1850 - 1927
Indiana - Iowa - Nebraska - California
Martha was born July 21, 1851 in Indiana. Her father was Daniel J Arnold from Virginia, her mother Margaret, also an Arnold, from Maryland. She had four brothers who appear on the censuses: older brothers Alonzo, Seymour and Franklin, and younger brother William. She had a younger sister Mary J, and apparently there was one other sibling who was born - and died - between censuses.
Her parents apparently moved around a lot. Alonzo was born in Virginia, Seymour in Maryland, Franklin, Martha, William in Indiana. I haven’t been able to find them for sure in Virginia, although there is a good possibility in Harrison County, which is now in north central West Virginia, about halfway between Maryland and Ohio (it is not on the panhandle). In Indiana they lived in La Porte County, which is one of the three Indiana counties on Lake Michigan. It is long and narrow and only has a small bit on the lake; it includes Michigan City. They lived in Wills Twp, which is just east of Kankakee, so they were about as far as you could get from the lake (in an easterly direction anyway). Her father called himself a farmer at that time.
As far as I can tell, from Margaret's obit, their wanderings went something like this:
~1840 - married - resided Virginia and/or Maryland
1842/3 - moved to Ohio (according to mother's obit)
~1843 - moved? or visited? Maryland
1846 - moved to Indiana (mother's obit)
~1856 - moved to Iowa (Decatur County)
~1865 - moved to Des Moines (Polk County, IA)
1889 - moved to Winterset (Madison Co, IA)
Martha first makes her appearance in the 1856 Iowa state census:
1856 Iowa State Census - Decatur County, Center Twp
Daniel J Arnold 40 VA (indexed as IA)
Margaret 30 MD
Alonzo J 14 Va
Martha M 5 Ind
Mary J 4 Ind
WNC 1 Ind
Mary J 22 NY
She is still with her parents in 1860:
1860 Iowa - Decatur - Burrell - p. 75 taken 10 July - line 10 543-519 -
Daniel J Arnold 48 farmer Va
Margaret A Arnold 37 Md
Alonzo ? Arnold 19 Va
Martha Arnold 10 Ind
Natty? Kathy? WB Arnold 5m Ind
Her brothers Seymour and Franklin and sister Mary are missing - dead? They would have been 17, 14, and 9.
I think she got married in 1868, when she was 17 (on the 1910 census, she says she was married twice):
Book B 138 - Arnold, Martha C - Vincent W Knapp - 30 Jan 1868
Early marriages, Polk County, Iowa : with groom and bride indexes / [transcribed by Marie Wisecup ... [et al.] ; indexed by members of "The Tree Shakers"] Des Moines, Iowa : Iowa Genealogical Society, [1975?]-
She and Vincent may have had two children, William, born ~1869 and Mary Rose, born ~1871. They might have been in Nebraska in 1870. There is a Martha, correct age, correct birth-place with a SIMPSON Knapp in the 1870 census:
1870 Nebraska Dakota Covington p. 6
Knapp Simpson 22 Ill
Martha 19 Ind
George W 1 Iowa
[Note June 2011 - This is probably not our Martha - I found a David S Knapp, with a wife Martha, in later censuses - mostly in South Dakota. The identity of Simpson and David S seems more likely than my original theory.] Even if this is her, something happened to Vincent/Simpson, because in 1875, back in Des Moines, she married Charles Pattee:
Pattee Chas - Arnold, Martha - 5 Aug 1875 - Book 1 - p. 218
Early marriages, Polk County, Iowa : with groom and bride indexes / [transcribed by Marie Wisecup ... [et al.] ; indexed by members of "The Tree Shakers"] Des Moines, Iowa : Iowa Genealogical Society, [1975?]-
Their son Lafayette was born in 1876 in Iowa [There may have been another baby who was born & died earlier and was buried in Des Moines - but as the cemetery only lists the child as Pattee, Infant, there is no way of knowing for sure. - see the childrens' page] and shortly thereafter they moved to Nebraska, where their next two children were born. Great grandmother Alice Louella (Lulu to Dad) was born 4 December 1877, and Wellington was born in April of 1880.
1880 Nebraska Webster Potsdam SD1, ED66, p. 8 (303b)
Charles Patee mw27 Il Ny Pa farmer
Martha 29 In Va Md
Lafayetta son 4 Ia / Ellis L dau 3 Ne / Wellington 1m (Apr) Ne
Webster is one of the southern tier of counties, on the border with Kansas. It is two counties west from the Bothwells’ old stomping grounds.
If William and Mary were her children, they were with her parents in 1880.
