b. 1800

Will Miller b. 1850

/ Kirstin Miller

Will Miller 3rd great uncle on RootsMagic tree

Miller, William

Will Miller, a public photo shared on Ancestry

Will was born February 2, 1850 in Elkhart, Indiana, the 8th of 10 children of Jacob and Sarah Davis Miller. On the 1850 census, the Miller family was living on a farm, Will was just born. The 1860 census shows Sarah as a widow with her youngest 6 children living with her, an older daughter has married and moved to Iowa. By 1870 William was in Black Hawk County, Iowa with his mom and siblings. Will worked on a farm, was 20 years old and attended school sometime during the year. In 1880 Will lived with his mom age 66 and his niece Ellen Mitchell age 21. The next record for Will is not until 1920 when he was in Seattle Washington, 70 years old, a night watchman.

This move across the country seems a stretch but a residence source and then a death record in Seattle in 1930 confirm his move to the west coast. Will was born during the creation of the western states. When he lived in Iowa in 1870 the state was 20 years old. When he was in Seattle, Washington the state was about 20 years old with a population of 300,000. If his missing years 30 from 1890 to 1920 were spent moving west, he saw the country created and maybe lived in new states and kept moving further west.

Will didn’t marry and lived to age 80, he died in 1930. He died of heart disease his parent’s names are on his death record and he was cremated.

Sources

Martin Roose b. 1891

/ Kirstin Miller

Martin Roose great uncle on RootsMagic tree.

Martin Roose was named after his grandpa Martin Wisbar and born on July 14 1891, the 2nd of 7 children of Johann and Lena Wisbar Roose. Martin’s older brother was George Roose, dad of Stanley Roose, Stanley and Martin shared a birthday. George, Martin and siblings grew up on their family farm, with their St Bernard dog Watch, in Jackson Township, Butler County, Iowa.

On June 12, 1917 Martin married Lillian Sinram. They had a daughter, Leona, in 1918 and a son, Harlan, in 1919, both children died young. Two daughters were born in 1923 and 1931. Their dad bought them a pony in 1936, “Dorothy and Margery Roose are the proud owners of a pony purchased Saturday by their father, Martin Roose for their pleasure and enjoyment.”

The 1930 census shows Martin, sister Minnie Roose Hahn, sister Mattie Roose Harms and brother George, all neighbors in Jackson township ‘1 mile north of primary 10’. Martin is No. 51, Minnie 52, George 54 and Mattie 55.

In 1939 youngest brother Joe Roose held a cornhusking contest on his farm. Martin, Joe and George Roose all competed in the contest, a man from Parkersburg won, “husked a net load of 1020 pounds of corn during the 80 minutes”.

Martin died in Clarksville November 16, 1950 age 59. He had heart trouble for a few years, cause of death was a heart attack. Both Martin and Lillian Sinram Roose are buried at Lynwood Cemetery in Clarksville, Iowa.

Roose, Martin 1929 Hart Parr tractor

1929 Hart Parr tractor

1929 Hart Carr tractor in full color

1929 Hart Carr tractor in full color

In 1989 Martin was in the Clarksville newspaper when his 1929 Hart Parr tractor was featured at the Cedar Falls Threshers Reunion. HIs daughter Dorothy and her husband kept the tractor then sold it, the new owner completely restored it. Black and white photo is from the 1989 Clarksville Star newspaper, a copy, the color photo is from a website, not Martin’s actual tractor but a similar model.

Sources

Entje Frerichs b. 1871

/ Kirstin Miller

Entje Frerichs 3rd great aunt on RootsMagic tree.
Entje was born March 26, 1871 in Aurich Lower Saxony Germany also called East Frisia, Ostfriesland, Germany. She was the 4th of 5 children of Casjen and Kunna. Entje was 12 when she and her family sailed on the ship America, to America. They landed in Baltimore on October 10, 1883 and went straight to Iowa.
In 1890 in Parkersburg, Iowa, Entje and her sister Hilka were confirmed at Ebenezer Lutheran Church in Butler Center, Iowa. On March 12,1891 Entje married John Henrichs, His family was also from Germany, and Entje’s brother Enno married John’s sister Antje. Entje and John farmed in Jefferson Township near Butler Center and Ebenezer Lutheran Church, both the church and town are no longer around. Entje and John had 5 children. A daughter was named Kunna after Entje’s mom. All were baptized in the Ebenezer Lutheran Church. Kunna’s baptism record and Entje’s confirmation record are mix of written German and English words.

