Rueben & Philura Hannah (Murch) Ferrin

by Jerry Ferrin

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At left: Gravestone for Philura H. Murch, wife of Reuben Ferrin, Died March __(?) 1865, North Jay Cemetery, North Jay, Essex County, New York. She was the mother of Loren & Arthur Ferrin of Comanche County, Kansas. Photo by Gerald Desko.

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Rueben Ferrin was born on 29 Sept 1818 at Morristown, Vermont, to Zebulon & Aschah (Darling) Ferrin. He married Hannah Philura Murch of Elizabethtown, NY, daughter of Nathaniel and Mary (Bingham) Murch. She was born 27 Dec 1826 near Elizabethtown, NY, and is buried in the North Jay Cemetery, Essex County, New York. She died in 1865.

Rueben's older children recalled many hardships in New York where evidently farming was Rueben's main occupation. The New York 1850 Census lists Rueben Ferrin, Solon Ferrin and their father, Zebulon Ferrin, as living in Jay Township, Essex County, New York.

After Philura died, Rueben moved to Holt County, Missouri, with his children.
 

In the 1876 Special Census of Holt County, MO, listed ( with obvious errors in names of children) are:

Ferrin, Rueben (45 and over)
Ferrin, Lorin (21-45)
Ferrin, Arthur (21-45)
Ferrin, Horace (21-45)
Ferrin, Alice (18-21) This must have been Allison, not Alice
Ferrin, Carrie (10-18)
Ferrin, Allison (under 10)

      Rueben and Philura had 7 children:

1. Elvira Ferrin: born 11 June 1846, Essex County, NY; died 6 April 1877, Holt County, MO. She never married. Buried in the New Liberty Cemetery, Holt County, Missouri.

2. Arthur Ferrin: born 6 May 1843, Essex County, NY; died 3 Feb 1926, Wilmore, Kansas. Married Alice Eyerly on 25 Dec 1875 at Oregon, Missouri. Buried in the Wilmore Cemetery, Comanche County, Kansas.

3. Loren Ferrin: born 7 April 1850, Essex County, NY; died 7 Sept 1921, Wichita, Kansas. Married Alcana Wagner. Buried in the Wilmore Cemetery, Comanche County, Kansas.

4. Horace Ferrin: born 1852 in Essex County, NY; died in 1897 in Chicago, Illinois. His descendants live on the West Coast.

5. Allison Ferrin: (male) born circa 1856, Essex County, NY; date and place of death unknown. According to oral tradition recorded by Hazel Ferrin Brammer or Elsie Ferrin Fisk, he was said to have "died single, a prospector in Colorado" but this story almost certainly is about Horace Murch, a maternal uncle of Loren & Arthur Ferrin, who committed suicide at a prospecting camp he had with Loren near Silver Cliffs, Custer, County, Colorado. Oral tradition from my grandfather, Ernest Leroy Ferrin, was that one of his paternal uncles was a "bad apple" who was hanged in Missouri for stealing horses, however, my research into this story shows that it is almost certainly untrue. In 1879 Allison was in New Mexico.

6. Ida Ferrin: born 19 Dec 1859, Essex County, NY; died 22 March 1887. Married Til Bishop. Buried in the New Liberty Cemetery, Holt County, Missouri.

7. Cora Ferrin: born 28 Aug 1862, Essex County, NY; died 4 Oct 1956, Holt County, MO. Married John Thomas Cottier on 5 Sept 188_(2?) at Mound City, Missouri. Buried in the New Liberty Cemetery, Holt County, Missouri. They had 12 children.

Reuben Ferrin died 30 Nov 1879 in Holt County, MO, and is buried in New Liberty Cemetery in Holt County just west of the oak trees at the top of the hill behind the church.

On the immediate south of Rueben's obelisk grave marker is a broken stone (not visible in this photo) for his daughter, Elvira Ferrin (d. April 1st or 4th, 1877, aged 30 years, 9 months, 20 days).

On the north side of Reuben's gravemarker is the obelisk gravestone for his daughter, Ida E. (Ferrin) Bishop, who died in childbirth 22 March 1882, aged 20 years, 3 months and 3 days. Her child, I.E. Bishop, born & died 22 Mar 1882, and another child, Floyd Bishop, son of T.T. & Ida Bishop, is buried at the same spot - he died 24 Sept 1880, aged 1 year, 3 months and one day.

 

Another daughter of Rueben Ferrin's, Cora (Ferrin) Cottier, who lived in Holt county all her life and had a large family, is buried about 100 feet east of Rueben's grave with her husband, John T. Cottier, and six of their children. She died in 1956.

The white-topped obelisk marking Rueben Ferrin's grave and the white obelisk in memory of Ida (Ferrin) Bishop may be seen in the photo at the right of John T. Cottier's name on the gravestone.

