A Larkin, A Wedding, and a Wedding
Toward the end of June I started this blog post. The goal was to do at least one June theme during the month of June. That didn’t work out for me. I’m determined to get it done this weekend and posted. In trying to finish it, the phrase that came to mind was “water, water everywhere, and not a drop to spare” which is actually a mis-remembrance of Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner: “water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink”. There is a lot of information out there in the world but scarcely any to be found about Mary Angeline WEDDING. I’m choosing to go ahead and post what I have and hope for more in the future.
The first week of June’s theme was wedding. I thought about it for several days and felt like I wasn’t coming up with anything except my mind kept coming back to one couple- my fourth great-grandparents, James and Mary Angeline (Mam’s great-great grandmother). Finally it occurred to me why I kept settling on Mary Angeline. Her maiden name was WEDDING! So there you have it. A bonus is that my post will be different than others for this blogging week/theme because others will most likely be writing about wedding ceremonies.
In an older section of my blog, I posted about my 3rd great-grandmother and Mary Angeline’s daughter-in-law, http://happy-girl-24.livejournal.com/13002.html Mary Elizabeth LANE LARKIN (wife of Mary Angeline’s son, Joseph LARKIN). In the newest section of my blog I also posted about Mary Angeline’s mom, http://happy-girl-24.livejournal.com/16338.html Mary McATEE WEDDING.
Mary Angeline Wedding
Mary Angeline was born in 1819 in Maryland to John and Mary M. (McATEE) WEDDING. She was likely born in Waldorf, Charles County, Maryland, as that is where her family lived before her birth. In 1820 (right after Mary Angeline was born) the family moved to Frederick County, Maryland. They stayed there through at least 1824. I am uncertain exactly when they moved to Ohio, but in 1830 they were censused in Mill Creek, Hamilton County, Ohio. From there, they moved to Clermont County, Ohio (about 1832). During this time, Mary Angeline’s mom, Mary M., had other children. I believe Mary Angeline had 9 siblings and there are 4 or 5 more who were possibly her siblings as well. In order of birth the children were: Ralph, John Wesley, Thomas Lawson, Rebecca Ann, Matilda Ann, Mary Angeline, James William, Elizabeth Jane, George Washington, and Nackey Ellen. The four who MAY be siblings are: Charles, David, Frank, and at least one other child who has not been identified by name.
Mary Angeline, my 4th great-grandmother, married James H. LARKIN on 23 June 1839.
This is the best photo I have of their marriage record. Thanks to my sister-in-law, Becky, for finding the image. (You should visit Becky’s blog at Down in the Root Cellar).
The LARKIN family was considered to be of good moral character. The WEDDING and LARKIN families were among the early settlers of Clermont County, Ohio and were very prominent. The LARKINs were considered very influential in the county, especially in the areas of religion and politics. They were largely instrumental in the growth and development of Washington and Franklin Townships. The family was Irish through the WEDDING line. The first LARKIN immigrant in our family emigrated to America in the early part of the 18th century and settled in the Maryland Colony. Subsequent generations (including my ancestor, John) moved from Maryland to Kentucky briefly and then settled in Ohio in the very early 1800’s. In Clermont County, the LARKINs became bankers (at least one was a very notable and influential banker), justices of the peace, mayors, associate judges, and postmasters, among other occupations. This influence would serve various family members well throughout several generations (this will be a topic for a future blog post). Mary Angeline’s son, Joseph (my ancestor), married a LANE. The LANEs were early settlers in the area as well. (Information found at Hathitrust and Rootsweb.)
James and Mary Angeline LARKIN had seven children together: Anna Augusta, Joseph L. (my ancestor), Benjamin F., Theodore Clay (who went by “Clay” and will be featured in a blog post soon), Mary M., Leo J., and Laura A. James died the year after Laura was born. Mary Angeline outlived her husband by 31 years and did not marry again. She lived long enough to see the births of at least 25 of her grandchildren. She also lived through the loss of at least 3 of those grandchildren (2 of Anna’s and Abner’s children and 1 of Clay’s and Martha’s. Laura and her husband Walter were expecting a child when Mary passed away.
Because of society’s views about women during Mary Angeline’s lifetime, it’s difficult to learn about female ancestors. The best that I can do when telling her story is to research the people with whom she was connected, research the social history of that time and place, and research the history of people connected to that locale and time for general tidbits about their lives. I wasn’t able to come up with much more than general events that happened during her lifetime that may have had some affect on her life.
