Category Archives: Lagrange County

James William Beckley

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James William Beckley
birth: Muncie, Delaware Co., Indiana to Wilfred Beckley and Arvie Mull
death: 5 April 2014
burial: Gardens of Memory, Muncie, IN

marriage: 31 July 1963
Mirtha Acosta
birth: 27 June 1939 to Pablo Acosta Mena and Regla Dolores Suarez
death:
burial: Maxville Cemetery, Randolph Co., IN

Children of James William Beckley and Mirtha Acosta:

  • Maria Dolores Beckley, b. 1965, m.(1) Adam Charles Bushong, (2) Paul Alex Barron
  • Luisa Lynn Beckley, b. 1968, m. Jeffrey Mayer
  • Ariana Beckley, b. 1969, m.(1) Tony Weiss, (2) Michael Dickerson

James William Beckley:

  • Muncie, Delware County, Indiana
  • Farmland, Randolph County, Indiana
  • Angola/Marion
  • Kokomo, Howard County, Indiana
  • Shipshewana, LaGrange County, Indiana
  • Arizona
  • Forbes AFB, Kansas
  • Fort Bragg and Pope AFB, Fayettville, North Carolina
  • Goose Bay AFB, Canada
  • Wilford Hall Medical Center, Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas
  • RAF Mildenhall/RAF Feltwell, England
  • AFB Riverside, CA

Other Information:

James William Beckley was a United Methodist Chaplain in the Air Force. He was my father and I am grateful for him and my mother who brought me into this world in Angola, Indiana. I am Once a Hoosier and Always a Hoosier as well. I will probably leave this world in Texas, but I am grateful for Indiana. My son is moving to INDIANA with is wife in April for a new job in Indianapolis. Isn’t it interesting that everything for my son is coming back to Indiana? :-)

Submitted by:
Maria D Acosta Brown
Email: maria.d.acosta@hotmail.com

 

Amanda Bowen

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Amanda Bowen
b. 18 March 1834, Lorraine, Stark County, Ohio, to Jacob W. and Rachel (Kiten or Olden) Bowen
d. 3 May 1861, Dalles City, Wasco County, Oregon

m. 29 March 1852, LaGrange, LaGrange County, Indiana
Levi Knott
b. 10 May 1812, Jefferson County, Ohio
d. 15 March 1874, Olympia, Thurston County, Washington Territory

Children with Levi Knott:
• Augustus Adolphus (1854-1855)
• Mary Isabelle (1856-1924/5) married Christopher “Joe” Guthrie
• Rosalia Rachel (1860-1908) married John Harry Schoonover

Amanda, age 16, was listed in the 1850 census living with her parents in LaGrange County, Indiana. She left from Clay Township, LaGrange County, in 1852 and headed west.

Submitted by:
Kathryn Bowen Bloom
Fort Wayne IN
E-mail: kathrynabloom@verizon.net

Elizabeth Donaldson

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Elizabeth Donaldson
b. 7 April 1843, Lexington, LaGrange County, Indiana, to George and Nancy Emily (Norton) Donaldson
d. 13 April 1919, Crawford County, Illinois

m. 3 November 1861, Crawford County, Illinois
Thomas Middleton Shaw
b. 29 October 1836, Crawford County, Illinois, to Joseph M. and Narcissa (Middleton) Shaw
d. 30 December 1880, Crawford County, Illinois

Children with Thomas Middleton Shaw:
• Lydia Ann (1863-1914) married (1) Henry A. Folck, (2) Joseph Wolfe
• Laura (1864-1917) married Josephus Folck
• Nota (1865-1946) married Douglas Kincaid
• Andrew Jackson (1866-1948) married Annie Bartmess
• Narcissa J. (1867-1901) married Robert E. Edgington
• Mary (b. 1868)
• Ella E. (1870-1948) married (1) William Wilber, (2) John Hawkins
• Sarah B. (1873-1948) married Samuel Vance Kincaid
• Emma (1874-1906) married Albert Little
• Cora (b. 1877) married Charles A. Lambdin
• Thomas Middleton, Jr. (1880-1964) married Alma Edgington

Elizabeth left LaGrange County, Indiana, about 1853 for Crawford County, Illinois, where she married and lived for the remainder of her life.

Submitted by:
Sharon Howell
Greenwood IN
E-mail: sshowell@indy.net

Western Ackley Dickinson

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Western Ackley Dickinson
b. 10 August 1832, Richland, Oswego County, New York, to Samuel and Belinda (Ackley) Dickinson
d. 30 January 1911, Houston, Harris County, Texas

m.
Sarah A. Moriah (?)
b. 7 January 1835, Vernon, Trumbull County, Ohio
d. 12 September 1899, Lake Charles, Calasieu Parish, Louisiana

Children with Sarah A. Moriah (?):
• Mary E. (b. 1857)
• Horora A. (b. 1858)
• Ella B. (b. 1868)
• Charles L. (b. 1874)
• Chester Delos (1875-1957) married Lydia Belle Wilkinson

The first two children were born in LaGrange County and the second two in Whitley County, so the family was in Indiana before 1857. They left for Kansas in 1874 or 1875.

Submitted by:
Elizabeth Nash
Garden City KS
E-mail: dnash1@cox.net

Amanda Bowen

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Amanda Bowen
b. 18 March 1834, Lorraine, Stark County, Ohio, to Jacob W. and Rachel (Kiten or Olden) Bowen
d. 3 May 1861, Dalles City, Wasco County, Oregon

m. 29 March 1852, LaGrange, LaGrange County, Indiana
Levi Knott
b. 10 May 1812, Jefferson County, Ohio
d. 15 March 1874, Olympia, Thurston County, Washington Territory

Children with Levi Knott:

  • Augustus Adolphus (1854-1855)
  • Mary Isabelle (1856-1924/5) married Christopher “Joe” Guthrie
  • Rosalia Rachel (1860-1908) married John Harry Schoonover

Amanda, age 16, was listed in the 1850 census living with her parents in LaGrange County, Indiana. She left from Clay Township, LaGrange County, in 1852 and headed west.

