Margaret Ann Gray

Floyd Todd's first wife (Carrie Asbury Todd), Aunt Lethia Primm, Grandma Dunn (Margaret Ann Gray).
Picture taken about 1914.

 Parents: George Alexander Gray, Mary Wallace
Birth: May 20, 1838
Marriage: May 9, 1857 to William Charles Dunn. He was 30 and she would be 19 in just a few days. They had at least 8 children: Charles Millard, Delia Anita, Molly, Viola, Lethia Alafaire, William Leo, Lloyd L, and Alvie Burton (there may be more children; according to the 1910 census, Margaret bore 11 children, and according to the 1900 census, she bore 12. 7 were living at the time of both of the censuses.)
Death: February 5, 1916

Margaret Ann Gray was born in Tennessee in the year 1838. Steam-powered boats were gaining popularity, and one even crossed the Atlantic Ocean in record time in the year she was born. One thing that happened fairly close to home was that the Trail of Tears began that year in Georgia.

Margaret's family was originally from North Carolina, and had moved to Tennessee no more than two years before her birth, since her older sister Narcissa was born in North Carolina. The family stayed in Tennessee for only a few years; Margaret's sister Mary was born in Tennessee when Margaret was three years old, but by the time Margaret was six (1844), the family was back in good ol' Mecklenburg county where her next youngest sister Lydia was born. Fun fact: Margaret and Lydia married brothers! William was 17 years older than his brother James Franklin Dunn who married Lydia. William and Margaret were married about 14 years before J. F. and Lydia tied the knot. Both couples were married in Gaston County, NC.

Sometime in her childhood, Margaret probably attended school. The 1900 census states that she was able to read and write, so I assume that she learned at school. However, it is possible that one of her parents taught her to read and write.

When she was just shy of 19 years old, Margaret married William Charles Dunn. They lived in the same general area, so they had probably known each other--or at least each other's families--for some time. William was 11 years Margaret's senior. Their children came slowly at first, then more quickly. Charles, their first to survive childhood, was born in late 1859. It was eight years before their next child to survive childhood--my great-great grandma Delia--was born. The next six children came quickly, one every two or so years. The youngest (Alvie) was born when Margaret was 40.

I wonder if the other 3 or 4 children indicated by the 1900 and 1910 censuses came before Delia, but did not survive long enough to be recorded on a census? Because of the closeness in age of her younger children, I believe that Margaret must have had more pregnancies between Charles and Delia. She must have been devastated at the loss of her babies; she still remembered them to have them recorded--even as an impersonal number--when she was in her 60's (1900) and her 70's (1910).

Edward Dunn is listed with the family in the 1870 census. It's possible even that this Edward living with them was not even a Dunn; the census taker could have been lazy and listed all children in the household with the last name of Dunn. He certainly didn't double-check Margaret's place of birth! Anyway, I believe that he's related to Margaret and William. Older children and teenagers often lived with relatives at various times either to help the family they were living with, to be in a more advantageous situation, or even just to have an extended visit. I'm fairly certain that this Edward is not Margaret and William's child, as he was born before the couple were married.

In later life, Margaret and her husband William lived with their children Lethia and Alvie, as you can see in both the 1900 and 1910 censuses. I believe that Margaret was also close to the Todd family, since Floyd Todd's wife is pictured with her and Lethia in the first picture in this post and F. L. Todd reported her death. According to her death certificate, Margaret passed away at the age of 77 due to "natural debility." She passed away just three years after William, her husband of 56 years.

Another picture of Margaret Ann Gray. I think this picture must have gone through a fire to look like this.
We're lucky to have it!

1850 Census

1860 Census
Gaston County, NC

1870 Census

1880 Census

1900 Census

1910 Census

Death record (Paw Creek, Mecklenburg County, NC, 1916)

Grave marker
Note: I believe the year on the grave marker for Margaret's death (1927) is incorrect. The death record I found for "Canty A Dunn" lists the correct parents and the correct birth date and place for Margaret, as well as having F. L. Todd as the informant. We know that Margaret was close to the Todds, as we see in the 1914 picture we have of her with "Floyd Todd's first wife." Also, in 1900 and 1910, William and Margaret both lived with their son Alive and daughter Lethia. It made sense for their children who didn't have families of their own to take care of their parents. In the 1920 census, Alvie and Lethia still lived together, but Margaret was not listed with them.

William Charles Dunn

Parents: James Andrew Dunn, Betsy Elizabeth Cox
Birth: April 17, 1827
Marriage: May 9, 1857 to Margaret Ann Gray. He was 30 and she would be 19 in a few days. They had 9 children: Edward, Charles Millard, Delia Anita, Molly, Viola, Lethia Alafaire, William Leo, Lloyd L, and Alvie Burton
Death: January 24, 1913 at the age of 85.

As I researched William's life, three things stuck out to me: he was a farmer, he was a homebody, and he cared about detail. On every census, his occupation was listed as farmer, although many of the other farmers that I've researched listed secondary occupations in the occupation field instead. William identified as a farmer. Of all the documents I found for him, none of them showed him being further than 20 or so miles away from the place he was born. He liked being with his family, both immediate and extended. The thing that made me realize that he payed attention to detail was that his birth date was correct on every record that I looked at. Compared to other records that I've looked at from his time period in the South, he was very particular to get this one thing right. I imagine that carried over to other aspects of his life as well.

