Clan William: A Legacy of Tragedy

Capt Thomas Munson > Samuel Munson > Samuel James Munson > William Munson > Samuel II Munson > Calvin Munson > Randil Munson > Harlow B Munson > C Jenet Munson > Caroline Richey > Howard Clinton Bruce > Anthony Todd

I've been digging into the "outer" Munsons of Trumbull County, Ohio - the brothers and sisters of my 4th GG Freeman Munson. I'm working on Randil Munson now.  He was the son of Calvin, Freeman's older brother. 

Deep down in the tree, many generations later, Caroline "Carrie" Mirth Ritchey and her husband Robert Bruce. They adopted a boy they named Howard Clinton Bruce. Howard had, with his first wife, Helen Rose Tiernan, one daughter - Mary Ellen Bruce. Mary Ellen married a gent name William "Billy Jo" Wadsley. The marriage seems to have lasted just long enough to produce three sons: Anthony "Tony," Todd, and one child who is still living.

What struck me about this tragic story is the moment I read about young Todd's accidental and tragic death at age 9, and the cause, I knew there was going to be a trail of tears to follow. 

It appears that Mary Ellen was out of the house, leaving the two boys who were living with her, at home. Not an uncommon thing to do with boys of 12 and 9 when I was growing up. Unfortunately, the boys found a .22 rifle upstairs and young Tony accidentally discharged the weapon, killing his younger brother, Todd. It was ruled an accident. Like so many unnecessary accidents before.

What we understand about such things now, is they have a deep and lasting impact on everyone involved. Who knows if Tony got the psychological help he needed after this very traumatic event. What we can ascertain from the newspaper reports is he had a long history of substance abuse, had lost his license, continued to drink, had an accident that thankfully killed no one else, and died suddenly and alone still going the wrong way down the road, trying to escape his pain at the age of 30.

A mother had now lost two sons. But, then, she'd most likely lost them both that same day in 1971.

Ancestry DNA and Mystery Solving

I think that many of us, who do this maddening thing, watch at least one of those Ancestry shows on TV. I like Dr. Gates' PBS show best, but they also clearly have a giant staff of paid and trained scientists and genealogists combing through records all over the world on their behalf. I'd like to be famous for just a short bit so I'd be invited on and he'd get some of my own questions answered.

DNA connections keep getting better and better on Ancestry.com. ThruLinesTM, now in Beta, is proving to be quite interesting. Of course, it all depends on how accurate your fellow researchers are, and that has proven to be iffy at best, but I have been able to go down at least two paths I couldn't get down before and at least form a hypothesis where I could not before.

It's also proven connections to specific families where I was not sure, or had nothing to cite to make the connection. I'm sure that will give others license to just accept the information at its face and run with it, which will further screw up sorting it out, but I hope not.

One of my discoveries this month was a definitive connection to Sarah Anne Lindsey, child of

Sarah Anne Lindsey Dorathy
(in a classic Lindsey/Linsey look)

Harvey Lindsey and Peace Macumber/Macomber. They lived in New York state and were the parents of my 2GG Oscar Lindsey who pioneered by way of Indiana to Whiteside County, Illinois, and then to Benton County, Iowa. I knew Oscar had an unmarried sister, but was not aware he had at least one other sister, Sarah, who married a Dougherty (later Dorathy) and had a gigantic family who stayed in the Whiteside area and another group of whom moved to Nebraska. It was quite exciting.

Because of DNA, I know I am related to that group and can make the connection at last. It also brings me to my next questions - because of the age difference between Sarah (who was likely one of the older children of Harvey and Peace) and Oscar (likely one of the younger). Are there more siblings out there we don't know about? I'm betting there are and time will tell. I just hate waiting.

What about you? What's been your big discovery this month?

Clan William: The Vaughns of Trumbull County

Trumbull County

Capt Thomas Munson > Samuel Munson > Samuel James Munson > William Munson > Samuel II Munson > Freeman Munson >  Henrietta Munson m John Lorin Vaughn

and...

