WILLIAM HENRY GROVES
William H. Groves was born on Wednesday, the
31st of May, 1865 (a month after the hated American Civil War had run its
conclusion) to John D. Groves and Sarah Matilda (Perring) Groves.1 He was born in Mount Pleasant (Butler)
or Lone Oak Township (just south of Butler), Bates county, Missouri.
His father, John Daniel Groves, was born 14
March, 1826 in Clark county Kentucky to Daniel Groves and Nancy Ship.
Daniel (born c. 1785), and Nancy (born c.
1797) were both born and raised in old Virginia. The Groves name in Virginia
goes back to several generations before the American Revolution. Daniel Groves
and Nancy Ship married in
Clark county Kentucky on 21 september, 1815. Elijah Ship, presumably her
father, signed the marriage bond on the 18th.
Elijah and Joseph Ship
were in Clark county in 1800 tax lists. Elijah had 4 males under 10, and
himself 26-45, 1 female under 10, 2 females 10-16, and his wife, also between
26 and 45 years old in Clark in the 1810 census.
Joseph had 2, 1, 1, 1 (males) and 1, 1, 2, 1 (females) in Clark co in 1810. In 1820, there was an Elijah, a Fielding, and a
James Ship, on pp 74, 73, and 64 (respectively) of Clark county Ky. In 1830, no
Elijah. However, there was an Elijah in the Indiana census index for 1830. This
Elijah might or might not be ours. Cover of 1810 census book.
On 11 March, 1818, Daniel and his wife had
their first son Rodney Walter there. In the 1820 Federal census, we find
Daniel, Nancy, Rodney, and a new son Townly K. (born a month or two before the
census), all living in Clark county Kentucky. Two other Groves families also
live in Clark county and it is possible that they are somehow related to
Daniel, though they do not follow him in later life. Nancy next gave birth to
her third child, the daughter she had wanted, Nancy born around 1824. A
daughter, Mary Jane was also born in Clark county in 1825. Most likely, this is
where William's father John Daniel was born on the 14th of May, 1826,
also, the fifth child. Daniel next moved his family to Calloway county,
Missouri, where they appear in the 1830 census
returns. They now have six children, 4 boys and two girls. By looking at the
returns we see that in the 5 year period between 1825 and 1830, Nancy gave
birth 3 times! Two new sons (John Daniel and his brother named Elijah S, born
on the 15th of October, 1829) and the new daughter Mary Jane
(possibly also known as Elizabeth). Nancy Groves gave birth to her next
daughter Delilah in (approximately) 1831, her next daughter Rebecca M in 1832,
and finally, probably still in Calloway county, Elias in 1836, her ninth child.2
Daniel T joined the family, her tenth child, in May of 1842.
On the 23rd of February, 1839, we find John D.'s oldest brother Rodney W. selling a parcel of land to a neighbor and soon to be good friend William Laughlin in Gasconade county Missouri.3 Next summer in the Federal census returns we find he's still living with Daniel, so he might be doing the land deals for his father, who by now, is 55 years old. Though getting on in years, 55 was hardly considered senility and Daniel was to have several more years ahead of him. Pt1 Pt2
According to a history of selected Missouri
counties:
"Gasconade county is situated in the
east central part of Missouri, bounded on the north by the Missouri river. The
county has all of the varieties of Surface land known throughout the state,
except that the hills are not so high as in many portions, viz: bluffs, ridges,
prairie and bottom lands. The northern part of the county, for a little over
one-third of the distance back from the Missouri River, is quite hilly and
broken, and was, in the early days, covered with heavy timber....The southern
portion forms a kind of plateau, and contains several small prairies, which are
separated from the streams by steep hills, bluffs or gentle slopes....
The soil of the bottom lands is extremely
fertile; then in degrees of fertility come the gentler slopes, especially where
covered with white oak, black and white walnut, shell bark hickory, etc;
prairie lands and those covered with pin oak are next in fertility; then come
the lands covered with white and black oak and white hickory; the post oak
table-lands belong to the fifth class, and the black jack with white clay
subsoil to the sixth, the darker the subsoil the richer the soil. All along the
tributaries of the Gasconade River the rock is limestone, but elsewhere it is
sandstone or flint."4
The county also had numerous saltpeter caves
and rivers and streams running through it. Several ancient Indian sites,
complete with axes and hammers uncovered, were located in the county, although
the biased history declares that these ruins and tools were more likely the
result of a race prior to "the savages". One wonders if John spent
much time exploring or debating these things with his friends and family in his
youth.