_________________

William was born in Mecklenburg county, probably just northwest of Charlotte where he lived most of his life. He was the only boy in his family for the first 6 years of his life, with two older sisters and two sisters between him and his next youngest brother. After that, five more sisters came into his family, followed by the two youngest, both boys. The youngest brother was born just a few months before the 1850 census was taken. All this time, it appears that the family was living in Mecklenburg county, northwest of Charlotte.

William met Margaret Ann Gray about 6 or 7 years later, and they were married--or at least they obtained their marriage license--in Gaston county, immediately east of Mecklenburg county. It's about 20 miles from the county seat of Gaston county to Paw Creek, where the family lived, but I'm guessing that William lived closer than the county seat.

William and Margaret stayed in Gaston County for at least three years after their marriage; in 1860, they were living there with their fist child. Sometime before 1870, though, they were back in Paw Creek, Mecklenburg county, next to William's family. They stayed in the area until William passed away in 1913 at age of 85.


References:

1830 Census (father James listed; all that indicates William is the one boy attributed to that family)

1850 Census:

*note that immediately below the James Dunn family on this census was the
Andrew Dunn family. Andrew was James's older brother.

Index of marriage record
(Gaston county)

1860 Census
(Gaston county)

1870 Census:

1880 Census

1900 Census

1910 Census

Ellen Eve Rowe

Parents: James Rowe, Mary Ann Mitchell
Birth: October 16, 1851 in Shropshire, England
Year of immigration to US: 1860/1861 Year of naturalization 1871
Marriage: Jun 11, 1872 to Wheelock Winspear. They had six children: John Burrige, Wheelock William, Minnie May, Nellie Grace, Marie Mabel, and Catherine Pearl
Death: January 16, 1948 in Ohio, United States

Ellen was born in Shropshire, England, and was the second child born to James Rowe and Mary Mitchell. When she was about 9 years old, Ellen left England and came to the United States to live with John and Lydia Burrige, who had no children of their own. I believe that John and Lydia were Ellen's aunt and uncle, because according to Lydia's death certificate, her maiden name was Rowe.

Dad wrote a note on James Rowe (Ellen's father)'s page in Family Search. It says:

"James & Wife Mary Ann & 3 children died in epidemic. William and Ellen were then raised by the Burriges."

So it appears that Ellen was an orphan, although an orphan that loved her foster parents very much.  She was only 8 or 9 when she made the journey across the ocean to the United States, so she had plenty of time to get close to them before she married. She also named her first born son after her foster father John. Her son Wheelock William was obviously named for his father, but perhaps his middle name was in memory of Ellen's brother William.

Three names from Ellen's family are in my family: Mary Ann (Ellen's mother), Ellen, and Catherine (Ellen's daughter; also Ellen's mother-in-law). I don't know if it was intentional or accidental that my parents gave us names from our family heritage; I remember hearing once that I was named for someone in our family tree, but when I've asked about it more recently, I was told otherwise.

Anyway, Ellen was living with John Burrige and Lydia Burrige in 1870 (see the census below). They had emigrated from England about 10 years before Ellen had, and I imagine that they were well established in their Ohio township, Clermont County community by the time she reached them in 1860. Ellen married Wheelock Winspear just two years after the census was taken, when she was 21.

The two started their family, lived in Kentucky for a while (where their son John was born), and then settled in Pierce Township, Clermont co, Ohio. The place they settled was probably on Wheelock's family farm, since Wheelock's mother (Kate) and spinster sister (Maria) were living either with or right next door to the young family.

As the years progressed, Ellen and Wheelock's sons and daughters were married. The aging couple stayed in Pierce, Ohio until they moved to Ohio, Ohio (seriously, that's what it's called!) one township over.

Ellen's foster mother Lydia Burrige passed away in 1918, probably around or close to the time that the Winspears moved to Ohio twp. Since her foster father John had already passed on, Ellen was the informant for the death record. She either knew or had records for Lydia's birth date and father's name, which were recorded on the death record.

1924 was a difficult year for the Winspear family. On New Year's Eve, (Dec 30, 1923), Ellen and Wheelock's son John died. Just a few months later, in May, Wheelock passed on from acute nephritis (kidney disease), and then in June of the same year Ellen and Wheelock's son Wheelock William passed on also.

Thankfully, Wheelock Winspear had provided well for his widow--they owned their house in Ohio, Ohio--so Ellen would not face as much financial difficulty as another might in her situation. Wheelock was already 77 at the time of his passing, and I believe the two were both prepared for it. However, no matter how much you know what's coming, loss is hard to bear; I'm sure it was even harder for Ellen to bear since two of her children in addition to her husband passed away all in one year

Even though the house was owned free of mortgage, Ellen did not want to live by herself. By 1930, she was living with her daughter Catherine in Cincinnati in a place they rented for $35.00/month at 961 McMillan St. I imagine she sold the house in Ohio twp and used the money from the sale to supplement Catherine's income as a clerk at the post office. In 1940, Ellen still lived with Catherine at the same address. The view from their window probably included this building: 

Picture from Google Street View, 978 McMillan St, Cincinnati, OH

The building that they lived in has been torn down, and a Kroger grocery store sits in its place.

