dated Saturday, March 23, 1895:

The Hartford (Conn.) Courant, tells of the death of Rev. William Lewis Bostwick, who was the first rector of St. John’s Episcopal church, this city. He was here from 1855 to 1860, the early services being held in the basement of the old Masonic hall and in a hall over the Fenton store, until the society took possession of the then new church on North Water street.

The Courant says: The Rev. William Lewis Bostwick, who died at Stamford last Wednesday, was a graduate of Trinity College in the class of 1851. He studied theology at the Berkeley Divinity School and his first ministry was in Newtown. He was afterwards rector and missionary in Illinois, from which he returned to Connecticut in 1863, his last regular parochial work being in Northfield. For nearly ten years before his death he resided in Fair Haven, his bodily infirmity not allowing him to undertake regular clerical duty. He was much interested in the work of the church and labored faithfully as he had strength, and he also found time to make himself proficient as an artist. Mr. Bostwick was a brother-in-law of the F.D. Harriman of Windsor. The funeral services are to be held in Christ Church in this city this afternoon at 2:30 o’clock.

From some genealogical notes, it seems the Bostwick family lived on Quinnipiac Avenue in New Haven. In January of 1900, Susan quit claimed that property to her son, William Perry Bostwick.

Three years after William died, Susan lost a son. Francis (Frank) died in March of 1898 at the age of 31. On October 3rd, 1902, Susan also passed away. William and Susan are both buried in Section I of Spring Grove Cemetery in Hartford near their two small daughters, Emma and Ellen.

From The Daily Morning Journal and Courier (New Haven, Connecticut) dated Tuesday, October 7, 1902:

MRS. SUSAN BOSTWICK – Mrs. Susan Bostwick, widow of the late Rev. William Lewis Bostwick, died in New Haven Friday. She was the only child of Perry Smith, of Hartford, whose old-time residence still remains on Arch Street, being one of the notable homes in Hartford. The husband of Mrs. Bostwick, who was a clergyman of the Protestant Episcopal church, died six years ago. The surviving children of Mrs. Bostwick are Miss Anna Bostwick, of Short Beach: Mrs. Hallie Badger, wife of George Badger: William Perry Bostwick of Groton: Mrs. Matilda Foote, wife of Clifford Foote, of New Haven: and Miss Susie Fullerton, of Short Beach. Two children died in infancy, and Frank Bostwick died in New Haven after reaching maturity. The father of Mrs. Bostwick was one of Hartford’s wealthiest residents in his day. The remains of Mrs. Bostwick were taken to Hartford for burial yesterday afternoon. The interment was in Spring Grove cemetery. Rev. F.W. Harriman, of Grace Church in Windsor, who is a nephew of Mrs. Bostwick, conducted the committal services. Rev. George H. Phillips officiated at the services held at Short Beach Sunday afternoon.

(William and Susan are Riff’s 2nd great-grandparents.)