Sometime around 1845, an administrative
redrawing of the county borders occurred, and so it is possible that though
John D. Groves is listed as marrying Sarah Matilda Perring (who was born 29
September, 1832 in Indiana) on December 29th, 1848 in Osage county, no family
exodus occurred. It is probable that the Groves clan merely lived on the
eastern edge of Gaconade county and when the redrawing was done, they now
suddenly lived in Osage county. John was the third son to get married, Rodney
marrying Nancy Jane Evans on 16 December, 1841, and Townley marrying Elizabeth
Jackson on the 20th of January, 1845.
In the 1850 census Pt1 Pt2, we find Daniel
still in charge of his household, still farming, with his wife, and his sons
Elias and Daniel junior with him. Neither he nor Nancy can read or write,
common for the times. His estate is worth $400.00 (in 1850 currency, not a
little sum). John and his new 18 year old (in 1850) wife Matilda, from Indiana,
gave birth in the cold November (the 21st) of 1849 to their first
child, Nancy
Jane, probably named after John's
mother. All of the Groves clan lived together in Linn township, Osage county.
We discover that only Rodney and Elijah are literate, probably why Daniel had
Rodney conducting his business deals for him. John D. can not read or write.
These are all farming families, working with their hands, dependent on the soil
and the weather for their livelihood. In the days before electricity, indoor
plumbing, telephones, or radios, work dominated the days. Family suppers and
quiet talks would dominate the evenings. Church on Sunday, and work the next
day. The children would help out with the chores. They were all too young yet
to attend school. It is likely that there was no school to attend. Many of the
neighbors of the Groves families have school age children who also aren't
attending.
Daniel Groves 1833 land certificate Daniel
Groves7077.gif Daniel Groves9664.gif
Daniel Groves 22354.gif Daniel Groves 26368.gif
This was the life which the Groves' knew.
Until, sometime just before the Civil War, Daniel and his wife Nancy passed on.
Nancy had given birth to ten children that we know of. Even in her age, this is
not a small number of children. This is not counting the number that she had
who did not survive long enough to be counted in the census returns that were
taken once every ten years. In an age of poor hygiene and few competent
doctors, one must wonder how many children did she have? She must have been a
strong lady to endure so many children and such a hard life. She was probably
around 55 years old when she died. Daniel was probably close to 70 years old.
John D Groves 1854 land certificate John D Groves 1856 land certificate
In 1860, John
D. Groves has moved west to Mount Pleasant Township of Bates county, Missouri.
We see that his brother Elias has gone with him and is working as help on
John's farm. Nancy J., John's oldest girl is now 11 years old and is going to
school. She has a brother, Elija, 6 years old (born 21 Oct 1854), a brother,
John James, 4 years old (born 17 Nov 1856), and a baby sister Mary Ann., only 2 years old (born 4 Sept 1858). John is still
farming but has increased his fortunes from not worth mentioning in the 1850
census to being worth $1050.00 in 1860 currency. For the area he was in,
apparently, his status had not changed much. The farmers around him were worth
more than the farmers in Osage county had ever been. Of course, part of this
can be credited to the inflation of the age.
In 1861, the dreaded war between the states started.
It did not leave Butler Missouri unscathed.
At 866' altitude above sea level, Butler was
laid out in 1854 and named for William O. Butler, officer in the Mexican War,
and became the seat of Bates county in 1856. In 1861, the courthouse and many
other buildings were burned by a squad of cavalry sent from Kansas under orders
of Colonel James Montgomery. During the succeeding years of the war, it is
said, most of the remaining buildings in the town were burned to prevent
Southern sympathizers from harboring rebels. *
On July 22nd, 1862, from Saint Louis, Mo.,
the Headquarters of the Missouri State Militia issued General Orders, no. 19,
"Organization of the Enrolled Missouri Militia:
An immediate organization of all the militia
of Missouri is hereby ordered, for the purpose of exterminating the guerrillas
that infest our state.
