Aunt Angie

Angela Henn Bollinger Ver Ploeg
photo gifted me by Angie's cousin, JD (used with permission)
Click to make bigger

In early December, I started looking further up my Bennett line, having connected with a distant cousin (BJ) on that line who connected at the person I thought might be my 3^rd great grandfather (since we connected through my Dad’s DNA test, it’s more than likely that he is my 3^rd great grandfather!). BJ didn’t have a lot going down my line, so, this time, I had something to share. She did have some more on the early life of my 2^nd great grandfather, William Bennett, the one who left the “old country” to come to North America that I look forward to sharing in a future “prequel” post. Combining her information and mine, I’d also started finding more on his siblings and his parents, and I was so looking forward to sharing that with my family, especially my Aunt Angie, because she would be so interested. But I didn't get to share it with her.

My aunt Angie, Dad’s sister, died the Friday before Christmas. She was the one who led me into family history. She was fiercely proud of her family and did not want her family stories to be forgotten. She would send emails out to everyone detailing her memories of family stories. She would answer almost every question I asked her and was always excited by my newest discoveries, and, last summer, when I asked her to give me a DNA sample, she eagerly agreed. But now, I wish I had asked her more about herself and her life because in writing this post I realize that there is a lot I don’t know. Or rather, that I had asked more, and sooner, because I did ask her some questions about her own life but she was at first too busy packing to move, and then too sick, to have the energy to respond.  But I do want to share some of my Aunt Angie because she was one of the most admirable, fiercest, faith-filled women I know. She did not have an easy life but she fully lived the life she was given.

Angela Joy Henn was born to Owen Carl and Anna Mae Henn, their third child, and first daughter, on December 17, 1934. At that time, they lived at 39 Denison Ave. in a neighborhood southwest of Dayton Ohio. When Angie was a young child, her parents inherited $500 and bought property in Jefferson Township, Southwest of Dayton, initially moving into a one-room dirt-floored garage on the property while they built a home on the property. My granddad built the house by hand, room by room, with the help of his children. They moved into the house as it was built – after they finished the living room they moved out of the garage and into the living room and expanded out as more rooms were completed.

Henn Home in Jefferson Twp Montgomery County Ohio,
built by my grandpa and the kids.
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Angie helped her father and brothers build the house. In a book I compiled of my father’s memories of growing up, my Dad remembered one occasion when Angie, who was under eight years old, was helping their father put up the chimney, their father had jury-rigged a scaffold, and Angie was up on the scaffold helping him lay bricks, wearing a nail apron when she stepped on an apron string and fell off the scaffold. She fell through the kitchen ceiling below (which was mostly tarpaper at that point) and landed on the stove where her mother was cooking supper. Dad said that everyone was scared to death except Angie, and that his mother really lit into his father for having her up there.

My father remembered another time when Angie was gored while leading a goat which was pulling a cultivator in the garden. Another time she fell from the tongue of a trailer breaking her pelvis. Dad described his sister as “tough as a pine knot.”

Angie Henn, her father Owen Carl Henn, and her brothers,
gifted me by Angela's cousin M.S. (used with permission).
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In 1944, when Angie was 10 years old, her father was drafted into the Army, leaving her mom at home alone with four children, one an infant. She and the other kids wrote him every day while he was away and prayed for him each night. He wrote back to each one every day. Due to medical issues, he was discharged from the Army seven months and 22 days after he entered. 

In high school, Angie maintained good grades, studying at home by kerosene lamp. She was also very active in extracurricular activities, including Future Homemakers of America, Y teams, Try-Hi-Y ( "an organization associated with the YMCA which meant to create, maintain and extend throughout the home, school and community, high standards of moral character through improvement, sisterhood, equality, and service in High Schools"), the Girls Athletic Association, Basketball, Glee Club, school librarian, and Future Teachers of America.

Angela Joy Henn, 1952 Jefferson High School Yearbook, Sr. picture.
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After high school, she worked for a year  as a clerk for Otterbein Press typing letters then went to Manchester College in Manchester Indiana where she majored in psychology. She married a man she met in college on April 5, 1957, in Wabash County, Indiana and they both graduated from college a couple of months later. (This is a good place to note that, in my blog,  I do not name, or otherwise give identifying details about, people who are still living.) She and her then-husband moved to Delphi Indiana where he became a teacher in the local schools and the superintendent of the local Brethren church school. Their three children were born in the next seven years. The marriage was not an easy one.

Angela Henn Bollinger, her daughter, and eldest son, approximately 1961.
photo gifted me by Angie's cousin, M.S. (used with permission).
Click to make bigger.

In 1977, when Angela’s mother died, the family lived in Wakarusa Indiana. In 1979, tragedy struck and Angela’s oldest child, Melody Ann Bollinger died on June 12, 1979. The marriage ended in divorce shortly after that.

