Wednesday, December 31, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #52 Leona Violet Crispen Cole Allee

As the 52nd and last ancestor featured in 2014, I'm honoring my grandmother, who started me on this journey.

Over 20 years ago, my grandmother and I spent many hours going through her photo collection. If it were not for the photos, I might never have delved into my family history. When we started going through them, I had no idea who all these people were and how they related to me or to each other. I couldn't keep them straight on paper, so I bought my first genealogy program and started putting in names and dates.

The unknown photos captured my imagination, and I soon found myself launching into the research that has now grown my database to nearly 6000 names. Along the way I've identified unknowns, met new cousins and acquired photos for relatives I never knew I had. And I also turned to scrapbooking as a way to present and preserve the photos.

Leona Violet Crispen was born in Van Buren County, Michigan, on October 1, 1909, the youngest of three daughters of Daisy Myrtle Maddox and Clark Earl Crispen. The family later settled in the Lake Michigan resort town of Benton Harbor. Leona was the son her father never had. Instead of sewing, she learned to use his blacksmith forge, work on cars, develop film and print photographs.

Her parents divorced in 1921. I can't begin to image the impact on the young Leona. She must have lost friends and certainly her home life was disrupted. Her father moved to the house across the street, so she was able to move freely between her parents' homes. Because they had a civil and close relationship, she never doubted their love for her and her sisters.

During high school, Leona wrote poetry for the school newspaper and for the yearbook. Her love of writing poetry persisted through her life, as she contributed poetry to church and civic publications. After high school she took a job as a telephone operator.

On March 20, 1928, she eloped to South Bend, Indiana, with Clifford Royal Cole, a young man who worked in a foundry. She soon learned that he was unfaithful and cruel. His actions left their only daughter nearly blind and left Leona unable to have more children.

As the stock market crashed in the fall of 1929, her father lost the portfolio he had inherited from his sister. He was able to keep his house and, Leona, living with her father and her husband, decided to file for divorce. Imagine, for a moment, being 20 years old with a blind infant, an aged parent with no job, the economy in free fall and still choosing to end an abusive marriage. Her strength amazes me.

Leona decided about 1931 to leave the cold of Michigan and move to the warmth of California. Following the famous Route 66, she miscalculated a bit. She ran out of money and gas in the Northern Arizona town of Kingman. With her daughter, she lived under a bridge and in their car while she looked for some way to support them.

Her photography experience was her salvation. The old man who ran the local photography studio wanted to retire, so he hired her and she eventually was able to take over the business. However, she lived day-to-day and struggled through two more bad marriages and divorces during the Depression years. She married Everett Melvin "Jack" Stormer in 1932 and James Robert "Jim Bob" Turner in 1940.

About 1935, Leona had to place her daughter in boarding school at the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind in Tucson. She left Kingman behind and relocated to be near her daughter. World War II found her fixing airplanes and later working at the ration board.

On December 20, 1941, she married Fayette Franklin "Fate" Allee, her daughter's math teacher and, as a family, they built a stable life. After the war she found a secretarial job in the Tucson school district, where she worked until retirement.


Template and elements from Weekend at Home by  Kate Hadfield for Digital Scrapper, 2014

Leona cared for her mother in her final years, as well as helping her sisters care for their father during his decline. She was a nurturing person who also raised a nearly blind daughter and married a nearly blind man. Her kind, loving, fun and generous spirit was an anchor for our family throughout her life.

She was diagnosed with both breast cancer and skin cancer in the final few years of her life. Gardening in the hot Arizona sun for many years was the likely cause of the skin cancer that took her arm in 1997.

We invited family, neighbors and friends to help us celebrate her 90th birthday at her Oklahoma retirement center in October of 1999. She had a blast being the birthday girl.

The cancer took her from us on February 13, 2001. She was buried with her husband and her mother in South Lawn Memorial Park in Tucson.

As Leona's choices shaped her life, they affect her family to this day. Her descendants are an Arizona family because she stopped and stayed in Kingman. Her photographic experience became a life-long passion, leading to the vast collection of photographs, negatives and slides that came to me at her death. It is directly due to her choices that I am a scrapbooker and genealogy buff. And, of course, because of those hobbies, this blog exists.

So ends the series, 52 Ancestors in the 52 weeks of 2014. Please join me in 2015 for Murder at Mauvaisterre Creek, as I share the story of the murder of Leona's great-grandfather.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #51 Thomas Jefferson Alexander of Weakley County, Tennessee

The birthplace of my great-great-grandfather is a puzzle. His death certificate shows that he was born on January 29, 1829, to Sampson Alexander and Beulah Ann Nix. Following the census records over time, his birthplace is stated as both South Carolina and Tennessee. Consistently, his parents are listed as having been born in South Carolina, except on his death record.

The whereabouts of the family in 1830 would appear to be Union County, South Carolina, except that the count of three young boys doesn't match the anticipated four sons. It's one short, which would be our subject. Additionally Sampson's age is too high, so it may be the wrong family. What is known is that the Alexander family tended to have a lot of twins and the related men who lived in Weakley County, Tennessee, came from Union County, South Carolina.

Thomas Jefferson "Jeff" Alexander was the fourth of five known children born to Sampson Alexander. Jeff was a farmer and was a son of a farmer. Sampson had arrived in Weakley County by 1838 and had purchased 195 acres in that county in 1848.

On February 20, 1855, Jeff married the fifteen-year-old Rebecca Ann Maynard in Weakley County. By 1870, he was growing corn on his 36 acres of land. Rebecca bore two sets of twins, along with eight other children, for an even dozen.


Template and elements from Memoirs, ClubScrap

Jeff continued to acquire land throughout his life. He lived on and ran his farm, with help, until at least 1920. He died on September 10, 1922, and is buried with his wife in Jolley Springs Cemetery in Weakley County. His widow, Rebecca, was the informant on his death certificate and was inaccurate in her answers. Unpuzzling this man truly requires collecting and assessing records.

Monday, December 29, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #50 Daisy Myrtle Maddox

I don't remember my great-grandmother, Daisy Myrtle Maddox Crispen Hull Votaw O'Neil, who died while I was just a toddler. It was she who passed on the family legends to her daughters, who told them to me. Her wonderful, but unlabelled, collection of old photographs started my journey into the past.

