Jonathan Childs 1828-1870

CHILDS, MEEK, BAKER

Posted By: Gary Childs (email)
Date: 7/22/2008 at 16:36:17

Biography of Jonathan Childs

One of the early settlers of Appanoose County Iowa was Jonathan Childs. Jonathan was born in Jennings county Indiana in the year 1828. He was the oldest son of John Childs and Nancy Baker. John was born in Kentucky or Virginia on May 18, 1803 and Nancy was born in Pulaski Co. Kentucky on April 19, 1806. Nancy was the daughter of Peleg Baker and mother unknown. John Childs was born John S. Meek but for reasons unknown changed his name to John Childs on January 30, 1833. John and Nancy were married in Jennings County on April 10, 1823 and their first five children were born under the surname Meek. These five children’s surname was also changed to Childs on the date listed above.
There were eight children born to John and Nancy they are; Julia Ann Childs b. 2/19/1824, Mariah Childs b. 1826, Jonathan Childs b. 1828, Henry Childs b. 6/4/1830, Nancy Childs b. 1832, Fountain Childs b. 1834, Thompson A. Childs b. 1840, and Sarahetta Childs b. 1844.

{The Meek family below was thought to be relatives of John Childs but DNA testing has shown John was not a blood relative.}

The Meek and Baker families came to Jennings County from Pulaski County, Kentucky around 1816. The Meek clan settled along the Muscatatuck River near what was to become Sullivan’s Ford. The Baker family settled just north of that site at what was to become the town called Hardenburgh. (The name was later changed to Hayden) The elder of the Meek clan was Nathan Meek Sr. His sons were: Nathan Jr. Meek, David Meek, Samuel Meek, Jeremiah Meek, Richard Meek, William Meek, and Lewis Meek. His daughters were: Sarah Meek, Elizabeth Meek, Mary “Polly” Meek, and Priscilla Meek. Nancy Baker’s parents are Peleg Baker and Nancy Harris Hudson. John Childs died February 14, 1873. His will was written on February 2, 1870 and entered in probate at the Jennings county court on May 15, 1873. Nancy Childs died December 23, 1867. John requested in his will that he be buried beside his beloved wife in the family plot. This request was granted and they are both buried in the Old Zion or Sullivan Cemetery in Jennings County, Indiana.

Jonathan Childs married Jane Marvin March 26, 1848 in Jennings county Indiana. Jane was the daughter of Delancey Marvin and Lydia Albert. The children of Jonathan and Jane were: Marquis “Mark” Lafayette Childs b. 1850 in Jennings county, Archer Childs b. 1853 in Jennings county, Jennings “Gink” Childs b. 1/2/1855 in Dallas county, Iowa, Ebert “Ebe” Childs b. 12/1857 in Dallas county, Iowa, Oscar William “Bill” Childs b. 1/29/1860 in Appanoose County, Iowa, and Lemma “Lem” Childs b. 1864 in Appanoose county, Iowa. Jonathan was a farmer like his father and bought the first piece of land that he owned from him. The property was a hundred acres in Section 36 T7N, R7E about 2 miles northeast of the Hayden town site in Jennings County, Indiana.. John Childs bought the property for $425.00 on March 15 1849 and sold it to Jonathan for the same price on August 2, 1849. Jonathan farmed this piece of property until October or November of 1854 at which time he and his brother Henry moved their families to Dallas County, Iowa.
At the time of the move Marquis was about four years old and Archer was around one. Jane was also pregnant with Jennings their third child. As mentioned before Jennings was born Jan. 2, 1855. Jonathan, Jane and family, along with Henry his wife Margaret Jane Young and their only child at the time Granville Childs, came by wagon to Iowa. They crossed the Mississippi at Nauvoo, Illinois and settled along the Coon River near Adel Iowa in Dallas County. Here the two families acquired land and began farming and raising their families. In 1855 Jonathan sold his Indiana property to a man named William Carr for $1200.00. The deed was written on October 30, 1855 but wasn’t recorded in Jennings County until June 13, 1856. Jonathan and Henry farmed their Dallas county property until 1859. About this time Henry and family returned to Jennings County and although the exact time is not known Henry and family are listed in the 1870 census for Jennings County. In 1859 Jonathan arranged a land deal or swap with a Michel Shively of Appanoose county, Iowa. Record of this transaction is recorded in deeds at the Appanoose county Recorders Office. Mr. Shively got the land that Jonathan owned in Dallas county and Jonathan acquired the 238 & 3/4 acres Shively owned in Appanoose county along with another 80 acres located in Schuyler county, Missouri. There was of course money exchanged but according to family history Jonathan received two acres for one. The Appanoose county property is located close to the Iowa-Missouri border in Wells Township at the town of Moulton, Iowa. The property was the SE 1/4 Section 12 and the East 1/2 of Section 13 in Township 67N, R16W. The Appanoose/Davis county line was the east boundary of the property. The original homestead was built on the SE 1/4 of Section 12. The following is an article written by Marquis Lafayette Childs, most likely for the Moulton, Iowa paper recalling the early years of his family.

