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Irons of Hendricks County, Indiana

Thomas Irons and Sarah Franks


I am looking for parents, siblings, and marriage information for Thomas Irons (born 1795 in Tennessee; died 1864 in Hendricks County, Indiana) and Sarah Frakes (born 1797 in Kentucky or possibly Tennessee; died 1864 in Hendricks County, Indiana). Birth dates and locations are based on the 1850 Census for Liberty Township, Hendricks County, Indiana. Birth and death dates are listed on gravestones in the Irons/Miles Cemetery, Hendricks County, Indiana. Thomas Irons likely descends from, or relates to, Edward Irons of Dale Hollow, Tennessee.

Children of Sarah Frakes and Thomas Irons are:

i. John Irons was born 5 Aug 1819 in Washington County, Indiana, and died Aug 1864 in Hendricks County, Indiana.
ii. Nancy Irons was born 1822 in Indiana, and died in 1856. She married Nicodemus Fletcher on 9 Sep 1838 in Danville, Hendricks County, Indiana.
iii. Jonathan Irons was born 27 Aug 1824 in Indiana, and died 24 Feb 1915 in Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas.
iv. Susan Ann Irons was born about 1827 in Indiana, and died 19 Dec 1876 in Missouri. She married George W. Hardin 22 Mar 1846 in Hendricks County. She married Jared Ryker Woodfill 27 Jul 1854 in Belleville, Hendricks County, son of Andrew Woodfill and Mary Seyborn Ryker. He was born 8 Dec 1827 in Jefferson County, Indiana, and died 23 Jan 1901 in Aurora, Lawrence County, Missouri.
v. Elizabeth Minerva Irons was born about 1828 in Indiana and died about 1930 in Topeka, Shawnee County, Kansas. She married Colonel James Burgess on 27 Aug 1846 in Clark County, Illinois.
vi. Thomas Jefferson Irons was born 18 Apr 1833 in Hendricks County, Indiana, and died 6 Jul 1906 in Woods County, Oklahoma. His first wife was probably Susan Holland. He married Mary C. McAninch 3 Jul 1864 in Hendricks County, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth J. McAninch. Mary C. McAninch was born 15 Apr 1846 in Indiana, and died 27 Feb 1924.
vii. William W. Irons was born 29 May 1835 in Liberty Township, Hendricks County and died 1906 in Cartersburg, Hendricks County, Indiana. He married Mary Willis Clark 9 Sep 1856, daughter of Edmund Clark and Catherine Hamilton. Mary Willis Clark was born 27 Oct 1837 in Danville, Hendricks County, and died 17 Nov 1927 in Danville.
viii. Sarah Jane Irons was born about 1838 in Indiana. She married Smith Herron on 16 May 1854 in Hendricks County, Indiana.
ix. Mary Ellen Irons was born 1840 in Indiana, and died 29 Oct 1864 in Hendricks County. She married Oscar Hanson Hull on 21 Dec 1858 in Hendricks County, Indiana.

The Danville, Hendricks County, Indiana public library contains a letter from John Irons to Dr. Levi Ritter. The letter states, "I was born in the county of Washington in the State of Indiana on the fifth day of August 1819 A.D., of parents who were poor in all things, save health, morality and resolution." According to the Ritter letter, soon after John's birth, the Irons family moved to Lawrence County, Indiana and then to the mouth of Stott's Creek, Morgan County and finally to Hendricks County. (Per the 1914 History of Hendricks County at page 83, the Irons family arrived in Hendricks County before 1826.) At age 14, John worked in a Bellesville dry goods shop run by Alfred Lyon and William T. Matlock. John went to school under the tuition of James S. Odell and then worked in the Bellesville store of Wilford J. Ungles. "I remained until the next May when I went to keep accounts for my father and John Miles who had on their hands a heavy job of work on the cross cut canal at the mouth of Birch Creek in Clay County." Then he worked again at Ungles and then Banta & Matlock's Belleville store. In May 1840 "my father took his then new and only son-in-law and my self in partnership with him under the name of Irons & Sons and brought a heavy stock of goods to Belleville. This firm only lived to February 1842 when owing to the uncertainties of the pork trade it went under. My father being the responsible man of the firm then took the business into his own hands and sent me as super-cargo on a small flat-boat loaded with pork to New Orleans." John was elected Clerk of Hendricks County in 1851 and 1855.

1 Thomas Irons b: 1795 d: 1864
+ Sarah Frakes b: 1797 d: 1864 Thomas and Sarah seem like quite the pioneer story, starting poor, working hard to become substantial citizens and contributing back to their adopted community. I just wish that I could figure out whence they came.

My information on the Irons family is all posted on Rootsweb.

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