On June 4, 1834 in Brownstown, Indiana, David Ireland Reeve was born to Joseph Reeve and Sarah Ireland. He was the third child of ten born to the couple. Martha (who died in infancy) and Samuel were born before David. He was followed by Thomas who also died young. The family moved from Jackson County to Daviess County in the mid-1830s, where the remainder of his siblings were born…Louisa, Mary Elizabeth, Sarah, James, Lydia and Lucy. Lucy and James both died in infancy as well.
As a young man, David participated in farming with his father. About 1855, David married Harriet C. Lemon and they made their home in the Edwardsport area. David supported their family by building wagons and through farming. He later would add painter to his resume. He and Harriet raised a large family of eight children…Charles, Joseph (a prominent doctor in Vigo Township), Mary Ellen, Martha, Samuel, George, Robert, and Lillie.
At the age of fifty-four, David was afflicted with a carbuncle. It eventually led to blood poisoning and his death on November 30, 1888. He was buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Edwardsport.
David Ireland Reeve was my 4th great uncle on my dad’s side.
Nathaniel Bonnell III was born on June 3, 1756 in Passaic County, New Jersey to Captain Nathaniel Bonnell II and Elizabeth Allen. The younger Nathaniel had seven siblings…Abigail, Caleb, Phebe, Jane, Jonathan, Jacob and Elizabeth. After his mother died in 1774, his father remarried and five more children were added to the family…William (who died in infancy), Nancy, Chloe, William II, and Enoch.
Nathaniel was a young man when the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired and like many of his family, he took up arms on behalf of the Colonies. serving under Captain Abraham Lyons in the Continental Army. After the War, Nathaniel married Martha Crane in 1783. Together they had eight children…Philemon, Huldah, Johnathan C., Mary, Jane, Elizabeth, Sarah and Maline.
The Bonnell family was one of the founding families of New Jersey and were instrumental in the development and growth of the area. Nathaniel was a part of that as owner of the sawmill in New Providence. He lived to the age of fifty-seven, perishing on April 15, 1814. He is buried in New Providence, New Jersey.
Nathaniel Bonnell III was my 1st cousin, 8x removed on my dad’s side.
REFERENCES
Family Records or Genealogies of the first settlers of the Passaic Valley, New Jersey, John Littell, 1852.
New Jersey Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index
On June 2, 1877 John Maxwell and Elvira Terrell were blessed with the birth of their first son William. The parents were originally from the Bloomfield, Indiana area, but did live for a bit around 1880 in the Steele Township community in Daviess County before returning to Bloomfield. William had an older sister Sarah and was followed by three brothers: Emery, Ira, and Carl.
William married Laura Reagon on May 6, 1900, likely in Greene County. They were blessed with their first child Zada Bell on December 12th that year. Zada was followed by brothers Charley, Jessie and Glen. A younger sister, Tressie, was born in 1909 however, she perished as a small child from complications due to bronchitis.
William supported his family in the early years doing farm labor. Later, around 1910 he could be found working in the local coal mines. By the mid-1910s he had transitioned to restaurant work.
On May 18, 1916 at a hospital in Indianapolis, William died at the age of thirty-eight from multiple liver abscesses. His wife Laura, with four children to support, remarried later that year.
William Maxwell was my 2nd cousin 3x removed on my dad’s side.
Roland Rudolph Willard was born June 1, 1816 in St Louis City in what was then the Missouri Territory. His parents were Elinor McDonald and Alexander Hamilton Willard. Alex Willard was the youngest member of the Expedition of Lewis and Clark (1804-1806) which attempted to find a waterway that connected the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Led by Sacagawea, more than one hundred new animals and almost 200 new plants were documented during the first trip that explored the western territories of the United States.
Roland was one of twelve children born to Elinor and Alex. Those that have been identified include: Austin, Alexander II, Eliza, Christiana, Joel, Narcissa, Ellen, Lewis, George, and Nancy. The family lived in Missouri until about 1826 at which time they relocated to the Wisconsin Territory, living in Grant County.
Alex and four of his sons, including Roland, fought in the Black Hawk War. The Black Hawk War was a brief conflict between the United States and the Native Americans residing in the state of Illinois and Michigan Territory. The war lasted from April to August 1832. Other notable figures who also participated in the fighting included Abraham Lincoln, Zachary Taylor, and Jefferson Davis.
