Mary
Jane "Jennie"
(Pring) McCollough
(1853-1919)
Mary Jane
"Jennie" (Pring) McCollough was born
on June 5, 1853 in Cedar
Creek Twp., Allen County, IN, the daughter of John
and Caroline (Minerd) Pring. She and her husband were pioneer settlers of
Kansas, and later as a widow she went to Oklahoma. They are profiled in a thick
book about the history of Kansas.
On Feb. 7, 1878, in Allen County, Jennie married Remulous McCollough
(1851-1913?). He was a native of Holmes County, OH and the son of
Ohio pioneers Hudson and Sina (Griffith) McCullough. (Remulous had a twin
brother Romulous.)
The McColloughs had six children -- Margaret Winkler, Nora "Edith" Kennedy, Ella Iona Downs, Caroline Ada "Carrie" Kennedy, Amelia Isophene DeLong and Arthur Delbert McCollough. They were born over an 18-year span between 1878 and 1896.
Within a month of marriage, on March 25, 1878, the McColloughs migrated west to Kansas. They settled near Rossville in Shawnee County, KS. Much of what we know about their rest of their lives is published in William G. Cutler's 1883 book, History of the State of Kansas. The chapter on Shawnee County (Part 45) states that Remulous:
... owns eighty acres, four miles north of Rossville, all under fence; seventy acres under cultivation; thirty acres in corn and twenty acres in wheat; ... Mr. McCullough is a Democrat.
Rare old postcard of the west side of Main
Street in Rossville, circa 1905
Remulous' older brother Isaac McCullough had come to Kansas
earlier, in 1870, and also owned an 80-acre farm four miles north of Rossville.
Jennie is seen at right, seated at far left, with her brother John and sister Nettie.
In March 1892, the McColloughs made another major decision to move to Oklahoma. They brought their young children and settled in the town of Dale, Potawatomi County.
Sadly, son Arthur died in infancy, a little over five weeks
old, on July 17, 1896.
Tragedy struck the family again the following year. Remulous passed away on Feb. 26, 1897, at the too-young age of 46. The cause of his untimely death is unknown. He was laid to rest in the Dale Cemetery, where several generations of their descendants would later be buried.
His grave marker was still legible when photographed by descendants in February 2005.
Jennie survived Remulous by more than two decades.
Jennie later resided in the town of Shawnee, Potawatomi County. She lived there at the time of her mother's death in 1911. Her brother John and daughters Nora, Ella and Amelia are known to have lived in Oklahoma over the years, and were her ongoing friends and companions.
The McColloughs' profile in the History of Kansas
Another
old postcard, showing a bird's eye view of the northwest section of
Shawnee, is seen at left.
Jennie passed away on March 11, 1919.
She was laid to rest in the Dale Cemetery. She was age 66. Her grave marker is seen at right.
Daughter Edith (1878-1973) married Charles 'Wilson' Kennedy (1873-1946), the son of Ransom B. and Sarah Margaret (McKelvey) Kennedy. They made their home in Okmulgee, Okmulgee County, OK. Their five children were John Kennedy, Charles Edward Kennedy, Eva Mae Kennedy, Doshid Marie Kennedy and Paul Lowell Kennedy. Wilson died on Dec. 17, 1946. Edith outlived him by a quarter-century, and passed away on Aug. 1, 1971. They are buried in the Fairview Cemetery in Shawnee.
Daughter Margaret (1880-1965) married Lucis V. Winkler. They had no children. Margaret died on May 17, 1965.
Daughter Carrie (1883-1974) married David
Ransom Kennedy (1884-1954), brother of
Wilson Kennedy. They resided in Cushing,
OK. Their six children were Howard Ransom Kennedy, Frank Oren Kennedy, Hazel
Elsie Kennedy, Jesse Burns Kennedy, Jack O'Neal Kennedy and Wanda Beth Kennedy.
(The youngest two children were twins.) David died at age 70 on July 25, 1954.
Carrie outlived him by more than two decades, and she passed away on Sept. 16,
1974. Their grave marker in the Dale Cemetery is seen at left.
At
age 20, daughter Amelia (1886-1975) married 31-year-old Jacob DeLong
(1876-1940). The ceremony took place in Tecumseh, OK on June 25, 1906. Their
wedding portrait is seen at right. The DeLongs resided in Shawnee, where
they raised their nine children -- Clyde R. DeLong, George W. DeLong, Harold L.
DeLong,
Margaret L. Walker, Lou Ella Mae Clemons, James E. DeLong, Eugene M. DeLong,
Virgil
A. DeLong and
Dale E. DeLong. Jacob "was a contractor for sheet and metal work,"
said the Shawnee News-Star. He died at age 64 on June 20, 1940. Amelia
"made her home in this area, living in Shawnee since 1904," said the News-Star.
She outlived her husband by a quarter-century and "was a charter Member of
St. Mark's United Methodist Church." They are buried in Fairview Cemetery.
Daughter Ella (1889-1971) married Oscar Downs ( ? - ? ) and lived in Tulsa. They had five children -- Ethel Pauline Bush, Edward Russell Downs, Ralph Downs, Rheba Marie Downs and Viola Mae Downs. Oscar passed away circa 1921. Ella died on Aug. 6, 1971, just five days after the passing of her sister Edith. They are buried in the Little Cemetery east of Shawnee.
Five of the DeLongs' sons served in the US Armed Forces during World War
II, and they were featured in a 1945 article in the News-Star. Said the
article, "When the DeLong sons walk into 627 North Bell and hang up their
uniforms, it will be a great day for Mrs. Amelia DeLong..." Son George was
"one of the first Americans to enter Cherbourg where more than 6,000
Germans were taken prisoner... He landed in France on D-day plus eight."
Son Clyde was an amphibious engineer who fought in the battle of Corregidor and
was wounded in the invasion of the Philippines, recovering in a general hospital
in New Guinea. Son James "spent eight months in New Georgia and the Solomon
Islands..." Son Harold was with "the service squadron of the air
corps, [and] is now somewhere in Belgium," the article said. Son Eugene
served with the US Navy and was stationed at Norman (OK) Naval Airport and at
Astoria, OR.
Harold DeLong worked for the postal service prior to his
wartime service. Upon his return, he rejoined the post office, and worked there
until his retirement in January 1974. He passed away on Nov. 16, 2002.
James DeLong and his wife Helen are seen at right in a portrait taken circa 1991. Jim is a high school golf coach in northwestern Montana.
For more information, contact Sandra Ammerman-Paser and Helen DeLong. For data on the McCullough genealogy, contact Barb Lewis-Hardung.
Donald L. Kear, a distant nephew of John Pring's, has an extensive collection of information on this family on his "Kear Family Site." He also has published his findings in The John Cears Kear Family (1984).
Above, graves of WWII veterans Clyde Delong (1987) and Harold DeLong (2002).
Copyright © 2002-2005 Mark A. Miner. Grave marker photos by Max Walker.