  • Entje and Hilka Frerichs confirmanden!!
  • Kunna Henrichs 1892 baptism

The Ebenezer Lutheran Church congregation talked through the years about which language to use in church services. In 1921 they voted for German language services, by 1930 services were alternate Sundays one in German, one in English. A pastor resigned: he’d been a pastor for 40 years, he spoke both High and Low German, but didn’t speak much English. By 1940 the church held one German service and two English services.
Entje died at age 65 and is buried at Butler Center Cemetery with her husband. They have a large Hinrichs [Henrichs] stone and a smaller Mother and Father stone. Entje’s 1936 obituary in the Clarksville (Iowa) Star newspaper included her husband, 2 sons, 3 daughters and 14 grandkids.

Sources

  • U.S. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Church Records, 1781-1969. Congregational Records Iowa Parkersburg Bethel page 10 image 16 of 173. Ancestry . com
  • U.S., Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Records, 1875-1940. Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Iowa Parkersburg Bethel page 60 image 35 of 298. Ancestry . com
  • Clarksville (Iowa) Star, 1872-2017, 1936 Jul 2 page 1 of 8 column 4 top.
  • Find a Grave memorial 111232991 

Richard Mockford b. 1802

/ Kirstin Miller

Richard Mockford 4th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree.

Richard Mockford was born June 1, 1802 in Brighton, Sussex, England. In Brighton on February 13, 1830 Richard, a bachelor  married Elizabeth Green, a spinster. Elizabeth and Richard had 8 children. The Mockford family lived in Brighton, Sussex, then Burdock, Cornwall, England. On the England  1851 and 1861 censuses Richard was a miller.  

By 1863 Richard and his wife were living in New York state. They joined their sons Henry and William who migrated earlier. They all settled in western New York, Monroe County, near Rochester on Lake Ontario about 30 miles east of Niagara Falls.
In 1863 Richard was on a New York tax list, “Richard Mockford of Brockport, Retail dealer, 6.67 in taxes”.

A Rochester, NY business directory from 1863 has Richard Mockford listed as a baker and flour broker. The same directory described Monroe County, the towns of Batavia and Brockport, where the Mockfords lived, known for its ‘fine wheat’. Also in the same directory: a House for Idle and Truant Children and the Rochester Home for the Friendless.

Richard died in 1867, his wife Elizabeth lived 10 more years. They both lived to see many grandchildren born in Monroe County, New York including Richard Mockford who made the 1,000 mile journey to Iowa where he married Matilda Flood and they had a child Philippa Mockford, mom of Elizabeth Speedy.

Sources

  • England Sussex parish registers 1538-1910 database. There’s an image, copyrighted and viewable at FamilySearch.org. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DRP3-Z3B?i=185
  • 1863 U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 page 37 at Ancestry
  • 1851 and 1861 England census databases at FamilySearch.
  • US IRS Tax Assessment Lists 1862-1918 New York District at Ancestry. 

Mehitable Angell b. 1800

/ Kirstin Miller

Mehitable Angell 6th great aunt on RootsMagic tree.
Mehitable was born January 31, 1800 in Johnston, Rhode Island to Israel and Susannah Luther Angell. Israel Angell’s life is documented because he was a Colonel in the American Revolution and he and General George Washington wrote letters back and forth. Israel also explored the west from August 4 to October 9, 1788. The ‘west’ only went as far as Ohio, Israel kept a journal of his travels, these are published in Rhode Island History magazine of January and April, 1963. Israel’s kids would have heard stories of his western travels. Only 2 of his 17 kids moved west: Mehitable and her younger brother Henry.

Mehitable married William Wilkinson. Henry married William’s sister Eliza Wilkinson and they all moved across the country, first stop Hennepin, Illinois where they were on the 1850 census. Henry and his family stayed there in Illinois. Mehitable and her family went 200 miles further west to Jefferson Township in Buchanan County, Iowa where they were on the 1856 Iowa census. When the Wilkinson’s set up their home it would have been on acres and acres of prairie- Iowa was 80% tall grass prairie in 1850. Mehitable’s family farmed, she and William had four children they stayed there in Jefferson Township. Mehitable was a widow the last 12 years of her life and lived with her son and family. She is buried in Spring Creek Cemetery. The address is LaPorte City, Iowa and it’s surrounded by cornfields on three sides, I 380 is on the 4th side. From the cemetery a person can see the interstate. From the interstate in certain seasons a person can see the cemetery.
Headstone Mahetebel Wilkinson wife of W B Wilkinson

Mehitable Angell is probably the reason Delia and Charles Angell ended up in Iowa. When Delia’s mom died in 1847 her dad Dexter went to New York where his dad and brothers were. Delia and Charles stayed in Indiana with their older sister, then left for Iowa. Delia stayed with Charles and his family until she married and had a daughter Matilda Flood, who had a daughter Philippa Mockford who had a daughter Elizabeth Speedy.

