The King Family: January 2012

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Godfrey & Mary Crider (Edna's Paternal Grandparents)

Godfrey Crider (born February 23, 1847- died 1914), son of Nicholas and Maria, was nine years old when his parents settled in Poweshiek County. His education was both in Ohio and Iowa. When he finished school, he went to work with his father on the family farm. He continued to make his home there after his parents death. Although Godfrey engaged in general farming, the majority of his attention was directed at raising stock, of which he was very successful. he specialized in the raising of Chester white hogs and Shorthorn cattle as well as feeding hogs for the market on his farm in Lincoln Township (near the Minnesota border). Later on he got into the real estate and insurance business and for a time was a member of the executive committee of the Poweshiek County Mutual Fire Insurance Company.

Godfrey married Mary Francena Conelley (Edna's Grandparents) on January 6, 1872. Mary was born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio on January 6, 1854. She was the daughter of Evan and Lucy Conley. Her family had come to Poweshiek County while she was still a child and her parents were general farmers. Her family later moved on further west to Kansas where they spent the remainder of their lives.

Godfrey and Mary Crider had 10 children

Alfred Lafayette Crider (1872-1937) married to Lillie Harrison (born 1875)

Railroad Engineer based in Mason City, Iowa

Children:

Lester
Mabel Houston
Verne
Merle

Charles Otto (1874-1952) married to Lucinda Armstrong (1876-1967

Carpenter

One son- Theral

William Davis (1876-1958) married to Florence Edwards (born 1874) of Montezuma

Farmed in Lincoln Township and later was in real estate. Later, due to poor health, both he and his daughter moved to Ft Collins, CO

Children

Gladys Warfield
George

Lucy Maria (Born 1878 - died in infancy)
Godfrey (Fred) Leo (1879-1962) married Nettie Grace Nussbaum (1876-1945) (Edna's Parents)

Life long farmer in Kansas, Bear Creek & Scott Townships

Children

Anna Beatrice (1903-1966) married John N Reitzler (born 1904) Wedding 5/12/29 in Brooklyn
Edna Crider King
Lois Wilma (died 1954 age 41) married Edward Reitzler

Guy Edward (1881-1954) married to Kathryn Gallagher (1893-1981)

Blacksmith and mechanic. Later became a farmer

Children

Frances Eugene (1915-1957)
Giles

Robert Earl (born 1882) married Georgia Roberts

Worked for Rock Island Railroad in Brooklyn, Iowa

One son- adopted- James

Eva Mae (born 1884 married John Armstrong (born 1878)

John was a farmer and horse trader

Children

Ross
Louis
Don (MIA in WWII, never found)
Dean

Lois (1886-1962) married Lena Height (1888-1958) of Deep River, Iowa

Grocery Store owner in Brooklyn, Iowa. Later became a farmer

Children

Donald (1917-1988)
Arlene Crider Purdum
Meriam Maxine (died as a teenager) (1920-1935)
Vada
Phillis Crider Sanders
Maynard
Kieth

Elsie (born 1888) married William Jr Kilmer (born 1885)

Lived on a farm, later worked as a carpenter in Brooklyn, Iowa. Moved to California

Children

Vera Kilmer Norris
William Jr

Clair (born 1891) married Hazel M Emerick (born 1894) of Geneseo, Illinois

Lived in Brooklyn, Iowa working for the telephone company, later moved to California

Children

Lester
Helen Carpenter

It is noted that in looking back over this list of sisters and cousins of Edna, there were a large percentage of deaths at a fairly young age

The church relationship of the Godfrey Crider family was with the Harmony Moravian Church which was a church of the United Brethren. The political views of Godfrey and family had always coincided with the principles of the Democratic Party, but he was elected assessor by the republican party. He held that office for three years. He was for many years a trustee and director of schools in Lincoln Township and for 19 years he was treasurer of the bard of school directors. He was always recognized as on of the enterprising and public spirited citizens of Lincoln Township.

One of Godfry Crider's sisters, (Edna's Great Aunt) Mary Crider, was born on January 17, 1831 in Switzerland and immigrated to America with her parents. She married Rudolph Creps. There were the parents of Frank Creps, Maria Creps Bunnell and Sadie Creps. Thus was established the relationship which exists between the Crider and the Creps and the Bunnell families today.

