My last post, Records Breadcrumb Trail May Lead to Wrong
Conclusions, and an earlier post, Circular Migration Patterns-How History
Repeats Itself, 30 May 2015) noted my research of my Duer line. My latest hurdle is finding the burial
location of John Duer, my 3rd great grandfather.
I know from his Indiana probate records that John died on 25
February 1885 in Adams County, Indiana.
John and his second wife, Margaret Martz Searight, were living in Jefferson,
Adams County, Indiana in 1880, along with their two children Charley, age 14
and Lucinda, age 12.
Adams County, Indiana is adjacent to Mercer
County, Ohio where both had resided with their first spouses. I’m descended from John’s daughter, Maria,
with his first wife, Mary Jane Morrison.
I’m discovering some interesting information regarding John
and Margaret and I wish I could connect up with relatives who might be able to
shed light on my findings. The first
“odd” event was John and Margaret’s marriage on 11 December 1864.
How that is odd is that first wife, Mary
Jane, did not die until 10 July 1866.
No divorce documentation has been found. Nothing leads me to believe that John was a
polygamist; he was raised as a Presbyterian and his father, Thomas, was buried
in a Presbyterian cemetery in Trumbull County, Ohio.
The Justice of the Peace for the second
marriage was a third great uncle of mine on another line, John Leininger. The Leiningers were Lutheran. Since Mary Jane’s tombstone clearly states she
was “the wife of John Duer” and there was only one other John Duer living in
the area at the time who happened to be her son who was married to a Carolina
Kuhn, this isn’t a case of mistaken identity.
I’m positive that the John Duer that married Margaret was not John and
Mary Jane’s son John (Jr.) as I have his marriage certificate to Carolyn in
1863. John Jr. and Carolina’s first
child, John (of course!) was also born in 1866.
Likewise, John Sr. and his second wife, Margaret’s first child, Charles,
was born in 1866. I haven’t been able to
find the exact birth date but remember, first wife didn’t die until July
1866.
If John Sr. and Mary Ann had divorced, why would Mary Jane’s
tombstone inscription note her as a wife?
Figure 1Mary Jane
Morrison Duer Tombstone
To further support I have the correct John Duer, his will
probated in Adams County, Indiana not only mentions his children from his
second marriage to Margaret, but Angeline, his youngest daughter with his first
wife, Jane.
John and Jane had ten children; at the time of his death six were known to be living. Yet, he did not
note any child from the first wife in his will except Angeline.
There could be several reasons for the omission. Perhaps his older children, as well
established adults, did not need financial assistance. Maybe there was a falling out and the older
children were no longer speaking to their father. Angeline, Mary and James, children from his
first wife, were living in Adams County, Indiana while the other children were
living in Mercer County in 1870. Although
geographically these counties are next to each other, perhaps John decided only unmarried children living in Indiana would receive compensation.
I’ve searched for an obituary for John and Jane and haven’t
been able to find one. I’ve also been
unable to find where John was buried.
Kessler Cemetery records are incomplete.
Jane is mentioned in the records, however,
John is not. According to one of the
county trustees, the older section of the cemetery has no empty plots. There is an empty space in Jane’s row so it
is possible that John was interred there with no stone. If they had divorced, why would he be
interred close to his ex?
To rule out a burial elsewhere, other cemeteries in Mercer
and Adams counties were examined. No
burial location for John was found. John
died before death certificates were mandatory in Indiana so there is no clue to
be discovered there.
John’s second wife, Margaret, was also buried in Kessler
Cemetery and her burial is notated in the records. There are no empty spaces in Margaret’s
burial location and all surrounding graves have readable tombstones, very
similar to Jane’s. Like Jane, Margaret’s
stone denotes her as the wife of John Duer:
Figure 2 Margaret Ann
Martz Searight Duer Stone
Margaret was first married to a Mr. Sea(w)ri(gh)te. She had a daughter, Effie, from her first
marriage that was born in 1856. Effie
was born in Ohio so Margaret had emigrated from Hesse, Germany prior to that
time.
I’ve never been able to determine where Margaret’s first
husband was buried, either. Oh, these
missing men!
Here’s the second odd situation with this family – John and
Jane’s daughter, Maria (not to be confused with Mary, another of their
daughters) married Henry Kuhn Jr. Henry
was also an immigrant from Germany; he was quite prosperous and well known in
the German community in Mercer. The
Leininger family (the JP for the second marriage) were much like the Kuhns;
born in Germany they adapted quickly and held many political offices in the
community as well as being successful farmers.
Surely these individuals would have all known each other. Maria and Henry’s tombstone is ornate and
also in Kessler Cemetery. They could
have well afforded a small stone for John. Why doesn’t John have one if he was buried there?
Some individuals do not want a stone but I find no reason
that John would have been one of those folks.
His father, mother and grandfather had stones, as did both of his
wives. It seems to me that his passing
wanted to be forgotten.
As I was researching obituaries I came across the following
unsettling article:
John's wife, Margaret, had met a similar fate
Figure 3 The Fort
Wayne [Indiana] Daily News
The son that lived nearby was Charles.
Figure 4 The Evening
Republican
Figure 5 The Fort
Wayne [Indiana] Evening Sentinel
Figure 6 The Indiana
Tribune (in German)
John and Margaret’s son, Charles Edward Duer, was married to
Almeda Buckmaster.
I thought she was the “Mrs. Duer” who had
died on 1 June 1894
. I began to wonder if there wasn’t a sinister
side to this line but I’m happy to report that upon analysis, there were two
Charles Duers, one in Indiana and one in Ohio.
Both had a loved one die by fire but they were not one and the same. Whew!
Thought I was identifying a murder suspect for a bit. Guess it’s just a creepy coincidence!
