The Sad Story of Lillie Byrum

Biography: Lillian Blanche BYRUM DITZENBERGER

Her father was Andrew Jackson BYRUM, who was born in North Carolina, but whose family immigrated to Indiana by the time he was eight.  Andrew's older siblings, Calvin and Isabel, appear to have been twins.  Their births are both estimated at 1840, and the census taker took pains to pair their ages by placing a bracket around them.  Andrew was born two years later, 1842 (d.1926, IN).  Like so many, his father was farming and Andrew was a hand on the family farm in 1860 at the age of 18.

Judging by the age of his first child, he must have married Susan A MILLER around 1869 when he was 27.  Susan was born in Pennsylvania around 1848 (d.1934, IN), so she was about 22 at the birth of her first child.  Lillie Blanche was born the fourth of seven children on May 31, 1879 in Coesse, Whitley Co., IN.  (For more about the county and town, see the website of the Historical Society of Whitley County.)

Lillie happened to be born just before the 1880 federal census, which provides a snapshot of the Byrum family at the time.  As mentioned, she was the fourth child.  Her oldest brother was Franklin, age 10 (b.1870) and going to school, and then there was another boy, Ora Edward, age 8 (1871-1959), and then a sister, Stella, age 5 (b.1875).  Lillie, the baby, was duly reported as one-year-old.  Lillie's father, who went by his middle name of Jackson, was making his living as a shoemaker, a not uncommon trade, sometimes in adjunct to farming.

Three more children, all girls, were born to Jackson and Susan in the years before Lillian Blanche was eight.  The oldest, Grace, was born in 1882 and then Lula Bertha, born 1884 (d.1945) and last, Ida M, born 1887.  Of these seven children, the best records are for Ora Edward, who went to California, for Lillie, for Lula Bertha, who married and also moved away from Indiana and for Ida M, who married and lived near home as Lillie did.

Lillie remained in Indiana, where she met and married John Bert DITZENBERGER (b. Mar 1875) in 1897 (according to the 1910 census and estimated from the birth date of their first child).  John's parents were William Nelson Ditzenberger (1853-1918) and Susan HOWARD (1836-1904).  His mother, Susan, was seventeen years older than her spouse, and their only child, John Bert, was born when she was 39.  Susan was from Ohio, but William Nelson, as were so many Ditzenbergers, was from Indiana, Boone Co., where the Ditzenberger reunions were once held in the city park of Lebanon.

The couple's first son, Ferdinand Dewey, was born in 1898 on July 4 in Whitley Co., IN.  As recalled by one of John and Lillie's daughters, they lived on a farm adjacent to that of John's father, William Nelson.  Census records show that Lillie's parents also remained in Whitley Co.  In Whitley, Lillie gave birth to six more children over a span of ten years.  Their second was John Fred, born in 1900, and then Nellie, born in 1901.  This girl died two years later in 1902 or 1903, possibly the same year as her younger brother, Charles W, who did not survive his infancy.

In the summer of 1904, John Bert's mother, Susan Howard, died, leaving William Nelson alone on his farm with no one to keep the house.  That same autumn, 23 Nov 1904, Lillian Blanche gave birth to the couple's fifth child, Bertha Ruth, although only three of those five children had survived.  Susan, the sixth child, was born in 1906 and then Mabel Elsie, the seventh, in 1908.

According to one of these daughters, probably Mabel Elsie, her grandfather, William Nelson, did not long remain in Indiana after his wife's death.  He is said to have turned his farm over to his brother, Perry, and leave it to travel.  This is probably correct, although Perry Ditzenberger was not William's brother; he was a nephew.  The census records show that Perry's family changed residence from Boone Co. in 1900 to Whitley Co. in 1910, suggesting they moved to take over William Nelson's farm in the interim.