Godfrey and Mary Crider retired from farming and moved to Brooklyn, Iowa. They had built a new home there which still stands today and is at the present time, the home of William and Barbara Miller.

Godfry passed away September 10, 1914 at 67 years of age. Mary continued to make her home there for a few years and later on lived with their daughter Mae until her death. She had diabetes for many years and eventually lost her eyesight and needed a lot of care. In those days, care centers and nursing homes were unheard of, you lived with family. Everybody took care of their own. Mary passed away October 14, 1932 at the age of 78. She and Godfrey are buried at the south end of the I.O.O.F cemetery in Brooklyn, Iowa

Nicholas & Maria Crider (Edna's Great-Grandparents)

The first Crider of whom we have record of is Nicholas Crider and his wife Maria Stober Crider. (Edna's Great-Grandparents) They were natives of Switzerland, land of the Alps and there they were married. Nicholas, who was a weaver by trade, immigrated to the United States in 1846. He and his wife settled in Ohio. They cleared 40 acres of land, erected a log house and other buildings and lived there for 10 years. At the end of that period, they moved to Iowa and living on 160 acres of government ground which Nicholas had purchased in Poweshik County (encompasses Brooklyn, Malcolm, Grinnel etc) in 1856. Again, he erected primitive structures made of logs that were to be found on the majority of the homesteads of that period, placing his land under cultivation gradually as he cleared it. (probably used mostly Black Walnut tress, an excellent and abundant tree in South Eastern Iowa at the time)

{The first official white settlement in Iowa began in June 1833, in the Black Hawk Purchase. Most of Iowa's first white settlers came from Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Indiana, Kentucky, and Virginia. The great majority of newcomers came in family units. Most families had resided in at least one additional state between the time they left their state of birth and the time they arrived in Iowa. Sometimes families had relocated three or four times before they reached Iowa. At the same time, not all settlers remained here; many soon moved on to the Dakotas or other areas in the Great Plains. }

http://publications.iowa.gov/135/1/history/7-1.html

Here, Nicholas resided until his death at the age of 77. He was a democrat in politics, considering the principles of that part to more closely resemble the governmental policy of his native land. The family was Lutheran Switzerland and Ohio, but united with the Moravian Church.

{The Moravian Church is over five centuries old. 'The name Moravian identifies the fact that this historic church had its origin in ancient Bohemia and Moravia in what is the present-day Czech Republic'. This makes sense as southeastern Iowa is a heavily Czech area.

'Moravians support collegial experiences with children of God in other Christian churches, and carefully avoid all disputes, respecting opinions and ceremonies peculiar to one or another Church. We recognize that through the grace of Christ different denominations have received many gifts and that the Church of Christ may be enriched by these many and varied contributions. It is our desire that we may learn from one another and rejoice together in the riches of the love of Christ and the manifold wisdom of God. We welcome every step that brings us nearer the goal of unity in Him. In this fellowship we cooperate with other churches in the support of public charities or Christian enterprises, which have a just claim upon us as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Their basic motto is In accepting other creeds of the Christian Church (such as the Apostles' Creed, Nicene Creed, the Augsburg Confession) and in its practice, the Moravian Church has always stood by its motto: "In essentials, unity; in non essentials, liberty; and in all things, love." '
http://www.moravian.org/

From what I have found, they are in line with the Unitarian Church, maybe not so liberal, but very tolerant}

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Lester John King

Lester was born to William and Frances King on May 27th, 1910. He was raised on his parent's farm. He attended the rural school in Scott Township known as Center School simply because it was located in the center of the township. He later attended Brooklyn High School and graduated with the class of 1928. It had only been a few years at that time that farm girls and boys went on to high school. Transportation and roads were the main deterrents. Few boys at that time had cars of their own and if a family had a car, it was never more than one. Very few of the roads at that time were graveled and there was no equipment for clearing them of snow. Lester and a neighbor boy, who was also in his class, traveled on horseback to and from school the first couple years into high school. Later, they shared a old Model T Ford. It was also during his first year of going to high school that boys graduated from short to long trousers. When not in school, he helped his father with the farming. At that time there were few tractors or other power machinery in use on farms. All the field work was done with horses. Very few farm homes had electricity, running water, bathrooms, furnaces or radios. It is amazing how all the young people growing up then seemed to be so happy and contented (not like us spoiled brats- eh Grandma?) Their main forms of amusement were swimming in the 'old swimming hole' in English River, fishing, going to the country dances, playing in the neighborhood baseball games and family or neighborhood picnics. Anything you did not need much transportation.

