Reuben Post
Reuben was born to Quaker parents, Israel Post and Rhoda Palmer, on November 30, 1799 in New York, USA. His parents were members of the Nine Partners Meeting House in Duchess County, New York. In 1895 they started attending the Easton and Saratoga Meetings with his elder brothers Willet and Simeon. It may be that they were members there when Reuben was born, but they returned to Nine Partners at some point.
By 1811 Reuben's parents decided to join Peter Lossing in the establishment of a new Quaker settlement in Ontario, Canada. Lossing had purchased 15,000 acres of land in Norwich and sold or leased lots to other Quakers willing to move into Upper Canada. Reuben's father took a land lease in 1811 and the family moved to Canada. The Quaker records show Reuben's mother with himself and his siblings arrival recorded on October 2, 1812 with a minutes of membership to Pelham Meeting House in Ontario. His father was not recorded on this date and it is my belief that he was already in Canada clearing the land and building a home in preparation for his family's arrival.
From that day for a good many years, Reuben's life revolved around his home, his family, and his faith. He attended Quaker Meetings at Norwich, and worked on the farm. His life was one that his family embraced with their Quaker beliefs, that life should be one of peace, integrity, humility and community. It was a pacifist life that may have been challenged when shortly before his own wedding to Ruth Baker, Reuben's father was shot and wounded in February, 1828. It is possible that his father was unable to witness Reuben's wedding on March 28, because by then he must have been suffering terribly. There was no surgeon available in the community and Israel Post's wound was most likely infected and getting worse. By the 5th of April he would be dead.
Reuben had broken with his faith when he married Ruth Baker who was not a member of the Society of Friends.
Quaker notes for Prep Mgt Meeting Norwich, Canada – June 4, 1828 :
– the overseers handed to this meeting a complaint against Reuben Post for his outgoing in marriage which is directed to the monthly meeting and is as follows Reuben Post has so far deviated as to keep company with one not a member and married contrary to the established order amongst friends care has been taken ---
Reuben's father had been murdered and within a few weeks of his death, Reuben was disowned from his faith. His brothers were still attending meetings, and although Reuben could have attended as a non-member, which we cannot know for certain, it must have been unsettling to have lost his father and his membership to the community he had known all his life. I have found no other report of Reuben in the meeting notes I have been able to find, until there is one final mention in 1830. It doesn't mean that Ruth didn't become a Quaker and that Reuben didn't condemn his actions in order to be accepted back into the Society of Friends, or that he was planning to do so, but whatever happened he is recorded along with his mother, Rhoda Post, who was about to remarry, his two elder brothers, Willet and Simeon, Simeon's wife, Lavina, and their 2 children, Hannah and Israel. There is no mention of Ruth in this entry which may mean that she had not become a member. Whatever the reason, Reuben, his wife, and their three children don't appear in the Meeting Records at my disposal after 1830.
Reuben and his family remain in Canada until at least 1838 when his third child, a daughter, is born. It is around this time that we learn about where Reuben was and what he was doing through a biography of his eldest son, Nelson L. Post, who late in his life, was interviewed for the History of Ray County, Missouri, published in 1888.
According to Nelson's biography, Reuben Post moved his family from Canada to Cleveland, Ohio, where they remained for a period of approximately 2 years. They then moved on to Coshocton County, Ohio where his family appears on the 1840 Census with Ruth Post (head of household), 1 male over the age of 5 and under 10 years of age, 1 female under 5, 1 female over 20 under 30. Ruth was 29, Nelson 7, Isaac was 6, and his sister, Abigal would have been 2 or under. This census was conducted on June 1, 1840 (a Monday); it doesn't include Reuben or 1 of his sons. This can be explained easily by Reuben being away and possibly taking Nelson with him (which wouldn't have been unusual for the time). If they were not in the household when the census taker came to the door they may not have been recorded in the household numbers just as they would not be included in a modern census if they were not actually in the house on census night. There is however another possible reason why Ruth Post was head of the household with the two children alone. 8 years after this census she was no longer in Ohio, she married for a second time on April 9, 1848 in Michigan where she is recorded on the 1850 Census with her two children, Isaac Post (recorded as Isa Post) and Abigal Post, a new baby and her new husband, Abraham Ballard.
It is my belief, though I cannot substantiate it fully with documentation at the time I write this, that Ruth and Reuben were divorced or in some other manner dissolved their marriage and that Reuben had moved away from the family home with his eldest son Nelson. Ruth kept the two younger children with her and when she went to Michigan to remarry, she took them with her and they remained there for the rest of their lives.
