Amanuensis Monday: "Aged Man's Long Walk"

I just love finding newspaper snippets that paint a picture of an ancestor's personality or daily life.

Case in point: Jonas C. Shank (1815-1907) who married hubby's second great-grand aunt Lucinda Helen Bentley (1825-1903) in 1845. Tomorrow is the 108th anniversary of Jonas's passing and I was looking for his obit when I ran across this paragraph in the Goshen Democrat of February 7, 1903.

"Aged Man's Long Walk" is the headline. Seems great-grand uncle Jonas lived in Lagrange county and was visiting his daughter Jane (Jennie) Shank Short (who married Oscar David Short). He walked home--covering nine miles in 90 minutes. "Mr. Shank is hale and hearty and has comparatively few gray hairs for a man of his age." Winter in Indiana can be chilly, to say the least, so this feat is all the more impressive. In fact, it was so impressive that this snippet was picked up and summarized in the Fort Wayne Sentinel!

These newspaper snippets are interesting, unexpected, and give me a better sense of what an ancestor was really like.

Tombstone Tuesday: Spotting Mr. & Mrs. Work's Tombstone in the Background

Hubby's Larimer ancestors are somehow related to the Work and Short families. I know a few of the connections (from newspaper stories about their reunions a century ago) but not how they originally came together (in Northern Ireland, most likely).
 
Months ago, when I was working on hubby's Larimer line, I went to the Findagrave page for his 3d great-grand uncle, Wright Larimer, son of Isaac Larimer and Elizabeth Woods Larimer.

In one of the two photos on that page, I happened to notice a tombstone for Samuel M. Work and his wife, Catherine Ray Work. (My red arrow shows what I saw in the photo.) I intended to do more work on the surname Work (pun intended).

In low-tech fashion, I e-mailed the link to myself and tagged the message with the color I use for genealogy. And moved on to other things.

Today I was clearing out old e-mails when I spotted that tag, clicked on the link, and investigated. Clicking to see all "Work" graves in Bethel Cemetery in Bremen, where Wright Larimer is buried, I found 23--including Samuel, who's shown in the background above. There are many names of people who I've listed in the family tree but haven't yet fleshed out or traced back to their birthplaces.

Thanks to this Findagrave photo volunteer (who I thanked), I have lots more leads to explore in Ohio and Pennsylvania as I search for the Larimer/Work/Short families' entry into colonial America and their original homes in Northern Ireland.

Sunday's Obituary: Dr. Bartlett Larimer, Inspiration for His Nephews

Dr. Bartlett Larimer (1833-1892), fourth son of hubby's 3d g-grandparents, John Larimer and Rachel Smith Larimer, was a pioneer-era physician who inspired his nephews to go into medicine and dentistry.

Born in Fairfield county, Ohio, in 1833, he was relocated to Elkhart county, Indiana, in 1835 when his parents became early settlers of the area.

Bartlett went to college to study medicine and became a respected physician in Indiana. He married Sarah Miller, the daughter of the founder of Millersburg, Indiana, and they had seven children--none of whom, so far as I can tell, was a doctor or dentist.

Still, Bartlett Larimer's dedication and success must have inspired the sons of his sister (Margaret Larimer, who married Thomas Short). Two of these nephews became doctors after getting degrees and studying under their uncle's tutelage, and two of the nephews became dentists.

52 Ancestors #41: Samuel, A Dentist Son of Thomas Short and Margaret Larimer

From "The Michigan Alumnus 1920-1"

Hubby's 1st cousin 3x removed was Samuel Bartlett Short (1854-1920). The Short family had a cousin connection with the Scots-Irish Larimer and McClure families, from their days in Northern Ireland. Many descendants of these families became pioneers in Indiana and Ohio, farming and raising sons to be farmers. However, not every son followed that path.

Samuel Bartlett Short grew up in Eden township, Lagrange, Indiana, one of seven sons of the farmer Thomas Short and his wife, Margaret Larimer (hubby's 2d great grand aunt).

