| Notes |
- Matthias and his family was living near his parents at the time of the 1860 Census. Matthias was dwelling number 489 and his father was dwelling number 490.
Mathias3 Drollinger (Elias2, Frederick1) was born 30 August 1824 in Preble Co., Ohio. He married first Amelia Jane Lloyd, 29 August 1850 in Wabash County, Indiana. Amelia, daughter of Simeon B. Lloyd, was born on 9 May 1835 in Indiana and died on 2 May 1885. His second marriage was to Leah Miller 15 November 1888 also in Wabash County, Indiana. Mathias died 26 December 1895 in Kenesaw, Adams County, Nebraska.
Two elderly-looking people stare back from photographs of Mathias and Amelia Drollinger taken near the mid-1880's. Mathias sports what looks like a faux Santa Claus beard. Completely white, it runs from ear to ear under his chin, below an otherwise clean-shaven face. The receding hairline is decorated by a wad of gray curl in the middle and long ringlets trail down the sides to meet the beard. His eyes look down from sunken sockets, giving the appearance sadness. Amelia's gray, middle-parted hair rims her face just under her white kerchief. Clear eyes directly focused at the camera look out of a very wrinkled face. They look tired. The aged appearances tell of hard lives, considering that the photos must have been taken prior to Amelia's death when Amelia was in her late 40's and Mathias not yet 60.
These tired looking people raised nine children with very little wherewithal. Mathias seemed to have continual monetary problems in Indiana. There are numerous records of judgments against him, resulting in his having to pay off a loan plus ante up for court costs. This may have been learned behavior considering that his father Elias regularly mortgaged his property and died with many small debts. Or perhaps Mathias was the reason Elias was always in debt because for years Mathias dragged his father into these cases as a surety. Following the court records pertaining to his father-in-law's estate shows some of what happened to Mathias's dabbling in real estate. Amelia's father Simeon B. Lloyd died 29 August 1855 leaving thirteen children, seven by his first wife (Amelia's mother) and six by his second wife. He instructed that his real estate be sold and divided among the seven children of his first wife. Mathias probably had a grand plan as he started buying out the real estate interests of Amelia's brothers. In October 1856 he paid $200 to Thomas B. Lloyd for Thomas's 1/13 interest and $150 to John Lloyd for his 1/13 interest. Meanwhile he may have borrowed the money to pay for these purchases from William Lloyd because by February 1857 William sued Mathias for the $300 owed him. Elias stepped in to guarantee payment by 2 November 1857. In December 1857 Thomas bought the 3/13 interest from Mathias for $500. No other records indicate that Mathias bought any property. Thomas Lloyd lived in Boone County, Indiana, so perhaps he hired Mathias to work the Wabash County land for him.
Mathias and Amelia's next infusion of cash came after his mother Anna's death. When Anna died in 1874, Elias's estate was still in probate and it took another year to settle their final affairs. Mathias's brother, Martin V. Drollinger, was the administrator for his father and the executor for his mother, so he was charged with the four year long interaction with the court and his siblings. By his mother's will, Martin, Mathias, and their sister Diana Courll were to inherit. Martin bought out his siblings in November 1875 for $800. The deed says Mathias and Amelia reside in Will County, Illinois, and Dianna and Henry O. Courll reside in adjoining Grundy County, Illinois.
Mathias was a farmer in Kendall County at the time of the 1870 census. Kendall, Will, and Grundy Counties touch right about where Mathias was living. A search of deed records in these three counties reveal no land purchases or sales for Mathias and the census enumerator does not list a real estate value for him. However, beside his daughter Anna's name is the value of $3,200 and a personal property value of $800. This would be highly unusual for a girl of eighteen, so the assumption would be that the census taker made a mistake. Perhaps he meant these values for Mathias, but that, too, would seem to be an error because no records support Mathias owning property at this time. The anomaly remains. However, by late 1875 Mathias did have the $400 from the sale of his share of his parents' property and he went shopping. In the spring of 1876 he bought 80 acres of good fertile Illinois farm land in Grundy County from Isaac Snider (daughter Anna's father-in-law) for $3,800, subject to a $2,600 mortgage due in the coming July. In August Mathias refinanced for $2,200 payable annually at $500 plus 10% interest. Five years later in 1881 he lost the farm to foreclosure, but he had paid his taxes all along. Mathias paid his 1884 taxes on 25 February 1885 and disappeared from the Grundy County tax rolls.
