Gilliam In-Laws: The Hildreths, Part 3

 

Gilliam In-Laws: The Hildreths, Part 3



In two preceding blog posts, we reviewed the first five generations of Hildreth ancestors (and the families they married into) in North America. Three generations of Hildreth ancestors helped settle the English colonies in Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York. The fourth generation, Joseph Hildreth, moved his family from Orange County, New York to the Virginia frontier after the American Revolution commenced. His son, Jeffrey Hildreth, left his mark in Virginia before moving to Bourbon County, Kentucky a few years prior to his death in 1820. In this post, we will pick up with the sixth American Hildreth in our direct line, Rees Bowen Hildreth (1790-1849), as the Hildreths help pioneer the American Midwest.

My generation’s 3rd great-grandfather, Rees Bowen Hildreth (I will refer to him as RBH in the remainder of this post) was born in about 1790 in Wythe County, Virginia. He was the fourth or fifth child of Jeffrey and Lily Bowen Hildreth and the namesake of his Revolutionary War-hero maternal grandfather, Rees Bowen. RBH would migrate from Virginia to Kentucky, then on to Indiana. He remarried after his first wife died in about 1838, and with their blended family would migrate finally to Iowa. After his untimely death in Iowa in 1849, his widow and minor children would migrate to Missouri.

RBH married first Martha (Matty) Buchanan (1784-1838) in Wythe County, Virginia in 1806, and their first two children, Elizabeth Lillian (“Lilly”) and Jeffrey were born there. Wythe County can be found in extreme southwest Virginia on the following map:

Their first move, from Virginia to Kentucky, was part of a multi-generational family move. Sometime between 1814 and 1818, his father, Jeffrey Hildreth, sold his holdings in Virginia and moved to join his brothers (they were uncles to RBH) in Bourbon County, Kentucky. RBH joined his father Jeffrey and Jeffrey’s second wife, and twelve of his fourteen siblings and half-siblings in the move to Kentucky. Only siblings William Hildreth (1786-1850) and Lily Hildreth (1801-1839) remained in Virginia.

The following map segments identify the location of the farm and family cemetery of Jeffrey’s brother John Hildreth located in Bourbon County just east of Paris, Kentucky. It is likely Jeffrey and his sons settled nearby: 

RBH’s brothers Joseph (1786-1845), John (1790-1872) and Jonathan (1798-1838) remained in Bourbon County, Kentucky for the remainder of their lives. However, in the decade after Jeffrey Hildreth died in 1820, the rest of the family left Kentucky. Sister Abigail Hildreth (1785-1860), with her spouse and children, migrated to Fentress County, Tennessee. RBH and brother Henry Hildreth moved to Indiana. Brother Jesse Bowen Hildreth (1798-1859) moved to Ralls County, Missouri about 1825 and then to California after 1850. Jeffrey’s second wife Rachel McCarty Hildreth and her children migrated to DeWitt County, Illinois sometime after 1830.

According to a biographical sketch of his great-granddaughter, Hattie Hildreth Barber, contained in History of Franklin County, Indiana, by August Reifel (link), RBH and family moved to Franklin County in 1820. With a little detective work, we can confirm that time frame. RBH and Martha Buchanan Hildreth’s third and fourth children, Joseph (in 1816) and Gabriel (in 1818), were born while they still lived in Bourbon County, and they appear in the 1820 federal census for North Middleton Township, Bourbon County, Kentucky. Daughter Mary was born in 1823 in Franklin County, Indiana, indicating they moved sometime in the 1820-1823 timeframe. This timeframe coincides with a land grant that RBH’s brother Henry received for 80 acres in adjoining Rush County, Indiana in 1823. Based on the timing, I think we can conclude that RBH and family moved to Indiana with brother Henry Hildreth and his family about the time Henry received his farm ground in Indiana.

The acreage Henry received is shown on the map here, approximately half-way between Cincinnati, Ohio and Indianapolis, Indiana. 

