Mrs. Rachael Schermerhorn, 82 years old, died Saturday morning at 7:30 o'clock at her home 935 Jackson Street, Huntington, Indiana after a long illness of complications.
Mrs. Schermerhorn was born February 21, 1848 in Rock Creek township, Huntington Co., (Actually born in Apple Creek township, Wayne, Ohio) to Solomon and Philinda Rachel Harris Bonewitz. She married John Schermerhorn who is dead. 15 Children were born of this union.

Surviving children and foster son (Frank Bonewitz, who was actually their real son raised by the Bonewitz grandparents) are Charles Oliver Schermerhorn (Sherman) of Plummer, Idaho, Solomon Franklin Bonewitz of Huntington, Mrs. Philinda Ecenbarger of Fort Wayne, (Ottis) Arthur Schermerhorn of Huntington, John (Merideth) Schermerhorn of Columbia City, Clyde Schermerhorn of Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Mrs Sarah Shaefer, of Columbia City. There are 32 grandchildren and a number of great grandchildren.
The body was removed to the Baily Funeral Home on West Park Drive where it will lie in state until the hour of the funeral Monday afternoon at 2 o'clock at Barnes Chapel with the Rev. Emmett Hall in charge. Burial will be at the chapel cemetery. It was requested that flowers be omitted.
Rachel Bonewitz Schermerhorn, 82 was the daughter of Solomon Franklin Bonewitz and Philendra Rachel Harris-Ginter who were both born in Apple Creek, Wayne Co. Ohio. Rachels obituary say's she was born in Indiana however this may be incorrect as her parents lived in Ohio the year of her birth.
Rachel was the Great-Grand daughter of Joseph Bonewitz and Sarah Franks-Bonewitz. They are also buried here at Barnes Chapel Cemetery.

In May of abt 1864 Rachel married John Dorvil Schermerhorn Jr. it was right after John had been mustered out of the Infantry during the civil war.
They had 15 children born and several died at birth or shortly thereafter. Early in the 1880's she and John moved their family to Huntington Co. Indiana around Browns Corner to be near Rachel's parents, they were farmers. In 1890 John died in Majenica, Indiana Rachel said he died of a disease contracted while in the service. Rachel was abt 42 years old.

In 1891 after John's death Rachel reluctantly sent her 4 youngest children to the Indiana Soldiers and Sailors home as she did not have enough money to support them. The admission records indicate that she only had a small pension and had no work to support herself. In doing more research on the SSOH I found that the SSOH was really more or less a state funded school for children who's veteran parent or parents had died.

The Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's Home was founded in 1865 to provide care, education and maintenance to the orphaned and destitute children of Civil War Union Army veterans. The Home is located approximately two miles south of Knightstown, Indiana on State Road 140 and consists of 419 acres that include an administration building, children's dormitory cottages, Morton Memorial School, a hospital, dairy farm, camp grounds and recreational facilities. Children from the ages of 4 to 17 are cared for with each child being eligible for vocational training or college at state expense. The Home is owned by the State of Indiana and is managed through a superintendent who reports to the State Department of Health.
In 1898 she married Elwood Davis a widower from Huntington too. Elwood lived until 1924. After Elwoods death Rachel went back to using the name Schermerhorn.
My Great Aunt Martha wote me that as a young girl she had been one of the only children of Charles Oliver's (Rachel and John's Oldest Child) to get to meet her Grandmother Rachel when she got to go on a trip with her parents to visit the family in Indiana. She said she was about 13 and wrote how excited she was to get to meet her Grandmother and the many of the Aunts and Uncles she had. She said some of her cousins was about her age and they wrote to each other often, even after they got married and had children. This was George David Schermerhorn, and Emma E Schermerhorn-Klinelsmith, her Uncle Marion's kids.
A 1917 Fort Wayne newspaper printed the obituary of her daughter Cora Shermerhorn Williamson who died at 41 years, Rachel Schermerhorn is listed as her Mother, and several of her brothers and sisters are listed as being in attendence.