There is the question of why it wasn't John who took over his father's farm.  In 1910, Lillian and John Bert's family appears on the federal census record for Union, Whitley Co., IN, and John is recorded as a laborer.  All is known is that he did not assume the farm.  Instead, it was shortly after, around 1911 or 1912, that John Bert divorced his wife, Lillian Blanche, an event which could not have been long after the birth of their youngest on Jun 24, 1911, a boy named Edward.  The account of one of the couple's daughters was that her father divorced her mother, and he moved away, leaving Indiana with her grandfather, William Nelson.

Lillie was now the single, divorced mother of six children ranging in age from infancy to age 13.  In addition, her son Ferdinand Dewey, the oldest at 13, could not have been much help to her.  Although he lived with the family while growing up, he had become an inmate of the Indiana School of Feeble Minded Youth by 1918, the date when he was required to fill out a WWI draft card.  The 1920 census confirms his residence at the school.  It is possible that his father's departure precipitated the need to place Dewey, as he was called, at the institution.

Also in 1918 (Oct 6), William Nelson died in Shasta, California, confirming his granddaughter's tale that he had left Indiana to travel.  A half year later, 24 March 1919, Lillie Ditzenberger's attorneys placed a notice in the Fort Wayne News and Sentinel, notifying John B Ditzenberger, aka John Howard, administrator of the estate of William N Ditzenberger, of the pending complaint of non-residency and an injunction for $12,000.00.  It's possible that John Bert was not found.  In 2002, one of his daughters was still wondering what had happened to him after he left Indiana, and the 1920 census record still showed Perry Ditzenberger residing in Whitley, presumably still farming William Nelson's land.  Other than secondary scraps of information, it's unclear whether William Nelson's daughter-in-law or grandchildren received any of his estate.

What is recorded, however, is that Dewey was not the only one of Lillie and John Bert's children separated from their mother in 1920.  John Fred, 20 years old at the time, was a boarder in Fort Wayne, but the other children, ranging in age from eight to 15, were too young to live independently.  Instead, their names, Ruth, Susan, Mabel E and Edward, appear on the rolls of the Mennonite Orphan's Home in West Liberty, Ohio.

John Fred may have been headed toward Ohio, too.  At any rate, he married a girl named Ethel M Shearer around 1924, and they were living with Ethel's parents in Ohio in 1930 with a son named Paul F.  Neither the 1920 or 1930 census records reveal anything of Lillie's whereabouts, although it's reasonable to assume she was in Indiana and knew of her father's death in 1926, Whitley Co., where he was laid to rest in the Coesse Hope Lutheran Cemetery.  After Lillie's father died, her widowed mother went to live with Lillie's youngest sister, Ida M, who had married a man named Frank Golden, but had no children.  They lived in Union, Whitley Co.

Lillie, presumably, was also aware a couple of years later when her daughter, Bertha Ruth married Joel DIENER and they had a son, Richard, in 1929.  The Diener family resided in Elkhart, IN where Bertha, known as Ruth, died and was buried at the Elkhart Prairie Cemetery in 2000.  Lillie and John Bert's daughter, Susan, died in Oregon in 1988.  There's no death record (uncovered) for Mabel Elsie, but she may have lived as late as 2002.  The couple's youngest son, Edward, died in Texas in 1985.  Overall, the children were fairly scattered, especially considering they were Ditzenbergers, who tended to remain in Indiana (with notable exceptions).

Lillie's mother, Susan Miller, died on May 28, 1934 (age 86) in Whitley Co., where she was, like her husband, buried at the Coesse Hope Lutheran Cemetery.  Only four months after her mother's passing, Lillie died, Jul 30, 1934, in Ft. Wayne, IN.  She was 55 years old.  She, too, was laid to rest in Whitley at the same cemetery as her parents.  She was survived by six children and, at least, two grandchildren.  Additional grandchildren were born after her passing.

There is no death record yet uncovered for John Bert, but it would be interesting to know what became of him.  Did he die in California as his father did or elsewhere?  Did any of his children ever see him again?  What did his descendants believe of his departure and long absence?  Did John know of the notice in the Fort Wayne newspaper or ever claim his father's estate?

I don't know.

