Andrew
Jackson Van Horn
(1834-1923)
Andrew Jackson Van Horn was born on Nov. 28, 1834 near Grand Rapids, Wood County, OH, the son of Samuel and Sophia (Minard) Van Horn. He was a corporal in an Indiana regiment during the Civil War, and was held as a prisoner of war. As well, a letter he wrote to a brother in 1904 demonstrates the Van Horn family connections with the Minerds.
As
a young man, Andrew stood 5 ft., 11 in. high, with brown eyes and black hair. He
worked as a carpenter and "joiner." Andrew and his brother Eli
were active in the development of the United Brethren Church near Grand Rapids.
According to the book Historical Record of Wood County:
The United Brethren Society, the first church body in Weston or Grand Rapid township, was organized at Henry Kimberlin's house in 1832, by Henry Kimberlin, John Crom, Sr., and Jacob Crom, who were local preachers. [In] 1850 the building on the Weston and Grand Rapids road, west of Beaver Creek, was erected. The names of the members, in 1856, were ... John, Jacob, Sally and Mary Kimberlin, ... Sabina Kimberlin, ... [and] Eli and Andrew Van Horn...:
On Feb. 11, 1858, Andrew married his first wife, Mary Ann Dealy (1839-1869), who was one of 14 children of Henry and Catharine (Rusk) Dealy. The ceremony was performed by Esquire 'Jont' (?) Daniels. It took place on or near the Indiana-Ohio border, as the location has been described as both "Monroeville, Ind." and "Paulding County, Ohio," which are contiguous areas.
Andrew and Mary Ann had six children, born in or near Monroeville between the years 1858 and 1866 -- Samuel Henry Van Horn, Jane Van Horn, Phidilla Aretta "Ritta" Winters, Andrew Newton Van Horn, Louisa Almena "Minnie" Parsons and Ivona Jane Van Brandtner-Nixon-Jones. Sadly, Samuel, Jane and Andrew N. are believed to have died young.
The Monroeville area was where members of his extended family also resided, including Minerd cousins Barbara Ball, Mary Jane Dillon, Sarah Elizabeth 'Betsy' Krick, James Minerd and Caroline Pring.
With the Civil War underway, Andrew joined the 74th Indiana Infantry on July 29, 1862, and was assigned to Company C. At the time, he was a few months away from his 29th birthday. In a chapter on Civil War veterans, the Commemorative Historical and Biographical Record of Wood County (OH), said that he "started from Indiana, but belonged to this township."
Andrew was captured and held as a prisoner of war within a few months of his enlistment. He was later paroled (exchanged) at Munfordville, KY on Sept. 17, 1862. The details are not known. He was absent without leave in the latter half of November 1862, but rejoined the regiment.
During the Battle
of Stone's River at Murfreesboro, TN, that claimed 23,000 casualties over
the Christmas/New Year's holiday of 1862-1863, Andrew became sick from
"exposure" to bad weather. McFadden's Ford at the Stone's River
Battlefield is seen here in a deceptively peaceful postcard photograph,
taken circa 1909, some 47 years after the horrific fighting.
Andrew also suffered from diarrhea, fever and "pleuratic adhesion" (lung inflammation). He was hospitalized in Nashville in mid-June 1863, and was transferred to the 2nd Regiment of the Veterans Reserve Corps on Sept. 7, 1863.
In April 1864, he was detached to another regiment to serve as a guard in Louisville, KY. He was discharged from the Army in Detroit on Aug. 26, 1865, and returned home to his wife and family.
Tragically, Mary Ann died at age 30 in Monroeville on Feb. 23, 1869. The cause of death is not known, but her death left her husband alone with five young children.
On Sept. 23, 1870, after just a year and seven months as a widower, Andrew married Louisa Evangeline Dean (1851-1920). She is believed to be the daughter of Benjamin and Mary (Andrews) Dean. The ceremony took place at Decatur, Adams County, IN, and the details were recorded in the Van Horn family Bible.
Andrew and Louisa went on to have seven more children -- twins Eva Bell Van Horn and Oscar Leroy Van Horn, Mary Myrtle (also known as "Yvette" or " Mertie") Radabaugh Smith, Walter Van Horn, Arthur Van Horn, Victoria Van Horn and Jesse "Franklin" Van Horn. They may also have had a son or otherwise raised George F. Van Horn.
In the postwar years, Andrew followed his trade as a carpenter. However, he suffered from what he called "rheumatism and disease of eyes and lungs" as a result of his military service. He applied for and was awarded a federal pension for his service, in the amount of $6 a month.
As he aged, he also was plagued by "Disease of Back and palpitation of heart, also severe Deafness of both ears caused by periodical gatherings in [my] ears which bursts and matters and Discharges and makes [me] almost totally deaf in both ears..." By 1904, at the age of 70, he added "partial loss of the use of [my] right arm and kidney trouble and piles" to his list of ailments, with his arm injured "by a cow." Surgeons who examined him that year observed that he:
... has a full head of light iron gray hair - prominent nose - florid complexion - full face of short iron gray whiskers and mustache. His hands show work. He does not look older than his stated age.
