Tag Archives: Winkler

2025 Week 31

03 Sunday Aug 2025

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I made it to the FamilySearch Library in Salt Lake City! We have a group of about 20 ladies here researching for the week.

Day 1: The first task I’m tackling is looking at restricted access books from their catalog. The first is “DeMoss Family History” by Jo Ann Robertson Hornby written in 1998. She did an awesome job of citing her sources and even providing some document images. One detail that I definitely need to explore is that my line might be descended from William DeMoss and not Louis DeMoss. He is postulated to be a brother to Louis and lived in the vicinity of Louis in Maryland. He also moved to Orange County, Virginia around the same time Louis did. He had two children, one of which was a son named Thomas. This will be worth researching further.

Also worth exploring further are the purported children of Louis DeMoss (1715-1749) and Margaret Ramsey. Their children were listed in “Ancestors of John G Fee, Matilda H Fee, and John G Hanson” by Richard Sears, however, it does not appear to be sourced. They would have been the correct age to have parented my William DeMoss (1773-1815). Children: Peter, John, James, Louis, William, Mary and Elizabeth. Hornby only assigns one child, a daughter Christian, to this couple.

Day 2: Today I’m hanging out on the 3rd floor where all the US and Canada books are. First up is a book of marriage bond abstracts for Fleming Co, KY compiled by Gareth Mark. It does provide some useful information with respect to the Thomas DeMosses in Fleming County. A marriage bond for Thomas DeMoss and Mary Snediger (sic) dated 1823 named Lewis DeMoss as the father of this Thomas DeMoss. A separate bond from 1824 named a Thomas DeMoss as the bondsman for Elizabeth DeMoss who married Michael Hedrick. It’s possible that this is a second Thomas who lived in the county at the same time and is a brother to Elizabeth. This could also be the Thomas who married Rebecca Morrow and that I have DNA matches through.

A number of DeMosses born in the 1770s and residing in the Fleming County area in the early 1800s lead me to believe they were probably siblings: James, William, Mary, and Lewis. The marriage bond records for Mary to Thomas Lock in 1795 Mason County, Kentucky, indicated that her mother’s name was also Mary. The fact that her mother gave her permission would suggest her father was deceased. Part of Mason County became Fleming County in 1798. I’ll need to keep looking for the connection between this generation and the next.

Day 3: I think I have exhausted all sources for the DeMosses at this point in time. When I get home, I will need to review what is already in my manuscript for this line and make any updates based on what I have found. I did do a little research on my George Winkler line which will be the next after the Coxes. I found the divorce proceedings for his marriage to Katie Bean which barely lasted a couple months. Now I am back working on Susannah Cox Ballard’s extensive family.

James and Susannah’s son Bland, named for his grandfather, was fairly straight forward to research. He served as a federal circuit court judge under President Abraham Lincoln. Their son Josephus died as an infant. I also located a transcription of a family bible for the Ballard family which confirms the dates of their vitals. With that, I am finished with Susannah!

Moving on to Isaac Cox, the fifth child of Benjamin and Sarah Piety Cox. Isaac resided in Clark County, Indiana. His sons were river boat pilots on the Ohio River.

Day 4: Last day at the library. Today I am hanging out on the 3rd floor again and going thru the surname books. I seem to have found some good stuff on my Bunnell/Bonnell line. There are three books that chronicle the earliest parts of this family for me. “The Bunnell/Bonnell Family in America” by WIlliam R Austin happens to be on Internet Archive so I can refer back to it often at home.

There is useful information regarding the service of Benjamin Bunnell in the Revolutionary War that might be found in “A Village at War, Chatham, NJ and the American Revolution” by Donald Wallace White. I’ll need to check that out. I might be able to get another Patriot or two out of it. Digging further I was able to find the service source and proof of residency for Benjamin Bunnell so I will be preparing that DAR supplemental application when I get home. I’ve only been wanting to submit that one since 2019!

Back to my research on the Cox family. I have cleaned up Isaac Cox who resided in Jeffersonville, Indiana and am moving on to Joseph Cox, born ca 1790. According to most previously published family histories, he did not marry. However, I have several DNA matches that might say otherwise. Once I sort this out next week, I will elaborate.

This week Ancestry gave me three new errors to resolve. I have 5243 errors in the tree–378 possible duplicates, 4261 with no documents, 604 other errors.

  • John Watson is a floater. I have deleted him.
  • A stepson of husband of wife of distant cousin. He is outside of my lines so I deleted him too.
  • A 6th cousin 1x removed has no documentation. I found his marriage record.

This week in the past…
I’d like to take an opportunity to celebrate the anniversaries of births, marriages, and deaths of my bloodlines the week ahead.
375 years ago – birth of Susanna Whitehead (10th ggm)
360 years ago – birth of Louise Arrivee (8th ggm)
346 years ago – birth of Abigail Fowle (8th ggm)
346 years ago – death of Simon Cardinal (9th ggf)
285 years ago – marriage of Elizabeth Quincy (7th ggm) and Rev William Smith (7th ggf)
216 years ago – Elihu Puckett (4th ggf)
69 years ago – marriage of August Cardinal (ggf) to his second wife Jessie Shackelford

Goals and progress…
Beginning of Week: 27,609 people
End of Week: 27,630 people
Change = +21 persons
Tasks for coming week:

  • Focus on Joseph Cox who may have married Elizabeth Smith
  • Review the information in The Other Polks to see if there is anything I don’t already have
  • Continue data mining on Ben Cox and Sarah Piety
  • Confirm the data from Polk Family and Kinsmen has been added for this family and page numbers are noted for easier citation adding
  • Review Coxes of Cox Creek

Corporal Isaac DeMoss

25 Thursday Jan 2024

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Week 4 of the 52 Ancestors Challenge finds us exploring the topic “Witness to History”. There are so many individuals I could write about under this topic, most having served and fought for the freedoms we currently enjoy. Many of those same individuals I have already written about, but I haven’t yet focused my attention on my third great-grandfather Isaac DeMoss.

