Nancy Dillon Kingery: 1842 Was a Rough Year (52 Ancestors #49)

Timelines are powerful tools in our research. They can show us holes in our research, give us ideas for new places to look, and even help us evaluate evidence. (“She was only 2 when she gave birth? Huh. I think something is wrong here.”)

Timelines are even more powerful when we include dates of a person’s entire family. Doing that for Nancy Dillon Kingery, my 3rd-great-grandmother, gave me a whole new insight into her life.

  • 1808 – Born1)Nancy Ann Dillon Kingery, FindAGrave.com, memorial 70131401. Includes photo of tombstone in Kingry Cemetery in Lawrence County, Ohio. Birth date of 2 August 1808 calculated from age at date of death.
  • 1832 – Married Henry Kingery in Lawrence County, Ohio2)FamilySearch.org, Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1997, Henry Kingry and Nancy Dillon marriage, Lawrence County marriage vol. 1-3, p. 158.
  • 1833 – Birth of son Armsted3)Henry Rengers [sic] household, 1850 U.S. census, Windsor Township, Lawrence County, Ohio, p. 399, nos. 65/67.
  • 1835 – Birth of son Lewis4)Henry Rengers [sic] household, 1850 U.S. census, Windsor Township, Lawrence County, Ohio, p. 399, nos. 65/67.
  • 1836 – Birth of son William5)Henry Rengers [sic] household, 1850 U.S. census, Windsor Township, Lawrence County, Ohio, p. 399, nos. 65/67.
  • 1838 – Birth of daughter Mary6)Cemeteries of Windsor Township, Lawrence County, Ohio. No publication info.
  • 1839 – Birth of daughter Elizabeth7)Elizabeth Kingery, FindAGrave.com, memorial 70146859. Includes photo of tombstone in Kingry Cemetery in Lawrence County, Ohio.
  • 1840 – Death of daughter Elizabeth8)Elizabeth Kingery, FindAGrave.com, memorial 70146859. Includes photo of tombstone in Kingry Cemetery in Lawrence County, Ohio.
  • 1841 – Birth of son John Peter9)FamilySearch.org, Ohio, Deaths, 1908-1953, John P. Kingrey death certificate, 11782 (1917), digital image.
  • 1842 – Birth of son Samuel10)Samuel Kingery, FindAGrave.com, memorial 70146927. Includes photo of tombstone in Kingry Cemetery in Lawrence County, Ohio. NOTE: The tombstone is hard to read; an earlier transcription varies on the month and day of his death, though both agree that it was in 1842 and he was aged 20 days.
  • 1842 – Death of son Samuel11)Samuel Kingery, FindAGrave.com, memorial 70146927. Includes photo of tombstone in Kingry Cemetery in Lawrence County, Ohio. NOTE: The tombstone is hard to read; an earlier transcription varies on the month and day of his death, though both agree that it was in 1842 and he was aged 20 days.
  • 1842 – Death of daughter Mary (13 November)12)Cemeteries of Windsor Township, Lawrence County, Ohio. No publication info.
  • 1847 – Birth of son Henry Franklin13)Henry Rengers [sic] household, 1850 U.S. census, Windsor Township, Lawrence County, Ohio, p. 399, nos. 65/67.
  • 1848 – Birth of son McCager14)Henry Rengers [sic] household, 1850 U.S. census, Windsor Township, Lawrence County, Ohio, p. 399, nos. 65/67.
  • 1864 – Son John Peter enlists in 173rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry15)Roster Commission. Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War of the Rebellion. Vol. 9. Cincinnati: Ohio Valley Press, 1889.
  • 1872 – Death of husband Henry16)Henry Franklin Kingery, Sr., FindAGrave.com, memorial 70128122. Includes photo of tombstone in Kingry Cemetery in Lawrence County, Ohio.
  • 1894 – Died17)Nancy Ann Dillon Kingery, FindAGrave.com, memorial 70131401. Includes photo of tombstone in Kingry Cemetery in Lawrence County, Ohio.