Every able bodied man capable of bearing arms
and subject to military duty is hereby ordered to repair without delay to the
nearest military post and report for duty to the commanding officer. Every man
will bring with him whatever arms he may have or can procure and a good horse
if he has one.
All arms and ammunition of whatever kind and
wherever found, not in the hands of the loyal militia, will be taken possession
of by the latter and used for the public defense. Those who have no arms and
cannot procure them in the above manner will be supplied as quickly as possible
by the ordnance department.
The militia thus organized will be governed
by the Articles of War and Army Regulations, and will be subject to do duty
under the orders of the commanding officers of the post where they are
enrolled, or such other officers of the United States troops or Missouri
Militia, regularly mustered into service, as may be assigned to their command.
Commanding Officers will report from day to
day, by telegraph, when practicable, the progress of enrollment at their posts
and the number of arms required.
Six days after the date of this order are
allowed for every man fit for military duty to report to the commanding officer
of the nearest military post and be enrolled. All persons so enrolled will be
regarded as belonging to the active militia of the State until further orders.
The commanding officer of a post, or any
higher commander, is authorized to give furloughs to such men of this militia
force as cannot be absent from their ordinary business without serious
detriment or such as are not needed for present service. Such leaves of absence
will in no case be for a longer period than ten days, and may be revoked at any
time or renewed at their expiration, at the discretion of the officer granting
them.
The same strict discipline and obedience to
orders will be enforced among the militia in service under this order as among
other troops, and commanding officers will be held strictly responsible for all
unauthorized acts of the men.
The enrollment and organization of the
militia of Saint Louis will be under the general direction of Col. Lewis Merrill,
commanding Saint Louis Division, who will establish rendezvous, appoint
enrolling officers, and make such regulations as he shall deem necessary.
By order of Brigadier-General Schofield:
C.W. Marsh,
Assistant Adjutant-Genera1.5
This was not the worst. On the 25th of
August, 1863, from Kansas City, the Headquarters District of the Border issued
General Orders, No. 11:
I. All persons living in Jackson, Cass, and
Bates counties, Missouri, and in that part of Vernon included in this district,
except those living within 1 mile of the limits of Independence, Hickman Hills,
Pleasant Hill, and Harrisonville, and except those in that part of Kaw
Township, Jackson County, north of Brush Creek and west of the Big Blue, are
hereby ordered to remove from their present places of residence within fifteen
days from the date hereof. Those who, within that time, establish their loyalty
to the satisfaction of the commanding officer of the military station nearest
their present places of residence will receive from him certificates stating
the fact of their loyalty, and the names of the witnesses by whom it can be
shown. All who receive such certificates will be permitted to remove to any
military station in this district, or to any part of the State of Kansas, except
the counties on the eastern border of the State. All others shall remove out of
this district. Officers commanding and detachments serving in the counties
named will see that this paragraph is promptly obeyed.
II. All grain and hay in the field or under shelter
in the district from which the inhabitants are required to remove within reach
of military stations after the 9th day of September next will be taken to such
stations and turned over to the proper officers there, and report of the amount
so turned over made to district headquarters, specifying the names of all loyal
owners and the amount of such produce taken from them. All grain and hay found
in such district after the 9th day of September next not convenient to such
stations will be destroyed.
III. The provisions of General Orders, No. 10
from these headquarters will be at once vigorously executed by officers
commanding in the parts of the district and at the stations not subject to the
operation of Paragraph I of this order, and especially in the towns of
Independence, Westport, and Kansas City.
IV. Paragraph III, General Orders No. 10, is
revoked as to all who have borne arms against the Government in this district
since the 21 st day of August, 1863.
By the order of Brigadier-General Ewing:
H. Hannahs
Acting Assistant Adjuctant-General.6
After the war, Butler was gradually rebuilt.
It can only be assumed from the reading of the above two orders that John and
his family were deeply affected by the agitation caused in Missouri during
these times. Missouri, as one historian put it, was a civil war within a civil
war. There were an equal number of loyalists and rebels in the state with
constant outbreaks everywhere. John would have been 34 years old and most
probably would have had to have registered with the local militia. He would
have been 35 years old when he was told to relocate or provide sufficient proof
that he was still loyal to the Union. Unfortunately, neither of the above acts
has left locatable documentation so far.
