Benjamin Lankford

07 Thursday May 2020

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Benjamin Lankford was born in  Indiana on May 7, 1853.  His actual birth year and location are somewhat up for debate.  Most census records would put his birth in or around 1853, however, his death certificate would indicate he was actually born in 1849.  Because he’s not listed in the 1850 census, I am inclined to believe he was born circa 1853.  The year of his birth would also give a clue as to where he might have been born. Taking into account where his siblings were born, it is likely Benjamin was born in Knox County, likely in Steen Township.  His parents were Benjamin William Lankford and Sally Mattocks.  He had four brothers (William, Harrison, James and Burrell) and four sisters (Martha Jane, Josephine, Sophia, and Lucinda).

The Lankfords supported themselves through farming.  The family was actually in Lawrence County, Indiana until around 1850 when they packed up and moved to Steen Township, Knox County.  They stayed in Knox County for a decade or so before they relocated to Washington in Daviess County in the mid to late 1860s.  It was in Daviess County where Benjamin met and married his first wife Rebecca Jane Burlett on May 8, 1877.  It appears this marriage did not last very long as Benjamin was living with his brother Harrison in 1880 in Steen Township and his marriage status was listed as widowed.

On Christmas Day 1881, Benjamin married a second time to Mrs. Sarah M Hurst.  Very little has been found regarding Sarah or this marriage.

Fast forwarding a decade, Benjamin is at the alter once again.  On October 12, 1893 he married Cordelia Martindale Bland.  The specific location of the marriage is not definitively known, but likely took place in either Knox or Greene County, Indiana.  Cordelia’s first marriage lasted less than three years, but whether it ended in death or divorce, that is not clear. Benjamin supported his family as a carriage painter and they resided in Edwardsport.

Cordelia and Benjamin had two children who lived to adulthood…Mary and Walter.  Mary married Robert Bartlett, however, she only lived to be nineteen.  In 1915 she died of meningitis.  Walter married, several times actually.  He lived to be 78 and made his home in the Linton area.  Cordelia outlived her husband Benjamin.  He was afflicted with pulmonary tuberculosis.  He died on April 15, 1916 in Switz City where he is also buried.

 

Benjamin Lankford was my 4th great-uncle on my dad’s side.

REFERENCES

  • United States Census, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1910
  • Indiana Death Certificates
  • Indiana Marriage Collection

Bernice Fredericka Ireland

06 Wednesday May 2020

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On May 6, 1888 in Brownstown, Jackson County, Indiana, Bernice Fredericka Ireland was born to Frank and Lillie Wacker Ireland.  She and her older brother William were the only children born to Frank and Lillie.  Bernice received her middle name from her maternal grandmother Fredericka Rush Wacker.

Frank Ireland supported his family as a school teacher while his children were growing up.  Bernice graduated from Brownstown High School in 1904 and later attended Indiana University in Bloomington where she studied to also be an educator.  On February 20, 1919 at the age of thirty-one, Bernice married Walter Greger.  Immediately following the wedding, the couple moved to Chicago where Walter worked as a mail clerk.  On January 20, 1920 in Chicago, Bernice gave birth to their only child Janet.  While living in Chicago, Bernice put her training to good use and taught in the Chicago Public School System.

In 1932, Bernice lost her father to cancer of the lymph glands.  He was seventy-two.  A decade later, her mother succumbed to heart disease mere days after her eighty-first birthday.

Bernice and Walter continued to live in Chicago until their retirement in the mid-1950s when they returned to Jackson County.  Based on the numerous mentions in the local newspaper, Bernice was quite active in the community in various organizations upon their return.  Unfortunately, Walter’s life was taken to soon, as he suffered a paralyzing stroke in 1957.  Bernice continued to keep busy for a few more years, before suffering a fatal stroke in February 1965.  She and Walter are laid to rest in the Fairview Cemetery in Brownstown.

Bernice Ireland

Bernice Ireland Greger was my 2nd cousin 4x removed on my dad’s side.  She is also a first cousin 1x removed of William Puloski Ireland who was previously the subject of a biography.