1842. The year that Nancy gave birth to her son Samuel, only to see him die three weeks later. Then 4-year-old Mary died later that fall. Nancy had already lost her 1-year-old daughter Elizabeth in 1840.

How did Nancy cope with the deaths of her children? Was she frightened to discover she was pregnant in 1847 and again in 1848? How worried was she when John Peter went off to fight in the Civil War?

The gap in her children between 1842 and 1847 makes me wonder. Did she have — and lose — another child in that time? Did she avoid getting pregnant, afraid that she would have to bury another child if she did?

While we’ll never know the answers to those questions, seeing this timeline makes us think less about individual events and more about Nancy’s life.

EDIT: If you enjoyed this example of a timeline, you might also like the post I wrote about Nancy’s son John Peter, his entry into the Civil War, and the birth of his daughter: John, This Is Your Daughter: Or, How a Timeline Uncovered a Family Story.

It's kind of strange how we look at time and the events in our ancestors' lives...

It’s kind of strange how we look at time and the events in our ancestors’ lives…

References   [ + ]

1. Nancy Ann Dillon Kingery, FindAGrave.com, memorial 70131401. Includes photo of tombstone in Kingry Cemetery in Lawrence County, Ohio. Birth date of 2 August 1808 calculated from age at date of death.
2. FamilySearch.org, Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1997, Henry Kingry and Nancy Dillon marriage, Lawrence County marriage vol. 1-3, p. 158.
3, 4, 5, 13, 14. Henry Rengers [sic] household, 1850 U.S. census, Windsor Township, Lawrence County, Ohio, p. 399, nos. 65/67.
6, 12. Cemeteries of Windsor Township, Lawrence County, Ohio. No publication info.
7, 8. Elizabeth Kingery, FindAGrave.com, memorial 70146859. Includes photo of tombstone in Kingry Cemetery in Lawrence County, Ohio.
9. FamilySearch.org, Ohio, Deaths, 1908-1953, John P. Kingrey death certificate, 11782 (1917), digital image.
10, 11. Samuel Kingery, FindAGrave.com, memorial 70146927. Includes photo of tombstone in Kingry Cemetery in Lawrence County, Ohio. NOTE: The tombstone is hard to read; an earlier transcription varies on the month and day of his death, though both agree that it was in 1842 and he was aged 20 days.
15. Roster Commission. Official Roster of the Soldiers of the State of Ohio in the War of the Rebellion. Vol. 9. Cincinnati: Ohio Valley Press, 1889.
16. Henry Franklin Kingery, Sr., FindAGrave.com, memorial 70128122. Includes photo of tombstone in Kingry Cemetery in Lawrence County, Ohio.
17. Nancy Ann Dillon Kingery, FindAGrave.com, memorial 70131401. Includes photo of tombstone in Kingry Cemetery in Lawrence County, Ohio.

19 thoughts on “Nancy Dillon Kingery: 1842 Was a Rough Year (52 Ancestors #49)

  1. gilliedog2014Angela

    Amy,my hat is a fantastic timeline. As you say it really brings the life of your ancestor to a new perspective. How tragic to loose such beautiful children….I am always on the hunt for possible babes and children of my ancestors who died so young. I call it my hunt for our “lost children”. When they don’t appear in census records etc. it’s hard to find them but they are there so often in those “in between” years and are just as precious to our family now as they were to their parents then. So I’m always looking for ways to find them in my research which is mostly in England, Scotland, Canada and New Zealand on my line and in the USA and Bohemia on my husbands line. When you make a timeline list for your ancestor you can see gaps between children.
    The other thing I like to try to do is to add into a timeline social, economic and world events which may have impacted their decisions; whether it be to move from one town to another or emigrate, go to or away from wars which might affect them or move to places where fomplaces where work and/or food was more abundant.
    Thank you for a great post.