Amelia died 2 May 1885, a few days before her 50th birthday, but where? Family tradition says she died and was buried in Indiana, but that her daughter Diana had the body moved to Illinois for reburial in the Braceville-Gardner Cemetery, Grundy County, Illinois. Research into this is inconclusive. There is a obelisk in the Braceville-Gardner Cemetery engraved with her dates and this sentiment: "Dear Mother, in earth's thorny paths, How long thy feet have trod. To find at last this peaceful rest, Safe in the arms of God." The cemetery records show that M. Drollinger of Gardner, bought cemetery lot 16 in 1888, 3 years after his wife died. The first burial was that of Etta Jane Marvin, his granddaughter, in 1893. Next listed is William Marvin, his son-in-law, in 1904, and in 1909 William Marvin, his grandson. His daughter Diana Marvin was buried there in 1946 and the next year his grandson Sylvanus Marvin was buried there. All these burials are listed in ink; penciled in after them is the notation "1885 Amelia wife M. Drollinger". It looks as if the family tradition may by true. The tombstone refers to "Mother, " not to wife, so this further strengthens the argument. However, this notation is at the bottom of the list, after the death of Diana Marvin and the tradition is that it was Diana who had her mother's body moved. Published cemetery records in Wabash County, Indiana, have no listings for an Amelia Drollinger and no funeral records have been found for the period, so the mystery remains.
The youngest of Mathias and Amelia's ten children, Frederick, was only ten years old when his mother died and would still need mothering. Jacob, the next youngest was 14 and was also likely to be still at home. But Mathias was not quick to remarry. He waited three years, marrying Leah Miller 12 November 1888 in Wabash County. Leah was a widow of 42, born April 1848 in Ohio, who was a member of the Methodist Church. Leah and her family may have been known to Mathias or he may have met her at the time of Amelia's death, if she did indeed die in Wabash County as the family tradition says. Mathias must have taken Leah back to Grundy County because Frederick died there in 1892. The only record of his death is a newspaper item that says "Martin Drollinger was in Gardner on June 17 to attend his brother Fred's funeral." There is no mention of the cause of this young man's death, but Bernice Brown's memoir says the weather was very hot and Frederick jumped from a rock into the Mazon Creek and was swept downstream. The newspaper publishing the funeral item does report there was a storm on June 14, so the creek could have been swollen. Summer thunderstorms often cause flash floods in the creeks and rivers of Illinois.
Sometime after Fred's death Leah and Mathias went from Grundy County to Adams County, Nebraska, where Mathias's son Martin Henry had settled at least by 1888 when his daughter Clara was born there. Mathias's children Anna Snider and Jacob also moved to Adams County, but the dates of their moves are unknown. Jacob married in Illinois in 1893, so it was after that time. Anna and her husband were enumerated with their son-in-law in Adams County in 1900, but were probably there earlier. Mathias died in Adams County 27 December 1899, and in 1900 Leah was once again a widow, living on a rented farm. Three weeks after the enumeration she sold a lot in Roann, Wabash County for $375. She is identified as an unmarried widow formerly Leah Miller, Adams County, Nebraska. She like Mathias's first wife was unable to sign her name to a deed, leaving a mark instead.
Leah died in 1917 and is buried in Block 4 of the Juniata Cemetery in Adams County, Nebraska. In the same block are other Millers: Bertha L., 1874-1959; George H. 1867-1950; Harold S. son of George, Oct. 25, 1898-Nov. 15, 1900; Glen V. 1910-1934. No further research was done to determine the relationships, but one wonders if George was Leah's son by her first marriage. Leah and Mathias were only married for 11 years, so perhaps it is not strange to not find them buried together. But if they both died in Adams County, one would expect they would both be buried there. Mathias is not with his first wife in Illinois, nor does he appear in any cemetery listings in Wabash County, Indiana, or Adams County, Nebraska.
Short and Bowers, Cemetery Inscriptions Darke County, Ohio, Vol. 1, p. 48.
James Banks & Kate Noggle, Marriage Record, no recording date, Marriage Record D 1873-1878, no. 994 no recording date, FHL 1,030, 771.This is the only record found that uses the name "Kate."
Elias Drollinger household, 1850 U. S. census, Wabash County, Indiana, Noble township, p. 445, line 10, dwelling 548, family 566, NARA M432, roll 178. The specific month and date taken from Bernice Marvin McKell Brown Memoirs, 7 April 1969, personal papers in files of Kay Germain Ingalls, 770 Mahogany Lane, Sunnyvale, California 94086. Bernice Brown was the granddaughter of Mathias Drollinger.