I don’t know much about the middle of my Aunt Angie’s life. I wish I’d been able to ask her more. (She liked to tell me about her parents and grandparents and bits of stories of other ancestors, but she never really said much about herself, or at least not about the middle years, and I, unfortunately, was too young to pay much attention to anything outside my own family at that time.) Most of what I know of this period, I know from family stories and/or listening in at Christmas gatherings over the years. I know that she helped support an immigrant family in Indiana, in the beginning as part of a mission of her church. She loved and supported  her younger two children who were just entering their 20’s and going to college and starting their own lives.  She was a strong advocate for children with Asperger’s and autism. I know that at various points that she worked as a real estate broker and owned in rental properties in Ohio and Tennessee, and that she worked as a school counselor and/or school psychologist for schools in Ohio and Tennessee. I know that, when in her forties, Angela decided to go back to school and obtain a graduate degree in school psychology. She moved to Tennessee then and took classes at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville while working for the Tennessee School for the Deaf. She *qualified for a Master degree in psychology and received a higher degree as an Educational Specialist, in 1984. She later regretted not taking the Master's degree because the Columbus school system gave a monthly bonus to employees with a Master's Degree, but no bonus for an Educational Specialist. 

Unfortunately, 1984 was not only a year of achievement for her; it also dealt her a serious blow when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. In the course of her fight against the disease, she had a *mono-lateral mastectomy of her left breast, chemo, and radiation. Eventually, she went into remission and we all believed she had beat it.

After leaving Tennessee, Angie moved to Ada Ohio to work as a school psychologist in the local schools. Per the city directory, she was there by 1986.  Angela met Dan Ver Ploeg through their shared passion for square dancing (a passion they shared for the rest of their lives). He was a chemist for an Ohio state agency. They fell in love. She moved to Columbus Ohio in 1987, where worked as a school psychologist in the Columbus, Ohio, city schools in 1987,  Angie’s favorite number was eight and on August 8, 1988 (8/8/88), they married. In 1999, Angie and her husband, both 69, retired in Ohio; but Angie wasn’t ready to quit and they began looking for their next adventure. After much discussion, they decided to move to Alaska. Angie obtained work with the South East Regional Resource Center which hired itinerant school psychologists to serve the more remote areas of Alaska. She was based out of Anchorage and served 40 schools in seven school districts. The schools ranged in size from 10 students to 500 students and she flew into those towns because many of them were not reachable by road: including the Alaskan Peninsula, the Yukon Flats, Bethel, Chevak, Hooper Bay, Beaver, Aleutians East, Arctic Village, Sand Point Island, Cold Bay, King Cove, Dillingham, and Tenana. She also continued to work as an advocate for children with Asperger’s, travel with her husband, and to square dance (they also gave square dancing demonstrations and helped teach beginners).

Map of Alaska
Copyright to Brad Cole at Geology.com
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Angie and her husband lived in Alaska -- he sometimes accompanying her on her trips to the schools with which she worked -- for 15 years, mostly in the first few years. In 2008, she cut her hours down to a one-third position due to some health concerns that adversely impacted her energy levels. In 2009, her doctors discovered that the cancer she had had in 1984 had never completely gone away and was back, at stage IV, as metastatic breast cancer (or, not in the breast this time, but scattered throughout her body, mainly in her lung, bones, and spine). She immediately began treatment and began to feel better than she had in the last year, despite the side effects of the treatments. Her square dancing stamina greatly improved and she continued to live with stage IV cancer, getting treatment every four weeks for a year and she felt better enough in a year to increase to a half-time position, serving five school districts in western Alaska for the 2009-2010 school year. In 2011, she discovered that the cancer had spread to her liver. Angie tried a new monthly chemo treatment which held her stable for another two years and she continued to serve the children in the remote school districts of Alaska. However, in 2014, the cancer progressed further and, at age 80, Angie and her husband decided to retire to Tennessee, where she had family, in 2015.

It was her turn to host the Henn family Christmas in 2015. She and her siblings (and, while alive, their parents) had met at Christmas-time (on a weekend before or after December 25), alternately sharing the hosting duties, every year since leaving the family home.  Initially, they brought their families with all the young cousins, and we all sang all the Christmas carols in two books, ate a delicious meal, exchanged gifts and talked for hours. As the cousins started moving into their own lives, the original siblings and their spouses continued to meet for the Henn Christmas every year, the now adult children (cousins) coming as they could.  Angie had never missed a Christmas. She and all of her siblings were all together for every Christmas of their lives (except one year when my father was in the Army during the Korean War). Angie died the Friday before Christmas, December 18, 2015, with her family beside her (the day after her 81st birthday). She was buried on December 22, 2015, near her daughter in New Paris Cemetery in New Paris, Elkhart County, Indiana. Rest in peace, Aunt Angie.

Aunt Angie

[*Edited, 1/5/16, to add corrections supplied by Angie's husband, Dan Ver Ploeg, who also gave me permission to use his name, and some new facts found pursuant to the clues given in his corrections and my other Aunt's memories spurred by Dan's comments. I'm happy to have the corrections. If anyone wishes to share information about Angie, please contact me.]