James VAUGHN m Olive CABLE > John VAUGHN > John Lorin VAUGHN m Henrietta MUNSON

This is in relation to the sister of my 3rd great grandfather, Amos Munson, both children of Freeman Munson.

John Vaughn and his wife Betsey Burr (who is distantly related to Aaron Burr) were descendants of some of the earlier families of Fairfield County, Connecticut that included the Timothy Wheelers, the Andrew Cables, the John Burrs, and the Samuel Wilsons. Little is known about the origins of James Vaughn, John's father.

Olive Cable was married to William Jackson Meeker and had a number of children before his death in 1777. Olive remarried James Vaughn, with whom she had at least five children before his death in Fairfield County, Connecticut in about 1787.

John Vaughn, son of James and Olive, along with several of his half-siblings, sons and daughter of William Meeker and Olive, left for some fertile new farming land in Fowler, Trumbull County, Ohio in 1806:

     This township formerly known as Westfield, contains 16,500 acres.  It was purchased from the Connecticut Land company by Samuel Fowler, of Westfield, Massachusetts, and sold to settlers under his direction.  Titus Brockway was granted power of attorney to dispose of 10,000 acres.  Abner Fowler, brother of the proprietor, in consideration of services rendered in surveying this land, received 100 acres at the center of the township.
     The township was purchased by Mr. Fowler in 1798, for less than fifty cents per acre.
     Only five families settled in the township before 1805.  These were the families of Levi Foote, already mentioned; Lemuel Barnes, who lived one-half mile north of the center; John Morrow, at the center; Hillman Fisher, and Drake, who lived on the ridge.
      In 1806 seven families arrived from Connecticut, having left that State in the fall of the same year.  A month or six weeks later they arrived in New Connecticut.  These emigrants were Elijah Tyrrell and wife, nee Clarissa Meeker, with her brother, Justus, Daniel, Lyman, and William Meeker; John Vaughn and Wakeman Silliman.  They all settled in the southeast of the township in the vicinity of Tyrrell Hill or Tyrrell corners.

History of Trumbull & Mahoning Co., Ohio, Vol. II published by H.A. Williams & Brother, 1882; Trailing Through Tyrrell, 125 years Ago by the Tribune Trailer, & taken from Western Reserve Chronicle, Sept. 25, 1878  

John married Betsey Burr, daughter of  Jesse Burr and Sarah "Sally" Wilson, had their bans of marriage read on 07 Mar 1805 at Trinity Church in Southport, Connecticut. (And, yes, Betsey is distantly related to former US Vice President, Aaron Burr through the immigrant, Jehu Burr)

Once they arrived in Fowler, they all set about cutting roads and building homes in the southwest corner of the township at Tyrrell Hill or Tyrrell Corners (named for Clarissa Meeker's husband Elijah Tyrrell) while their wives and children spent their time at the home of  Joel Hummason in Vienna. One of Joel's relatives later married John's son Miles Munson. Once established, this group was integral in the early development of the town.  The first school was taught in the cabin of Wakeman Silliman. Clarissa's husband Elijah built the largest cabin (a full 18 x 24 - colossal by the day's standard) and produced scythes. Daniel Meeker was one of two men who built the first mill in 1807. Justus was the first miller when the flour mill was built.

John Vaughn and Betsey had at least nine children. Among those children was John Lorin Vaughn. John Lorin married Henrietta Munson, of neighboring Vienna, Trumbull County and daughter of Freeman Munson and Margaret Gregory in 1833.  In 1850, the Vaughns lived in Pierpoint in  Ashtabula County. At that time, they had seven surviving children. Sometime between 1853 and 1856, they moved on to Platteville, Grant County, Wisconsin. Their youngest surviving child, Amos Joel was born in Platteville in 12 Nov 1856. Sons Freeman and Orion remained in Wisconsin and ultimately went to war as volunteers with the Wisconsin 33rd Infantry Regiment beginning in 1862. Read about them here.