Isaac was born in Fleming County, Kentucky on March 13, 1833 to William DeMoss and Elizabeth “Betsey” Lowe.1 He is believed to be the fourth of ten children born to the couple. While still in diapers, his parents, along with several of his father’s siblings’ families, packed up the family and journeyed westward into Indiana, settling in southeastern Daviess County, Indiana.  

Isaac remained on the family farm until the early to mid-1850s. He set out to make his own way, heading further westward, settling along the White River which separated Daviess County from Knox County to the west. On December 8, 1855, at the age of twenty-two, he married sixteen year old Louisa Reeve, daughter of Joseph Reeve and Sarah Ireland Reeve. The following June, Isaac acquired a land patent (certificate 39184) for thirty-three acres of land along the White River bottoms. 

Isaac and Louisa did not waste time starting a family. Samuel T was born in October 1856 and Marion followed four years later. Life as a farmer was then interrupted when the Civil War broke out. Isaac, Louisa’s brother Samuel, and many of their friends and neighbors enlisted for a three year stint in the Union Army, becoming a private of Company C of the 80th Indiana Infantry. They mustered in on September 8, 1862 at Princeton, Indiana, and marched to Covington, Kentucky, where they joined forces with several units from Ohio. The first year of service was spent mostly in Kentucky. Notable campaigns included fighting Confederate forces at Perryville led by Major General Braxton Bragg. The Regiment had movements in Tennessee before engaging in a number of battles in Georgia in 1864. They circled back through Alabama to Tennessee once more before heading east to North Carolina in 1865. The 80th finished their tour of duty in Salisbury until they mustered out on June 22, 1865, returning home to Indiana. Isaac left the military with the rank of corporal.2

Unfortunately, when Isaac did return to Edwardsport, he did so as a widow. Louisa passed away on April 18, 1864. The cause is currently unknown, however, both Louisa’s mother Sarah and her mother-in-law Betsey also died within months of Louisa. It is not known if their deaths are related or merely coincidental. A year later, young Marion also died of an unknown cause, not having reached his sixth birthday.

At the age of thirty-three, Isaac married sixteen year old Laura Johnson. Within a year she gave him another son, William, however he died a week later. Isaac continued to amass his land holdings and in 1872, he and Laura welcomed another son John Franklin DeMoss. Personal accounts provided by various family members referred to John as Richard or “Dickie Popcorn”.3 

Unlike some of his brothers-in-law (Louisa’s brothers), Isaac focused on farming and did not appear to branch into other trades or skills. He did, however, amass a sizeable amount of land in and around Vigo Township, mostly along the river. Much of this farmland was transferred to Samuel and Richard in the 1890s, as reported in the Vincennes papers.

Isaac took ill in the summer of 1900, contracting Rheumatic Fever. He suffered from this affliction for nearly three months, succumbing on October 19, 1900 at the age of sixty-seven.

  1. Biography of Samuel T. DeMoss, History of Old Vincennes and Knox County, IN, George E. Greene, 1911, p. 271. ↩︎
  2. Battle Unit Details, 80th Regiment, Indiana Infantry. National Parks Service website. ↩︎
  3. Reeve and Hulen Families, Helen E. Reeve, 1974.  ↩︎

Who is Harriett Murray and where did she go?

04 Tuesday Jul 2017

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Been a while, huh?  I am bound and determined to get one segment of the family tree published by the end of the year so here I am asking the hard questions once again.

I’m in the process of cleaning up my Winkler ancestors.  Good ol’ George is still throwing up road blocks, especially where this supposed half sister Harriett Murray is concerned.  According to the Historical and Biographical Atlas of Knox County, Indiana, George’s parents were George and Sophia (Gross) Winkler, and George was born in Tennessee.  I still can’t find any trace of them in 1860 or 1850 in Indiana, Kentucky or Tennessee.  It’s likely the surname was somehow misspelled.  At any rate, I’m not putting in too much effort to find them at this time.

Harriett Murray is another matter altogether. She shows up in 1880 living with my 3GGrandparents (George and Josephine) in Edwardsport and is listed as a half-sister to the head of the household, namely George.  So back to 1870 and 5 year old Harriett can be found with her parents Samuel and Sophia Murray  in the Wheatland area.  Samuel is listed as being 50 and Sophia 30.  If this Sophia is George’s mother, she would be more like 50, not 30.  It wasn’t uncommon for ages to be wrong on the census rolls back then.  In fact, there was a Samuel Murray who married a Sophia Dillon in nearby Daviess County in 1860.  It’s not completely out of the question that Sophia Dillon could be Harriett’s mother, instead of Sophia Gross.

So, it’s hard to say what happened to Samuel and Sophia between 1870 and 1880.  I’m guessing Sophia died.  Samuel may or may not have died.  It was commonplace for single dads, especially older ones, to dump their kids on the relatives.  The problem now if figuring out where Harriett went.  There aren’t any 1890 census records due to the fire at the Library of Congress, and vital records were crappy during that era.  Sadly, nothing is coming up in my search.

Harriett, where did you go?

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.