Why I believe Sarah Edmonds is Sarah Rennecker

In August of 2004 I started a genealogical journey that has been fun, arduous, exciting and surprising. Knowing my great-great-grandmother's information was out their somewhere, I was determined to find it and as much as I could about her. This post includes the highlights of that research, backed up with one to two sources. Where available peach colored web links can be clicked on to view sources. I have also included my comments and theories (in red).

A number of my sources have come from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, UT. When I list Family History Library as a source, I have shortened it to FHL.

Every good journey needs a starting point; and I used my grandmother, Viva Carter’s, information for mine (William Warren Jones married to Sarah Ellen Edmonds, lived in Winterset, Guernsey, Ohio, lived in Winterset, Madison, Illinois, lived in Winterset, Madison, Iowa – had six children, Eben Nicholas, William W., Christina, John F., Alice & Albert. Sarah was raised by a man named Eben Nicholes. Sarah and William divorced. John F. went with his father and new wife.)

An excerpt from the history of John F. Jones and Sarah Alice Beebe written by my grandmother, John F. & Sarah's youngest daughter, was helpful in validating much of the information I found. The following is quoted from it.

According to my father’s records, John Florence Jones was born Jan. 12, 1855, at Winterset Madison County Ohio.

His father was William Warren Jones and his mother, Sarah Ellen Edmonds. She had some Indian blood and was raised by Eben Nicholas and family. Father never said how much Indian blood his mother had. His skin was very fair and he often said I looked just like his mother, (I have an olive complection) but I don’t think any of us resembled the Lamenites very much.

My father (John F. Jones) was about 11 years old when his father left his mother and married another woman and was given a choice of parents. Although he went with his father and stepmother, he said he often wished he had stayed with his mother because he was only a few years with his father and stepmother. I don't know what my grandfather's occupation was, but father said they had plenty, a good home and hired help for his stepmother. My grandfather lost one arm before my father's birth, and someone said he died someplace in Utah at a place they then called Tintic."

Census records are a good place to start, even though many contain inaccuracies. Below is what I found in census records.

1856 Union, Madison, Iowa State census (FHL Film No. 1021307, Item 1 #288) https://docs.google.com/?hl=en&tab=wo&authuser=0#all William Jones Family. William (age 25, occupation farmer, birthplace Ohio), Sarah (age 26, birthplace Ohio), Ebben (age 7, birthplace Ohio), William (age 4, birthplace Ohio), Chastina (age 1, birthplace Illinois). *Note there is no John F. listed and he supposedly was born in January of 1855/6. I’m wondering if his birthdate is a year off. The 1860 census also indicates he could have been born in 1857.

1860 Winterset, Madison, Iowa Federal census (pg 166). Enumerated 25 Aug 1860. Dwelling & Family # 1137. https://docs.google.com/?hl=en&tab=wo&authuser=0#all William Jones Family. William (age 31, Farmer, born in Pennsylvania), Sarah (age 31, born in Ohio), Eben (age 11, born in Ohio), William W. (age 8, born in Ohio), Christina (age 6, born in Illinois), John F. (age 3, born in Iowa) and Alice (age 1, born in Iowa).

1870 Centre Township, Winterset 1st Ward, Madison, Iowa Federal Census. (FHL Film #0545906, Page #1. Census was enumerated on 23 August 1870.) https://beta.familysearch.org/s/image/show#uri=http%3A%2F%2Fpilot.familysearch.org%2Frecords%2Ftrk%3A%2Ffsrs%2Fidgs%3A004263638.004263638_00337&hash=HloWXpZgU9zB10k5M56iYku8TUc%253D Sarah Jones family. Sarah Jones (age can’t read, birthplace Ohio). Eben (age 20, occupation painter, birthplace Ohio). William (age 18, occupation Farmer, birthplace Ohio). Chastania, (age 15, birthplace Illinois). *Note no William and no John F. – see Viva Carter’s history of John F. Jones.

The census records led me to other records . . . .

