AMANDA E. GROOM

The autograph book of Lovina Jane Record Carson

Amanda E. Groom (Amanda Ellen Groom) was the daughter of William Groom and Mary VanDorn Groom. Amanda was born 6 Apr 1859.  


Amanda's mother, Mary VanDorn Groom, died 15 Sep 1860.  The 1870 US Census shows that Amanda E. Groom was living with her aunt, Mary Groom Hutchison who was an older sister of Amanda’s father, William Groom, and Mary’s husband, John, in Chillicothe, Peoria County, IL.   Also living in this household were Adella, William and Julia Bernard, soon to be Amanda's step siblings by virtue of her father William’s second marriage to Laurilla Record Bernard   sometime after 1871.  Laurilla's first husband Andrew Bernard had died sometime before 1870.  Laurilla was an older sister of Lovina Jane Record Carson.


Amanda E. Groom signed Lovina's autograph book in 1875.  She was living Richland Township, Cowley County, KS by 1875, as evidenced by the date of the autograph and also the 1875 Kansas State Census.  


In 1885 Amanda married James Richard Mathews. (1900 US Census)  Amanda and her husband farmed in Richland Township, Cowley County, KS for at least 20 years.  I have not been able to locate them on the 1910 US census, the 1915 Kansas State Census or the 1930 US Census.  The 1920 census shows that the couple moved to 8th Street, Winfield, Cowley County, KS and lived with a cousin, Susan Miller.  Amanda’s husband, James Richard Mathews, was listed as a “meat cutter” under occupation.  The 1925 US Census shows the couple still living at East 8th Street.


A search at www.findagrave.com reveals that Amanda passed away in 1939. Her husband James Richard Mathews predeceased her by seven years.  The couple are buried in Wilmot Cemetery, Cowley County, KS.  There is a picture of the couple’s headstone posted at that website.  


This picture of William Groom was given to me by my paternal great aunt and is in my possession.

The headstone of William Groom and Laurilla Record Barnard Groom
Floral Cemetery, Cowley County, KS.  Taken by me in October 2007.

Introduction to The Autograph Book of Lovina Jane Record Carson

The signature of Lovina Jane (Record) Carson

My paternal grandmother's grandparents,
Thomas Riley Carson and Lovina Jane Record Carson

The frontispiece and outside cover of  the autograph book of
Lovina Jane Record Carson

Once upon a time there lived a little girl named Pansy.  Flower names were popular as the 19th century turned into the 20th.  Pansy grew up, married and had children.  Eventually her children begat children, and one of those begats was me.  My name is Deborah, or Debbie.  “Debbie” was a very popular name in the middle of the 20th century.


On my 32nd birthday, Pansy, known to me as Mema, gave me her grandmother’s autograph book.  This posting introduces Lovina Jane and her autograph book.  Subsequent postings to this blog will feature one autograph and information that has been gathered about that particular person who signed Lovina's autograph book. (Lovina was a popular name in the middle of the 19th century.)

Lovina Jane Record was born June 2, 1853 in Rensselaer County, New York.  She was the eighth and final child of John A. W. Record and Esther B. Hakes Record.  Around the age of 3, Lovina and her family moved to Peoria County, Illinois, settling in the vicinity of West Hallock, Peoria County, Illinois.  It was there that Lovina’s father, John Record, passed away May 31, 1861.  He is buried in the West Hallock Cemetery.  

Lovina probably met her future husband, Thomas Riley Carson, a native of Illinois, through her mother’s third husband and Thomas’s grandfather, Thomas B. Reed.  Lovina’s mother Esther married Thomas Carson’s grandfather, Thomas B. Reed on Jan. 30, 1870, and she and Lovina moved in with him.  (More information about Esther B. Hakes Record Button Reed appears in a previous posting on this blog.)

When Lovina met him, Thomas already had his own farm.  His father Wilson Carson died in April of 1870.  Wilson left a will leaving all of his property, real and person, to his wife, Harriet Reed Carson.  Then, on November 1 of that same year, Thomas’s mother, Harriet, passed away.  Her death must have been sudden.  There was no last will and testament.  That left Thomas and his little sister Alice.  Great aunt Mary once wrote, “. . . though he was just in his teen years, about 16, he (Thomas Riley Carson) went ahead and worked the farm like a grown man.” 