JOHN T. COTTIER
1854 -- 1927
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CORA E. His Wife
1862 -- 1956

Five more gravestones for six of John & Cora (Ferrin) Cottier's 12 children are beside this stone, which is at the south end of the row of stones. They are:

1. Thomas Bryant, son of J.T. & Cora Cottier
    B: July 26, 1885. D: Feb. 3, 1902.
2. Jennie, born: April __(11?) 1893; died: Aug 23, 1898
    Joenie, born: May 8, 1899; died: Sept 14, 1899
3. Nellie Blanche Cottier
    B: July 30, 1891; D: Mar 14, 1892. Age 7 mo. 14 days.
4. Harry F., son of J.T. & Cora Cottier
    Died Oct 5, 1890. Age 2 yrs 13 days.
5. Johnnie Corwin, son of John T. & Cora Cottier.
    B: Apr 7, 1887; D: Aug 9, 1887, aged 4 Ms 2 Ds

 

Following are transcriptions from notes taken during my brief visit to the Holt County, Missouri, Court House on October 5, 1995. (Thank you, Vickie Book, for your help in locating these records!) The same spellings used in the records appear below. Note that Loren Ferrin is recorded as Lorrain Ferrin in one record, and that Arthur Ferrin's surname was mis-spelled by a clerk. The transactions in the Grantor/Grantee index are given here in order of the date the document was signed. The entries from the Grantee/Grantor Index appear in their original chronological order according to filing date of the instrument.

Vickie Bock, Holt County Recorder, POB 318, Oregon, MO 62473.

Grantee	Grantor	Dated	Filed	Type	Recorded	Location
Ferrin, Lorrain	Arthur Ferrin	28 April 1878	26 Sept 1878	Trust Deed	V. 37, p. 408	N 1/2 SE 24-63-39
Ferrin, Arthur	Ruben Ferrin	26 April 1878	28 Oct 1878	Warranty	V. 38, p. 303	N 1/2 SE 24-63-39
Ferrin, Horace	Rueben Ferrin	26 March 1878	4 Dec 1878	Warranty	V. 38, p. 334	SW NE NE 24-63-39
Ferrin, Horace	Rueben Ferrin	6 Jan 1879	30 Jan 1879	Warranty	V. 38, p. 420	SW 1/4 NE 1/4 24-63-39 (40 acres)
Ferrin, Loren	Horace Ferrin	18 Jan 1879	27 Jan 1879	Warranty	V. 38, p. 110	SW 1/4 NE 1/4 24-63-39 (40 acres)
Ferren, Ruben	Horace Ferren	18 Jan 1879	13 May 1881	Warranty	V. 43, p. 476	SE NE 24-63-39
Ferren, Arthur	J.H. Kershaw	29 March 1882	14 April 1882	L.D.	V. 47, p. 232	Lot 18, block 27, Maitland.
Ferrin, Horace	Thomas T. Bishop	2 Aug 1882	29 Jan 1884	Quitclaim	V. 46, p. 212	1/6 SE NE 24-63-39
Ferrin, Cora E.	Loren Ferrin	13 Feb 1880	18 Nov 1884	Deed	V. 55, p. 153	SE NE 24-63-39
Ferrin, Horace	Martha L. Moore	20 Oct 1885	8 March 1887	Warranty	V. 59, p. 46	Lot 7, Block 8, Mound City.
Ferrin, Horace U.	Lomland Invest.	3 May 1889	20 June 1889	Release	V. 63, p. 607	see record
Ferrin, Horace	Phoenix Mutual	29 May 1893	13 Nov 1893	Assign	V. 73, p. 532	see record

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Finding Obituaries for Rueben & his family members:

A listing of Holt County, Missouri, newspapers in online here.

Reuben Ferrin died 30 November 1879. These were the newspapers published in the county at the time:
Herald. Pub. in Bigelow, MO. (Mar 1879 - May 1881)
News. Pub. in Mound City, MO. (Aug 1879 - Jan 1881)

Elivira Ferrin died in early April 1877. At the time, only the Holt County Press was being published, at Oregon, in Holt County.

On March 22, 1887, when Ida (Ferrin) Bishop died in childbirth, these newspapers were being published in the county:
Leader. Pub. in Bigelow, MO.
Holt County Press. Pub. in Oregon, MO.
Holt County Sentinel. Pub in Oregon, MO.

These and other early Missouri newspapers are available on microfilm through interlibrary loan at the State Historical Society of Missouri.

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History of Holt County, Missouri

Gone Home: Directory of the Deceased and Items of History of Holt County, Missouri, 1837 - 1981, Eileen Derr, printed by Farmer Printing Company, Maysville, Missouri, 64469.

History of Holt County, Missouri, 1917, History Publishing Company Press of the Midland Printing Company, Saint Joseph, Missouri. Reprinted 1991 by Farmer Printing Company, Maysville, MO, 64469.

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New Liberty Cemetery, Holt County, Missouri

"The New Liberty Cemetery was established in the mid-1870s, in close association with the adjacent New Liberty Baptist Church. However, very soon the cemetery organization was made completely separate from that of the church, so its development has been as a public community cemetery, not a church-sponsored one. Some of the older stones mark graves moved to New Liberty from private farm cemeteries. Description: the SE corner of the SW quarter of Section 3, Township 62N, Range 39W."