M.L. Childs Came to Iowa In The Fifties

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Among the older residents of Iowa is M.L. Childs of Coatesville Mo. locality whose recollections of this state date back to times before the Civil War. He has written a short summary of events of interest that he recalls which will give readers some idea of the earlier days in Iowa. Mr. Childs was born in Jennings county, Indiana Nov. 18, 1850 son of Jonathan Childs and Jane Childs who lived near old Vernon on a farm. In that section people had to cut the timber off, roll the logs in piles and burn them before the ground could be plowed and farmed. When he was three or four years old his parents moved to Dallas county, Iowa by team and covered wagon crossing the Mississippi river at Nauvoo and stopping at the Coon river in Dallas county. His father went to Adel and filed on the east side of Coon River.

“My father cut logs along the river and built a one-room house with one room upstairs with a pole ladder to go upstairs. He broke out some in the bottom land and raised lots of as fine corn as ever grew in Iowa, cut poles on the river land and made some pens to hold the corn and when winter came the prarie chickens helped themselves by the hundreds. You may guess we feasted on chickens.

When I was five or six years old my parents drove back to Jennings County on a visit. My father got a family to look after what little stock he had while we were gone. The winters were so cold in Dallas County he wanted to go farther south. Somehow he found a man down here in Appanoose who offered to trade farms giving two acres to one. So they soon traded but before finding him father farmed about two years. (In Dallas county) I remember he raised a few acres of wheat one year. Cutting it with a cradle and threshing or tramping it out with horses, by cleaning off a place on the ground and laying the bundles around in a circular form and I and brother got on a horse apiece and rode around in and over the wheat till it was tramped out. Then he forked the straw off and then blew the chaff out and taking the wheat some place to a mill getting some flour, very poor quality we would think now.

About two years after father traded farms and we loaded up our household goods and started over the prairie with just a path now and then to Des Moines crossing the Coon River there on the ferry boat. The city then didn’t seem to have more than four or five hundred inhabitants. Coming on down we finally found the farm with a few acres in cultivation and a small log cabin out in the field. A man had to stoop to get in the door. My father soon broke out more land and raised lots of big corn.

The gold rush was on, people passed every day and they would want corn for their teams. Father soon got a little money so he started to build a house out on the road with two large rooms about 14x16 with a cellar under it. There we lived and were six boys in the family. But father was taken sick in the fall of 73 (Ed. Note: Jonathan’s tombstone gives 1870 as death date.) and passed away being 43 years old. Mother lived to see us all married and a few years she passed on. At the time of her death she was 86 years old.