1880 Iowa Polk Des Moines (index list)
Daniel Arnold mw66 Va Ky Ky teamster
Margaret 56 Md Md Md
William grandson 11 Ia Unk Ind
Mary R granddaughter 9 Ia Unk Ind
1885 Iowa State Census - Polk County - Des Moines
Daniel J Arnold 73 VA
M A 63 MD
William 16 —k
Rosie 14 —k
These could have been the children of one of Martha’s brothers, but in that case, Daniel and Margaret would have known the birthplace of the father, not the mother. (Of course, they should have been listed as Knapps if they were Martha’s but the census is not perfect.) Although there are William Knapps in later censuses, I don't have enough to go on to decide if one of them is our William - and I haven't found a William Arnold that matches exactly. There was a Rose Arnold, who married John P Moore in Madison County in 1889, who might be our Rose - see the section on Daniel and Margaret's unattached grandchildren. In 1910, Martha said she had 5 children, 2 living - but IF she was including William and Mary, then she left out another child! The two living children were Alice Louella and her younger brother Thomas - that leaves 4 children unaccounted for - William, Mary, Wellington and Lafayette. Sigh. In 1920, Martha said she had 7 children, 2 living - and since it is unlikely that she had 2 babies in her 50s, then maybe the first time, she was speaking only of Pattee children, and the second time she was including the Knapp children???
I don’t think farming in Nebraska was an easy way to make a living. Everybody in our family who lived there ended up moving away. Charles Pattee was no different. Sometime between 1880 and 1888, they moved to California, and Charles started working in the oil fields. Their son Thomas Lindsay was born in California in April, 1888.
In 1894, daughter Lulu married Charles Scott, another oil man. Her first son - Martha’s first (possibly) grandson - was born in December of that year. In 1897, granddaughter Ethel Alice was born, and in 1900, grandson Elmer.
But there was a lot of death as well. Both Wellington and Lafayette died between 1880 and 1900, and another child (name unknown - one of the possible Knapp children? or another?) who died as well. And in the next 10 years, between 1900-1910, two more unknowns died.
1900 Los Angeles county - Burbank Twp, Glendale Precinct - 28 June 1900 - 370-371
Pattee, Charles, head w m June 1852 age 48 married 25 y. b WI fb - mb - well-driller 0 mos unemployed, 0 mos in school, reads, writes, speaks English, owns, no mortgage, house
Martha M wife wf July 1850 age 49 married 25 y, 5 children, 2 living, Indiana, Virginia, Maryland
Thomas L son w m Apl 1888 age 12 single, Cal, Wisc, Ind, at school
Thomas Lindsay (I think he was mostly known as Lindsay) married in 1907, and had two children, Martha (b 1908) and Mabel (b.1910) - and then his wife died. In 1910, he and the grandchildren were living with Charles and Martha.
1910 - California - Los Angeles county - Burbank Twp - ED 278? - 4B - line 52
Pattee, Charles F head mw 56 m1 35 yrs Ill, Vt, Pa miner occ odd jobs own house mortgaged
Martha wife fw 59 m2 35 yrs married, 7 children 2 living Ind, Va, Md
Lindsey son mw 22 wid 3 yrs married, Cal, Ill, Ind, well driller
Martha granddaughter fw 2 s Cal, Cal, Missouri
Mabel granddaughter fw 10/12 s Cal, Cal, Ms
Daughter Lulu and her children were living next door.
Son Thomas left his first two children in care of his parents, then he married again and had three children - and either he died between 1920 and 1930, or he simply left them. In the 1930 census, his wife calls herself head of the household, but does not call herself a widow. Thomas had become an actor by 1917, when he applied for a draft exemption on the basis of being the sole support of his second wife and children - but he didn’t mention his first two children.
In 1920, Martha, Charles and two granddaughters were living on Childs Avenue, which (says Kearney) is a long way from Burbank. And Charles was no longer working in the oil fields - his occupation is given as, simply, laborer.
1920 California Los Angeles LA pct 643 (Fairfax district) - ED198, sheet 6b
Charles F. Pattee, 64, WI, US, IL, laborer
Martha M. Pattee, 69, Ind, Va Md, no occupation
Martha E. Pattee, 11, granddaughter, CA, CA MO
Mabel C. Pattee, 10, granddaughter, CA, CA, MO
And that’s the last we see of Charles. It’s possible he died in 1923. Kearney found a not-very-readable site (vitalsearch-ca.com) that had this:
Pattee, Charles, Los Angeles, 3/26/1923, age ?? (could be 68 or 88)
68 would have been close enough to be our Charles. Unfortunately, the age on the death certificate for this fellow is 60 (born 1863), which is a good 10 years too young. It also has no other genealogically interesting information. (The other Charles Pattee on the list died in 1925 at age 62, which is even worse - but I should send for the death certificate in case it is clearer.)
Martha alone was on the voter registration lists for Los Angeles county, starting even before Charles died:
1916 LA Pct 10 A Pattee, Mrs Martha 2143 Childs Ave P
1922 LA Hyde Park Pct Pattee, Mrs Martha hswf 265 W 63rd st R
1924 LA Pct 783 ditto ditto 3221 W 63rd st R
1926 LA Pct 1001 Mrs Martha M ditto ditto
Martha died in 1927:
Pattie, Martha, Los Angeles, 1/31/1927, age 75
vitalsearch-ca.com
Her death certificate gives her birthdate as July 21, 1851, her age at death 75 years, 6 months, 10 days, her cause of death as generalized arterio-schlerosis with fatty degeneration of heart. It also gives her an occupation: washing. So poor Martha had to become a washerwoman in her 70s. She was buried in Inglewood. I haven’t found what happened to her granddaughters.
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Questions, comments, additions, corrections? Contact me at: lee@leesgenes.com
Page last updated 30 Sept 2011