The family lore is that Laura's parents immigrated from England about 1863 (though it is now clear they did not come together), and that Edward left his family in a New York hotel and went south with an intent to buy a plantation. He was not heard from again, and was presumed dead. This story has not been verified with records, but thus far the last record found of Edward was in England in 1862.
Three daughters, then young adults joined their mother Louisa in Illinois, and married there.
Laura married Delancy Kenyon in 1866. They had four children; three daughters, and a son who died as a baby. During these years Delancy worked as a farmer, mechanic and carpenter. However he never fully recovered from his illness he contracted during the war, and that greatly limited his ability to work. Laura supplemented the family income as an piano teacher. Once a month she would hitch up the family wagon and make a circuit of area farms, taking food and lodging as she went.
In August of 1881, Delancy applied for Civil War pension, classed as an "invalid." In the mid 1880s they decided to go to California, in the hopes this would improve Delancy's health. He was listed on an 1888 voting list for Pomona, and employed as a carpenter. Later they went to Tacoma, Washington, as that was the end of a railroad, and there would be economic opportunities. Laura ran a grocery store and sold pianos. At some point, they opened a boarding house. Delancy died March 15, 1892.
All three daughters married in Tacoma and moved to different regions of the country. Edith and her husband moved to his home in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. An August 1900 Pittsfield newspaper said that the Morningside Baptists had thrown Laura a reception, as she was leaving for Washington, and that she had been a "prominent" member. So it appears that Laura had been in Pittsfield for a while. Another similar article said Laura had intended to leave for Ritzville, Washington, where she might settle permanently. In 1906 Laura took out a claim in Washington State. The federal website provides coordinates for that claim, and it appears to have been about ten miles south of Ritzville, Adams County. It is unknown how long she kept her claim.
Laura's daughter Halcyone and her family settled in Coeur d' Alene. Her son-in-law William Krider died in 1906, and in 1911 Halyone remarried to a sheep farmer Harris Crampton, who had a farm in Adams County, about thirty miles from Laura's claim.
Laura appeared the 1910 Idaho census, though she might have just been visiting as her daughter Edith Shipton had also been visiting. Laura died in 1916, and is buried in Coeur d' Alene.
The family lore is that Laura's parents immigrated from England about 1863 (though it is now clear they did not come together), and that Edward left his family in a New York hotel and went south with an intent to buy a plantation. He was not heard from again, and was presumed dead. This story has not been verified with records, but thus far the last record found of Edward was in England in 1862.
Three daughters, then young adults joined their mother Louisa in Illinois, and married there.
Laura married Delancy Kenyon in 1866. They had four children; three daughters, and a son who died as a baby. During these years Delancy worked as a farmer, mechanic and carpenter. However he never fully recovered from his illness he contracted during the war, and that greatly limited his ability to work. Laura supplemented the family income as an piano teacher. Once a month she would hitch up the family wagon and make a circuit of area farms, taking food and lodging as she went.
In August of 1881, Delancy applied for Civil War pension, classed as an "invalid." In the mid 1880s they decided to go to California, in the hopes this would improve Delancy's health. He was listed on an 1888 voting list for Pomona, and employed as a carpenter. Later they went to Tacoma, Washington, as that was the end of a railroad, and there would be economic opportunities. Laura ran a grocery store and sold pianos. At some point, they opened a boarding house. Delancy died March 15, 1892.
All three daughters married in Tacoma and moved to different regions of the country. Edith and her husband moved to his home in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. An August 1900 Pittsfield newspaper said that the Morningside Baptists had thrown Laura a reception, as she was leaving for Washington, and that she had been a "prominent" member. So it appears that Laura had been in Pittsfield for a while. Another similar article said Laura had intended to leave for Ritzville, Washington, where she might settle permanently. In 1906 Laura took out a claim in Washington State. The federal website provides coordinates for that claim, and it appears to have been about ten miles south of Ritzville, Adams County. It is unknown how long she kept her claim.
Laura's daughter Halcyone and her family settled in Coeur d' Alene. Her son-in-law William Krider died in 1906, and in 1911 Halyone remarried to a sheep farmer Harris Crampton, who had a farm in Adams County, about thirty miles from Laura's claim.
Laura appeared the 1910 Idaho census, though she might have just been visiting as her daughter Edith Shipton had also been visiting. Laura died in 1916, and is buried in Coeur d' Alene.
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement