Julia Chuch Ehl (1860-1942)

I love researching the women in my family.  They can get lost so easily when a maiden name or a married name is not known.  Now I get to share what I know and what I would like to know about Ard's oldest sister, Julia. 

According to Julia's obituary, she was born on October 31, 1860 in Seneca, Nemaha, Kansas.  The same place where her grandfather, John S. Doyle, built the first house in that county.  By 1865, the family has moved to Atchison county and are living with Mary Ann's parents, John and Sarah Doyle.  Julia's father leaves for the Civil War in November of 1861 and is gone from the family for three years.  It is possible that the family lived with Mary Ann's parents while Elias was away in the War.

In 1870, Julia is actually listed on two different Federal Census forms.  She is ten years old at the time and she is listed with her grandparents as well as her own parents who are both living in Lancaster, Kansas.

Luckily, an 1875 State census was conducted in Kansas and Julia is living with her parents in Lancaster.  She is 14 according to the census. 

Now the 1880 census is the most confusing document of all.   Julia, age 19, is listed with her parents.  In this particular census she is listed as married and as a widow, even though her last name is listed as Church.  In the same family grouping there are two children, a grandson and a granddaughter.  Their names are J Beard, a girl age 2, and John Beard, an 8 month old boy. My assumption of course is that these children are Julia's and her husband died.  The reason I can assume this is because Julia is the oldest girl and her only sister, Ida is not married and only 14 at the time of the census.

Family information tells me that Julia marries a second time to Frank Paul Ehl on 10 June 1882 in Coucil Bluffs, Iowa.  Frank is an immigrant from Germany.  1882 is the same year that the family moves to Dayton, Washington.  The thought has crossed my mind that they may have been en route to Washington when they got married.  In 1883 a state census reveals that John Ehls, age 5, is living with Frank and Julia.  

Julia and Frank have three children, Peter, Adam and Julia Minnie.  Julia lists five out of five children living at the time the 1900 census was taken.  This would be the two children from her first marriage, Jerusha and John, or sometimes known as "Cap," and then the three children with her husband, Frank.  I find it interesting that when Julia's daughter, Jerusha, marries Henry Wilson in 1897, she gives her name as Jerusha Church on the marriage certificate. There is a mystery to solve as to why her last name was not Beard.  Is it possible that Julia never married?  
Jerusha and John are found on censuses with their grandparents quite often.  It is possible that they felt more comfortable there than with a new stepfather.  Maybe they just adopted the Church name to save them from questions about their name being different than their mother's name.  
Here is Julia's obituary reveals:

Mrs. Julia Ehl
Vancouver, Wash., Feb. 13- Funeral services will be held tomorrow at 2 p.m in Knapp's mortuary for Julia Ehl, 81, 3401 N Street, Vancouver, who died Thursday.  Mrs. Ehl was one of the few remainng women to recieve a pension for her husband's services in the Indian wars in 1868.  She had been a resident of Vancouver since 1907.  She is survived by two sons, A. J. (Adam) of route 2, and P. M. (Peter) of Lyle, Wash. and a daughter, Mrs. (Jerusha) Henry Wilson.

Funeral services for Mrs. Julia M. Ehl, 81, of 3401 N St. who died yesterday at a local hospital, will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at Knapp's chapel with the Rev. Paul Kunzman officiating.  Interment will be in Park Hill Cemetery.
Born in Seneca, Kansas, Mrs. Ehl came to Clark county in 1907 from Dayton, Wash.  She is survived by two sons, P. M. Ehl, Lyle, Wash., and A. J. Ehl, Vancouver; a daughter, Mrs. Henry Wilson, Walla Walla; a sister, Mrs. Ida Cahill, Idaho; three grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
Mrs. Julia M. Ehl, 81, 3401 N street, Vancouver, died yesterday.  She is survived by one son, A. J. Ehl of route 2; one sister, Mrs. Ida Cahill, of Vancouver and a granddaughter, Mrs. Florence Tow, with whom Mrs. Ehl had lived for the last 30 years.

It is very endearing to know that Julia lived with her granddaughter, Florence Stafford Tow for the last 30 years!  So the picture at the top of the page shows Julia and Florence together.  Julia died in 1942.  If the statement is true, Julia lived with her granddaughter, Florence, since 1912.  Florence's mother was Julia Minnie and she died in 1918 during the influenza epidemic.  It is good to know that even though Florence could not have her mother during her childhood years, that her grandmother could be there for her.