Father had accumulated and owned over 700 acres of land here in Iowa and Missouri. I remember F.M. Drake and C.A. Stanton of Centerville driving down to our place and stopping for dinner. They were looking out a location for the K.W. (railroad) to Centerville. They drove down with a team and buggy no automobiles then. There was a saw mill on father’s farm. Father cut and hauled logs in and got lumber to build the house, hauling in some logs to make the lath for the house, sawed the plank 1-2 inch thick. He got a plane with a knife gauge in it, cut the lath any width you wanted, sawed off some block and drove out shingles to cover the house. He went up near Ottumwa to a lime kiln and got lime to plaster the house, drove an ox team after it. I remember and saw these towns go up; Moulton, Coatesville and Glenwood. Worked on the grading of the Wabash (railroad) with the Irish got my finger pinched dumping dirt with them”
Jonathan worked the land in Appanoose County and also land later acquired in Davis County until his death in 1870. The family continued to farm and in 1875 Jane had the property, which was over 500 acres at the time, legally partitioned between her and the six sons. Jane kept the land where the homestead was built and the boys received varying portions of the rest. Jane never remarried and was very active in the Baptist Church of Coatesville, being one of the founding members. On January 11, 1916 she passed away at the home of her youngest son Lemma in Glenwood, Missouri. She is buried along side Jonathan in the family plot at the Coatesville Cemetery. Marquis, Jennings, and Oscar William Childs are all buried in the Coatesville Cemetery. Marquis Childs died on April 7, 1936, Jennings Childs died on September 7, 1899, Ebert Childs died in 1930, Oscar William “Bill” died on June 21, 1939 at the old folk’s home in Columbia Missouri. Bill farmed and owned a small dry goods store in Coatesville Missouri for many years. Archer Childs died on September 29, 1930. He was living at the Mason’s Retirement Home in Wichita, Kansas. He is buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Lindsborg Kansas where he became a successful businessman after moving there in the late 1800’s. Lemma died on April 1, 1927 in Lee County, Iowa. He moved to Lee County around 1920 from Glenwood, Missouri where for a time he owned a Buggy Shop.

Jonathan Childs/Jane Marvin:

Children:

1. Marquis “Mark” Lafayette Childs:

Born November 18, 1850 in Jennings County, Indiana. Died April 7, 1936 in Appanoose County, Iowa. Married Sarah E. Morrow November 1, 1877 in Appanoose County. Sarah was born in 1854 and died in 1902. Mark married Margaret Ellen Laffoon January 10, 1906 in Appanoose County. Margaret was born on January 3, 1879 and died on December 2, 1970. The children of Mark and Sarah are: Jonathan Jackson b. 1878, Alfred Ross b.1882, Jane Lydia b.1885, William Fountain b.1886, Arthur b. 1890, and Mary Rachel Edith b.1892.

The children of Mark and Margaret are: Juanita Grace b. 1909 and Harriet Martina b. 1912.

2. Archer Childs:

Born April 18, 1853 in Jennings County, Indiana. Died September 29, 1930 in Wichita, Kansas. Archer married Mary Ann Taylor in Coatesville Mo. on April 15, 1875. Mary Ann was the daughter of William Taylor and Margaret Jane Rainbolt. Archer and Mary Ann moved to Lindsborg, Kansas in 1878 where he became a successful businessman. The children of Archer and Mary Ann are; Willella Jane “Willie”, Effie Mae b. 1881, Frank ( DDS ) b.1885, Lillian b.1887, Daveta “Boots” b.1889, and George Allen b. 1900.

3. Jennings “Gink” Childs:
Born January 2, 1855 in Dallas County, Iowa and he died in Appanoose County, Iowa on September 7, 1899. Jennings married Florence Cobb and their children are; Winnie and John Les b.1879.

4. Ebert “Ebe” Childs:

Born December 1857 in Dallas County, Iowa and died in Appanoose County, Iowa in 1930. Ebert married Temperance Wells and their children are; Luther W. b.1883, Mary E. b.1886, Cuma B. b.1892, Edna Flo b.1895, Esther L. b.1902, Margaret b.1905, and Jack R. b.1911.

5. Oscar William “Bill” Childs:

Born January 29, 1860 in Appanoose county, Iowa, died June 21, 1939 at an old folks home in Columbia Mo. Oscar married Laura Riley March 15, 1883 in Bloomfield, Iowa. Laura was the daughter of John Riley and Mary Jane Thompson. The children of Oscar and Laura are: Ella b. 1885, Elmer b.1888, Arch b. 1890, Leva b.1892, Mildred b.1897, Leon b.1906, Helen b.1908, and Lem b.1910.

6. Lemma W. Childs:
Born in 1864 in Appanoose County, Iowa Lemma died on April 1, 1927 in Lee County, Iowa. Lemma married Raina in 1898. It is believed that Lemma and Raina adopted a daughter named Margery.