Daisy was born on February 16, 1878, in Morgan County, Illinois. Her parents, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Estella Lake and Joseph Allen "Al" Maddox joined a wagon train within the next couple of years and relocated in Kansas, where three more girls and one boy joined the family. Lizzie was a milliner and trained Daisy in the art of making hats.

In 1893, when Daisy was 15, the last Oklahoma land run enticed her father, who was successful in claiming 160 acres of land not far from Enid, Oklahoma Territory. The family moved into a soddie, a sod house, cut into a hillside, while waiting for Al to build a permanent house.

Daisy was tasked with watching the younger children when her parents went to visit family or to take care of business. One day a rattlesnake hid under a chest of drawers. The children were terrified and poor Daisy had to find a way to kill the snake. I believe she used a shovel after sliding the dresser away. I can't imagine being that brave as a teenager.

Daisy had dark eyes, long black hair and an olive complexion, indicators of her Native American heritage. The blacksmith Clark Earl Crispen who lived a few miles away was enamored of her looks. The 32-year-old Clark wooed the 17-year-old and married her on October 2, 1895, in Enid. Daisy's father had died about six months before and it may be that she was looking for an escape from her mother's home.

Daisy was a farm girl and soon found herself tending the home, working the farm and teaching her city-slicker husband the many things he didn't know about farming. At one point she grew frustrated and walked home to her mother's house. Lizzie told her that she had to lie in the bed she had made and sent her right back home to Clark.

Clark and Daisy had two daughters born on the farm, near Meno: Effie and Esstella. Eventually, Clark decided that farming was not what he wanted to do. He leased his farm to Daisy's brother, Archie, and the family joined his mother in the Lake Michigan resort area near Benton Harbor, Michigan. Clark went to work at one of the many manufacturing facilities in the area. A third daughter, Leona, was born to Daisy and Clark in Van Buren County, Michigan, before the family settled in Benton Harbor.


Template and elements from Oopsie Daisy, ClubScrap


Daisy grew tired of Clark's tendency to put people ahead of financial security for the family. She divorced him in 1921, after the two older girls were married. Over the years, she worked as a milliner and a photographer, as well as making quilts for her family.

In 1922, she married David Antisdel Hull, divorcing him a few years later. She married Argus Joshua Votaw in 1936, and was widowed in 1943. By that time her eldest daughter had moved to California and her youngest to Arizona. She spent time visiting them and finally settled in Arizona with Leona.

In 1945, she advertised:
If you are healthy, white Christian gentleman, alone, unencumbered, not more than 60, looking for a good cook, write Star-Citizen Box 82
Was that a veiled singles ad? A construction boss some 45 miles away responded. The two of them engaged in a romance fueled by letters and bus trips. There was a small problem: he was still married. After his divorce was final, Daisy married Meredith Lewis O'Neil on September 20, 1947, in Lordsburg, New Mexico.

One of the puzzles in my research is who this man really was. He walked away from Daisy after being married only a few months. The family didn't know if he met with foul play or left of his own free will. I only recently learned that he died in 1961 in the Arizona state mental hospital and is buried in a pauper's grave in Mesa. His death certificate shows he had dementia and give no useful information about his past. I can't trace him before 1940 and suspect he had an assumed name. I also wonder if he wandered away due to dementia.

Daisy spent the rest of her life living alone in a small guest house on her daughter's property. She died on December 2, 1957, in Tucson, and was buried at South Lawn Memorial Park. She left behind several quilts, hundreds of photos, a bundle of letters and a handful of old family stories.

Saturday, December 27, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #49 Joseph Allen Maddox

My great-great-grandfather, Al, was just a boy of twelve when his father, William Maddox, was killed by Al's older brother. His life was forever changed on that day in November of 1869. With his two older brothers in jail, the responsibility of a 270-acre farm rested on the shoulders of 16-year-old George and 12-year-old Joseph Allen Maddox, along with their mother, Nancy Jane Webb. Previously, Al and George had attended school, but no doubt the spring planting season of 1870 put an end to their schooling.

Joseph Allen Maddox was born on October 24, 1857, in Scott County, Illinois. He went by the name Al later in life, though all the records found through 1878 show his name as Joseph. His escapades as an adult indicate that he was a bit of a rascal. The image I have in my mind is of a prankster who tried to bring some levity to a stressful family life.

His first documented adventure was his marriage on June 13, 1876. Under the age of 21, he needed permission to marry from his mother. His bride, Elizabeth "Lizzie" Estella Lake, barely 15, also needed parental permission. The couple went to the Scott County courthouse with this single permission note, written in pencil:
"Mr Marten please let Joseph Maddox have his licence and it will be all right we are perfectly willing for them to get married. (signed) Mr Aaron Lake and Mrs Sarrah Lake"
The marriage license itself stated that Lizzie was 18 years old and that the mother of the 20-year-old groom had given her permission. The couple was married in the little community of Merritt by the minister George W Simpson, likely a lay minster of the M.E. Church.

This combination of marriage documents implies an elopement, with Lizzie lying about her age when they found out that Al needed a permission note. The couple must have lied and said that the note was from Al's mother. Additionally, it appears that Lizzie wrote the note herself. The signature of Aaron Lake is too neat and does not match his signature in the chancery case he filed against his father's probate. The misspelled name of Lizzie's mother and the use of pencil rather than ink also lead me to think that Lizzie wrote the note.

The young couple lost a pregnancy early in their marriage and the next child, Daisy Myrtle Maddox, was born in Morgan County, Illinois, on February 16, 1878. Between the birth of Daisy and the 1880 census, Al's mother remarried and died. Lizzie's grandfather's estate was resolved in chancery court about 1877.

The families decided it was time to leave Illinois and move on, joining a wagon train to Kansas. Al had been working as a miner, as well as a farmer. The 1880 census of Wilson County, Kansas, finds Lizzie and Daisy living with her parents and siblings. The home also included her older sister Nellie and her husband, George Maddox, the older brother of Al. However, the whereabouts of Al in 1880 has not been determined. Was he off mining somewhere? Was he looking for farmland?