For a period of time around 1835, the family lived in Morgan County, Illinois, however, that was brief and they returned to Wisconsin Territory. Roland and his brother-in-law John Crawford purchased land in Iowa County in 1839. Roland sold off his lands in Wisconsin in 1847 and it is believed he, along with his brother Alex and John Crawford, headed west for California during the time of the Gold Rush. Alex and John were in Placerville listed as traders in the 1850 Census.
Roland’s whereabouts are a bit of a mystery until the state census of 1852. He is listed in Sacramento next door to John Crawford and family with the occupation of farmer. Little else can be found about Roland until his sudden death on Jun 11, 1859. He is buried in the Franklin Cemetery. His brother Lewis served as executor of his estate which appeared to be rather extensive. Probate documents indicated that his father Alex was the sole heir to the estate which would indicate that Roland was not married and had no children. However, there is a twelve year old Jackson Willard born in California listed in the 1860 Census with Alex and Elinor. It’s not clear who’s child he is, but some researchers have assigned him as Roland’s son.
Roland Rudolph Willard was my 2nd cousin 5x removed on my dad’s side.
REFERENCES
United States Census: 1850, 1860
California State Census, 1852
Illinois Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1835
California County Birth, Marriage and Death Records
On May 31, 1665, Pierre Cardinal was the fifth son of Simon Jean Cardinal and Michelle Garnier born in the Lachine area of Montreal, Canada. He had a total of five brothers and one sister: Jacques, Jean, Gabriel, Etienne, Simon and Cecile. His father died in 1679 and his mother remarried the following year to Jean Chevalier.
Lachine, Montreal, Quebec (map obtained from Google)
Pierre married Marie Matou on September 17, 1685 in Montreal. It is reported that seventeen children were born to this couple.
Pierre, Jr
Marie, who died at age fourteen
Jean Baptiste
Daniel
Francois Marie (b. 1693)
Charles, who died at age fifteen
Marie Francoise
Marguerite
Francoise, (b. 1700) who died in infancy
Marie Anne Cardinal
Francois-Marie (b. 1701)
Angelique, who died in infancy
Simon
Gabriel
Jacques, who died in infancy
Augustin
Francoise (b. 1719)
Pierre died at the age of eighty-one on January 13, 1747 in Lachine.
Pierre Cardinal was my 9th great uncle on my mom’s side.
REFERENCES
Quebec Genealogical Dictionary of Canadian Families (Tanguay Collection)
Programme de Recherche en Demographie Historique (PRDH)
William Hedrick was born May 30, 1827 in Fleming County, Kentucky to Michael Dungan Hedrick and Elizabeth DeMoss. He had one sister named Amanda.
On September 10, 1850, William married Nancy West in Nicholas County, Kentucky. Their first son, Walter B. was born in Kentucky in 1851. Laura, their only daughter, was born in Indiana in 1854 and the family was found in Howard County in the 1860 Census. By the birth of their son Robert in 1861, the family was back in Nicholas County and had relocated to Fleming County by 1870. The family was still in Kentucky in 1876 when Laura married John Jones. At some point after that it would seem the family would make the journey westward to Cass County, Missouri. Based on birthdates, it’s not likely that everyone traveled together. Laura’s daughter was born in September 1878 in Missouri, but Bruce’s daughter Emma was born the same month in Kentucky. Everyone was in Cass County by 1880.
Unfortunately, William died on May 28, 1880 at the age of fifty-two. He is buried in the Pleasant Hill Cemetery.
Louis Newton Spinning was born May 29, 1858 in Summit, New Jersey, the oldest of four children born to Charles Spinning and Martha Osborne. His three siblings were Maurice, Bessie and Harry. The family resided in Summit throughout Louis’s childhood with his father supporting the family as a butcher. When Louis became old enough to be employed, he worked as a bank clerk. He continued in this profession for his entire life.
In 1884, Louis married Caroline Wood, a dressmaker who was born in England. She came to the United States as a girl around 1874. Caroline and Louis made their home in the Newark area. They raised three sons–Harford, Kenneth, and Louis–and a daughter Ethel.
In 1922, Louis’s wife was committed to the New Jersey State Hospital at Greystone Park. She would live out the last fifteen years of her life at this institution. Her cause of death was withheld on her death certificate.
