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| Abraham Newkirk and Orpha Gregory's Wedding Day |
1.
Abraham
Newkirk was born 20 May 1837 in Clermont County,[1] Ohio.[2] He
was the son of James Madison Newkirk and Elizabeth Meyer.[3] He
died 25 February 1913 at Leavenworth, Leavenworth, Kansas and was buried the
same day at the Leavenworth National Cemetery.[4]
Abraham married Orpha Gregory on 31
December 1867 at Clinton County, Iowa.[5]
She was born 29 November 1844[6] in
Clermont County,[7]
Ohio.[8]
She was the daughter of Isaac Gregory and Anna Amy Clark. Orpha died 22
November 1881 at Roscoe, Graham, Kansas[9]
and she is buried at the Roscoe Cemetery, Roscoe, Graham County, Kansas.[10]
Abraham was the first son and second
child of James and Elizabeth. Abraham spent his childhood in Clermont County,
Ohio. Not
much is known about the Newkirk’s time in Ohio. Most of the early settlers were
Virginians because the area of Clermont County was originally part of the
Virginia Military District. The Virginia Military District
in Ohio was opened for settlement on July 13, 1787. The land in the
Virginia Military District was divided up and given to Revolutionary
War veterans from Virginia as payment for the work they had done
during the war. [11]
When Abraham was eighteen, he moved with his parents and
siblings to Iowa in 1855. The family was located on the 1856 Elk River, Clinton
County, Iowa State census. The census indicates that the family had been living
in Iowa for one year.[12] Iowa is located where the trees
give way to endless Great Prairies. Settlers on the prairie faced a different
set of problems than pioneers of the forested lands. Breaking up the matted
root system of the prairie sod required large, strong plows pulled by many
oxen. Both horses and oxen provided the power on American farms up until the
middle of the 1800’s. The oxen were too slow to pull the plows Iowans began
using in the 1850s and 1860s. Most of the horses were fast enough, but tired
quickly. Powerful animals like the draft horses used in Europe were needed.
Iowans imported Percherons, Belgians and Clydesdales. Along with the other
agricultural states of Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, and Iowa became a leader in
breeding draft horses.[13] Abraham used some of the money he received as payment
for his service in the Civil War, and bought two such horses from his father.
He named them Frank and Joe.[14] The prairie soil stuck to the plow blade making
work slow, because the plowman were forced to stop often and remove the coat of
dirt. In 1837, John Deere's success in creating a steel plow solved this
problem. The plowshare cut through the earth without sticking. In only a few
years, the settlers would turn the forests and prairies into plowed fields.
A
large number of families migrated from Ohio to Iowa in 1854. Families often had
to camp at the Mississippi River, waiting their turn for ferryboats to the
other side. The steamboat industry flourished from 1850-1880, making the
transportation of people and goods easier and faster. Because rivers form
Iowa’s boundaries and flow through the interior of the state, they became a
major form of transportation (flatboats, keelboats, steamboats and barges) of
moving goods and people from one place to another. Transportation of
agricultural goods was difficult and accomplished primarily by boat down the
Mississippi River to New Orleans. Before the railroads, the
population increased along the Mississippi River more rapidly than at the
interior of Clinton County and western Ohio. In the 1850’s, Iowa caught railroad fever like the rest of
the country, five rail lines were built in Iowa. Railroads replaced rivers as
movers of people and goods, which allowed for easier travel, and for farmers to
ship their products quickly over long distances. Before the Civil War, trains
had already reached the Mississippi River from the East; and rails had been
laid to Iowa City, Cedar Falls and Ottumwa.[15]
During
Abraham’s time in Iowa, he meet his future wife, Orpha Gregory. In 1860, Orpha was
seventeen and lived in Brookfield Township, Clinton County, Iowa.[16]
Abraham was not located on the 1860
census, but he must have resided in the area because he enlisted in a Iowa
Regiment for the Civil War in 1862.[17]
Abraham
was living at Brookfield, Clinton County, Iowa when he enlisted in the Union
Army, 26th Regiment Iowa Infantry, Company B on 16 July 1862 rank, Eighth Corporal.
He was promoted to Fifth Corporal on 22 December 1862, and First Corporal 1
April 1863. He Mustered out June 6 1865 at Washington, D. C.[18]
The Civil War history of Iowa includes more than 75,000 men serving on the side
of the Union.