In 1940, Catherine worked as a stenographer at the Revenue Department. Since neither the 1930 or 1940 censuses list an occupation for Ellen, I believe she just stayed at home to keep house and cook their meals. At some point between 1940 and 1948, Catherine had married a Mr. Barnhart and moved to Waynesville, Warren county, Ohio (northeast of Cincinnati). Ellen came with them, and passed away in Waynesville in 1948 at the ripe old age of 96.


Marriage record:

1870 Census

1880 Census

1900 Census:

1910 Census:

1920 Census:

1930 Census:

1940 Census:

Death record (1948)

Wheelock Winspear

Parents: John Winspear, Catherine Almira Wheelock
Birth: March 8, 1847
Marriage: June 11, 1872 to Ellen Eve Rowe. He was 25 and she was 20. They had six children: John Burrige, Wheelock William, Minnie May, Nellie Grace, Marie Mabel, and Catherine Pearl.
Death: May 27, 1924, at 77 years old

Wheelock was born in New York State near Buffalo. He was named by the maiden name of his mother. For at least the first 13 years of his life, his family lived close to his mother's family in Lancaster, Erie County, New York, as you can see from the 1850 and 1860 Censuses. His family farmed and had boarders, and even a servant at one point.

For some reason or another, the family decided to move from NY to southern Ohio, 450 miles away from where they used to live. The place they settled on was a small town called Pierce, a mere 3.5 miles from Amelia, and about the same distance from the Ohio river, which was also the Kentucky-Ohio border. They probably moved around 1868 or 1869, since Wheelock's 2-year-old niece Girtie was born in NY and his 11-month old niece Maude was born in Ohio. The girls and their parents were living with Wheelock's parents at the time of the 1870 US Census.

In 1872, Wheelock married his life-long companion, Ellen Rowe. Their first child--John--was born across the river in Kentucky, but the rest of their children were born in Ohio. I'm guessing that Wheelock had found a temporary job in KY to help him get his new family on their feet, and then moved back to Ohio to be close to his family once again.

In 1880, Wheelock's mother and youngest sister were living with or right next to his own young family. He had 3 children, including Minnie May (recorded as Minetta on the census). The farm was doing well enough that he could employ a man to help on the farm.

As the years progressed, Wheelock's sons and his daughters were married. He and his wife Ellen stayed in Pierce, Ohio until they moved to Ohio, Ohio (seriously, that's what it's called!) one township over a few years before Wheelock's passing in 1924.

1924 was a difficult year for the Winspear family. On New Year's Eve, (Dec 30, 1923), Wheelock's son John died. Just a few months later, in May, Wheelock passed on from acute nephritis (kidney disease), and then in June of the same year Wheelock's son Wheelock William passed on also.

Thankfully, Wheelock Winspear had provided well for his widow, and they owned their house in Ohio, Ohio, so she would not face as much financial difficulty as another might in her situation. Wheelock was already 77 at the time of his passing, and I believe he was prepared for it.


Sources:

1850 Census:

1855 New York State Census:

1860 still in Lancaster, New York

1870 US Census

Marriage record:

1880 US Census:

1880 Census, Pierce, Clermont, Ohio

1900 US Census:

1910 US Census

1920 US Census

Death Certificate

Matilda Catherine Bowers

Parents: J. Bowers, Diana Connell
Birth date: About 1859
Marriage date: About 1885 to Robert Jackson Connell. She was about 26 and he was about 29. They had five children: Docia, Broadus Robert, Luther Wilburn, Charlie Lee, and Cora Lee. Charlie and Cora were twins.
Death date: 18 June 1901

Matilda was born a short 2 years before the outbreak of the American Civil War in Lexington county, SC. Her father was not listed in the 1860 census with her family, so I'm guessing he had died sometime between 1858 and 1860. The family also moved from where they lived in 1850 to live right next door to a John Connell in 1860.

Sometime around or before 1885, Matilda married Robert Jackson Connell in Lancaster, SC. According to the information on FamilySearch (gathered by people other other other than myself), he was her first cousin; Matilda's mother and R.J.'s father were siblings. Matilda and Robert's first child--Docia--was born in 1886, followed by Broadus in 1891, Luther in 1895, and the twins Charlie and Cora in 1896. Sometime after Charlie and Cora were born and before her passing in 1901, the family moved to Camden, in Kershaw County, SC. I'm sure she worked hard keeping her family fed and helping to do work on the farm in between giving birth to her children. Matilda passed away in 1901 at about the age of 42.