ARD CHURCH (1870-1916)

This grave marker is located in the Dayton City Cemetery in Dayton, Washington.

This is where my love and interest in genealogy and family history began.  This information is about my great great grandfather, Ard Church.  The only clue of information that led me to him was the 1900 Federal census in Mt. Idaho, Idaho where he is listed as being married to Stella.  I was then able to find a marriage certificate in Idaho County where a Miss Stella Moyers marries Ard Church on April 29, 1900.  Interesting enough that they have one child, Elmer Ellsworth, who is born in 1899 before they were married.  In 1902 Mrs. Stella Church marries Owen William Montgomery and they have five children.  Elmer Ellsworth takes on the name of Montgomery and this happens to be my mother's maiden name.  
My Mom just made the hand off comment, "Why don't you see what you can find out about Ard Church.  I couldn't find anything on the guy.  I thought he may have had a tragic death in one of the many mines located in an Idaho city because Estella kept the name of Church when she married Owen Montgomery.  Mining was a booming industry in 1900.  And then I found this headstone pictured above.  It is located in Dayton, Washington near Ard's parents, Elias and Mary Ann Church, and his brother's (Ellis) headstones.  There was no death and as far as I could tell no divorce.
Well, fortunately for me, Washington state was really proactive in getting state census during the 1880's and I was able to locate the family and Ard on a few censuses from Columbia county.  Washington state also has a wonderful digital collection online at www.digitalarchives.wa.gov/  and I was even able to find a court case involving Ard in his youth!  This proved very exciting and helped paint the picture of what kind of life Ard was making for himself.  He was accused of stealing a saddle with a buddy.  In the end, his friend ended up with the blame for everything but he seemed to be present to help the court out in deciding where the blame was to be pointed. 
The next step in finding clues about this elusive fellow was trying to find out the details of his death.  Washington State also has a wonderful service of looking up obituaries at Eastern Washington University.  It is a wonderful service that is free of charge.  I use it a lot. http://www.sos.wa.gov/library/obituaries.aspx will explain the requirements for having a librarian look up an obituary for you.  They were unable to provide me with an obituary unless I had a defined date within a few days.  We can all understand that they don't want to have to search every newspaper for the entire year!  So I wondered how I might find out the death date for Ard Church.  There are plenty of death certificates on the Washington State website but there were none for my dear old grandpa, Ard Church.
Thank goodness for my genealogy buddy.  She loves helping me out and has done so on more than a dozen occasions.  I will forever shout her praises for the support and knowledge she has shared with me.  She searched and found a death certificate for a man named Justin Art Church who died of tuberculosis in a hospital in Salt Lake City, Utah.  I must admit I was skeptical at first, but then she pointed out the parents to me and the place of residence.  They all matched up! Elias and Mary Ann were listed as his parents and Dayton, WA as the residence!  Wow!  It was an incredible huge piece of puzzle that clicked into place.  On the death certificate it stated that Ard had been in the state of Utah for only three weeks and he was hospitalized for the last week before his death. The cause of death was listed as tuberculosis of the lungs.  
The question is why is his name listed as Justin?  Looking closer at the document, I see his brother-in-law, Frank Ehl, is the person that happens to be picking up the body and taking it back to Dayton.  Maybe Justin was the name he went by and that Frank thought it was his first given name.  Or maybe Frank didn't know him very well because we learn a little about Ard from his obituary that I was able to finally get because I had a death date of 8 April 1916.


ARD CHURCH

The remains of Ard Church, aged 46 years, who died in Salt Lake City last Saturday, were brought to Dayton yesterday by his brother-in-law, Frank Ehls. He spent his youth in Dayton, but was a rover and never remained long in one place. He died of tuberculosis. He was a cousin of W. E. and A. P. Cahill, and is well remembered here.

A simple burial service will be conducted at the grave some time today, dependant on the arrival of his sister, Mrs. Ehls. (Julia)


The rover part struck me as interesting and that he never remained long in one place.  I guess it was the Wild West. It would be fun to know some of the adventures of Ard Church.
I will never really be able to prove that Ard is my great great grandfather unless I do some DNA comparisons with other descendants of the Church family.  I do know that Elmer always seemed to think that his father was Ard and that he told his wife that his name would have been Church.  Ard's name was mentioned at Stella's funeral and the fact that she was married to him first and then to Owen Montgomery.  I don't have a picture of this man but I am grateful for the facts I have been able to learn about his family.
Tuberculosis seems like an awful way to suffer.  Interesting that Ard's father, Elias, also had a lung condition contributed to his service in the Civil War.