I’ve already told a little of the history of Port Tobacco, Maryland when I told Mary McATEE WEDDING’s story in the link above. So I’ll begin with Clermont County, Ohio. Clermont means “clear mountains and hills” which describes Clermont County as it was when French explorers first laid eyes on the area. (Information found at Clermont County, Ohio, Government website.) About 20 years before the WEDDING family moved to the area, Clermont County was the site of the Battle of Grassy Run that occurred in 1792 between pioneer Simon Kenton and Native American warrior, Tecumseh, on April 10, 1792. Clermont County was inhabited by quite a few Native American tribes up until about 1811- just a little more than a decade before the Wedding family moved into the area. You can read about the Battle of Grassy Run here. Ulysses S. Grant was born in Clermont County about the time the Wedding family moved there.
The early settlers of the area who were from Maryland and Kentucky (as the LARKINs and WEDDINGs were) were staunchly anti-slavery. The Underground Railroad was very active during the time the WEDDING and LARKIN families lived there. I found this picture to be very interesting. It is called the Freedom Stairway and leads up from the river to an Underground Railroad Conductor’s home.
Photo can be found at Ohio Memory and also at Ohio History Central.
The Freedom Stairway is located in Brown County, Ohio where the LARKIN family lived for a very short time around 1849-1850. Felicity, Ohio (where the family spent the most time) was very close to the Brown County line so it’s possible the family didn’t move very far at all when they moved from Clermont to Brown County and then back to Clermont County again.
Daniel Boone went on hunting and warfare expeditions into Clermont County. George Washington once owned land in the county. John Hunt Morgan and his Confederate raiders invaded the county in 1863 when Mary Angeline’s son, Joseph L. (my ancestor) was about 21 years old. The following year Joseph enlisted and went to war for the Yankees. Mary Angeline saw her sons Joseph and Theodore go to war. I have been unable to track her son Leo so I am uncertain what happened to him after 1860. Her son Benjamin would have been too young to go to war during the Civil War and I have been unable to track him after 1880. I have not found any evidence that her sons-in-law Abner (Anna Augusta’s husband) or Walter (Laura’s husband) went to war.
Another famous person with ties to Ohio is John Chapman, a.k.a Johnny Appleseed. I was able to find the map below in an old news article and from the looks of it, it appears that Johnny Appleseed did make one trip through southern Ohio and was possibly in the area of the LARKIN and WEDDING families.
I found this map at Newspapers.com (the Mansfield News-Journal, Vol. 57, No. 203, Mansfield, OH, 25 September 1941, Page 1, “Route Johnny Appleseed Followed to West”). I cropped and enlarged it with the Paint program on my computer. The footprints show the paths Johnny Appleseed traveled. You can go here to learn more about Johnny Appleseed. Johnny Appleseed was in the southern part of Ohio near around 1844, just a year before his death. At that time, Mary Angeline had two children and another who was born in 1844. Our ancestor Joseph would have been about 2 years old at the time.
The temperance movement as well as the suffragist movement both occurred during Mary Angeline’s lifetime and both groups were present in Ohio.
This was a Women’s Temperance Crusade in Waynesville, Ohio, about 1873-1874. Photo found at Ohio History Central.
This was a postcard found at Ohio History Central. The Ohio Woman Suffrage Association was one of the women’s suffragist groups in Ohio. The women’s suffrage movement gained strength in Ohio after the civil war.
The LARKIN and WEDDING families were present during a time when a lot of history was being made in Ohio. One day I hope to find more information about Mary Angeline. It would be great to know how, or even if, these movements or events affected her life. It would be nice to be able to confirm Mary Angeline’s and James’ deaths and burials in Ohio. In the meantime, I leave you with a poem from a poet who came from Clermont County, Ohio during the time that the LARKINs and WEDDINGs lived there.
Drift Away
by Abbie C. McKeever
Drift away, oh clouds of amber.
Crimson-lined in billowy mass;
Drift away, in silent footsteps:
I shall watch you as you pass.
I shall watch you- yes, and love you-
For the beauty that you gave:
Beauty dying in the twilight,
Like the lilies on his grave.
Drift away to unknown heavens,
Crimson clouds along the west;
But remember that you are bearing
In your downy amber breast,
Hopes that whisper softly to him
Of a love that never dies-
Love that tires of waiting lonely
Ere the call to other skies.
Drift away, oh, clouds of sunset,
Purple with the later light;
See! The stars are all about you-
Diamond eyes of early night.
Drift away; but while you are passing
Bear this message up to him.
That the earthly skies that fold me
Soon shall part and let me in.
Please visit: Down in the Root Cellar, Theology for Mom, and Recipes from Lena.
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives blog