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Interviews of my father over a decade, compiled into a small book in or about 2008, pp. 5-6, 14; Email interviews of my aunts, uncle and Dad; Jefferson High School Yearbook 1952, U.S. School Yearbooks, 1880-2012, Ancestry.com, Provo, UT, USA; "Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007," database with images,FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:27KY-9GW,  ____ Bollinger and Angela Joy Henn, 05 Apr 1957, citing , Wabash, Indiana, county clerk offices, Indiana, FHL microfilm 2,240,269; Obituaries of Anna Mae Bennett Henn, from The Brown City Banner, Sanilac County Press, North Branch News, Thursday, September 15, 1977 & from The Dayton Daily News (Ohio), Thursday, September 8, 1977; City directories for Ada, Columbus, and Dayton, Ohio; Obituary of Angela Ver Ploeg, The Elkhart Truth; http://www.myaspergerschild.com/2009/06/aspergers-kids-social-skills-home.html; Angela Ver Ploeg (1934-2015) http://thewrongmonkey.blogspot.com/2015/12/angela-ver-ploeg-1934-2015.html; http://raijmr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/4_12-19-Faihan-Alotaibi.pdf; Bollinger-Ver Ploeg Wedding, Oskaloosa (Iowa) Herald, p.3; http://www.myaspergerschild.com/2009/06/aspergers-kids-social-skills-home.html; http://autism-matters.blogspot.com/2013/03/blog-review.html; “Journal of My Alaska Adventure” by Angela Ver Ploeg, 17 pp, emailed to me 3/5/09; cancer update emails from Angela Ver Ploeg to me (among others) dated 3 September 2008, 18 May 2009, 9 September 2011; 13 February 2014, and 19 November 2014.

52 Ancestors: #6 Abram Wolfington, 1810 - abt 1874

This week I am going to write about my 3rd Great Grandfather Abram Wolfington as part of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge begun by Amy Johnson Crow of the No Story Too Small blog. I had started to write about him last week when I all of a sudden had some significant breakthroughs in the life of his wife, my 3rd Great Grandmother, Elizabeth Manley Bixler Wolfington Moore, and I wrote about her instead. I've not had as much luck with Abram.

According to the 1850  and 1870 Censuses, Abram was born in North Carolina in approximately 1810. I think his parents were Abraham and Esther Wolfington, and, if so, Abram, is likely one of the two males under ten enumerated in the 1820 Census as part of Abraham Wolfington's family in Orange County Indiana. He doesn't seem to be accounted for as part of Abraham's family in the 1830 Census but I've not found him on his own yet that year; he would've have been approximately twenty in 1830.

I know that he was probably married prior to marrying my 3rd great-grandmother as he brought several children to that union: William (bn abt 1837), James (1839-1918), Marinda (bn about 1842), Eliza J (bn abt 1845), and Valentine (bn abt 1848). I have found a marriage between "Abraham Wolfington" and Lucinda Rodman on May 29, 1836, which occurred in Harrison Indiana. However I'm not certain yet that it is my 3rd great grandfather she wed, even though the timing would be right for the birth of William, for three reasons: 1) I've not found any other mention of her yet anywhere; 2) I've not found any other document placing Abram in in Harrison Co. Indiana; 3) no where else does Abram use the name "Abraham" until after his (probable) father dies. I have more research to do obviously!

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In 1850, at the time the Census was done Abram was living in Paoli, Indiana with his children, William, James, Marinda, and Eliza, and a 70 year old woman named Lydia Jackson, who may have been helping to care for the children and keep house -- the census does not say. It does say that Abram is a wool carder. 

Hi father died that year. His (probable) mother Esther Wolfington is found, in the 1850 Census, living alone in French Lick In, which is in the same county as Paoli.

Abram was 41 when he married my 3rd Great-grandmother, Elizabeth Manley Bixler, a young woman of 22 years of age, on March 30, 1851, in Orange County Indiana.  Over the course of their marriage, they have 8 children: Martha Emily (1852-1915, my 2nd great grandmother), Clarence (bn abt 1854), Isabel (bn abt 1856), Alfred (bn abt 1858), Annie (bn abt 1863), Emma (bn about 1863), Charles CR (bn abt 1867) and Clifford (bn abt 1867).  In 1860, he is still a wool carder, but in 1870, he described himself as a Teamster.

We know that he died in or before 1874 as my 3rd great-grandmother remarried in 1874 to a childhood friend of her deceased husband. (Mr. Moore's Findagrave.com memorial states that he "married Mrs. E.M. Wolfington the widow of a comrade of his boyhood.") My great-grandmother's notes say that he died "on the road to Kansas" as the family was moving there, but I've not yet found anything which confirms this, nor which gives me a death date.  More research to do!

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 [Great-grandmother's notes; Federal Census for 1820, 1830, 1850, 1860 and 1870,   (for  Abraham Wolfington, Esther Wolfington , and Abram Wolfington,); Kansas Findagrave.com Memorials #16972829; Orange County, Indiana, Index to Marriage Records 1826-1920.]

52 Ancestors: #5 Elizabeth Manley Bixler Wolfington Moore, 1828 - 1913

Here I am typing away at the last minute again for my weekly submission to this week 52 Ancestors project as begun by Amy Johnson Crow of the No Story Too Small blog. However, this time I'm fairly certain that I will be too late so I'm not going to worry about it, and will likely just have two in the count for next week.

Last night I started out with the intention to write about my 3rd Great grandfather Abram Wolfington as he is currently the end of a branch, but as I always do before writing one of these I tried to see if I could find one more tidbit about him, and in so doing I started reviewing my great-grandmother's notes (Pearl Pauline Bailey Snyder, 1891-1978) again and doing searches on both Abram and his wife Elizabeth Manley Bixler (who I didn't have much on), including re-checking previously ignored hints. And, all of a sudden, things started falling into place for Elizabeth Manley Bixler, and...several hours after midnight, I had (the start of) a life for her and the beginnings of another generation beyond as well! And all due to great-grandmother's notes, which while not altogether right, assuredly helped me figure out what were the correct hints. Thank you, great-grandmother!

