Tag Archives: Lankford

2025 Week 13

30 Sunday Mar 2025

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One night this week when I checked my DNA matches, I had several older matches that suddenly had a common ancestor assigned to them…the same common ancestor…Temperance Posey. I do not have Temperance Posey in my tree at this time. Based on hints, she was supposedly married to Benjamin Lankford, my 5th great grandfather. From what I can tell, she was married to a Benjamin Lankford in Tennessee, but I’m not sure he is one and the same with my Benjamin. Making this more puzzling is that I have no matches for Benjamin…none. After a few minutes I could tell this would require some digging…more than I had for a Tuesday night.

This incident got me thinking. When will I be working on the Lankfords? I definitely hope to wrap up work on the Cox family this year, but what comes next? Here is the order of family lines I’m planning to work on. This should definitely take me a while. The lines after Carroll are rather spotty and that is where my tree turns to Swiss cheese.

  • Cox
  • Winkler
  • McCullough
  • Reeve
  • Lankford
  • Caywood
  • Frost
  • Lowe
  • Ireland
  • Gross (not sure if there is anything to find)
  • Mattocks
  • Gaston
  • McGill
  • Staton
  • Carroll

Gathering information on the family of Thomas P and Sarah Hollingsworth Cox has been, at times, daunting. Their son Joseph C married Rhoda Flock and they had three children. Joe and Rhoda disappeared by the 1900 census. I found Rhoda mentioned in an 1892 newspaper attending a party. I also found her in some 1913 court documents along with her siblings. She was listed as the deceased wife of George W Clark. I have not yet substantiated that with a marriage record. Not sure I will.

Joe and Rhoda’s children weren’t challenging to document. They had scattered by 1900 which further supports that he had passed and she had moved on without her children, or was deceased herself. Their middle child, Thomas, married and had a child, then apparently divorced, but later was found listed as a boarder in his ex-wife’s household after she remarried. Rather unexpected, if nothing else.

Henry Clay Cox and his wife Lydia Parker were a bit easier to document. There was actually a decent write up when they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. The article mentioned that Henry had three older brothers that served in the Civil War and two of them did not make it home. This will help with my argument that John S Cox was a child of Gabriel and Nancy.

The last two children of Gabriel and Nancy Cox that needed review were Nancy Jane and Susan. There isn’t a lot of information on either of the girls, but they do have headstones. Susan’s stone leaves me scratching my head. It’s old and weathered. The death date barely fits on the stone and it is unclear what the full year stamped into the stone is. Most researchers have called it 1837 but that does not correlate with other family events. Gabriel died in March 1836 so Susan could not have been born in April 1837 as this interpretation might suggest. Enlarging the photograph posted by Cathy Griggs on Find A Grave (memorial 57751282), I almost want to say it is 1832. This would fit with the birth gap between Henry and Nancy. Please let me know if you agree in the comments.

This week Ancestry gave me three new errors to resolve. I have 5281 errors in the tree–402 possible duplicates, 4271 with no documents, 608 other errors.

  • My first error to correct this week was the father-in-law of my 4th cousin 5x removed. To keep myself from diving down every gopher hole, one of the guidelines I set for myself is to not research the extended families of those who marry into my tree. That includes the parents of the “inlaws”. If it becomes necessary to FAN out, I will. But as a rule of thumb, I leave them out of my tree. So, Mr. Edgerley and his wife will be removed from the tree to resolve the “issue” of having no records attached.
  • The next person to fix was the husband of a 3rd cousin 2x removed. This was easy since he had several Ancestry hints. Updated him, added a few family members and I was done!
  • The last error to correct this week was for Sebastian Catt, my 6th great-granduncle. Not sure why I need 5 references for his marriage to Sebra Conger, but at least he’s documented now. There are also several pay vouchers for him during 1810 when he served in the Indiana Militia.

This week in the past…
I’d like to take an opportunity to celebrate the anniversaries of births, marriages, and deaths of my bloodlines which will occur during the week ahead.
320 years ago – birth of Nicholas DeVore (7th ggf)
97 years ago – death of Rebecca Coppock Mattox (2nd ggm)

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,605 people
End of Week: 27,622 people
Change = +17 people
Tasks for coming week:

  • Generate a rough draft of Gabriel and Nancy’s family and start editing and footnoting.

Ara Belle Gilmore

11 Monday May 2020

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Ara Belle Gilmore was the seventh of nine children born to Robert Gilmore and Martha Jane Lankford.   She was born on May 11, 1873 in Steen Township, Knox County, Indiana.  Her older siblings, in order of birth, were Elizabeth, Bertha Ellen, Susan, Sarah, Benjamin and Nancy.  She was followed by younger brothers Irvin and George.  Elizabeth was the only child not to live to adulthood.  In 1884, Ara’s sister Ellen died.  Ellen’s son Charles was raised by his grandparents Robert and Martha.

Ara married on May 3, 1899 at the age of twenty-five to Thomas Albert Strange from Daviess County.  They had a daughter in 1901 named Elsie.  Albert worked for the railroad and was often gone for stretches of time doing construction.  On May 23, 1905, he was hit and killed by a passenger train in Mitchell, Indiana.

