"Large Family" is the suggested word this week from Amy. I have written before about a 3rd great aunt, Tennie Hill who had 10 children, them married a man with 8 children and they had 2 more together, making a total of 20 in the same household. You can read about her here:
https://regnirpsstories.blogspot.com/2018/10/ten-10-1-2018.html. But, this story will be about a man who actually fathered 20 children!
John Ramer, my 3rd great grandfather, was born about 1798 in either Kentucky or North Carolina.
There is a Land Grant survey dated November 7, 1826 in Butler County, Kentucky for a John Ramer at
Ancestry.com. It is entitled: Kentucky, Land Grants, 1782-1924 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1997. (Original data: Jillson, Willard Rouse. The Kentucky Land Grants. Vol. I-II. Louisville, KY, USA: Filson Club Publications, 1925). We cannot know for sure this is our John Ramer, but there is a possibility.
The first wife of John Ramer was Mary (possibly Lambert). It appears that they married about 1818. I was unable to find John on the 1820 census. Perhaps he was living with his father or her father. In the 1830 census John and his family are found in McNairy County, Tennessee with 1 male under 5, 1 male 5-10, 1 male 10-15, 1 male 30-40, 2 females under 5, 2 females 5-10, 1 female 30-40. So, he already has 7 children.
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1830; Census Place: McNairy, Tennessee;Series: M19; Roll: 179; Page: 133;
Family History Library Film: 0024537. Description:Township: Not Stated |
Sometime between 1832 and 1838, John's first wife died and in 1838 John married Mary Jane Montgomery. By the 1840 census, John had 4 additional children, one of which was from Mary Jane. So now, there have been 12 children born, 11 of them by John's first wife. They do not all appear on the 1840 census.
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Year: 1840; Census Place: Mcnairy, Tennessee; Roll: 529; Page: 43;
Family History Library Film: 0024547 |
Some of them could be living with other families or already married and moved out. By the 1850 census, the enumerators were able to add names of everyone in the household, not just tic marks for persons living there. This is the first time we are able to see the names and ages of the wife and children.
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| Year: 1850; Census Place: District 5, McNairy, Tennessee; Roll: M432_888; Page: 35B; Image: 76 |
So, now living in the home with John age 52 and Mary Jane age 31, are Roarck age 11, Thomas age 7, Samuel age 4 and Felix, age 2. This 4 year old Samuel is my great, great grandfather!
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| James Samuel Ramer |
One of their sons, Robert D, had been born about 1841, but apparently died before the 1850 census. There have been 16 children born to John, but they are not finished, yet! In the next 10 years, there were 3 more daughters born but only 2 present on the 1860 census.
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Year: 1860; Census Place: District 5, McNairy, Tennessee; Roll: M653_1262;
Page: 399; Family History Library Film: 805262 |
There was one more daughter born in December of 1860, but she also died before the 1870 census.
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Year: 1870; Census Place: District 5, McNairy, Tennessee; Roll: M593_1549;
Page: 244A; Family History Library Film: 553048 |
We know that John Ramer died in 1874 since his Last Will and Testament was written April 19, 1868 and proven in open court in the October Term 1874. He and his wife, Lydia Ann Reeder Ramer are buried in the Ramer Cemetery, Ramer, McNairy County, Tennessee.
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| Sam and Lydia Ramer's grave marker |
One story that I have about John Ramer it that he "donated the right-of-way for the railroad across his land. The train stopped there and it was called Ramer Station, later, as the community developed it was just called Ramer." This information is from the McNairy County Historian, Nancy Kennedy. It is believed that John was killed by a train.
'Til Next Time,
#52Ancestors
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