REFERENCES

  • United States Census, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930
  • Indiana Death Certificates
  • Indiana Marriages
  • Find A Grave website
  • Jackson County Banner, February 19, 1913, February 26, 1919, September 7, 1932, April 3, 1957 via Newspapers.com

 

 

Norma Lucille Kaiser

05 Tuesday May 2020

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Norma Lucille Kaiser was born in Knox County, Indiana on May 5, 1925 to Henry M Kaiser and Josephine Wetzel.  She was one of at least ten children born to the couple which include five boys and five girls, all but one living well into adulthood.  Her brothers included Joseph, Lawrence, Cletus (who died as an infant), Henry and Walter.  Norma was the third girl of the family: Anna, Mary, Norma, Marcella, and Dorothy.

The family made their living through farming.  In the 1920s they resided near Henry’s father’s farm outside of Vincennes, although by the mid-1930s, they had relocated to Haddon Township in Sullivan County.

Lawrence Wolfe, also of Haddon Township, enlisted in the Army in 1942 and served three years.  He married Norma on December 26, 1944 in Sullivan County, in the middle of his enlistment.  After the war, he supported Norma and their family as a truck driver.  They had five children, four of which grew to adulthood.

Lawrence and Norma continued living in in the Carlisle area until his death from cancer in 1987.  Norma lived another eleven years, a victim of heart disease on January 26, 1998 in Sullivan.

Norma Kaiser is a great-granddaughter of Michael Kaiser.

Norma Kaiser

Norma was my half-2nd cousin, 1x removed on my mom’s side.

REFERENCES

  • United States Census, 1930, 1940
  • Indiana Marriages
  • Indiana Birth Certificates
  • Indiana Death Certificates
  • Vincennes Sun-Commercial via Newspapers.com
  • Find a Grave Website
  • US Social Security Death Index
  • US WWII Draft Cards
  • US Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File
  • US World War II Army Enlistment Records

John L. Cox

04 Monday May 2020

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John L Cox was the first of at least five children born to Jonathan Piety Cox and Rachel Lemen Tigert.  He was born on May 4, 1820 in Knox County, Indiana.  There are some variations on his middle name with some sources listing it as Lemen, a family name from his mother’s side, and others referring to him as Lemuel.  His siblings included Mary J, Harvey Innes, Alexander and Harriet.  Mary was the mother of Henrietta Polk and Alexander was the father of Rachel Cox Rafferty, both women who were recently the subject of biographies on this blog.

John lived his entire life in Knox County, in the area between Bruceville and Bicknell.  He actually amassed a respectable-sized farm which in 1880 totaled more than 300 acres.  John was married twice.  His first marriage began on October 3, 1849 to Mary Robinson.  She gave him three sons, John Crittenden and twins Harmon and Jonathan.  She died at the age of 23 in 1852.

John L Cox Washington Twp

A couple years passed and John married Naomi Steen on September 21, 1854.  Together, John and Naomi added at least six children to their family, all reaching adulthood and all but one living into their late sixties or beyond.  The children in order of birth: Enoch S, James L, Richard T, Logan, Naomi and Caroline.

All of the family was well-known and respected in the community.  Logan, after serving in the military, went to medical school.  Unfortunately, just week’s shy of graduating, he was stricken with a debilitating ailment which slowly killed him for over a year.  He died in 1894 at the age of 32.  John C, the oldest of the nine siblings, was elected County Sheriff in 1898.  Harmon, one of the twins, died at the age of 46.  He was a business man in Daviess County.

After fifty-six years of marriage at the age of 80, John Lemuel Cox passed away at the family home from jaundice.  He is buried in the Asbury Chapel Cemetery located in Ragsdale, Indiana, as are many of his family.

 

John L Cox is my 1st cousin 5x removed on my dad’s side.

REFERENCES

  • United States Census, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900
  • Indiana Death Certifcates
  • Indiana Marriage Index
  • United States Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, 1880
  • The Indianapolis Journal, November 14, 1900 via Newspapers.com
  • The Vincennes Commercial, July 2, 1898 & August 14, 1894

Mary Ann Pilard

03 Sunday May 2020

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Mary Ann Pilard

On May 3, 1848 in Knox County, Indiana, Susan Bayard and Marie-Ambrose Pilard welcomed to this world their second of three daughters, Mary Ann.  Mary was sandwiched between her older sister Suzanne and younger sister Clotilde.  in 1854, Marie-Ambrose passed away at the age of forty, leaving Susan well provided for to raise the girls into adulthood.