Daughter Dottie May was born in 1881; Della Mable in 1884; Deora Maud in 1887. The last child and only son was Archie Franklin Maddox, born in 1890. Al had turned to farming by 1885, as he suffered from tuberculosis or miner's lung. By the time of the 1885 Kansas state census, Al had leased a farm in Kingman County, Kansas. He reported his holdings to the state census taker:
  • 160 acres of rented land
  • 25 acres of corn
  • 5 acres of oats
  • 1/4 acre of Irish Potatoes
  • 20 tons of prairie hay
  • 100 pounds of butter made last year
  • 5 horses
  • 2 milk cows
  • 3 other cattle

Lizzie's parents and family also settled in Kingman County, Kansas, by 1885. This single known tintype of Al was likely taken during the early Kansas years. The tintype is in the possession of my cousin Roger Wright. I've edited it to make it more visible than the original dark image.


Template and elements from Outdoor Dad kit by Brandy Murry for Digital Scrapper, 2014

Al wasn't satisfied with leasing a farm -- he wanted to own land for his son. When the opening of Oklahoma's Cherokee Strip was announced, Al knew he had the perfect opportunity. In 1893 he joined thousands of others on the Kansas/Oklahoma border and raced for his own piece of land. He was able to claim 160 acres in what is today Major County, Oklahoma, not far from the town of Enid.

Joseph Allen Maddox had another problem besides his lung problems. He was an alcoholic. On a trip to Kansas in 1895, he became sick and died in the wagon. My great-grandmother, Daisy, stated in an insurance application that her father had died of alcoholism, leading me to think that he was drinking on the trip and died directly or indirectly due to the drinking.

Al died on March 19, 1895, and was buried in a Kansas cemetery known as Hunt Cemetery. He, along with his brother George, was later moved to Walnut Hill Cemetery in Kingman, Kansas. Although Al and his family spelled their name Maddox, his brother and wife spelled their name Maddux. Al shares a plot with his brother and sister-in-law (Lizzie's sister) under the Maddux name.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #48 Adolph Ekström of Björsäter in Östergötland


Never will I find a distant cousin descended from my great-great-grandfather Adolph Ekström. I've written before about how this family branch in Sweden has died out. I have no photos of this ancestor and little hope of ever finding any in the possession of a distant cousin. Of Adolph's seven children, only my great-grandfather Gustaf has living descendants.

The church records of Sweden are a wonderful resource that tells us about the genealogical events of the citizens. Here's a peek at the life of Adolph through the records.


Template and elements from We Are Family by Dianne Rigdon for Digital Scrapper, 2013


Through the records we learn that Adolph Ekström was born near Lake Risten on May 24, 1827, at a place known as Nässjö in the parish of Björsäter in Östergötland. His father, originally Eric Andersson, had taken the surname Ekström by 1797. Adolph was the 14th of 15 children born to the farmer Eric and his two wives. Adolph's mother was Christina Catherina Olofsdotter, who was originally from Grebo.

After his father's death in 1842, Adolph began his training to be a skräddare, a tailor. He moved from town to town, learning his trade while working for others. About 1850, Adolph finished his training, returning home. The records from that point on call his occupation skräddare. It appears his training and apprenticeship took about 7 years.

He married within Björsäter parish to Anna Charlotta Svensdotter on October 21, 1854, settling in their home, named Kristineholm. They had seven children:
  • Charlotta, 1855-1855
  • Clara Sophia, 1857-1892, never married, no children
  • Carl August David Ekström Nordén, 1859-1934, 3 children, 1 grandchild who died young
  • Gustaf Emil Ferdinand, 1862-1927, moved to Chicago and has many living descendants
  • Ernst Viktor Leonard, 1865-1939, moved to Chicago, 2 children, no grandchildren
  • Emma Karolina, 1868-1952, no children
  • Eleanora Elisabet, 1871-1941, never married, no children

Adolph taught his sons the tailor trade, which Gustaf and Ernst brought with them to Chicago. The brothers opened a tailor shop in Evanston, north of Chicago. Son Carl, who took the surname Nordén, stayed in Sweden and plied his trade as a tailor in the city of Linköping.

Anna Charlotta Svensdotter died of a lung disease on December 1, 1897, leaving Adolph a widower. He died of pneumonia on April 1, 1901. 

Sunday, November 30, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #47 Nerinda Margaret Kerr Crispen Tookey


One of my favorite heritage photos is my great-great-grandmother sitting on a camel in Lincoln Park in Chicago around the turn of the last century. Nerinda Margaret Kerr Crispen Tookey was quite a character and taking a camel ride was yet another measure of her adventurous spirit.


Quick drop page from Sorrento, ClubScrap


Every story that I've ever heard from this branch of the family has been riddled with untruths. Many of the census records are suspect, as are the death records.

The 1850 census shows Nerinda, age 8, living with the blacksmith William T Kerr and his family in Toby Township, Clarion County, Pennsylvania. Mary Williams was the first wife of William Kerr, though the 1850 census is very unclear about the family structure. An 1852 deed confirms Mary as the name of William's wife. DNA testing has confirmed my match to others descended from that couple, though not with a scientific match (yet).

Nerinda's death record shows a birthdate of April 2, but a different year. Based on her age of 8 in 1850, I believe 1842 is the best estimate of her birth year. On February 22, 1858, Nerinda signed a deed to sell land with her husband, Jacob Crispen. That would have made her just shy of her sixteen birthday, yet a married woman.

In 1860, Jacob and Narinda Chrissman (misspelled) were living on a Porter Township farm worth $850. They had a one-year-old son named William H. Meanwhile, oil had been discovered just north of the area, in Venango County. Jacob abandoned farming to work in the oil fields. He became a torpedo shooter, a man who fired oil wells using nitroglycerine.

The years after 1860 are very much a mystery.  Three more children were born: Mary, Clark and Laura, the youngest, born about 1864. For some reason, possibly the job, Jacob and Nerinda separated. My ancestor, Clark, was apprenticed to a blacksmith. How Margaret and the girls survived is not known, except that their lives were difficult. Brother William was never mentioned, so must have died young. Jacob filed for divorce in 1867, but Nerinda failed to respond. She then filed in 1874, using the name Margaret Crispen. The divorce was kept a secret from later generations, with the family claiming instead that Jacob had died young.

Margaret married Thomas Seymour "Charlie" Tookey about 1882. The couple made their home in Chicago, as did the Crispen children. She shaved years off her age in each census, likely because her husband was some ten years younger than she was. In their later years, Margaret and Charlie moved to the area of Benton Harbor, Berrien County, Michigan.
 
