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Prudence (Pruda) Ann Harsin (1836 - 1895)
Birth, Parents & Siblings
Pruda Ann was born on February 7, 1836, in Kentucky, likely in and around Madison, Indiana, according to various census records, however her birth certificate has not yet been discovered.
Her parents were Garrett (or Garnett) Gilbert Harsin (1808 – 1875), who was 28 at the time and (whose parents may have been George B. Harsin and Prudence Gamble) and Sarah Elizabeth Yelton* (1812-1850 from Ancestry.com), who was 24 at the time.
Pruda Ann was one (maybe the fifth) of eight children including John William, Linton, Margaret, William, George M., Harriett and Sarah Elizabeth.
Growing Up
Pruda Ann 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 her birth, Indiana’s first railroad, the Madison & Indianapolis, was being built and finally opened in 1847.
Marriage & Children
On January 18, 1860, Pruda Ann married John Stockdale 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.”
Pruda Ann and John 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.
Her first three children, William, Charles and Benjamin were born during the Civil War when John served as a Union Soldier from 1861-1865 in the Ninth Infantry, M-Z and Tenth Infantry and Eleventh Infantry (need to verify).
Adulthood
She was likely a homemaker while John was a farmer. By 1880 John was listed as 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.
Death
Pruda Ann passed away on September 10, 1895, at the age of 59. She died in Hunters Bottom, Carroll County, Kentucky, just over the Ohio River from Madison, Indiana.
Anecdotally, Pruda Ann was buried in Moffett Cemetery, Milton, Trimble County, Kentucky. The Moffett Cemetery is the resting place of numerous Stockdale’s and descendants.
Interestingly, Pruda and her family, over the course of her lifetime, lived in and around Madison, Indiana, on either side of the Ohio River. She 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 her allegiance was to the Union, given her husband’s military service for the Union side, 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.
* Their marriage certificate has not been located. It is possible Pruda mother could have been a Doty, according to family lore from Leota Riordan.
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