    Reply
    1. Amy Johnson Crow Post author

      Thank you! This timeline is actually abbreviated. Normally, I would have census information, land transactions, county boundary changes, and pertinent events like wars — basically any record that I can put my ancestor in a time and/or a place or an event that would affect them. I didn’t think you’d want to see the entire thing 😉

      You might be interested in another timeline I wrote about, which helped uncover a family story. It’s about Nancy’s son John Peter Kingery, his entry into the Civil War, and the birth of his daughter: John, This Is Your Daughter.

      Reply
  2. Nancy Hill

    Perhaps her husband was working away from home, maybe out of the state. Also the Mexican war was during some of that time, maybe he served there. It is so hard when there are long gaps in the timeline to know what was going on then. Your timeline is a wonderful example for all of us and how fortunate you are to have been able to fill in so many events. Thanks so much for your inspiration.

    Reply
    1. Amy Johnson Crow Post author

      That’s a good point about the Mexican-American War. (And yet another reason to have a good timeline!)

      Thanks for the kind words, Nancy. I’m glad you found this post useful!

      Reply
  3. Cathy Meder-Dempsey

    I used the timeline feature of my genealogy software for all of my 52 Ancestors posts this year. I’m thinking of switching software after 13 years. There are several features that will inflence my decision and the timeline feature may “break it or make it.”

    Reply
    1. Amy Johnson Crow Post author

      I’ve never had much luck using the timeline feature in any genealogy software (at least, not the timelines that are automatically generated). I want the ability to add the events that I want to add (county formations, local events, etc) and I want to be able to take a master timeline and split it into smaller ones based on event type (like, just the land transactions). Though it takes more work, I use Excel for my timelines. Maybe I’m just old-fashioned — or possibly a control freak 😉 — but it works for me.

      Reply
  4. thegenealogygirl

    Hi Amy, I’m curious about the format of your references. Did you have a special template made that allows so many references in a post or is this just a basic template? I love how clean and organized your references are and I’ve been trying to find a template that allows this very thing. Mine only allows three (I think) per post, not nearly enough… Thank you! :)

    Reply
    1. Amy Johnson Crow Post author

      It’s a WordPress plugin call footnotes (developed by ManFisher). I’m not sure if you can get it on blogs that are hosted on WordPress.com. (I have my own installation, which gives me more freedom to pick and choose my plugins.)

      Reply
  5. Mike Dyer

    Hi Amy, in your Lawrence County research have you come across online burial indexes for cemeteries?

    I’m working with a handful of distant cousins to locate the grave for a great-grandfather Burr Zelah Dornon (as an aside, the Lawrence Register Facebook group is a great resource).

    One cousin seems to think he was buried in Dillon Cemetery. Unfortunately, many of the old headstones were stolen or weathered away. I’m looking for resources on burial indexes that may have listed his stone before it disappeared.

    I appreciate any pointers.

    Reply
    1. Amy Johnson Crow Post author

      It sounds like you’re going to need something older than what is typically in an online cemetery database, which is usually based on reading the tombstones. (No tombstone = not in the database.) When did Burr die? If he died in Ohio after December 1908, his burial place should be listed on his death certificate. Before that, you could check for obituaries. Also, do you know where his wife is buried? It’s likely he’s with her. (And you’re right about the Facebook group — they’re awesome!)

      Reply
      1. Mike Dyer

        Thanks, Amy. Burr died in the 1860s. His wife is buried in Kansas where her children lived. I’m hopeful someone walked the cemetery and surveyed burials in the early 1900s. I’ll check with the local library to see if such a record exists.

        Reply
    2. Amy Johnson Crow Post author

      I did a little bit of digging. The Lawrence County Chapter of OGS published some readings back in the 1980s and the DAR did some as far back as the 1960s. Here’s a link on WorldCat for the results of my search lawrence county ohio cemeteries. If you see a title you’re interested in, click on the title, then enter your ZIP code; it will then show you the libraries closest to you with that book. Good luck!

      Reply

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