Nelson, who was 15 when his mother remarried, is found on the Ohio Census in 1850 at the age of 17. Nelson's biography doesn't make mention of his mother or the division in the marriage, but he mentions that his father worked on the canal. Based on the location of the family at the time I can assume that he worked on the Ohio Erie canal that crosses through Coshocton County, Ohio. We don't know how long the family stayed in Coshocton County, Nelson is vague in the recollection of time, he says only that they remained there for some time and he was educated in Ohio.
The Ohio Erie Canal was its most prosperous between 1830 to the early 1860s with its peak in 1852 and 1855. During the 1840s Ohio was the third most prosperous state owing most of the growth to the canal. There were many jobs available on the canal, from the Hoggees who were the men who drove the mules that pulled the boats along the canal, to the men who loaded and unloaded freight, or the men who operated the locks, or captained the boats. The Ohio Erie section of the canal connected Akron, Summit County, with the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland near Lake Erie. Construction on the canal saw the canal connection with Ohio River near Portsmouth, Scioto County, within a few years a new section of canal connected to other systems in Pennsylvania. Traffic throughout the system carried freight and passengers until the railroad took over in the 1860s. Nelson doesn't say what Reuben was doing on the canal only that he worked on the canal. However he was employed there, during those years Reuben would have found no shortage of work opportunities.
When Reuben left Ohio we cannot know for sure. He is not found on the 1850 Census, or the 1860 Census. I believe that Reuben was close to his eldest son, but for a period of time Nelson traveled and went to Michigan for a while farming, then worked on a boat. He married in 1854 and his first son was born in 1855. In 1857 Nelson's wife died and he would not remarry for 2 years. It is possible that at some point between 1854 and 1857 Reuben joined his son and grandson.
To be honest I have no idea what Reuben was doing while Nelson was off on his own adventures, I do know that the canals began to fail when the railroad came and was pretty much done by 1860, so if Reuben was still working on the canal then he may well have found himself out of a job. Perhaps it wasn't until the Civil War when Nelson was living in Iowa and volunteered to serve in the Union Army that Reuben came to live in the same area. It would not be too much of a stretch to believe that Reuben stayed with his daughter-in-law and his grandchildren during the war years. His son would be away until the end of the war and Reuben was already over 60 by the time war was declared and would not have been eligible to join the fight and perhaps there was enough of his Quaker upbringing with him that he would not have done so regardless and would choose to remain in the home to protect and care for his family.
Whenever Reuben left Ohio, he was in Missouri by the 1870 Census when he is recorded living in Grape Grove, Ray County, which is where we also find Nelson. We also discover that Reuben has remarried at the age of 69 on June 12, 1869 to Mrs. Rachel Fisher. I find it interesting that Reuben does not remarry until this late in his life. Ruth had remarried 22 years before. Was it because Reuben, with his Quaker upbringing felt that he was still married to Ruth even if she had long since moved on with her own life, or had he simply not met anyone that he wanted to commit to seriously. Perhaps it is simply because he met a young widow and provides her and her child with a safe and secure home. Whatever the reasons I cannot know for certain what they were, only that I find it interesting in light of his deeply religious childhood and that he remains single for all those years only to remarry in old age.
Reuben remains in Grape Grove, Ray County, until his death on November 25, 1876, 7 years after his marriage to Mrs. Fisher. He is buried in the Little Union Cemetery, Ray County, Missouri, USA.
Reuben's Siblings:
Willet Post – Born October 1794 in Millbrook, Dutchess County, New York
Died November 15, 1874 in Ontario, Canada.
Buried at Harris Cemetery, Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada
Simeon Post- Born in 1795 in New York
Died: Unknown
Buried: Unknown
Hannah Post – Born after 1795. No other information is available for Hannah at this time.
Martha Post – Born September 12, 1796 in Nine Partners, Dutchess County, New York
Died September 25, 1849 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
Buried at the Chicago Burial ground, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
The children of Reuben Post and Ruth Baker Post Ballard:
Nelson Lanard Post – Born June 12, 1833, Ontario, Canada
Died November 1, 1895, Missouri
Buried at Black Oak Cemetery, Braymer, Caldwell County,
Missouri
Isaac Henry Post – Born August 3, 1834, Ontario, Canada
Died August 9, 1923, Michigan
Buried at Grand Rapids Veterans Home Cemetery, Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan. Plot: Plot 7, Row 20, Grave 36
Abigal Post Parker – Born on May 17, 1838, Ontario, Canada
Died February 24, 1911
The above Bio was written by his ggg granddaughter, April Post on the 23 September 2016. You may write her at [email protected] or myself Barbara that has control of his at [email protected]
Reuben was born to Quaker parents, Israel Post and Rhoda Palmer, on November 30, 1799 in New York, USA. His parents were members of the Nine Partners Meeting House in Duchess County, New York. In 1895 they started attending the Easton and Saratoga Meetings with his elder brothers Willet and Simeon. It may be that they were members there when Reuben was born, but they returned to Nine Partners at some point.
