LaGrange County, Indiana Families
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My great-great-grandfather Peter PROUGH bought land in the 1830's with his half-brother
Samuel Sidener from Fairfield County, Ohio. Both families children stayed in the area for a number of years before moving
on. Peter's daughter Sarah Emma was the inspiration for the town Emma which is at the corner of four townships: Eden,
Newbury, Clay and Clear Spring. Peter was an early Post Master at Eden, which because another town was named Eden was changed to
Emma. Emma lake is nearby. As was the custom then, but less so now, it was also known as Emmatown. Jason THURSTON a veteran
of the Revolutionary War died in 1835 and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery south
of LaGrange. He was an uncle of Peter PROUGH's wife Barbara THURSTON.
Most of the PROUGH children moved west in the late 1880's. Peter and wife Barbara F. THURSTON were going to stay with
their son Franklin in their old age until Franklin died unexpectedly in 1891 leaving his 3 month old daughter, my grandmother
Lillie Frances PROUGH and her mother Cora ZUMBRUN. As a result of his
death, land that Franklin had purchased in Emma had to be sold. Brother Thomas bought the land with the understanding that
Peter and Barbara were to be cared for in their old age. Thomas then decided he too wanted to moved west and sold the land. Lillie
and other sources recall the family leaving either in 1894 or 1904. My grandmother Lillie told one source that Peter had to be
carried out to the wagon and forced to move west. We are still trying to confirm if Peter died in 1894 along a railroad track in
Missouri and Barabara near Hydro, Caddo County, Oklahoma around 1905. Neither appears in the 1900 census which leads me to believe
both were deceased before 1900.
Siblings to my FOREMAN and TIMMONS
relatives include Polly FOREMAN and husband James OLIVER early arrivals to Johnson Township
before 1840. Their land was near a lake which has since been known as Oliver Lake
one of the largest undeveloped lakes left in 2005 northern Indiana. Their son Robert J. OLIVER married Polly's neice Catherine
TIMMONS April 15, 1860 in Allen County, Ohio. Catherine's sister Alcinda MORRIS witnessed Catherine's will before her
death May 1, 1879 and recording after her death. It is the last written record found for Alcinda MORRIS whose last residence July
25, 1870 in the Federal Census was their birthplace Delphos, Ohio. There were several other OLIVER's mentioned in various county
records who were probably siblings of James.
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