On May 23, 1872, Lovina Jane Record and Thomas Riley Carson were joined in marriage by Nathan Wardner in West Hallock, Peoria County, Illinois.  And sometime between the birth of their first child, John Wilson Carson, in 1873 in Peoria County, Illinois, and the 1875 Kansas state census, the Carson family moved to Cowley County, Kansas, settling in Richland township.

Scanned image of the marriage license for
Thomas Riley Carson and Lovina Jane Record Carson

According to Richard Kay and Mary Ann Wortman’s History of Cowley County, Kansas, Volume 1, (an excellent book especially if you have ancestors who lived in this particular county), Cowley County was part of the Osage Diminished Reserve.  All of Kansas Territory had been opened to settlement in 1854 except for that reserve.  Osage Indians had used today’s Cowley County as a hunting ground since the 1600s.  Today’s Cowley County was opened to settlement in 1870, the treaty being ratified by the Osages on Drum Creek on October 29, 1870.    Surveying began in 1871 and the land office in Cowley  County was not opened until July 10 of that year.

  

The first mention of Thomas and his windmill was made in the Winfield Courier on October 18, 1877.  “T. R. Carson, of Richland Township, made us a call on Tuesday.  He says the wheat in his section is very fine, completely covering the ground with a green carpet.  He is a young farmer who uses brains as well as muscle in his farm operations.  His windmill is one of his machines and is used principally in pumping water for his stock and saves a great deal of labor, but can be put to a variety of uses.  He is agent for the sale of such mills.”

The homestead of
Thomas Riley Carson and Lovina Jane Record Carson,
Rock, Richland Township, Cowley County, Kansas

“One of the finest stock farms in Cowley!“ trumpeted the Winfield Courier, dated Jan 15, 1885.  In  a little over 10 years, Thomas and Lovina had built a wonderful homestead and they had three children -- John Wilson, Lillie, and my great grandmother, Harriet, with whom to share it. 

 

Women lived in the shadows of their husbands in the 19th century.  When I talk about Thomas, I speak also about Lovina.  Wives labored alongside their husbands, in addition to raising the children and household tasks.  I imagine that when people came to Lovina’s and Thomas’s farm, she asked them to please sign her autograph book.  The earliest signature in the book is dated 1875 so one can make the assumption that Lovina began keeping the autograph book in Cowley County.  Perhaps it was given to her as a goodbye gift from friends and family in Peoria County, Illinois.

(The pictures featured in this posting have been scanned from originals which are in my possession.  The scanned copy of the marriage license was obtained from 

http://www.cyberdriveillinois.com/   The Winfield Courier articles were found at http://www.ausbcomp.com/~bbott/index.html)

A Snapshot of the Holt Family on 11 Jun 1880

Eliphaz Holt and Julia Ann Miller Holt Holt with youngest son, Alfred Lewis Holt.

This is a snapshot of the Holt family on 11 Jun 1880, Richland Township, Cowley County, KS, according to Source Citation: Census Year: 1880; Census Place: Richland, Cowley, Kansas; Archive Collection Number: T1130; Roll 18; Page: 10; Line: 6; Schedule Type: Agriculture. This information was gathered and is presented by Bleu, a great great granddaughter of Eliphaz and Julia Ann Miller Holt. The picture of the Holt family is courtesy of a great grandson of Eliphaz Holt and Julia Ann Miller Holt Holt. The pictures of the Holt headstones were taken by Bleu during an October 2007 trip to Wilmot Cemetery, Cowley County, KS.

According to Betty Bals Holt, the wife of Aubrey Sheldon Holt, who was a grandson of Julia Ann Miller Holt and her first husband, Calvin Rogers Holt, a first cousin to Julia’s second husband, Eliphaz, Julia Ann Miller Holt Holt and Eliphaz Holt moved to Richland township, Cowley County, KS, in 1873.

