Molly Tuttle sings "Graveyard"

John Adam "Peach" Decker

John Adam Decker

PARENTS: Jacob Decker and Cynthia Truax

AKA: Peach

BIRTH: 10 Jan 1860, Belmont Co., OH

MARRIAGE:
Amanda Jane Mellott, 24 Oct 1881
Celesta Belle Vandine, 1929

DEATH: 20 Jun 1936, Monroe Co., OH

OBITUARY: BEALLSVILLE [OH]
John A. [Adam] Decker, aged 76, a retired farmer, passed away at his home [Monroe Co., OH] Saturday evening [20 Jun 1936] following an illness of a few weeks due to cancer.

He was a son of the late Jacob and Cynthia [(Truax)] Decker, pioneer residents and had spent his entire life in this community. For several years he resided on the Belmont Ridge road, where he was an extensive fruit grower and was commonly known as "Peach" John.

He was a member of the Beallsville Church of Christ and Men's Sunday School class.

His first wife, Mrs. Amanda [Jane] Mellott Decker passed away in 1923 [16 Sep 1923, Monroe Co., OH].  Their ten children survive as follows:
Mrs. Thurman [Stella E. (Decker)] Brown,
Mrs. Isaac Hickman, [Nancy Alice (Decker) wife of David Isaac Hickman]
Mrs. Lloyd [Keenon] [Laura Mildred (Decker)] Hamilton,
Alva [John Alva Decker, husband of Carrie Louisa (Jeffers)] and [Jacob] Clarence Decker [husband of Trevia Ethel (Kinzy)], of Beallsville;
Mrs. Otto Truex, [Mary Pearl (Decker) Truax, wife of James Otto Truax] of Barnesville;
Emmerson [Elwood] Decker [husband of Elsie M. (Ward)]of Canton;
Roy [Leonard Decker, husband of Mary (Harms)] and Burnice Decker [Bernice E. Decker, husband of Ethel (Harms) of Brainard, Minn.;
[David] Shelva Decker [husband of Bessie (Brown)], of Jerusalem.

His second wife, Mrs. Celesta [Belle (Vandine)] Hudson Decker, also survives, and one sister and brother, Mrs. Nancy J. [Jane] Beabout [wife of Samuel Beabout] and Robert [Jonathan] Decker [husband of Sarah (Scott)], of Beallsville. Also thirty-nine grandchildren.
(Source: FindAGrave)
(Typed by Richard E. Henthorn)

BURIAL: Jun 1936, Beallsville, Monroe Co., OH, Beallsville Cemetery, Lot 487/488 Section B

FINDAGRAVE: Memorial# 76744916

Dick Henthorn
22 Oct 2018

Andrew Jackson Baker

Andrew Jackson Baker

PARENTS: George W. Baker and Margaret Reager

BIRTH: 6 Jun 1832, Bakersville, Marshall Co., VA

OCCUPATION: Andrew Jackson Baker was admitted to the bar in 1855 and entered practice at Winterset, Madison County, Iowa.

BIOGRAPHY:  Andrew Jackson Baker was a veteran of the Civil War, Attorney General of both Missouri and Iowa and author of a book on Constitutional Law. Two of his daughters published books.  He wrote a five page letter to his children in the early 1900s telling of his family.  He tells of the immigrant John Baker and Elizabeth Sullivan and of his descent from them. His mother was Margaret Reager who was born about 1799 and died in 1873 in St. Louis at the home of Andrew Jackson Baker.
(Furnished by Anne Rast)

BIOGRAPHY:
"Recollections and sketches of notable lawyers and public men of early Iowa belonging to the first and second generations, with anecdotes and incidents illustrative of the times," by Edward Holcomb Stiles, 1836-, Published: Des Moines, Homestead Pub., 1916.

Andrew J. Baker was one of the early lawyers of Appanoose County, who became distinguished. He was born in Marshall County, Virginia, in 1832. The family subsequently, in 1883, removed to Butler County, Ohio, and in 1848, to Burlington, Iowa.

His early education was acquired in the common schools, and at Furman's Academy in Butler County, and after he came to Iowa in Howe's Academy, now the Wesleyan University at Mt. Pleasant. He was a member of the first class formed in that institution. He taught school for two or three years, and then commenced the study of law under and in the office of C.B. Darwin, a distinguished lawyer of Burlington, was admitted to the bar in 1855, and entered the practice at Winterset, Iowa. He there became the law partner of H. J. B. Cummings, afterward a member of Congress from that district, and continued the practice until the commencement of the Civil War.

