Julia Ann Smithers

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Julia Ann Smithers
b. 22 July 1843, Madison County, Indiana, to Daniel and Minerva (Kinnaman) Smithers
d. 27 March 1890, Texas

m.
Levi Franklin Kidwell

The Smithers family came to Indiana between 1830 and 1840. Although born in Madison County, Indiana, Julia Ann was taken to live in Parker County, Texas, by an uncle in the late 1850’s. She and her three brothers had been orphaned. In the 1860 U.S. census, she is found living with the J. Kidwell family and she later married a Kidwell. She and her husband were farmers and teachers.

Submitted by:
Eleanor Edmondson
Odessa TX
E-mail: gen-pics@earthlink.net

Raymond Austin Van Cleave

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Raymond Austin Van Cleave
b. 4 March 1908, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, Indiana, to William and Mary (Harper/Kirby) Van Cleave
d. 13 January 2000, Portland, Oregon

m. 21 April 1944, Portland, Oregon
Emma J. Timmerman/Maes/Carey
b. 2 May 1912
d. 9 Nov 1991

Children with Emma J. Timmerman/Maes/Carey:

  • Rosalie married David John DeMartino

Raymond’s mother died of childbirth in Indiana when Raymond was only eight days old. His maternal grandmother Martha Jane (Harper) Kirby took two of her daughters and Raymond to Portland, Oregon. He grew up there and as a young man, he played baseball, went fishing and played golf. While living with his grandmother, he worked at a drug store to help support her and put food on the table.

In his thirties, Raymond started to work for candy and cookie companies. During WWII he was deferred in order to make sweets for the military. It was at the candy and cookie company that he met his wife. He married shortly after his grandmother passed away.

Submitted by:
Rosalie L. De Martino
Salem OR
E-mail: turtle4u@q.com

Johann Heinrich Christian Wilhelm Wittman

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Johann Heinrich Christian Wilhelm Wittman
b. 9 April 1886, Spencer County, Indiana, to Johann B. and Margaretha (Purtzer) Wittman
d. 18 April 1972, Fremont, Dodge County, Nebraska

m. 5 June 1913, Evanston, Spencer County, Indiana
Clara Emilie Mulzer
b. 9 February 1881, Evanston, Spencer County, Indiana to Wolfgang and Anna (Keller) Mulzer
d. 10 April 1972, Fremont, Dodge County, Nebraska

Children with Clara Emilie Mulzer:

  • Arthur Henry (1914-1998) married Norma Emma Minna Dunklau
  • Wallace E. (1915-1988) married Hilda D. C. Katt
  • Rudolph Henry Carl (1917-1965) married Helen Mary Jensen
  • Narvin Otto married Verna L. Pressley
  • Oscar (1920-1986) married Ruby Doris Peck
  • Erwin George married Rita Ann Fisher

Johann was born in Huff Township of Spencer County, Indiana. He took his family and moved to Winslow, Dodge County, Nebraska, in 1916. He and Clara were married at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Evanston, Indiana, and are buried next to each other in the Memorial Cemetery in Fremont, Nebraska.

Submitted by:
Marlene Polster
Crown Point IN
E-mail: marlenepolster@sbcglobal.net

Hezekiah Stout Denham

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Hezekiah Stout Denham
b. Fall 1802, Knoxville, Knox County, Tennessee
d. 1 May 1886, Mount Pleasant, Henry County, Iowa

m/1. 30 June 1824, Harrison County, Indiana
Winney Little/Littell
b. 1 January 1803, Georgia, to Reuben and Elizabeth Covington (Gormley) Littell
d. 20 April 1863, Columbus City, Iowa

m/2. 1864
Harriet Silley

m/3. 1871
Eliza S. Culver

Children with Winney Little/Littell:

  • daughter (1825-1829)
  • Penelope Jane (b. ca 1829) married (1) David Macdonald Little, (2) Patrick Dennis
  • Ursula Milon (1831-1901) married (1) Eli Lemuel Wells, (2) Richard C. Wells
  • William Jasper (1832-1869) married Esther M. Jeffries
  • Hugh Little (1835-1889 married Caroline M. Blosser
  • Reuben M. (1837-1895) married (1) Abigail Warn, (2) Eleanor M. Sheriff-Smith
  • Obediah E. (1839-1905) married Lucy Orman

Hezekiah arrived in Indiana from Virginia with his parent about 1817. He lived and married in Harrison County, Indiana, leaving there for Iowa between 1835 and 1837. At least five of his seven children were born in Indiana.

He was a Justice of the Peace, minister for the United Brethren Church, a farmer, and a tailor of clothing for doctors. He made beautiful button holes and created many quilts from fabric scraps until about four years before his death in 1886. He was a smoke and once accidently burned down his own home.