She was able to enjoy her four grandchildren until her death on March 1, 1923. Margaret was buried in the Crystal Springs Cemetery in Benton Harbor.
 

Friday, November 28, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #46 Philip Fry, Patriot Soldier


When I began my genealogical journey, I had hoped to identify Revolutionary War soldiers. I expected to find them in my Mom's ancestry, but not my Dad's. His ancestors were mostly 19th-century immigrants. Surprisingly, his ancestry was the first to reveal one of those early patriots, and a well-documented one at that. My fourth-great-grandfather was honored at his 1840 death with a lovely obituary.

The Democrat

Huntsville, Ala., Saturday Morning, May 2, 1840

Another Revolutionary Soldier gone.
Died -- At his residence in Marshall County, Alabama, on the morning of the 18th of April, instant, Mr. Philip Fry, in the 83rd year of his age. Mr. Fry was a native of Pennsylvania, from whence he emigrated to Virginia, from thence to East Tennessee and thence to Alabama. He was one of that glorious band of patriots who, under god, assisted in achieving for us the liberties we now enjoy; he was truly the kind husband, the affectionate father, the obliging neighbor, the honest and industrious citizen. Mr. Fry had many trials through life, having buried an affectionate wife and six children; but he is now gone, leaving a disconsolate widow and nineteen children, one hundred and thirteen grand and great grand children, together with a numerous circle of friends, to mourn their irreparable loss; but to them we say, sorrow not as those that have no hope, for if you believe that Jesus died and rose again, them also that sleep in Jesus will god bring with him, then blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, yea saith the Spirit, from henceforth they rest from their labours, and their works do follow them.

Elements from American Flag, ClubScrap, 2010


Philip Fry was born about 1757, somewhere in Pennsylvania. There has been much speculation about his parentage, but to date it's a mystery which will likely be solved only through DNA.

Virginia's Shenandoah Valley was a migration path into and out of Pennsylvania and it's on that path that we find Philip. Two sources tell us a bit about his life in the Shenandoah.
A HISTORY OF SHENANDOAH COUNTY VIRGINIA, pg. 743:
1781, June 11 - Philip Frye married Mary Dirick [Derrick]
VIRGINIA SOLDIERS OF 1776, VOL. III, pg. 1265:
Philip Fry served from 2 Aug. until 5 Oct. 1781 as a private in Capt. Linchfield Sharpe's Company of Shenandoah County, under the command of Col. Elias Edmundson, of Gen. Stephen's Brigade.
Philip also was one of the Overmountain Men led by Colonel William Campbell. They fought at the Battle of King's Mountain, the turning point of the American Revolution, on October 7, 1780.

My ancestor, Philip and Mary's daughter Kezziah, was born in Tennessee about 1809. Her brothers and sisters were born in both Virginia and Tennessee. Their births show that the family moved about 1795. Mary Magdalena Derrick Fry died between 1812 and 1819.

Philip married Mary "Polly" Davis in Jefferson County, Alabama on December 4, 1819. They had several more children before his death.

Philip was buried in the Fry Cemetery near Arab in Marshall County, Alabama. The Fry family has placed a nice monument and the Heroes of King's Mountain DAR chapter has also placed a plaque. Thanks goes to the generous photographer for allowing me to use his FindAGrave photo of Philip Fry's markers and to Suzy Burt for all her research, writing and explanations about the Fry family.

For my confused cousins, our Fry ancestry is through this line:
 

Monday, November 24, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #45 William W Maddox, The Victim at Mauvaisterre Creek

145 Years Ago, near Merritt, Illinois


November 24, 1869, 2 PM

A gunshot rang out, echoing across the barren fields of Scott County. William Maddox, 49, was mortally wounded by his son, Lewis. Both men had been drinking.

Murder at Mauvaisterre Creek


How did an ordinary farmer come to kill his father, have his name splashed on newspapers all over the midwestern United States and fuel family legends that persist to this day? Did the jury make the right decision? There are no surviving transcripts of the trial, but we can read the evidence presented to the grand jury.

As we meet each family member over the next few months, bear in mind that there is a family history of alcoholism, especially in the 19th century. Our Native American heritage left our ancestors unable to metabolize alcohol. My great-grandmother, niece of Lewis, claimed to have one-eighth Native American blood. That would have made Lewis one-quarter and William, the victim, as much as one-half. There is no proof to date of these claims; however, the oral tradition lives on in several diverse branches of the Maddox family.

Meet the Victim


William W Maddox was born in Ohio, about 1820, to Lazarus Maddox and Elizabeth Greaton (Gratton) of Pickaway County. He was either the first or second son, with an older sister and a total of seven siblings. The family owned and worked small farms of 75 to 90 acres.

William married Nancy Jane Webb on February 21, 1840, in Pickaway County. He worked as a farm laborer, according to the 1850 census. They were the parents of at least seven children: John, David, Lewis, William H, George S, Joseph Allen and Margaret. John and Margaret died young, while David, a soldier, died near the end of the Civil War. Gaps in the birth years indicate a possibility of two other children who would have died young.


Image credits: GZitzmann custom sketch, Scrap Girls template, elements by Mommyish for Digital Scrapper


In about 1853, after the birth of George, the family moved to Scott County, Illinois. The Maddox family moved near the Greaton/Gratton family members of William's mother. They had settled in the area some 20 years before. William had been charged with assault in Pickaway County shortly before the move out of Ohio. Did he move as a way to avoid the consequences?

William bought land adjoining a deep bend of Mauvaisterre Creek. The agricultural supplement to the 1860 census shows that some 75 acres had been improved, with another 85 acres yet to be planted. By the time of his 1869 death, William owned 270 acres, much of it in fields of wheat, oats, rye, corn and barley. He also produced wool. As well as sheep, the family also kept pigs, cows and bees. There were likely chickens, though they are not shown in any record.

William and his sons had been industrious. He had tripled his father's peak of 90 acres and his sons wanted some of the land to start their own family farms. The boys wanted to receive their portion as a birthright, but William agreed only to lease half the tillable land to sons Lewis and William H. Witness statements reveal that Lewis and his father had been arguing about the land on the day of the murder.

After he was shot by Lewis, William needed someone to care for him. His treatment of his family had been abusive, based on the family stories. His assault charge adds weight to that legend. The family faced a problem. If William died, Lewis could be charged. Thus the family had every reason to keep him alive, though wanting him dead.