John Lorin and Henrietta Munson moved to Fayette County in 1863. And, this would be there home for the remainder of their lifetimes. 

Children of John Lorin Vaughn and Henrietta Munson:

1. Corporal Freeman F Vaughn, born abt 1834, Trumbull County, Ohio; died 26 Aug 1864 at Jefferson Barracks, St Louis, Missouri of injuries received in battle. 

2. Rose Anna Vaughn, born abt 1836, Trumbull County, Ohio; died unkown

3. Corporal Orion Squire Vaughn, born 09 Jan 1838 in Trumbull County, Ohio; died 03 Mar 1920, Winneconne, Winnebago, Wisconsin. 

4. Sarah Jane Vaughn Simmons, born 28 Dec 1840, Trumbull County, Ohio; died 16 May 1920, New Hampton, Chickasaw, Iowa. 

5. Elizabeth A Vaughn, born abt 1841, Trumbull County, Ohio; died between 1912-1920 (there is some indication that she had some type of disability)

6. Arminda, born abt 1846, Trumbull County, Ohio; death unknown

7. James Lester Vaughn, born 03 Jan 1849, Trumbull County, Ohio; died 14 Dec 1918, Randalia, Fayette, Iowa.

8. Frederic Vaughn, abt 1851, Trumbull County, Ohio; died unknown

9. Charlotte Vaughn Fox, born 14 Jan 1853, Trumbull County, Ohio; died 21 Sep 1934, Buchanan, Iowa, USA

10. Amos Joel Vaughn, born 12 Nov 1856, Platteville, Grant, Wisconsin; died Sep 1947, Randalia, Fayette, Iowa.

11-13. Unknown Vaughns who either died as infants or as young children between
census reports (3). 

Note: At the time of Henrietta's death, seven of her children were living. I have information on Orion, Sarah, Elizabeth, James, Charlotte, and Amos being alive, but am unsure who the seventh living child would have been. 

John died on 05 Aug 1887 in Fayette County. Henrietta lived on until 07 Apr 1905 where she died at the home of her son James in Randalia.

The mystery of their burial is most likely solved. The obituary for Henrietta indicates she joined her husband and two of her children at the Lima, Iowa cemetery. According to the sexton for the cemetery, the records indicated that there were six plots bought in the name of Vaughn & Yaste (searches have not located anyone with the Yaste name in the area). The six plots are in line but there are no stones. Sexton believed that there might have been stones at one time, but during that era, stones were often made of limestone and wore down and broke frequently and could have been removed. The cemetery records are full of holes, so there is no actual record of their burials. I believe, however, with strong certainty, that they are buried there.

Lima, Iowa Cemetery. The entire line in front of the bush is Vaughn-owned plots

The Prolific David Owens: Daughter Lucy Jane "Lizzie" Owens

Polk Township, Benton County, 1875

DAVID OWENS m SARAH HOLLER  > LUCY JANE "LIZZIE" OWENS

You can read about David Owens' beginnings here. This is my 2nd great grandmother and a product of David Owens' first marriage to Sarah Holler. It is also the last in the series on the David Owens children.

She was born 22 Jun 1850, in Bono, Lawrence County, Indiana, where the Owens' resided prior to their trek to Illinois and then Poyner Township, Black Hawk County, Iowa.

At age 19, on 04 Nov 1869, she married Ira Smith Miller, son of George Miller and Mary Ann Leroy.

Mary Ann provides our direct link to one of the wealthiest and one of the most prominent people of the New World, Christina Cappoens, who was a wealthy, wise, and wily matriarch in New Amsterdam in the 1600s. I hope to publish more about this family as I have time, but you can get a taste here.

Ira's family came to Iowa from Indiana prior to 1860. They settled in Benton County, a county over from Black Hawk. The young Miller's farmed in Polk Township in Benton County in the Center Point/Urbana area through the 1900 Census. Before 1910, they had picked up and moved to Jefferson Township in Butler County. This was moving from southeast of Cedar Falls over an hour to north of Cedar Falls, close to Oelwein. A pretty big move, and I haven't discovered the reason for the move.