So, I thought this time that I would set out here a transcription of the pertinent parts of great-grandmother's notes on her grandmother (she mixes people together in writing about the family from one sentence to the next; these are the portions I used to help me with research on Elizabeth M.):

"My grandmother (Mama's mother) was a Methodist through and through - when she came to visit us she came alone clear from Kansas. She stayed with us a few years, then she got homesick for Kansas and went back alone. She was tall and stately. She acted the part. She was a real 'lady', in every  way. She had long, thick, medium brown hair and brown eyes. ....Grandma  married a man by name of Moore (Hanns). Mama's sister Anna married his (Moore's) son. ... Mama's sister Belle had three girls and one boy; I've forgotten who she married. Lydia never married; Ella had three girls: Grace, Bird & Fern.

"I have no idea where Papa met Mama, but she was born in Paola Indiana. She went (or started) with her parents to Kansas. She had one or two brothers. One named Clifford, other may have been Clarence. Mama's maiden name was Wolfington. ...Her mother's name was Bixler. They lived along the Maumee River close to  Ft. Meigs at Maumee OH. They lived a short while on Chamberlin Hill in Findlay Ohio. All this must have been before they started west because Mama's father died on the trip west. He died from pneumonia."

Elizabeth Manley Bixler was born in Ohio, in approximately 1828, to Abraham and Sarah Bixler (Manley appears to be a middle name). I don't know where in Ohio yet, and I don't know how long they lived there or Sarah's maiden name. Elizabeth's parent's were born in Virginia, and after living in Ohio for some time, moved the family to Indiana. By 1850 Elizabeth and her father were living in the home of her brother Levi, along with her brothers Jacob and Salothel, in Poesy, Washington County Indiana.

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 On March 30, 1851, Elizabeth married Abram Wolfington, in Orange County, Indiana.  She was 22 and he was 41. He had several children already from a prior marriage that I haven't found yet: William (bn abt 1837), James (1839-1918), Marinda (bn about 1842), Eliza J (bn abt 1845), and Valentine (bn abt 1848).

Elizabeth and Abraham had several children over the years: Martha Emily (1852-1915, my 2nd great grandmother), Clarence (bn abt 1854), Isabel (bn abt 1856), Alfred (bn abt 1858), Annie (bn abt 1863), Emma (bn about 1863), Charles CR (bn abt 1867) and Clifford (bn abt 1867).

In 1860, Elizabeth and Abraham were sharing their home Paoli, Indiana, with William (23), Marinda (19), Valentine (12), Clarence (6), Isabel (4), and Alfred (2).   In 1870, Elizabeth and Abraham were still living in Paoli, Orange County, Indiana, with William (now 33), Martha Emily - called Emily (18), Clarence (16), Isabel - called Belle (14), Emma (7) and Charles CR (3). Apparently Annie wasn't home when the Census taker came through this time, unless she and Emma are the same person.

Abraham died before 1874. I don't know yet if it was on the road to Kansas as my great-grandmother said. I do know that she married Solomon Moore (1822-1898), a boyhood friend of her deceased husband, in about 1874. Solomon had been born in Orange County, Indiana, and in 1850 had lived just down the road from Elizabeth's former mother-in-law (Abraham's mother, Esther Wolfington). So he was someone Elizabeth likely knew well and trusted. His wife had died only 4 years before he married Elizabeth. Solomon would have been around 54 and Elizabeth about 46 years old. They both would have needed someone to help them raise their children.

In 1880, Elizabeth (52) and Solomon (60) were living and farming in Hayes, Kansas in Franklin County, with his son Hance (20, bn abt 1860), and her children Annie (17) and Clifton (13).  [Clifford and Clifton are probably the same person.]

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Elizabeth's daughter Annie did marry Solomon's son Hance, in approximately 1882 (it apparently worked since they were still together in 1930 in Chanute, Kansas).

By 1895, Solomon (73) had evidently retired, because when he and Elizabeth (68) were counted in the Kansas state census, he no longer described himself as a farmer. (She was now claiming to be two years older than she was.) They are living down the road from Solomon's second youngest son George (probable). Solomon died three years later on February 20, 1898, of Bright's Disease (acute kidney disease, per wikipedia).

Elizabeth outlived Solomon by 15 years, dying on July 25, 1913 at age 84. She is buried with Solomon in the High Prairie Cemetery in Altoona, Kansas.

So with Elizabeth living to 1913 and Pearl Pauline being born in 1891, Elizabeth would have been alive for my great-grandmother's first 22 years. She probably didn't come and stay "for years" while her husband was alive, so it was probably after 1898. I haven't found the trip back to Findlay, Ohio yet.

I also haven't found her early years in Ohio yet, other than her listing her birth state as Ohio on every census. I haven't found anyone near Ft. Meigs (that would be Perrysburg now). I did find her marriage  to my 3rd great grandfather and they were living in Paoli (not Paola), Indiana, when my 2nd great-grandmother was born, and continued to live there most of their married lives. I found her sons Clifford and Clarence, and daughters Anna and Belle, but  Lydia and Ella belong to Pearl Pauline's Bailey grandparents and not to the Wolfingtons (I double-checked the Baileys about Lydia and Ella).