Isabella A Eller and David Brown's Marriage Certificate

I have left few stones unturned in trying to find the father of Nick Frelow Eller.  Isabella (from my title) was the daughter of a man named William Eller,  born in NC around 1831.   That's according to the 1860 census of Castor, Madison, Missouri.  Also according to that census, Isabella was herself born in 1854 in Indiana, and she had a younger brother named James E., born in Missouri in 1858.  That tells me that the Eller family moved from Indiana to Missouri between 1854 and 1858.

The main reason that Isabella is so interesting is because the man I'm trying to trace, Nick Frelow Eller's father, was (according to the 1880 census for Scott, Taney, MO) William Eller, a man born around 1830 in NC.  By 1880, Isabella would have been 26 and probably married, so she would not have appeared on that 1880 census with her father, but the children that do appear, Franklin, Nick and Eliza were born, respectively, in MO, IL and IN.  For that to be true, the family had to have been living in MO at the time of Franklin's birth, 1860, subsequently traveled north to IL by the time Nick was born, 1865, later lived in IN, where Eliza was born in 1866 and, finally, returned to MO by 1880, the date of the census.

Isabella, too, was living in MO with her father, William Eller, in 1860, and Franklin could have been born that year after the census was taken.

My hunch is that William had Eller relatives living in Indiana.  It's possible that the Civil War, brutal in Missouri, was a factor in the family's move north again between 1860 and 1865.  Also, if Nick's place of birth, IL, is accurate, the family was moving quite a bit and that might explain why I have yet to find a census record for them in 1870 (the record, by the way, which would possibly show Isabella and James in the household along with the younger children).  Lacking this record, I can't be sure that Isabella's father is the same as Nick F Eller's father.

I've tried to replace that record with other information and that's why I ordered this Indiana marriage certificate.  It shows Isabel Eller marrying David Brown in Indiana in 1872, but I was hoping it might show the name of the bride's father or mother.  It doesn't.

Nevertheless, date and place and name are all consistent with the timeline I sketched above.  If Nick's older sister was to marry, it would have been in Indiana between 1870 and 1880.

I'm still trying to confirm a hypothetical timeline I've constructed for William Eller's life.  I'm searching Indiana for Ellers, especially in Monroe (where David and Isabella are buried) and in Greene (where they married) counties, and I continue to look for records between 1866 and 1880 for William.

If YOU have any information that could help me, please comment.

Headstone: Richland Cemetery, Bloomington, Monroe County, IN

Deitrich Glander of Preble County, Ohio, born 1841 in Germany

There appears to be a lot of confusion surrounding the Glander families in Preble County, OH, and not without reason.  There WERE multiple families of German immigrants, including families of children with names like Catherine, Magaretha, Anna and lots of German boys named Deitrich, who came to America and eventually settled on farms in Ohio.

I admit to being somewhat lax when I first began looking along that branch of my family tree, but I soon discovered that a conservative approach was best when faced with the Glander problem in OH.  Without traveling to Preble County myself, I think I must be satisfied with the few records that absolutely fit the parameters I've set for this family and reject any others, no matter how tempting to claim for my Deitrich Glander.

My confusion is simplified by narrowing the search with a Ditzenberger, that is, the Deitrich Glander in whom I'm interested married Catherine Ditzenberger, dau. of Jacob Wesley (also a German immigrant) and Mary Elizabeth MOORE DITZENBERGER.  Catherine and Deitrich may have met in Preble Co., OH where the first four Ditzenberger children were born before the family moved to Boone Co., Indiana or, just as likely, the families knew each other and when it came time for Catherine to marry...  Well, young people have a way of finding one another...

Before digging into the Ohio Glander records, I already had a timeline on Deitrich and Catherine as a couple residing in Boone Co., Indiana.   I knew from census records that Deitrich was born in Jan 1841 and that he traveled to America in 1855 and married Catherine around 1867 (confirmed by a marriage record, which pins the date down to 24 Sep 1868).  These were three relatively good dates from his most legible census record, the 1910 Indiana.  I also knew from following the records from 1870 to 1910 that the couple had two children, Henry and Adaline.

