Nancy:
Thank you for your response. Yes, I had seen the RootsWeb site once before but in visiting there again per your reference, I noticed something that I hadn't caught the first time. The references cited at the bottom of Thomas
Benton Elder's page are as follows:
Sources:
list of 2 items
1. Title: 1880
Milo Twp.,
Delaware Co., IA census
Repository:
2. Title: 1878
Delaware Co., IA History - Martin
Lanning What I noticed this time was that the second reference above is by Martin
Lanning. And, Thomas's wife's father's name was Martin
Lanning. Coincidence? I don't know. By the way, the 1880 United States Federal Census shows Martin
Lanning, 74, widower, living in the household of Thomas and Eliza
Elder.
A cousin of mine in
Missouri was contacted a couple of years ago and was asked if he was related to the
Elder family line (though his last name isn't
Elder). He was invited, and attended, an
Elder family reunion that apparently takes place there in
Missouri or
Iowa every year. He said that there was a woman at the reunion who looked exactly like my oldest sister! Is this a reunion that you are aware of or perhaps attend?
One question I have about Thomas's children regards why they left
Iowa? Both
Lysle and
Fern were in
Powell Co., Montana by 1910. By 1920,
Lysle was in Spokane and Thomas and Eliza were in the adjacent county of
Stevens, WA. So was Edna. And
Fern was in the adjacent county to the east of Spokane,
Bonner Co., Idaho. By 1930,
Fern was also in Spokane. I'm not sure what happened to Clyde. However, he was apparently dead by 1915 because the 1915
Iowa State Census indicates that his wife's marital status was "widow". In 1915, she and their two children were living in
Manchester,
Delaware Co., Iowa as were Thomas and Eliza
Elder.
Thanks again.
.
This was the name of Eliza (
Lida) Lanning's father., 's father's name was Martin
Lanning.