[1]Abraham Newkirk family group sheet, (undocumented);
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints
[LDS], New FamilySearch (http://new.familysearch.org: accessed 28 August 2012.
[2] Richard Newkirk Household, 1900
U.S. Census, Galt, Rice County, Kansas
population schedule, ED 224, sheet 3B, page 3B, dwelling number 52, family
number 52: NARA microfilm publication T623, roll 1854. <Ancestry.com>
[database on-line]. Accessed 29 September 2012. Abram Newkirk, included in
Richard Newkirk household. Line 70.
[3] Abraham Newkirk family group sheet, (undocumented);
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints
[LDS], New FamilySearch (http://new.familysearch.org: accessed 28 August 2012.
[4] Abraham Newkirk, Veteran’s Burial Records, National Cemetery
Administration, Veterans Affairs. Accessed 18 September 2012. Document #35;
Abraham Newkirk, U.S. National
Homes for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers, 1866-1938. NARA M1749, roll 282:
Record Group 15. Ancestry.com [database on-line]. Accessed 8 November 2012.
Document #171; Abraham Newkirk, Burial
Ledgers The National Cemetery Administration, Washington, D.C. (Original
records transferred to NARA: Burial Registers, Records of the Department of
Veterans Affairs, 1773–2007, Record Group 15. Ancestry.com [database on-line].
Accessed 8 November 2012.
[5]
Abraham Newkirk, Marriage Records, 1840-1930, Clinton County, Iowa. Clerk of
the District Court. FHL Film 1005210, Book I, page 231. Accessed 22 September
2012.
[6] Orpha Newkirk Obituary, Topeka,
Kansas, Kansas State Library, sent to Graham County Newspaper by H.
Turner: Bjhfturner added this
on 12 Oct 2009 Ancestry.com. Accessed August 31, 2012.
[7] Abraham Newkirk family group sheet, (undocumented);
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day
Saints [LDS], New FamilySearch (http://new.familysearch.org: accessed 28 August 2012.
[8] Abe Newkirk household, 1880 U.S.
Census Graham, Graham County, Kansas, population schedule, ED 98, sheet, page 215A, dwelling number
297, family number 297; NARA microfilm publication T9, roll 1454.
<Ancestry.com> [database on-line]. Accessed 17 September, 2012.
[9] Orpha Newkirk
Obituary, Topeka, Kansas, Kansas State Library, sent to Graham County Newspaper
by H. Turner: Bjhfturner added this on 12 Oct 2009
Ancestry.com. Accessed August 31, 2012.
[10] Orpha Gregory headstone, Roscoe Cemetery, Roscoe,
Graham, Kansas, http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/graham/Cemeteries/cem-roscoe.html, Accessed 18 September 2012.
[11] Redbook, pg 523.
[12] James M.
Newkirk household, 1856 Iowa State Census, Elk River, Clinton County, Iowa,
line 128, family number 128; Microfilm
of Iowa State Censuses, State Historical Society of Iowa via Heritage Quest,
rollIA_51. On-line database <Ancestry.com>. Accessed 17 September, 2012.
[13] http://www.iptv.org/iowapathways; Iowa history http://www.destination360.com
[14]Abraham Newkirk family history, Hand written letter by
daughter, Estella Eldora Newkirk Turner, Life at Roscoe, Graham, Kansas,
on-line <http://Ancestry.com>. Accessed 5 November, 2012.
[16] Isaac Gregory household, 1860 U.S. Census Brookfield, Clinton
County, Iowa, population schedule, sheet 482, p. 482, dwelling number 533, family
number 533. NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 1438.
<Ancestry.com> [database on-line]. Accessed 18 September 2012.
[17] George S. Newkirk, Roster and Record of Iowa Troops In the
Rebellion, Vol. 3, Guy E. Logan, Historial Sketch of the
Twenty-Sixth Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry. Ancestry.com [on-line database].
Accessed 28 September 2012.
[18] George S. Newkirk, Roster and
Record of Iowa Troops In the Rebellion, Vol. 3, Guy E. Logan, Historial
Sketch of the Twenty-Sixth Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry. Ancestry.com
[on-line database]. Accessed 28 September 2012.