August 29, 1870 --Sarah E. Jones and William M. Jones Divorce Record (FHL Film #1028205, Volume C, Item 1, Page 432.) https://docs.google.com/?tab=mo&authuser=0#all Once again, see Viva Carter’s history of John F. Jones. Their divorce was final August 29, 1870 and William was charged with desertion. *Notice the middle initial of William. The records I find go back and forth between M & W. I’m assuming it’s because they can so easily be mixed up.

August 31, 1870 -- Sarah E. Jones marries a Joseph C. Russel, they purchased their license on August 30, 1870. They are neighbors in the 1870 census (FHL Film No. 1028196, Marriage records of Madison County Iowa, Volume B, Item 1, Pg 124, Record #213). http://iagenweb.org/madison/marriage_records/mr_jones-junkin.html *Note this is one day after our Sarah and William’s divorce is final. At the time I found this record I felt this was our Sarah but had no way of verifying it so I put it back in the far reaches of my mind as a possibility that needed to be further proved. I have records that show that William and Sarah’s divorce took four years to become final. The proceedings started in 1866 and didn’t become final till 1870

2 October 1873 Last will & testament of Joseph C. Russell, deceased. (FHL Film No. 1028197, Winterset, Madison County Iowa Court Records, Item 2 Page 251). I later found Joseph’s death date, 20 Sep 1873. http://iagenweb.org/boards/madison/obituaries/index.cgi?read=164785 http://iagenweb.org/madison/cemetery_records/cem_rugg-ruth.html I sent for Joseph’s probate records to see if Sarah was mentioned in them, but they had been lost.

William & Sarah Jones are such common names I felt like I needed another avenue to follow so I chose their oldest son, Eben to research. I combed through census records, marriage records etc. and below are the highlights of what I found on Eben.

24 December, 1874 Eben Jones marries C.C. Dill (FHL Film # 1028196, Marriage Records of Madison County Iowa, Volume B., Item 1, Pg 172). http://iagenweb.org/madison/marriage_records/mr_jones-junkin.html Further research in earlier census records shows C.C. Dill to be Cynthia C. Dill.

11 February 1880 Eben and Cynthia get a divorce and it is finalized 11 February 1880 (US/CAN FHL Film #1028206 Madison County Iowa Courthouse, Item #2, Book F District Court, pgs 3&4 – actual decree of divorce). https://docs.google.com/?hl=en&tab=wo&authuser=0#all Two children are born to this union, Mahlon Arvestor and Floyetta. Cynthia is given custody of the children.

1880 Winterset, Madison, Iowa Federal Census. Dwelling 191. Family 222. Enumerated 23 Jun 1880. John Dill Family. Cynthia Dill is listed here with the same two children that are listed in the decree of divorce. She is living with her parents.

23 February 1896 Eben is married to Hattie Vanscoy Jones. (FHL Film #1028196, Marriage Records of Madison County Iowa, Item 2, Volume 1 1880-1899, Pg 142, License #1112.) https://docs.google.com/?hl=en&tab=wo&authuser=0#all Ebb Jones (age 47, painter, birthplace Ohio) marries Hattie Jones (maiden name is Vanscoy). They were neighbors in the 1870 census. This is where it gets interesting. This Ebb Jones’ info matches up with the age, occupation, location & birthplace info of our Eben Jones given in the 1856, 1860, & 1870 census. Chances that they are different Ebens I personally feel is slim to nothing. Both Ebens even have the middle initial of N. (see Eben’s 1900 census info). Ebb Jones states his parents are W. M. Jones and Sarah E. Leniker. * Note no mention of Sarah Edmonds.