Sarah Brush (1815-1896)

I just love sharing information and having information shared with me.  This past week I received an e-mail from a distant cousin and was able to get some valuable information about Mary Ann Doyle’s mother, Sarah.  Up until this point, I had no idea what her maiden name was, but now I can happily report what information was provided to me in the Centennial History for Susquehanna County by Stocker.  It is located on page 829 in the section about Ararat.

JUSTIN LEE DOYLE.-His parents, John and Ann (Snow) Doyle, came from Connecticut about 1816, and settled in the western part of Ararat, where D. Hines now resides, the tract taken up comprising now several farms adjoining.  Here they resided until 1835, when the father and his son John went to Illinois, where the father died and his son John went to Illinois, where the father died and John settled subsequently in Kansas, where he resides in 1887.  The children of John and Ann Doyle were Thomas L. (1799-1870), cleared up a farm in Ararat, and resided in the township until his death; he has one son, William, a resident here; Justin Lee, born in Connecticut, May 30, 1803, died in Ararat June 27, 1876; Mary, married Abram Wrigley, and both died in Abington, Pa.; Fanny, wife of Joseph Bloxham, of Ararat; John married Sarah Brush, a daughter of his step-mother, and went west with his father; Julia married Gardner Avery, and resided in Ararat; and Abby became the wife of  Phillip Matteson, of Abington.  John Doyles’s second wife was the widow of Ard Brush, formerly Mary Treadwell, and the mother of Samuel Brush, of Brushville, in this county, by whom he had no issue.  Justin Lee Doyle was thirteen years old when his parents came to Pennsylvania, and settled in the then wilderness country of the present township of Ararat.  During his boyhood he acquired a fair education from the meager opportunities offered and learned the trade of stone-mason, which he followed more or less during his early manhood.  In 1833 he married Lydia Ann Ward Avery, who was born in Ostego County, N.Y. in 1817, and whose parents John (1744-1884) and Eleanor Griffith (1772-1840) Avery, settled in Ararat from Ostego County in 1826, whose sketch can be found in this volume.  Mrs. Doyle survives her husband and is a woman of  known benevolence in the community, possessing those characteristics of her sex which make her useful member of society and a benefit to all with whom she may be associated.  Their children are Lucetta M., born in 1836, was a teacher for several terms, and married in 1856, Leonard O. Baldwin, a farmer of Ararat, whose parents settled in the township from Connecticut in 1816; and Emeline D. (1841-65), also a teacher, became the wife of Alfred W. Larrabee in 1862, but only survived her marriage three years.  Two years after his marriage, Mr. Doyle bought fifty acres of land, partly improved, the present residence of his widow, upon which he erected, five years afterwards, in 1840, the present house.  Here he spent the remainder of his life, an industrious, kind hearted and honest man.  Mrs. Doyle added to this homestead some sixty acres, the whole of which she conducts in general farming.

This was quite a great find for me.  I am so grateful for this person contacting me and sharing his information.  He lives close enough that he has been able to drive around the area and explore the roads and farms where the Doyles lived.  My distant cousin also provided with a map showing where families lived in the area at the time that this record was written.  Anyone interested in it, I will gladly share it with you!

The key things that I was able to glean from this document were Sara’s maiden name, Brush.  Also, I found it so interesting that John S. Doyle marries his step-sister!  His father, John, marries Mary Treadwell, a widow and Sarah is her daughter.  Mary Ann names her son Ard Church and Sarah Brush’s father is Ard Brush.  So now I know where the name comes from!

Ann(e) Snow is John Doyle’s mother and she dies before he marries Sarah Brush.  These are HUGE discoveries.  I was content with the information that I had but no I am overjoyed to have discovered another generation and connect with cousins who live back East still!

JOHN STEPHEN CHURCH (1852-1875)

John Stephen Church was the oldest son of Elias and Mary Ann Church.  He was born around 20 September, 1852.  I was able to obtain his full name and birth date from his tombstone in the Lancaster Cemetery.  Elias and Mary Ann were married on the first of January of that same year.  I assume that John must have been a honeymoon baby!  Census records all state that he was born in Illinois.  John S. Doyle was his maternal grandfather and Stephen Church was his paternal grandfather.  These men were most likely who he was named for.