_______________________

I wasn't able to find very many records for Matilda, but I did find two sources that give enough information to infer important dates and happenings in her life. Those sources would be her headstone at Malvern Hill Cemetery and the 1860 Census. The death records for her daughters Docia and Cora strengthen the link to the woman recorded on the headstone and Robert Jackson Connell, and help prove that she is the wife

Headstone at Malvern Hill Cemetery in Kershaw County, SC
In 1860 Census

In children's death certificates:
Docia
Cora Lee

Callie Ann or Anita Nolan

Parents: James R. Nolan, Nancy B. Odum
Birth: About 1868
Marriage: July 1, 1888 to James Henry Thompson. Callie was about 20 and James Henry was 21. They had three children: James Oren, Lillie Belle and Susie Ella
Death: Around 1898

I didn't find many records for Callie A, so her story will be short, unfortunately. Her mother was probably Nancy Odum and not Susan Chapman, James R's second wife and the woman who raised Callie. Nancy married Callie's father in December of 1866, and Callie was born around 1868. In the 1910 census, James R and Susan are listed as being married for 38 years (if that number is accurate, that would put their marriage around 1872) and that Susan was the mother of 5 children, all living. We know that Callie had passed on before the 1900 census was taken, so since all of Susan's children were living, Callie had to be Nancy Odum's daughter, and her younger sister Viola was most likely Nancy's daughter as well.

In 1880, Callie was 12 and lived in Clayton County, Georgia, just south of Atlanta. Her father was a farmer. She married James Henry Thompson in Coweta (pronounced Cow-ee-ta) county, two counties to the east of Clayton county, where her family was then living. Her first child (James Oren Thompson, Sr.) was born in Newnan county in 1892, so we know that she and James Henry lived there for at least a little while after they married.

When Grandma Izzy became interested in family history work, she asked her father (J.O. Thompson) about her grandmother. He did not know the exact date that she passed away, but said that he was eight years old when his mother died.

Sources: Cousin Rita, Grandma Izzy, and the records listed below:

Marriage of James R. Nolan and Nancy B. Odum

Callie Nolan's childhood family (1880 Census)

Marriage to James Henry Thompson:

Henry W. Marcus

Parents: ?, Mira Marcus
Date of birth: May 1862
Marriage: early 1890's to Mattie Young, they had two children: Lela and Laura
Henry had another son named Ivey. I don't know anything about Ivey's mother.
Date of death: October 6, 1901

Thank goodness for censuses, or I would know next to nothing about Henry Marcus. From stories that I've been told by my relatives that have done more extensive research on him and his family, it seems that his mother was mistress to a wealthy man in the area who supported her and her children but remained anonymous.

Henry was the oldest of at least four children and grew up near the mountains of NC. He apprenticed with a blacksmith in a nearby town in 1880 when he was 18 years old, and probably for some time before and after that.

Henry's 16-year-old brother Hosea was working as a servant at the same time for a farmer and his wife that lived in Johns River Township, where they grew up. I couldn't find any records for their younger brother Noah besides the 1870 Census shown here. However, I did find a Laura Marcus Allen that was living close to a Hosea A. Marcus at the time that they both passed away in/near Carrabus county, NC. I'm guessing that they are Henry's younger siblings. I found one other record for Henry's sister Laura--it appears that she and her mother were working as servants in 1880 (Laura was 14 at the time). I'm guessing that Henry's father must have passed away and had not been able to leave anything to Mira and her family. For some reason, Hosea and Laura are listed as being two years younger than they would have been if the 1870 census's ages were correct. As teenagers, I'm sure they cared very much about their actual age, so I wonder what made them claim that they were younger than they actually were?

Between 1880 and 1900, some significant things happened. Henry fathered a son, Ivey--I wasn't able to find any records for Ivey's mother, but that doesn't mean she and Henry weren't married. Of course, that doesn't mean they were, but we can't assume anything. Henry also moved to South Carolina at some point, and met Mattie Young. The two were married in the early 1890's and had two girls, Lela and Laura.

About Henry's death--the story goes that Henry had been incarcerated and escaped. There was already tension between him and Mattie, so when Mattie asked the town law enforcement for advice, he told Mattie to shoot Henry Marcus if he tried to go into the house. He did come by, so she took out a gun and told him to leave or she'd shoot. Henry came up to the house, and well, she shot. It's a sad story, but definitely an interesting piece of our family history. Evidently there's a news article about it, but I don't have it, so we'll have to suffer without the official story until I do.

1870 Census

1880 Census

1900 Census

Frank Henry Grupenhoff

Frank was a trunk maker, a home owner, and a single parent. He buried two children and his wife within seven years of each other. He lived through the Great Depression and both WWI and WWII. He must have had some kind of staying power. What a man!

According to a book written by my sister when she was in elementary school, Frank's family was the first in their neighborhood to get a car. Her source was probably our father.

Parents: Frank Grupenhoff, Mary or Maria K. Wissing
Birth: April 12, 1874
Marriage: October 29, 1902 to Josephine Plogsted. He was 28 and she was 20. They had six children: Cecilia, Edward H, Rosella Marie, William B, Clara A, and Josephine Agnes
Death: March 23, 1953, aged 78 years

1880 Census - Frank was 6. At this point, he was in a single-parent family, as his father had died when Frank was only 3. Mary, Frank's maternal grandmother, was also living with his mother, his sister Clara, and Frank himself. Frank and Clara were the youngest of their siblings, and their older siblings Henry and William are not listed on this census. I wonder if family members had taken the older siblings to lighten the financial burden from Frank's mother? Well, what I do know is that later, Frank's older brother William was living with his mother.