1900 Piqua, Washington Township, Miami, Ohio. ED 97. Sheet 4A. Dwelling #82. Family #90. https://beta.familysearch.org/s/image/show#uri=http%3A%2F%2Fpilot.familysearch.org%2Frecords%2Ftrk%3A%2Ffsrs%2Fidgs%3A004117770.004117770_00443&hash=HloWXpZgU9zB10k5M56iYku8TUc%253D Eben N. Jones (age 50, born Nov 1849, birthplace Ohio, occupation house painter, married 21 years – (I have a newspaper clipping which explains the 21 years of marriage. “The Winterset Reporter”, dated Feb 27, 1896 (see date of Eben’s marriage to Hattie) states “Eben Jones & the woman with whom he has been living for sometime were married last Sunday afternoon by Justice Evans. They were formerly husband & wife but a divorce had been secured annulling the marriage & they were living together again without having been remarried.”) Harriet Jones (age 37, born July 1862, birthplace Ohio). http://iagenweb.org/madison/marriage_images/MI_J/Jones-Vanscoy_marriage.jpg Twenty one years would put Eben & Hattie’s first marriage at about 1879. Eben was still married to Cynthia February of 1880, however, court records indicate they probably weren’t living together much after 1877-78. I would guess Eben & Hattie were married right after Eben & Cynthia’s divorce was final. I have not been able to find Eben & Hattie’s first marriage record.

1925 Iowa State Census, Washington Township, Warren County. (FHL Film #1429584. The township is named at the end of each section. Hattie & Eben are in the 2nd segment, #’s 14 & 15 of the Washington Township.) https://docs.google.com/?hl=en&tab=wo&authuser=0#all Eben states in this census he is 75, his father is William W. Jones, his father was born in Ohio, his mother is Sarah Reniokner. His mother is born in Ohio. He is still married to Hattie.

November 20, 1939 – Eben dies, and I have a certified copy of his death certificate. https://docs.google.com/?hl=en&tab=wo&authuser=0#all His informant is Floyd Jones. I’m thinking this is probably Eben’s grandson, Floyd, who is the son of Mahlon Arveston, his son from his marriage with Cynthia Dill. “Don’t Know” is listed by Eben’s mother and father. I don’t know who gave the coroner the info for the death record, Hattie or Floyd but apparently whichever one it was didn’t know details on Sarah or William.

At this point I am thinking Sarah’s last name is either Lenocker or Renocker. I have to jump back in time to share this next record but I didn’t find it until I had found all of the above records.

April 4, 1849 William Jones marries Sarah Renicor in Harrison County, Ohio. (Film # 0894,637 Marriage Records Probate Court Harrison County Ohio, Volume C Page 567). In one of the records I have, my grandmother states in her own handwriting that Eben was born in Guernsey County, Ohio. Guernsey & Harrison Counties border each other. Eben’s death record records his birth date as October 27, 1849.

It wasn’t until the beginning of November 2009, five years later, that I found information that started putting pieces together for me. There were records on Sarah that I felt were our Sarah, but I didn’t feel I had enough evidence on them to be really sure. Her marriage to William Jones and then Joseph Russell were two of these. I was still hesitant, for a lack of further evidence, about her maiden name being Renicor/Lenicor.

29 March 1880 Sarah E. Russell marries an Adam Kail in Madison County, Iowa. http://iagenweb.org/madison/marriage_records/mr_rudy-ryner.html I had checked this site many times earlier. They had apparently put up some new information and this was part of it.

I suddenly had a renewed interest in the marriage record of Sarah E. Jones & Joseph Russell and also Joseph Russell's death date that took place in September of 1873. This marriage to Adam Kail, once again, seemed to fit our Sarah; however, I still did not feel I had enough evidence to prove that either the marriage to Joseph Russell or the one to Adam Kail were her.

1880 Salem, Tuscarawas, Ohio Federal Census. Enumerated 5 June 1880 (2 months after their marriage). Dwelling #70. Family #73. Adam Kail (age 72) born in Ohio and Sarah Kail (age 53) also born in Ohio.

I thought to myself, why would Sarah and Adam pick up and move to Ohio, as Sarah had been in Winterset for about 25 years? Also I couldn’t find an Adam Kail previously in Winterset. Why did Adam just appear out of nowhere to marry Sarah? Their age difference was also quite substantial. I thought to myself “they must have known each other beforehand and somehow she still had a connection to him.” I checked the location of Tuscarawas Ohio and got excited. It bordered on Harrison County and also Guernsey County.