Sources

  • Iowa census 1856, Buchanan, Jefferson at Ancestry
  • Angell Family Bible, typed up sheet. Rhode Island Births and Christenings, 1600-1914 database at FamilySearch

Clementina Benight b. 1800

/ Kirstin Miller

Clementina Benight 4th great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Clementina was born on February 20, 1800 in northern New York state. Her family moved to Prairieton, Vigo County, Indiana where she married Dexter Angell on May 10, 1820. Clementina and Dexter had 4 children and they farmed in Prairieton for awhile.

The 1820 US census shows Clementina and Dexter together in Prairieton, Clementina’s dad and brothers close by. The 1830 census places them in Providence, Rhode Island on the east side of the river. On the 1840 census, Clementina is back in Prairieton, she is head of household, with her children. (1840 census clementina is 10th from bottom on list.) Clementine’s dad Joseph and a brother are neighbors. The 1840 census shows Dexter stayed in Providence.

Benight, Clementina headstone

Clementina Angell headstone 1847 or so.

Clementina died around 1847 and is buried in New Harmony Cemetery in Prairieton. Her Find a Grave memorial includes a photo and text of the headstone inscription, too faded to read in the photo: Wife of Dexter Angell Aged 47 Years. Clementina’s daughter Delia Angell named her 3rd daughter Clementina.

Sources

Sarah Cable b. 1854

/ Kirstin Miller

Sarah Cable 2nd great aunt on RootsMagic tree

Sarah Cable was born December 1854 near Dane, Wisconsin to Jonathan and Charlotte Knapp Cable. She had three brothers, Chancey, John, William and a sister Violetta. The Cable family moved from Wisconsin to Pleasant Grove, Iowa by 1865 when Sarah’s dad Jonathan paid taxes on a melodeon. If they had a melodeon in their home (not common in 1865) they probably had lots of music and dances. The melodeon could have been a ‘rocking’ or a parlor type.

Cable, Sarah 1876 marriage

Sarah married Horace Towslee July 29, 1876 in Floyd County. Horace and Sarah had one daughter, Ethel. In 1880 they were in Wisconsin with John and Chancey Cable in a boarding house where the men worked the railroad and Sarah ran the household. Sarah was in St Paul in 1893, a widow and dressmaker with her daughter Ethel age 5 and her sister Violetta. In 1900 Sarah lived in Chicago with her sister Violetta and her nephew Chauncey son of John Cable. Sarah was a dressmaker, Violetta a stenographer and Chauncey was 9 years old and in school. They lived at 384 Paulina St. in ‘West Town’ Chicago. Today and maybe in 1900 the ‘L’ -began in 1892- is/was right overhead.

In 1910 Sarah was in Seattle and lived with Violetta and Violetta’s husband and nephew Leonard Cable. Sarah’s brother Chancey was also in Seattle, his 1910 will papers show his siblings. Sarah was in Skagit, Washington, north of Seattle, at her death in 1912.

Sources

  • U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995, 1893 St Paul, Minnesota at Ancestry
  • Iowa County Marriages 1838-1934 at FamilySearch.org
  • Washington, Wills and Probate Records, 1851-1970 at Ancestry
  • Melodeons at Wikipedia 

Harm Henrichs b. 1877

/ Kirstin Miller

Harm Siebelt Henrichs 3rd great uncle on RootsMagic tree.

Harm was born on July 1, 1877 in Aurich, Lower Saxony, Germany. With his 8 brothers and sisters, mom Maria and dad Henrich he sailed to America and arrived in Baltimore on March 18, 1885. The US 1900 census shows the Henrichs family in Ripley Township, Butler County Iowa. Harm and his siblings Fred, Tena and Mattie are living with Henrich and Maria, the older children have started families of their own in Butler County.

The 1930 census of Jefferson Township in Butler County shows Harm, his wife Jennie and their 2 kids living on their own farm. Harms’s sisters are neighbors: William and Tena Henrichs Jacobs, Enno and Annie Henrichs Frerichs, John and Marie Henrichs Stoppelmoor, Harry and Flora Henrichs Endleman. Harm’s bothers John and Fred lived close by in Ripley and West Point townships. They all lived on farms. They built houses, barns, shelters for their livestock, chicken houses; cleared and laid out crop fields.

