Julia Ann Miller Holt Holt and her second husband, Eliphaz

Meet Julia Ann Miller Holt, the mother of Alfred Lewis Holt, and Eliphaz Holt her second husband and my paternal maternal great great grandfather. Julia lived from 1840 - 1901. Julia was my paternal maternal great great grandmother. As a school aged child, I corresponded with their son, my paternal maternal great grandfather, Alfred Lewis Holt, until his death in 1966.

Julia Ann was the second child of William M. Miller and Arrena Howell Miller. She was born in Daviess County, Indiana and she passed away in Cowley County, Kansas at the age of 60. The 1900 US Census shows Julia's occupation as farmer in Richland Township, Cowley County, KS. Her husband Eliphaz had been dead three years at the time of the 1900 US Census. (I will write more about Eliphaz at a later date.)

Julia Ann Miller Holt was first married to Calvin Holt in 1859. Calvin and Julia Ann had four children. Calvin died on 15 Apr 1866, the day before Julia Ann gave birth to their fourth and final child. His corpse lay in the house as she was giving birth to Calva Merle Holt.

Julia Ann then married my paternal maternal great great grandfather, Eliphaz Holt, on September 7, 1867. This marriage produced four children. Alfred Lewis Holt was the youngest child of this second marriage. (Calvin Holt and Eliphaz Holt were first cousins.)

My Great Aunt Mary Holt Hatchett, a granddaughter of Julia Ann Miller Holt, wrote to me on October 31, 1981:"Grandpa and Grandma Holt (Eliphaz and Julia Ann) are buried in the northwest corner of the Wilmot cemetery. . . . I don't know why I didn't know about the Indian strain in Julia Ann's relatives until just recent years. My father said at one time that people called her "Mammy" . . . that was Julia Ann's mother. You probably got her real name from Betty (Holt), Arena Howell, I believe.My father (Alfred Lewis Holt) had told Aubrey (Holt) that Grandma Julia Ann (Miller) Holt was dark but her pictures don't show it. I don't know how much Indian was in her mother but I understand she was part Indian."

Then, Betty Bals Holt, wife of Aubrey Sheldon Holt, a half first cousin once removed of my father wrote to me on January 25, 1995:"Dorothy Dearth who lives in Wichita and helps out at the Midwest Historical and Genealogical Society Library . . . told me her ancestor was John Miller, half brother to William (Miller - Julia Ann Miller Holt's father). She (Dorothy) had heard that he was part Cherokee Indian and I have heard several ways that Julia Ann was one-fourth Cherokee, so it must be the Millers, not the Howells. (I suppose it could be both)."

A copy of a genealogy family sheet sent to me by Marilyn Holt Hahn of Atlanta, KS, postmarked May 15, 2006 shows Julia Ann Miller as being one-fourth Cherokee. It does not indicate from what side of her family Julia Ann Miller Holt inherited this ancestry.

My Great Grandfather Alfred Lewis Holt had this to say about his mother in a genealogy he wrote for me in January 1966:"Julia Ann, his wife and my mother, was his (Eliphaz Holt) equal in every way, so I hope their pictures can be buried with me in my grave. Julia Ann passed away May 26, 1901, next day after her 61st birthday."

The following is a transcription of a letter written by Julia Ann Miller Holt to her oldest child by her first husband Calvin Holt, Emberson Holt. It has been transcribed exactly as written with no corrections in punctuation and or spelling. (The information in parenthesis was added by me.)

"January the 10 1885, Friday morning

Dear Son I hope you are well. Alfa (Alfred Lewis Holt who was 6 at the time of this writing) missed the chills 3 weeks this time and I hope he is done with them the rest of us are well except Cora She fell on the ice last Friday coming home from school and bent her wrist or we are not certain but it is broken it is sweled badly though she goes to school she only missed 2 days we have lots of company Jim Read and Annie and Willie Holt and his wife came last Saturday and stayed till Wednesday (?)nerables (?) was here Sunday and several others Albert and Lizzie Sunday knight and yesterday Willises folks Nan Tommy Ben and Calvey vick and Sam Dody & Mamy, Jon and Nora was here and Minnie Stuber come home with the children from school and Last knight Mr. Hooker and Rosa come from Burden and couldn’t cross the creek and stayed all knight we have had snow and rain and cold for along time and now there is mud how is it there are you married yet I hope you will get a good woman and then you must treat her good tell me where she lives and what her given name is and who her mother was and before you get her make the contract with her to come to Kans why didn’t you say you thought I made you a new coat out of your old one I was ashamed to send that comfort it was so dirty but it was nearest the rite size to go in the trunk was your trunk broke any I can’t find the key any where I saw a ? in the rafter but no key there we have got our house plastered it cleared off the knight wrote to you before and stayed nice a few days ben has plastered his house I am going up there to day to help make Della a coat Alfa wants me to write about him he got made at me the other day and said he wished Emma (Emberson) was back here to scold me and he always wants me to read about him don’t write any more without writing about him I read a lot to him once that you would come home and run a race with him and in the next letter you wrote like not comeing and hurt him ben has come after me. Write soon