1899 City directory of Cincinnati. He was living at the same address (531 Woodward) as his mother Mary, brothers William and Henry, and sister Clara. William is listed as a porter, Henry as a varnisher, Frank as a trunk maker, and Clara as a cigar maker. If you'd like to see the directory, send me an e-mail. Someone else helped me find it, and I believe it would infringe copyright to post it here.

I couldn't find Frank in the 1900 census, although I found his mother, brother William, and sister Clara at the same address as in the directory. They were renting there, and at least five other families lived at the same address, so I'm guessing that they lived in an apartment building. The address listed on his marriage license is different from the one he lived at in 1899, so it's possible that he moved to the address listed on his marriage record between the compilations of the directory and the census. Frank was 26.

Marriage License, 1902:

The addresses listed for Frank and Josephine on this marriage license are very close to each other--not even half a mile apart! I'm sure they met because of their proximity to each other. Frank was 28 at the time of his marriage. I wonder why he waited so long (for that time period) to marry? Was he focusing on supporting his mother? Was he searching for love? Was he working on becoming financially stable? Whatever the case, he and Josephine Plogsted were married by a Catholic priest in October of 1902 and started their family immediately. 1903 brought Cecilia, Edwin came in 1904, Rosella in 1906, William in 1907, Clara in 1909, and Josephine Agnes (Granny Jo!) in 1910. By the 1910 census, the family had purchased a small home on Bouton Avenue and were working on paying it off. Frank must have been successful in his profession of trunk maker to make such an investment.

1910 Census:

The decade between 1910 and 1920 brought much sorrow to Frank's life. His daughter Clara died from severe burns she received in an accident, WWI started, his daughter Rosella died of diphtheria, and finally, his wife passed away from heart failure. See the post on Frank's wife Josephine for more detailed information on the three deaths.

After his wife died, Frank's mother came to live with him, I'm guessing to help with the children. It's possible that she came to receive the support of her son in her old age, but I find that doubtful since Frank was recently widowed and at the time of her death, Mary was living with her son William (see the addresses on her death certificate). The draft registration lists details that we already know but also has a physical description: Frank was average height and weight, had gray eyes and "light" hair.

Death certificate for his daughter Clara (1912)
1914 WWI starts
Death certificate for his daughter Rosella (1915)
WWI Draft Registration. (1918)
Death certificate for his wife Josephine (1919)

1920 Census:

In the 1930 census, Frank is listed as a carpenter in the home building industry instead of as a trunk maker. Cecilia was staying at home to take care of the house, Edwin worked as a production man (whatever that means--maybe it's a precursor to engineering?) in the soap industry, and William worked as a clerk for a roofing company. The census notes that Frank's family did not have a radio at this point, even though his daughter Jo and her new husband Cliff already had one.

Jo was the first of Frank's children to marry (in 1929), and his children Cecilia and Edwin married soon after. William took a little bit longer (according to information done by other researchers), but was not living with Frank for the 1940 census anyway. William was a grown man of 30-something by this point, so I'm not surprised. Frank lived in the house at Bouton Ave up through the 1940 census, but decided to move to Woodward St sometime before 1953.

1928 Mary Wissing mother of Frank passes away.
1929 Josephine Agnes Grupenhoff (Jo) and Clifford Winspear White's marriage
1929 The Great Depression
1930 Census
1939 WWII
1940 Census

Death certificate (1953): Frank died of "Chronic myocarditis" -- in other words, chronic heart problems. He had moved to 217 Woodward St., Cincinnati, Ohio, and was living there at the time of his death. His mother is listed as living (renting) at 531 Woodward in the 1899 Cincinnati directory, and Google maps shows these two addresses as right next to each other.

Josephine Plogsted

Parents: Frederich Henrich (Henry) Plogsted, Marie (Mary) Appleman
Birth date: September 14, 1882 (September 25, 1882 according to death certificate)
Marriage: October 29, 1902 in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Frank Grupenhoff. Josephine was 20 and Frank was 28. They had six children: Cecilia, Edward H, Rosella Marie, William B, Clara A, and Josephine Agnes.
Death date: March 29, 1919, at age 36

The earliest record I was able to find for Josephine was the 1900 census. She was 17 when it was taken, and from it, you can see that her parents were both born in Germany, had been living in the US for 32 years each, and were naturalized citizens of the US. They rented a house on Colerain Avenue in the city of Cincinnati, and young Josephine worked as a dressmaker. At least half of the families listed on the same page as the Plogsteds were also immigrants, mostly from Germany.

Soon after this small glimpse we get into her life, she married Frank Grupenhoff, also a son of German immigrants. At the time, she was still working as a dressmaker, and from the marriage record, we see that they were married by the Reverend J. M. Felden, a Catholic priest. Josephine was still living at Colerain Avenue -- she was living at 3661 Colerain Avenue, to be exact. That address is in the middle of a street now!

It appears that Josephine spent the rest of her life at a cute little house at 4940 Bouton Street, Cincinnati, Ohio. She and her husband Frank were there for the 1910 census, and it is the address on her death certificate. I found a picture of the house on Google Maps Streetview. Look!

Image from street view on Google Maps

When you look at the house with satellite view, you can see the roof over the porch and room next to the porch is flat. I don't know if these were additions after the Grupenhoff family moved out, but I can just picture Josephine's children playing on the porch and climbing out of the windows to sit on the roof when they could get away with it.