RBH and family appear in the federal census for 1830 in Franklin County, Indiana. He is identified as the head of household, with four sons (three under the age of 20) and four daughters under the age of 15. His first wife, Martha Buchanan Hildreth, died in Franklin County, Indiana in about1838, leaving RBH with two young daughters at home. Very shortly thereafter, RBH married my generation’s third great-grandmother, Martha Faurot Chapman (1808-1874), a widow about 20 years his junior.

Martha Faurot Chapman Hildreth was born in Gorham Township, Ontario County, New York in 1808 (Ontario County is located in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York). After his service in the New York militia during the War of 1812, her father, Jacob Faurot, moved his family to Franklin County, Indiana. In 1830, Martha Faurot married Stuckley Chapman in Franklin County, and they had one son, Isaac, born there in 1832. She became a widow in 1838, about the same time RBH was widowed by the death of his first wife.

Before the 1840 census, RBH, Martha Faurot Hildreth and family moved to Richland Township in Rush County, Indiana. His brother Henry’s land grant was in Richland Township, but by 1840, he and his family had moved on to Fentress County, Tennessee. Thus, it is possible that RBH had taken over the farm that was originally operated by Henry.

RBH and Martha Faurot Chapman had four sons, The first two, Henry and John, were born in Indiana in 1840 and 1841, respectively. Soon thereafter, they participated in another multi-family move to Des Moines Township, Lee County, Iowa. Des Moines Township is located just northwest of the town of Keokuk, in the extreme southeast corner of Iowa: 

It appears that RBH and Martha were initially joined in the move by her sister, Anna Christena Faurot, her husband Hugh Abercrombie, and their infant son. Martha’s father, Jacob Faurot, joined them in Iowa, probably after the death of his wife, Hannah Cory Faurot, in 1844. They were joined by Martha's sisters Mehitable (May), Mary, and Stella, and brother Isaac by 1856. The last two children of RBH and Martha Faurot Hildreth, Rees and Eli, were born in Iowa in 1846 and 1849.

According to federal census reports, RBH and Martha operated a farm of approximately 80 acres, raising corn, wheat, cattle and hogs.

Just a few months after the birth of their son, Eli, RBH died in Lee County.  According to federal mortality tables from 1850, Rees Bowen Hildreth died in December, 1849 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The records do not reflect whether it was suicide or an accident, it merely indicates he “shot himself.” 

I have looked for more details concerning his death, but there are no records of contemporary newspaper accounts of the incident. After his death, an estate was opened in Lee County. The estate documents include the signature of Martha Hildreth:

No gravesite for RBH has been found. The estate documents reflect a $15 bill for a coffin, but none for a headstone.  Martha’s father, Jacob Faurot died a few years later in 1853 and was entitled to a headstone by virtue of his military service. Because his children buried him in Oakland Cemetery in Des Moines Township, we can guess that Rees Bowen Hildreth may be buried there in an unmarked grave. 

None of the children from his marriage to Martha Buchanan joined Rees Bowen Hildreth in Lee County, Iowa:

Elizabeth Lillian “Lilly” (1809- 1856) was born in Wythe County, Virginia. She married Benjamin Goodwin in Franklin County, Indiana and likely died there in 1856.

Jeffrey (1813- ) was born in Wythe County, Virginia. He married Letitia Parrish in Rush County, Indiana in 1838. They appear in censuses for Knox County, Missouri in 1850 and 1860.

Joseph (1816-1895) was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky. He married Jane Abercrombie in Franklin County, Indiana in 1840, and died there in 1895.

Gabriel (1818-1911) was born in Bourbon County, Kentucky. He married Elizabeth Willson in Franklin County, Indiana in 1840. He died in Porter County, Indiana in 1911.

Mary (1823-1891) was born in Franklin County, Indiana. She married William Doyel there in 1837, and died in Porter County, Indiana in 1891.

Elsie (1827-1859) was born in Franklin County, Indiana in 1827. She married David Dinwiddie in Franklin County and died in 1859 in Linn County, Oregon.

The next post will pick up as widow Martha Faurot Chapman Hildreth, with her surviving sons, migrated to Missouri and lived the remainder of her life there. We will also explore the rich history of the Faurot branch of the Hildreth family tree.