Family history for the Wennihans of Kansas and Missouri.

Thompson Family History
Families of Wheeler & Frances Thompson, Samuel Thompson & Evaline Moffett Dunihoo
Info provided primarily by Elva (Thompson) Long (daughter of Samuel Thompson, Jr; grandaughter of Samuel & Evaline Thompson) with additional info by Mabel Plankinton, Judith Thompson Peace and Nancy Jennings. Much of this was preserved through the efforts of Elva Walkington, who loaned the original manuscript to Mary (Wennihan) Carter, who made copies for the rest of us.

WHEELER THOMPSON was born August 15, 1788 and died May 18, 1836.
His wife, FRANCES HIBBS, was born October 2, 1783 and died July 15, 1849.
Wheeler and Frances are buried in a cemetery on the Hassel Sloan Farm in Scioto(?) Township, Pike County, Ohio. (Info regarding how to locate this cemetery is available if interested.)
Wheeler and Frances had 12 children, SAMUEL being the oldest.
1) SAMUEL T was born June 5th or 15th, 1813 in Ross County, Ohio. He married EVALINE MOFFETT DUNIHOO on Sept. 22nd 1842. She was born November 29, 1823 at Pikestown, Virginia. They had 13 (or 15) children, the youngest of which was MARY ANN THOMPSON. Evaline died August 23, 1884 at age 60. Samuel died July 13, 1899, 86 years old. Both are buried in Tharp's Cemetery in Sharp's Grove (north of Craig, Missouri).
2) Elizabeth, born Sept. 1, 1814 in Ross or Pike County, Ohio.
3) Mary, born June 6, 1816, in Pike County, Ohio. She married Peter Rineley, Jr., a teacher, on May 31, 1843, in Pike County. They had 5 children (Graham, Francis E., Rebecca J., Elizabeth, and Henry). Mary died March 18, 1888 and Peter died Feb. 6, 1881, both in Louisa Coounty, Iowa. They are both buried in Union/Foster Cemetery, Union Township, Louisa County, Iowa.
4) Sarah, born Aug. 1, 1817, in Pike County, Ohio. She married Jesse Sailor on May 3, 1839, in Pike County, Ohio. They had 6 children (Mary A., Jeremiah, Jared, Augustus, Wheeler, and Jacob). Sarah died between 1848 and 1849 in Pike County.
5) Rebecca, born Aug. 20, 1820, in Pike County, Ohio. She married Moses J. Guthrie on April 27, 1841 in Pike County. They had 4 children (possible 5)(John W., William, Moses, and Marietta). Rebecca died Aug. 2, 1888 and Moses J. Guthrie died May 2, 1908, both in Louisa County, Iowa. Both are buried in Grandview Cemetery there.
6) Joseph, born Jan. 21, 1824, in Pike County, Ohio. He married Nancy Tharp/Thorp on April 9, 1846, in Pike County. They had 13 children (John T., Mary, David R., Thomas R., Eliza, Sarah, Elmira, Martha, Diann, Nancy, Dorothy A., James G. and ?). Joseph died Oct. 2, 1900 and Nancy died Nov. 16, 1925, both in Pottawattamie County, Iowa. Both are buried in Walnut Cemetery there.
7) Delila(h), born Aug. 22, 1825, in Pike County, Ohio. She married John Guthrie, Jr. on May 1, 1845, in Pike County, Ohio. They had 12 children (Nancy A., James W., Rebecca, Margaret F., John M., Moses F., Perry, Susannah, Harvey, Mariette, Cyrus S., and Hiram). Delila died Feb. 2, 1901 and John died May 9, 1881, both in Butler Township, Miami County, Indiana, and are buried in Peoria Cemetery there.
8) William, born July 2, 1827, in Pike County, Ohio. He married Nancy A. Neal on Jan. 20, 1856, in Grandview, Marshall Township, Louisa County, Iowa. They had 7 children (Isabell "Belle", John Henry "Ted", Mary Frances "May", Warren Grant, James Willie, Etta Ruth "Ettie", and Pearl). William died Jan. 3, 1878 and Nancy died April 19, 1889, both in Pottawatomie County, Iowa. They are both buried in Walnut Cemetery there.
9) Nancy, born Dec. 26, 1828, in Pike County, Ohio.
10) Wheeler, Jr., born Jan. 5, 1832, in Pike County, Ohio. He married Elizabeth Caroline Orr on March 22, 1861, in Louisa County, Iowa. They had 8 children (John Walker, Ulysses G. Grant, Albert D., Ida Jane, Phillip Sheridan, Francis "Frank" Clifford, Robert, and Sarah Elizabeth). Wheeler, Jr. died after 1900 and Elizabeth Caroline died Nov. 1903, both in Louisa County, Iowa, and are buried in Union/Foster Cemetery, Union Towhship, there.
11) Frances "Fanny", born Dec. 20, 1833, in Pike County, Ohio. She married Stephen Hawkins on Dec. 5, 1865, in Iowa. They had 3 children (Jane, Merritt F., and Stephen J.). Frances died Nov. 20, 1924, and Stephen died July 13, 1900, both in Washington County, Iowa, and are buried in Ainsworth Cemetery there.
12) John, born Aug. 14, 1835 in Pike County, Ohio. He possibly married Susanna Orr.

