Loucinda Ann (Bingham) Carpenter Hibbs (1946)

BINGHAM, CARPENTER, GRIGSBY, HIBBS, MYERS, STEWART, WILSON

Posted By: Pat Hochstetler
Date: 3/29/2007 at 16:57:46

Earlham Echo
Earlham, Iowa
Thursday, December 19, 1946

Mrs. Loucinda Ann Hibbs, widow of Benjamin S. Hibbs, and probably the oldest living person born in Dallas county, Iowa, passed away December 13, 1946 from a sudden heart attack. She was 89 years, four months, and five days old and had made her home with her daughter Mrs. C. W. Myers, Cambridge, Iowa, for the past 18 years. Though she had grown frail with time she retained her bright mind and cheerful disposition to the end.

Loucinda Ann Bingham was born August 8, 1857, in the two-room log house built by her father William H. Bingham on the homestead he and his wife, Mary Jane, had taken up on government land about a mile north of Earlham. The young couple had come with their pioneer families from Indiana. One of the older members of the family making the cross country trip was William Bingham's grandmother, Mrs. Moses Grigsby, widow of a Revolutionary soldier, buried in Bear Creek cemetery.

When Mrs. Hibbs was a child of five, her father joined the Union army, and she always retained a vivid memory of impressive incidents of that time. During the Civil war, recruiters went about the country asking for volunteers, and she recalled that men wearing badges, but not in uniform, came to their home and her father held up his hand and was sworn into the army. That was in August, 1862. He was taken prisoner in July of 1863 and died in Andersonville prison, Georgia, in June, 1864.

The death of Lincoln made a lasting impression on her memory, because she never forgot how her grandpa and grandma cried when they got the news.

After the war, Loucinda and her mother continued to live on the farm. The nearest town was Westcotrie, later renamed Redfield, and shopping trips to this market were made on horseback, both of them riding one of the work horses. The roads they followed were mere paths, neighbors were far away, and the work and management of the farm were hard.

When 16 years old, she was married to Oliver Carpenter, who died within a few months.

On February 3, 1876, she was married to Benjamin S. Hibbs. Most of their married life was lived in or near Earlham. Mr. Hibbs passed away on Feb. 10, 1919. To this union four daughters were born, two of whom, Madge and Hazel, preceded their parents in death. The surviving daughters are Mrs. Grace Myers of Cambridge, and Mrs. Pearl Stewart of Delta, Colorado. She also leaves one brother, W. F. Wilson of Cambridge, Iowa, three grandchildren and three great grandchildren.

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