In the 1870 census,
all is again calm and serene around the John Groves household. Nancy has left
the house and has probably married. Several new children have joined the
household. Sarah Ellen, born in the cold winter, 27 Dec 1861, George Washington,
born 23 Sep 1864, William Henry, born, as earlier stated, on May 31st, 1865,
and another son, Thomas Monroe,
born in 16 July 1869.7 They're all living in Lone Oak township.
At the end of the first week in June, 1880, we find John and
his family have moved southeast a few
miles to the precinct of South Box township, in Cedar county. Sarah has
consumption by this time (tuberculosis) and will live until the 29th
of January, 1889. This is the first that we learn that her father was born in
Kentucky and likely moved to Indiana, where her mother was born. Her parents
married in Indiana, most likely, and had her there. They have a son Joseph Enoch, born on 16 Oct 1871, the first child born in Box
township of Cedar county Missouri, and John's son Elijah has married a lady
named Mary (four years his senior), and they and their son Oscar, born in July
of 1879, are all living under John's roof. Interestingly, George, Henry, Thomas
and Joseph are all attending school, along with many of the neighbor children.
Probably using the single church-house building with all of the grades taught
in the same room. Reading, writing, and arithmetic. The children possibly don't
realize what an advantage they will have over their parents with these skills.
They play in the schoolground, on the teeter-totter, on the swings, and on the
merry-go-round, if there is one. Life is simple, and always dominated by the
soil and the weather. William Henry's older brother John James has moved out of
the house, though not far away, and has a one year old daughter. John James'
wife is a Kentucky girl who's parents were also born in Kentucky. The woman is
13 years John James' junior.
On the 18th day of November, 1885, William
Henry Groves married Elizabeth Barlow in Bates county Missouri. Pt1 Pt28 How did they meet?
It is likely that from his time living in
Bates county in his youth, "Henry" (as the census returns all call
him) had friends still there. Perhaps he liked the area better than the county
of his parents. Regardless, it seems safe to say that he moved back here upon
his leaving his parents' home. John Daniel would live in Cedar county Missouri
until his death on the 18th of May, 1900.
Lizzie Barlow had
come over with her mother from faraway Grundy county after her father had died
there sometime during or immediately after the civil war. Land in western
Missouri had been plentiful in the 1870's and this is perhaps what attracted
Ellen to bring her family so far southwest to Bates county. Whether Allen
Barlow had fought in the war or not cannot be stated with certainty at this
time. Regardless, Ellen Barlow had brought the family to Bates county where her
two sons tended the farm and she did the housekeeping along with her daughter
Lizzie. It was under these circumstances that William Henry Groves met and married
Elizabeth Barlow. As a sidenote, it is
interesting to note that Ellen Barlow had moved next door to Mary Thomas. These
two ladies' respective descendants would marry 2 generations and almost 50
years later!
In September of 1885, Carrie Groves was born.
Even a casual look at the date of the marriage of her parents and the date of
her birth shows obvious inconsistencies. It is to be hoped that Carrie was a
small child (unlike her larger frame in later years), as, in the little town
atmosphere of these counties in this time, a woman so obviously pregnant for
several months, without having a husband to attribute it to would be liable to
withstand many snide comments and peer pressure that would accompany her
situation. Of course, when Henry and Lizzie had Carrie so soon after they were
married, tongues would soon be wagging. Perhaps the accumulated tongue wagging
played a part in the motivation of Henry to move his family back to Box
township, Cedar county, where his parents would die. Most likely this move took
place after the 9th of October, 1888,9 when their second of two
children, Ira Raymond Groves was born. In the June 1900 census, we find the
family renting a house somewhere on Forrest Drive, in Cedar township. Perhaps
the home of his parents had descended to him. Carrie and Ira are going to
school, Lizzie is minding the house and Henry is doing any Day Laborer work he
can find. Times are tough and so is the backbreaking work.
In the last week of April, 1910, when the census
takers again visit the Groves household, we find that Carrie has married and moved
away. Henry has moved onto a small farm which he is mortgaging and working on
his own. They are all still living in Cedar county, Missouri.
