Jacob & Sarah Vanzant

VANZANT

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 10/15/2010 at 22:15:58

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

Jacob and Sarah Vanzant
By Muriel C Winterringer Meyer

When I inquired of the Vanzant family of Ralph Vanzant in Greenfield, Fayette County, Ohio, I was told and I quote, ‘At his time there appears to have been four separate Vanzant families that came to America between 1650 and 1670 from Holland. They arrived in or around what became New York City. Some stayed there, some moved to the north through the Mohawk Valley, and others went south into Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. My ancestors were of the latter group, who came to Ohio in 1824 and we have been in the same county (Fayette) since that time.’ He also wrote, ‘I found only one reference to a Jacob Vanzant, who was in Rutherford County, North Carolina between 1780 and 1790. He later moved to Franklin County, Tennessee. In his will he is listed as Jacob, Sr, which gives rise to the possibility of a Jacob, Jr.’

Jacob Vanzant was born in Pennsylvania in December of 1803. His occupation was that of a shoemaker. His wife, Sarah, also was born in Pennsylvania about 1805.

They made their home in Ohio as early as 1826, as their oldest known daughter, Hannah, was born there in March of that year. Jacob and Sarah had five known daughters, all born in Ohio. The daughters were: Hannah, born March of 1826; Mary Ann, born in November of 1830; Rachel C, born in March of 1833; Anna M, born in April of 1835; and Elizabeth Y, born in 1840.

Hannah, was married on January 15, 1848, in Knox County, Ohio, to Jesse Nelson Winterringer, the son of John and Sally (Byram) Winterringer. Hannah’s children were: Sarah Ellen and Willis born in Ohio and William and Charles born after coming to Iowa. (See Jesse Nelson Winterringer.)

The Vanzant family was in western Iowa as early as 1857, when there is a record of the marriage to Rachel C Vanzant on October 24, 1857, to John C Watts. The marriage license was issued in Monona County at Onawa.

On November 2, 1858, Anna M Vanzant was married, at her parents home to Washington Vandorn of Monona County; however, the license was issued in Woodbury County.

The next Vanzant marriage was Mary Ann’s on 7 October 1859, in Woodbury County, to Daniel P Billings.

At the time of the 1860 census, Jacob and Sarah Vanzant were living in Little Sioux Township, Woodbury County. Elizabeth was still living at home.

Elizabeth Y ‘Lizzie’ Vanzant was married in Woodbury County on 23 January 1861 to E Smith, I have found no further record of her, Smith, being a hard name to trace.

Sarah Vanzant, the mother, died 13 February 1861. She was buried at the Little Sioux Township cemetery at Smithland. Jacob died 12 April 1866 and he is buried beside his wife at Smithland. His marker gives his age as sixty-three years and four months.

Rachel and John C Watts are listed in the 1870 census of Little Sioux Township. I learned John ran a flour and saw mill. They had three children: Louis Clayton , Larua B [Laura] and Frank B. There were other people in the house: Martha Dikus, a domestic servant in Ohio and thirty-two years of age; George Miller, a general laborer born in Ohio and twenty-three years of age; Cyrus Woods, a general laborer born in Vermont and forty-three years of age; and Ada Woods, born in New York and seventeen years of age, a school teacher.

In 1880 they were still in Little Sioux Township and John was then a farmer. I learned he was born in Kentucky, his father was born in Virginia and his mother in South Carolina. Louis Clayton was twenty-one years old, Laura B was thirteen, and Frank, ten years of age. In the 1900 census, Rachel was living in town of Oto, next door to her son, Louis and his wife, Sarah. Louis and Sarah had been married eighteen years. Sarah had given birth to three children, but only one was living; apparently that was John C, their son, was born in June, 1884. Sarah had been born in December, 1861, in Iowa. Her father and mother had been born in Pennsylvania. Louis was born in July, 1858, and he was then a contractor, and owned a home. Rachel lived next door in a house which she owned. She was widowed and three of her four children were living at that time. In the Smithland cemetery, graves are marked for J C Watts, 29 June 1833-1 December 1888, Rachel, w/o J C, 1833-1902, and Mary, d/o J & R C died 7 September 1862, age 21 days. In the 1910 census Louis and Sarah were still living in Oto and he was house mover. I have not researched this family further.

Anna M and Washington VanDor or Vandorn also lived in Little Sioux Township in 1870. They had two children: Mary, five, and Arthur, two. Then in the 1880 census I learned Washington had been born in Ohio, his father was born in New Jersey, and his mother in Kentucky. May was fifteen, Arthur Virgil was twelve. By 1900 Arthur V VanDorn was thirty-two, still single and had been born in February, 1868. He was a farmer with a mortgaged farm. Ann, the mother, was living with him. She was widowed and two of her three children were living. Florence Mary, his sister, was born in May of 1865. She was single and living in the same house. In the cemetery at Smithland I found graves marked VanDorn, Washington, 6 May 1830-17 January 1898, and Clark, Florence M VanDorn, w/o W L Clark, 3 May 1865-14 May 1904. I have no further research on this family.

Mary A and Daniel P Billings are listed in 1870 in Sioux City; he was a general merchant and had been born in Massachusetts. They had three children: Walter, age six, Benjamin, age four, and Nellie, age two. In the 1880 census, Daniel had become a minister as well as farmer. It told his father was born in Massachusetts and his mother in Vermont. Walter was sixteen and farming at home and Nellie was twelve and going to school. In the 1900 census I learned Daniel had been born in November, 1840, and by then he had been married forty years and was retiring owning a farm. Mary A had two living children of three born. In Little Sioux Township I also found Walter P Billings, their son, who was born in December, 1863. He had been married two years to Lida, she had been born in May 1872, in Missouri. Her father was born in Kentucky and her mother was born in Missouri. She had one living child, Randal E, born in January 1900. In the Smithland Cemetery, I found grave markers for: Daniel P Billings, 1830-1908; Mary A Billings, 1830-1903, and Ben Kirk, 1865-1877. In another section of the cemetery I found: Lida C Billings, Mary 12, 1871-29 April 1956; Walter P Billings, December 1, 1863-September 27, 1906; and Wilma Billings, October 10, 1901-September 28, 1902.

I have no more information on these families at this time.