The hired hand, Samuel Coleman, must have been trusted by everyone, as he tended William throughout the agonizing days of his decline. William W Maddox died on December 1, 1869. His burial place is unknown, though it is likely on or near the family farm.

Be sure to follow me to a new blog, Murder at Mauvaisterre Creek, where the evidence will be revealed in 2015.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #44 Oliver Ernest Ekstrom


Quick drop page from Destinations, ClubScrap

Ahlver Ernst Ekstrom was born in Chicago, Illinois, on May 22, 1903, the youngest child of Swedish immigrants. His oldest sister, Gertrude, did him the favor of Anglicizing his name to Oliver Ernest when she took him to enroll in school for the first time.

Oliver's father, Gustaf Emil Ferdinand Ekstrom, made a comfortable living as a tailor, permitting Oliver to attend school when many of his peers were dropping out to work. Oliver's mother, Agnes Emilia Fors Ekstrom, was a woman of deep faith, no doubt encouraging Oliver's love of God and dedication to His work.

At one time, Oliver worked for a safe company. One day he was using a screwdriver on a safe and it slipped, gouging into his eye and blinding it. From that time he wore glasses.

He pursued a religious education as a night student at Moody Bible Institute. There Oliver met Ruth Dorothy McFarlane, whom he married in Chicago on July 14, 1923. They had five children. In 1925, Ruth and Oliver were accepted into the Central American Mission (CAM) and assigned to the ministry in Guatemala.

After Ruth's untimely death in April, 1931, Oliver enlisted the help of various family members in the Chicago area. Leaving the children scattered, he returned to the Guatemala work.

In November, 1931, family legend says that he reluctantly traveled to Port Barrios to meet a newly assigned missionary. It was "love at first sight" when he met Bessie Douglas Cushnie. They married on October 11, 1932, at San Miguel Acatán, Guatemala. Bessie and Oliver had two children, one of whom was born after Oliver's death.

Oliver suddenly sickened while on a trip in October, 1935, dying on the 22nd. The CAM article on his death contains an error, as Oliver died from typhus, rather than typhoid. Typhus was a deadly disease requiring quarantine. The attending physician wrote his diagnosis as typhoid instead, because he knew Bessie was a nurse and would be able to care for Oliver as adequately as the hospital.

Oliver was buried in an unmarked grave at San Pedro Sacatepéquez, Department of San Marcos, Guatemala.

The CAM article also tells us about his life and his death:
To know Mr. Ekstrom was to love him and it was not long until his smiling face and cheery laugh were known all over the republic. Besides being a good preacher and a tireless evangelist, Mr. Ekstrom had marked musical ability and any service in which he had a part was certain to be one of life and interest. ...  
Every possible care was given this dear brother by his wife and fellow missionaries and by the local doctor but as the days passed it was evident that his heart could not stand the strain. He seemed to know that his life's work was ended and among other precious words, he said to his wife, "There are four things I am sure of; I am saved, I love you, I am going to heaven and we will meet again some day."
"Oliver Ernest Ekstrom", The Central American Bulletin 203 (Nov., 1935): 3-4, 15-16.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #43 Ruth Dorothy McFarlane Ekstrom


My grandmother Ruth Dorothy McFarlane was born in Chicago, Illinois, the eldest child of Walter McFarlane and Mary Ellen (Vossler) McFarlane on February 7, 1898. She had to drop out of school after seventh grade after her father was badly injured in a streetcar accident. To help support the family, she worked as a retail clerk and a telephone operator.

Ruth attended night school at Moody Bible Institute, where she met her husband, Oliver Ekstrom. They married on July 14, 1923. Dedicating their lives to Christ, they went as missionaries to Guatemala with Central American Mission in 1925.


Quick drop page from Sweet Comforts by Shabby Miss Jenn for Digital Scrapper, 2014

Ruth entered a Chicago hospital for minor surgery in 1931. When she hemorrhaged, her husband's blood was used for a transfusion. Unfortunately, the blood types were likely incompatible, based on the mixed types seen in their children. She died on the operating table at Swedish Covenant Hospital on April 23, 1931.

She was survived by her husband and five children. Ruth was buried in an unmarked grave in Chicago's Rosehill Cemetery. When a marker was laid in 2002, her eldest son, David, chose the inscription: "She was worth far more than rubies."  

Saturday, November 8, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #42 Fayette Franklin Allee, Changed by a Rock


Let's play war! "Fate" Allee had turned eight on May 5, a few months before the snow that blanketed western Oklahoma, near Hammon. He and his siblings and cousins and friends built their forts and stockpiled snowballs as ammunition.

As the battle raged, young Fate popped up from behind the fort and caught a snowball in his face. Embedded in the snow was a rock that hit his left eye. I've never heard the details of what happened right after that. I think it's likely that his parents, Laura Pryor and Thomas Allee, tried to treat him, but soon had to seek medical attention from a doctor.

My grandfather, Fayette Franklin Allee, was very nearly blinded by that rock in the winter of 1913-1914. His life as an ordinary farm boy was over. A newspaper article in the Tucson Daily Citizen in 1970 reported:
During the next three years, the injury began to affect his right eye. Finally, the left eye was removed, but the damage to his good eye had been done.

Fate soon moved to Muskogee to attend boarding school at the Oklahoma School for the Blind. In addition to the subjects we all studied, he learned to read and write Braille and to compensate for his limited vision in all aspects of his life. He was trained in skills that used his hands. During high school he tuned pianos in the area around Muskogee to earn money to help pay his expenses. In some capacity, he stayed on at the school until 1929.

The Arizona State School for the Deaf and Blind was in need of teachers in 1929 and letters were sent to schools around the country. Fate was recommended by the Oklahoma staff and shortly thereafter moved to the Arizona school in Tucson.

His wife, my grandmother, wrote a letter about him to the Tucson newspapers and kept her drafts, which I now have. The bulk of this post consists of excerpts from those drafts.


Notepaper from Scholarship, quick drop page from Tribal, both from ClubScrap

In 1929, at age 24, he started teaching classes and supervising the boys (both deaf and blind) at night for the magnificent salary of $70 a month and room and board, which at that time was an excellent opportunity. There were two teachers in the department for the blind and about 10 or 11 students. There were about 50 students in the whole school. 