The first census that shows record of his life is the 1860 census taken in Seneca, Nemaha county, Kansas.  We know that his grandfather, John S. Doyle, built the first house in Seneca so it makes since that the family would come and live near them.  Elias is also listed as a master carpenter on this census.  He may have possibly helped to build the house that John S. Doyle built in Seneca, Kansas.

On November 26^th, 1861, John’s father, Elias B. Church, enlists in the Civil War and is discharged November 25^th, 1864.  On the 1865 Kansas State census, Elias, Mary Ann, John, Ellis and Julia Church are living in the home of John S. Doyle with his wife, Sarah and their daughter, Emma.

By 1870 Elias has moved his family to their own residence in the same town of Lancaster, Atchison county, Kansas.  Elias, John and Ellis are all listed as laborers on that census.

John lives with or near his grandparents, John and Sarah Doyle, on the 1875 Kansas State Census in Lancaster.  This is the last census that I have for John Church.  The date the census was taken is March 1, 1875.  I checked with my friends at the Kansas State Historical Society and they helped me to locate the cemetery records for Lancaster.  There is a record for John Stephen Church who died April 13, 1875.  His age was 22 years, 6 months, 23 days.  This is the same cemetery that his grandparents are buried in.

Also on this census he is listed with a woman who is age 19 and only has the initial of “E.”  So now it is my mission to find out who “E” is and what ever happened to her.  So now I am on the hunt for a marriage certificate.

EMMA DOYLE (1854-1888)

Isn’t weird how you can look at a document what feels like a thousand times and totally miss a huge piece of information?  That happened to me this week as I was looking over the information I have for the Church family.  Two pieces of information totally smacked me over the head. 

Both of these observations come from the 1875 Kansas state census.  John Church, who is Elias’ oldest son, is listed as owning his own property valued at $250.  The other is that there is a female listed after him with the initial E.  This is important because he lives next to his grandparents and their last name is Doyle.  So female E Church is most likely is his wife.  I can’t seem to find any more information on John Church after this census.  I am also looking for a marriage certificate that will help me find who E Church might be.  I am assuming he may have died before the 1880 census but I am still searching for a marriage record, a death record or a grave stone.  New clues are always exciting!

The third piece of information that jumped off of the page at me was some information on Emma Doyle.  Interestingly enough, Emma is John’s aunt but they are almost the same age.  Emma’s mother, Sarah would have been 39 years old when she was born.  Her closest sibling, Edwin is 13 years older than her.  John Church seemed to live with or near his grandparents most of his teenage years from what I can tell from the censuses I have seen. The thing that I noticed on the 1880 Federal census was that Emma was noted as not being able to read or write and also that she was insane.  The 1870 census confirmed that she was insane at age 16.

In doing further research I found out that when someone was marked as insane, the person taking marking the census record had to fill out an additional form that would tell what kind of disabilities the person had.  The form is called the DDD Schedule.   The D’s stand for Defective, Dependent, Delinquent.  So if you have an ancestor that was marked as being insane or idiotic on the 1880 census, you can find more information about them.

I was able to contact my friend at the Kansas State Historical Society and she was able to provide me with the following document:

Isn’t weird how you can look at a document over and over and totally miss a big piece of information?  That happened to me this week as I was looking over the information I have for the Church family.  Two pieces of information totally smacked me over the head. 

The first is that I noticed on the 1875 Kansas state census, John Church, Elias’ oldest son, has his own property valued at 250 and that there is a female listed after him with the initial E.  This is important because he lives next to his grandparents and their last name is Doyle.  So female E Church is most likely is his wife.  I can’t seem to find any more information on John Church after this census.  I am also looking for a marriage certificate that will help me find who E Church might be.  I am assuming he may have died before the 1880 census but I am still searching for a marriage record, a death record or a grave stone.  New clues are always exciting!

The second piece of information that jumped off of the page at me is some information on Emma Doyle.  Interestingly enough, Emma is John’s aunt but they are almost the same age.  Emma’s mother, Sarah would have been 39 years old when she was born.  Her closest sibling, Edwin is 13 years older than her.  John Church seemed to live with or near his grandparents most of his teenage years from what I can tell from the censuses I have seen.  The thing that I noticed on the 1880 Federal census was that Emma was noted as not being able to read or write and also that she was insane.  The 1870 census confirmed that she was insane at age 16.