Ara and her daughter lived with her parents for a few years until she met and married Charles Downey around Christmas 1910.  They made their home together in Bicknell where Charles was a farmer.  Ara’s father died in 1920 and her mother followed in 1925.  At the age of sixty-six, Ara passed away on August 6, 1940 from complications associated with a hernia.  She is buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Bicknell.

 

Ara Belle Gilmore is my 1st cousin 4x removed on my dad’s side.

REFERENCES

  • United States Census – 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940
  • Indiana Death Certificates
  • Indiana Marriage Collection
  • Find A Grave website
  • Vincennes Commercial, December 23, 1910
  • Vincennes Sun-Commercial,  August 7, 1940
  • Daviess County Democrat, May 27, 1905

 

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

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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80th Indiana Infantry, Company C

11 Tuesday Nov 2014

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The Civil War began on April 12, 1861 at Fort Sumter, South Carolina.  Initially, seven southern states seceded from the United States to form the Confederate States of America.  This number grew to eleven before it was all said and done.  In 1862 President Abraham Lincoln raised the call to arms among the Union States, requesting 300,000 volunteers step up and help bring an end to the war.

The men of Southwestern Indiana heard the call and the 80th Indiana Infantry was formed.  The regiment consisted of 1,049 men from several southwestern counties in the state.  The men were grouped in to 10 companies identified by letters of the alphabet.  About 100 men from Edwardsport mustered together at Fort Gibson in Princeton on September 3, 1862 to form Company C.  The 80th spent their first year battling for Kentucky before moving on to Tennessee and the Siege of Atlanta.  They returned to battle in Tennessee, then were shipped to North Carolina to fight under General William T Sherman in early 1865.  They war ended in April 1865, along with the assassination of President Lincoln.  The 80th finished out their duties at Salisbury NC where they were mustered out in late June 1865.  In the end, the 80th lost 237 men to death, 49 to desertion and 3 were unaccounted for.  A more detailed account of their battles can be found in the Civil War Index and the website devoted to the 80th Indiana Volunteer Infantry.

William Lankford

William Lankford

Members of Company C were all from the Edwardsport area.  Three men in particular, John S. Cox, George W. Winkler, and Isaac DeMoss, were my 3rd great grandfathers.  All three mustered in on September 3, 1862.  Unfortunately, not all of them came home.  John died at New Haven, KY on January 14, 1863.  George and Isaac fared better, mustering out on June 22, 1865.  While all three entered service as privates, Isaac finished as a corporal.

Of course, these three were not the only ones in my family’s tree that served in Company C.  Isaac’s cousin Samuel Reeve entered as a Sergeant and had attained the rank of First Sergeant by the time he returned home in 1865.  George had two of his extended family fighting by his side.  William Lankford, George’s brother-in-law, mustered out as a Sergeant after the war while Robert Gilmore, who married one of William’s sisters, was discharged early on April 24, 1863.

Benjamin William Lankford & Sally Mattocks

05 Wednesday Nov 2014

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Today’s focus is on another set of 4th great-grandparents, Benjamin and Sally (Mattocks) Lankford.  According to census records, Benjamin was born around 1819 in Tennessee and Sally in Kentucky around 1815.  They were married in Lawrence Co, Indiana on April 16, 1838 by Johnson Mattocks.  It is unknown if Johnson was a relative of Sally.  The parents of both Benjamin and Sally are unknown at this time.

Benjamin and Sally had several children:

  • William (1840-1893)
  • Martha Jane (1841-1925)
  • Harrison (1843-1899)
  • Josephine (1844-1890) married George Winkler (my 3rd great-grandparents)
  • Sophia (1847-1847)
  • Lucinda (1849-?)
  • Benjamin (1854-?)
  • James (1855-?)
  • Burrel (1859-?)

The 1840 and 1850 census have them living in Lawrence Co, Indiana.  In 1850, there is a William Lankford, age 35, living in their household.  He could possibly be Benjamin’s older brother since it was noted he was born in Tennessee.  Between 1850 and 1856, the family moved to Steen Township (Wheatland) in Knox County. They lived there through 1860, but were living in Washington, IN at the time of the 1870 census.  It is likely they moved some time after 1867 when Lucinda married Richard Alford.  Benjamin Jr can be found living with his brother Harrison in 1880, but their parents, as well as James and Burrel, are not to be found.  It is suspected that Benjamin and Sally died sometime between 1870 and 1880.

George Washington Winkler

03 Monday Nov 2014

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George Washington Winkler was one of my third great grandfathers.  He was born March 21, 1843 in Indiana, possibly in Greene County.  The identity of his parents is currently unconfirmed.  There are a few researchers who have linked him to Henry Winkler and Lucy Whitton, but I haven’t yet seen documentation confirming this and have doubts these are his parents.  In 1880, Harriet Murray, 15, is listed in his household as his half-sister.  Backtracking to 1870, Harriet is found with her parents Samuel and Sophia Murray, leading me to believe George’s mother’s name was Sophia.  Unfortunately, a maiden name has not been determined.  George’s whereabouts are unknown prior to his marriage to Josephine Lankford.  He did serve in the War Between the States in the 80th Regiment of the Indiana Infantry, Company C, along with many others scattered about the family tree.

