I'm looking for records from Franklin County, Indiana of the marriage prior to 1847 of Jane Purcel and Phillip Ramey. By 1847 the family had moved to Mount Pleasant, Howard Co., Iowa where they had a daughter Anna Elizabath Ramey. In 1868, Elizabath married John Peter Heren.
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Editors Note: Posted email - Dave.V@QCOnline - found to be incomplete as of 10-17-99. --eb

I ,too, am interested in Ramey/Purcell families of Franklin Co. Ind. I have Clinton Phillip Ramey who marries Nancy Jane Purcell 11 Sept 1830 Franklin Co. Ind. I am sure that we are dealing with the same family.They had 10 children and moved to Henry co. Iowa and then they moved to Anderson Co. Kansas where C P. Ramey dies in 1893. I do have the name of the children,nothing more. Do you?Wilda

Here is everything I have been able to discover concenring
PHILLIP C. RAMEY (Known information as of August 2002):

Philip Clinton Ramey was born January 15, 1808 in Kentucky, exact location unknown, although an undated handwritten note by his son, Francis S. Ramey, states that he was born in Louisville (Jefferson Co.), KY.. However, there is no census record of a Ramey living in Jefferson County between 1800 and 1820. There is a William Ramey in Floyd County, Kentucky in the 1810 Census with a male child under 10 and in the 1820 Census with a son 10-15 years old who could be Philip (he was 12 in 1820). At some point (probably in the late 1820's to before 1830), Philip moved to Indiana where he married Jane Pursell in Franklin County, Indiana, on September 11, 1830. He apparently moved shortly thereafter from Indiana to Preble County, Ohio (just over the state line from Franklin Co.), where he is found in the 1840 Census. His first child, Maria, was born in Ohio in 1832. (She married Stephen J. Marsh, October 1848, in Henry County, Iowa).

William Ramey moved to Henry County, Iowa about 1838, and settled north of Mt. Pleasant. He purchased 160 acres of land (by U.S. Patent) in MarionTwp on July 1, 1839. On 16 July 1840, William purchased another 160 acres of land in Marion Twp from Sudwell P. Fariss. William died September 23, 1843 in Henry County. In February, 1844, P.C. Ramey was appointed administrator of William Ramey’s estate by the Probate Court in Henry County, and made an inventory of William’s property.

Because the 1860 Iowa census lists P.C. Ramey’s daughter Ann as having been born in Ohio in 1845, I believe Philip may have traveled to Iowa to take care of his father’s affairs prior to actually moving the whole family there, because there is no further mention of him in the Henry County records until February 24, 1846, when he is given authority by the court there to sell some of William Ramey’s land, which he did on the same day to Henry Stansbury, the husband of Catherine Ramey, William’s daughter and Philip’s sister. By December 1846, Philip is a Justice of the Peace and notarizes a deed between Henry Stanbury and Thomas Sater, who is the husband of Elizabeth Stanbury, daughter of Henry and Catherine (Ramey) Stanbury.

Throughout 1847, P.C. Ramey is involved in a court suit, Ramey v. Wilburn, the nature of which is unclear from the records, but which Philip apparently won, since Wilburn appealed it, which appeal was dismissed by agreement of the parties on September 13, 1947. On October 1, 1848, Maria L. Ramey married Stephen J. Marsh at “Clinton Ramey’s residence” according to the marriage certificate. During this same time in 1847/48, he may have moved to Anderson County, Kansas, as his first wife, Jane Pursell, apparently die there in that year.

Philip Ramey then disappears from Kansas and Iowa until March 23, 1853, when he is plaintiff in a partition suit against his brother, John J. Ramey, and his sister, Catherine Stanbury, in Henry County, Iowa. I believe I know where Philip disappeared to from 1848 to 1853 and why his is not listed in the 1850 Iowa census. In 1979, Loyal Ramey of Klamath Falls, Oregon, imparted to me a family story about his great-grandfather (Philip) which says that Philip went to California in 1849 during the gold rush and homesteaded land there. He was unable to pay the taxes on the land and had to sell it and return to Indiana and Iowa. I believe this story is confirmed by the 1850 California census which lists a “Philhiel” Ramey living in Placerville, El Dorado County, California. Placerville was a gold rush boom town famous for its gold rush history. Research into the land and tax records there may reveal whether Philip homesteaded land there and whether “Philhiel” is simply a misspelling or misinterpretation of the name on the census records. I have never heard of nor seen such a given name anywhere in the 25 years I have been doing genealogy.

Upon his return, Philip must have first gone to Boone County, Iowa, as he married there his second wife, Nancy A Rich, on March 7, 1854. He thereafter returns to Henry County, Iowa, and remains there throughout the 1850's and 60's, buying and selling land, getting involved in a few court suits and generally being a good farmer. My last record of him there is a deed dated January 24, 1871 in which Francis Sylvanus Ramey sells him 2 acres of land in Marion Twp, the same 2 acres Sylvanus bought from William Barnthouse in 1866, just after Sylvanus did this in preparation to his moving to Missouri where his fourth child Estella was born in November 1871. Francis moved back to Iowa briefly in 1878-79, but moved again to Sheridan County, Kansas, where he appears on the 1880 census. Philip is reputed to have died in Piedmont, Greenwood County, Kansas, in 1893, but I have not yet been able to locate his death record.

Thanks for your interest. Tomorrow I will dig out my files but it appears to me that you have answered all of my questions.

Hi, I am a descendent of Maria Ramey and Stephen J Ramsey. I have been trying to find anything on them. All I have is that Annora Marsh their daughter is my great grandmother. I have not been able to find anything on her parents. Did Stephen and Maria have anymore children, when were they born, and where did they die. Thanks to anyone that can help me.
Bob Powell