James Eli Ishmael was born on May 20, 1863 to John Ishmael and Mary Hunt in Fleming County, Kentucky.  Mary was John’s second wife.  From his first marriage, John had seven children (John, Laura, Rosanna, Samuel, Margaret, Nancy and an unnamed infant girl).  John and Mary added seven children (Margaret, Nancy, John Thomas, Martha, George, Sara and Minnie) in addition to James Eli.  The family’s main source of support was farming.

James married Lovisa Anderson around 1891.  Together they had six children: Arthur, Evie, James, William, Louzella, and Pat.  Lovisa died in 1907, leaving James to raise their family on his own.  He remarried in 1909 to a woman named Rebecca.  She lived until sometime in the 1920s, leaving James a widower twice over.  In his later years, James shifted from farming to working as a store clerk to support himself and youngest daughter Louzella who kept house for him.  James lived to the age of seventy-seven.  He died on January 22, 1941 in Flemingsburg after battling influenza which ultimately led to pneumonia. He is buried with Lovisa in Elizaville, Kentucky.

James Eli Ishmael was my 2nd cousin, 4x removed on my dad’s side.

REFERENCES

• United States Census: 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940
• Kentucky Death Records
• Find a Grave Website