Submitted by:
Rosalie L. De Martino
Salem OR
E-mail: turtle4u@q.com

Benjamin Morris

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Benjamin Morris
b. 7 October 1821, Clark County, Kentucky, to Wm. G. and Nancy (Young) Morris
d. 12 June 1905, Lothrop, Warren County, Iowa

m. 17 December 1846, Shelby County, Indiana
Artie Keck
b. 7 November 1827, Monongalea County, West Virginia to Daniel and Priscilla (Chew) Keck
d. 15 June 1979, Hooper, Dodge County, Nebraska

Children with Artie Keck:

  • Daniel T.
  • Annie
  • Willis G.
  • Marion F.
  • Allen M.
  • Riley
  • Dora
  • Clark
  • Greenlee
  • Elda

In 1825 at age four, Benjamin, the seventh of ten children, moved to Shelby County, Indiana, with his parents. In 1835 at age eight, Artie moved with her parents to Shelby County, Indiana. She was the second oldest of eight children.

The lives of the Morris family members in Shelby County are well documented. One son, Hamilton, sold land for the Morris Cemetery in Marion Township.

The Keck family is less well known. About the only tidbit of interest is that in February of 1859, The Shelby County Republican reported that Daniel Keck recovered a stolen horse that had gone missing for some time. It was found in Jackson Township where it had been “fenced.”

Benjamin and Artie moved to Warren County Iowa, in October 1853 with their first three children. Several of their relatives relocated to Iowa as well. Marion F. moved to Nebraska where his daughter and her son were born. All of these families were farmers and every move they made was concerned with better land opportunities.

Submitted by:
Jean Martinez
Newcastle, WY

Robert Earl Lee

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Robert Earl Lee
b. 2 February 1891, Alamo, Indiana, to James Wilson and Martha (Compton) Lee
d. 3 March 1971, Gateswood, Baldwin County, Alabama

m. 5 December 1911, Perdido, Alabama
Mildred Cecil Perry
b. 9 October 1890, Americus, Georgia, to John Edward and Lizzie Craig (Collins) Perry
d. 5 March 1957, Meridian, Mississippi

Children with Mildred Cecil Perry:

  • Sylvia Lucille (1912-2005) married Rufus Theodore William
  • Roy Edward (1913-1976) married Valla Mae Bonifay
  • James Durwood (1918-1920)
  • Bertha Vermell (b. 1919) married (1) Willis Vardaman Newman, (2) Roy Preslar, (3) Denny Roy Ard
  • Cecil Earl (1921-1991) married Alice Ree Lambert
  • Viola Vellina (b. 1924) married Lonnie Lorenza Paul
  • Elver Orlando (b. 1927) married Doris Carnley
  • Imogene (b. 1929) married David Eugene Tolbert
  • Trez Vann (b. 1932) married (1) Phillip Arlen Meetze, (2) John Wayne Rudder

Earl Lee’s great-great grandfather settled in Vigo County, Indiana, in 1817. He came from North Carolina via Kentucky and Ohio. His name was James Lee and he is buried in Prairie Creek Cemetery in Vigo County. The DAR has place a marker on his grave for service in the Revolutionary War.

Robert Earl moved south to Alabama in 1904 as a young boy with his parents. They were looking for a milder climate and cheap land. They found both in Alabama! Earl was a farmer and a carpenter. He is buried in the Clear Springs Cemetery in Baldwin County, Alabama.

Submitted by:
Sandra Rackard
Mobile AL
E-mail: srackard@bellsouth.net

Annette Britton

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Annette Britton
b. 7 September 1849, Holmes County, Ohio, to Lewis DuWert and Martha (McCague) Britton
d. 25 August 1892, Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio

m. 21 October 1868, DeKalb County, Indiana
William Henry Riley
b. 31 March 1843, Montgomery Township, Ashland County, Ohio, to Charles S. and Julian (Vantilburg) Riley
d. 21 August 1919, Montgomery Township, Ashland County, Ohio

Children with William Henry Riley:

  • Ralph (1869-1891)
  • Lewis Britton (1871-1945) married Nora Wertman
  • Henry Herman (1872-1939) married Minnie Becker
  • Maud (1874-1960) married John Samuel Briggs
  • Arthur C. (1875-1876)
  • Ethyl (1877-1961) married Oscar W. Oliver
  • Charles (1878-1959)
  • Roy (1880-1880)
  • Durwood (1881-1917) married Ida M. Webber
  • Annette Navada (1884-1960) married Rufus Willard Reed
  • Edna A. (1886-1886)
  • Howard Stanley (1890-1920) Marie Elinora Jarvis

Annette’s family came to Indiana in about 1849 or1850 from Holmes County, Ohio, where she had been born. They lived near Corunna in DeKalb County, Indiana. She left Indiana in 1868 after her marriage to William Henry Riley as he returned to the family farm in Ashland, Ohio.

About seven years before her death, Annette (called Nettie) was canning and one side of her body suddenly became useless – now called a stroke. It is believed that she never fully recovered from that stroke. Eight of her children and her husband survived her when she finally died in 1892.

Submitted by:
Lois Wheeler
Cleveland OH
E-mail: rileywheeler@sbcglobal.net

Louis David Ludwig, Sr.