On the 6th of April, 1917, the United States
of America declared war on "The Imperial German Government". President
Woodrow Wilson had had enough. The US had been aiding the British in their 3
year long War To End All Wars (Naive thought) when it was brought to light that
Germany had tried to persuade Mexico to declare war on us. Such treachery in
our backyard, combined with numerous US casualties in the Atlantic U-Boat war
on what were declared to be merchant and private vessels (and the fact that
England had been pushing for the US to enter the war for a long while) finally
pushed Wilson to override the Isolationists and take our country to it's first
World War.
Raymond, like all other men in his age
bracket, was forced to register for the draft. He wasn't the government's first
choice to go over to France, because of his age, but if the government needed
him, it would take him.
Apparently, it needed him. On the 21st of
September, 1917, at Butler Missouri, Ira Raymond Groves entered into the United
States Army. From his enlistment until the 19th of October, 1917 he was with
the 164 Dep. Brigade. His purpose or activities with this unit are unclear at
this time. He was then transferred to Battery C of the 342nd Field Artillery
Regiment, with the 89th Division (nicknamed the Middle Wests because most all
of the division's 25, 000 men came from this region in the states), with the
fourth or fifth Corps (changed later on in the war from the former to the
latter), of General Pershing's First Army.
Raymond participated in several important
campaigns after his arrival in France on June 28th of 1918. Administrative and
political squabbles over where and when the United States forces would be
deployed were far above Raymond's level. He was instructed to disregard the
horrendous stories of French mutiny and apathy, and to disregard the endless
piles of bodies which mounted by the days. He was instructed to disregard the
endless German propaganda leaflets that fluttered down from the biplanes above,
to put his gas mask on fast and to continue to feed the giant French 75 and 155
millimeter artillery pieces to aid in the continuing trench warfare that was
the first world war.10
When the Germans finally agreed to the peace
at Versailles on November 11th, 1918, Raymond, like all other soldiers over
there, probably looked up and thanked God that he had gotten out alive. He was
not to return to the States until the following May (27th), but he was alive.
He was mustered out of service on the 10th of June, 1919.
At the beginning of the third week in January, 1920, we find 31 year
old Raymond still living with his parents down in Cedar county. Henry still
owns the farm and is probably happy to have his son back alive.
On the 27th of April, 1927, Ira Raymond
Groves married to miss Katie Clarace Thomas11. Both of the witnesses were
from Katie's side of the family, and one wonders whether Raymond's parents even
deigned to show up at his wedding. A little over two months after the wedding,
Katie gave birth to John Ray Groves (5th of July, 1927). Charlotte Frances
Groves was born on the 20th of September, 1929. Katie's third child Pansy
Rosella Groves was born on a Monday, the 23rd of February, 1931. The birth
certificate for Pansy (who would go through life as Pam) show numerous
mistakes. This can be attributed to the intoxication of the attending physician
Dr C.M. Rice. Melissa Thomas (Gma Tommy), Nina Culver (Pansy's Sunday School
teacher in later years), and Melissa's daughter-in-law Carrie Thomas were all
present for the birth.
From oral history passed down within the
family, Henry and Lizzie Groves were not close to their grandchildren at all.
For that matter, neither was Raymond. Katie helped in the care of Raymond's
parents but continued to live with her own mother Melissa Thomas.
On the 15th of October, 1929, the divorce which
Melissa had finally convinced Katie to have became final. Raymond's constant
gambling (he would go to Kansas City and gamble quite frequently, a habit he
probably got from his time in France. The "Middle Wests" had many
gamblers in its ranks who needed a way to eliminate the fear and the boredom of
the war) and disregard for the welfare of Katie and the children had weighed
the scales for the divorce. Raymond didn't even bother to show up at the
divorce hearings.
It is doubtful if Henry or his wife were very
disturbed by the divorce. They were getting to be in their mid-sixties now and
their lives were winding down. They demanded quiet from the grandchildren on
the infrequent occasions when Raymond would bring them to visit. The children
were several times made fun of regarding the manner of their hair and dress
styles by Henry and Lizzie, according to the oral history that descends inside
the family.