 I haven't yet figured out the reason for the move to Kansas or whether it was with my 2nd great grandfather or later. She did marry "a man by the name of Moore" and her daughter Annie did marry his son (it was the son that was named Hance, though.)

Great-Grandma's notes are good clues but are mostly hearsay evidence. They make good starting or somewhat corroborating evidence but are not to be taken as gospel.

It will be interesting to see what else might fit with in her stories. Always more to find!

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[Great-grandmother's notes; Federal Census for 1830, 1850, 1870,  1880, and 1930 (for Abraham Bixler, Esther Wolfington, Abraham Wolfington, Abram Wolfington, Elizabeth Bixler Wolfington Moore, Solomon Moore, Hance Moore, Annie/Anna Wolfington Moore and Jane Wilson); Kansas Census for 1895; Kansas Findagrave.com Memorials #16972829 and #52136322; Orange County, Indiana, Index to Marriage Records 1826-1920.] 

52 Ancestors: # 4 Edward Carleton Bailey (1849-1926)

This is my 4th entry in the 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks challenge put forth by Amy Johnson Crow of  the No Story Too Small blog.

Edward Carleton Bailey (1849-1926)
Posted with permission of Christina Inman
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Edward Carleton Bailey is one of my 2nd Great Grandfathers on my maternal lines (he is the father of my grandpa’s mother).  I know a bit more about him than I do about some of the folks I’ve been writing about recently, but even so I’ve got some gaping holes.

I’m lucky in this instance to have a few pages written by my great-grandmother (GGM), Pauline Bailey Snyder, Edward’s youngest daughter, of her recollections of her parent’s family and ancestors and those of her husband as well, and I’ve been able to use them to help confirm whether records I found were related to the right family. On the other hand, I’ve discovered that while her recollections are largely correct, they are not entirely right when they rest on hearsay – at times her facts get somewhat twisted, and on other occasions she's repeating the family legend which seems, so far, to be apocryphal. In any case, I am extremely grateful to my great-grandmother for writing out her recollections and leaving them for later generations.

Edward C. Bailey was born on 12 November 1849 in Union Township, Mifflin County, PA (see picture below)  to James and Maria Bailey.[1]  My great grandmother says that James was Scots-Irish and Methodist, and that Maria (whom she knew as Sarah Williams, “her first name may have been Maria”) was full blooded Welch, Quaker by birth, and “a straight line descendant  from the Roger Williams who founded Rhode Island.” [2] I have been unable to verify any of GGM’s description of the lineage of Edward’s parents as  I have not been able to find them before 1850. I've also not been able to confirm that Maria is related to the Roger Williams of Rhode Island.

Mifflin County PA

As a baby, Edward was evidently known as Carlton, as that is how he is listed in the 1850 Census, when he was one year old. Both his parents are listed as being born in Pennsylvania and both are 34 years old (so born approximately 1816). The census lists his siblings as John, age 7; Anna M., 5; and Lydia, 3. [3] My GGM recalls his brothers and sisters as John “who was killed in the Civil War”; Richard or Dick, “who had a family of several girls – I remember three of their names – Dove, Mabel, and Pin – there were four but I’ve forgotten the other name”; Ella “a housewife”; Lydia “a trained nurse”; and James “who bred fine Kentucky horses”. (None of the descriptors are confirmed yet). I assume Richard, Ella, and James are younger than Edward Carlton since they weren’t on the 1850 Census but I don’t know for sure as I’ve not found Edward’s parents or siblings in any other Census, yet.*

GGM told me, via her notes, that her father had served in the Civil War, and I confirmed this when I searched Fold3.com and found his service index card and his pension index card showing  he had filed  for an invalid pension in 1884 (granted). It noted that he had enlisted as a private in Company D of the 192 Regiment of the Pennsylvania Infantry, on February 10, 1865. [4] I subsequently found him on the Company D, 192^nd regiment Infantry Roster, which indicated he had mustered in on February 15, 1865 (lying about his age and telling them he was 17 – he would have been 15 then)  under Captain Andrews and mustered out with the whole Company on August 24, 1865. [5] In the spring of 1865, nine new companies were recruited to the regiment, which reported as fast as organized, to the commander of the Middle Military Division, with headquarters at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. When the spring campaign opened, the regiment moved up the valley to Staunton and Lexington, and after Lee’s  and Johnston’s surrenders, assisted with the decommissioning of the Confederate armies in the Shenandoah Valley and with . The fighting was substantially over.  It was, however, retained in the department, engaged in various duties, until the 21th of August, when it was mustered out of service. [6] I have no idea how or where Edward was injured. I intend to order his pension records from the National Archives.