Lester

Lester's mother

Frances Jocobi (Lester's mother)

Frances Jacobi was married to George F Boddicker in 1902 and one daughter was born to this union. Leota Sullivan Boddicker was born on April 7, 1903 in Blairstown, Iowa. George passed away and in 1906 Frances married William King. Leota was three years old. Leota spent her girlhood on the farm with her parents. Although William King never legally adopted Leota, he thought of her as his own and was very good to her. She attended the rural schools, graduating from Brooklyn High School with the class of 1920. She also attended St. Johns Catholic School at Victor, Iowa and later attended State Teacher's College at Cedar Falls, Iowa. She married John McLaughlin on December 8, 1926 and moved to a farm west of Grinnell, Iowa. She became a schoolteacher following that profession until the time of her death. She passed away March 16, 1927 after only a few days illness due to complications (blood poisoning) following an operation for an abscess in her nose. In those days the wonder life-saving drugs were undiscovered or had not come into general use. Funeral services were held in St Patricks Catholic Church in Brooklyn, Iowa on March 18, 1927 and internment was in Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Marengo, Iowa.

Leota

William Timothy King

William Timothy King (Lester's father) was the sixth born child of the Philip King family. He was born on November 16,1874 in Tiffin, Ohio. He came to Iowa at the age of eight with his parents where they settled on a farm. His entire life occupation was farming. He was married to Frances Jacobi Boddicker on April 17, 1906 at St Marys Catholic Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The couple made thier home near there for a year before moving to a farm south of Brooklyn, Iowa. There they spent most of 22 years, except for two short periods when due to the ill health of William, they were forced to rent the farm and made their home in South Dakota, Marengo and Brooklyn.

Frances Jacobi (Lester's mother) was the daughter of Joseph and Therese Wrede Jocobi. She was born in Brilon, Germany on November 8, 1876. Her father Joseph was born in Brilon, Germany on April 8, 1847. He was married to Therese Wrede, also of Brilon, and to this union, six children were born in the fatherland (Germany). In 1877, the family came to America. Frances was but six months old. They settled in Iowa County, Iowa. There, six more children came to bless their home. The family occupation was farming in Marengo, Iowa.

Names of the children are as follows

Frank Jacobi
Joseph Jacobi
John Jacobi
Tracy Jocobi Rose
Mary Jacobi Cantwell
Annie Jacobi Cantwell
Lizzie Jacobi O'Brien
Kathryn Jacobi Allum
Rose Jacobi Franey
Helen Jacobi Simmons
Fraces Jacobi Boddicker King (Lester's mother)
Died in infancy

Monday, January 16, 2012

Philip King & Mary Cromwell - Part II

Philip King

The marriage of Philip King and Mary Cromwell is the event that brought about the King family association with the Link family. Philip King’s father (Timothy King) was born in Limerick County Ireland in 1815. He was married there in 1840 to Margaret Cotter, also born in Limerick County in 1820. The Timothy King family immigrated to America in the spring of 1842. Philip, their oldest child, born December 25, 1841 was six months old. They landed in New York and later moved westward to Fremont, Ohio where they settled on a farm. There, Philip’s brothers and sisters were born. Namely in order:

· William King (spouse to Catherine Kennedy)

§ Born 8/13/1844

§ Married 10/30/1867

§ Death 3/22/1939

· John King 1845

· Laurence King (spouse to Alice Norris)

§ Born 1848

§ Married 1/18/1867

§ Death 11/11/1928

· Mary Ann King 1850

· Timothy King

· Madigan (Margaret)

Philip received his education in Fremont, Ohio. After marrying Mary Cromwell Philip and Mary came to Iowa in 1882 settling on a farm southwest of Marengo, Iowa which adjoins Catholic Calvary Cemetery. It has been said that the land for the cemetery was given by the Kings from a part of their farm. It has also been said that the farm had been inherited by Mary Cromwell King as an heir of the Stoner family and may have been the reason for the move from Ohio to Iowa. They lived and prospered on this farm for six years, then moved to Washington Township making it their home until 1897 when they retired from the farm and settle in Marengo. In the foregoing history, the main religion had been affiliation with the Lutheran Church, but this marriage of Philip and Mary was the advent of Catholicism into the family. It also brought about a mixing of nationalities: German, Irish and English as Mary Cromwell was of English descent on the paternal side. This had become a usual thing by this time and America had often been called the ‘Melting Pot’.