Samuel Thompson and Evaline Moffett Dunihoo had 13 children, Mary Ann being the youngest.
1) Dianne was born September 7, 1843 in Ohio. She married John Hunt January 11, 1874. She died April 6, 1938 at Craig, Missouri.
2) William was born December 25, 1844 in Ohio. He married Phebe Jane Jones in Iowa. He died March 12, 1922, Phebe died 1928. They had three children: Bert, Dorothy and Elma.
3) Wheeler was born September 5, 1846 in Ohio. He's buried near Elk Falls, Kansas.
4) Rebecca was born March 14, 1848 in Ohio. This one we believe drowned when a young girl.
5) John Lattie was born November 27, 1849 in Louisa County, Iowa. Married Ema Brunk, March 4, 1887. Died October 30, 1911. Buried in Tharp Cemetery.
6) Elizabeth was born August 22, 1851 in Iowa. She married Roger McCoy. She died August 12, 1887. Their children were Hattie, Lina, Frank, Mose, Guy and Bessie McCoy.
7) Henry was born January 26, 1853 in Iowa. No further record.
8) Pinetta was born August 30, 1854 in Iowa. She died November 18, 1886 in Missouri at age 33. She was the girl with the goiter.
9) Evaline Joffett was born April 24, 1856 in Iowa. She married John Brunk. (Brother to Ema Brunk, above???) Died June 27, 1895 near Craig, Missouri. Children were Ed and Frank Brunk.
10) Mose was born April 2, 1859 in Missouri. He married Corda Ousley. He died in Oklahoma. One daughter: Birthday Thompson.
11) Samuel T. Thompson was born November 24, 1860 in Missouri. Married Jane Hodgin March 11, 1883. Died December 17, 1930 at St Joseph, Missouri. Their children were Elva, born June 29, 1888, married John Long, March 9, 1910. (NOTE: Elva is the author of most of this history); Amy born September 29, 1890; and Una, born October 27, 1898.
12) Joseph Hooker was born January 17, 1863 in Missouri. He married Ida Hodgin March 11, 1886. He died November 17, 1950 at age 87. They had one child: Mabel, born July 26, 1888, married Joseph Plankinton, Dec. 12, 1906. (NOTE: Mabel is the author of part of this history) Children from this marriage included Elva Rosetta, born October 7, 1907, who married John Walkington; Ida Ferne, born November 8, 1908, who married Orrin Reeves; Lee Tharp, born July 27, 1917; and Gerald Hooker, born October 11, 1923.
13) Mary Ann was born February 17, 1865 in Craig, Missouri. Married William Henry Wennihan, September 14, 1890 in Holt County, Missouri. Died July 14, 1934 on their farm in Havana, Kansas. Buried Sharp Grove (Tharp Cemetery) near Craig, Missouri. One son, Furman Owen, married Stella Emily Bell, June 1, 1921.