By 1811 Reuben's parents decided to join Peter Lossing in the establishment of a new Quaker settlement in Ontario, Canada. Lossing had purchased 15,000 acres of land in Norwich and sold or leased lots to other Quakers willing to move into Upper Canada. Reuben's father took a land lease in 1811 and the family moved to Canada. The Quaker records show Reuben's mother with himself and his siblings arrival recorded on October 2, 1812 with a minutes of membership to Pelham Meeting House in Ontario. His father was not recorded on this date and it is my belief that he was already in Canada clearing the land and building a home in preparation for his family's arrival.
From that day for a good many years, Reuben's life revolved around his home, his family, and his faith. He attended Quaker Meetings at Norwich, and worked on the farm. His life was one that his family embraced with their Quaker beliefs, that life should be one of peace, integrity, humility and community. It was a pacifist life that may have been challenged when shortly before his own wedding to Ruth Baker, Reuben's father was shot and wounded in February, 1828. It is possible that his father was unable to witness Reuben's wedding on March 28, because by then he must have been suffering terribly. There was no surgeon available in the community and Israel Post's wound was most likely infected and getting worse. By the 5th of April he would be dead.
Reuben had broken with his faith when he married Ruth Baker who was not a member of the Society of Friends.
Quaker notes for Prep Mgt Meeting Norwich, Canada – June 4, 1828 :
– the overseers handed to this meeting a complaint against Reuben Post for his outgoing in marriage which is directed to the monthly meeting and is as follows Reuben Post has so far deviated as to keep company with one not a member and married contrary to the established order amongst friends care has been taken ---
Reuben's father had been murdered and within a few weeks of his death, Reuben was disowned from his faith. His brothers were still attending meetings, and although Reuben could have attended as a non-member, which we cannot know for certain, it must have been unsettling to have lost his father and his membership to the community he had known all his life. I have found no other report of Reuben in the meeting notes I have been able to find, until there is one final mention in 1830. It doesn't mean that Ruth didn't become a Quaker and that Reuben didn't condemn his actions in order to be accepted back into the Society of Friends, or that he was planning to do so, but whatever happened he is recorded along with his mother, Rhoda Post, who was about to remarry, his two elder brothers, Willet and Simeon, Simeon's wife, Lavina, and their 2 children, Hannah and Israel. There is no mention of Ruth in this entry which may mean that she had not become a member. Whatever the reason, Reuben, his wife, and their three children don't appear in the Meeting Records at my disposal after 1830.
Reuben and his family remain in Canada until at least 1838 when his third child, a daughter, is born. It is around this time that we learn about where Reuben was and what he was doing through a biography of his eldest son, Nelson L. Post, who late in his life, was interviewed for the History of Ray County, Missouri, published in 1888.
According to Nelson's biography, Reuben Post moved his family from Canada to Cleveland, Ohio, where they remained for a period of approximately 2 years. They then moved on to Coshocton County, Ohio where his family appears on the 1840 Census with Ruth Post (head of household), 1 male over the age of 5 and under 10 years of age, 1 female under 5, 1 female over 20 under 30. Ruth was 29, Nelson 7, Isaac was 6, and his sister, Abigal would have been 2 or under. This census was conducted on June 1, 1840 (a Monday); it doesn't include Reuben or 1 of his sons. This can be explained easily by Reuben being away and possibly taking Nelson with him (which wouldn't have been unusual for the time). If they were not in the household when the census taker came to the door they may not have been recorded in the household numbers just as they would not be included in a modern census if they were not actually in the house on census night. There is however another possible reason why Ruth Post was head of the household with the two children alone. 8 years after this census she was no longer in Ohio, she married for a second time on April 9, 1848 in Michigan where she is recorded on the 1850 Census with her two children, Isaac Post (recorded as Isa Post) and Abigal Post, a new baby and her new husband, Abraham Ballard.
It is my belief, though I cannot substantiate it fully with documentation at the time I write this, that Ruth and Reuben were divorced or in some other manner dissolved their marriage and that Reuben had moved away from the family home with his eldest son Nelson. Ruth kept the two younger children with her and when she went to Michigan to remarry, she took them with her and they remained there for the rest of their lives.