(By the way, there's also a genealogical mistake circulating that marries Catherine Ditzenberger, dau. of Jacob Wesley and  Mary Moore Ditzenberger to Francois THIS in St. Clair, IL.  I can't find any reason to think that Catherine married This either before or after her marriage to Deitrich.  She was born in Boone County, married Deitrich in Boone when she was 20, lived in Boone with him until they moved to Preble Co., OH and, although he may have preceded her in death, she lived with her son in 1920 and her daughter in Dayton in 1930 and is buried in the same cemetery with Deitrich in OH.)

As for Deitrich Glander, there lived more than one man of that name in Preble Co., OH during the period of interest.  And more than one of them had a sister named Catherine, Margaret and so on or a brother named Henry.  To this point, I've had to reject all records that provide Deitrich with the middle initial S.  This appears to be a different Glander, the eventual father of a large family.  Also, there is a Deitrich that arrived in New York by ship in the mid to late 1860s.  He's about the same age, give or take 5 years, but arrived too late and, even if he has a brother named Henry, doesn't make him the same.  Although it would be useful, I won't list all the records I've rejected.  Instead, I'll present the four I feel represent Catherine Ditzenberger's Deitrich.

The most obvious is the Preble Co., OH marriage record of their daughter, Ada Glander.  From it, I find her middle initial, M.  I was also able to attach census records to her that I have previously been holding back until I verified a husband's name.  Ada married a man named Charles O. Hipple, and the record identifies the bride's father as Deitrich Glander and her mother as Catherine Ditzenberger.  As mentioned above, Catherine is living with Ada and Charles in 1930 after Deitrich's death.

And then there are two census records in OH, one containing Deitrich's name, one preserving the names of his siblings in birth order. In 1860, which would have been 5 years after their arrival in America, the Glanders are located in Washington, Preble Co., thus...

John H. 53 head, farmer
Margret 50
Rebecca 24
Ann 22
Detrict 19
Caroline 14
Adoline 12
Benjamin 9
Henry 4

All are born in Germany with the exception of Henry, which makes the dates and ages tidy and acceptable.

In 1870, two years after Deitrich's marriage to Catherine, this census is recorded in Twin, Preble Co., OH;

Hannin Glander 65
Margarett 60
Rebecca 31
Adaline 21
Benjamin 17
Henry 12

All born in "Deu, Bru," Germany naturally, except for Henry, born in Ohio.

Last (or first, depending how you look at it) of the acceptable records is the ship's passenger list of the Nelson, departing from Bremen, Germany, arriving in New York, 19 Oct 1854.

J H Glander 48
Margaretha 43
Margaretha 20
Becca 18
Anna 16
Diederich 14
Frena (Irena?) 9
Anna 6
Burchard 3

Given the good match of dates, names of the older children and parents, I don't believe it's too much of a stretch to match the girl (F)Irene with Caroline (born 1846 according to one record, about 1845 here), Anna with Adaline (1848 birth dates for her here and on census records) and Burchard with Benjamin, an Americanization (1851 here, 1853 on a census).  This passenger list uniquely represents, therefore, the Dietrich Glander that eventually married Catherine Ditzenberger.

Actually, there is one other record besides these four on paper.  At FIND A GRAVE, there is a memorial for Catherine Diesenberger Glander, d/o of Jacob Diesenberger and Mary Moore.  She's linked as the wife of Detrick Glander.  The user-submitted data is appropriate for this couple, interred at Mound Hill Union Cemetery, Eaton, Preble Co., OH, although I don't know the source of the information.  The date of death at the Detrick memorial is confirmed by a death index record for a Deitrich Glander, but the index doesn't reveal any relationships.  However, the date of 1917 is appropriate for Deitrich's death, considering that Catherine is alone with their son, Henry, on the 1920 census.

There is no picture at the memorials, but if all this information is verified by the headstone inscriptions, then there's no question it's the correct couple.  For the moment, I'll trust the word of the memorial manager, which jives with records.

