John Harland and Elizabeth Lowry (Spring) Rodenberger

When I visited my parents in May, my mother gave me four family portraits:  my 3xgreat-grandparents and my 2xgreat-grandparents.  Here are my 3xgreat-grandparents.  John Harland Rodenberger was born in Fayette Co, Ohio on 20 November 1831.  Elizabeth Lowry Spring was born in Ohio on 28 April 1837.  John and Elizabeth married 27 April 1854 in Owen Co, Indiana.

John and Elizabeth with their oldest child, Iona Celeste Silvana Rodenberger - my 2xgreat-grandmother, were enumerated in the 1856 Iowa State Census in Boone, Boone Co.  In 1860 the family, now including their son Charles Cllifford Rodenberger, were enumerated in Bourbon Co, Kansas Territory.  By July 1861, they were back in Clay Co, Indiana.  By September 1865, the Rodenberger family was living in Hallowell, Cherokee Co, Kansas.  John and Elizabeth's family expanded to eight children.

Elizabeth L (Spring) Rodenberger died 8 September 1895 in Cherokee Co, Kansas.  John Harland Rodenberger died 6 September 1908 also in Cherokee Co, Kansas.  They are buried at the McKee Cemetery, Hallowell, Cherokee Co, Kansas.

 

Traveling

Yesterday I drove 13 hours from Virginia to Florida - a long trip alone by car.  On the trip, I thought about my ancestors and all their travels.  My mother made the following transcription on a trip to Illinois from Pennsylvania in 1951.  The pages she copied were stuffed inside the family Bible at her cousin's house.  Wayne T Dawson's mother Ida May (Rodenberger) Dawson was the younger sister of my great-great-grandmother, Iona Celeste Silvana (Rodenberger) Dawson.  Both sisters married brothers:  Iona married Taylor Dawson and May married Doug Dawson.

"Iowa - November 13, 1855
Charley's birth - November 18, 1857 in Iowa
First trip west - Boonsborough, Iowa 1856
South to Bourbon County, Kansas - July 1858
Trip North to Boonsborough, Iowa after household goods, 1859
$8 - clarinet
$10 - violin in exchange for homemade violin made of curly sugar tree brought from Iowa
Buffalo Hunt, September to October 1860
Back to Indiana, December 1860"

I believe the transcription is in error for Iowa - Nov. 13, 1855.  I believe it should be Iona instead.  Iona was born on that date in Clay Co, Indiana.  I found Iona's father, John Harland Rodenberger, his wife Elizabeth, and daughter Sylvana, age 1, and John's 4 brothers enumerated in the 1856 Iowa State Census in Boone, Boone Co, Iowa.  John, Elizabeth, Celestia, and Charles C were enumerated in the 1860 Census of Bourbon County, Kansas Territory.  John and Elizabeth's 3rd child, Clara Melvina Rodenberger, was born July 19, 1861 in Indiana.  In the 1870 Federal Census the John H Rodenberger family was enumerate in Sheridan Twp, Cherokee Co, Kansas.

Now that is a lot of travel . . . and not in the comfort of an air conditioned car with restaurants along the way.