Nelson, who was 15 when his mother remarried, is found on the Ohio Census in 1850 at the age of 17. Nelson's biography doesn't make mention of his mother or the division in the marriage, but he mentions that his father worked on the canal. Based on the location of the family at the time I can assume that he worked on the Ohio Erie canal that crosses through Coshocton County, Ohio. We don't know how long the family stayed in Coshocton County, Nelson is vague in the recollection of time, he says only that they remained there for some time and he was educated in Ohio.
The Ohio Erie Canal was its most prosperous between 1830 to the early 1860s with its peak in 1852 and 1855. During the 1840s Ohio was the third most prosperous state owing most of the growth to the canal. There were many jobs available on the canal, from the Hoggees who were the men who drove the mules that pulled the boats along the canal, to the men who loaded and unloaded freight, or the men who operated the locks, or captained the boats. The Ohio Erie section of the canal connected Akron, Summit County, with the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland near Lake Erie. Construction on the canal saw the canal connection with Ohio River near Portsmouth, Scioto County, within a few years a new section of canal connected to other systems in Pennsylvania. Traffic throughout the system carried freight and passengers until the railroad took over in the 1860s. Nelson doesn't say what Reuben was doing on the canal only that he worked on the canal. However he was employed there, during those years Reuben would have found no shortage of work opportunities.
When Reuben left Ohio we cannot know for sure. He is not found on the 1850 Census, or the 1860 Census. I believe that Reuben was close to his eldest son, but for a period of time Nelson traveled and went to Michigan for a while farming, then worked on a boat. He married in 1854 and his first son was born in 1855. In 1857 Nelson's wife died and he would not remarry for 2 years. It is possible that at some point between 1854 and 1857 Reuben joined his son and grandson.
To be honest I have no idea what Reuben was doing while Nelson was off on his own adventures, I do know that the canals began to fail when the railroad came and was pretty much done by 1860, so if Reuben was still working on the canal then he may well have found himself out of a job. Perhaps it wasn't until the Civil War when Nelson was living in Iowa and volunteered to serve in the Union Army that Reuben came to live in the same area. It would not be too much of a stretch to believe that Reuben stayed with his daughter-in-law and his grandchildren during the war years. His son would be away until the end of the war and Reuben was already over 60 by the time war was declared and would not have been eligible to join the fight and perhaps there was enough of his Quaker upbringing with him that he would not have done so regardless and would choose to remain in the home to protect and care for his family.
Whenever Reuben left Ohio, he was in Missouri by the 1870 Census when he is recorded living in Grape Grove, Ray County, which is where we also find Nelson. We also discover that Reuben has remarried at the age of 69 on June 12, 1869 to Mrs. Rachel Fisher. I find it interesting that Reuben does not remarry until this late in his life. Ruth had remarried 22 years before. Was it because Reuben, with his Quaker upbringing felt that he was still married to Ruth even if she had long since moved on with her own life, or had he simply not met anyone that he wanted to commit to seriously. Perhaps it is simply because he met a young widow and provides her and her child with a safe and secure home. Whatever the reasons I cannot know for certain what they were, only that I find it interesting in light of his deeply religious childhood and that he remains single for all those years only to remarry in old age.
Reuben remains in Grape Grove, Ray County, until his death on November 25, 1876, 7 years after his marriage to Mrs. Fisher. He is buried in the Little Union Cemetery, Ray County, Missouri, USA.
Reuben's Siblings:
Willet Post – Born October 1794 in Millbrook, Dutchess County, New York
Died November 15, 1874 in Ontario, Canada.
Buried at Harris Cemetery, Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada
Simeon Post- Born in 1795 in New York
Died: Unknown
Buried: Unknown
Hannah Post – Born after 1795. No other information is available for Hannah at this time.
Martha Post – Born September 12, 1796 in Nine Partners, Dutchess County, New York
Died September 25, 1849 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
Buried at the Chicago Burial ground, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
The children of Reuben Post and Ruth Baker Post Ballard:
Nelson Lanard Post – Born June 12, 1833, Ontario, Canada
Died November 1, 1895, Missouri
Buried at Black Oak Cemetery, Braymer, Caldwell County,
Missouri
Isaac Henry Post – Born August 3, 1834, Ontario, Canada
Died August 9, 1923, Michigan
Buried at Grand Rapids Veterans Home Cemetery, Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan. Plot: Plot 7, Row 20, Grave 36
Abigal Post Parker – Born on May 17, 1838, Ontario, Canada
Died February 24, 1911
The above Bio was written by his ggg granddaughter, April Post on the 23 September 2016. You may write her at [email protected] or myself Barbara that has control of his at [email protected]
Reuben Post
Reuben was born to Quaker parents, Israel Post and Rhoda Palmer, on November 30, 1799 in New York, USA. His parents were members of the Nine Partners Meeting House in Duchess County, New York. In 1895 they started attending the Easton and Saratoga Meetings with his elder brothers Willet and Simeon. It may be that they were members there when Reuben was born, but they returned to Nine Partners at some point.
