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Author: mjpisu
Surnames:
Classification: queries
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.indiana.counties...
Message Board Post:
Sorry I have taken so long to get back to you---I've been away from home a lot for the
last month.
I'll give you a brief rundown on what I have and will be interested in whether or not
it matches what your mother had.
Eliza Chrisman is one of my husband's lines. She married Josiah Poland in Appanoose
County, Iowa on December 6, 1857. They had ten children. The family moved multiple times
around the counties in south central and central Iowa and briefly to a county in northern
Missouri.
At some point when there were still several of their children at home--one a child and the
others young adults or almost adults---the couple separated. I have never been able to
find a record of a divorce. Eliza and the son and daughters that were still living with
her moved to Lake City, Iowa where Eliza apparently had a boarding house. Family stories
tell that she thought this would be a good way for her daughters to meet a husband. One
apparently did marry one of the boarders. In 1915 the Iowa Census shows her living with
her son John in Clarke County, Iowa, the 1920 Federal Census shows her living in Monona
Iowa with her daughter Ida Conner and later she moved to Oregon to live with her daughter
Kate McConnahay. She died in Albany, Oregon on April 9, 1934 at the age of 97.
Josiah had gone to Tennesse and there was married on October 15, 1889 to Veleria A. Smith
who was only about 17 at the time of the marriage. Josiah was in his late 50's. They
had three children only one of whom survived childhood. The couple left Tennessee, lived
for a while in Hastings, Nebraska and eventually moved to California. They divorced and
Veleria apparently married two more times. Josiah died in December 4, 1911 in Sonoma
County,
California.
Someone has submitted quite a lot of Chrisman research to
Familysearch.org. You might want
to take a look at that too.
I am hoping that there is something in your mother's research that gives the names of
Josiah Poland's parents. That his been a big brick wall for us. One other family
member has been researching for 30 years and has yet to find any mention of them. For us,
finally learning their names would be kind of like winning the lottery !!
I have some pictures of Eliza and most of their children and some copies of birth and
death certificates and obituaries and gravestones for some of them. I would be glad to
share coies of what I have and would be most interested in copies of anything like that
that you have.
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