John Martin Sims
b. 24 April 1843, near Bardstown, Nelson County, Kentucky, to Henry J. and Mary Ann (Jenkins) Simms

m/1.
Lucy J. Bryant
b. about 1847, Hendricks County, Indiana, to Silas J. and Matilda (McCammack) Bryant
d. 1872

m/2.
Rebecca Abigail Martin

Children with Lucy J. Bryant:

• John Lewis (b. 1868)
• Mary Matilda (b. 1870)

After the death of John’s mother, Mary Ann (Jenkins) Simms, in 1844, Henry J. Simms, John’s father, brought his motherless children to Morgan County, Indiana, where he bought land. After the death of their father about 1858, John Martin Sims and his younger twin brothers were “farmed out” to work for other people on their land.

John Martin Sims enlisted in Company B, 59th Regiment, Indiana Infantry, when he was 18 and served during the entire Civil War as a private and a corporal. He received his discharge on 17 July 1865 at Louisville, Kentucky.

John and Lucy J. (Bryant) Sims lived and farmed near Stilesville, Hendricks County, Indiana, for a time after their marriage. They then moved to near Leroy, McLean County, Illinois.

John Lewis Sims, son of John and Rebecca (Martin) Sims, was about 12 years old when he and his sister moved from Hendricks County, Indiana, to Stafford County, Kansas, in 1880 to live with their father and stepmother. Although he lived and farmed in Stafford County the rest of his life and died there on 2 August 1948, he always claimed to be a Hoosier and visited relatives in Indiana whenever possible. He married Alice Gertrude Ewing in 1896 and had five children, the youngest being Gilbert Lewis Sims, who was born 7 August 1915 and died 15 May 1966. Six children were born to John M. and Rebecca (Martin) Sims.

Submitted by:
Lorraine Sims Robinson
Berryton KS