52 Ancestors 2020 – 10 – StrongWoman – Catherine (Brown) Baker

If you have been keeping track of the numbers, you will see that I skipped number 9, which was disaster. I couldn't find a woman within the time limits to write about, so I have gone on to number 10.

I have chosen Catherine (Brown) Baker, who was my half 2^nd great-grandaunt. She was the daughter of my 3^rd great-grandmother Sarah Lollar and her first husband, Thomas Brown. I find it very interesting that Ancestry.com in their DNA ThruLines suggests that I have 20 matches from Catherine's descendants, through 9 of her children. This makes me quite confident that I am related to this “strong woman.”

Catherine should have been a strong woman because she had 14 children and at least 13 of them lived to adulthood. Maybe she learned this from her mother, who had just 2 children from her first marriage, but 14 from her second marriage to my 3^rd great-grandfather, Thomas O'Neal. As Catherine was the oldest daughter she was having her first 3 children while her mother was having her youngest 3 children (1841 - 1845).

Catherine married her husband, Oliver Baker, 17 Mar 1841 in Franklin County, Indiana, and they were married for over 60 years until Oliver's death 30 May 1905 in Delaware County, Indiana. This is another indication that Catherine was a strong woman. She lived less than a year as a widow before her death 25 Feb 1906, also in Delaware County. They were both buried there in Union Cemetery, near Eaton. At least through 1900 Catherine and Oliver lived in Franklin County. It was sometime before 1905 they moved about 60 miles to Delaware County. Their son William was living there in 1900.

On censuses (1860 – 1900) Catherine was marked as unable to write, but apparently she could read. I hope she was able to read the information about her son Maxwell, who lived in Brookville, Franklin County, Indiana. A biography for him was published in 1899 in the Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties, Indiana, Volume II, pages 929-931. It included the following about her: “His parents are Oliver and Catherine (Brown) Baker, worthy and esteemed residents of this county.”

Another time that Catherine needed to remain strong was during the Civil War as she had 3 sons who were the right age to fight. Her son Maxwell did become one of the soldiers in Company A of the 35^th Indiana Infantry. It appears he was a substitute for someone else and joined near the end of the war, 15 Oct 1864. The official records show that the 35^th Infantry was involved in the operations against Hood in north Georgia and north Alabama until November 3. They participated in the Nashville Campaign to the end of the year, including the battle of Franklin on Nov 30 and the battle of Nashville Dec 15-16. In 1865 they moved to Huntsville Alabama and were on duty there until March. They were involved in operations in East Tennessee until April 22^nd. I expect both Maxwell and his mother were happy to know the War was ending as Lee signed the document of surrender on April 9^th and other generals were signing until the official end of the War on 26 May 1865. The 35^th Infantry went to Nashville until the middle of June when they were sent to New Orleans. Later they served in Texas until mustered out 30 Sept 1865. Maxwell served long enough that he did get a pension in 1890.

It has been a delight to learn more about this relative of mine, Catherine (Brown) Baker, a “strong woman.”

52 Ancestors 2019 – 2 – Challenge – Letha Ann (O'Neal) Lanning

This weeks theme is “challenge” for 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks. Since I have chosen to write about siblings of my ancestors, this week I have chosen Letha Ann (O'Neal) Lanning, an older sister of my 2^nd gt-grandfather, Commodore Perry O'Neal.

Letha or Leatha was born on 13 January 1827 in Franklin County, Indiana, the daughter of Thomas and Sarah (Lollar) O'Neal. I believe she fits the theme for challenge since Letha was the mother of 17 children in a period of a little over 27 years. Twelve of her children survived until adulthood and are shown with their parents in the above photo.

Letha was 16 years old when she married John Lanning on the 18^th of August 1843. It was a little less than a year later when their first child, Reuben, was born 31 May 1844. Apparently Reuben was named for his grandfather, John's father. Before the 1850 census was scheduled to be taken, four more children were born: Sarah, Mary, James and Hester. Sadly Mary died a few months after her first birthday and Hester died a little over a month after her first birthday. Then when the census was taken, Reuben wasn't at home, but in his grandfather Lanning's household. The census taker listed Sarah, James and Hester, even though Hester had already died because she had been alive for the official census date.

Children continued to arrive in their family: George, William, Joseph, Aaron, Keturah and David were all born before the 1860 census. Aaron died when he was 2 ½ years old in 1858, so there were eight children enumerated in that Lanning household, aged 16 to 1/12^th. Five children were born during the 1860's: Amanda (who died less than a year old), Nancy, Henrietta, Rosanna and John. The 1870 census shows that the three older surviving children had left home and there were still nine children from age 19 to 2 who were living in their household.

In 1871 Letha's last child, Hiram, was born, but he lived only 2 days. When they took the 1880 census the six younger children were still living at home, four girls and 2 boys. Hopefully that were able to provide help for their parents. It was in this census that Letha stated that her father was born in Ireland and her mother in South Carolina. She repeated that fact in the 1900 census where she was widowed and living with her daughter Keturah. Letha was listed as a 73 year old farmer, who could read, but not write. Her husband John of 56 years had died in November of 1899. At age 83, Letha was shown on the 1910 census with an occupation of manager of a farm. Again Keturah was living there with her. In all her census listings from 1850 through 1910 they were living in Butler Township in Franklin County, Indiana. Letha died there 8 March 1914 and was buried in Wolf Creek Cemetery.

From her obituary which was published in the Brookville Democrat 18 March 1914, we learn that Letha faced physical challenges in her later years:

Aunt Leatha or Grandma Lanning, as she was commonly called, passed through many hardships helping to raise such a large family and accumulating a nice home. Her last years were spent mostly in afflictions, and being so crippled in body she hadn't the pleasure of going about much.

When she died, Letha had 11 children still living and over 150 descendants. Her obituary gives this tribute to her:

Surely many sons and daughters can arise and call her blessed. The last few years of her life the loved ones would gather in and sing and pray with her. She always seemed so glad and happy, often expressing a desire to depart and be with Jesus.

I would say that Letha faced her challenges well.

Ancestor Unbirthday - abt 1799 – Sarah Lollar

Another one of my 3rd gt-grandmothers was Sarah Lollar. According to the 1850 census she was born in South Carolina. It gives her age as 46 which would indicate a birth year of about 1804. However the age brackets in the 1830 and 1840 census show a female born between 1790 and 1800, so I estimate her birth year as about 1799.

By 24 Dec 1818 she was living in Franklin County Indiana because that is where she married Thomas Brown. She had at least two children with him: Isaac and Catherine. I have not found a record about what happened to Thomas, but on 20 Aug 1823, Sarah married Thomas O'Neal, as his second wife. With this Thomas Sarah had 14 children, so altogether that makes 16 children for her. According to a family record her husband Thomas O'Neal died in 1847. Sometime before the 1850 census, she along with some of her children moved to Bartholomew County Indiana. Seven of the children were listed in her household including my 2^nd gt-grandfather, Commodore Perry O'Neal. The family record shows her death date as 17 Apr 1854.

Much of the information about this family comes from a family record which is said to have been kept by James Albert O'Neal, one of Sarah's grandsons. I do appreciate my cousin, Linda Wyatt, who shared this information with me. This is from one of the pages from that record.

Ancestor Birthday - April 14th - Commodore Perry O'Neal 1835 - 1919

The O'Neal Family  

One of my 2nd great-grandfathers was named Commodore Perry O'Neal. As a child, I remember that my mother listed one of her great-grandfathers as Perry O'Neal. It was after I started researching in the 1980s that I realized his full name was Commodore Perry. It is my belief that he was named for the hero in the War of 1812. He did have brothers named George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. It seemed to be a common practice to name children for famous people in the time period he was born, 1835. He generally used the name Perry or his initials, C.P. rather than his full name.

Perry was born 14 Apr 1835 in Franklin County, Indiana, the son of Thomas and Sarah (Lollar) O'Neal. Both of his parents had been married previously, so there were 4 half-siblings in his family as well as the 13 full siblings. Six of his siblings were younger than him. He was about 12 years old when his father died in 1847. Sometime before 1850 the family had moved a little farther west to Bartholomew County, Indiana, where they were enumerated in the census. His mother Sarah was the head of the household and by now there were 7 children still in the household. It was 4 years later when Sarah died in 1854, so now Perry was about 19 years old. By 1858 he was living in Davis County, Iowa, because it was 25 Feb 1858 when he married Margaret Jane England. His brother George had moved there earlier. Perry and Margaret's first child was born there, my great-grandmother, Mary Ann O'Neal. On the 1860 census, he was shown as Perry Oneal, with his wife Margaret, his daughter Mary A, and his 14 year old sister, Rebecca.

The family left Iowa in 1865, traveling with some of Margaret's family to California. Perry registered to vote in 1867, listing his residence as Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, California. He was listed on the 1870 census there as Perry Oneal with his wife Margt J, his daughter Mary A, a son John J. and a 20 year old Chinese servant, Chang.

That fall the family moved to Oregon and Perry purchased for $500 168.89 acres about 4 miles west of the present town of Creswell. Creswell was not established until after the railroad came through that area in 1872. Perry and Margaret had 2 more sons after they had come to Oregon: Edward Chancy born in 1871 and George Elva born in 1873. In 1876 their daughter Mary Ann married John Howard Bond and she moved out of their household. But sometime before 1880 Margaret's father, William L. England came to stay with them because he was listed on the 1880 census as father-in-law. Now Perry was listed as C.P. Oniel with Margaret and the 3 boys also in the household.

It was three years later, in 1883, that Perry filed for about 160 acres of homestead land adjoining his other property. In his final papers in1890 he noted that the land was hilly and good for grazing and farming. It was in May of 1897 that Perry's wife Margaret died. She was buried in the Creswell Pioneer Cemetery. C.P. lived as a widower for over 20 years with his 3 sons who were unmarried at that time. He deeded his land, now over 300 acres, to them a few months before his death 12 Jul 1919. He was buried in the Creswell Cemetery next to his wife.

You can read about him on my website: http://www.joanneskelton.com/p13.htm#i317

Tomorrow I will try to give some more information about Commodore Perry's land in Oregon.

Posted 14 Apr 2017