they would turn in their graves

William and Catherine (Bussard) McEowen Catharine Bussard, my 2 nd   great-grandmother, was born in 1853 in Ohio, the third child of Joshua and Rebecca (Riegel) Bussard. Joshua and Rebecca were married in 1846 in Ohio, and in 1848 Joshua paid $211.49 for 157.83 acres of “Miami Canal Lands” in Brown Township, Darke County, Ohio, land that he and his family would live on for the rest of his life. In 1850, Joshua, Rebecca and their eldest two daughters Mary and Elizabeth were living in Brown Township, Darke County, Ohio, Joshua was farming. The 1860 census located Joshua, Rebecca, Mary, Elizabeth, Catharine, Martha, Susannah and Loretta still residing in Brown Township; Joshua was still a farmer. The early 1860s must have been particularly difficult for the Bussard family, as Elizabeth, aged 11, died in November 1860, Susanna and Martha, aged 2 and 4 respectively, died in December 1860, and Mary, aged 15, died in October 1862. Cincinnati and southern Ohio were particularly affected by...

Ozora Ann (Bunger) Clay , with her fancy show chickens Ozora Ann Bunger, my 2 nd   great-grandmother, was born in 1873 in Ohio, the second child and eldest daughter of William and Lydia (Michael) Bunger. William, a veteran of the Civil War, and Lydia were married in 1868 in Ohio, and in 1870 they were living near El Dorado in Monroe Township, Preble County, Ohio, where William was employed as a farm hand. When the census was taken in 1880, Ozora was living with her parents and three siblings in Butler Township, Darke County, Ohio. At that time William reported he was a farmer. Still living in Butler Township, Darke County, Ohio when the census was taken in 1890, William reported that he had served with Company L of the 12 th   Indiana Cavalry during the Civil War. Because of a fire in the United States Archives, only the veterans’ schedule of the 1890 census survives, and so we cannot know what members of William’s family were living with him then. Ozora was married in 1893, w...

Sarah Elizabeth (Layman) Glander with her family about 1898 from left: daughter Mary Savilla, husband John Henry, son John Albertus, Sarah herself holding son Andrew Glen, daughter Della Dora Sarah Elizabeth Layman, my 2 nd   great-grandmother, was born in 1861 in Ohio, the eldest child of John and Savilla (Wells) Layman. She was born just over twelve months after her parents were married, in Union County, northwest of Columbus in central Ohio. The prior year when the 1860 census was enumerated, John and Savilla were living in Millcreek Township, Union County, Ohio, near the town of Watkins. John was a farmer. In 1870, Sarah, her three younger sisters and her parents were living in Owl Creek Township, Woodson County, Kansas near Neosho Falls. John was still farming and reported his land was worth $500. Sarah was married in 1880, when she was nineteen years old, to John Henry Glander (aged twenty-four), also an Ohio native, in Miami County, Ohio. Just a few months later when the 188...

Sarah Jane Smith Byers Sarah Jane Smith, my 2 nd   great-grandmother, was born in 1859 in Indiana, the eldest child of David and Polly (Miller) Smith. In 1860, Jane (she went by her middle name her entire life) with her parents was living in Milan Township, Allen County, Indiana. Her father was a farmer. While I didn’t make a note to remind me who told me, it was said that he voted for Lincoln. During the Civil War, David served with Company G, 152 nd   Regiment. The 1870 census located Jane, her parents and three younger siblings still residing in Milan Township, Allen County, Indiana; Jane was attending school. Jane was married in 1874, when she was only fifteen years old, to William Andrew Byers, aged twenty-one. When I was fifteen, I was learning geometry and playing soccer. Sure, “it was a different time,” but what a tragedy that for millennia women were pigeonholed into marriage, childbearing and “women’s work” before they were even mature enough to comprehend all that w...