-- Gone Home: Directory of the Deceased and Items of History of Holt County, Missouri, 1837 - 1981, Eileen Derr, printed by Farmer Printing Company, Maysville, Missouri, 64469, page XL.

Driving directions: from Mound City, go west 5 miles on Route 59, then turn right on Avenue C. Go 2.3 miles to the dirt road on the right, go right a mile or so to the white church on the left at the top of a hill.

Listings of burials in all cemeteries in Holt County were published in Gone Home by Eileen Derr.

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Also see:

Loren & Alcana (Wagner) Ferrin

Memories of Alcana Ferrin by Janet (Schrock) Hubbard

Arthur & Alice (Eyerly) Ferrin

How Loren & Arthur Ferrin Came to Comanche County, Kansas

Early Day Memories by Alice (Eyerly) Ferrin, The Wilmore News, October 31, 1939.

Wesley Clay Ferrin, brother of Reuben Ferrin.

Ferrin, DeKalb & Murch Gravestones in the North Jay Cemetery, Essex County, New York

A Brief History of Newton, New Hampshire (A New Chronology of the Life & Times of Jonathan Farren)
Reuben Ferrin was a 5th generation descendant of Capt. Jonathan Farren of Amesbury, MA, & Newton, NH, as follows: Reuben Ferrin ⁵, Zebulon Ferrin ⁴, Zebulon Ferrin ³, Zebulon Farren ², Jonathan Farren ¹.

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Email from Suzanne Thielmann, 16 April 2003, re: Ida Ferrin, daughter of Horace Ferrin:

Dear Jerry, My husband's parents apparently didn't discuss much about family history and he was totally unaware of information beyond knowing "Grandma Ferrin," as he was taught to call Ida Mae. Ida and Oscar had an ugly divorce and the Ferrin's of Missouri and Kansas may have considered the often-wed-much-divorced Hollywood seamstress as a bit of a black sheep. When Ida died, her daughter and daughter-in-law went to the funeral in California and her son stayed in Chicago. I am sure that we have some photos of Ida. I'll get out the box of Thielmann family photos that Paul inherited and scan some things in if you'd like copies.

This information on Richard Ferrin is interesting. Ida's son, Oscar (known as Augie) Thielmann, was a professional musician in Chicago and had many friends in the Chicago Symphony. Augie was primarily a "show drummer" and played at the big hotels and with radio orchestras. He also subbed as a timpanist with the symphony. Augie's show biz days were pretty much over before Richard came to the CSO. I wonder if he knew that he had a 1st cousin with such outstanding musical credentials.

Please let me know if you run across anything more on Horace and family. Thanks so much for sharing your work.

Suzanne Thielmann

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Wow! What a treasure trove of Ferrin information. Ida Mae Ferrin was my husband's grandmother. Wait 'til I tell your cousin, Paul, that I've found his grandmother's family!

After finding the Horace Ferrin family in the 1880 Census of Holt County, MO, I was pretty sure that I was on the right track. I think there may have been other spouses for Ida but I only know of three. I believe that she was a seamstress/costumer for a movie studio in California. Here is what I have:

Descendants of Horace Ferrin

1 Horace Ferrin 1852 - 1897
.. +Martha Leach 1860 -
.... 2 Ida May Ferrin 1880 - 1956
........ +Oscar Thielmann 1879 - 1947
.......... 3 Oscar Valentine Thielmann 1906 - 1982
.............. +Violet Unknown
.......... *2nd Wife of Oscar Valentine Thielmann:
.............. +Charlotta Helena Heun 1907 - 1983
................ 4 Paul Thielmann 1945 -
.................... +Malinda McCoy
................ *2nd Wife of Paul Thielmann:
.................... +Suzanne Hunt 1945 -
...................... 5 Spencer Thielmann 1980 -
...................... 5 Karl Thielmann 1983 -
.......... 3 Lucille Thielmann 1908 -
.............. +George Kuhlmann
................ 4 Marion Kuhlmann 1929 -
................ 4 Diane Kuhlmann 1936 -
................ 4 Carol Kuhlmann 1943 -
.... *2nd Husband of Ida May Ferrin:
........ +Edward Corrigan
.... *3rd Husband of Ida May Ferrin:
........ +William Shellenbarger
.... 2 Alfred Ferrin 1877 - 1956
.... 2 Franklin Ferrin 1879 -
.... 2 Henry Ferrin 1879 -

-- Genealogical information from Suzanne Thielmann

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Information from the research of Elsie Ferrin Fisk, Hazel Ferrin Brammer, Velma Brammer Hall, Joanne Hess Ferrin and Suzanne Thielmann appears on this page. Special thanks to Velma and Joanne for generously sharing their research and family photographs with me.
-- Jerry Ferrin, great-great grandson of Reuben and Philura Ferrin.