Unfortunately, Josephine had to experience the tragedy of two of her children passing away before she did. Clara, the second youngest, died in 1912 from shock she experienced after receiving severe burns. Her death certificate lists "Shock [for?] multiple burns accidentally received (set fire to clothing with lighter match)" as the cause of death, but family lore says she and the other children were playing by a brush fire and her dress caught fire as she tried to jump over it like the other children (source: my dad). She was only three years old. I can't imagine the agony that Josephine must have felt, and I wonder if she blamed herself for not watching the children more closely.

Rosella Marie, the third oldest, died just three years later of diphtheria, a bacterial infection that is now essentially eradicated in industrialized nations because of vaccines. The doctor visited two days before Rosella passed on, but evidently there was nothing he could do, because she passed away on September 16, 1915. Rosella was only 9 years old. (I had to do some digging to find Rosella Marie's death certificate, and I had a really neat experience after I found it that I wrote about here.)

Josephine Plogsted passed away in 1919 at age 36 of heart failure or "acute myocardial insufficiency," according to the death certificate, and the secondary cause was asthma. She had been doing poorly for at least two days--and probably more--before her death, because the death certificate shows that she had been attended by a physician two days before her passing. Her oldest child Cecilia was only 15, and her youngest--my Granny Jo--was only 9 years old when they lost their mother.


Sources:

1900 Census:

1900 Census

Marriage license (1902):

Marriage license, 1902

1910 Census:

1910 US Ohio Census

1920 Census (to give an idea of where her family was when Josephine passed on):

1920 US Ohio Census

James William Wallace

Julia Anna Peters, James W Wallace

Parents: Daniel Wallace, Eliza Kennedy
Birth: March 21, 1867
Marriages:

1. October 31, 1896 to Julia A. Jordan. Julia Jordan was about 20 and James was 29.
2. August 20, 1899 to Julia Anna Peters. James was 32 and Anna was 26. They had two children, Adrian Floyd and Cecil Denver.

Death: December 20, 1944. James was 77 years old.

James grew up and lived in and around Green, Brown, Ohio. That combination of township and county makes me laugh every time! I think there might have been some Whites that lived in Green, Brown, Ohio, too. Oh, so many colors.

ANYway. The 1870 and 1880 censuses show that James grew up with both sets of grandparents, and many of his aunts, uncles and cousins living right next door or down the road from him. Isn't that great? I'm guessing that they all helped each other with their farms and such. I wish I could post a picture of the census with everybody labeled according to how they're related to him (James), but I recently found out that it might not be allowed to post pictures of records from Family Search on the internet, so I'm waiting to hear back on if I have permission. If I don't, I'll be taking down all the record images that I've posted on the blog. The links will still be there, though.

James was the oldest of three boys. His father passed away when he was young, so James's mother had to raise her children on her own. I'm sure having all that family around made a big difference to her, but even with all of his uncles and family around, I wonder if James felt responsible to fill the role of his father in providing for his family, as he was the oldest son?

James was very close to his family on both his father's and his mother's sides. Most of his relatives that lived on land adjacent to his immediate family were Wallaces. I also found two 1880 censuses recording a James Wallace of the appropriate age. One was listed with Elizabeth Wallace (James's mother) and the other was listed with Z. H. Kennady -- or Zedick Hezekiah Kennedy -- Elizabeth's younger brother and James's uncle. On the census, it shows that James was working on the farm, so I think he must have gone to help his uncle out with some of the farm work when the census was taken.

I did find a marriage record for a Julia Jordan (NOT to be confused with Julia Anna Peters!) and a J. W. Wallace. A John Wallace was witness that James and Julia were old enough to marry without their parents' consent and that they weren't too closely related. I'm guessing that this John was James's younger brother. This marriage took place in Clermont County, Ohio, very close to where James grew up. I couldn't find any other records pertaining to Julia Jordan after she and James married, but I think someone has because there's a death date for her on Family Search.

I was unable to find a marriage record for James and Julia Anna Peters, but documents pertaining to their two children (a birth record for Cecil Denver and a marriage record for Adrian) list James Wallace and Julia Peters as their parents. Mabel Shell, Anna Peters's daughter from her first marriage, lived with them until she either married or was of age to move out. I wonder what James's relationship was like with her?

By the 1900 US Census, Mabel is 4 years old and James and Annie had been married for about a year. They were renting a house that didn't have a farm, but most of the people living near them lived on farms.

At the 1910 Census, James and Annie seem to have a really good life going for them. They own their own farm free of mortgage! Their children are growing and going to school--at this point, they have two boys (Adrian, 9, and Cecil, 1.5 years - here's his birth record from 1908) in addition to Annie's daughter Mabel. James seems to have steady work at the sawmill, which brings in a more reliable income than the farm would. Family is close again; James's brother Robert was living close enough to be recorded on the previous page of the census.

Not much seems to have changed by the 1920 Census except that Mabel has moved on, probably to marry and start her own family. I couldn't find a marriage record for her, so I'm not sure who she married or if she did marry. James's son Adrian got married two years after the census was taken, so Annie and James were left with only their youngest child at home, making Cecil essentially an only child for his teenage years.