By 1811 Reuben's parents decided to join Peter Lossing in the establishment of a new Quaker settlement in Ontario, Canada. Lossing had purchased 15,000 acres of land in Norwich and sold or leased lots to other Quakers willing to move into Upper Canada. Reuben's father took a land lease in 1811 and the family moved to Canada. The Quaker records show Reuben's mother with himself and his siblings arrival recorded on October 2, 1812 with a minutes of membership to Pelham Meeting House in Ontario. His father was not recorded on this date and it is my belief that he was already in Canada clearing the land and building a home in preparation for his family's arrival.
From that day for a good many years, Reuben's life revolved around his home, his family, and his faith. He attended Quaker Meetings at Norwich, and worked on the farm. His life was one that his family embraced with their Quaker beliefs, that life should be one of peace, integrity, humility and community. It was a pacifist life that may have been challenged when shortly before his own wedding to Ruth Baker, Reuben's father was shot and wounded in February, 1828. It is possible that his father was unable to witness Reuben's wedding on March 28, because by then he must have been suffering terribly. There was no surgeon available in the community and Israel Post's wound was most likely infected and getting worse. By the 5th of April he would be dead.
Reuben had broken with his faith when he married Ruth Baker who was not a member of the Society of Friends.
Quaker notes for Prep Mgt Meeting Norwich, Canada – June 4, 1828 :
– the overseers handed to this meeting a complaint against Reuben Post for his outgoing in marriage which is directed to the monthly meeting and is as follows Reuben Post has so far deviated as to keep company with one not a member and married contrary to the established order amongst friends care has been taken ---
Reuben's father had been murdered and within a few weeks of his death, Reuben was disowned from his faith. His brothers were still attending meetings, and although Reuben could have attended as a non-member, which we cannot know for certain, it must have been unsettling to have lost his father and his membership to the community he had known all his life. I have found no other report of Reuben in the meeting notes I have been able to find, until there is one final mention in 1830. It doesn't mean that Ruth didn't become a Quaker and that Reuben didn't condemn his actions in order to be accepted back into the Society of Friends, or that he was planning to do so, but whatever happened he is recorded along with his mother, Rhoda Post, who was about to remarry, his two elder brothers, Willet and Simeon, Simeon's wife, Lavina, and their 2 children, Hannah and Israel. There is no mention of Ruth in this entry which may mean that she had not become a member. Whatever the reason, Reuben, his wife, and their three children don't appear in the Meeting Records at my disposal after 1830.
Reuben and his family remain in Canada until at least 1838 when his third child, a daughter, is born. It is around this time that we learn about where Reuben was and what he was doing through a biography of his eldest son, Nelson L. Post, who late in his life, was interviewed for the History of Ray County, Missouri, published in 1888.
According to Nelson's biography, Reuben Post moved his family from Canada to Cleveland, Ohio, where they remained for a period of approximately 2 years. They then moved on to Coshocton County, Ohio where his family appears on the 1840 Census with Ruth Post (head of household), 1 male over the age of 5 and under 10 years of age, 1 female under 5, 1 female over 20 under 30. Ruth was 29, Nelson 7, Isaac was 6, and his sister, Abigal would have been 2 or under. This census was conducted on June 1, 1840 (a Monday); it doesn't include Reuben or 1 of his sons. This can be explained easily by Reuben being away and possibly taking Nelson with him (which wouldn't have been unusual for the time). If they were not in the household when the census taker came to the door they may not have been recorded in the household numbers just as they would not be included in a modern census if they were not actually in the house on census night. There is however another possible reason why Ruth Post was head of the household with the two children alone. 8 years after this census she was no longer in Ohio, she married for a second time on April 9, 1848 in Michigan where she is recorded on the 1850 Census with her two children, Isaac Post (recorded as Isa Post) and Abigal Post, a new baby and her new husband, Abraham Ballard.
It is my belief, though I cannot substantiate it fully with documentation at the time I write this, that Ruth and Reuben were divorced or in some other manner dissolved their marriage and that Reuben had moved away from the family home with his eldest son Nelson. Ruth kept the two younger children with her and when she went to Michigan to remarry, she took them with her and they remained there for the rest of their lives.
