Naomi Kemp White~~More info

KEMP, WHITE, HARTZEL

Posted By: "IRISH EYES ARE SMILING" (email)
Date: 9/25/2014 at 11:30:50

*Thanks Larry for this info. Will see what we can find for you.

Naomi (there are several different spellings) Kemp White was born 28 Feb 1828 and died 11 Feb 1864 in or around Agency. Her mother-in-law, Susan (or Susanna) Hartzel (maiden name) White was born in 1799 in Pennsylvania and died 28 Oct 1865 in or around Agency.

The story is a bit sad: Naomi's husband, Ephriam Godfrey White, was serving as a colonel with Union forces when his wife died and he couldn't come back to Iowa. When his mother, Susan, (who was taking care of his 6 children) died, he still couldn't get home, and the kids--ages 4-16 were 'farmed' out to friends and neighbors until the war was over. His oldest son was my great grandfather. He was too young to enlist, but he went south, found his father's regiment and worked as his aid-de-camp on Sherman's March to Atlanta. The son, Eugene Kemp White, and most of his family are buried in Oskaloosa.

Unfortunately, when White came back to Iowa after the war, he married a second woman. They moved to Audubon, and he had more children with her. Unfortunately, most of the first family's kids were pretty much left on their own.