As for some ancestral trees that list the German grandfather of Deitrich as so and so, I believe I've gone as far as I can with reliable American records or as far as I need to go.  Catherine Ditzenberger was an aunt of mine, not a grandmother, and the above information provides a solid starting point for anyone in her direct family line (descendants of Nevin Hipple [below] if any) that decides to hop the pond back to Germany.

1.Deitrich Glander married Catherine Ditzenberger

     children:
2.Henry Glander (b.1869, OH, d.after 1930, probably 1941, OH) never married

2.Ada Glander (b. Aug 1875) m. Charles Otto Hipple (b.29 Mar 1877, Preble Co., OH)

     children:
 3. Nevin Hipple (b.18 Aug 1930, OH-d. Sep 1980, OH)

Jacob and Mary Ditzenberger: Grandparents

I was previously confused about the identity of Jacob Wesley's youngest "children," unable to follow them through the records.  The reason has now become clear, because of my realization that there were TWO census records listing them in the same year.

There is a census record for 1870, Eagle, Boone, IN, which names Jacob as head of household and at the bottom of his household are three males, George, Charles and Conrad, whose ages dovetail so well into those of the older children that they appear to be Jacob and Mary's sons, thus...

Jac Ditzenberger      61
Mary Ditzenberger     52
Alexander Ditzenberger     14
Lewellan Ditzenberger     13
Mary Ditzenberger     11
Jonathan Ditzenberger     8
George Ditzenberger     7
Charles Ditzenberger     3
Conrad Ditzenberger     1

HOWEVER, another record for the same year, 1870, but for Center, Boone, IN shows the same three males, George, Charles and Conrad, this time residing with C.A. (Charles Augustus) and Henry, thus...

C A Ditzenbarge      35
Henry Ditzenbarge     8
George Ditzenbarge     6
Charles Ditzenbarge     4
Conrad Ditzenbarge     1

The records for these four boys as sons of Charles Augustus are readily found (with the exception of Conrad), but if trying to piece together a history for any of them as sons of Jacob and Mary, there's nothing. 

The reason is that these boys are grandsons of Jacob and Mary, despite the appearance as sons on the Eagle, Boone Co. census.  The lack of relationship data on the 1870 census led me to the mistake, but finding the census for Center, Boone Co., set me back on the right track.  As the Ditzenberger biography states at the Boone County Historical Society's webpage, there are fourteen children (not seventeen) of Jacob and Mary.


Hopefully, this will help others piecing together their Ditzenberger heritage.

Biography: Oscar Clarence Sparlin

1st photo: Oscar Clarence Sparlin (abt. 1907)  2nd photo: Oscar and Bertha May (Ryan) Sparlin

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His parents were William Bazel Sparlin of Indiana, veteran of the Civil War, and Sarah Ellen Bryant of Missouri.  They were married 18 Jan 1880 in Jasper, Missouri.  They first lived in Nevada, Vernon Co., Missouri, where the couple was recorded on the 1880 census.  Just before Oscar Clarence was born, his parents moved to Bentonville, Arkansas.  Oscar, according to his birth certificate, was born 19 Dec 1882.  His mother, Sarah, was 18 years old, and William Bazel was 41.  There were other children of this couple, and Oscar told of two sisters, but only one other whose name is known, Juanita Elizabeth (Lizzie), born 14 Aug 1888 in Bentonville.  Oscar was six years old at the time his sister was born.

Before 1989, Oscar’s parents divorced, and his father remarried to Bertha A. Ewing.  Sarah and her daughter, Lizzie, moved in with her brother-in-law, William Johnson, and her sister, another Sarah Elizabeth.  In 1900, they are recorded on the census with this large family in Jasper Co., MO.

Oscar Clarence left Missouri in 1901 at the age of 13.  According to a 1990 letter written by his son, Estal, "he [Oscar] ran away from home with an uncle who was going to Oklahoma."   He found his way in the territory to the Osage and Kaw Indian Reservation, where the census identifies him as a boarder and a farm laborer at the age of 18.