/s/ Julia to Emberson

Esther Hakes Record Button Reed and Her Three Husbands

Meet Esther B. Hakes Record Button Reed, my paternal maternal third great grandmother. She is the imposing looking woman at the very top of this posting. About two years ago I purchased a book about the genealogy of the Hakes family. Harry Hakes penned it as 1899 turned into 1900. I found Esther and her birth family in it and I was able to put a lot of information from that book into the family tree software. Mr. Hakes apparently traveled to England to investigate the family tree. When I saw Esther's name, though, I noticed that he had her married three times - once to a Record, once to a Button, and once to a Reed. He also knew that she was living in Kansas so through someone, he was keeping in touch. I thought Mr. Hakes had made a mistake about her marriage to Mr. Button. This was new information for me. Esther had an older sister named Permelia Hakes who had married Ellis Button. (I thought Harry Hakes had confused the two sisters.)

Together Ellis Button and Permelia Hakes Button had 6 children. They were married around 1828. Permelia was 17 at the time. They both lived in Rensselaer County, NY. Their first child was born in 1829. Time passed. Sometime between 1850 and 1860, Ellis and Permelia made the move out west to Illinois. The 1850 census shows them living and farming in Berlin, Rensselaer County, NY. The 1860 census shows them in Medina, Peoria County, IL. Sometime between 1850 and 1860, John A. W. Record and Esther Hakes Record made the same decision to move to Illlinois. The 1850 census shows John A. W. Record and Esther Hakes Record living and farming in Berlin, Rensselaer County, NY. The 1860 census shows them living and farming in Hallock, Peoria County, IL. In 1861 Esther's husband, John A. W. Record died. In 1861 Permelia Hakes Button died.

On February 9, 1865, Ellis Button and Esther Record applied for a marriage license in Peoria County, IL. (See the scanned image of their marriage license just below Esther's picture.) By the time the 1870 US census rolls around, though, Ellis Button is living by himself with two of his children from his first marriage. The 1880 census shows Ellis Button as "divorced" and living with his youngest son Sanford and Sanford's wife in Hallock, Peoria County, IL.

In 2008 I obtained copies of the probate file of my paternal maternal 4th great grandfather, Thomas B. Reed from the Illinois State Archives. (Illinois is a great state for genealogy researching.) Thomas was the maternal grandfather of Thomas Riley Carson, my paternal maternal great great grandfather and Lovina Jane Record Carson's husband. (Lovina was Esther's youngest child.) Thomas B. Reed also was the last husband of Esther B. Hakes Record Button Reed. (Family trees can be so confusing!)

In the probate file was a prenuptial agreement (see scanned image pictured just below the marriage license image) that Esther Hakes Record signed before she and Thomas B. Reed married on 30 Jan 1870. (Esther signed it as "Esther Record." There is no mention of "Button.)The agreement stated that should Thomas B. Reed die before Esther, then the estate of Thomas B. Reed would pay Esther $2,000 and she would have no further claim to the estate. There is also a copy of the receipt in the file showing that she did receive $2,000 and relinquished any further claim to his estate. All of his property and belongings went to the children who survived him, also his grandson Thomas Riley Carson. The executors of his estate were Eliza Reed Preston, his daughter, and her husband James Preston.
(Eliza Reed Preston, a daughter of Thomas B. Reed and a third great grand aunt of mine, and her husband James Sylvester Preston are pictured in the final image above.)

Thomas B. Reed's wife and my paternal maternal 4th great grandmother, Frances Wilkinson Reed, died 5 Jul 1869 in Peoria County, IL. Thomas then married Esther B. Hakes Record Button, who is my third great grandmother on another limb of my paternal maternal tree, on 30 Jan 1870. So between 9 Feb 1865 when Esther and Ellis Button, the husband of her deceased sister, got married and 30 Jan 1870 when Esther and Thomas B. Reed, the grandfather of her daughter's (Lovina Jane Record Carson) husband, got married, Esther and Ellis Button divorced.
I'm still trying to find out how to find divorce records although I don't believe I will have any luck. I will write more about Esther at a later date. She lived for 90 years, almost spanning a century. She was an interesting woman.