On 11 Jun 1880, Eliphaz Holt was 56 years old and Julia Ann Miller Holt Holt was 48. Their youngest child, Alfred Lewis Holt, had just been born that previous November -- he was six months going on seven months old. The other children at home were Alfred’s older siblings, Noah (1869), Cora (1873), and Dick (1875). Calva (1866), John William (1864), and Emberson (1860), the children Julia Ann had had with her first husband Calvin Rogers Holt, were also living with them.

Charles Blackman (1861) and John Grant (1864), two of the ten children that Eliphaz had with his first wife, Sally Kendall Holt, who died in 1867, also lived with them. (Source Citation: Year: 1880; Census Place: Richland, Cowley, Kansas; Roll T9_377; Family History Film: 1254377; Page: 565.2000; Enumeration District: 178; Image: 0685.) It was a full house!

(Sally Kendall Holt, Eliphaz Holt’s first wife, was the daughter of Logan Kendall and Sarah Kendall. Logan Kendall and Sarah Kendall were married 10 Aug 1825, Gallatin County, KY. Together they had three daughters: Sally Ann, Nancy, and Emizette. After Logan Kendall died, Sarah Kendall married Drury Holt II, the father of Eliphaz, by his first wife Sarah Cassell (1802-1839), on 26 Jan 1840, Bedford KY.)

When the census taker came around on 11 Jun 1880, he found the Holt family tilling 175 acres of grassland. They tended 2 acres of orchards and permanent pastures. Twenty acres was kept as woodlands and there were 245 acres which were marked as “unimproved” or “old fields.”
Seventy-five acres were planted in Indian corn. The family harvested 3,000 bushels the previous year. They harvested 480 bushes of wheat from 45 acres. Fifteen acres had been mown and there were 20 acres of hay. One-half acre was planted in sorghum from which 40 gallons of molasses were made.

Their farm, including land, fences, and buildings, was valued at $4,000. There were $500 worth of farm implements and $500 in livestock.

The Holt family owned 12 cows all together, milking 6 cows. Three calves had been born prior to 11 Jun 1880. Julia Ann churned 300 pounds of butter the previous year and gathered 250 eggs from their poultry flock of 36.

Eighteen ewes were waiting to be shorn and seven lambs were born. The Holts raised 23 swine that year.

Eliphaz plowed and tilled the soil and the family visited other people in the area courtesy of five horses. They did not own any mules.

* * * * *
Transcriptions of old newspapers items that refer to Eliphaz Holt:

[REPORT: "L. J. N." - NORTH RICHLAND.]

Winfield Courier, April 1, 1880. (Two months before the census taker came)

One law suit, E. Holt vs. N. K. Park, closed last week, and another is on hand, N. K. Park vs. E. Holt, on account of the running at large of stock. Both parties have plenty of Kansas rails (rock) on their farms to fence in all their stock, and the costs of these two suits would build a good many rods of fence, too, and avoid law-suits between neighbors. L. J. N.

* * * * *

REPORT FROM "M. C. SELTER." - POLO ITEMS.

Winfield Courier, June 3, 1880. (Eight days before the census taker came.)

I understand that W. McCormick is in the field for nomination for Judge. MAC is a worthy gentleman and would grace the bench.
G. D. Varner has built him a new house.
Mr. McPherson has been appointed postmaster at Wilmot, vice Mrs. S. M. Phoenix, resigned.
If McPherson will accept the nomination of J. P., our township will elect him.
Mr. E. Holt is decorating his farm with a stone fence, enclosing his fine orchard.
J. W. Weimer has a very fine flock of sheep; so has Frank Blue.
　
Source: http://www.ausbcomp.com/~bbott/cowley/oldnews/papersup/cour9.htm
　
* * * * *
WILMOT WAIFS. "T. R. C." (Thomas Riley Carson)

Winfield Courier, Thursday, August 20, 1885.

We learn that Mr. [Eliphaz] Holt has rented his grain and stock farm to Mr. J. R. Thompson for a term of one year, and will take up his abode in the suburbs of Wilmot, having already purchased 5 acres of land from the Wilmot Town company. He expects to erect a residence thereon this fall.

* * * * * * * *

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