Miller daughter Florence, her son Leo Linsey,
his son Larry Linsey and his daughter

The Millers had nine surviving children:

Emma, 1870-1954; married George Simpson
Charles, 1874-1925; never married; died of uremic poisoning
Fred H, 1877-1941; married Glennie Lott
Edith Elnora, 1879-1963; married Frank Hudson
Josephine "Josie", 1882-1954; married Charles Swanger (who married 3 times)
Florence S, 1884-1983; married Charles Linsey (my great grandmother). Read about her here.
George David, 1889-1923; married Luella May "Ella" Decker. Ella died in childbirth with their third child in 1914. Their two children's upbringing is another mystery since George died before they reached their majority.
Harriet "Hattie" Stella, 1892-1963; married (1) Charles Babcock, (2) Leroy "Roy" William Bushnell. You can read about her here
Jessie E, 1895-1975; never married.

But, by 1920, back in Benton County they were, only this time in Harrison Township. The Miller's were getting old and son Jessie lived there also working on the farm.

Quite elderly, 1930 found them moved "into town." They lived at 714 E 2nd St in Vinton, which even today is somewhat semi-rural yet still in town. Ira died in May of that year and Lucy joined him on 17 August of 1931. Lucy died in the home of her daughter, Mrs Josie Swanger in Waterloo, Black Hawk County, Iowa five weeks after she moved from her Vinton home to her daughter's care.

Like most people in the day, they lived, they farmed, they died. A story lost to time for nothing remains to tell their story but a few dry facts.

The Prolific David Owens: Son David C Owens

Nodaway County Poor Farm
David served as superintendent

DAVID OWENS m SARAH HOLLER > DAVID C OWENS

You can read about David Owens' beginnings here.

Young David C Owens (middle name is reported as Casper and Crockett, though I have no confirmation in records of either) was born the last son of David Owens and Sarah Holler on 13 Aug 1859. He was born in Black Hawk County, Iowa. I think a lot happened to him between 1880 to 1900, but all of this is put together from other records and news articles.

Brother George Franklin lived in Sheridan County, Nebraska in the 1890s, and it appears, that for at least time, so did David C. David is the one who received three land patents from 1890-1894 for a total of 467 acres in Sheridan County, but George is the one who stayed there to farm. My hypothesis is that David sold his land to George before moving on.

In 1891, while in Nebraska, he married Laura Josephine Shafer, born in Indiana in 1862 and daughter of Dr. George and Lydia (Faustknaup) Shafer in Indiana. Dr Shafer was a widower living in Bowen, Sioux County, Nebraska in 1900.

In 1900, the Owens' were located in Lincoln, Nodaway, Missouri, just south of Braddyville, Iowa, where sister Harriet Owens Reynolds resided. David was a hardware salesman at the time. By 1910, he was farming in Nodaway County.

They had five children: Cecil Arthur (1894-1958), Aden Dwight (1895-1963), Bryan (1897-1907), Frank Leo "Leo" (1901-1962) and Neva Ruth (1903-1990). All five children were born in Braddyville, Iowa and son Bryan died in Braddyville. I can only surmise that they moved around a bit between the two counties, only 50-ish miles apart or may have had the farm and a house in the town. It's a question I'd like to find the answer to!

By 1920, he was superintendent of the Nodaway County Poor Farm, housing 25 inmates. 1930 brought him back to farming in Nodaway County. In 1937, his beloved wife Laura died in St Joseph, Missouri at age 74. David in 1940 was also living in St Joseph, in the home of his daughter Neva Ruth and her current husband, Paul Reeves. Paul died in 1942, which is about the time I believe  David moved to his son Cecil's home in Kitsap County, Washington where he died in 1944. Both David and his wife were buried in Braddyville Cemetery in Braddyville, Iowa.

