The C. A. McAdams FamilyOur American Rootsby Charles G. Petersen |
Charles' Maternal
Grandparents |
Peter Elizabeth Staley IV Brown | | ------------- | Samuel --------- Margaret Haines | Ellen McAdams | Staley | Charles Andrew McAdams |
Peter Staley IV and Elizabeth Brown
Picture
Family Group |
Civil Wars
Peter served in the Infantry for a short period of time in 1863
during the Civil War. His grave, in the small Hebron Cemetery,
on the east side of Highway 38 in Rochester Township in
southern Cedar County, Iowa, has a marker stating that he
was a member of Company E of the 151st Regiment of the Ohio
Volunteer Infantry in the GAR (Grand Army of the Republic).
Further research indicates that his Company served as a guard
unit for some military installations in and around Washington,
D. C. Why would a 35 year old man with a family, volunteer
for military duty? That question has bothered me for some time.
We can only speculate, but grief and a desire to get away
from the death in his own family may have something to do about it.
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Tragedy
Prior to Peter's military service, the middle of the year 1861
saw the birth of Peter and Elizabeth's seventh child in June.
Two months later tragedy of heart wrenching
proportions struck. Within a 3 week period in late August
and early September, the family lost 4 of their infant children:
first 8 year old Andrew B died on August 20th, then on
August 26th, 4 year old William F; then 3 days later 2 year old
Nancy; and finally on September 7th, 6 year old James N. died.
The cause is not known to us, but it was probably because of some
infectious disease that the medical profession of that day was
ill equiped to stop soon enough. Unfortunately, the family
loses did not stop there. Hannah, the daughter born in June,
died at age 10. The son, Cyrus, born less than year after
Peter returned from the war, died at age 3. Their last born
child, Walter P., also died young at age 15.
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Marriage
Peter and Elizabeth were married in Allen County on November,
8, 1849. For five year they lived and farmed with Peter's
father, who had lost his wife a few year before. See Charles'
Maternal Paternal Great-Grandparents for more detail on
that family. They continued farming there, near Lafayette
in Jackson Township in Allen County, Ohio,
even after his father's death. After the war they moved to
another farm near Beaver Dam, but still in Jackson Township.
They had a family of 12 children, all born in Jackson Township.
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Birth Place
Peter was born in Circleville Township in Pickaway County in
south central Ohio on January 2, 1828. When Peter was 5 to 8
years old, his family moved to Jackson Twonship in Allen County.
Elizabeth was on February 9, 1832 somewhere in Ohio and probably
in Licking County in central Ohio. Elizabeth came to Allen
County with her mother and stepfather in the late 1840's.
For details of Elizabeth's
family see Charles' Maternal Maternal Great-Grandparents.
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Tipton County, Iowa
Sometime after 1873 and before 1876, they made a big move
west to Center Township in Cedar County, Iowa, just south
of Tipton, near the town of Rochester 6 miles to the south.
Rochester had been the county seat until 1852 when it moved to
Tipton, a more centrally located place. At the time there was only
one cabin there and it served as the County Clerks office.
The town was surveyed and then named after a General Tipton
of Indiana, who was a personal friend of one of the county
commissioners that voted for the move. The first graded school
west of the Mississippi was established in Tipton in 1856.
The county judge, Wells Spencer, was the same judge that presided
over the trial in Tucson, Arizonia of the Earps and Doc
Holliday after the famous "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral".
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Hebron Cemetery
Peter died there on July 39, 1890 and was buried in the Hebron Cemetery
just south of Tipton in Rochester Township.
Elizabeth lived another 19 years and
lived with various family members as indicated by the 1900
census for Richland Township, McCook County, South Dakota
where she is living with her married daughter, Clara
(Staley) Marks, who is living next door to her cousin,
Andrew C Staley. At the time of her death on March 27,
1909, Elizabeth is living back in Tipton near her oldest
daughter, Melissa. She is buried next to her husband.
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Children of Peter Staley IV and Elizabeth Brown
Melissa Staley born November 20, 1850 in Jackson Township, Allen County, Ohio. Margaret Ellen Staley born September 14, 1851 in Jackson Township, Allen County, Ohio. Andrew B. Staley born May 26, 1853 in Jackson Township, Allen County, Ohio. James N. Staley born February 20, 1855 in Jackson Township, Allen County, Ohio. William F. Staley born January 12, 1857 in Jackson Township, Allen County, Ohio. Nancy Staley born February 5, 1859 in Jackson Township, Allen County, Ohio. Hannah Staley born January 16, 1861 in Jackson Township, Allen County, Ohio. Cyrus Staley born September 30, 1864 in Jackson Township, Allen County, Ohio. John William Staley born September 5, 1865 in Jackson Township, Allen County, Ohio. Clara Augusta Staley born August 20, 1867 in Jackson Township, Allen County, Ohio. Alphos Marion Staley born November 19, 1869 in Jackson Township, Allen County, Ohio. Walter P. Staley born January 17, 1875 in Jackson Township, Allen County, Ohio. |
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