Inscription "Aged: 22 months, Daughter of L. & M. Zeluff."
Florence and her sister, Hannah, the only two children of Levi Zeluff and Mary Jane Millikin Zeluff that died in childhood, are the only members of their immediate family buried in Daniels Cemetery. (Their maternal grandparents, Samuel Millikin and Rebecca Williams Millikin, are also buried here.) Florence's two brothers, Samuel M. and Smith, and one sister, Lydia, survived to adulthood and grew up in LaSalle county.
Their father, Levi Zeluff, joined the California gold rush in 1849 leaving his wife, Mary Jane, with Florence and her two brothers behind. Mary Jane was pregnant with their youngest daughter, Lydia, when he left. One can only wonder if he knew Mary Jane was pregnant when he left and what circumstances drove him to leave. (Surely he must have known that his child was on the way). Tragically for all of them, he never made it. He died of cholera near St Joseph, Missouri and is buried near there according to reports in the Ottawa Free Trader (11 May 1849). Compounding that tragedy, Florence died of "flux"after a four day illness several months later.
Mary Jane Zeluff remarried in 1850 to Henry Robinson, and in 1852, the Zeluff children were left for a time in the guardianship of their grandfather, Samuel Millikin, since Mary Jane and her second husband had left the area. Mary Jane returned sometime before 1860. The 1860 census finds her living in Rutland with the Zeluff children and three young Robinsons next door to the Samuel Millikin family.
Florence and her sister, Hannah, the only two children of Levi Zeluff and Mary Jane Millikin Zeluff that died in childhood, are the only members of their immediate family buried in Daniels Cemetery. (Their maternal grandparents, Samuel Millikin and Rebecca Williams Millikin, are also buried here.) Florence's two brothers, Samuel M. and Smith, and one sister, Lydia, survived to adulthood and grew up in LaSalle county.
Their father, Levi Zeluff, joined the California gold rush in 1849 leaving his wife, Mary Jane, with Florence and her two brothers behind. Mary Jane was pregnant with their youngest daughter, Lydia, when he left. One can only wonder if he knew Mary Jane was pregnant when he left and what circumstances drove him to leave. (Surely he must have known that his child was on the way). Tragically for all of them, he never made it. He died of cholera near St Joseph, Missouri and is buried near there according to reports in the Ottawa Free Trader (11 May 1849). Compounding that tragedy, Florence died of "flux"after a four day illness several months later.
Mary Jane Zeluff remarried in 1850 to Henry Robinson, and in 1852, the Zeluff children were left for a time in the guardianship of their grandfather, Samuel Millikin, since Mary Jane and her second husband had left the area. Mary Jane returned sometime before 1860. The 1860 census finds her living in Rutland with the Zeluff children and three young Robinsons next door to the Samuel Millikin family.
Inscription "Aged: 22 months, Daughter of L. & M. Zeluff."
Florence and her sister, Hannah, the only two children of Levi Zeluff and Mary Jane Millikin Zeluff that died in childhood, are the only members of their immediate family buried in Daniels Cemetery. (Their maternal grandparents, Samuel Millikin and Rebecca Williams Millikin, are also buried here.) Florence's two brothers, Samuel M. and Smith, and one sister, Lydia, survived to adulthood and grew up in LaSalle county.
Their father, Levi Zeluff, joined the California gold rush in 1849 leaving his wife, Mary Jane, with Florence and her two brothers behind. Mary Jane was pregnant with their youngest daughter, Lydia, when he left. One can only wonder if he knew Mary Jane was pregnant when he left and what circumstances drove him to leave. (Surely he must have known that his child was on the way). Tragically for all of them, he never made it. He died of cholera near St Joseph, Missouri and is buried near there according to reports in the Ottawa Free Trader (11 May 1849). Compounding that tragedy, Florence died of "flux"after a four day illness several months later.
Mary Jane Zeluff remarried in 1850 to Henry Robinson, and in 1852, the Zeluff children were left for a time in the guardianship of their grandfather, Samuel Millikin, since Mary Jane and her second husband had left the area. Mary Jane returned sometime before 1860. The 1860 census finds her living in Rutland with the Zeluff children and three young Robinsons next door to the Samuel Millikin family.
Florence and her sister, Hannah, the only two children of Levi Zeluff and Mary Jane Millikin Zeluff that died in childhood, are the only members of their immediate family buried in Daniels Cemetery. (Their maternal grandparents, Samuel Millikin and Rebecca Williams Millikin, are also buried here.) Florence's two brothers, Samuel M. and Smith, and one sister, Lydia, survived to adulthood and grew up in LaSalle county.
Their father, Levi Zeluff, joined the California gold rush in 1849 leaving his wife, Mary Jane, with Florence and her two brothers behind. Mary Jane was pregnant with their youngest daughter, Lydia, when he left. One can only wonder if he knew Mary Jane was pregnant when he left and what circumstances drove him to leave. (Surely he must have known that his child was on the way). Tragically for all of them, he never made it. He died of cholera near St Joseph, Missouri and is buried near there according to reports in the Ottawa Free Trader (11 May 1849). Compounding that tragedy, Florence died of "flux"after a four day illness several months later.
Mary Jane Zeluff remarried in 1850 to Henry Robinson, and in 1852, the Zeluff children were left for a time in the guardianship of their grandfather, Samuel Millikin, since Mary Jane and her second husband had left the area. Mary Jane returned sometime before 1860. The 1860 census finds her living in Rutland with the Zeluff children and three young Robinsons next door to the Samuel Millikin family.
Family Members
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