Hollar Out: The Tragic Tale of Grant Hollar

Grant Hollar had a temper

ZACHARIAH HOLLER > JOHANNES HOLLER > GEORGE ELAM HOLLER m. Lucy
Robertson > JOHN B HOLLAR m. Harriet Shinn > ALONZO GRANVILLE "GRANT" HOLLAR

When Lucy Holler, widow of George, her daughter and son-in-law Sarah and David Owens, daughter and son-in-law Edna and William Wheeler, and son John B Hollar headed to Iowa from Indiana, they were joining a small farming community of like-minded Baptists in what would become Poyner Township in Black Hawk County Iowa. You can read the tale here.

As time went on, most of them moved on to other parts. John B. Holler, who was born in Washington County Indiana, in about 1834, moved along with is wife Harriet Shinn (married, 1857 in Black Hawk County) and their four young children to near Monticello, Jones County, Iowa, about an hour's drive today east of Black Hawk County some time before the 1885 Iowa Census and after the 1880 US Federal Census. There, the lived until before the 1900 census, where they farmed in Delaware County. By 1907, they had moved to Waterloo, back in Black Hawk County, in their retirement.

Their son Alonzo Granville "Grant" Hollar seemed to have quite a time of things his entire life, In 1889, he was arrested for assault that damaged dignity more than anything. See article above.

In 1890, he married Miss Bessie Belle Brush, daughter of Adam and Rosa (Forsythe) Brush in
Monticello. Three months later, their son George Alonzo Hollar was born. It looks like it was rocky from the get-go, as demand marriages seemed to be so often. By 1895, their child George, was living with JB and Hattie Hollar. And, it appears that Grant had a wicked-awful temper. The young Hollar couple had separated and violence again erupted. In 1895, he was arrested and sent to Anamosa jail to await trial for attempted murder - of his young wife. (See article)

Finally, a divorce was granted to Mrs Hollar in mid-December 1895. Their child remained with the elder Hollars and would do so for the remainder of his youth. Bessie married Walter Flansburg September 5, 1896. They would have two children and be divorced prior to 1920. Mrs Flansburg lived with her son Elery Flansburg in Illinois until her death in 1959. Mr. Flansburg would die destitute in the IOOF Home in Mason City, Iowa in 1961. No mention of Walter's children with Bessie is made in his obit and no mention of her son George Hollar is mentioned in her obituary, nor the earlier marriage.

Grant, it seems, was not destined for long or happy life. Just months after his divorce and two months before his wife remarried, he would be killed in a train accident, the blame for which was placed on him by the coroner's jury.

Young George Alonzo would live a long life, married in 1925 to his wife and had no children. He died in 1972 in Waverly, Bremer County, Iowa after many years as a businessman and grocer. His wife Florence Bennett died in 1977.

MYSTERY SOLVED: Hattie Stella Miller, A Little Bit of Unconventional

The Mystery of Hattie Miller SOLVED

Ira Smith Miller & Lucy Owens > Hattie Stella Miller m. (1) Charles Henry Babcock m. (2) LeRoy "Roy" William Bushnell

Hattie was the second youngest of nine children of Ira Miller and Lucy Owens. She waited some time to marry (an elderly 22), however, and married a rather unconventional choice in husband on 09 May 1916 - a widower and father of two grown daughters, Charles Henry Babcock, a farmer in Harrison, Benton County, Iowa. Charles was 60 at the time of his marriage to the young Hattie. How they met and got together I don't know. I bet it put his daughters into a tizz.

They had one daughter, Susie Josephine Babcock, before Charles died in 1930 at age 77. She married (1) Ralph Theodore Smith and (2) Earl W Amos.

Tracking Hattie after this became very difficult. The 1930 Census was the last sight of her in easily located records via Ancestry.com. The only thing I could imagine is that she married again, because she was a rather young woman when widowed.