Sometime before 1930, Annie and James sold their farm and moved into town. James started up a grocery store, and Annie worked there as a clerk. Unfortunately, it seems like that business didn't work out for them, because in 1940 James was working at the saw mill again.

Although he had moved several times, James lived in Brown County, Ohio his whole life. I'm sure he visited other places, though, especially Cincinnati. James passed away just five days before Christmas Day, 1944. World War II was still raging, although the tides had turned and it would end a few months later. James was 77 years old when he passed and was survived by his widow, Julia Anna Peters.

1870 Census:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M6KH-YS9

1880 Census:

1. with mother: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MZ1D-GZJ
2. with uncle: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M89W-DBB

Marriage to Julia Jordan:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XDKP-42R

1900 Census:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MMCC-1R8

1910 Census:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MLNF-1ST

1920 Census:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MDBS-5VX

1930 Census:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X4S4-YXF

1940 Census:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KWD1-6W5

Julia Anna Peters

Julia Anna Peters, James W. Wallace

Parents: George W. Peters, Sarah Penny
Birth date: September 9, 1872
Marriages:

1. April 30, 1895 to William Shell. Anna was 22 and William was 27. They had one child, Lena Mabel Shell
2. August 20, 1899 to James W. Wallace. Anna was 26 and James was 32. They had two children, Adrian Floyd and Cecil Denver.

Death date: April 14, 1956

Julia Anna has been a really interesting person to research. It seems like she went by her first name Julia when she was young (see the 1880 Census), but by her first marriage, she was called by her middle name Anna or Annie (see the subsequent censuses).

As you can see from the 1880 census, Julia is the second youngest child in her family. Her father had passed away just a year before the census was taken, so Julia's mother Sarah was listed as the head of household. Julia's older brothers helped to support the family (if you look at the 1880 census in Family Search, you can see Julia's older brother George W and his family listed right before Julia's family unit), but you wonder how Julia's life and perspective were different without her father around for much of her life.

Did you know that the 1890 U.S. Census was burned? Evidently there was an fire in the basement where it was kept, and all fragments except a few maps were destroyed as a result. This fire is what prompted the United States to establish the National Archives. So we don't have any of the 1890 Census records. It would be nice to know more about Julia's family at this point, but I guess we'll just have to live with the gap.

In 1895, Annie married William Shell (I found their marriage license/certificate!). About a year later, their daughter Mabel was born. Around 1898, William passed away. What a tragedy! I'm sure that Annie was distraught! On top of having a young child and not knowing how she was going to survive financially, her husband and companion was no longer there for her.

Annie married again, about a year and a half after William's passing. She married James Wallace, also a young widower. His first wife had passed away three years earlier, just a few months after he and she married. James and Annie married just in time to have their first year of marriage preserved by the 1900 US Census. Mabel is 4 at this point, and James and Annie had been married for about a year. They were renting a house that didn't have a farm, but most of the people living near them lived on farms.

At the 1910 Census, James and Annie seem to have a really good life going for them. They own their own farm free of mortgage!  Their children are growing and going to school--at this point, they have two boys (Adrian, 9, and Cecil, 1.5 years - here's his birth record from 1908) in addition to Annie's daughter Mabel. James seems to have steady work at the sawmill, which brings in a more reliable income than the farm would.

Not much seems to have changed by the 1920 Census except that Mabel has moved on, probably to marry and start her own family. I couldn't find a marriage record for her, so I'm not sure who she married or if she did marry. Annie's son Adrian got married two years after the census was taken, so Annie and James were left with only their youngest child at home, making Cecil essentially an only child for his teenage years.

Sometime before 1930, Annie and James sold their farm and moved into town. James started up a grocery store, and Annie worked there as a clerk. Unfortunately, it seems like that business didn't work out for them, because in 1940 James was working at the saw mill again.

Annie was 83 when she passed away.

1880 Census
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MZ1D-6Y5

Marriage to William Shell:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XD59-LCQ

Birth of Cecil Denver Wallace, Sr. (1908):
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X67W-S5S

Marriage of son, Adrian Peters (1922):
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XZ1N-7LL

1900 Census:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MMCC-1R8

1910 Census:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MLNF-1ST

1920 Census:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MDBS-5VX

1930 Census:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X4S4-YXF

1940 Census:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KWD1-6W5

James Henry Thompson

James Henry Thompson -- my great-great-grandfater -- lived in Newnan, Cowetta County and also in Carroll County, Georgia for a large portion of his life. According to Google Maps, that's less than an hour's driving time away from where I live now! This will be the first time since I started doing family history that I've lived close enough to the places my ancestors lived to actually visit them and look at records of my family members that are not online. Wooo!

Sarah Burke Thompson, probably Hoyt Thompson, James Henry Thompson

James Henry is the man on the right. The woman in the picture is his third wife, Sarah Burke. Many women died young from complications during childbirth, and I believe that is what happened to James's first two wives. It was difficult in those days to raise children as a single parent, just as it is today, so many men remarried not just for company, but also to help raise the children.

