So, it has been almost a month since I posted my last biographical sketch. When I started this project, I didn’t realize the amount of time it would require to do a separate person each and every day. Almost all of the individuals are not from my direct line, but are distant cousins several times removed. In most cases, I had not put much effort into those cousins up to this point in my research. It was taking me two to three hours each night and left little time for other things in my life.
That said, I don’t want to stop this project completely. My go-forward plan is to reduce the frequency to one sketch per week. This should allow me time to work on other parts of my tree during the week as well.
The criteria will be the same. The subject’s birthday must fall in the current week and they must not be alive. Ideally, they should have passed at least fifty years ago. The person should be a blood relative of mine. Since the possible pool for each sketch has increased seven-fold, there should not ever be a need to use a spouse or an in-law.
So here we go…Phase II of my biographical sketch project!
On June 4, 1834 in Brownstown, Indiana, David Ireland Reeve was born to Joseph Reeve and Sarah Ireland. He was the third child of ten born to the couple. Martha (who died in infancy) and Samuel were born before David. He was followed by Thomas who also died young. The family moved from Jackson County to Daviess County in the mid-1830s, where the remainder of his siblings were born…Louisa, Mary Elizabeth, Sarah, James, Lydia and Lucy. Lucy and James both died in infancy as well.
As a young man, David participated in farming with his father. About 1855, David married Harriet C. Lemon and they made their home in the Edwardsport area. David supported their family by building wagons and through farming. He later would add painter to his resume. He and Harriet raised a large family of eight children…Charles, Joseph (a prominent doctor in Vigo Township), Mary Ellen, Martha, Samuel, George, Robert, and Lillie.
At the age of fifty-four, David was afflicted with a carbuncle. It eventually led to blood poisoning and his death on November 30, 1888. He was buried in the Odd Fellows Cemetery in Edwardsport.
David Ireland Reeve was my 4th great uncle on my dad’s side.
Nathaniel Bonnell III was born on June 3, 1756 in Passaic County, New Jersey to Captain Nathaniel Bonnell II and Elizabeth Allen. The younger Nathaniel had seven siblings…Abigail, Caleb, Phebe, Jane, Jonathan, Jacob and Elizabeth. After his mother died in 1774, his father remarried and five more children were added to the family…William (who died in infancy), Nancy, Chloe, William II, and Enoch.
Nathaniel was a young man when the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired and like many of his family, he took up arms on behalf of the Colonies. serving under Captain Abraham Lyons in the Continental Army. After the War, Nathaniel married Martha Crane in 1783. Together they had eight children…Philemon, Huldah, Johnathan C., Mary, Jane, Elizabeth, Sarah and Maline.
The Bonnell family was one of the founding families of New Jersey and were instrumental in the development and growth of the area. Nathaniel was a part of that as owner of the sawmill in New Providence. He lived to the age of fifty-seven, perishing on April 15, 1814. He is buried in New Providence, New Jersey.
Nathaniel Bonnell III was my 1st cousin, 8x removed on my dad’s side.
REFERENCES
Family Records or Genealogies of the first settlers of the Passaic Valley, New Jersey, John Littell, 1852.
New Jersey Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index
On June 2, 1877 John Maxwell and Elvira Terrell were blessed with the birth of their first son William. The parents were originally from the Bloomfield, Indiana area, but did live for a bit around 1880 in the Steele Township community in Daviess County before returning to Bloomfield. William had an older sister Sarah and was followed by three brothers: Emery, Ira, and Carl.
William married Laura Reagon on May 6, 1900, likely in Greene County. They were blessed with their first child Zada Bell on December 12th that year. Zada was followed by brothers Charley, Jessie and Glen. A younger sister, Tressie, was born in 1909 however, she perished as a small child from complications due to bronchitis.
William supported his family in the early years doing farm labor. Later, around 1910 he could be found working in the local coal mines. By the mid-1910s he had transitioned to restaurant work.
On May 18, 1916 at a hospital in Indianapolis, William died at the age of thirty-eight from multiple liver abscesses. His wife Laura, with four children to support, remarried later that year.
William Maxwell was my 2nd cousin 3x removed on my dad’s side.
Roland Rudolph Willard was born June 1, 1816 in St Louis City in what was then the Missouri Territory. His parents were Elinor McDonald and Alexander Hamilton Willard. Alex Willard was the youngest member of the Expedition of Lewis and Clark (1804-1806) which attempted to find a waterway that connected the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. Led by Sacagawea, more than one hundred new animals and almost 200 new plants were documented during the first trip that explored the western territories of the United States.
Roland was one of twelve children born to Elinor and Alex. Those that have been identified include: Austin, Alexander II, Eliza, Christiana, Joel, Narcissa, Ellen, Lewis, George, and Nancy. The family lived in Missouri until about 1826 at which time they relocated to the Wisconsin Territory, living in Grant County.
Alex and four of his sons, including Roland, fought in the Black Hawk War. The Black Hawk War was a brief conflict between the United States and the Native Americans residing in the state of Illinois and Michigan Territory. The war lasted from April to August 1832. Other notable figures who also participated in the fighting included Abraham Lincoln, Zachary Taylor, and Jefferson Davis.
For a period of time around 1835, the family lived in Morgan County, Illinois, however, that was brief and they returned to Wisconsin Territory. Roland and his brother-in-law John Crawford purchased land in Iowa County in 1839. Roland sold off his lands in Wisconsin in 1847 and it is believed he, along with his brother Alex and John Crawford, headed west for California during the time of the Gold Rush. Alex and John were in Placerville listed as traders in the 1850 Census.
Roland’s whereabouts are a bit of a mystery until the state census of 1852. He is listed in Sacramento next door to John Crawford and family with the occupation of farmer. Little else can be found about Roland until his sudden death on Jun 11, 1859. He is buried in the Franklin Cemetery. His brother Lewis served as executor of his estate which appeared to be rather extensive. Probate documents indicated that his father Alex was the sole heir to the estate which would indicate that Roland was not married and had no children. However, there is a twelve year old Jackson Willard born in California listed in the 1860 Census with Alex and Elinor. It’s not clear who’s child he is, but some researchers have assigned him as Roland’s son.
Roland Rudolph Willard was my 2nd cousin 5x removed on my dad’s side.
REFERENCES
United States Census: 1850, 1860
California State Census, 1852
Illinois Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1835
California County Birth, Marriage and Death Records