For nearly a decade, the large family of Robert Orson Ryan was also situated in Osage, where Oscar and Bertha, the daughter of Mr. Ryan, must have met.  In 1906 (20 Mar), Oscar married Bertha May Ryan, age 16, in Pawnee Co., OK, just south and west of the Osage Nation.   Shortly after their marriage, their son Estal Earnest Sparlin was born, 7 Aug 1907.  Earnest was the name of one of Bertha’s six brothers, Earnest Eldridge Ryan and, eventually, the name was also passed down to Estal’s first son, David Earnest Sparlin.

Three years after Oklahoma became a state on 16 November 1907, the federal census of 1910 was taken.  Records from this time forward support the character of Oscar Clarence as described briefly in that 1990 letter in which Estal wrote, “Dad would just not keep a job.  He worked in a livery stable, as a janitor at the school, as a carpenter, etc.  Mother finally started taking in washing (I picked it up and delivered it) in order to have a few dollars for groceries.  Mother kept complaining to dad.  Finally they were divorced in 1918.”  It is not surprising, then, that Bertha May and her son, in 1910, are living with Bertha’s father, Robert Orson Ryan, and not with her husband, Oscar Clarence.  Instead, Oscar Clarence is living as a lodger at Coal Creek, Pawnee Co., OK and listed as a laborer at odd jobs.  According to his son, he was always known simply as "Jack," which may reflect his occupation in various trades.

The couple must have been together for some of those years (1910-1918), however, because Estal Sparlin possessed memories of the family and his father’s jobs.  For example, in 1912, they lived in an Indian camp, where Oscar Clarence was a caretaker of the roundhouse (see photo below) in Osage Co. at the Gray Horse Camp, of which Estal had vivid memories.    More significantly, Bertha and Oscar had another child in 1911, a boy they named Oscar Orsen after his father, Oscar, and grandfather, Robert Orson.  At only 18 months old, this boy suffered severe burns to the bottom of his feet and died of the injuries.

Gray Horse Dance Hall 1912, Osage Co., Oklahoma

By 1915, Bertha May decided that her remaining son, Estal, who was 8, should attend school regularly, and the family moved to Fairfax, OK.

In 1918, Oscar Clarence (age 35) filed his draft registration card, required for WWI.  On the card, he listed Bertha May Sparlin as his nearest relative, so they may not yet have been divorced by 12 Sep, the day of the record.  The card also records that he was tall, slender, with brown eyes and brown hair, features as in his photographs.  At the time, he lists his occupation as janitor at a public school, remembered by his son, Estal, in his 1990 letter.  It could not have been long after that Oscar and Bertha divorced.  Estal recalled that it was in 1918.

Oscar Clarence continued to live in Fairfax, at least as late as 1930, when he is listed on the federal census as a deliveryman for a laundry.  He appears to be residing in a boarding house setting, summarily, living a life very similar to the one before his divorce.  Sometime in the years between 1930 and 1952, he moved to Pawhuska, also in Osage Co., and that is where his death occurred.

Day Trip to Alva, OK, home of the Ellers

By road, I live a couple hours from Alva, so I finally took a day trip down there to try to find the gravestones of the Ellers. The Alva Municipal Cemetery is on the city's website, and I had map and block numbers in hand as I searched. I had mixed results. I found some of the graves, but some appeared to be missing...literally. The area where Nick F. Eller is buried next to his son and a daughter-in-law is isolated from the next nearest stones by a considerable area of empty lawn. According to the website, I should have found more Eller graves and a Ditzenberger nearby. They were not present, and I can only conclude they were never marked or the stones are lost.

Nevertheless, I was able to photograph these three:


The shadow across Ray Eller's stone is cast by a marker placed by the American Legion. All the servicemen at the cemetery had them. Nick F. Eller is Ray's father, and Mattie was Ray's wife.

Nick's stone is particularly interesting because of the birthdate of 1850. Census records provide inconsistent numbers for this. After leaving MO, the trend for Nick is that the birthdate becomes earlier and earlier. On the 1895 KS census, he claims 1861, but by 1930, he claims he was born as early as 1850, the date that appears on his stone two years later. I have to admit to consternation, especially for his dear mother who has had her child-bearing years pushed back to a state of unbelievability.