In 1885 at the age of 37, Mary Ann met and married an Irishman by the name of John T Young on August 25 in Knox County.  They immediately started their family which consisted of four children who all lived to adulthood.  Thomas and Helen were born in Vincennes.  Around 1889 or 1890, John and Mary Ann moved the family to Colorado where Bayard and Ambrose were born.  Not long after the birth of the boys, it had been reported that John suffered from a ruptured appendix and did not recover.

Mary Ann went on to raise the family in Denver.  As the years passed, all but Ambrose married and started families.  On August 2, 1932, while visiting friends in Roseville, California, Mary Ann passed away at the age of 84.  She was laid to rest in Denver.

Mary Ann Pilard

Mary Ann Pilard was my 5th cousin 4x removed on my mom’s side.

REFERENCES

  • United States Census, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1910, 1930
  • California Death Index
  • Indiana Marriage Index
  • Indiana Select Births and Christenings
  • The Press-Tribune, Roseville, CA, August 5, 1932 via Newspapers.com

Squire DeMoss

02 Saturday May 2020

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Squire DeMoss was the seventh of eight children born to William DeMoss and Elizabeth Sarah Lowe.  Squire was born on May 2, 1846 in most likely Reeve Township in Daviess County, Indiana.  He had two sisters, Elizabeth and Mary, and five brothers, Isaac, John, William, Democrat, and Fleming.  His parents were originally from Kentucky and came to Indiana in the early 1830s to pursue better farming.

Squire’s older brothers Isaac and William moved Knox County where they built their farms and families.  His brother John stayed in Daviess County for many years and Squire stayed on with him as a farm hand.  His brother Democrat fought in the Civil War and is buried at the National Cemetery in Port Hudson, Louisiana.  On December 29, 1870, Squire married Mary Jane Davis.  The marriage was very short lived, however, as Squire died at the age of 24 on January 16, 1871.  He was buried at the Hawkins Prairie Cemetery.  Mary Jane remarried a year later.

 

Squire DeMoss was my 4th great-uncle on my dad’s side.

REFERENCES

  • United States Census, 1850, 1870
  • Find A Grave website
  • Indiana Marriages
  • Indiana Civil War Soldier Database Index

James Duncan Piety

01 Friday May 2020

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James D and Laurinda Piety

James Duncan Piety was born May 1, 1796, in Nelson County, Kentucky, the third child of thirteen born to Thomas Piety and Mary Duncan.  James married twice during his lifetime.  He married his first wife, Eleanor Harned, on June 29, 1818 in Hardin County, Kentucky.  Shortly after that, the couple relocated to Vigo County, Indiana, where he used the dowry money from Eleanor’s parents to buy land in the area that is now known as Prairie Creek.  James supported his family as a farmer.  He was also an asset to the community in that he helped organize the First Baptist Church, as well as stake out the town.

Eleanor and James brought eight children into the world–Lucinda, David, Thomas, Julia, William, John, James, and Mary.  All but David reached adulthood. In 1838, Eleanor passed away at the age of 36.  Needing someone to raise his family, James married again on October 10, 1839 to Laurinda Thomas.  Together they added nine more children to the fold–Ellen, Emily, Louisa, Nancy, Margaret, Milton, Chauncey, Samuel and Sarah.  Both Margaret and Chauncey left this world as small children.

James continued to work the farm, even into his more advanced years.  He was considered a prominent farmer in the area, amassing over thirteen hundred acres at one time. James passed away on April 19, 1878 and is buried in the cemetery of the First Baptist Church which he helped establish.  His wife Laurinda followed him to the Promised Land a couple short years later on January 1, 1880.

James D Piety

James D Piety was my 1st cousin 6x removed on my dad’s side.

REFERENCES

  • United States Census – 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, 1870
  • An Early History of the Piety Family and Kinsmen, 1654-1956, written by Charles R Piety, 1956.
  • A Partial History of James Duncan Piety, written by Walter Piety Morgan, 1948.
  • Indiana Marriages
  • Kentucky Marriages
  • Find a Grave website

William Hutchinson Bailey

30 Thursday Apr 2020

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William Hutchinson Bailey

William H. Bailey was the youngest of five children born to Phebe Richardson and Daniel Bailey.  He made his arrival on April 30, 1823 in Hamilton County, Ohio. In September 1824, Daniel passed away.  Phebe remarried in 1825 to the Reverend George Hildreth, a widower himself.  Together, Phebe and George added five children to their blended family.  George was called to the Promised Land in 1839.