Comment by Mabel Plankinton, 1888-1972
(Mabel was the daughter of Hooker Thompson & Ida Hodgin,
granddaughter of Samuel Thompson & Eveline Dunihoo)

"My father, Hooker Thompson, was the 14th child born to our grandparents. When my father was very young, our grandmother left our grandfather. Al the children that were not married went along with her - all, that is, but my father. He stayed with Granddad at the old home - why I never knew, him being so young and next to the baby. Dad told me many times that when he was around 12 years of age, Granddad gave him an ax and said to him, "Now go and make your own living." Imagine a child this day and age making their own way with an ax! The only school book Granddad would buy my dad was a spelling book, but through the years of his life, he learned to read very well. He read his Bible and lots of books. He made his home with us for 18 years and during all that time never said an unkind word to any of us. He had lots of patience and courage."

Samuel Thompson & Evaline Dunihoo, by Elva Long, 1888-1974
(Elva was the daughter of Samuel Thompson Jr & Jane Hodgin
and grandaughter of Samuel Thompson & Evaline Dunihoo)

Samuel Thompson was one of Holt County, Missouri's pioneers. He was born near Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio on June 5, 1813. When five years of age, his parents moved to Pike County in Ohio where he grew to manhood. On September 22, 1842, he married Eveline Dunihoo. To this union was born 15 children - 7 boys and 8 girls.
Mr Thompson with his wife moved from their Ohio home to Muscatine, Iowa, in 1848, then on to Holt County, Missouri in 1857, settling ont he farm on which he died. When Dianne was six years old(?) in Ohio, she heard her father and the neighbor man talk feverishly of the gold to be found in California in the famous days of 1849. Some of the neighbors told Ohio farewell, urging Mr. Thompson to go with them. But Mr. Thompson was not easily persuaded then. But a few years later, he decided to go west, but not to California--to Iowa. So, loading his family and their possessions into covered wagons, they started on the long trip west. The wagon in which the family rode was pulled by a horse and a cow. To the other wagon was hitched two yoke of oxen. Several weeks were required to make the journey. Rivers such as the Wabash, the Illinois, and the Mississippi had to be forded. The Mississippi had a ferry at Muscatine, Iowa and they crossed there on boats. The country was new and hardships were plentiful on the trip.
At last, after a long hard trip, the Thompson family reached the goal of their Ohio dream. Settling on a farm near Muscatine, Iowa, they made their home there for a few years. They they began hearing tales of the broad, fertile fields in Northwest Missouri, not far from the "Big Muddy," that had it's source in the uplands of Montana and emptied it's silt in the delta of the Mississippi. The elder Thompson and his wife talked the matter over and decided to move to Missouri. So, loading his family (seven children) in the same covered wagons that made the trek to Iowa fro Ohio, they left Muscatine. Mrs. Thompson's brother, William Dunihoo, made the trip with them, walking all the way from Iowa and driving the oxen. They reached a point four miles north of where Craig, Missouri now is and built a log cabin. Later, native lumber was used to build an addition. I have heard my father (Samuel) say they had a saw mill and sawed lumber for their neighbors. Craig as a town was non-existent. Settlers were few and far between. One of their nearest neighbors was the Sharp family (5 or 6 miles away).
Mr. Thompson during his life was a strong, rugged and fearless man. During the Civil War, he was a strong Union man and one of those war pioneers who did much to prevent this country from being overrun by the Confederate soldiers. Men from Missouri were enlisting on both sides. Although Missouri was regarded as a slave-holding state under the Missouri Compromise of 1820, may of her sons joined the Union forces. The peaceful domain of the Thompson's, far removed from the fighting in the south, was the scene of confusion upon at least one occasion. A group of Bushwhackers, believing Thompson possessed information concerning movement of certain Union forces, tried to compel him to tell. Upon his refusal, they placed a rope around his neck and strung him up for a short time. He still refused to tell. Again they drew the rope taut, but he remained firm in his refusal. Finally they let him down, convinced he could not, or would not, tell and rode away.
