Julia Cruse Whiteside, Part 1

This is a continuing series on the possible descendants of Jeremiah Cruse and Elizabeth Harland. Jeremiah was a son of David Crews & Annie Magee of Madison County, Kentucky. Most of today's research is my own, with a smattering of records coming to me courtesy of Marian Kay Abbott. 

Julia Cruse was born in January 1870 in Vigo County, Indiana to James Cruse and Edith Moore  (1, 2). Her death certificate (1) only gives a birth state of Indiana, but her father had property in Vigo County, and this fact, combined with other records, clearly indicates her birth to have been in Vigo County. Also, the death certificate (1) gives her birth month as February, but the 1870 census (2) as well as the 1900 census (14) enumerates her birth month as January. As this information was given closest to the actual event, and as it was given by her parents, she was likely born in January and not February. She was four months old later that year when the 1870 census was taken.

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Two years later, in 1872, Julia's sister Amelia was born.

On 22 April 1874, James Cruse died. For more on that go here. Julia was four years old at the time, while sister Amelia was only two.

A year and a month later, on 31 May 1875, Julia's mother, Edith Moore Cruse, died.

While it appears the courts appointed William Carpenter as a guardian over the girls' financial affairs, he was not a guardian in the sense of giving the girls a home. It also appears as if the girls were split up and placed in different families at an early date. In fact, Amelia notes, in her application for a Confederate pension based on her father's service, that she was not aware she even had a sister until 1902. By that date she was nearing thirty years of age and already had a family of her own (4).

While there are records in the courts concerning the girls' financial affairs (see my blog: Orphans: Julia Cruse Whiteside and Amelia Cruse Dawson), the girls themselves are not found until 1880, and then we can only find Julia. That year she was living with 80 year old Jeremiah Blocksom and his  69 year old wife Gertrude. Gertrude was his third wife. He married her in 1879 (12).

Julia is enumerated in the 1880 census as being ten years old and a servant (5). It should be noted that living next door to the Blocksoms were Henry and Laeticia (Cruse) Loveall (5). Laeticia was the daughter of James Nelson and Susannah Cruse, and Susannah was a daughter of Jeremiah Cruse and Elizabeth Harland. Julia's grandfather, David Cruse (who married Jane Jewell) was Susannah's brother. Unless I have missed a familial connection to Blocksom, Julia was not living with her family. She was, however, living next door to her great-aunt. 

Jeremiah Blocksom was well-to-do farmer. Born in Ohio, he immigrated to Indiana about the time that Julia's grandfather and great-greandfather, David Cruse (married Jane Jewell) and Jeremiah Cruse (married Elizabeth Harland) moved there. Blocksom is found in Vigo County in the Honey Creek Township in 1850 (8). In 1860, he was still living in Vigo County in Honey Creek Township. His real estate that year was valued at a little over $22,000 and his personal estate at $4000 (7)  He apparently navigated the war years well, for in 1870 the census enumerates his real estate at $30,000 and his personal estate at $25,000 (9). No values are given in the 1880 census (5).

In the 1870 census, just two years before James Cruse's death, Blocksom and Cruse are enumerated as next door neighbors. Alexander Moore was found living on the other side of James that year.

How soon Julia went to live with Jeremiah after her father's death is not known, but she could only have lived with him for two years beyond the 1880 census, for on 25 May 1882, Jeremiah died (6). Julia was only twelve years old at the time. I do not know if she continued living with Gertrude, or if she went elsewhere to live. It should be noted that Gertrude did not die until 1891 (10, 11).

Next week, we will continue with Julia's marriage and later years.

(1) Ancestry.com. Illinois, Deaths and Stillbirths Index, 1916-1947 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. 

(2) U. S Federal Census, 1870 Vigo County, Indiana, Honey Creek Township, household of James Cruse.  

(3) Vigo County, Indiana; Index to Marriage Record 1840-1920 Inclusive Volum, W. P. A. Original Record Located: County Clerk's O; Book: 10; Page: 495.

(4) Civil War Pension Records for Julia Whitesides and Amelia Dawson (James Cruse), courtesy of Marian Kay Abbott.

(5) U. S. Federal Census, 1880 Vigo County, Indiana, Honey Creek Township, household of Jeremiah Blocksom. 
(6) Ancestry.com. Indiana Deaths, 1882-1920 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

(7) U. S. Federal Census, 1860 Vigo County, Indiana, Honey Creek Township, household of Jeremiah Blocksom.

(8) U. S. Federal Census, 1850 Vigo County, Indiana, Honey Creek Township, household of Jeremiah Blocksom.

(9) U. S. Federal Census, 1870 Vigo County, Indiana, Honey Creek Township, household of Jeremiah Blocksom. 

(10) Ancestry.com. U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

(11) Will Records, 1818-1921; Author: Indiana. Circuit Court (Vigo County); Probate Place: Vigo, Indiana. 

(12) Vigo County, Indiana; Index to Marriage Record 1840-1920 Inclubive Volum, W. P. A. Original Record Located: County Cleek's O; Book: 8; Page: 50. The 1850, 1860, and 1870 censuses given above for Jeremiah Blocksom, #s 7, 8, 9, show his wife as Elizabeth. On 14 April 1831, he married 1st Nancy Atkinson in Vigo County, Indiana. See Book: Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT; Page: 1392539 items 3-5. 

(13) U. S. Federal Census, Reeve, Daviess County, Indiana, household of William Whiteside. Living with William and wife Ann was 60 year old Catherine McAvoy and subsequent records indicate this was Ann's mother.

(14) U. S. Federal Census, Barr, 1900 Daviess County, Indiana, household of John Whiteside. This census gives birth month and birth year, while the 1910 census only gives birth years.

(15) U. S. Federal Census, 1910 Danville Ward 5, Vermillion County, Illinois, household of John Whiteside.

(16) U. S. Federal Census, 1920 Peoria, Peoria Co., IL, household of Sarah Sutton.

(17) U. S. Federal Census, 1930 Peoria, Peoria Co., IL, household of John Whiteside.