On May 18, 1863, Thomas S. Lennington and Anna R. Pierson welcomed their only daughter, May,  into this world in Licking County, Ohio.  Thomas supported the family as a farmer and served in the Civil War during 1864.

May married Marvin Custer, a nephew of General George Custer, on August 29, 1881 in Licking County.  They immediately started a family with their son George Armstrong Custer being born in 1882 in Iowa.  The small family returned to Ohio where they added a daughter Marie in 1885.

May’s father passed away in 1888, and her mother moved in with Marvin and May.  Anna resided with them until her death in 1912.  Marvin supported the family as a railroad engineer, having worked for the Pennsylvania Railroad for twenty-seven years at the time of his retirement.  Just shy of his sixtieth birthday, Marvin was suddenly stricken with a heart attack and died at his home on September 8, 1915.

Both of their children, George and Marie, married and had families.  Marie’s life was cut short at the age of thirty-five due to pregnancy complications.  May carried on, eventually living with George and his family.  She died at home on February 11, 1933 at the age of sixty-nine.

May Lennington was my 4th cousin, 5x removed on my dad’s side.

REFERENCES

• United States Census, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1930
• Ohio County Marriages
• Find a Grave website
• The Newark (OH) Advocate, Feburary 13, 1933, via Newspapers.com
• Ohio Deaths
• Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, September 9, 1915, via Newspapers.com
• United States Civil War Draft Registration Records