Nelson, who was 15 when his mother remarried, is found on the Ohio Census in 1850 at the age of 17. Nelson's biography doesn't make mention of his mother or the division in the marriage, but he mentions that his father worked on the canal. Based on the location of the family at the time I can assume that he worked on the Ohio Erie canal that crosses through Coshocton County, Ohio. We don't know how long the family stayed in Coshocton County, Nelson is vague in the recollection of time, he says only that they remained there for some time and he was educated in Ohio.
The Ohio Erie Canal was its most prosperous between 1830 to the early 1860s with its peak in 1852 and 1855. During the 1840s Ohio was the third most prosperous state owing most of the growth to the canal. There were many jobs available on the canal, from the Hoggees who were the men who drove the mules that pulled the boats along the canal, to the men who loaded and unloaded freight, or the men who operated the locks, or captained the boats. The Ohio Erie section of the canal connected Akron, Summit County, with the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland near Lake Erie. Construction on the canal saw the canal connection with Ohio River near Portsmouth, Scioto County, within a few years a new section of canal connected to other systems in Pennsylvania. Traffic throughout the system carried freight and passengers until the railroad took over in the 1860s. Nelson doesn't say what Reuben was doing on the canal only that he worked on the canal. However he was employed there, during those years Reuben would have found no shortage of work opportunities.
When Reuben left Ohio we cannot know for sure. He is not found on the 1850 Census, or the 1860 Census. I believe that Reuben was close to his eldest son, but for a period of time Nelson traveled and went to Michigan for a while farming, then worked on a boat. He married in 1854 and his first son was born in 1855. In 1857 Nelson's wife died and he would not remarry for 2 years. It is possible that at some point between 1854 and 1857 Reuben joined his son and grandson.
To be honest I have no idea what Reuben was doing while Nelson was off on his own adventures, I do know that the canals began to fail when the railroad came and was pretty much done by 1860, so if Reuben was still working on the canal then he may well have found himself out of a job. Perhaps it wasn't until the Civil War when Nelson was living in Iowa and volunteered to serve in the Union Army that Reuben came to live in the same area. It would not be too much of a stretch to believe that Reuben stayed with his daughter-in-law and his grandchildren during the war years. His son would be away until the end of the war and Reuben was already over 60 by the time war was declared and would not have been eligible to join the fight and perhaps there was enough of his Quaker upbringing with him that he would not have done so regardless and would choose to remain in the home to protect and care for his family.
Whenever Reuben left Ohio, he was in Missouri by the 1870 Census when he is recorded living in Grape Grove, Ray County, which is where we also find Nelson. We also discover that Reuben has remarried at the age of 69 on June 12, 1869 to Mrs. Rachel Fisher. I find it interesting that Reuben does not remarry until this late in his life. Ruth had remarried 22 years before. Was it because Reuben, with his Quaker upbringing felt that he was still married to Ruth even if she had long since moved on with her own life, or had he simply not met anyone that he wanted to commit to seriously. Perhaps it is simply because he met a young widow and provides her and her child with a safe and secure home. Whatever the reasons I cannot know for certain what they were, only that I find it interesting in light of his deeply religious childhood and that he remains single for all those years only to remarry in old age.
Reuben remains in Grape Grove, Ray County, until his death on November 25, 1876, 7 years after his marriage to Mrs. Fisher. He is buried in the Little Union Cemetery, Ray County, Missouri, USA.
Reuben's Siblings:
Willet Post – Born October 1794 in Millbrook, Dutchess County, New York
Died November 15, 1874 in Ontario, Canada.
Buried at Harris Cemetery, Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada
Simeon Post- Born in 1795 in New York
Died: Unknown
Buried: Unknown
Hannah Post – Born after 1795. No other information is available for Hannah at this time.
Martha Post – Born September 12, 1796 in Nine Partners, Dutchess County, New York
Died September 25, 1849 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
Buried at the Chicago Burial ground, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
The children of Reuben Post and Ruth Baker Post Ballard:
Nelson Lanard Post – Born June 12, 1833, Ontario, Canada
Died November 1, 1895, Missouri
Buried at Black Oak Cemetery, Braymer, Caldwell County,
Missouri
Isaac Henry Post – Born August 3, 1834, Ontario, Canada
Died August 9, 1923, Michigan
Buried at Grand Rapids Veterans Home Cemetery, Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan. Plot: Plot 7, Row 20, Grave 36
Abigal Post Parker – Born on May 17, 1838, Ontario, Canada
Died February 24, 1911
The above Bio was written by his ggg granddaughter, April Post on the 23 September 2016. You may write her at [email protected] or myself Barbara that has control of his at [email protected]
Reuben was born to Quaker parents, Israel Post and Rhoda Palmer, on November 30, 1799 in New York, USA. His parents were members of the Nine Partners Meeting House in Duchess County, New York. In 1895 they started attending the Easton and Saratoga Meetings with his elder brothers Willet and Simeon. It may be that they were members there when Reuben was born, but they returned to Nine Partners at some point.