His parents had moved from Oklahoma to [Pueblo County] Colorado in 1926, but a couple of years before that the whole family had been baptized in a cow pond by a Baptist minister, except for the babies. He has (in 1970) two living sisters and three living bothers (and two dead). [All are now deceased in 2014.]

In 1934, he met his future wife [Leona Violet Crispen] when she brought her daughter, age five, to school for the first time. This tiny red-headed five-year-old soon won the heart of her arithmetic teacher and invited him to her home for Sunday dinner. In 1941, her match-making won out and her teacher and her mother were married [on December 20, in Lordsburg, New Mexico].

He has been a father-figure to hundreds of visually handicapped children in Arizona for three generations. Little five-year-olds have sat in hs lap when homesick and away from their parents for the first time. Others have learned to coordinate their hands by his patient, long-suffering help as they learned to cane chairs, weave rugs, weave baskets, do woodworking projects, lace leather objects, and many other lessons to help them perceive the world around them with their fingers.

Among his former students are many college graduates, lawyers, business men, administrators of programs for the blind, as well as homemakers. His present principal is one of his former students. He has taught reading, language, spelling, social studies, algebra, geometry, as well as the shop subjects with kindness, patience and gentleness these 40 years.

Although he has struggled to attain a great many University credits, he has never been able to accumulate a Bachelor's degree. Any university course is a hardship for this blind man, but he is noted for his patience and persistence. He is a calm, quiet man and all children adore him, send him Valentines and Christmas notes saying, "I love you." When they were grown and married, some have sent him the sweetest letters saying how grateful they are now that he was so patient with them and taught them so much.

Mr. Allee is an avid sports fan, enjoying football, baseball and basketball on radio and TV. In years gone by, he has worked with Boy Scouts as a Leader and conducted camps, cook-outs, and hikes in nearby Catalina Mountain sites. For many years he was chairman each year for the annual Rodeo Party or Picnic in the mountains.

He is a man of very few words, absolute integrity, dedication to his task, self-sacrificing, and accepting of all people and completely without guile, who gives of himself and between 10% and 15% of all he earns to Christian and charitable works.

After his retirement in June, 1970, Fate continued to teach adults through the Tucson Association for the Blind. One of the skills he taught was chair caning, which earned him features in the newspaper and even on TV. Over his lifetime he had two or three corneal transplants. His vision improved with each surgery and worsened with time. He was always legally blind and was never able to drive.

In 1995, Fayette and Leona Allee moved to a retirement community in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, near his former home in Muskogee. He died on December 2, 1997, and was buried in South Lawn Memorial Park in Tucson.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #41 Lewis Maddox, The Killer at Mauvaisterre Creek

140 Years Ago, Winchester, Illinois


In the Scott County Circuit Court, October Term, A.D. 1874
The People of Illinois vs 
Lewis Maddox and Wm Maddox etal
Indict. for Murder

Oct 30th. Jury sworn to try issue, against Lewis Maddox, defendant arraigned and pleads not guilty.

Murder at Mauvaisterre Creek


How did an ordinary farmer come to kill his father, have his name splashed on newspapers all over the midwestern United States and fuel family legends that persist to this day? Did the jury make the right decision? There are no surviving transcripts of the trial, but we can read the evidence presented to the grand jury.

As we meet each family member over the next few months, bear in mind that there is a family history of alcoholism, especially in the 19th century. Our Native American heritage left our ancestors unable to metabolize alcohol. My great-grandmother, niece of Lewis, claimed to have one-eighth Native American blood. That would have made Lewis one-quarter and his father, the victim, as much as one-half. There is no proof to date of these claims; however, the oral tradition lives on in several diverse branches of the Maddox family.

Meet the Killer


Lewis (Louis) Maddox was born in Pickaway County, Ohio, in December, 1846, to William Maddox and Nancy Jane Webb. His oldest brother, John, had died as a toddler. The next oldest brother was David and several siblings followed Lewis. This birth order made Lewis a middle child, while the death of John left behind the enduring promise of a perfect child that his living siblings could never achieve.

In about 1853, the family moved to Scott County, Illinois, living on a 270-acre farm adjoining a deep bend of Mauvaisterre Creek. Lewis worked on the farm and attended school, according to the 1860 census.

As a middle child, Lewis likely would have lived and died an obscure farmer, if not for the Civil War. When his older brother David enlisted at age 19, Lewis tagged along. He claimed his age as 18, though in the summer of 1862, he would have been only 15. If his birth was actually in 1845, which is possible, he would have been 16. Nonetheless, he was underage. Did he want the enlistment bounty money, the excitement of war or just to escape the drudgery of the farm?

The muster roll for Company F, 129th Illinois Infantry, shows that Lewis was 5 foot 6 inches, with black eyes, dark hair and a dark complexion. Later documentation shows him as taller, so he had not yet had his final growth spurt. No man is ever prepared for the horrors of war, but a 15-year-old is even less so.

The 129th served first in Kentucky and Tennessee, engaging in skirmishes and protecting the railroad. Lewis was medically discharged on July 22, 1863, having served less than one year. He had chronic diarrhea, likely dysentery, which was the most common disease suffered by troops on both sides of the conflict. He also claimed to have fallen from a railroad trestle onto rocks, injuring himself internally. He was sent to a hospital in Gallatin, Tennessee, where he was observed having convulsions on a daily basis. Did he suffer a concussion? He was discharged from the Army with a certificate of disability.

Lewis returned home to heal, then enlisted in Company B, 133rd Illinois Infantry, for a period of 100 days in 1864. That time was spent guarding prisoners at Rock Island, Illinois. David, staying with the 129th, marched south with General Sherman's Army as it swept through the South, burning Atlanta and making the march to the sea and Savannah, Georgia.

David died during or shortly after the war. With David's death, Lewis moved from a middle child to become the eldest of four brothers. I think that he was uncomfortable with being in the leadership role. He seemed to be a follower, rather than a leader.

Lewis and his next youngest brother, William H. Maddox, together leased land from their father and began farming for themselves. Lewis applied for a marriage license with Melissa Boss on September 14, 1867. There is no indication that this license was used.

Lewis married Ellen Taylor on September 22, 1869, and their brief union was blessed with one son. John Alexander Maddox was born on July 18, 1870. His mother died while he was young.

Lewis and his father argued often about partitioning the farm. Lewis and young William wanted their birthright. William the elder did not agree. Fueled by alcohol, their arguments turned bitter on the day of the shooting.