Philip King was a man of unassuming manners and quiet unpretentious ways. He hated sham of any kind and was honest in all his dealings with his fellow man. He gave liberally to good causes and was especially generous where his sympathies were enlisted. ‘His word was his bond’ was the expression frequently heard from friends and neighbors. He died November 29, 1910 at age 68 and is buried in Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Marengo, Iowa. After his death, his wife Mary moved to South Dakota to be near her children, several of whom had settled in or near Mitchell. She died on November 20, 1925 at age 79. She is buried in a Catholic cemetery in Mitchell, South Dakota. It had been hoped by many of the children that she would someday be laid to rest with her husband, but due to the coming depression and other circumstances, this never came about.

Children born to Philip and Mary King:

1. Clara King Baughart (Jacobsen)- 9/12/1867

2. Margaret king Weir - 11/10/1868

3. Emmanuel King - 12/23/1870

4. Marcenia King Goodrich – 2/20/1872

5. Annie King – 11/28/1873 – died in infancy

6. William T. King (Lester’s father) – 11/16/1874

Bob King anyone??

.

7. Lauretta King Garver – 7/31/1876

8. Annie King Palmer – 4/5/1877

9. Leo King – 12/16/1880

10. Joseph King – 1/17/1881

11. Susan King – 6/12/1882

12. Celia King Frankston – 1/10/1884

13. John King – 10/13/1886 (pictured with Susan above)

Note:
Link family tradition, for several generations John was the first given name for each male child in the family.

The mother of General and President Eisenhower, Ida Elizabeth Stoner is also a descendant of the Link family. Her mother was Elizabeth Link born at Mt Sidney, Virginia on November 19, 1822. Her father was Simon P Stoner

The information of the Link family was obtained from a history compiled by Mr. Paxson Link of Paris, IL

The Link Family- Part I

This is a re-copy of Grandma Edna's history she recorded for all the children. I will be copying it onto the blog bit by bit. I will try to stay as true to her writings as possible, a few grammar fixes here and there so it reads a bit easier. I have also tried to do some research so there are footnotes and extra historical context. Does anyone have these original photographs I could scan to have on here?

The Link Family

Foreword:

Lester King’s grandmother on the paternal side was a descendant of the Link Family. The first of the Links of whom we have found knowledge of record is Hans Link the First, born about 1370 in Germany. The King family is directly associated with John Jacob Link who is found in the St Lorenz Church record born October 20, 1682 in Grossgartach, Germany. He immigrated to America in 1733.

Why John Jacob Link Left Germany and Immigrated to America?

I hear the tread of pioneers, of nations yet to be.
The first low wash of waves where soon shall roll a human sea.
The rudiments of empire here are plastic, yet and warm.
The chaos of a mighty world is rounding into form. [i]

What was the motivating force which compelled John Jacob Link (Hans Jacob Linckh) to leave his birthplace and the land of his ancestors at Grossgartach near Heilbron, Germany and undertake such a hazardous journey so clouded with the worst forebodings as a trip across the ocean to America in 1733? His wife Ana Magdalena Neuwirth was born nearby in the town of Biberach where her grandfather Bernard Neuwirth was the mayor of the town. John Jacob was fifty years of age and his wife forty-one. People of these ages were usually not daring enough for such an uncertain risk across a trackless ocean and into the wild frontier life beset with constant attacks by savages. The answer lies in the culminating factors of almost constant warfare, the constant drain of taxation imposed by their royal rulers to keep up with the grandeur of the court of Louis XII in Versailles in France, the incessant struggle of the Catholic element against the Protestants, and not the least that the entire valleys of the Rhine, the Nekar and the Main rivers had been set aflame by the fiery speeches of William Penn preaching the new religion (Quaker) of brotherly love, the glories and the abundance of freedom and the fountain of youth that washed away the years and made the old young again. At age fifty, John Jacob was well familiar with the years through which his ancestors had struggled. Years filled with oppression and taxation by petty but powerful rulers, years filled with bloody religious strife, the incessant pillaging by armies of conquest, the years filled with the sights of their land laid waste many times by the sword by day and the torch by night. All these were conductive in the Links decision to leave their homeland.