By 1811 Reuben's parents decided to join Peter Lossing in the establishment of a new Quaker settlement in Ontario, Canada. Lossing had purchased 15,000 acres of land in Norwich and sold or leased lots to other Quakers willing to move into Upper Canada. Reuben's father took a land lease in 1811 and the family moved to Canada. The Quaker records show Reuben's mother with himself and his siblings arrival recorded on October 2, 1812 with a minutes of membership to Pelham Meeting House in Ontario. His father was not recorded on this date and it is my belief that he was already in Canada clearing the land and building a home in preparation for his family's arrival.
From that day for a good many years, Reuben's life revolved around his home, his family, and his faith. He attended Quaker Meetings at Norwich, and worked on the farm. His life was one that his family embraced with their Quaker beliefs, that life should be one of peace, integrity, humility and community. It was a pacifist life that may have been challenged when shortly before his own wedding to Ruth Baker, Reuben's father was shot and wounded in February, 1828. It is possible that his father was unable to witness Reuben's wedding on March 28, because by then he must have been suffering terribly. There was no surgeon available in the community and Israel Post's wound was most likely infected and getting worse. By the 5th of April he would be dead.
Reuben had broken with his faith when he married Ruth Baker who was not a member of the Society of Friends.
Quaker notes for Prep Mgt Meeting Norwich, Canada – June 4, 1828 :
– the overseers handed to this meeting a complaint against Reuben Post for his outgoing in marriage which is directed to the monthly meeting and is as follows Reuben Post has so far deviated as to keep company with one not a member and married contrary to the established order amongst friends care has been taken ---
Reuben's father had been murdered and within a few weeks of his death, Reuben was disowned from his faith. His brothers were still attending meetings, and although Reuben could have attended as a non-member, which we cannot know for certain, it must have been unsettling to have lost his father and his membership to the community he had known all his life. I have found no other report of Reuben in the meeting notes I have been able to find, until there is one final mention in 1830. It doesn't mean that Ruth didn't become a Quaker and that Reuben didn't condemn his actions in order to be accepted back into the Society of Friends, or that he was planning to do so, but whatever happened he is recorded along with his mother, Rhoda Post, who was about to remarry, his two elder brothers, Willet and Simeon, Simeon's wife, Lavina, and their 2 children, Hannah and Israel. There is no mention of Ruth in this entry which may mean that she had not become a member. Whatever the reason, Reuben, his wife, and their three children don't appear in the Meeting Records at my disposal after 1830.
Reuben and his family remain in Canada until at least 1838 when his third child, a daughter, is born. It is around this time that we learn about where Reuben was and what he was doing through a biography of his eldest son, Nelson L. Post, who late in his life, was interviewed for the History of Ray County, Missouri, published in 1888.
According to Nelson's biography, Reuben Post moved his family from Canada to Cleveland, Ohio, where they remained for a period of approximately 2 years. They then moved on to Coshocton County, Ohio where his family appears on the 1840 Census with Ruth Post (head of household), 1 male over the age of 5 and under 10 years of age, 1 female under 5, 1 female over 20 under 30. Ruth was 29, Nelson 7, Isaac was 6, and his sister, Abigal would have been 2 or under. This census was conducted on June 1, 1840 (a Monday); it doesn't include Reuben or 1 of his sons. This can be explained easily by Reuben being away and possibly taking Nelson with him (which wouldn't have been unusual for the time). If they were not in the household when the census taker came to the door they may not have been recorded in the household numbers just as they would not be included in a modern census if they were not actually in the house on census night. There is however another possible reason why Ruth Post was head of the household with the two children alone. 8 years after this census she was no longer in Ohio, she married for a second time on April 9, 1848 in Michigan where she is recorded on the 1850 Census with her two children, Isaac Post (recorded as Isa Post) and Abigal Post, a new baby and her new husband, Abraham Ballard.
It is my belief, though I cannot substantiate it fully with documentation at the time I write this, that Ruth and Reuben were divorced or in some other manner dissolved their marriage and that Reuben had moved away from the family home with his eldest son Nelson. Ruth kept the two younger children with her and when she went to Michigan to remarry, she took them with her and they remained there for the rest of their lives.