Louis continued on with his career in banking, residing with his youngest brother Harry for a time. In 1940, he was living in the household with his grandchildren Anne and John and their divorced mother Marjorie. He would later move in with his son Louis as his years became even more advanced. The elder Louis left this world on Christmas night, 1952 at his son’s home in Clinton, Connecticut. He was laid to rest in New Jersey.
Louis Newton Spinning was my 4th cousin, 5x removed on my dad’s side.
REFERENCES
United States Census: 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940
Thomas Johnson was born on May 28, 1775 in the colony of Virginia. His parents were William Johnson and Hannah Sanderson from Lancashire, England.
Thomas was one of the earliest settlers in southern Knox County, along with Frederick Mehl, George Catt, Anthony Cary and many others. He arrived in the area around 1800 and married George Catt’s daughter Catherine. They cleared the land and took to farming as they grew their family as well as their farm. The children born to this marriage were Eleanor, Susan, Harriet, Payton, Fielding, Docia, Jane and Thomas Jr.
As did many of the early settlers of the area, Thomas fought under Captains Perry, Modrell, and Beckes during the War of 1812. Thomas was active in local politics, aligning himself with the Democratic Party of the time. As one of the most prominent residents and farmers of the area, the township, which is situated in the south central part of the county, was named after him. His family, especially the younger Thomas, went on to amass extensive land holdings throughout the 1800s.
Thomas and Catherine lived out their years on the family farm. Catherine passed away on August 15, 1862 and Thomas followed her a few months later on January 19, 1863. They were laid to rest in the Johnson Cemetery which still exists today, not far from the White River on Johnson Bend Road.
Thomas Johnson was my 5th great grandfather on my mom’s side.
REFERENCES
United States Census, 1840, 1850, 1860
US and International Marriage Records
Find a Grave website
The Catt Family in America, Dr. W Cary Anderson, 1989.
History of Knox and Daviess Counties, Indiana, page 545, Goodspeed Publishing, 1886.
History of Old Vincennes and Knox County, Indiana, pages 306 and 379, George E Greene, 1911.
Robert C Thompson was born on May 27, 1837 in Gibson County, Indiana to Henry Thompson and Nancy Cunningham. He was one of at least six children born to the couple. His known siblings are Stewart, Margaret, Sally, Elenor and Henry G.
Robert’s mother Nancy died before 1850. Henry married Rebecca Beck in 1851 and they moved the family to Jackson County, Illinois. Henry died in 1853 and is buried in Vermilion County, Illinois. The circumstances of his death are not known, however, Vermilion County is not anywhere near Jackson County.
After his father’s death, it would seem that the Thompsons returned to Indiana where Robert married Sarah Roderick on October 16, 1860. They started with a small farm of twenty acres in Johnson Township and eventually grew it to include two hundred and fifty acres. To their marriage was born six boys and an unnamed infant–Charles, Riley, Ora, John, James and Robert H.
Robert was active in the community and was a member of the International Order of Odd Fellows in Gibson County. His death on May 1, 1880 at the age of 42 was unexpected and came days after the birth of their son Robert. Newspaper accounts stated he had winter fever, otherwise known as pneumonia. His brother Stewart served as executor of his estate. Sarah would continue to work the farm with the help of her sons, even though Riley and Ora would perish as young men. Sarah lived on the family farm until April 21, 1896 when an extended bout of consumption would end her life.
Robert C Thompson was my 3rd great grandfather on my mom’s side.
REFERENCES
United States Census, 1850, 1870, 1880
Indiana Marriage Collection
Weekly Western Sun, April 24, 1896
History of Knox and Daviess Counties, Indiana Goodspeed, 1886.
On May 26, 1865, a daughter named Naomi was born to John L. Cox and Naomi Steen of Washington Township in Knox County, Indiana. Naomi had four older brothers and three half-brothers from her father’s first marriage. A couple years later her parents would give her a little sister named Caroline.
Naomi attended school as a girl and lived on the family farm until her marriage to Samuel Kitts on September 7, 1904. She took on the role of farmer’s wife as she and Samuel settled into their life together. They did not have any children of their own, but did have several nieces and nephews.
In October 1947, Naomi suffered a fall which broke her hip. She did not fully recover from the injury. She died eight months later on June 16, 1948 at Good Samaritan Hospital from heart failure at the age of eighty-three.
Naomi Cox was my second cousin, 4x removed on my dad’s side.
REFERENCES
United States Census, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940
Digging Up My Roots 