Submitted by:
Kathryn Bowen Bloom
Fort Wayne IN
E-mail: kathrynabloom@verizon.net

James Adelbert Reynolds

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James Adelbert Reynolds
b. 2 August 1861, Lagrange, Lagrange County, Indiana to William Reynolds and Sarah Elizabeth Adams
d. 2 February 1941, Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa

m. 8 August 1882, Des Moines County, Iowa
Mary Jane Kongable
b. 19 April 1860, Perry County, Pennsylvania, to George and Elizabeth (Schreckengast) Kongable
d. 7 January 1939, Des Moines, Iowa

Children with Mary Jane Kongable:

  • Charles
  • Flora May
  • Dora Alice
  • Frederick Benton
  • John Howard
  • Lilly Rose
  • Glen Horace

Submitted by:
Eileen M. Reynolds Martin
Bartonville IL

Amos Reynolds

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Amos Reynolds
b. 1789, New York, to William and Mary (Lyon) Reynolds
d. 19 December 1853, South Milford, LaGrange County, Indiana

m.
Hannah Benedict
b. to Jacob and Dorcas (Roscoe) Benedict
d. 17 October 1868, South Milford, LaGrange County, Indiana

Children with Hannah Benedict:

  • Jane
  • Harriet
  • Caroline
  • Louisa
  • William (b. ca. 1820)
  • Horton

Submitted by:
Eileen M. Reynolds Martin
Bartonville IL

William Reynolds

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William Reynolds
b. about 1820, Fitchville, Huron County, Ohio, to Amos and Hannah (Benedict) Reynolds

m. 30 January 1846, LaGrange County, Indiana
Sarah Elizabeth Adams
b. about 1830, New York
d. Iowa

Children with Sarah Elizabeth Adams:

  • Elizabeth Ann married [–?–] Miller
  • Clarrissa married [–?–] Shirk
  • Sarah married [–?–] Browne
  • Augustus
  • James Adelbert (1861-1941) married Mary Jane Kongable
  • Lily
  • Melvin

William and Sarah emigrated from South Milford, LaGrange County, Indiana, to Morning Sun, Louisa County, Iowa.

Submitted by:
Eileen M. Reynolds Martin
Bartonville IL

Nancy Emily Norton

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Nancy Emily Norton
b. 4 March 1811, Ohio, to Thoda and Lucinda (Sample) Norton
d. 17 October 1902, Crawford County, Illinois

m. 23 September 1827, Clark County, Ohio
George Donaldson
b. about 1802, Virginia

Children with George Donaldson:

  • Emeline (b. 1830)
  • Thomas (b. 1835)
  • Margaret (b. 1841) married Solomon Luke
  • Elizabeth (1843-1919) married Thomas Shaw
  • Charles (b. 1846)
  • Asa (b. 1848)

The family came to Lexington,, Lagrange County, Indiana, before 1832. During the Black Hawk War in 1832, there was a fake Indian attack on Lexington. The families in the neighborhood gathered at the blacksmith shop of George Donaldson. Women and children were put into the shop while the men felled trees and cut logs to hastily build a fort. This was afterwards known as Fort Donaldson. The Norton family traveled by covered wagon to Montgomery Township, Crawford County, Illinois, in 1853. There were eight children altogether in the family.

Submitted by:
Sharon Howell
Greenwood IN
E-mail: sshowell@indy.net

John J Johnson

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John J Johnson
b. 1 December 1844, Cochranton, Marion County, Ohio, to John M. and Eliza (Odel) Johnson
d. 15 April 1931, Urbana, Champaign County, Illinois

m/1. 1 June 1871, Scott, LaGrange County, Indiana
Caroline Ludwig
b. 5 May 1853, White Deer, Union County, Pennsylvania, to Joseph R. and Maria (Barrett) Ludwig
d. 28 August 1898, Urbana, Champaign County, Illinois

m/2. 1903, Denver, Miami County, Indiana
Nellie (Forey) Keplinger

Children with Caroline Ludwig:

  • Guy T. (b. 14 June 1873)
  • Addie May (1882–1965) married Charles Sylvester Creek

John resided in Mt. Pisgah and Middlebury, Elkhart County, Indiana, and in Mexico, Miami County, Indiana. He emigrated from Indiana to Champaign County, Illinois, in 1894. There may be descendants of John Johnson’s siblings in Elkhart, LaGrange, or Noble counties, Indiana, with the surnames Goodsell, Deal, Appleman, Tinklepaw, and Kingsly.

His family has letters written by John J. Johnson from 1862 to 1864 while he was a member of Company G of the 88th Regiment, Indiana Volunteers, of LaGrange County, Indiana,
during the Civil War. The 88th Regiment participated in the battles of Stone River, Murfreesboro, Missionary Ridge, Chattanooga, and Kenesaw Mountain and took part in Sherman’s march to the sea. John Johnson was present at the Grand Review in Washington, D.C., on 24 May 1865. The Johnson family also owns a “rubber” blanket with numerous bullet holes in it, which may have saved Johnson’s life during his military service.

After the war John Johnson resumed his education and served as a teacher for many years. After working for some years as a miller, he worked at the University of Illinois in the water survey department until he retired in 1925 at age 81.

John’s second wife, Nellie (Forey) Keplinger, was the widow of John Keplinger, whom he met by answering a marriage advertisement.

Submitted by:
Ruth E. Hill
Raleigh NY