Stepping Back In Time: Amarilla’s Life In Iowa Before George!

In recent published posts I have talked about John Keller and Mary Anne Delano Keller who were Amarilla’s grandparents on her mother’s side.

Amarilla was the daughter of Daniel D. Spracklin and Elizabeth Keller.  Daniel’s parents were John Andrews Spracklin and Lydia Goss.  Daniel and Elizabeth had 4 children.  By 1860 Elizabeth had passed.  She had died in 1859 just months after Amarilla’s birth.

Elizabeth Spracklin’s Tombstone , Titler Cemetery, Iowa

A thorough page by page search of the Iowa census was attempted but Daniel was not found.  Amarilla does appear in the 1860 Iowa census in Benton County, Iowa but she is not with her father Daniel? She is with her sister Mary and another family.

1860 U.S. Federal Census Family of Shelley/Spracklin Dwelling# 1175, Hse #1217, pg. 178, Roll #M635-325 Iowa & Jasper Co.,  Marengo Twp., Iowa Co., Iowa, National Archives, Alaska-Pacific Region, Seattle, WA. 1175/1217 – Joseph Shelley, 68 yrs. old, male, farmer, $1400 real estate, $100 personal, born in Tennessee. Sarah Shelley, age 48, born in Maryland, Martha Shelley, age 13, born in Indiana, Eliza, age 9, born in Indiana May Sprackling age 4, male?, born in Iowa, (A)melia age 1 yr., female, born in Iowa

It is my belief that this is Mary and Amarilla even though the spelling is different.  The ages are correct and the location is close.  As for the Shelley family, I do not know what their relationship to Daniel maybe.  The Spracklins and the Kellers are large families and this could easily be relatives that I do not have knowledge of.  They could also just be neighbors and friends helping out.

The other interesting fact is that Henry, the older brother is also displaced and living with another family in 1860.  In this case it is his Aunt Olive a sister of Daniel’s.

 W. P. Merifield Family, 1860 U.S. Federal Census Leroy Twp., Benton County, Iowa, Reel No M653, # 311, Page 162. Merifield, W.P. 29 farmer 800, 300, born in Ohio, Olive 27 yrs. born in Ohio, Lydia 7 yrs. born in Iowa, Corista 2 yrs born in Iowa, Spracklin, Henry 7, born in Ohio.

There is no sign of Amarilla’s father.  I did a house by house search of the township and there were lots of houses that were empty.  I even searched in Ohio to see if Daniel had gone back to his home in Knox County, Ohio because his father John Andrews Spracklin had died in 1862.  I cannot find him.

Benton County 1872

So the death of Elizabeth Keller Spracklin in 1859 really created a temporary scattering of the family of Daniel D. Spracklin at that time.  There does not appear to be any evidence that he joined the fight and enlisted in the Civil War.

By 1870 Daniel is back in the census and he is remarried to Sarah.  He has Henry and Amarilla with him from his first marriage.  Emily is Sarah’s daughter from her first marriage. Sister Mary died on the 27th of September 1861.  This death must have affected Amarilla even though she was very young.

By 1870, Sarah and Daniel have started to have a family of their own.  The other children: Lydia, Birdie H (Virda), Reed A. are of the 2nd family.

Daniel D. Spracklin Household, 1870 U.S. Federal Census LeRoy Twp., Benton Co., Iowa,  June 17, 1870, Post Office is Blairstown, Page 18. Line 34, 123, 122, Spracklin, Daniel, age 40, male, white, famer, $3300, $700, born in Ohio, father and mother of foreign birth, citizen of US.  Sarah,  34 yrs., female, white, keeping house, born in Indiana.  Henry F. 17 yrs., male, white, born in Ohio.  Emily,  13 yrs, female, white, born in Indiana.  Ammarilla, 11 yrs., female, white, born in Iowa.  Lydia M., 5 yrs., female, white, born in Iowa.  Birdie H., 4 yrs., male, white, born in Iowa. Continued page 19:  Reed A., 1 yrs., male, white, born in Iowa.  Henry, Emily, Ammarilla, Lydia attended school within the year. 

There are other names listed under the notation for Daniel in 1870.  Nelson, Peter 26, farmer with 600 value of personal estate from Denmark, Nelson, Hardie 26 keeping house, from Denmark, Nelson, Andrew 1 yr. born in Iowa, Nelson, Peter 5/12 yr. born in Iowa, all have parentage that are foreign birth, Frederickson, Ann 8, from Denmark, Anderson, Peter 23, laborer Denmark, both with parentage foreign.

Daniel remarried on 21 November 1863 to Sarah Blacketer Allgood in Marengo, Iowa Co., Iowa.  He is still living in LeRoy Twp. in Benton County, Iowa but that will change.  Amarilla was 5 years old when he marries Sarah.  She may be young but old enough to know that something has happened.

Daniel’s Land in Leroy Twp., Benton County, Iowa

In the closeup of the Benton Co. Atlas Daniel’s land is in two parts of 40 acres each.  There is a double line almost in the middle and Daniel’s land is on the left of the line under the School.  There is a dot showing this piece of land.  The other land is to the right on the other side of the double line with another dot next to a Case and below A. Justus.  Which piece of land Daniel had his house located on is not known.  This is why Amarilla’s great-granddaughter, the writer of this blog, believes she was born nearer to Blairstown.  Daniel did not move to Iowa County, Iowa 20 miles south till after 1872.  Amarilla was born in November of 1858.

If you go back to the 1856 Iowa State Census you will find interesting things going on.   Daniel is not mentioned in published indexes for this census but he is definitely there and he and Elizabeth and their son Henry are living next to Blacketers, and Daniel’s sister Olive Merrifield and her family.

1856 Iowa State Census

So Amarilla’s beginnings are a bit precarious.  She looses her mother at a very early age, a sister dies and she is separated from her brother and father for maybe a year or two?  Then her father returns to marry a stranger.  This is a lot for a 5-year-old to take in.

Miriam, Amarilla’s granddaughter writes:  “Amarilla (Ammarilla, sometimes she varied it) belonged to the first family, hated the second and left home.  Supported herself as a seamstress.  Married George Angus Barclay in Brainard, Minn.  He had land…”