This inhumane treatment of his father at the hands of the Bushwackers fired the soul of Bill, his oldest son, with a desire for revenge. To do this, he ran away from home and joined the Union forces. Mr. Thompson's brother-in-law, William Dunnihoo, also joined the Union forces. Mr Thompson's oldest daughter was engaged to marry Thomas Tharp, who was in the Union army and was killed in the war. The war left it's memories. It also influenced many phases of life--domestic as well as otherwise; so much so that when another son was born during the third year of the war, the new baby was named "Joseph Hooker" after (Union) General Joseph Hooker.
At the close of the war, Mr. Thompson was elected a Holt County Judge, serving one term. He took great interest in politics during the early days and was a strong Republican ever since the birth of the party.
In the early part of the 1870's, he and his wife separated. Al the younger children except Hooker went with their mother. None of the grandchildren that I have asked knew why she left. But ever since I could remember as a child, I was afraid of my granddad. He was always such a gruff old man and was very rough talking. He was very harsh and firm with his children. I can see him yet on Aunt Di's porch in summer in his old rush bottom chair killing flies with his jack knife. Don't know whether he didn't have the money or was just stingy, but he sure hated to let loose to buy his kids clothes. I heard my dad tell of having to go barefooted when it was so cold that there would be frost on the ground. He would make the cows get up to warm his feet where they had lain. In the late fall, he took all the boys to town and bought boots for each. They had better be careful and not wear them out before spring as one pair was all you got in one year. Sometimes they would hunt up the bigger boys old boots and save theirs until real cold weather.
On "Big Tark Creek" there was a mill where they took their grain to be ground into meal and flour. In 1874, a flour mill was erected in Craig by A.F. (or A.T.) Davenport. This mill was run by a water wheel. The Thompson's always had a garden, but he wouldn't let the family eat tomatoes. They were called "love apples" and were considered poisonous. They always raised a few, but just used them for decoration on the mantle. He said he wouldn't eat anything a hog wouldn't, and even after the family used them for food he refused to eat them.
I have no idea where he got them, but he had put out apple trees and had plenty of apples for summer and winter. They were also lots of peach trees on all his farms, but they could have been raised from seed. I remember in particular an early harvest apple and a real large apple in summer we called the "Sheep Nose." Then in winter we always had a cellar full of Ben Davis (apples) to cook and Jenets to eat raw. He had a grape arbor that sure had wonderful grapes on them. Don't know where he got all the vines and trees, but the trees were all old when I was a small girl, so had been out I expect 20 or 25 years then.
There was a school started about a mile from where the family lived and all the kids went to school there in fall and winter in a log house. Church was also held in this building for several years--in fact until after the war was over. The neighborhood was beginning to be settled rapidly. The old stage line went past Mr. Thompson's house. The Stage Station was on Big Tarkio near where the old mill was built. Dan Durbin had a hotel there. This was the Council Bluff Stage, discontinued after the CB&I Railroad was finished. They had completed the railroad to Craig in the summer of 1868, and early in the fall Craig was laid out. In 1878, the people in the community built the church known as Sharp's Grove and a cemetery was laid out. This was known as the Tharp Cemetery, named after Thomas Tharp who donated the land.
In 1881, the Missouri River left its banks and flooded from bluff to bluff. This was in April and May, 1881. Craig was moved to the bluffs north, but after the water went down, it was moved back to its present location. Mr Thompson owned land north of Craig and in the Big Tarkio river bottom. At this death, he owned several hundred acres, but at this death it was sold to other people and at present not a single acre is owned by a Thompson or any of his descendents.
Our grandmother had a loom and wove cloth and bedding. My dad had a bedspread (they called it a coverlid) that she wove. It was in cotton and was colored red and white. She also wove a heavy cotton linsy/woosy--a mixture of cotton and wool thread. All the girls could knit and it kept them busy to keep up with the socks and stockings for the family. Everything--the shirts, underwear and pants, were made for several years.

Please let me know if you have corrections or additional information!
Larry Carter
www.LCarter.Com

Also see:
Wennihan Genealogy and Carter Genealogy Index

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