I then lost Edward again for ten years, and next found him in Ottawa, Kansas, in 1875, with his wife, Emma, and 4 month old child, Howard, on the Kansas State Census; it states he is a boilermaker. [7] He had married my 2^nd great-grandmother Martha Emily (called Emma)  Wolfington in 1874. [8] She was born and lived in Paoli, IN. (I have no idea how they met and neither did GGM, although she did say that “Mama went (or started) with her parents to Kansas.”). By 1880, the family had moved to Anderson, Kansas where Edward was a fruit grower, and the couple had three more children: Howard W. was now 5, Granville W. was 4, Lloyd W. was 3, and Myrtle was 5 months old. [9] In 1884,Edward submitted his request for a military invalid pension and it was granted.[4]

By 1900, Edward has moved his family to Findlay OH; he is 50 and states that he is a blacksmith. Living at home with them are Howard, age 25; Floyd age 23; Myrtle, age 20; James, age 17; and Pearl Pauline (my GGM), age  9. The city directories show the family living at 519 Hull Avenue, and lists Edward as a blacksmith through 1914. [8, 10] He worked as a blacksmith at the Buckeye Traction Ditcher Company in Findlay for 18 years. [1]

Edward’s wife Emma died in or about 1914. [1] His daughter, Myrtle was still single and still living at home. She applied for a passport to China in 1916 and subsequently lived much of the rest of her life there as a missionary (I wrote a post on her life here. Do read it; it’s fascinating!) By 1918, Edward had married Martha Emily’s sister Isabel Wolfington Wells .[10] (She had been previously married to John Wells, in Kansas [11]).  The couple lived at Edward’s house at 519 Hull St. In 1923, at age 74, he is listed as a fruit grower. [10] I hope it is as a hobby rather than out of necessity.

In 1925 and 1926, he was ill for most of the time and spent March through June 1926 mostly bedfast.  He died on June 30, 1926, at the home of his daughter, Pearl Pauline (Mrs. Philip A Snyder). [1]

His obituary stated that he was a member of the Stoker Post G.A.R. and had converted to the Assemblies of God Church where he had been an Elder and a Deacon for many years.   He was survived by six of his eight children of his first marriage (Homer W. Bailey, Lloyd Weldon Bailey, Myrtle Bell Bailey, Pearl Bailey Snyder, all of Findlay Ohio, and Lloyd Wellington Bailey and James Bailey, of Toledo Ohio) his 2^nd wife, Isabel, and one brother, Richard H Bailey of Vandergrift PA. Edward was buried in the Maple Grove Cemetary. [1]

[*UPDATE: I've subsequently found out that Edward's father died in 1858, but his mother was still living in 1860 and was living with her are her daughters Lydia Marie, Eliza Jane, and Rebecca Ella, and her son James -- I still don't know where John, Edward and Richard are that year. In 1870, Edward's Mother has remarried, to Samuel Huber, and she is living with Samuel and his son, and her son James, and her daughter, Ella. Edward's mother lives through the 1900 census. See Mariah/Maria's story.]

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I want to:
Find Edward's parents, James Bailey & Maria Sarah Williams (if that is her last name)
Find Edward's siblings
Get Edward's military pension file.
Find Birth, marriage (2), and death records
Find out if Edward's brother died in Civil War

I'd really like to know why Edward left PA to go to Kansas, where he met Emma, and why they left Kansas to go to Findlay Ohio, and what happened to Isabel after Edward's death?


[1] Edward C Bailey Obituary, Findlay Morning Republican, July 1, 1926, p. 12; newspaperarchive.com.
[2] Family record. Pearl Pauline Bailey's notes. Copy .
[3] 1850 U.S. Census, Union Township Mifflin County PA
[4] Index Card for Civil War Pensions: http://www.fold3.com/image/5844937/; Index to Civil War Service Record: http://www.fold3.com/image/288562900/.
[5] http://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/192nd_Regiment,_Pennsylvania_Infantry
http://www.pa-roots.com/pacw/infantry/192nd/192dcoe1yr.html; Records of the Department of Military and Veterans' Affairs REGISTERS OF PENNSYLVANIA VOLUNTEERS, 1861-1865. Volume 13: 160th-171st, 188th, 190th-192nd Regiments.
[6]http://www.pa-roots.com/pacw/infantry/192nd/192dorg.html;http://vshadow.vcdh.virginia.edu/OR/augusta1865.html
[7] 1875 Kansas State Census, Ottawa, Franklin, Kansas; Ancestry.com.. Kansas State Census Collection, 1855-1925[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009.
[8] 1900 U.S. Census, Findlay, Ward 6, Hancock Ohio
[9] 1880 U.S. Census, Anderson Kansas
[10] Findlay City Directory, Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.
[11] 1900 U.S. Census, Chanute, Neosho, Kansas.

52 Ancestors: Ancestor #1 Crawford Erwin, 1818-1910

[Picture property of Jimmie Ferguson, Bowling Green Kentucky, used with permission. Click to embiggen.]

Crawford Erwin is my third great grandfather, and it is through researching his family that I connected with my first previously unknown cousin, a third cousin once removed, Jimmie Ferguson. He had several photographs of our mutual several times great grandfather and he graciously allowed me to use the photo above for my blog. Jimmie is descended through Crawford’s son ,Edward, from his second wife, and I am descended through Crawford’s second son from his first marriage.

I’ve done several posts about others in Crawford Erwin’s family. He is the son of Judge William Erwin and the father of John Erwin and Eli Erwin. They have been easier than some to write about as biographical sketches of several family members were written up in History of Wayne and Clay Counties, Illinois", published in 1884.

The book describes Crawford Erwin as one of Hoosier Township's "best and most prominent farmers." He would have been sixty-six when it was published. Crawford was born on April 19, 1818, in Lawrence County, Indiana, when his father was 40 and his mother was 35. His father, William Erwin, moved with part of his family, including Crawford and two of his brothers, to Clay County in October, 1832.  Crawford was fourteen at the time.  