Raymond and Katie's mother did not get along
well at all. Where she was a non-smoking non-cussing, God-fearing lady, he was
brash, he smoked, cussed frequently and gambled. Her nicknames for him when the
children weren't close by (and once or twice when they were) were "Godless-heathen"
and "whore-monger". She deeply resented his treatment of her daughter
too. How could anyone, she must have wondered many times, be so cruel and
uncaring of his own wife and children? How could anyone just not care?
Sometime about now Henry and Lizzie moved
back to Bates County, this time to the small city of Rich Hill, just south of
Butler by a little drive. This is where they were during the infrequent visits
of their grandchildren. This is also where at 5:30 AM on the morning of the
10th of February, 1939, Lizzie Groves died of Chronic Myocarditis (inflammation of the muscle
tissue of the heart) and Arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries caused by
deposits of fatty substances which build up on the arterial walls, increasing
blood pressure and, in Lizzie's case, aggravating an already bad heart
problem). She and Henry had lived on Chestnut street for several years most
likely. Raymond filled out the death certificate as Henry tried to pick up the
pieces of his life. Lizzie had seen many things in her life. The civil war, the
turn of the century, the rise of the airplane in modern society, prohibition,
and the First World War, to name merely a few. She never saw the Second World
War, which began 7 months after her death.
Henry married a second time to a woman closer
to his son's age than his own. It isn't known how Blanche Groves and her
step-son got along, but he did continue to live with his father and step-mother
until Henry's
death at 6:30 PM on the 9th of June,
1945. According to oral history passed down within the family, Raymond
inherited the small house at 10161 Chestnut street that had housed his mother
and father for so long. The fate of Blanche Groves is unknown.
1. According to his death certificate
filed in the state of Missouri.
2. All of this information on the
children comes from the numerous mentioned census returns and were quite
difficult to figure out and record.
3. Index of Gasconade county deed records
on microfilm at the Church of LDS.
4. History of...and Gasconade
Counties, Missouri, printed at Cape Girardeau by Ramfire press in 1958, pp
617-619. The copy I consulted was located at the San Diego Library.
5. The War of the Rebellion: A
Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies
(128 volummes; Wash. D.C. 1881-1901), Series i, Vol. XIII, P. 506.
6. Same reference, but Series i, Vol.
XXII, pt. 2, p. 473. I consulted a verbatim copy of both of these references (5
& 6) in a history of the state of Missouri.
7. The named 1870 census.
8. The marriage certificate acquired
with the help of the Missouri state Archives.
9. Raymond's birthdate is taken from his death certificate and the evidence of his World War One service kindly
provided to me by Melvin L. Steele pt1 pt2 Veterans Service
Supervisor of the Missouri Veterans
commission in a letter to me of 27 Sept 93, and a subsequent follow up. McNabb Letter leading
to Mr Steele.
10. The Doughboys by Laurence
Stallings, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 62-14547, copyright 1963,
published by Harper and Row of New York, NY is a fascinating book and highly
recommended for further data. Also, All Quiet on the Western Front for
an idea of this war from a German soldier's perspective.
11. From a copy of the Marriage
certificate passed on to me by Charlotte (Groves) King.
Gary Schowengerdt letter regarding Ira's WW1 Tombstone
From Marion Miller millermarion@hotmail.com
comes this new data: THANK YOU MARION!!
Daniel Groves, 1784 to 1860, Linn TWP, Osage Co., MO, Old Groves #OS193
Nancy Groves, no dates, Linn TWP, Osage Co, MO. Groves #OS174
Tremendous amount of information on entire Groves
family from Marige B (Groves) Morris
** In 1997, a lady named Sandra Burbridge contacted me and stated that
she thought her John
E Groves and my Daniel were brothers, both sons of a Samuel
Groves. This Samuel groves was a revolutionary War Veteran, I believe. I
believe (but could be wrong) she said her John married a Priscilla Ship, and
she looked up something she had gotten from Clark county Kentucky and came up
with the fact that an Elijah Ship had been the bondsman for Nancy Ship to wed
my Daniel Groves in Clark county Ky on 18 Sept, 1815. She said that she had
always assumed that they were brothers who married sisters. I did not have
Samuel Groves' death cert, nor did she. I lost contact with her, only to regain
it early in December 1999! The wedding date was also on a FTM CD, but cannot
find which one without that old email.
Sandra's
John E. Groves study page - excellent documentation for John's
family.