I went back in the earlier census to find out as much as I could about Adam Kail. This is what I found:

1 Nov 1827 -- Adam Kail married Elizabeth Wiand in Harrison County, Ohio (FHL Film No. 0894637, IGI Batch #M514341) This is the same film # and batch # that I found Sarah Renicor marrying William Jones. I mention this only because it points out that they were married in the same area.

1829 to 1879 – Adam & Elizabeth had a number of children. One of their sons married an Elizabeth Renicor and they lived next door to a Renicor family. My interest was peaked as here is yet another connection to a Renicor family.

21 April 1879 – Elizabeth Kail dies.

29 Mar 1880 – Sarah E. Russell marries Adam Kail.

26 June 1883 – Adam Kail dies. His probate record states that Sarah was his wife at the time but she would not take any of his possessions. She left them all to his children.

There were so many coincidences, but I couldn’t seem to find the piece of the puzzle that pulled all these pieces I was finding together. In December of 2009 I finally found it! I was on New Family Search, and I saw that a lady had posted the same information I had on Adam and Sarah but she had Sarah’s name listed as Sarah Rennecker not Sarah Russell. That was the connection I’d been looking for. I excitedly called her and talked to her for about an hour. She gave me the following information.

Carroll County Ohio Cemeteries, FHL US/CAN 977.167 V3c Volume 4, Pg 63. Perry, Carroll, Ohio Arabia Cemetery. “Kail, Sarah Rennecker w/o Adam Kail is buried beside her sister, Nancy Rennecker Smith w/o Peter Smith, daughters of Daniel and Margaret (Maus) Rennecker.” Sarah’s death record states she died 27 June 1909 in Union, Carroll, Ohio (Carroll County borders Tuscarawas & Harrison Counties in Ohio) and was born 4 Feb 1827.

If Sarah Russell Kail was indeed Sarah Rennecker Russell Kail, and Sarah Jones was indeed Sarah Renicor Jones, it would seem too coincidental for all three of these marriages not to be related. Eben’s two records stating his mother’s maiden name to be Lenicor/Renicor and the fact that the Eben's info listed on each of these records matches perfectly as near as I can tell to the Eben listed with William and/or Sarah in the 1856, 1860 & 1870 census records, seems to further validate the fact that Sarah’s maiden name was Renicor/Rennicker.

I might also add here that Adam Kail’s daughter-in-law, Elizabeth, is also a daughter of Margaret Maus & Daniel Rennicker, making she and Sarah sisters.

My thoughts are these -- John Florence, at his own admission, was eleven years old when he left his mother to go with his father. The fact that John F. is found in Idaho, Utah then Canada for the remainder of his life and Sarah is found in Iowa and Ohio leads me to think he probably never saw his mother again. The question is this “Which of the two brothers would have the most accurate information about their mother -- the oldest of the two who lived with his mother till he was 20 then in the same town as her till he was 30 (Eben), or the youngest of the two who is in his later years remembering back to when he was 11 when he last saw his mother (John F.)? Could Edmonds possibly have been the maiden name of William's second wife, his step-mother?

Reading the small paragraph about Sarah in the history my grandmother wrote on her father, John F. I still have many questions. This Eben Nicolas that apparently helped raised Sarah must have played a substantial role in her life, as she named her oldest son after him rather than her father. Daniel & Margaret Rennicker, Sarah’s parents, had quite a large family. Sarah was the sixth child of 11 children. Was she possibly hired out to Eben when she was young? Was she a rebellious youngster and Eben Nicholas took her in to try and help her? I don’t know and can’t find an Eben Nicholas that lives in the Ohio area she resided in. It does not help that all the census records before Sarah and William were married list only head of household. Another question the validity of Sarah having Indian blood in her. As near as I can tell, Daniel and Margaret Rennecker are of German decent not Indian decent.

I welcome any ideas, comments, thoughts and especially any new research! You can make comment on the blog, but if I don’t answer, please contact me at togden1@pacbell.net. I will not be checking this website daily.

If it is William Jones you are interested in researching, I have also done quite a bit of research on him but can find no records of him past his divorce record with Sarah, August of 1870 in Winterset, Madison, Iowa.