Adam Crecelius was the third of four sons of John Godhard Crecelius & Diana Wilson of Scott Township, Harrison County, Indiana. During the Civil War, he served in Company B, 11th Regiment, Missouri Cavalry. His name is on the military memorial in Conrad Cemetery (2nd photo). His veteran's pension file calls him an invalid; and indeed, the only photo I have seen of Uncle Ad shows him on crutches, standing beside his older brother George.
Buried in the Crecelius plot with bachelor Adam (lot #31) are his sister Mary Ann Bartles and her daughter, Manerva. They lived with him in his modest house on the west edge of Conrad, on the south side of Center Street. In 1900, his neighbor on one side was Conrad's barber, John "Black Jack" Baxter & his wife Mary. She died in 1904, and her gravestone in Conrad Cemetery says Mary Baxter, Ex-Slave.
On the other side of Uncle Ad lived his niece Frances Wiley & her husband Allen, also a Civil War veteran. Frances died in 1925. Now Allen had been Manerva's childhood sweetheart until he dumped her to marry her cousin Frances Conrad in 1865. In 1928, widower Allen Wiley married his former sweetheart Manerva, age 83. She waited many years before she finally got her man!
The 1856 census of Grundy County, Iowa, lists seven Crecelius siblings & their families living side by side on the virgin prairie, west of Wolf Creek:
Mahala with husband John W. Conrad & 6 children
Adam Crecelius
Mary Crecelius Bartles & her 2 children
Harrison Crecelius
David Crecelius with his wife & 2 sons
George Crecelius with his wife & 2 sons
Phebe with husband Andrew J. Melton & 2 daughters
25 family members in all. And of course more children were born in the ensuing years.
Aunt Mary Bartles died in 1909, age 94. Uncle Ad died in his bed on 13 March 1917, his 83rd birthday. Local relatives came to comfort Manerva, including Conrad barber Charlie Crecelius, his wife Edith, and Charlie's youngest sister, Marie. Marie was 13, staying with her brother while she attended Conrad High School, and helping care for Charlie & Edith's two young boys, Dale & Mark. The other relatives went home, leaving just young Marie to stay overnight with Manerva, so she wouldn't be alone in the house with Uncle Ad in his coffin in the front parlor. Manerva showed Marie to Uncle Ad's now-vacant bedroom. Fifty years later, Marie told me she didn't sleep a wink that night in Uncle Ad's bed. Manerva hadn't even bothered to change the bedsheets in which Uncle Ad had died just hours earlier.
Buried in the Crecelius plot with bachelor Adam (lot #31) are his sister Mary Ann Bartles and her daughter, Manerva. They lived with him in his modest house on the west edge of Conrad, on the south side of Center Street. In 1900, his neighbor on one side was Conrad's barber, John "Black Jack" Baxter & his wife Mary. She died in 1904, and her gravestone in Conrad Cemetery says Mary Baxter, Ex-Slave.
On the other side of Uncle Ad lived his niece Frances Wiley & her husband Allen, also a Civil War veteran. Frances died in 1925. Now Allen had been Manerva's childhood sweetheart until he dumped her to marry her cousin Frances Conrad in 1865. In 1928, widower Allen Wiley married his former sweetheart Manerva, age 83. She waited many years before she finally got her man!
The 1856 census of Grundy County, Iowa, lists seven Crecelius siblings & their families living side by side on the virgin prairie, west of Wolf Creek:
Mahala with husband John W. Conrad & 6 children
Adam Crecelius
Mary Crecelius Bartles & her 2 children
Harrison Crecelius
David Crecelius with his wife & 2 sons
George Crecelius with his wife & 2 sons
Phebe with husband Andrew J. Melton & 2 daughters
25 family members in all. And of course more children were born in the ensuing years.
Aunt Mary Bartles died in 1909, age 94. Uncle Ad died in his bed on 13 March 1917, his 83rd birthday. Local relatives came to comfort Manerva, including Conrad barber Charlie Crecelius, his wife Edith, and Charlie's youngest sister, Marie. Marie was 13, staying with her brother while she attended Conrad High School, and helping care for Charlie & Edith's two young boys, Dale & Mark. The other relatives went home, leaving just young Marie to stay overnight with Manerva, so she wouldn't be alone in the house with Uncle Ad in his coffin in the front parlor. Manerva showed Marie to Uncle Ad's now-vacant bedroom. Fifty years later, Marie told me she didn't sleep a wink that night in Uncle Ad's bed. Manerva hadn't even bothered to change the bedsheets in which Uncle Ad had died just hours earlier.