But John Jacob Link did not stand alone. Many of his fellowmen had gone before. For twenty years messages had been trickling back into the community telling of the wonders in the land of William Penn and of the widespread land on the frontier north of Philadelphia where the colony of Womelsdorf had been established. Located in the Tulpenhocken territory, it stretched eastward in to the established colony of Oley, where there was a direct ‘high street’ into Philadelphia (still the main road going through the town to this day). {While there was nothing but praise for settling in Pennsylvania there was condemnation for settling in the realm of New York. England had practiced the boldest deception and intrigues upon the early immigrants who were landed on Governor’s Island and later transferred to Livingston Manor a 6,000 acre tract on the east of the Hudson and to another 6,000 acre tract of pine trees directly opposite on the west side of the Hudson was soon broadcast back to Germany from where the immigrants had fled. As a result, the German immigration into New York State came to an early grave.} (note: The writing in between the {} is directly transcribed from Edna’s writing. I have read this time and time again and cannot make heads or tails of it. All of my research shows that Livingston was a fruitful place where many German Palatines prospered. I cannot find where the English were ‘deceptive’, I’m very curious what this means) But as despair was sweeping of the homeland and the thunderhead of war was gathering again overhead, there was a tidal wave of hope of such magnitude that no one could possibly resist it. The pacifist William Penn, looked upon in England as being ‘cracked’, was touting up and down in Germany, pleading with the greatest eloquence in the German tongue, the tenets of the new Quaker religion. With his new religion as the cure for all the ills, he impregnated his convincing pamphlets with the glorious life which awaited all who would settle in Pennsylvania. The more of the promised blessings Penn poured out, the more eagerly the prospective immigrants craved more. With bitter hears against their rulers and with the abundant life dominating their dreams, the Link family immigrated to America.

John Jacob Link is the pivotal person in this history and he is one of the greatest. He brought his family and its name from a war torn land to freedom. John Jacob, with his wife Ana Megdalena, and their four children, made it to Philadelphia on August 28, 1733. They left Grossgartach, Germany, sailed down the Rhine to Rotterdam where they boarded the English ship ‘Hope’. They traveled to Cowes, England and then across the Atlantic. John Jacob was the first Link on record in America sans one. John Jacob was able to pay their passage and had funds left over with which to purchase a farm. John Jacob’s coming was important to him in that he could provide opportunity for his young children in a land free from the unscrupulous ambitions of the secular and clerical nobles and the war and pillage that they had suffered in their fatherland. The Link family continued to flourish and grow in America. During the third generation, Elizabeth Link, daughter of John Adam Link married Henry Stoner in Fredrick County, Maryland. They had two children Elizabeth and John. This John Stoner was born March 12, 1774 in Fredrick County, Maryland. Following the death of his wife, John and his family migrated to Ohio settling near Tiffin in Seneca County, Ohio. There their son John met and married Elizabeth Baltzell. After a marriage of only five years, John died on January 28, 1827 in Seneca County, Ohio. After John’s death, his wife Elizabeth, daughter Susanna and son John moved to Iowa County, Iowa. There Susanna met and married William Cromwell at Ladora, Iowa. According to records, they made their home in Henry County, Iowa where their daughter Mary Cromwell was born on July 21, 1846. She married Philip King (Lester King’s Grandfather) October 10^,1886. This statement of marriage is in conflict with other records which we know to be authentic. The only explanation which we can assume is that Mary Cromwell had returned to Seneca County, Ohio where her parents had lived before coming to Iowa. Other records show the date of their marriage to Philip King to be the same as above but occurring in Seneca County, Ohio. It states that they remained in Ohio until March of 1882 when they came to Iowa County, Iowa settling near Marengo.

[i] On Receiving an Eagle's Quill from Lake Superior Author: John Greenleaf Whittier 1850

John Jacob Link & Eisenhower

I'm dying looking through this website and their info- check out the slideshow!

John Jacob Link

The Link Seal

Stacey is awesome and scanned in the family history that Grandma King typed up for all the kids. The King family is directly associated with John Jacob Link born 1682 in Germany.

So, I googled him. There is an entire website dedicated to the descendants! Crazy! Click here to see the website. So I guess our next reunion is in West Virginia?

Should we take this beautiful seal and put it on coozies or something?

I will be slowly getting the history up on the blog, stay tuned!