Crawford Erwin was “brought up among the deer and other wild animals, and hence early learned the use of fire-arms. He has killed many a deer and other wild game.  At one time, upon returning home from taking his grandmother to his aunt's, he saw a herd of seven deer. He at once brought his gun to his shoulder (for they always carried guns then), and fired without getting off the horse.  The ball passed entirely through the deer he had shot at, and entered another one just in the rear, killing both of them. This was a wonderful feat for a boy. “ (I think it was pretty amazing since he likely had a muzzle loading rifle. It probably also was a flintlock rifle. Percussion rifles had just been invented in the 1820’s and were more expensive and thus not likely to have been given to a boy. The U.S. army had adopted an early single shot breech loader in 1819; but again, given the expense, it is doubtful that a boy had one.) 

In 1837, when he was 19 years old,  he married Eliza A. Craig (my third great-grandmother), daughter of Adam Craig, an early settler of Clay county; she was also 19. They had seven children, two of whom  died in childhood, in 1852, (Sarah Jane, 13, and Elbert, 16 mos.); those who survived to adulthood were William, John, Eli, Lafayette, and Elizabeth Adeline. Eliza died in February 1855, and Crawford again married, July 3 of the same year; this time to Mrs. Rachel Humes Milligan. (While this might seem like unseemly haste, Crawford was a farmer, which would have involved long hours in the fields, or hunting for meat for his family, and when Eliza died, their youngest surviving child was only one year old, and the rest were boys of 7, 12, 14, and 17. He needed someone to care for his youngest sons and baby daughter.) Rachel also likely needed a man to help provide for her children as the 1860 Census shows four children under 15 with Rachel’s prior married name living with Crawford and Rachel. He and Rachel had another five children together, two of whom were living in 1884 when the county history book was published, Angeline and Edward Everett. 

[Crawford Erwin seated with second wife Rachel Humes Milligan Erwin. Back row, standing (L to R): Angeline Erwin Britten, John Erwin (my 2nd great- grandfather), Edward Everett Erwin (Jim Ferguson's great-grandfather), and Elizabeth Adeline Erwin Kenley Henderson. (kindly given to me by Jim Ferguson, 9/23/13, and used with permission.) The gentleman with the medal is my 2nd-great-grandfather, John. The one labeled "Grandpa" is Jimmie Ferguson's 2nd-great-grandfather, Edward. They are half brothers. (Click to embiggen.)]

When the Civil War broke out Crawford’s three oldest sons left to fight for the North in the Missouri Volunteer Infantry, and his fourth son fought for the North in the Illinois Infantry.  Crawford's eldest son, Capt. William Erwin, Captain of Company D, Eleventh Regiment Missouri Volunteer Infantry, was killed in front at Spanish Fort, Ala., while “heroically leading his men on to victory”.  His third son, Eli, a private, was badly wounded at the Battle of Shiloh; and, while records show he survived in hospital a few months, he never made it home. His second son John was wounded in his first service but returned to fight again, and survived the war, to return to Clay County. The youngest of the four, Lafayette, also survived, and subsequently moved to California.

At the time the county history book was written, Crawford owned 347 acres of land and resided along the northern township line (sort of in the central portion) of Hoosier Prairie, Clay County, Illinois (see picture below, click to embiggen). He was a member of the Methodist Protestant Church, and of the Masonic order. For ten years, in addition to being a farmer, he held the office of Justice of the Peace, and “also has held other offices of trust”. 

Rachel Erwin died in 1893 at age 70, and apparently Crawford liked being married, as he married Elizabeth Adams the next year. She was 69 and he was 76. He was widowed again by 1910, and living in the home of Clara and Thomas McWilliams; the 1910 census lists Crawford as a step-father in that household. I haven’t figured out whether one of the two was a child of Rachel Humes Mulligan who wasn’t living with them after their marriage, a child of Elizabeth Adams, or whether he married yet again after Elizabeth Adams died. Crawford died on December 2, 1910, at the age of 92.

["History of Wayne and Clay Counties, Illinois” published 1884 by Chicago: Globe Publishing,historical Publishers, reprinted 2000 by Brookhaven Press , LaCrosse Wisconsin, (Google ebook, scanned), pp. 185 & 186 of original, pp. 655 & 656 of Google eBook scan;  Find-a-Grave: Illinois; Federal Census for 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910; Illinois, Marriages, to 1850 and 1851-1900[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Volume 1, page 222, Lic # 2950, Clay County; Ancestry.com. U.S., Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, 1860-1918 (database on-line). Photos from Jimmie Ferguson, used with permission.]

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First pass of Mom’s Maternal line

In the past week I got as far as it appears I can on this first pass through of my Mom’s mother’s side of the family. Earlier, in the Catching You Up post, I explained how far I’d gotten up Mom’s maternal grandmother’s line in this first pass and posted a picture of the direct line pedigree chart starting from Fannie (Hartman) Hart Erwin (which involved the following surnames: Diehl, Hart, Hartman, Meyers, Speicher, Whonsetler, Wonsetler/Wonsettler, and Zimmerman). Since then, I’ve been researching Mom’s maternal grandfather’s family, and have gotten as far as I can go on this first not-so-very-in-depth pass. I’ve got some good hints as to where I’ll be going in the next step up in general, on several of the lines, but I just can’t find/make the next connection using the family papers I have, Ancestry.com, Google EBooks for county history books, Fold3.com, Google, and Newspapers.com, alone, right now.  [Yes, I know I originally said I’d stick to Ancestry.com for the first pass – I got enticed and distracted. ; ) ]

Mom’s maternal grandfather’s family tree, as I have it now, looks like this (click to embiggen):

It involves folks with the following surnames: Conley, Cosner, Craig, Erwin, Lewis, Miller, Wilson. 

