Rememberings of Rusha Cordelia Kephart

Rusha Cordelia Kephart was born in Ida Grove, Iowa on October 17, 1891 to my second great grandparents, Alexis and Susan (Templeton) Kephart. Rusha was the baby of the family, and one of two girls in the family, and by all accounts she was very close to her mother. I believe it's likely that Rusha was named after her maternal grandmother, Jerusha (Sutton) Templeton. Rusha may have been short for Jerusha, or just derived from it. 

Lincoln County Oklahoma History

In my last blog post, I wrote about a recent photo discovery made of an old photo gallery built and owned by my great grandfather, John Arthur Kephart. It was so great to get that from the kind researcher at the Lincoln County Historical Society in Chandler, Oklahoma. So I asked her what book she found the photo in, and she told me it was from the Society's history book of the county, called Lincoln County Oklahoma History. That book is no longer in print, but I found a copy on Ebay--all 1,572 pages of it. I have so many ancestors from Lincoln County, I knew I had to have, so I'm glad I won that auction!

Believe me when I say that I've not yet read this beast of a book. I'm skimming and scanning my way through slowly. But I did check the index straight away to check for ancestor names, and they were there! In particular, I have found a couple of great photos and articles, both written by my great aunt, Ruby Christina (Kephart) Stephens, who is my namesake. Much of the content of the book about various local families was written by living family members, who I'm sure also provided many photos. I so love the photos! Yay!

The photo below is of my great, great grandmother, Susan Eleanor (Templeton) Kephart. Next to her is her granddaughter, my great aunt Ruby, when she was a young girl.

Nellie (as Susan was often called) was a prize-winning gardener and canner, among many other things. So I love that this photo in the book shows her with some of her canned goods. 

This next photo from the book is of my maternal great grandparents, Della Mae (Swinford) Kephart, and John Arthur Kephart. 

Until I saw this photograph in the book, I had forgotten that I had seen a real one many times before--in my grandparents' home. As soon as I saw it I could picture it hanging on Nana's wall. I love that photo of them! I only wish I had a real copy of the photo myself.  But this one is better than nothing, and it sure was nice to find it in the book.

And since my great grandfather was a photographer back in the day, and one of the only ones in Lincoln County for quite awhile, he is credited for taking some of the photos in the history book as well. As I go through the book I am bookmarking pages and making notes, and I hope to share more information from it here on the blog in the future. I have some other Swinford ancestors in the book as well. So who knows what else I may find.

I wish every county had books like this. It really is a wonderful way to travel back in time and visit the places so many of my ancestors lived. What a treasure for a genealogist like me! 

Wednesday's Child - Jerry Hollister Kephart

For this week's Wednesday's Child, I am featuring the ancestor that my maternal grandmother, Della Maxine Kephart, considered to be her guardian angel. It was her brother, Jerry Hollister Kephart, who was nicknamed Hollis.

Jerry was born to John Arthur and Della Mae (Swinford) Kephart on October 23, 1925 in Wellston, Oklahoma. His middle name, Hollister, was likely given to him after his great grandfather, Isaac Hollister Templeton (his paternal grandmother's father). I'm not sure if the name Jerry was after someone else, or just a name that my great grandparents liked.

Sadly, Hollis would live only 2 years, passing away on December 19, 1927. Family history says that he died as a result of multiple bee stings. He is buried in Wellston Cemetery in Wellston, OK. I imagine that the above photo was likely taken not long before he died, because he looks to be about two years old here. My grandmother always had that photo of him in her home, and she treasured it.

Rest in Peace

Surname Saturday - Templeton

Another important surname in my family tree is Templeton. So I am featuring that line in my tree for this week's Surname Saturday post.

The nearest Templeton ancestor that I have in my tree is my great, great grandmother, Susan Eleanor Templeton, who married my great, great grandfather, Alexis Elihu Kephart. I've mentioned both of these ancestors before, including the recent Surname Saturday - Kephart post that I did.

According to the Surname Database, which follows along with Ancestry's surname info, the Templeton surname is primarily Scottish, and it appears in Scotland before the time of Robert the Bruce. They also note that, "The origination is from the village of Templeton in Ayrshire, and it is in the counties of Ayr and Lanark that the name is most predominantly recorded. The derivation of the name is from the pre 7th century Olde English 'templ' referring to a pre-Christian place of worship, plus 'tun', a village or homestead."

My mom traced our Templeton lineage to one Andrew Templeton, born 07 August in 1786 in New Hampshire. But that's as far as she, or I for that matter, have gotten with our Templeton line. The problem is that there is more than one Andrew Templeton from that same area and time period. So there's lots of conflicting information and confusion, particularly since they all seem to have lived in New York at some point and had children there. So it gets a little sketchy.

Fast forward a bit to the birth of my 3rd great grandfather, Isaac Hollister Templeton, born 02 August 1830 in Middle Granville, New York. His story is intriguing. Family tradition says that he was born as John Dexter Templeton, but that his father died before his birth and his mother was unable to care for him--having 7 children already--and thus he was given to close family friend, Isaac Hollister (born 1796 in Glastonbury, CT) to raise. So John Dexter was given the name of Isaac and was raised in the Hollister family. Isaac/John Dexter is enumerated with the Hollister family in 1850 in Rock Island County, Illinois.

When my Isaac reached manhood though, he took back his Templeton surname and thus became Isaac Hollister Templeton. Isaac would later marry my 3rd great grandmother, Jerusha Harmon Sutton and they would have at least five children. One of their children was given Isaac's original birth name, John Dexter. And another was given the name of Isaac's adoptive brothers from the Hollister family, Edwin Hall.

Isaac Hollister Templeton & Jerusha Harmon (Sutton) Templeton

My mom's research indicates that the death of Isaac's father, Andrew has not yet been documented. I'm still looking for that information, as it may provide us with more details about Isaac and his adoption by the Hollister family. 

A family story describes Isaac as "a tall, thin man, looking much like Abe Lincoln, and had an abrupt way of speaking. When the weather was cool, he always wore a long, black overcoat. He never buttoned it though - just pushed it back and walked with his hands in the pockets."

My mother noted that during the winter of 1913-1914, Isaac had a stroke and was completely paralyzed. He died in April, 1914, four months before his eighty-fourth birthday. Isaac was borne to Cardwell Chapel Cemetery on a spring wagon drawn by a pair of matched grey horses.

I have much more research to do on this ancestor. Such interesting tidbits that need to be further explored! And I hope to eventually find many more Templeton ancestors to fill my family tree.

Forget Me Not Friday - Jerusha Sutton Templeton

For this week's Forget Me Not Friday I'm going to spotlight my maternal third great grandmother, Jerusha Harmon (Sutton) Templeton. 

Jerusha was born on March 4th, 1835 in Switzerland County, Indiana. Her parents were John D. Sutton and Susanna (Dodge) Sutton. Jerusha would grow up and marry her husband, Isaac Hollister Templeton on July 3, 1853 in Rock Island County, Illinois. Together they would at least 5 children that grew to adulthood, and they would live in Iowa for a time, then Oklahoma, and then finally in Missouri. Isaac passed away in Missouri in 1914, so Jerusha went to live with one her daughters in Oklahoma and would remain there until she passed on June 26, 1920 in Ringwood, OK. She was laid to rest next to Isaac though in Diggins, Missouri.

I love this photo of Jerusha. There's something so serene about her. And I just thought it was perfect to share for Forget Me Not Friday.