Adam Crecelius was the third of four sons of John Godhard Crecelius & Diana Wilson of Scott Township, Harrison County, Indiana. During the Civil War, he served in Company B, 11th Regiment, Missouri Cavalry. His name is on the military memorial in Conrad Cemetery (2nd photo). His veteran's pension file calls him an invalid; and indeed, the only photo I have seen of Uncle Ad shows him on crutches, standing beside his older brother George.
Buried in the Crecelius plot with bachelor Adam (lot #31) are his sister Mary Ann Bartles and her daughter, Manerva. They lived with him in his modest house on the west edge of Conrad, on the south side of Center Street. In 1900, his neighbor on one side was Conrad's barber, John "Black Jack" Baxter & his wife Mary. She died in 1904, and her gravestone in Conrad Cemetery says Mary Baxter, Ex-Slave.
On the other side of Uncle Ad lived his niece Frances Wiley & her husband Allen, also a Civil War veteran. Frances died in 1925. Now Allen had been Manerva's childhood sweetheart until he dumped her to marry her cousin Frances Conrad in 1865. In 1928, widower Allen Wiley married his former sweetheart Manerva, age 83. She waited many years before she finally got her man!
The 1856 census of Grundy County, Iowa, lists seven Crecelius siblings & their families living side by side on the virgin prairie, west of Wolf Creek:
Mahala with husband John W. Conrad & 6 children
Adam Crecelius
Mary Crecelius Bartles & her 2 children
Harrison Crecelius
David Crecelius with his wife & 2 sons
George Crecelius with his wife & 2 sons
Phebe with husband Andrew J. Melton & 2 daughters
25 family members in all. And of course more children were born in the ensuing years.
Aunt Mary Bartles died in 1909, age 94. Uncle Ad died in his bed on 13 March 1917, his 83rd birthday. Local relatives came to comfort Manerva, including Conrad barber Charlie Crecelius, his wife Edith, and Charlie's youngest sister, Marie. Marie was 13, staying with her brother while she attended Conrad High School, and helping care for Charlie & Edith's two young boys, Dale & Mark. The other relatives went home, leaving just young Marie to stay overnight with Manerva, so she wouldn't be alone in the house with Uncle Ad in his coffin in the front parlor. Manerva showed Marie to Uncle Ad's now-vacant bedroom. Fifty years later, Marie told me she didn't sleep a wink that night in Uncle Ad's bed. Manerva hadn't even bothered to change the bedsheets in which Uncle Ad had died just hours earlier.
Buried in the Crecelius plot with bachelor Adam (lot #31) are his sister Mary Ann Bartles and her daughter, Manerva. They lived with him in his modest house on the west edge of Conrad, on the south side of Center Street. In 1900, his neighbor on one side was Conrad's barber, John "Black Jack" Baxter & his wife Mary. She died in 1904, and her gravestone in Conrad Cemetery says Mary Baxter, Ex-Slave.
On the other side of Uncle Ad lived his niece Frances Wiley & her husband Allen, also a Civil War veteran. Frances died in 1925. Now Allen had been Manerva's childhood sweetheart until he dumped her to marry her cousin Frances Conrad in 1865. In 1928, widower Allen Wiley married his former sweetheart Manerva, age 83. She waited many years before she finally got her man!
The 1856 census of Grundy County, Iowa, lists seven Crecelius siblings & their families living side by side on the virgin prairie, west of Wolf Creek:
Mahala with husband John W. Conrad & 6 children
Adam Crecelius
Mary Crecelius Bartles & her 2 children
Harrison Crecelius
David Crecelius with his wife & 2 sons
George Crecelius with his wife & 2 sons
Phebe with husband Andrew J. Melton & 2 daughters
25 family members in all. And of course more children were born in the ensuing years.
Aunt Mary Bartles died in 1909, age 94. Uncle Ad died in his bed on 13 March 1917, his 83rd birthday. Local relatives came to comfort Manerva, including Conrad barber Charlie Crecelius, his wife Edith, and Charlie's youngest sister, Marie. Marie was 13, staying with her brother while she attended Conrad High School, and helping care for Charlie & Edith's two young boys, Dale & Mark. The other relatives went home, leaving just young Marie to stay overnight with Manerva, so she wouldn't be alone in the house with Uncle Ad in his coffin in the front parlor. Manerva showed Marie to Uncle Ad's now-vacant bedroom. Fifty years later, Marie told me she didn't sleep a wink that night in Uncle Ad's bed. Manerva hadn't even bothered to change the bedsheets in which Uncle Ad had died just hours earlier.
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