After fully tracking her daughter through her two marriages, the answer was found not in records, but in the newspaper. A brief article mentioning her daughter, Mrs Earl Amos, as a survivor was the key. This was Hattie's obit! She had, it turned out, spent from at least 1940 until 1957 the sweetheart/mistress/ shack-up honey of Roy Bushnell. Roy, too, had been married before and that union ended in divorce prior to 1940.

Finally, something compelled Roy to marry Hattie, who was eight years older than him, on New Year's Eve, 1957. They lived in Vinton until Hattie died in 1963. Roy, who apparently liked the long-term dating model, then took up with Mrs Vera Talmadge, who he squired about from about 1965 into the 1970s. He died at 87 in 1987.

A string of children litter this story - the children of Charles, the children of Roy, the children of Earl, Susie's second husband, their children, and the children of Susie - only a couple of whom were raised by both of their parents.

Another mystery solved by putting the pieces together backwards.

The Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918-1919: Liddle Family

The Great Flu Pandemic of 1918-1919 was first traced to March of 1918 and spread across the
country through the Spring of 1919. Iowa began to see a marked increase in cases in October of 1918. Most of the state's 2.4 million residents were living in rural areas, slowing the spread, but leaving devastation in its wake due to a lack of information, preventive measures, medical staff and hospitals. The toll in the US at the end of the pandemic was 675,000 dead. Worldwide, that number, difficult to gauge, was estimated at 21.5 million dead.

The pandemic hit the state on October 5, 1918, with cases in Des Moines, Dodge City, and Onawa. Camp Dodge, the military encampment, was put on lockdown. By October 9, 1918, Dr. Guilford Sumner, the state health commissioner, banned all indoor funerals for influenza victims. From that date forward, only outdoor funerals were permitted. People were encouraged to clean their mouths and noses at least twice per day.

Little did the Frank Liddle family know in the early days of December 1918, that their lives would be changed dramatically before Christmas. Frank and Letitia farmed outside of Horton in Bremer County, Iowa. Additionally, Frank and son Floyd operated a milk route for the Mohawk Condensed Milk Company. In all likelihood, their travels most likely brought them into contact with the flu.

Chronological Map of the Influenza Epidemic of 1918 indicating the approximate dates on which the disease
reached an epidemic stage.

Frank and his wife Letitia Ogbin Liddle had nine children. Little Arthur Liddle, born in 1887, had died at just over a year old. The remaining eight children resided with their parents on the family farm or were married with families of their own. The eldest son residing at home, Floyd, fell ill with the influenza that was sweeping the state. Then, Letitia fell ill along with little Hazel. Finally, Frank, who had done all he could to hold things together fell ill along with Gynith and Irving. On December 5, 1918, Floyd died. His mother died on the 10th, unaware of her son's passing. Hazel, a particularly cheerful child referred to as her father's favorite followed on December 13th and finally, father Frank succumbed on December 15th. Somehow, Gynith and Irving survived, but were left orphans along with their adult siblings Guy, Grace, and Florence.

Sunnycrest Sanitarium

Irving ended up living to see his 89th birthday and died in 1991. Gynith, who had struggled so valiantly through her brush with death in 1918 ended up being a successful teacher in the Bremer County rural schools, began to notice her health declining in 1929. She was diagnosed with tuberculosis, spent time in at the Sunnycrest Sanitarium in Dubuque, Iowa and saw her health improve.  Weeks later, however, her health again declined, and she died at the age of 26 just after the new year in 1931.


http://www.flu.gov/pandemic/history/

The Founding Families of Poyner Township

Zachariah Holler > John Holler > George Holler married Lucy Robertson 

George Elam Holler was the son of Johannes "John" Holler and Margaret Low. He was born about 1803 in Rowan County, North Carolina and traveled west with his family; first to Ohio, then to the Washington County, Indiana area.