In doing further research I found out that when someone was marked as insane, the person taking marking the census record had to fill out an additional form that would tell what kind of disabilities the person had.  The form is called the DDD Schedule.   The D’s stand for Defective, Dependent, Delinquent.  So if you have an ancestor that was marked as being insane or idiotic on the 1880 census, you can find more information about them.

I was able to contact my friend at the Kansas State Historical Society and she was able to provide me with the DDD Schedule for Emma Doyle.

On this schedule it tells me the form of disease as being epileptic fits.  It also states that she has an attendant and she has never been hospitalized for her illness.  Interesting that someone with epilepsy would be classified as insane.  This gives me a lot of insight into the family dynamics and the love they had for each other.  Emma was buried in the Lancaster Cemetery next to her parents in 1888.

EDWIN B DOYLE 1841-1915

The will of Edward B. Doyle, formerly of Lancaster, who died in the Atchison hospital Monday morning, was probated today by Ralph U. Pfouts, who drew it and is named executor.  The estate is valued at $11,000 and consists of 160 acres of land north of Lancaster and about $4,500 personal property and it is to be divided equally between five nephews and nieces who are Ida Bell Cahill of Chalcolet, Idaho; Mrs. Julia M. Ehl of Vancouver, Wash; Mrs. Jerusha Wilson, of Walla Walla, Wash.; Cap Church and Ard Church who addresses are unknown.  Three years ago Mr. Doyle deeded 70 acres of the Doyle homestead to Miss Mary Holland, an old neighbor and a friend of his and his mother’s.  Property he owned and in Lancaster he gave to Mrs. Cory Seever, of Atchison, in return for a home which he enjoyed for three years.  The will was made December 15, 1914.

This notice was published in the Atchison Weekly Globe, September 30, 1915, page 5.

The following affidavit comes from Edwin Doyle in behalf of his brother-in-law, Elias Church.

GENERAL AFFIDAVIT

State of Kansas, county of Atchison

In the matter of the pension claim of Elias Church co B 111^TH Reg

Personally came before me, a probate judge in and for aforesaid county and state, Edwin B. Doyle age 48 years resident in Lancaster Township Atchison County Kansas whose post office address is Atchison City Kansas persons of lawful age, who, being duly sworn, declare in relation to the aforesaid case as follows

Saw claimant E. Church a few days after his discharge from the U. S. Service.  He worked some around the sawmill that I was part owner of for about two months after he returned.  He was troubled with spells of coughing  more or less violent sometimes to a degree that he would have to cease his labor.  Finally, he quit working at the mill, not being able to stand the work. 

In August 1865 I was working with him again when he quit his labor as he felt unable to do more, his cough troubling him with shortness of breathing.  From Feb 20^th 1866 I lived about two miles from his residence to about 1870 and saw him frequently.  I noticed during the time  that his cough gradually grew more frequent accompanied with shortness of breath.

When I saw him he would frequently complain of getting no sleep the previous night.  His cough and shortness of breath preventing rest to the best of my knowledge I think he accomplished not more than one fourth of a full hands labor during any year of the above time.  As for claimant having lung disease, it would not be proper for one to say it was or was not.  As I understand that the best doctors are some times deserved in diseases of lungs and heart.  Above statement is from personal knowledge.

Edwin B Doyle was born 22 September 1841 in Illinois.  Most likely in the township of Northville because this is the place the family is living during the 1850 census.  Sometime between 1850 and 1860, the family moves to Richmond in the Kansas territory.  Kansas becomes a state January 29, 1861.  On 26 July, 1863, Edwin marries Amarillis Inghram in Nemaha county, Kansas.  Amarillis marries another man, Stephen F. Brown on April 21, 1869 in Nemaha county, Kansas.  This is confirmed on the 1870 census where Edwin is listed as being divorced and a blacksmith.  I believe that Edwin served in the Civil War shortly after getting married.  Amarillis shows up on the Kansas state census in 1865.  She is living with her parents and her last name is listed as Doyle.  So I don’t believe the divorce had taken place yet at this time.  The Civil War had ended by this time and I have not been able to locate Edwin on the state census for 1865.  His parents are living in Lancaster at this time and Elias is living with them and he has returned from the war and the rest of Elias’ family is living there too.