In 1844, William married Margaret Wilson and they started their family in the Cincinnati area.  Emma and Friend James Scott were born in Ohio where their father worked as a news carrier. By 1854, William and Margaret moved their family to Randolph County, Indiana where Wilson, Margaret and William A. were born. William supported the family both as a tailor and a farmer.  Too soon, Margaret was taken from the family in 1861.  A widower with small children, William married Malinda Smithson on September 19, 1863 in Randolph County.  The family was expanded to include six more children–Matilda, Phebe, Martha, Ira, Samuel and Daniel.  At the age of 73, William passed away on March 23, 1897 at his residence near Winchester, Indiana.

William H Bailey

William H. Bailey was my 1st cousin 6x removed on my dad’s side.

REFERENCES

  • United States Census, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880
  • Ohio  County Marriage Records
  • Indiana Marriages
  • United States Civil War Draft Registration Records
  • Find A Grave website

Cora Lankford

29 Wednesday Apr 2020

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Cora Lankford was born on April 29, 1875 in Steen Township, Knox County, Indiana to Harrison Lankford and Mary Emeline Gilmore.  There were at least four children born to this union, however, only two reached adulthood–Cora and an older brother William.  Harrison supported the family through farming while Emeline kept house.  They continued to add to the family until approximately 1890 when an unidentified child belonging to Harrison was reported to be interred on February 24th of that year.  It is believed that Emeline passed away sometime in 1890 or 1891, although no documentation has been located.  In February 1892, Harrison married Melissa McCart Morris.  Melissa had three teenage sons with her first husband–Harvey, Allen and Henry–who also joined the family as the result of the marriage.  Melissa and Harrison added to their brood in 1894 with the birth of their only son together, Charles.  Harrison died in 1899.

Cora Lankford

Five years after their parents were married, Harvey and Cora were married on November 16, 1897.  They made there home in Vigo Township near Edwardsport.  Harvey supported the family managing a restaurant, as the watchman at the Edwardsport Power Plant and later as a coal miner.  Together they had three children–Beatrice, Arthur and Genevieve–all who lived to adulthood.  Harvey and Cora continued to live out their lives in Edwardsport for nearly 38 years.  On March 14, 1935, Cora passed away after battling intestinal cancer for several months.

 

Cora Lankford was my 1st cousin 4x removed on my dad’s side.

REFERENCES

  • United States Census, 1880, 1910, 1920, 1930
  • Indiana Marriage Collection
  • Indiana Death Certificates
  • Find A Grave website
  • Vincennes Daily Commercial, February 25, 1890

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Rachel Cox

28 Tuesday Apr 2020

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On April 28, 1860, Rachel Cox was born in Widner Township, Knox County, Indiana to Alexander Cox and Angeline Sartor.  She was the third child born to this family of at least seven children.  Of her six siblings, two were sisters (Mara Alice and Flora) and four were brothers (Elliott, John, Charles, and Lew).  Alex supported the family through farming until the early 1880s when they packed the house and moved to Elm Grove, Kansas.  It is in Elm Grove where Rachel met Benjamin Franklin Rafferty.  He worked on a neighboring farm and on July 4, 1886, he married Rachel.  In January 1887, Rachel’s mother Angeline died and was buried in Kansas.  Her father died of Bright’s disease in 1905 at his home in Welch, Indian Territory.

Rachel and Frank returned to Indiana and northern Knox County not long after they were married.  Their daughter Roxie Ruth was born in 1888 and their son Charles Russell followed in 1895.  Frank was working as a day laborer in 1900 living outside of Bicknell, Indiana.  The family then moved to Indianapolis prior to 1905.  Not long after, on Jun 16, 1909, Rachel died of breast cancer.

Rachel Cox

Rachel Cox was my 2nd cousin 4x removed on my dad’s side.

REFERENCES

  • United States Census, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900
  • Kansas State Census, 1885
  • Indiana Death Certificates
  • Find a Grave website
  • Kansas County Marriage Records
  • Vincennes Commercial, December 12, 1905