[At the time of the Civil War] he organized a part of Company E, of the Seventeenth Iowa Infantry and became its First Lieutenant, serving and participating in its different battles until he was obliged to resign on account of disability in 1863. His record as a soldier is an excellent one, distinguished by exalted courage.

At the close of his military service, he removed to and entered upon the practice at Lancaster, Schuyler County, Mo. Prior to the war he was a Democrat in politics, but on the occurrence of that event, he joined the Republicans. In 1868 he was chosen as one of the Presidential electors on the Republican ticket, and in the same year was elected to the Legislature of Missouri, and was recognized as one of its ablest members. He took a leading part in submitting an amendment to the Constitution, repealing what was known as the "iron clad" oath. He was classed as a liberal Republican, and was opposed to the disfranchising amendment to the Constitution.

In 1869 he was elected Attorney-General of the State of Missouri on the ticket headed by B. Gratz Brown, the liberal Republican candidate for Governor. This gave him the title of General, which stuck to him throughout his life. He discharged the duties of that office to the end of the term with signal ability.

In 1875 he removed to Centerville, Iowa, and entered the practice, in partnership with Francis M. Drake, who subsequently became Governor of the State, under the firm name of Baker & Drake. In 1884 he was elected Attorney General of Iowa, and at the end of that term was re-elected. He performed the duties of that high office in a manner highly honorable to himself, and satisfactory to the people.

From the time of his election as Attorney General of the State, he became a resident of Des Moines, forming a partnership with Judge Charles A. Bishop and Alvin A. Haskins.

In 1892 he returned to and resumed the practice at Centerville, in partnership with his son, Clarence A. Baker, where he died in 1911.

He was not only a learned lawyer, but a legal writer of note. He was the author of the "Injunction and Abatement Laws in Iowa," and of "Bakers's Annotated Constitution of the United States."

I became acquainted with him soon after he came to Centerville, which was in my judicial district. His career was a successful one; as beneficial to the commonwealth, as it was honorable to himself. He was rather stout and not above the medium in height, as I recollect him. His integrity was unquestioned and his character without a blemish. He was a man of kindly ways and accommodation disposition.
(Furnished by Anne Rast)

RECOLLECTIONS: Andrew, in a letter he wrote, stated that his mother Margaret's brother, Leonard, married Mary Uhlen Baker, half sister of George Baker.

RESEARCHER: Anne Rast of Longview, TX, a great granddaughter of Andrew Jackson Baker was interested in genealogy and family history.  She shared her information about the Baker family with others.

RESIDENCES: St. Louis, MO in 1873

DEATH: 23 Apr 1911, Centerville, Appanoose Co., IA

BURIAL: Apr 1911, Centerville, Appanoose Co., IA, Oakland Cemetery
(Source: FindAGrave)

OBITUARY: In Memoriam Andrew Jackson Baker
Companion Lieut. Andrew J. Baker was born on a farm near the town of Bakersville, [Marshall Co.,] then the State of Virginia, now West Virginia, on June 6th, 1832, and died at Centerville, [Appanoose Co.,] Iowa, on April 23rd, 1911. He was the son of George and Margaret Reager Baker, who, in 1848 migrated to Burlington by wagon, the subject of this article being at that time about sixteen years of age.

Mr. Baker studied law and in 1856 was admitted to the bar at Chariton.

At the outbreak of the Civil War he enlisted at Mt. Pleasant in Company "E" of the 17th Iowa Infantry and was mustered into the United States service on the 5th of April, 1862, at Keokuk, Iowa, as First Lieutenant of the company. He served in that regiment in its many campaigns, participated in the hard fought Battle of Luka, but in January 1863 he was forced to resign on account of ill health.

He settled at Lancaster, Mo., after the war and was elected Representative from Schuyler county to the Missouri Legislature, and in 1868 was a Grant elector. In 1869 he was elected Attorney General of Missouri and served in that office
for two years.

In 1875, Mr. Baker and his family came to Centerville, Iowa. From January 1883 to January 1889 he served as Attorney General of the State and after the termination of his services as Attorney General, he formed a partnership with Col. E.C. Haynes in the law business and in recent years he has been in partnership with his son, Clarence A. Baker, under the firm name of Baker & Baker.

Mr. Baker is survived by his wife [Sophia Jane Parker, whom he married, 19 Aug 1858 at Winterset, Madison Co., IA] and eight children.

