Dates are from Donny Perry (Ancestry Tree NEWEXPORT): Birth 07 Jan 1813, Muskingum Co., OH; Death 06 Apr 1847, Lacon (near) IL; Spouse Robert Antrim. [Source: Abstracts of Obituaries in the Western Christian Advocate 1834-1850, p. 167, obit of Martha Antrim]

The cemetery is east of Lacon, in Hopewell Township, Marshall County, Illinois. My one visit was on 3 Oct 2001, using a "Broaddus - Wier Cemetery" transcript from the Marshall County Historical Society. They listed Martha Antrim; Wife of Robert Antrim; D- Apr 21, 1845; Aged 31yrs, 3Ms. They must already have had difficulty reading the numbers.

I am very grateful to "2cemeterysisters," who found the stone after much hard (and careful) work.

Martha Harris married Robert Antrim on August 26, 1834 [Illinois Genealogy Trails, Putnam County, Marriages (from newspaper accounts)]. The marriage file at the Putnam County Courthouse had only the affidavit of age (sworn by Robert Antrim and James Harris, on 25 August 1834): ". . . Martha Harris, daughter of Edward Harris, of said county, has attained the full age of Eighteen years. . . ."

The heirs of Edward Harris included "Martha Antrims heirs": Amos A Antrim with Lizzie, and
Lydia with Thomas M. Parsons [Edward's estate papers; d. 7 Feb 1859, Hopewell Township, Marshall County, Illinois].

Amos Antrim and his son Dr John D Antrim were both veterinarians in Iowa [census, also town directory for John].

"Thomas M. Parsons married Lydia Ann Antrim, September 1, 1859. . . . At the age of 24 he moved to Lacon, Illinois, where he met and married my mother," according to their son, William Henry Parsons. [See notes for William's son, Alfred Bishop Parsons, 1902-1969.]

"Robert Antrim . . . came [to Hopewell Township] in 1832, and settled . . . on his well known place. . . . His first wife he married in Ohio, his second was Martha Harris, and the third Nancy, a sister of the famous 'Si.' Bowles" [Spencer Ellsworth, Records of the Olden Time . . . counties of Putnam and Marshall (1880, reprinted in 1992, also online), p. 394]. Robert's first wife was Mary Hinds (d. 5 Nov 1833); their children included Benjamin [Harriet Stockton Antrim's 1899 book Early Records of the Antrims in America, Open Library online; see also Tallman Tree, Ancestry.com].

Robert Antrim was presumably in the area by 1831, since from September 1831 to October 1839 he purchased 330 acres in present Hopewell Township (in Putnam County until Marshall County was established in 1839) [Illinois public land records].

The census listed Robert Antrim (born about 1801-02 in Indiana) with his third wife, Nancy, in 1850, but not in 1860. Jason and Broadus Cemetery has a stone (relocated with others in a rectangle on the ground) for Robert Antrim, died 25 Apr 1858, age broken off. This stone is for the adult Robert, since the child Robert, listed with Robert and Nancy in 1850, was still listed with Nancy in 1860 and 1870. (Young Robert married Mary Jane Spillane.)

Martha's parents, Edward Harris and Elizabeth Clabaugh, were married 19 Dec 1807 in Muskingum County, Ohio, according to an Ohio Marriages index. Their ten children were all born in Ohio, from about 1808 to 1830:
- James (children include Margaret),
- Rachel (md. William McNeil),
- Martha (md. Robert Antrim),
- Margaret [md. Bolitha Griffith 18 Sep 1836 Putnam Co. IL; children Elizabeth L, Bolitha (b. abt. 1838 Iowa), Eliza A (Griffith) Munson],
- Garrett,
- John (md. 1 Jemina), 2 Rachel Christian),
- Nicholas [md. Sarah J Overmire; children (b. about 1846-1872, Illinois): William, Garrett, Albert (md. Agnes Roath), Katherine/
Catherine, Hannah, James A and Charles T],
- Elizabeth (md. Jonathan Seaman),
- Edward S [md. 1 Amy Abigail Taylor, 2 Sarah C (Brink) DeLawyer] and
- Mary (md. James M Wharton; no children).