Nelson, who was 15 when his mother remarried, is found on the Ohio Census in 1850 at the age of 17. Nelson's biography doesn't make mention of his mother or the division in the marriage, but he mentions that his father worked on the canal. Based on the location of the family at the time I can assume that he worked on the Ohio Erie canal that crosses through Coshocton County, Ohio. We don't know how long the family stayed in Coshocton County, Nelson is vague in the recollection of time, he says only that they remained there for some time and he was educated in Ohio.
The Ohio Erie Canal was its most prosperous between 1830 to the early 1860s with its peak in 1852 and 1855. During the 1840s Ohio was the third most prosperous state owing most of the growth to the canal. There were many jobs available on the canal, from the Hoggees who were the men who drove the mules that pulled the boats along the canal, to the men who loaded and unloaded freight, or the men who operated the locks, or captained the boats. The Ohio Erie section of the canal connected Akron, Summit County, with the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland near Lake Erie. Construction on the canal saw the canal connection with Ohio River near Portsmouth, Scioto County, within a few years a new section of canal connected to other systems in Pennsylvania. Traffic throughout the system carried freight and passengers until the railroad took over in the 1860s. Nelson doesn't say what Reuben was doing on the canal only that he worked on the canal. However he was employed there, during those years Reuben would have found no shortage of work opportunities.
When Reuben left Ohio we cannot know for sure. He is not found on the 1850 Census, or the 1860 Census. I believe that Reuben was close to his eldest son, but for a period of time Nelson traveled and went to Michigan for a while farming, then worked on a boat. He married in 1854 and his first son was born in 1855. In 1857 Nelson's wife died and he would not remarry for 2 years. It is possible that at some point between 1854 and 1857 Reuben joined his son and grandson.
To be honest I have no idea what Reuben was doing while Nelson was off on his own adventures, I do know that the canals began to fail when the railroad came and was pretty much done by 1860, so if Reuben was still working on the canal then he may well have found himself out of a job. Perhaps it wasn't until the Civil War when Nelson was living in Iowa and volunteered to serve in the Union Army that Reuben came to live in the same area. It would not be too much of a stretch to believe that Reuben stayed with his daughter-in-law and his grandchildren during the war years. His son would be away until the end of the war and Reuben was already over 60 by the time war was declared and would not have been eligible to join the fight and perhaps there was enough of his Quaker upbringing with him that he would not have done so regardless and would choose to remain in the home to protect and care for his family.
Whenever Reuben left Ohio, he was in Missouri by the 1870 Census when he is recorded living in Grape Grove, Ray County, which is where we also find Nelson. We also discover that Reuben has remarried at the age of 69 on June 12, 1869 to Mrs. Rachel Fisher. I find it interesting that Reuben does not remarry until this late in his life. Ruth had remarried 22 years before. Was it because Reuben, with his Quaker upbringing felt that he was still married to Ruth even if she had long since moved on with her own life, or had he simply not met anyone that he wanted to commit to seriously. Perhaps it is simply because he met a young widow and provides her and her child with a safe and secure home. Whatever the reasons I cannot know for certain what they were, only that I find it interesting in light of his deeply religious childhood and that he remains single for all those years only to remarry in old age.
Reuben remains in Grape Grove, Ray County, until his death on November 25, 1876, 7 years after his marriage to Mrs. Fisher. He is buried in the Little Union Cemetery, Ray County, Missouri, USA.
Reuben's Siblings:
Willet Post – Born October 1794 in Millbrook, Dutchess County, New York
Died November 15, 1874 in Ontario, Canada.
Buried at Harris Cemetery, Ingersoll, Ontario, Canada
Simeon Post- Born in 1795 in New York
Died: Unknown
Buried: Unknown
Hannah Post – Born after 1795. No other information is available for Hannah at this time.
Martha Post – Born September 12, 1796 in Nine Partners, Dutchess County, New York
Died September 25, 1849 in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
Buried at the Chicago Burial ground, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois
The children of Reuben Post and Ruth Baker Post Ballard:
Nelson Lanard Post – Born June 12, 1833, Ontario, Canada
Died November 1, 1895, Missouri
Buried at Black Oak Cemetery, Braymer, Caldwell County,
Missouri
Isaac Henry Post – Born August 3, 1834, Ontario, Canada
Died August 9, 1923, Michigan
Buried at Grand Rapids Veterans Home Cemetery, Grand Rapids, Kent County, Michigan. Plot: Plot 7, Row 20, Grave 36
Abigal Post Parker – Born on May 17, 1838, Ontario, Canada
Died February 24, 1911
The above Bio was written by his ggg granddaughter, April Post on the 23 September 2016. You may write her at [email protected] or myself Barbara that has control of his at [email protected]
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