Companion Baker in private life was a faithful and honorable citizen as he had been a sterling soldier. He was industrious, intelligent and capable. He was an unobtrusive man. He had warm personal friends and no enemies. He was a man of exemplary habits and good morals. Companion Baker's memory will ever be respected and his passing away is a great loss to his fellow citizens of southern Iowa and his own city of Centerville where he had lived so many years.

S. H. Harper
Sam'l Mahon
C. W. Vermillion
(Source: Papers of his daughter Ethel Louise Baker - furnished by Anne Rast)

FINDAGRAVE: Memorial#  7661823

Andrew Jackson Baker & Sophia Jane Parker

Fernando Elwood Drum

Fernando Elwood Drum

PARENTS: Philip Harvey Drum and Mary Lenore Conger

BIRTH: 22 Nov 1874, Woodsfield, Monroe Co., OH

AKA: According to Betty Cronin he went by Elwood.  Elwood in the 1880 census of Monroe Co., OH.

MARRIAGE: Fernando E. Drum, age 19, son of Philip H. Drum married Catherine Wood on 19 Jan 1894 at Monroe Co., OH.
(Source: Monroe County, Ohio Marriages 1867-1917 - furnished by Dr. Samuel B. Hackney)

RESIDENCES: As of Mar 1931, Woodsfield, OH

DEATH: 18 Jan 1954, Woodsfield, Monroe Co., OH

OBITUARY: Elwood Drum, 79, Dies at Woodsfield
(Special to The Signal)
WOODSFIELD [OH] -- Elwood Drum, 79, a retired oil field worker, died last night [18 Jan 1954] at the home of a son, Raymond, in Woodsfield [Monroe Co., OH].  [Born, 22 Nov 1874 at Woodsfield, Monroe Co., OH]

In addition to the son, he is survived by another son, Gilbert, in California; two brothers, Charles and Tom Drum of Woodsfield, and three sisters, Mrs. Clara Keylor of Woodsfield, Mrs. Arlie Roth of Laings and Mrs. Wilda [sic, Mr. Welda R. whose wife was Minnie L. Drum] Hawkins of Detroit [Michigan].

The body was removed to the Bauer-Turner funeral home.
(Source: FindAGrave) Typed by Richard E. Henthorn

BURIAL: Jan 1954 at Woodsfield, Monroe Co., OH, Oaklawn Cemetery

FINDAGRAVE: Memorial# 137402769

Dick Henthorn

25 FEb 2018

Louise Bowers Tharp

Louise Bowers Tharp

RESIDENCES: Graysville, [Greene Co., PA] for last 15 years of her life

DEATH: 5 Sep 1969 at Reynolds Memorial Hospital, Glen Dale, Marshall Co., WV.

OBITUARY: Louise Bowers Tharp
Louise Bowers Tharp, 46, of Graysville, died at 7:10 p.m. Friday, Sept. 5, 1969, in Reynolds Memorial Hospital, Glen Dale, WV.  She had been seriously ill for the last seven weeks.

She was born Sept. 15, 1922, in Richhill Twp, [Greene Co., PA], the daughter of Ralph and Grace Parson Bowers.

She was married May 13, 1943 [appears to be 1943] to Woodrow Dick Tharp, who survives.

Mrs. Tharp was employed with the Michael Berkowitz Company, and had resided at Graysville for the last 15 years, and was a member of Local 622 of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America.

Surviving in addition to her husband are two sons, Harold and Dennis, both at home; one granddaughter; and the following brothers and sisters; Wilma, wife of Doyle Keirn, of Kittaning, [PA]; Anna Bowers, of Graysville, R.D. 1, [PA]; Freda Tennant, of Brownsville, [PA]; Irma, wife of Ralph Kilgore, of West Finley, R.D., [PA]; Georgia, wife of Earl Lewis, of Rutan, [PA]; Virginia, wife of Kenneth Thomas, of Graysville, [PA]; Edward Bowers, of McDonald, [PA]; Harold Bowers, of Graysville, [PA]; and John Bowers, of Pittsburgh, [PA].

Funeral services were held Monday with burial in Fairview Cemetery.
(Source: 12 Sep 1969, Waynesburg Republican, Waynesburg, PA - furnished by Joyce Winkle)

Dick Henthorn
23 Feb 2018

Joseph Ross Mercer

Joseph Ross Mercer

PARENTS: Jeremiah Mercer and Alcinda Latta

BIRTH: 10 Sep 1852, Ten Mile Ridge, Tyler Co., VA

BIRTH-CONFLICT: Sandusky, Tyler Co., VA
(Source: FindAGrave)

MARRIAGE: Ruth Ann Leek, 18 Sep 1879, Tyler Co., WV

DEATH: 28 Oct 1931, Sandusky, Tyler Co., WV

OBITUARY;
Joseph [Ross] Mercer of Wolf Pen, passed away at his home [Sandusky, Tyler Co., WV] on 28 Oct 1931, aged 80 years.