I can tell that in the next pass I will be doing a lot more research into North Carolina, as I have indication in the documentation I have that nearly everyone I lost the trail of was born in or spent some time in North Carolina. It shows that Judge William Erwin & his wife Lydia Lewis were born in North Carolina, as were both Henry Conley, his father John, and his father John, and Henry’s wife Sarah Cosner. I have some indication that Judge William Erwin’s father, William, may have been born in Ireland. Adam Craig may have at one point been in Tennessee, since his daughter, Eliza Ann, was born in that state, but I really know very little about him. I know nothing about either John Conley's (1776-1853) wife or his mother.

Putting together the charts for my Mom's maternal line, the direct line chart of my maternal grandmother (Mom’s Mother, Mabel Erwin), as I have it now, looks like this (click to embiggen):

I’ve been reading up on lots of other possible types of searches for the second pass. That pass will take more time and more patience. I can see now too, that I will probably take some time off searching between the two passes to create and/or organize my physical files in a much better way as that will help me make a better and more successful search ultimately. I will probably also be sending out emails/letters to older relatives requesting memories/stories they have of their relatives/ancestors as those would both help my search and provide body & color to the bare bones of my document search to help me know my ancestors more as people. But first I must finish the first pass of the rest of the family.

This weekend I started the first pass of my mother’s paternal line of the family. I have some help with this side in the form of handwritten remembrances of her own family and family tree, and that of her husband, by my great grandmother, Pearl Pauline Bailey.  I started by entering her remembered connections and names as she wrote them into Ancestry.com and waited overnight for little wiggling leaves to show up to hopefully verify her memories. I’ve already discovered that her remembrances of family history aren’t entirely accurate. So, while it’s a start, it all must be verified. Fun!

Ancestor Highlight: William "Judge" Erwin, 1777-1837, my 4th great grandfather

      William Erwin, my 4th great grandfather, was born in central and lived in North Carolina from 1777 until approximately 1810. He moved with his family to Indiana Territory in about 1810, locating in what became Clark County, Indiana.  He served for some years as a Magistrate of the Indiana Territory, appointed by Territorial Governor William Henry Harrison (who was later President of the U.S., for one month). The Indian Territory consisted of what is now Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and parts of Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio.

In l8l5 he moved to what became Lawrence county, Indiana, just a year later when Indiana became a state in December 1816. In that county, he became widely known, serving for a time as County Judge.  He was described as a ”man of fine abilities, and… integrity”.  His commissions as County Judge were signed by Jonathan Jennings, as Governor of the state of Illinois, and R. A. New, as Secretary of State.

Judge William Erwin and three of his sons, Jarrett L., David and Crawford (my 3rd great grandfather), moved from Indiana, and settled in Clay County Illinois, in October, 1832. Judge Erwin, as he was known, bought his first tract of land there, 80 acres, in 1833. The Erwins were influential citizens, and did much toward building up schools and churches, and developing the county. Judge William Erwin was a member of the County Board in 1834.

The first school taught in the Hoosier Prairie was by Judge Erwin, at his own home, and attended by all in reach. Young men would also come from other neighborhoods and board in the vicinity in order to attend the school. “The school was taught by Judge William Erwin, in a log cabin in the Judge’s own door-yard, and the seats consisted of split poles with pins in them for leg's; the floor was of puncheon, and the window was simply a log out of one side of the cabin, with nothing over the aperture. They however kept a plank with which they covered this crack when the weather was too cold. The room was warmed by a huge fire-place, and the chimney was made of sticks and mud.” (p. 149 of History of Wayne and Clay Counties, Illinois; Chicago: Globe Publishing, Historical Publishers, 1884; Reprint published by Brookhaven Publishers 2000.)

Judge Erwin died August 4, 1837, and was the first person buried in the Erwin Cemetery. The land occupied by this cemetery was once selected by him for a building site for his home, but he afterward changed his mind in regard to it, and upon his death his friends buried him there.

[Facts drawn from “History of Lawrence, Orange and Washington Counties, Indiana: From the Earliest time to the Present; Together with Interesting Biographical Sketches, Reminiscenses, Note, etc.” Chicago: Goodspeed Bros. & Co., Publishers, 1881, Digitized by Google, pp. 103-104, 249-250;  A biographical sketch of Capt Hugh Erwin, in The History of Cherokee County, Kansas included within the History of Kansas by William G. Cutler, published by A.T. Andreas, 1883; “History of Wayne and Clay Counties, Illinois; Chicago: Globe Publishing, Historical Publishers, 1884, Reprint published by Brookhaven Publishers 2000; digitized by Google, pp. 449, 451; Wikipedia: Indiana Territory (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_Territory); Web: Illinois, Find-a-grave Index, 1809-2012 (found at http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=ER&GSpartial=1&GSbyrel=all&GSst=16&GScntry=4&GSsr=6041&GRid=30322381&); the  United States Federal Census of 1790, 1800, 1810, 1820, and 1830; and U.S. General Land Office Records, 1996-1907.]