Henry Thomas Nation, the son of Henry Nation (1814-1860+) of Ohio, Tennessee and Arkansas is one of many loose ends in my husband’s family tree.
The difficulty is in the timing and the lack of records and the fact that he was enumerated as Thomas, as a child, but it turns out that was his middle name.
Henry Nation was born c1814 in Preble County, Ohio. He settled in Tennessee as a young man, where he married an unknown person. This woman is my husband’s 2X great grandmother, but nothing is known about her except that per the 1840 census, she gave birth to four children, including my husband’s great grandfather, Joseph Michael Nation.
Henry married (2) another completely unknown woman who was the mother of Thomas Nation, the subject of today’s rabbit hole visit.
Until now, I knew only that Thomas was born c1844 in Tennessee and at home in 1850 and that apparently he married Nancy (MNU) by 1860, when he was 17 and she was 23 years old (!!!). The couple were living in the midst of the extended Ledbetter family in Overton County, Tennessee at that time. [What became of Nancy Nation in Fentress County after 1860, I do not know.] He dropped from sight and I even wondered if he might have died serving in the Civil War.
Well, time is often on a genealogist’s side and a new hint has popped up – and a great hint it is – a 1909 obituary! Without it, I still wouldn’t have a clue about the man and definitely wouldn’t have looked for him in Nebraska!
New details from the obituary:
Henry Thomas Nation, of Marsland, Nebraska died Friday, June 11, 1909 at home. The obituary says he was born on 11 May 1844 in Fentress County, Tennessee, the son of Henry Nation and Polly Riddle. It also mentions that his mother died when he was just six weeks old. However, while his mother might have died soon after he was born, his birth mother wasn’t Polly Riddle. Polly was Henry’s 3rd wife and she outlived her husband.
Henry Thomas enlisted in the Confederate Army and married Olivia Frances Spotts in 1870 in Howard County, Missouri. The couple and their seven children moved to Nebraska to homestead land and had three more children born there. Olivia died of a heart attack on a trip back to Missouri for a visit.
Henry retired in 1902 and lived with his older children until he died on 11 June 1909. He’s buried in Marsland Cemetery, Dawes County, Nebraska. Olivia is buried at Lake Cemetery, Barton County, Missouri. She was born on 29 April 1854 in Howard County, Missouri and died on 11 July 1894, just past her 40th birthday.
They were the parents of ten children:
- William Baylor, born 7 March 1872, Howard County, Missouri; died 6 January 1938, Melbeta, Scotts Bluff, Nebraska; married (1) Clara Parker, 3 September 1896, in Weston County, Wyoming. Clara died before 1900. (2) Myra (Parker) Semberg, 8 February 1901, Crawford, Dawes, Nebraska
- Annie Lou, born 2 May 1874, Howard county, Missouri; died 20 October 1945, Portland Multnomah, Oregon; married James C. Boulden, 5 April 1891, Dawes County, Nebraska
- John Clark, born 16 August 1876, Howard County, Missouri; died 5 December 1947, Lander, Fremont, Wyoming; married Alma Georgiana Parker, 9 September 1895, Butte County, Nebraska
- Grace Orian, born 18 October 1878, Howard County, Missouri; died 25 November 1937, Howard County, Missouri; married Charles F. Stevenson, 25 December 1894, Belmont, Dawes, Nebraska
- Mary Irene, born 20 April 1881, Howard County, Missouri; died 17 April 1948, Casper, Natrona, Wyoming; married William Edwin Waygood, 25 May 1896, Weston County, Wyoming
- Edgar Madison, born 21 April 1883, Howard County, Missouri; died 5 November 1938, Belmont, Dawes, Nebraska; married Laura Ellen Childers, 11 July 1900, Dawes County, Nebraska
- Susie Elizabeth, born 23 July 1885, Howard County, Missouri; died 15 October 1954, Morris, Okmulgee, Oklahoma; married (1) Robert L. Wetherford, 25 December 1901, Sheridan County, Wyoming (2) James William Harris, between 1910-1920
- Earl Daniel, born 17 April 1888, Belmont, Dawes, Nebraska; died 9 July 1964, Chadron, Dawes, Nebraska; married Iva Luella Hamaker, 11 October 1908, Dawes County, Nebraska
- Jefferson Davis, born 12 August 1892, Belmont, Dawes, Nebraska; died 14 October 1944, Portland, Multnomah, Oregon; married Phebe Cook, 24 March 1915, Idaho Falls, Bonneville, Idaho
- Jennie Mae, born 25 February 1893, Belmont, Dawes, Nebraska; died 25 April 1977, Powell, Park, Wyoming; married Roy C. Meek, 3 September 1913, Gering, Scotts Bluff, Nebraska
Not only did I find (Henry) Thomas Nation, but all his children left fabulous records. My husband has many more new Nation cousins!
Newspapers for the win again!! And how convenient he had a somewhat unique name and you knew he’d been born in TN. Even though his mother’s name is incorrect, the rest certainly fits. So cool you could tie up at least some of those loose ends.
Polly Riddle would have been the only mother he likely knew for most of his life.