Ebenezer Lutheran Church Butler Center, Iowa

They also built a church: Ebenezer Lutheran Church, no longer around. The photo is from the book Mission in a Mile by Henry Freese, 2002. Harm is 4th from left. Left to right: Ben Jasper, Harry Endelmann- brother in law, Frank Reints, Harm Henrichs, Rigt Ooster, Enno Frerichs -brother in law and grandpa of Stanley Roose, dad of Mary Frerichs Roose. Stopping work to snap a photo probably took a lot of convincing on the photographer’s part. The photo doesn’t have a date, it’s probably around 1905

The 1940 census shows Harm was still farming, age 62, with Jennie. Their daughter Anna is 2 farms away, married to Addo Janssen with one son Robert. Their son Henry is in Jefferson Township, married to Delma DeBower.

Sources

  • Mission in a Mile by Henry Freese, 2002, page 152. A Building Project with text: Ben Jasper, Harry Endelmann, Frank Reints, Harm Henrichs, Rigt Ooster, Enno Frerichs. Author’s permission to post photo. More on this book.
  • US Census 1900, 1930, 1940 at Ancestry and FamilySearch
  • Maryland Baltimore passenger lists index 1820-1897 at FamilySearch

Elizabeth Harter Bair b. 1836

/ Kirstin Miller

Elizabeth Bair 3rd great grandma on RootsMagic

Elizabeth was born in July, 1836 in Plain Township, Stark, Ohio. She was the oldest child of George and Margaret Bowman Harter. Elizabeth’s middle name ‘Harter’ was her maternal grandmother’s maiden name. Both the Harter and Bair families were pioneers in Plain, Elizabeth’s great grandparents some of the first settlers.

Bair, Elizabeth and family 1850 census

1850 Plain Township, Ohio census, Elizabeth Bair and family

On the 1850 census Elizabeth is 13. The Bair family is on page 45 of 53. The 53 pages with 20 or fewer person on each page contain Elizabeth’s future husband’s Druckenbrod family, the Henry Miller family, future in laws of granddaughter Fianna and lots of ancestors: Miller, Bair, Harter, Druckenbrod, Malone, Kryder and Shuler families. Also in laws by marriage: Grubb, Essig, Troxel, Christ, and Bishop families. And no relation: Kissinger, Trump and Pence families too, all in this tiny township with population at 896 people in 1820 then 2277 people in 1850.

Population in Plain Township, Ohio from 1855 map

Population from 1820-1850

Elizabeth married Samuel Druckenbrod around 1854. They lived on a farm, and had 12 children. Elizabeth was 24 when the Civil War started. 320,000 Ohio men were drafted in to the war which was covered in the local newspapers: Stark County Democrat and Stark County Republican.  Elizabeth could have read Mrs. Samuel Stover’s eyewitness account of ‘the march of Lee’s rebel army into Pennsylvania; also of the retreat of the remnant of said army to the Potomac’ in the Republican and details of the battle in the Democrat.

Sources

John Speedy b. 1825

/ Kirstin Miller

John Speedy 3rd great uncle on RootsMagic tree

John was the 2nd son of Thomas and Elizabeth Glenn Speedy, the older brother of Manford Speedy. John was born in 1825 in Jefferson County, Ohio. He grew up on a farm. On March 8, 1855 he married Jane Foulks, a sister of his his older brother Thomas’s wife. John and Jane farmed and had 4 kids. The 1850 US agricultural census shows John Speedy’s farm: 40 acres of improved land, 18  acres of unimproved, $1650 cash value of farm, $ 85 cash value of machinery,  2 horses, 5 cows,13 sheep, 5 pigs, $ 250 value of livestock; produced 200 bushels of wheat, 300 bushels of Indian corn,  200 bushels of oats, 158 lb. of wool, 20 lb. of Irish potatoes, 200 lb. of butter, 2 tons of hay.

In 1863 John was 38 and was drafted or signed up for the Civil War. He fought with the Ohio 157th Infantry Company K, he was a Private. The 157th Infantry reported to Columbus, Ohio for duty on May 15, 1864, one of the’ Hundred Days’ Men’. The infantry went from Columbus, Ohio to Baltimore then on to guard Fort Delaware on the Delaware River south of Philadelphia. A Major Eames wrote, “Our journey from Columbus to Baltimore was tedious but full of interest. All along the route we were saluted with cheers and smiles and waving of handkerchiefs and flags from early dawn to long after sunset. Never in all my campaigning have I seen anything to compare with those manifestations of rejoicing for the promptness of the 100 day men of Ohio”. At Fort Delaware the soldiers were guarding Confederate prisoners of war. When not on duty John probably watched ships sailing and fished. “The heavy shipping traffic on the Delaware River was a source of fascination to the farm boys from Ohio, who would sit and watch the steamers, side-wheelers, ironclads and fishing boats for hours”. Fort Delaware is where John died. He and 9 others died from disease. 

Speedy, John in 157th Ohio Infantry

John Speedy, 157th Ohio Company K

Sources