George married Lucy H. Robertson in Washington County, Indiana on 18 Feb 1823. Recently, a death record was located that says George died 02 Feb 1841. He had died prior to the death of his father and was referenced in his will. In about mid-1853, John and his mother, his sister Sarah and husband David Owens (David was also born in North Carolina), her brother John, and sister Edna and husband William Wheeler and their families left Indiana and moved to Black Hawk County, Iowa, stopping briefly in Illinois along the way.

Nancy, Lucy, and Nathan Poyner are
buried on a section of Nathan's property
now the Poyner Twshp Cemetery

Nathan Poyner, of North Carolina, was a Baptist traveling preacher who had preached to pioneer flocks all over the country under shade trees. In the early 1850s, he located, along with his oldest son Thomas, to Linn County, Iowa.

Thomas purchased 200 acres of land in southeast Black Hawk County in 1851 for $102. He purchased another 160 acres for $228 the following year. Horatio Sanford, a land speculator who had purchased the land from the government a short time before using land warrants, made both sales. The Poyner's settled in southeast Black Hawk County in 1853.

The pioneers to this area built log cabins and began clearing land. Poyner preached to its residents under old shade trees as he had before. Settlers trickled in and the township, named Poyner township in honor of Nathan, was organized by order of the county judge in 1854. Nathan's wife, Nancy Johnston, was the first death in the township. She died in 1853 and was buried on a portion of Poyner land. This location is now part of Poyner Township Cemetery.

Mrs Lucy Holler then married Nathan in the summer of 1854, joining together two of the founding families of the township. In 1856, Poyner son James also moved from Linn County and purchased land in the township.  Nathan Poyner died 16 May 1867. His wife Lucy died 19 Aug 1889.

Sarah Holler, daughter of George and Lucy Holler, married David Owens while in Indiana, an early pioneer who joined the original seven families in the area. David was born in North Carolina and had also resided in Indiana. They had nine children, the middle of whom was Lucy Jane "Lizzie" Owens. Sarah died 20 Feb 1864. David married Elizabeth Brown on 21 Aug 1864 and she died 09 Jun 1866 in Poyner Township. Lucy married Ira S Miller (my 2nd great grandparents) 04 Nov 1869 and they resided in Polk Township, Benton County, Iowa for the remainder of her life. David Owens remarried once more, moving to nearby Barclay Township to farm, and then moved on to Davison County, South Dakota where he died 18 Feb 1909.

Edna Holler, Sarah's younger sister, had married William M Wheeler in Washington County prior to 1850. William had two children by his first marriage who both died as young adults and were buried in Poyner Township. Edna gave birth to eight children: William H., Mary, Emma, Thomas Grant, Albert, Lucy Ann, Henrietta, and Sarah J. Edna cared for her mother Lucy in her declining years until her death. The Wheeler’s remained in Poyner Township for the remainder of their lives. William died 10 Jun 1896 and Edna on 09 Sep 1895.

John B Holler married Harriet in about 1857 in Indiana. They had four children: Eliza, Hattie, Granville, and Edward. They lived in Poyner Township for the remainder of their lives. John died

31 May 1918 and Hattie in 1917.

A little family drama:  Nathan and his first wife had help raise a ward in addition to their children. James B. Edwards, who was born in Rappahannock County, Virginia, 11 Mar 1839. When a child, he came with his parents to Illinois where he was left an orphan at the age of 3 years.  Nathan and Lucy raised an additional ward, Isaac Walter Hollar, who was the orphaned son of Wesley Hollar (another son of Lucy & George Holler) of Indiana. It was reportedly Nathan's wish that the boys share equally in Thomas' land. Thomas, who never married, had a major hand in raising James who ended up farming Thomas' land after his death. After reaching his majority, Isaac struck out on his own in the Muscatine, Iowa area. In 1908, he brought suit in Iowa court over the land. Since no articles were found referencing the case after the suit, one might presume some sort of settlement was reached or the suit was dropped.

What isn't clear is what the original connections was between the Poyner and Holler families, which very well could extend for decades from their North Carolina origins, despite the serpentine nature of how all of them arrived in Poyner Township.