Mathias Drollinger & Amelia J. Lloyd, Wabash County, Indiana, Marriage Return, 18 October 1850, Marriage Book A: 169, Clerk's Office, Wabash, Indiana. Although the date of marriage entered in the book is 29 October, the record was made 18 October. The license was issued on August 28, therefore, the marriage was most likely performed on 29 August.
Simeon B. Lloyd estate, Wabash County probate file box 45-6, Clerk's Office, Wabash, Indiana.
Simeon B. Lloyd household, 1850 U.S. census, Wabash County, Indiana, Noble township, sheet 445, line 13, dwelling 555, family 571, NARA M432, roll 178.
Brown Memoirs.
Mathias Drollinger & Leah Miller, Wabash County, Indiana, Marriage Return, 15 November 1888, Book 11: 343, Wabash County Clerk's Office, Wabash, Indiana.
Nebraska State Historical Society, Nebraska Newspaper Abstracts, Vol. 1 1870's (Nebraska State Historical Society).
Undated family photographs in possession of the author.
For example, Lafayette Tryon vs. Mathias Drollinger et al, Wabash County Circuit Court, box 87, case 21, Wabash, Indiana.
Wabash County probate file, box 45-6.
Wabash County Deed Book S:137-138, Recorder's Office, Wabash, Indiana.
William Lloyd vs. Mathias Drollinger, Wabash County Circuit Court, 11 February 1857, Wabash, Indiana.
Wabash County Deed Book V:235, Recorder's Office, Wabash, Indiana.
Tax records that would show conclusively that Mathias owned no property are extant but inaccessible in Wabash County.
Wabash County Deed Book 21:307, Recorder's Office, Wabash, Indiana.
Larkin L. Schneider & Annie T. Drollinger, Kendall County, Illinois, Marriage Record, 16 May 1872, Book A1, no. 1921: 154, Clerk's Office, Yorkville, Illinois. Larkin in his father's 1870 household next door to the Mathias Drollinger household: Isaac Snyder, 1870 U. S. census, Kendall County, Illinois, Seward township, Kendall post office, p. 465, dwelling 67, family 63, NARA M593, roll 239.
Grundy County, Illinois Deed Book 38:77, Recorder's Office, Gardner, Illinois.
Grundy County, Illinois Deed Book 48:173 and Mortgage Book 41:325, Recorder's Office, Gardner, Illinois.
Grundy County, Illinois Deed Book 49:373; and Grundy County Tax Lists, Greenfield township, 1877-1885, Grundy County Archives, Gardner, Illinois.
Amelia Jane Drolllinger, tombstone inscription, Braceville-Gardner Cemetery, Grundy County, Illinois, read and photographed by Kay Germain Ingalls 1992.
Ibid.
These cemetery records are stored in the custodian's shed at the cemetery and are generally unavailable for perusal. A visit to the cemetery in May 2000 found the shed open and a volunteer doing some housekeeping. The records consist of annotated file cards. Volunteers for the cemetery association will answer queries.
Wabash County, Indiana, Marriage Return, 15 November 1888, Book 11: 343.
Steward Cox household, 1880 U. S. census, Wabash County, Indiana, Pleasant township, ED 181, sheet 182D, dwelling and family 316, NARA T9, roll 315; and Leah Drollinger, 1900 U.S. census, Adams County, Nebraska, Verona township, ED 14, sheet 11, family and dwelling 217, NARA T623, roll 916.
Helm, Wabash County, p. 416.
"Funeral attendance," Joliet Daily News, Joliet, Illinois, 18 June 1892, p.4, col. 3.
Brown Memoirs. Bernice Brown would have no personal knowledge of this, having been born three years after Frederick's death. However, he was her mother's youngest brother and she probably spoke of him.
Martin H. Drollinger, 1900 U. S. census, Adams County, Nebraska, Highland township, ED 14, sheet 2, line 32, dwelling and family 28, NARA T623, roll 916. Letter from Martin's youngest son Jacob M. Drollinger to Dave Drollinger, son of Jacob's brother Lynn Roberts Drollinger, April 1986, says that Martin moved to Nebraska in 1881. Copy in files of Kay Germain Ingalls.
Jacob M. Drollinger & Lucy E. Brown, Livingston County Marriage Return, 31 March 1893, Marriage Record Book J, no. 4690, Clerk's Office, Pontiac, Illinois.
