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John Stockdale (1838 - 1913)
Birth, Parents & Siblings
John Stockdale was born on April 23, 1838, in Indiana according to multiple census listings, perhaps in Madison, Indiana. However, after being born, he lived in Hunters Bottom, Carroll County, Kentucky, just over the Ohio River from Madison, Indiana. His parents were Morrison Stockdale, who was 24 at the time and Rebecca March, who was 21 at the time.
John was the second of four children with an older sister, Amanda (1835-1911) and younger brothers George (1848-?) and Thomas (1855-1932).
John was born at a time when Madison was a relatively new city, having been laid and out platted in 1811 and served as a key stopping point for shipping along the Ohio River. By the time of his birth Indiana’s first railroad, the Madison & Indianapolis was being built and finally opened in 1847.
By 1850, he along with his parents had relocated to Ohio County, Indiana, 40 miles northeast of Madison, Indiana and 40 miles southwest of Cincinnati.
Marriage & Children
On January 18, 1860, John married Prudence (Pruda) Ann Harsin back in Carroll County, Kentucky at the age of 22.
“Personally appeared before Littleton Tingle, who upon his oath states that Pruda Ann Harsin whose name appeared in the above marriage bond is over and above twenty-one years of age and resides in this county. Given under my hand this 18th day of January 1860, John R. Vance County Clerk.”
John and Pruda Ann had eight children in Kentucky, beginning in the middle of Civil War and concluding in 1876. Their children included: William (1862-1937), Charles (1863-1954), Benjamin (1865-1944), Ivy or Ivey (1867-1943), Addie May Stockdale (1868-1952), Lowry (1870-1950), Linnie Leota (1872-1890 died during childbirth) and Cordelia (1876-1894, died one year before Pruda Ann died and 19 years before John died). John and Pruda Ann’s granddaughter and daughter of Addie May Stockdale was likely named Leota for Linnie Leota.
Adulthood
John served in the Civil War as a Union Soldier from 1861-1865 in the Ninth Infantry, M-Z and Tenth Infantry and Eleventh Infantry (unverified), beginning at age 23. He was a farmer when he registered for the draft. His first three children, William, Charles and Benjamin were born during this period. By 1880 John was a farmer in the town of Locust, Carroll County, Kentucky at age 42, likely with his brothers Charles and Benjamin who were farm laborers according the 1880 census.
John became a widower in 1895 at the age of 57, when Pruda Ann passed away at the age of 59 and by 1900 was living with his son William and family in Trimble County, Kentucky according to the 1900 Census.
John and family were likely active in the Corn Creek Baptist Church as evidenced by a photo of him and three generations (children and grandchildren) at a revival in 1909 or 1910 in Trimble County, Kentucky.
Death
John died on July 28, 1913, at the age of 75 in Saluda Township, Jefferson County, Indiana, southwest of Madison and west of Trimble County, Kentucky. According to his obituary in the Madison Courier, Madison, Indiana (July 29, 1913, page 6) “he was found dead in bed at his home near Lexington, Indiana this morning and was the father of Captain Charles Stockdale of this city who is running an excursion steamer on the White River at Broadripple, Indianapolis”. At some point between 1900 and his death, John must have moved out of his son’s home in Trimble County, Kentucky to this home in Lexington, Indiana. He lived another 18 years after the death of his wife.
John was buried in Moffett Cemetery, Milton, Trimble County, Kentucky in an unmarked grave. The Moffett Cemetery is the resting place of numerous Stockdale’s and descendants. It is not clear why his grave is unmarked while so many other family members have marked graves in the same cemetery. The Madison Courier indicated that “Mr. and Mrs. Charles Stockdale and Mr. Benjamin Stockdale, of Indianapolis, who were called here on account of the death of their father, John Stockdale, returned on the morning train” seemingly after the burial.
Interestingly, John and his family, over the course of his lifetime, lived in and around Madison, Indiana, on either side of the Ohio River. He lived in various residences and locations in both Indiana, which was a Union state and Kentucky during the run up to, during and after the Civil War. We may be able to assume his allegiance was to the Union, given his military service, but was able to do so from both sides of the Ohio River. According to Wikipedia, Madison was an important stop on the Underground Railroad.
Capturing Memories: An Ancestral Photo Album
Corn Creek Baptist Church Revival (need to rescan picure)