Week 37 – Large Family. Amy Johnson Crow challenges us , “So let’s feature an ancestor who had a large family or who was a member of a large family.”
It has been a while since I have done a story on my husbands line so this weeks blog is on a Kansas farmer with a very large family, that of Nehemiah Thomas Case and his wife Lavina Jane Lucus. They are my husbands 2x great grandparents.
Nehemiah was born 24 June 1836 in Ohio. The first record I have found for Nehemiah is the 1850 US Census Jefferson County Illinois. This shows Nehemiah T. Case, 13 years of age and living with John D. Westcott and Family. I did a quick check to find out what was Westcott’s wife’s maiden name. It was Willis, so no known association there.
Jefferson County
Ohio
The next time we find Nehemiah in the Civil War records, he enlisted in Company E 1st (State of) Illinois Cavalry. He was mustered in on 8 Aug. 1861 a resident of Hillsboro. His original company served as guards for supply trains and depots. His record indicates that he was captured at Lexington Missouri. To learn more about what happened at Lexington MO visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Lexington
Nehemiah was mustered out of the Cavalry on 14 July 1862 .
In 1866 Nehemiah marries Lavina Jane Lucus in Illinois. Nehemiah was 15 years older then Lavina. Their first child of record was born Charles Wesley(#1) on 24 November 1867 in Nebraska. A daughter Ellen(#2) or Ella was born 18 October 1869 also in Nebraska. The 1870 US Census shown below listed Nehemiah as Thomas M. Case but Lavina, Charles, and Ellen are a match.
The following year Eva(#3) is born 9 February 1871, followed by George Washington(#4). George being my husbands great grandfather. A son Frances(#5) is born on 10 March 1874 and sadly died 5 months later 16 August 1874. Their next child is a daughter named for her mother, Lavina Jane (#6) born 23 April 1875. Lavina Jane is the last child to be born in Nebraska. The Family has moved to Kansas by 1877 where a son is born and named for his father Nehemiah Thomas(#7). In April of 1880 another daughter Mary Elizabeth(#8) is born.
Elk Creek Township Republic County Kansas
You can see here that Mary Elizabeth is 2 months old on the day the census was taken at Elk Creek township in Kansas.
In February of 1882 Ina(#9) was born, and in January of 1884 a son John W. (#10) joined the family.
In the 1885 Kansas State census the family is located in Highland Township in Washington County Kansas.
The following January 1886 Lavina gives birth to Benjamin(#11). The first born Charles Wesley is 19 and out on his own.
Lavina continues to have children. Next in line is Arthur E. (#12) born in December of 1888.
In 1889 Nehemiah enrolls as a Civil War Veteran where his residence is listed as Walnut, Crawford County, Kansas.
In June of 1891 daughter Hellen(#13) is born. She is shown in the 1900 U.S. Census and as Nellie in the 1895 Kansas State census.
The next child I have a record of is Zelina Dora(#14) born in May of 1893.
The Kansas State Census in 1895 for the N.T. Case family shows only five children at home.
Victor Osborne County
Our next Federal census is 1900 and we see that Lavina has given birth to 16 children and 13 are still living. Lavina was only 48 years old in 1900. They had been married 33 years. Only six children are living at home in this 1900 census, so 7 are out on their own and 3 have died. I am missing two that apparently did not survive childhood long enough to he counted in a census.
Nehemiah dies 18 November 1904 at the age of 68. Considering how many children Lavina gave birth to, it is amazing she lived to the age of 71. Lavina died in 1922.
Thank you for your reply via email. I am sorry it has taken me so long to respond. I have been looking for more complete information to send you. Yes, John Wesley case did marry Ethel. We live in Oregon. After some yours, John and Ethel divorced and she and the children moved to Oregon. I never did get to meet her. She died two years before I was born. John remarried and had another family. I did meet one of my father’s half siblings when I was in high school and they came to meet us and to visit. Growing up, I knew of Ethel and John’s children as follows. I may not have these in the correct birth order, in fact I probably don’t. There was Elsie, Ruth, Lloyd, Dwayne, Delbert, Della, Leo, and Dale. The interesting thing is that I went online and was looking up family information a few years ago, and ran into information saying that there were a total of 13 children. Several of them did not survive to adulthood. Growing up, I never knew of the other children. I did know that Ruth died at I believe 4 years of age and Elsie died when she was 23 during the Depression. After our exchange, I went to find the information again and I am having trouble finding it online. I have not given up though, and when I do find more information I will definitely send it to you. My mother had some genealogy information on paper that she obtained at some point, and as soon as I can I am going to look through it to see if I can find more information. Leo was my father. During my lifetime I knew Dwayne quite well, also Della and Delbert. I also met Dale and possibly Lloyd, but I would have been about 2 years old and I don’t remember them. I do know that John Wesley Case’s second wife’s name was Gladys. They had a son named Larry. He was the one who came to visit us when I was in high school. I don’t know if they had any other children. As soon as I do get more information and more detailed information, I will definitely send it on to you. I think it’s great the work that you are doing.
Carrie,
Great information. I will see what I can find, also.
Ada
Thank you!