Parents: John Henry Thompson, Martha V. Benford
Birth: October 3, 1866 in Heard County, Georgia
Marriages:

1. July 1 1888 to Callie Anita Nolan in Newnan, Georgia. Callie was about 20 and James was 21.
   Children: James Oren Sr., Lillie Belle, and Susie Ella
2. February 12, 1905 to Lena Lenderman. Lena was 19 and James was 38.
   Children: Siddie Odessa, Oliver Glen (Glen), and Clarence Richard
3. June 1, 1919 to Sarah Jane Burke. Sarah was about 32 and James was 52. This was Sarah's second marriage.
   Children: John B, Roy John, Elizabeth, and Harvey Hoyt

Death: February 14, 1943. James was 76 years old.

Since James, Henry, and Thompson were all pretty common names, at first all I found was the 1940 census and the record of his marriage to Callie Nolan. However, when I searched using James Henry's children's names or siblings' names, I was able to find many more records for him.

As you can see in the censuses, James Henry Thompson was listed as Henry or Henry J. This leads me to believe that he was called by his middle name, Henry. Several of his siblings also primarily used their middle names. This is probably another reason I found it so difficult to find records for J. Henry Thompson.

As I've been doing family history work, I've noticed that censuses records seem to be more of a casual record than records such as a marriage record. Census records tend to have less accurate ages and nicknames, while marriage records have more accurate ages or birth dates and names. Therefore, although I've only come across one record that lists J. Henry as James H. Thompson while the others list him as Henry J., I feel that it is more credible since it's a marriage record.

So J. Henry lived in western Georgia, really close to the Alabama border. In 1880, the area that he lived in was so far west that it was called New Mexico! New Mexico was/is located in the south west corner of Carroll county, right next to the Alabama border.

Henry is listed as living in Carroll County up until about 1930, where we see he's living in Coweta County. Coweta is closer to Atlanta and further east than Carroll County. However, Henry's marriage to Callie Nolan took place in Coweta County, and at least their first child (James Oren Thompson, Sr.) was born in Newnan, Coweta County, Georgia in 1892. It seems like Henry moved around some. I don't know how or where he met Callie, but I'm guessing that they lived in Newnan to be closer to Callie's family (She lived in Clayton County in 1880. That's east of Coweta County.)

You may have noticed that J. Henry's three oldest children were not living with him and his second wife in 1910, although his youngest from his first marriage would have been only 15 years old. I don't know where they went, but I'm guessing that J.O., Sr and his two sisters were sent to live with relatives since their widowed father didn't have the means or ability to raise his young children. I'm going to ask Grandma if she knows anything about it.

J. Henry passed away at the age of 76 years old. His youngest child Harvey Hoyt was only 14 years old.


1880 Census:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/M8L6-F1J

1880 Census, Carroll County, GA

Marriage to Callie A. Nolan:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KXVK-G4Q


1910 Census:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MLV1-WTV

1910 Census, Carroll County, Georgia

1920 Census:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MJ8X-5WH

1920 Census, Carroll County, GA

1930 Census:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/331Q-X2M

1930 Census, Coweta County, GA

1940 Census:
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K7LD-WWD

1940 Census, Coweta County, Georgia

Mattie Elizabeth Young

Parents: John Zachariah "Zed" Young, Elizabeth J. Owens
Birth: November 22, 1869
Marriage: About 1892 to Henry W. Marcus. Laura was around 22 or 23, and Henry was about 30. They had two children: Leila and Laura.
Death: May 16, 1915

I couldn't really find much information on Mattie Young. I did find one census record for both before and after she married Henry Marcus, which each have interesting information on them.

Mattie was the oldest of her siblings; she must have been expected to help out a lot with the house. From what I've read about how age-order affects the psychology of an individual, oldest children tend to try to be examples, are more likely to be perfectionists, and feel more responsible for things that need to get done. This makes sense, because in order for her family to be successful, they needed her help to get all the work done around the house and farm. Th 1880 census lists Mattie's father's occupation as "farm labor" -- I'm not sure if that means he worked on his own farm or on someone else's farm. I imagine that as the first child, Mattie's name was picked out long before her birth, unlike her younger sister Julia (listed as "infant" in the 1880 census).

By 1900, Mattie and Henry had been married for 8 years (according to the census taker, anyway). When they married, Henry already had a son, Ivy, so Mattie started out married life with the extra challenge of having a child already part of the family.

Mattie was only 45 when she passed away in 1915.

1880 Census Cedar Creek Township, Lancaster, SC

1900 Census DeKalb Township (in or near Camden), Kershaw, SC

John Henry Henize

John Henry Henize was a hardworking farmer. He owned his own land, as his father did before him. John lived in the same area all his life--in Brown County, Ohio.

The second picture in this post is of John with his wife Mollie.

Parents: Christian Henize, Elizabeth Kantz

Birth: May 31, 1864

Marriage: March 2, 1890 to Mollie Chambers. He was 25 and Mollie was 21. They had 9 children: 

• Children: Thomas Christopher (Chris), Frederick Raymond (Fred), Vesta May, Ralph Lawrence, Harley Clyde, Walter Floyd, Ora Bery (Bery), Dora Bedah (Bee), and Lucy.  Bery and Bee were twins.

Death: November 30, 1948 of heart disease. John lived to be 84 years old.

Records located for John Henize:

1870 Census

1910 Census

1920 Census

1940 Census

Death Certificate of John H. Henize