Newfarmer, Whelchel, Kepner, and Pettigrew families of Indiana
I am looking for any information on the Newfarmer family who were associated with the Whelchel, Kepner, and Pettigrew families in the area around Randolph, Madison and Hamilton Counties in Indiana.I am also trying to find a connection between these Newfarmers and the Newfarmers from Logan County, Ohio.A somewhat speculative file of my research is located on WorldConnect - newfpace.
These are the factual records and family recollections.
Two Newbauers, Henry and John, immigrated to Philadelphia in 1850.
A Henry Newfarmer (32) is found 1860 in Logan County, Ohio with his wife Christina and seven children.Also with him is probably his mother Catherine (58).Catherine dies in 1867, and the children are placed in a number of different households.Henry remarries within a year to a Henrietta, and has three more children.Catherine, with child Magdelana (Lana) move to Randolph County, Indiana immediately after Catherine's death.The recollections of the children are inconsistent as they never really know their parents.
In 1985, Ross Newfarmer locates a James David Newfarmer in Illinois who outlines his knowledge of his ancestry.His grandfather is John Newfarmer who married Barbara Kepner.They had three sons, twins William and Henry, and "Shock".William had four children; William, Henry, Evelyn, and Beulah.James David Newfarmer was the son if William Jr.The twins, William and Henry, are found in the 1880 census, five years old, living with the William Kepner (60) family (wife Elizabeth (53) and daughter Elizabeth (28)).Apparently, there was also a death or divorce in that family, and again the family history becomes dependent on some inconsistent memories.
In a later telephone conversation, James David Newfarmer recollects that his gg-grandfather was not John, but William, and was married to Jane Kepner, born Hancock County, Indiana.The only other family rememberences in the correspondence were that William lived in Noblesville and either ran or owned a box factory there.
Other displaced Newfarmers in the area with connections to the families listed are:
1880 - Libbie Newfarmer, 27, listed as divorced or widowed,daughter of Mary J. Pettigrew, also listed as divorced or widowed, Green, Madison Co. IN 265D.With Libbie are her children Minnie and Daisy.Minnie is also listed as living with the Washington Pettigrew (22) family a month later.
1880 - L. Newfarmer, 22, single, living with the L. J. Monks family, relation "other"
Other records are:
Mary Newfarmer marries Lewis Klamberg in 1874 in Randolph County, Indiana.Presumably the same Mary E. Newfarmer marries Abraham Whelchel (b. 28 May 1836) in Madison County, Indiana in 1910.Mary is almost certainly the daughter of Henry Newfarmer of Logan County, Ohio.
A message in an ancestry.com message board says that a William Newfarmer can be found in the home of Levi Welchel and his wife Elizabeth J. in the 1910 Illinois census, listed as a step-son.I haven't located that record yet.In a subsequent message, the same individual states that there were three Kepner sisters who married three Whelchel brothers.As far as I can decypher the writing, Elizabeth Kepner, oldest child of William Kepner and Elizabeth Bennett, married Levi Whelchel; Hester Kepner married William Whelchel; and Barbara Kepner married John W. Whelchel.According to the posting, Barbara Kepner is also the mother of William Newfarmer.
That's about what I have been able to collect.If anyone can direct me to a resource that would help put the Newfarmer, Whelchel, Kepner, and Pettigrew families properly together I would greatly appreciate it.Also, any other factual information on the Newfarmers in Indiana would help a lot.
Thanks in advance,
Jim