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Author: secretive_
Surnames: palmer, hess, connolly, craddock, reed, heustis, cotton, england, johnson,
Classification: queries
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.indiana.counties...
Message Board Post:
My mother was one of Coy Palmer's children from his marriage to Alice Irene Craddock.
As of 2012, all of Coy's children are deceased.
Here is an overview of the information I have uncovered so far:
Blaney Palmer Sr. came over to America from Ireland with his brother, John, in 1843. Their
ship, the Rob Roy, landed in Philadelphia and they traveled to Ripley County Indiana -
each marrying in Ohio.
Blaney Sr. married Eliza(beth) Alma Reed and one of their children was Blaney Palmer Jr.
Blaney Jr. apparently liked the women from my research.
His first marriage was a shotgun wedding to Mary Vodde. Her parents names were William and
Anna Vodde and she had 3 or 4 brothers. Reportedly she and Blaney had a daughter named
either Rose or Rosa. No more information is known about Mary, her siblings, or her
daughter.
Blaney then married Flora Belle Hess, daughter of David McBride Hess and Nancy J.
Hamilton. They had two children: Coy Joseph and Elsie A. before they divorced and the
children were placed in an orphanage in Alton IL by Blaney's relatives.
Blaney later moved to Alton IL area, but to my knowledge - never developed a relationship
with Coy or Elsie while they lived in that area (in the orphanage). Family claims he
operated or worked in a grocery store there.
A newspaper clipping hints he married a woman named Dora who filed for divorce on the
grounds of desertion - he left one day to go to work and never went back home.
His last marriage was to a woman named Jenny (or Jennie) Brooks. However, according to his
obituary in 1929, he passed away at a relative's home (wanting to say a niece of his -
but may have been a sister), and there wasn't any mention of any of his marriages, him
having a wife, and/or of any children.
Coy Joseph married Ellen Connolly in Jacksonville area in Illinois. They had 4 children:
Martin, Thomas, Coy E. and Helen. She passed away in 1923, he then eloped with Alice Irene
Craddock and they settled in Indiana. They had 6 children: Marjorie, Wilma, Theresa,
Donald, Daniel, and Catherine Regina. There is talk about Coy having another son who lived
in Illinois.
Coy passed away, when Catherine Regina was not yet a toddler, in Washington Indiana as a
result of a "work accident" (for the best phrase I can think of at the moment) -
he worked for the railroad and he was (according to interpretation of family speculations)
poisoned/gassed from fumes when the train was in a tunnel and this lead to his death a few
days later.
Alice Irene remarried two more times: Lyman Wallace and William Scott Pathel. Both men
passed before she did.
Flora Belle Hess remarried - Scott Heustis and they had a daughter named Flora Elizabeth
Heustis that married around 3 times: Johnson, (Francis?) Herschel (Isom?) Cotton, and
Marion England - she had 4 to 5 sons/stepsons.
Elsie legally changed her name to Helen and married someone with the last name of Ender.
They did not have any children and she passed away in Mighigan.
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