Influenced by their uncle, Dr. Bartlett Larimer, Samuel's older brothers William and John became physicians. His older brother Frank B. became a dentist. Not surprisingly, Samuel decided to go to dental school, following in the footsteps of the other professionals in his family. (Brothers Oscar David and James Edson became farmers.) As the biographies above show (from history of Lagrange county), everyone seems to have studied in Michigan.

So Samuel attended the University of Michigan, and graduated with a doctor of dental surgery degree in March, 1879. He returned to Indiana, settled in Elkhart county, established his practice, and in 1884, he married Jennie V. Landon. They had one child, William. Jennie died in 1901--in Battle Creek, Michigan, where she was a housekeeper, according to the death record. This part of the story seems strange, doesn't it--wait, they probably meant she "kept house" and had no other occupation? 

Dr. Short remarried in 1909, to Emma Clouse. On September 21, 1920, Samuel Short died and was buried in Grace Lawn Cemetery, Elkhart, close to his first wife, Jennie. Second wife Emma was eventually buried nearby as well, having outlived Samuel by 31 years (she died in 1951).

'Tis a Wee Mystery: The Short, Work, and Larimer Families in Ireland

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My hubby has a number of Irish ancestors:

·    William Smith and his wife, Jean, from Limerick - 5th great-grandparents

·    Rober Larimer and his wife, Mary O’Gallagher, both from the North of Ireland - 5th great-grandparents

·    John Shehen and his wife, Mary, from somewhere in Ireland - 2d great-grandparents

·    Halbert McClure and his wife, Agnes, were born in County Donegal and moved to Virginia in the late 1700s (although the McClure family is originally from Isle of Skye) - 5th great-grandparents

Now, just in time for St. Patty's Day, a wee mystery: According to the Goshen (Ind.) Midweek News of September 1, 1903, which reported on a reunion of the Larimer-Short-Work families, these folks were cousins and all were originally of Scotch-Irish descent. That's the mystery.

The article says the Larimers originally settled in Maryland and then went to Pennsylvania. Actually, the first to set foot in America was Robert Larimer, who was shipwrecked on his way from Ireland and then spent years as an indentured servant to repay his rescuer. Maybe this Larimer ancestor was serving his master in Maryland, maybe not, but he then got to Pennsylvania on foot to continue his saga.

According to Sons of the American Revolution documents, Samuel Work--the original Work ancestor to arrive in America--was born in County Antrim, Ireland and died in Fairfield county, Ohio. 

As for the Short family, the patriarch was James Short and matriarch was Francis Gilbert. Both were born in Ireland (where?) and came to Ohio, according to a biography of their grandsons, Dr. W.H. Short and Dr. J.L. Short. 

The Short and Work families intermarried with the Larimer family over the years. So were they cousins in Ireland? All were Presbyterian, one clue to a possible Scots-Irish connection.

'Tis a wee mystery! Happy St. Patty's Day.
 

Travel Tuesday: Elkhart's Island Park Hosts Fam Reunion, 1902

From the Elkhart Truth

In August of 1902, hubby's 2d great-grandpa Brice S. Larimer (1819-1906) was the oldest person to attend a reunion of three families united by marriage for many decades: The Larimers, the Works, and the Shorts.

Relatives traveled from as far as South Dakota and Michigan to attend this reunion at Island Park in Elkhart, Indiana. Island Park is, today, home to events such as music festivals. These ancestors were trend-setters!

The 1902 event wasn't the first reunion of the three families. The 2d annual reunion was held in June, 1901, and again Brice Larimer was mentioned as "the dean of the party" because of his age as the reigning patriarch.

Many years later, John Clarence Work* wrote a definitive history of the Larimer family, 1740-1959, based in part on the genealogical research of Aaron Work (1837-1924) of Elkhart, Indiana. This book is now downloadable from the Family History Library here.

* John Clarence Work's grandmother was Cynthia Hanley Larimer Work. See the family connection?!