Wood Siblings: Farm "Boarders" and Students

Looking at my husband's Wood family tree: On this day in 1891, Byron Thomas Wood was born, the fourth of five children of Charles Augustus Wood (1862-1895) and Martha Hale Wood (1864-1912). His siblings were Charles Elton Wood, Ethel Carrie Wood, Louisa Lucy Wood (died young), and John F. Wood (died young). The family lived in Toledo, Ohio, where Charles was in a carpentry business with two brothers. 

Get out your hanky

Sadly, Charles died of tuberculosis in 1895, only 32 years old. His widow Martha was left with three youngsters under the age of 10. 

Also sad: just a year later, Martha entered the Toledo Hospital for the Insane--not necessarily for mental illness, but possibly a chronic illness because she was in that hospital for 14 long years. Martha died there in 1912, only 48 years old, of uterine cancer and loss of blood. 

Wood siblings stay with other families

When Martha was hospitalized, the three surviving children were sent to live with other families. The oldest child, Charles, lived with the Bollinger family on their farm in Richland, Ohio, where I found him in the 1900 US Census as a "student." No doubt he also helped out on the Bollinger farm. 

In 1912 he married one of the Bollinger daughters, Nellie. They had no children. It seems Charles joined the US military as soon as he was eligible, because he told the WWI draft registration board that he served as an electrician in the Navy for nearly 9 years. Remembering Charles Elton Wood, 1886-1974.

Younger brother Byron and younger sister Ethel Carrie lived with the Kiehl family on their farm in Weston, Ohio. In the 1900 US Census, they are marked as "boarders" with the Kiehls and also shown as students. Surely they too helped with farm chores. Even after Mr. Kiehl died, Byron remained with Mrs. Kiel in the 1910 Census as a "tenant." In 1914, Byron married Vesta M. Craft, worked as a farmer, and they had 10 children together. Remembering Byron Thomas Wood, 1891-1968.

Ethel Carrie, enumerated as a student on the Kiehl farm in 1900, got married in 1908 at the age of 20. The groom was an auto mechanic named Clay H. Focht who had been widowed five months earlier. They had two children, divorced in November of 1923, remarried on January 1st, 1924, and had another child together before splitting up again a few years later. Remembering Ethel Carrie Wood Focht, 1888-1969.

How different the lives of these Wood siblings would have been if their father had lived longer and their mother had stayed healthy.

"Siblings" is this week's #52Ancestors challenge from Amy Johnson Crow.

Long Tradition of Independent Family Farming

For this week's "Independent" prompt from Amy Johnson Crow's #52Ancestors series, I wanted to look at the long tradition of independent family farming in my husband's Larimer and McClure families.

Larimer Family Farmers

Several Larimer ancestors fought in the War of 1812 and received land grants in later years, based on their military service. One was hubby's 4th great-granddaddy, Isaac M. Larimer (1771-1823), who was born on the family farm in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania and died on his farm in Fairfield county, Ohio.

Isaac was the son of immigrant ancestor Robert Larimer (1719?-1803), the 5th great-granddaddy who came from Northern Ireland in the 1740s who began the family's farming tradition in America. Isaac's mother was Mary O'Gallagher (or Gallagher, 1721-1803).

Isaac and Mary's son Robert Larimer (my hubby's 4th great uncle) also fought in 1812 and earned the land grant shown in the document at top.

Isaac and his wife Elizabeth Wood Larimer's son John (1794-1843) was my hubby's 3rd great-granddaddy and a 90-day enlistee in the War of 1812. Like so many others in the Larimer family, John Larimer eventually moved from Ohio to Elkhart county, Indiana, to obtain more land for farming.

My husband's 2d great-granddaddy, Brice S. Larimer (1819-1906) continued the tradition of family farming in Elkhart county, Indiana. By 1853, he had been appointed postmaster. Brice later served as a railroad agent, and his son William Tyler Bentley Larimer (1849-1921) also worked at the railroad depot. Later in life, William T.B. Larimer returned to farming, but none of his children or grandchildren were family farmers.

McClure Family Farmers

The McClure family tradition of farming in America began with my husband's earliest McClure immigrant ancestors. Hubby's 5th great-granddaddy Halbert McClure (1684-1754) and his wife Agnes (?-1750) led a large group of McClure family members from County Donegal across the Atlantic to Philadelphia, where they walked all the way to Virginia to buy farmland.

Halbert's son Alexander McClure (1717-1790) bought land in Mill Creek, Augusta, Virginia in 1751. Alexander was hubby's 4th great-granddaddy. His son John McClure (1781?-1834), hubby's 3d great-granddaddy, was most likely a farmer after moving to Adams county, Ohio.

John and his wife, Ann McFall (1780-1823) had one son, Benjamin McClure (1812-1896) who most definitely a farmer in Noble township, Elkhart, Indiana. Benjamin was my husband's 2d great-granddaddy.

In the generation after Benjamin McClure, not everyone was a full-time farmer. Oldest son Theodore Wilson McClure told the Census in 1880 that his occupation was "farming and storekeeping." Second son John McClure was a farmer, first in Indiana and then as a tenant farmer in Little Traverse, Michigan. Third son Train Caldwell McClure operated an oil mill in Wabash county, Indiana.

Benjamin McClure's youngest son was William Madison McClure (1849-1887), my husband's great-granddaddy. He grew up on the family farm in Indiana but after marrying Margaret Jane Larimer (1859-1913), William worked on the railroad. That was the end of family farming in this line of the McClure family: None of Margaret and William's three children married a farmer or worked in farming.