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Louis David Ludwig, Sr.
b. 19 November 1922, Mishawaka, St. Joseph County, Indiana to Walter Henry and Lolita Esther Adeline (Koenig) Ludwig
d. 20 January 1984, Arlington, Tarrant County, Texas

m. 12 May 1946, Mishawaka, St. Joseph County, Indiana
Ruth Adah Lanphear
b. 1 October 1924, Lake Worth, Palm Beach County, Florida, to Clyde Lee and Helen Maude (Yerrick) Lanphear

Children with Ruth Adah Lanphear:

  • Linda Louise (b. 1948) married Robert Charles Irish
  • Jacqueline Ann (b. 1949) married Claude Charles Rodgers
  • Louis David, Jr. (b. 1952) married Elizabeth Miles
  • LuAnn (1953-1953)

Louis Ludwig (l833-1904) came from Dachwig, Saxon, Preussen. He met Katarina Elizabetha Dibel (1847-1919) from Hesse-Darmsdt, Germany, in Mishawaka, Indiana. They were married 28 October in South Bend, Indiana. Their farm was on the St. Joseph River in Penn Township, St. Joseph County. They had six children and their youngest son, Walter Henry, raised his son, Louis David, Sr., and two daughters, on the farm as well.

Louis married Ruth Lanphear in 1946 and they raised a family of three children. Louis worked as a Mishawaka Firefighter from 1948 through 1969. His father was a plumber and Louis also worked for him. Louis designed the “House of Hazzards” that was used in Mishawaka classrooms to teach children about fire safety in the home, and during World War II, he served in the U.S. Navy.

After retiring from the Mishawaka Fire Department in 1969, he moved with his wife and youngest child to Everman, Texas. He died in Texas in 1984 but is buried in Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens In Osceola, St. Joseph County, Indiana.

Submitted by:
Linda Ludwig Irish
South Bend IN
E-mail: linlirish@sbcglobal.net

George Wolfgang Kiefner

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George Wolfgang Kiefner
b. 25 March 1839, Schnabelwaid, Oberfranken, Bavaria, Germany to Andreas and Margaretha Ann (Graff/Grafin) Kuffner/Kiefner
d. 20 June 1892, Atchison, Atchison County, Kansas

m. 23 January 1866, New Boston, Spencer County, Indiana
Louise Katharine Racine
b. 24 November 1843, Huff Township, Spencer County, Indiana
d. 13 September 1932, Kansas City, Jackson County, Missouri

Children with George Wolfgang Kiefner:

  • John William Bell (1861-1940), an adopted son, married Josephine Elizabeth Persinger
  • Anna Margaretha Barbara (1868-1952) married John Schneider
  • Margurethe Louise (1872-1953) married James Barber
  • Anna Katherine (1874-1969) married (1) Benjamin Franklin Juvenal, (2) Tona Aquilla Nance
  • Johann Stephen (1877-1948) married Delia Viola Hogue
  • Amelia Kunigunde (1879-1974) married Daniel Bernard Norton
  • Friedrich Wilhelm (1881-1885)
  • Theresa Henrietta (1884-1970) married Theodore Ralph Willstaedt

George emigrated from Bavaria in 1839 to Spencer County, Indiana. He fought for the Union in the Civil War and was wounded in Red River Exposition. His children were all baptized at St. John’s Lutheran Church in New Boston, Spencer County, Indiana. He and many of his children later moved to Atchison, Kansas and George died there in 1892.

Submitted by:
R. Bruce Willstaedt
Townsville NC
E-mail: bwillstaed@nc.rr.com

Margaretha Laura Magdalena Bauer

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Margaretha Laura Magdalena Bauer
b. 13 June 1820, Birk, near Creussen, Bavaria, Germany, to Johann Nicolaus and Maria Barbara (Hereth) Bauer
d. 19 December 1891, Atchison, Atchison County, Kansas

m/1. 27 December 1843, Spencer County, Indiana
Henry Frederick Wilheim Racine
b. about 1812, Hannover, Germany,
d. 1847/48

m/2. 20 October 1848, Rockport, Spencer County, Indiana
Stephen Vogel
b. 8 February 1822, Affalterthal, Bavaria, Germany
d. 28 December 1880, Spencer County, Indiana

Children with Henry Frederick Wilheim Racine:

  • Louise Katharine (1843-1932) married George Wolfgang Kiefner
  • Henry (1845-1892) married Margaretha Lottes
  • Margaretha Barbara (1847-1935) married (1) John Busch, (2) Jacob Fella

Children with Stephen Vogel:

  • Catherine Anna (1849-1941) married Johannes W. Braun
  • George H. (1851-1914) married Frances Agnes Welch
  • Anna K. (1853-1855)
  • Mathais (b. 1855) married Magdalena Huebsch
  • Nicholas (1857-1945) married Augusta Emma Schwope
  • Kunigunda Julia (1860-1948) married Joseph Stengell
  • Anna Margaret (1862-1938) married Henrich J. Braun

Margaretha emigrated from Bavaria in 1839 to Spencer County, Indiana. All her children were born in Spencer County, Indiana, and it was not until sometime before 1888 she moved to Atchison, Kansas.

Her first husband fell overboard from a flatboat going down the Mississippi River and his body was never found. Both of her husbands were farmers

Submitted by:
R. Bruce Willstaedt
Townsville NC
E-mail: bwillstaed@nc.rr.com