Despite the date, 1850, carved in stone, I'm inclined to accept the date provided on the 1880, MO census when Nick's father is probably the source of information. That birthdate is 1865 in Illinois. When compared to the ages of his brother, sister, mother and subsequent children, that date is reasonable.

Feel free to copy the photos. In fact, I would be pleased if they were used and the memory of this interesting family preserved. If anyone has questions (or information to add), please leave a comment.

Eller, Missouri, 1880, records and gravestones

Elmwood Cemetery, Mexico, Audrain Co., MO

Eller graves, submitted by Rod Green

William Eller, Capt. April 7, 1833 October 23, 1914 (CW)
Abram S. Eller March 22, 1835 1883
Mary Ellen Burt Eller September 5, 1840 - December 13, 1916
William S. Eller April 16, 1865 March 11, 1958
Sallie B. Ragsdale Eller abt 1875 May 16, 1951
Franklin Elias Eller 1867 January 10, 1940


FRANKLIN ELIAS ELLER. I thought I had found the motherlode when I saw that name in conjunction with other Ellers, thought I could finally identify his Eller grandfather--with enough digging. Unfortunately, all I've been able to do is add it to the pile of Eller confusion that extends over, at least, three states.

The problem boils down to two federal census records for Missouri in 1880.

One is in Salt River, Audrain, MO. It lists, starting with head of household:

Abraham S. Eller age 45
Mary A. Eller (wife) 40
William (s) 15
Franklin P. (s) 13 (The P. is clearly written, but perhaps it was misheard?)
Lilian (d) 11
Van Delia 9
Elias Eller (farmer) 79
(No relationship to head of household indicated, but based on numerous, earlier census records, Elias is clearly Abraham's father.)


The other Missouri, 1880 record is for Scott, Taney, MO. It lists the following Eller family:

William Eller age 50
Mary A. Eller (wife) 41
Franklin E. (s) 19
Nicholas F. (s) 15
Eliza A. (d) 14

The question is which of these two young men named Franklin is buried in the Elmwood Cemetery. Date of birth (1867) favors Franklin P., son of Abraham. Census records are notoriously inaccurate, and the boy's name might actually be Franklin Elias, named after his grandfather, Elias Eller.

On the other hand, Franklin, son of William, insists on using his middle initial, E, throughout his life, often referring to himself as E. F. Eller or, more directly, as Elias F. Eller on records and never completely dropping the E. On census records he can be found living as a single man in Kansas. His mother, Mary A. Ritter, is found with him, which allows me (along with his consistently earlier birthdate of 1860) to differentiate him from Franklin P., son of Abraham.

Possibly, there were two young men named, not just Franklin, but Franklin Elias Eller, living in Missouri in 1880. One, the son of Abraham, is definitely Elias Eller's grandson. The other, son of William, is likely to also be related.

The obvious solution is that Abraham and William of Scott, MO are brothers. Do the census records support that relationship?

Census records for Audrain, MO, 1850, 1860 and 1870 are available for Elias Eller's family and all three list both a William (b.1833) and an Abraham (b.1835) as sons. In 1870, William is 35 years old. His younger brother, Abraham, is 33, and appears to have added a wife and three children to the extended household, (although family relationships aren't listed on this particular census).

It is tempting to say that William, brother of Abraham, is the same William who appears on the 1880 census in Scott, MO. The problem is that when we first see that William (married to Mary A.), his sons are already 19 and 15, and his daughter 14 years old. They should have appeared (along with William) on the 1870 census.

I've used Ancestry.com to search all over for 1870 census records, looking for William and his sons, but I can't find him, regardless of which of their names I use to look.

I have to conclude that the gravesite in Elm Cemetery belongs to William Eller, son of Elias, and his brother and their family of Salt River, but not to the Ellers of Scott, MO. I still believe the families are related in some way, but I have yet to find a connection.

IF YOU KNOW, I'd love to receive a comment from you.