C. I. Ramsey household, 1900 U. S. census, Kenesaw township, Adams County, Nebraska, Kenesaw Village, ED 16, sheet 6, dwelling 135, family 136, NARA T623, roll 916.
"Nebraska as she really is," Morris Herald, Morris, Illinois, Friday, 6 October 1876, p. 1, col.7.
"Kenesaw Citizen,", Nebraska Newspaper Abstracts, Vol. 1 1870's (Nebraska State Historical Society, n.d.). This resource is only a computerized index that gives no information regarding the repository of the source. The newspaper itself is unavailable, nor has a death record been found. As yet, no cemetery record has been found for Mathias either.
1900 U.S. census, Adams County, Nebraska, Verona township, ED 14, sheet 11.
Leah Drollinger to Lottie E. Chinworth, Sale of land, Wabash County Deed Book 75: 98, Recorder's Office, Wabash, Indiana.
Adams County Genealogical Society, Adams County, Nebraska Cemetery Inscriptions (n.p, 1978), FHL 1,266,789.
Mathias Drollinger household, 1860 U. S. census, Wabash County, Indiana, Noble township, p.179, line 36, dwelling 489, family 485, NARA M653, roll 304; exact date from Brown Memoirs.
Anna T. Snider, Cemetery Inscription, Kenesaw Cemetery, Wanda township, Section 3, Adams County, NE; Adams County Cemetery Inscriptions, Film No. 1266789 Family History Library.
1860 U. S. census, Wabash County, Indiana, Noble township, p.179. Exact date from Brown Memoirs.
Brown Memoirs.
1860 U. S. census, Wabash County, Indiana, Noble township, p.179; Diana C. Marvin, tombstone inscription, Braceville-Gardner Cemetery, Braceville, Grundy County, IL; read and photographed by Kay Germain Ingalls, August, 1989
Diana C. Marvin obituary, Joliet Herald News, Joliet, Illinois, 12 June 1946, page 20, col. 1.
1860 U. S. census, Wabash County, Indiana, Noble township, p.179. Exact date from Brown Memoirs.
Azalia Drollinger household, 1920 U. S. census, Adams County, Nebraska, Highland township, ED 15, sheet 4A, line 27, dwelling 79, family 80, NARA T625, roll 979. Azalia, Martin's wife, listed as a widow.
Brown Memoirs.
Ibid.
Lowell M. Volkel, 1870 Illinois Mortality Schedule (Indianapolis: Heritage House, 1985), cause of death drowning. Family tradition said he drowned in a well.
Mathias Drollinger household, 1880 U. S. census, Grundy County, Illinois, Greenfield township, ED 11, sheet 11, line 22, dwelling 93, family 93, NARA T9, roll 209; Mary D. Baker, Grundy County Death Certificate no. 2044, 13 May 1941, Clerk's Office, Morris, Illinois.
Mary D. Baker, Grundy County Death Certificate no. 2044.
1880 U. S. census, Grundy County, Illinois, Greenfield township, ED 11, sheet 11. Exact date from Brown Memoirs.
Jacob M. Drollinger, Sexton's Records, Coachella Valley Public Cemetery, 82-925 Avenue 52, Coachella, CA 92236.
1880 U. S. census, Grundy County, Illinois, Greenfield township, ED 11, sheet 11.
"Funeral attendance," Joliet Daily News, Joliet, Illinois ,18 June 1892, p.4, col. 3.
Brown Memoirs; and John Hartman household, 1850 U. S. census, Wabash County, Indiana, Pleasant township, p. 406, dwelling 214, family 226, NARA M432, roll 178. Brown gives her birth year as 1826. The 1850 census says she is 22, which puts her birth year at 1828. Because her father obtained her marriage license, she was probably underage. If she was born in 1828, she would have been nearly 16 when she married; if 1826, she would be nearly 18. Either way she was underage at her marriage either by a few days or by two years.
John Hartman & Delilah Drollinger, Wabash County, Indiana, Marriage Return, 10 April 1844, Book 3: 76, Clerk's Office, Wabash, Indiana. The record notes that Elias Drollinger picked up the license authorizing the marriage, further credence that Delilah was a minor when she married.
Anna T. Drollinger, Wabash County probate file box 19-14.
Elias Drollinger, Wabash County probate file no. 1060.
1850 U. S. census, Wabash County, Indiana, Pleasant township, p. 406.
Kay Germain Ingalls 2003
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1822 - 1895 (73 years)
