The known children of John and Cynthia were:
John's family lived in Ohio when he was born. They moved to Kendall County, Illinois, by 1834 (in Kendall Township) as John was listed on the pioneer index of Kendall County as having arrived in that year. Later they moved to Grundy County, Illinois, and subsequently went to Bates County, Missouri, but returned to Grundy County in 1861.
John and family appeared as follows on the 1860 census of Boone Township, Bates County, Missouri:
Evidently Rebecca is Cynthia's grandmother as her mother's maiden name was Posey.
In the History of Grundy County, Illinois published in 1914 it gives the following information on one of John and Cynthia's son-in-laws:
James, Moses – The self-made man wins approval from his associates, especially when he proves in his everyday life that he has developed his talents and made a success of his endeavors. It is difficult for the present generation to appreciate how difficult it used to be for a boy, especially in the rural districts, to obtain the requisite amount of schooling, for today the magnificent public school systems provides ample opportunity for all. Moses James appreciates the advantages given the children of these times, and realizes just how much harder his life work was because he lacked them. Mr. James was born in Hamilton, Ohio, May 2, 1833. When still a lad in 1842, he came with his mother to Kendall County from Indiana, where he remained until 1847. In that year, he left Kendall County for Wauponsee Township, Grundy County, where he spent a year working for a brother. In 1848, he came to Norman Township and for a short time worked for this same brother, and then became his partner, the two buying land and operating it together. In 1862, they divided this property, Moses James receiving 214 acres as his share, which land is now included in his homestead. This property was unimproved and thirty-five acres was under heavy timber. Since 1862, Mr. James has developed this farm in a remarkable degree, and erected all of the buildings which are modern in character. In the spring of 1903, feeling that he deserved a rest, he retired, and now rents his farm to his grandson, Edwin Reeves.
On October 5, 1862, Mr. James was married to Martha Pyatt, born in Kendall County, Ill., daughter of John and Cynthia (Misner) Pyatt, natives of Ohio and Indiana, who were early settlers of Kendall County. Later they moved to Grundy County, and subsequently went to Bates County, Mo., but returned to Grundy County in 1861. There Mr. Pyatt died in August, 1861, his widow surviving him until 1874. Mr. and Mrs. James had one daughter, Eveline, who married D. A. Reeves, and died October 2, 1888. She had three sons: George I., who lives at Salt Lake City, Utah, married I. O. Wells, no issue; Edwin, who conducts his grandfather’s farm, married Leda Edna Winsor, daughter of John and Sarah Winsor, and they have four children: Edna Adeline, Glenn, Lois and Ruth R., and Alfred James, youngest son of Eveline, who lives at Moline, Ill., married Anna Operman. Mrs. James is a consistent member of the Methodist Church, and is an active worker in it. Politically Mr. James is a Republican. His success is all the more remarkable as he never attended school for more than forty days all told, so that what he knows he taught himself. pages 837-838
Additional Comments: Source: History of Grundy County, Illinois, Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co. Publishers; 1914
John's aunt, Marguerite Pyatt was married to Elisha James in Kendall County, Illinois, and is buried in the Claypool Cemetery, in Grudy County, Illinois. I would suspect her husband and Moses James were related. I found references to E. B. James in the History of Grundy County, Illinois (published 1914) that may refer to Elisha James who married Marguerite Pyatt. One reference for an early church included mention of John Platt. Also, the memoirs of Laura Cooper Gonnam who was visiting May James in Grudy County and said "Martha & Mary Pyatt and Ed & Alfred Reeves who all lived with the boys grandparents, Mr. & Mrs. Moses James, and the girls were her neices she had raised since their parents had passed away." If I am making the right assumptions, Martha Pyatt James only had one brother, Lewis, who could have had these two girls. They would have been (if born around 1876) fairly young when their mother and then father died.
These Pyatts appear in the Kendall County, Illinois, pioneer list with notations:
Of interest is that the family of Samuel and Mary Phelps Pyatt came to Grundy County at the same time and lived in the same township as this other Pyatt family. Samuel was born in 1793 in Ohio to Ebenezer and Rebecca Milburn Pyatt. The family however was enumerated in Perry County, Illinois, on both the 1830 and 1840 census. I don't see where Perry and Kendall counties were ever part of each other to explain this apparent appearance between two census enumerations. I haven't seen anyone connect these two families yet.
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