The rest of Lewis' story will be told only after the evidence is presented. Lewis Maddox died in 1915 and is buried in a remote cemetery in Brown County, Illinois, with a military marker.


Quick drop page from Recollection by Joanne Brisebois Designs for Digital Scrapper, 2011

Saturday, October 25, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #40 Elizabeth Childers Wilson Vossler


Elizabeth M. Childers was the fourth of ten children born in the area of Blount County, Alabama, to Kezziah D. Fry and James Childers, a farmer and sometime Justice of the Peace.


Template and components from Comfort Zone, ClubScrap

Born about 1834, Elizabeth married the farmer John N. Wilson on December 10, 1853. He was the father of 7 children and had 5 more with Elizabeth. The Wilsons relocated to Searcy County, Arkansas, about 1858. 

When the rumblings of war began in 1860, John Wilson joined an Arkansas Peace Society, also known as the Yellow Rag Boys. Along with others, he refused to enlist in the Confederate forces, but was forced to serve on pain of death. After making his way home partway through the war, he was bushwacked, likely by Confederate sympathizers. His teenage son escaped the attack and watched as his father was hanged.

The Wilson boy ran from Arkansas, joined another traveler and ended up in Illinois. Seeing a place of peace and plenty, he returned to Arkansas for his family. Elizabeth Wilson sold the farm for Confederate dollars and took her young sons to Illinois. The Wilson family legends are silent on the the intervening time before her marriage to George Vossler. How did she survive with small children and worthless money? Did she regret selling the farm?

George Vossler and Elizabeth Childers married in Macon County, Illinois, on October 30, 1866, and are last found in the 1870 census. Wilson legend says they went to Missouri and disappeared. The youngest Wilson boys were placed into the guardianship of their elder siblings in Searcy County in January of 1875. The two Vossler children next turn up in the Chicago city directories in the early 1890s.

Elizabeth's story is still unfinished. I want to know where she went and what happened to her. I am waiting for the day the right records come online. Then I can close the chapter for myself and all our collateral relatives.

The Childers family photo is an image of a daguerreotype scanned from
"Just a Branch" of the Cox, Yarborough and Childress Families.
Author Nelda Cox Eastman (deceased), Grand Prairie, Texas.
Courtesy of Suzy Burt, an editor of Blackburn and Fry family association newsletter.
 

Monday, October 20, 2014

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: #39 Mary Jane Smith Pryor

The 1863 Civil War map of the vicinity of Jasper, Tennessee, is both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing to see where various branches of my family lived in the 1860s. However, the existence of the map means the Union Army was active in the area. It's a curse to wonder what horrors the families endured during the war years.

Mary Jane Smith was just nine years old when the first skirmishes took place in the area in the summer of 1862. No doubt she was terrified. Did she hide? Was she or her mother assaulted? Did soldiers carry off the chickens and livestock from the tiny family farm? The Union and Confederate Armies battled heavily in Tennessee. By the end of the war, did the family have anything left?

Mary Jane was born on January 12, 1853, the eldest living child of George Fraker Smith and Nancy Alley. Her father may have been loyal to the Union and may have even fought for the Union. From being a tenant farmer in 1860, he advanced to being a land owner and court official in 1870.

One effect of the war was a shortage of young men. Did Mary Jane fall in love with the wealthy, older, tall, dark and handsome Benjamin Franklin Pryor? Or was she focused mainly on his wealth? The couple married  on December 1, 1870, when she was 17 and he was 35.

Frank's wealth didn't last. He lost a lawsuit and, in turn, all his property. In 1879, the couple moved to Palo Pinto County, Texas to start over.


ClubScrap components: Natural Resources, Hydrangea; frame Attic Antiquities by Irene V Alexeeva


Mary Jane and Frank had five daughters before they were blessed with a son, who was named Green Hill Pryor after his grandfather. After Frank's death in 1889, Mary Jane carried on farming for a time, as best she could. Eventually she moved to Oklahoma to live with her children.

Mary Jane Smith Pryor died on March 28, 1934, in Oklahoma City. She was buried with her husband in Elmwood Cemetery, Mineral Wells, Palo Pinto County, Texas.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Autosomal DNA Matching 101, Class Two: A New Word


While reading the latest post from Roberta J Estes at DNAeXplained, I had to stop and look up a new word as it relates to autosomal DNA matching. Here's another look at my autosomal matching results so far. Those yellow boxes are areas of my ancestry where this new word applies.




Roberta shared and commented on the perspective of  Tim Janzen, a conference presenter:
"... endogamous relationships are a tough problem with no easy answer. Polynesians, Ashkenazi Jews, Low German Mennonites, Acadians, Amish, and island populations. Do I ever agree with him!  I have Brethren, Mennonite and Acadian in the same parent’s line."

Endogamous is a new word to me. However, seeing the words Mennonite, Amish and Brethren really got my attention. Wikipedia tells me that endogamy refers to the tradition of intermarriage within a cultural group. The ancestors who are the source of my matches in the yellow blocks fall into these specific cultural groups.

I know that there are many more matches in both those areas of my tree. The Swiss-German Peffley family at the bottom right is strongly associated with many other such families, yet I can't find the common ancestor with matches from those families. It must be due to those multiple intermarriages to which Roberta and Tim are referring. Now I understand that these groups are challenging and the answers may not be as easy as I had supposed.

As you work with your own difficult autosomal matches, be sure to notice and consider such clusters and remember this concept. Endogamous cultures may be a challenge for you, also.

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Using a Timeline to Untangle Your Roots

Sorting out people with the same name is one of the challenges the family historian faces. Aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews and cousins, oh, my! Sometimes the sorting is simple and other times complex. The proliferation of bad information on the internet has made the task much more difficult.

To sort out the David Maddoxes in Pickaway County, Ohio, I used a timeline, which is a tool suggested by professional geneaogists. In this exercise, I listed by date each piece of evidence that I had found and a few assumptions.

When building a timeline, an important concept is to ignore the spelling on the records. Most spelling before 1900 was phonetic: the clerk wrote what he heard. Capture all documents that you think may apply. Try to ignore the online noise, except to find clues. Look for more evidence than the census. Only one third of my collected evidence consisted of census records.

The goal was to answer two questions.
  • Who served in the Civil War?
  • Who bought land in 1847?