I found a record for an Edwin B. Doyle who served in the Civil War.  The record shows that this person was born in Illinois and was the age of  22 on July 1, 1863.  it also states that this person is married and served in Missouri.  Missouri is very close to the county that Amarillis and Edwin were married in so this could very likely be our guy. 

Edwin B. Doyle was the last living relative in the area and most of his property went to friends who lived in the area.  The rest was divided up between the five Church children living near Dayton, Washington.  They were the children of his sister, Mary Ann Doyle Church.  Edwin had a nice sized estate for the time he was living in.  He had ownership in a sawmill and was also skilled in being a blacksmith as well as being a farmer.  He lived with his parents until their death and most likely served in the Civil War for the state of Missouri.

Elias B Church, Civil War Pension Record

So I received my legal sized package in the mail last week!  What a treat to read through this packet.  It has taken me a week to actually fully digest everything that was sent to me.

The package came from my third cousin who is a descendant from Angeline Church Cahill.  Angeline and Elias are siblings from Stephen and Jerusha Church.  He sent me a copy of a marriage certificate for Elias B Church  and Mary Ann Doyle, a pension application for the Civil War,  census records and lots of research that I’m sure took hours to compile. 

The one thing that I found to be the most valuable was the pension application for Elias Church.  Apparently, he served in the Civil War from November 26, 1861 to November 25, 1864 and incurred injuries for the rest of his life because of his service.  I was not aware of this prior to getting these documents.  Included in his application are many affidavits from members of the family who knew him prior to his service and after his service.  Wm R Cahill, C. J. Cahill, Edwin B. Doyle, C. H. Martin, Frank Ells, John S. Doyle, Joshua Hollands and Elias Church in his own handwriting all have sworn affidavits in his behalf.

Basically, the affidavits testify that prior to being in the service Elias B Church was healthy strong young man who could put in a good days work.  After he returned home he was unable to perform such labor due to being short of breath.  Most of the affidavits testified that he was unable to perform ¼ days worth of work.

The following statement came from a document titled

DECLARATION FOR ORIGINAL INVALID PENSION. 

State of Kansas

County of Atchison

“On this 8^th day of May, A.D. one thousand eight hundred and eighty personally appeared before me, Judge and Clerk of the Probate Court, a court record within and for the county and State aforesaid, Elias Church, aged 47 years, a resident of the township of Lancaster, county of Atchison State of Kansas, who, being duly sworn according to the law, declares that he is the identical Elias Church who was ENROLLED on the 26^th day of November 1861, in Company B of the 4^th regiment of Kans Infty Vos commanded by Cap Rose, and was honorably DISCHARGED at St. Louis Mo. On the 25^th day of November, 1864; that his personal description is as follows: Age, 47 years; height, 5 feet 8 inches; complexion, light; hari, grey; eyes, blue. 

That while a member of the organization aforesaid, in the service and in line of his duty at or near Fort Union, in the state of New Mexico on or about the tenth day of November, 1863, he was taken sick from the effects of a violent cold received whilst on guard duty caused by a violent North West storm coming on whilst on said duty from the effect of which he was prostrated with a hard spell of lung fever, was unable to go on the march that day, was carried along in the ambulance for two days and then left at Gray’s Ranch extremely sick with an attendant to look after and nurse him and without any medical aid-Remained there under charge of attendant until on or about January 1^st 1864 when he was sent to the Invalid Hospital at Leavenworth City Kansas” this document is stamped by the Office of the Interior Pension Office May 22, 1880.

On November 8, 1905 notice is given that the pension of $12 was dropped due to the fact that Elias B Church had died on April 10, 1904.

Elias testified that his disease was inflammation of the right lung and that he “was unable to do much work or exercise being greatly distressed for the want of breath.”  He also stated that when he would catch a cold he would “throw bloody matter and white froth streaked with blood from my lung and would be confined to the house for weeks at a time.” 

In honor and memory of the service of those like Elias who served in the Civil War 150 years ago, I’m grateful to have an ancestor like him.  He paid a price that lasted his whole life and didn’t come from the battlefield, but from an unusual and unfortunate circumstance.  It sheds a little more light on the love his wife had for him as she cared and took care of him.  This information also helps me understand maybe the burden of work placed on his sons, John, Ellis and Ard so that the family could survive.