He was a son of Jeremiah Mercer [and Alcinda Latta] who came from Greene Co, PA about 90 years ago and settled near where the family have since resided. They raised 12 children, of whom two survive: Link Mercer of Adonis, WV; Mrs. R.M. [[Elmira (Mercer) and Richard Marshall] Wlson of Martins Ferry, OH.

The deceased was married to Ruth Leek who, with the following children survive: Martin Mercer of TenMile; Mrs. Harry Christmas and Mrs. Margaret _________ of OK, Eunice Huffman of Huntington, WV; Henry Mercer of CA; and Ross and Will, at home. He was a member of the Methodist Church.

Interment Lazear's Cemetery [Kidwell, Tyler Co., WV].
(Source: Tyler County Journal - 6 Nov 1931 Tyler Co. Obituaries, Vol 3, page 46.)
(Source: FindAGrave)

BURIAL: Oct 1931, Kidwell, Tyler Co., WV, Lazear Chapel Cemetery

FINDAGRAVE: Memorial# 11913160

Dick Henthorn
22 Feb 2018

Carl Riggs Henthorn

Carl Riggs Henthorn

PARENTS: Clinton Riggs Henthorn and Pearl Ash

BIRTH: 21 Feb 1930, Harrison Co., WV

RESIDENCES: Carl Riggs Henthorn made his residence in Allegan, Michigan.

OBITUARY:
Carl Riggs Henthorn, 62, of Rural Route No. 5, 3160 127th Ave., Allegan, Mich., died Tuesday [12 May 1992] at Allegan General Hospital [Allegan, Allegan Co., MI].  He was a heavy construction equipment repair mechanic for the Christian Oil Co., Allegan, and a Protestant.

Surviving are his wife, Phyllis Batchelder Henthorn; two sons, Garth and Drew, both of Allegan; three daughters, Mrs. Dick (Kenda) Levett and Kyla Jacobs, both of Allegan, and Mrs. Al (Keena) Davis of Midlothian, Va., his mother, Pearl Ash Henthorn of Steubenville; a sister, Mrs. James M. (Patsy) Saffel of New Cumberland; four grandchildren, a step grandchild.

There will be no visitation.  Private services will be held at the convenience of the family.  Memorial contributions may be made to the Wings of Hope Hospice, Inc., 189 S. 10th St., Plainwell, Mich. 49080.  Local arrangements by Steel & Wolfe Funeral Home, Weirton, [WV].
(Source:  hand dated clipping, 12 May 1992 - furnished by Elizabeth Mullett)

SS Death Index: Carl Henthorn; b. 21 Feb 1930; issued: MI; d. 12 May 1992;
last place of residence: Allegan, MI; zipcode: 49010;

Dick Henthorn
7 April 2016

Charles Alfred Bonar, Marshall County, West Virginia

Charles Alfred Bonar

Charles Alfred Bonar

PARENTS: Alonzo Newton Bonar and Sarah Elizabeth Fish

OBITUARY: Charles A. Bonar

Charles Alfred Bonar, 90, of Sistersville, W.Va., formerly of Cameron, W.Va., died at 11:10 p.m. Friday, March 21, 1969, in Reynolds Memorial Hospital, [Marshall Co.,] W.Va.

Mr. Bonar, a son of A.N. Bonar [Alonzo Newton] and Sarah [Elizabeth] Fish Bonar, was born March 21, 1879 at Wheeling, [Ohio Co.,] W.Va. and resided most of his life in the Cameron area. He was a retired farmer and a member of the First Christian Church of Cameron.

His wife, Elsie [E.] Wilson Bonar, died in 1959.

Surviving are one daughter, Miss Rhea Bonar, of Fairmont, W.Va.; and one son, Omar Bonar, of Sistersville.

A daughter, two brothers and a foster sister are deceased.

Funeral services were held Monday [24 Mar 1969] with burial in Big Run Cemetery, Cameron [Big Run, Marshall Co., WV, Big Run Cemetery].

(Typed by Richard E. Henthorn, 29 Jan 2018)

(Furnished by Marilyn Johnson on Facebook, 20 Jan 2018)

FINDAGRAVE: Memorial# 120434910

Dick Henthorn

30 Jan 2018