Josephine and George were married in Wheatland in 1861.  They were blessed with the following children:

  • Elisabeth Jane (1862-1926)
  • Sarah Frances (1866-1936)
  • Sophia (1868-1940)
  • George (1871-?)
  • Samuel (1872-1873)
  • William (1874-1948)
  • Charles (1877-1877)
  • Clara Mae (1878-1969)
  • Thomas (1880-1947)
  • Bertha (1884-1961)
  • Maude Nellie (1886-1956)

Sarah, who is my 2nd great grandmother, went on to marry Samuel T. DeMoss who became a prominent businessman in the Edwardsport area.

George lived most of his life in Edwardsport (Vigo Township).  After Josephine died in 1890, he married Katie Bean in Greene County on December 4, 1892.  That marriage didn’t last very long, although how it ended is not readily known since I cannot locate Katie anywhere else.  George then married Mary Emma (Watkins) Bartlett on June 26, 1894 in Knox County. Emma was born in Illinois, possibly Fayette County, about 1849.  She married Milton Bartlett in the late 1860’s and they moved to the Edwardsport area in the mid-1870’s.  He died sometime between 1885 and 1894.

George and Emma, along with several of his children and her youngest daughter Carrie, were residing in the Freelandville area (Widner Township) in 1900. George passed away on December 12, 1909 in Freelandville where he is supposed to be buried.  Mary Emma is listed in subsequent census rolls: 1910 in Widner Township, 1920 in Busseron Township, and 1930 in Oaktown on Hickory Street.  Since she is missing from the 1940 lists, it’s assumed that she died sometime during the 1930’s.

 

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Fayette County Illinois is west of Effingham.

Busseron Township is south of Oaktown, IN.

William DeMoss and Elizabeth Lowe

02 Sunday Nov 2014

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Today’s highlighted family is that of William J. and Elizabeth Lowe DeMoss.  They are my 4th great grandparents on my dad’s side.

Based on 1850 census data, William was born around 1803 in Kentucky.  I have no concrete information on his parents, but he was possibly from the Fleming County area based on information found in other family trees on Ancestry.com.  One researcher names his parents as William and Polly DeMoss, but I haven’t found any documentation supporting this as of yet.

Elizabeth Lowe was born on August 15, 1806 in Kentucky.  It is believed that her parents are Isaac and Margaret McLees Lowe.  It’s also thought that the Lowes were from the Fleming County area.

William and Elizabeth were probably married around  1825, but no marriage records have yet to be located. Based on census records, they were in Fleming Co, KY in 1830 and had moved to Reeve Township, Daviess Co, IN by 1840.  The 1850 census lists the following children belonging to William and Elizabeth.  Based on information in the early census rolls, there may be two more sons older than Elizabeth who had left home by 1850.

  • Elizabeth (b. 1831)
  • Isaac (b. 3-31-1833)
  • John (b. 1836)
  • William (b. 10-3-1837)
  • Democrat (b. 1840)
  • Mary (b. 1841)
  • Squire (b. 5-2-1846)
  • Fleming (b. 1848)

William is hard to find in 1860.  It’s possible he was working as a farm hand in Steen Township, Knox County.  This is plausible since he is listed just before Benjamin Lankford and his family.  Benjamin’s yet unborn granddaughter Sarah Winkler ends up marrying William’s toddler grandson Samuel.  Sam and Sarah are my 2nd great grandparents.  William cannot be found in 1870 census records so it’s possible he passed on sometime during that decade.  My next trip home may include a search of the cemeteries in the Wheatland area.

Elizabeth is missing in the 1860 census, but she shares a headstone with her daughter-in-law Mary Reeve DeMoss (William’s wife) in the Edwardsport Town Cemetery.  Elizabeth’s date of death was July 13, 1864.  Both Isaac and William married Reeve sisters, so it’s not out of the question that Elizabeth was either living nearby or with one of them.

Of William and Elizabeth’s children, further information is available for only a few of them.  As mentioned above, Isaac and William married two sisters and settled in the Edwardsport area.  Both lines are fairly well traced with Isaac being my 3rd great grandfather.  John appears to have stayed in Daviess County with his family for quite a while.  At some point, he and several of his grown sons were living in the Decker, IN area.  Knox County death records have his death listed in the Wheatland area in 1908.  Squire was listed in 1870 living with John in Daviess County and was buried there in 1871.  No information has yet to be located on young Elizabeth, Democrat, Mary, Fleming or their two older brothers.

 

 

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Fleming County, Kentucky is northeast of Lexington.
Reeve Township is in the southeast corner of Daviess County IN, south of Montgomery and Loogootee.
Steen Township is the area around Wheatland, IN and borders Daviess Co.