I started with the 1850 census, which listed three individuals named David Maddux/Maddox. I assigned each one a number, based on birth order:
  • David Maddox/Maddux #1 was the brother of my 3rd great-grandfather. 
  • David Maddox #3 was the brother of my 2nd great-grandfather and the nephew of #1.
  • David Maddox/Maddux #2 is unknown, but likely was a distant cousin of the other two men.

I then assigned a person to each document where it was clear to whom it applied. This document applies to David #2, this one to David #1, etc. At the end, I rearranged and color-coded the list to group the documents by the person they pertained to. It then became easier to assign the unclear documents to the right David. Most of the fuzzy documents don't give an age, so have to be examined in the larger context. I also searched out and found other evidence to add facts and build the proof case.

At the end of the exercise, it was obvious that David #2 and David #3 served in the Civil War, while David #1 did not. David #1 is the only one of the three who was old enough to have purchased land in 1847. I also checked the 1840 census to see if there was an earlier David, but there was not a good candidate.

Here's the latest timeline for the three men.

# Date Recorded Name Location [OH assumed] Record Age Event
1 08 Oct 1847 David O P Maddox Monroe Twp, Pickaway Deed DV22-393 [21] 38.5 acres purchased from Lazarus Maddox
1 20 Sep 1850 David Maddox Monroe Twp, Pickaway 1850 Census 24 Owned land $500, with Elizabeth age 52 land $900
1 31 Jan 1852 David Madox Monroe Twp, Pickaway Deed DV27-435 Sold 1/8 part of land of Lazarus Maddox [deceased] to Joseph Madox
1 23 Jun 1853 David Maddox Pickaway County Marriage [27] Maria Tammadge [Talmadge], bride
1 02 Jun 1853 David P Madox Monroe Twp, Pickaway Deed DV28-126 Joseph W Madox sold to David P Madox - 5/8 of Lazarus' land
1 25 Feb 1854 David P Maddox Monroe Twp, Pickaway Deed DV29-004 With wife Mary Maria, sold 5/8 of Lazarus' land to John A Maddox
1 est 1855 D P Maddox Pickaway County School roll Parent of Jas Talmage
1 09 Apr 1856 D P Maddox Pickaway County Deed DV31-472 With wife, final land sale in Pickaway (bought from Bolin, sold to Kendrick)
1 25 Aug 1860 David P Madux Pleasant Twp, Madison 1860 Census 24 Wife Mary M age 27, land 890, Rebecca J 6, John W 4, Orpha 1
1 02 Jan 1862 D P Maddux Pickaway County Tombstone, wife of D P Mary M Maddox death, buried Yankeetown Cemetery
1 04 Dec 1862 David Maddux Madison County Marriage [36] Mary [Watson] Moler, bride
1 01 Jul 1863 David Maddix Fairfield Twp, Madison Civil War Draft 35 Class II registration
1 18 Jul 1870 David Maddux Fairfield Twp, Madison 1870 Census 43 Wife Mary 32, Rebecca 16, John 14, Arthur  (Orpha) 11, Daniel Moler 10
1 25 Sep 1872 Madison County Marriage Rebecca J Maddux marriage to Albert A Gray
1 6 Jul 1880 David Maddux Fairfield Twp, Madison 1880 Census 54 Wife Mary 52, no children
1 2 Jun 1900 David Maddux Fairfield Twp, Madison 1900 Census 73 Birth Sep 1826, widower, boarding with William Knowles age 84
1 31 Jul 1907 David Perry Maddux Columbus, Franklin Death Certificate 80 Birth 30 Sep 1826, son of Lazarus and Elizabeth, informant Rebecca Gray
2 31 Oct 1850 David Matux Perry Twp, Pickaway 1850 Census 13 With [Asa] Collins 40 and Mary 37, William 11
2 28 Nov 1858 David Maddux Pickaway County Marriage [21] [Mary] Elizabeth Timmons, bride
2 12 July 1860 David Maddox Monroe Twp, Pickaway 1860 Census 22 Wife Mary E age 21, no land, no children
2 10 Oct 1862 David Maddux Camp Chase, Columbus Civil War Enlistment 25 Enlisted in Company G of 113 Ohio Volunteer Infantry
2 18 May 1865 David Maddux Civil War Discharge Discharged early from unit
2 David Maddux Date and place of death would be in pension files
2 17 Nov 1866 David Maddox Civil War Pension Widow Mary E Maddox files on David Maddox, 113 OVI Co G
2 23 Jun 1870 Monroe Twp, Pickaway 1870 Census Elizabeth Maddux (servant) 30, Mary 9, living with George Timmons 63
2 10 Nov 1872 Pickaway County Marriage Mary Elizabeth Timmons Maddux wed to Robert Spencer Leach
2 9 Jun 1873 David Maddox Pickaway County Guardianship Robert S Leach guardianship of Mary E Maddux, age 12
2 30 Jun 1873 David Maddox Civil War Pension Minor child by guardian Robert S Leach on David Maddox, 113 OVI Co G
2 14 Jun 1880 Monroe Twp, Pickaway 1880 Census Mary E Leach 40, spouse R.S. 34, Mary Maddux 19
2 4 Nov 1880 Pickaway County Marriage Mary Elizabeth Maddux marriage to William J Porter
2 01 Jun 1890 David Maddux, dec'd Monroe Twp, Pickaway 1890 Veteran Census Mary E Leach, widow of David Maddux
2 27 Jun 1900 Monroe Twp, Pickaway 1900 Census Mary E Leach 62, spouse R.S. 54, grandson CW Porter b. Dec 1882
3 20 Sep 1850 David Maddox Monroe Twp, Pickaway 1850 Census 7 With William 27 and Nancy 26, Lewis age 4, Willliam infant
3 15 Aug 1860 David Mattock Scott County, IL 1860 Census 16 With William 41 and Nancy 39, Lewis 15, Wm 11, George 8, Joseph A 4
3 13 Aug 1862 David Maddox Exeter, Scott County, IL Civil War Enlistment 19 Enlisted in 129 Illinois Infantry, Co F, Nativity Pickaway, Ohio
3 15 May 1864 David Maddox Resaca, Georgia Service File Wounded in side
3 20 Nov 1864 David Maddox Madison, Georgia Service File Taken prisoner and paroled, never discharged, no further records