The Van Horns made their home in the 1880s in Belmore, Putnam County, OH. By 1893, Andrew had moved the family to Lima, Allen County, OH, residing at 525 East Findlay Street and 1043 North Jefferson Street.
Andrew suffered through the indignity and pain of the well-publicized suicide of his troubled son in law, James A. Radabaugh, in November 1894. The Radabaughs resided under his roof, but when interpersonal troubles ensued, with Radabaugh unemployed, Radabaugh made up his mind to shoot himself in front of the Van Horn inlaws, although in reality the suicide took place between two houses, as he tried to elude police. The news made major headlines in the Lima Times-Democrat, with Andrew mentioned therein.
Andrew's faded 1904 letter to a brother, spelling out the
whereabouts of their Minerd uncles
Writing from home in Lima on May 25, 1904, Andrew sent a letter to one of his brothers. In it, he penned:
Received your letter stating that uncle Samuel Minerd was very low at present. I would have ritten them but you will not say where he lived or where the nearest station was to get off at so I thought best for you to let them no Burget Miner lives in Van Wert, no [illegible] delivery their. Henry Minerd lives near Monroeville, Ind. John Minerd is Dead. Son James lives near Dixon O. on state line. Those are their adreses. Arthur Van Horn 1652 Peoria Ave., Toledo O. We are well at present. Can't say when I can dome down. If any of his folks come down I may meet them at the Depot as they will have to change cars here if they let me know they are coming. A.J. Vanhorn.
The letter must have reached Andew's uncle Samuel Minerd, for the letter today is in the possession of one of Samuel's great-granddaughters.
In 1906, Andrew migrated again to Gladwin, Buckeye Twp., MI (the same community where distant cousin and fellow Army veteran Daniel H. Knight resided). At some point, they moved to Kalamazoo, Jackson County, MI.
Gladwin's main street
at turn of the century
Louisa died on Nov. 13, 1920 back in Lima. She was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery. That year, Andrew was living at 1041 North Jefferson Street in Lima with his son Frank.
He was examined again in 1921 by government surgeons to ascertain his physical condition for pension purposes. At the time, he was receiving $50 per month. The resulting reports show that at the age of 88, he had lost 3 inches in height, and that his hair was white. The physicians noted that he had hurt his right shoulder in a fall 5 years before, and had damaged his right knee in another fall 12 years earlier. Wrote one surgeon:
Senility ... is present in a degree far greater than found in a man of his age. Marked feebleness of body and mind... Can not count fingers [at a distance], but can distinguish light and darkness... [He] is unable to dress, undress or attend to calls of nature without aid.
As a result, Andrew received a raise in his pension payments to $72 per month.
After a little more than a year, he passed away in Kalamazoo on Feb. 6, 1923. Said his obituary in the Lima (OH) Republican-Gazette, "Van Horn resided in Lima longer than 40 years. He moved to Kalamazoo 15 years ago. His body will be brought to the home of his son here..." He was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.
Daughter Minnie Van Horn married John Parsons on March 4, 1885 in Allen County, OH. Circa 1923, they resided in Covington, KY.
Daughter Arretta Van Horn ( ? -1938) married William Wesley Winters on Aug. 6, 1882 in Wood County. Circa 1892, they resided in Findlay, Hancock County, OH. In 1923, they were living in Chicago, Cook County, IL. They had three children -- Homer Winters (1882- ? ), Myra Ethel Winters (1885-- ? ) and Clare D. Winters (1892-1948), all born in Ohio. William died in Cook County on April 27, 1930. Arretta outlived him by eight years. She passed away in Cook County on March 4, 1938. Son Clare, who registered for the military draft during World War I, died at age 55 in Cook County on Feb. 9, 1948.
Daughter Yvette
Mary Myrtle Van Horn (1870-1970) first married James A. Radabaugh (1872-1894) in
Allen County in about 1893. James ended his own life in November 1894 with a
gunshot to the head, an act headlined in the Lima Daily News. The event
left Myrtle with a six-week-old daughter, Rhea Irene Radabaugh. Myrtle later
married laborer Edward W. Smith (1859- ? ). They made their home in Crawford
Township, Wyandot County, OH in 1900, but by 1910 had moved to Columbus,
Franklin County, OH, where they lived at 1355 River Street. Myrtle and Edward
had four more children -- Russell Smith, Bessie P. Smith, Maude D. Smith and
Edward William Smith Jr. By 1910, when the federal census was taken, Edward Sr.
was working as a well drilling contractor in Columbus. Edward's fate is unknown.
Myrtle passed away at the age of 100 at the Bryden Manor Nursing Home, Columbus,
on Aug. 29, 1970. She was survived by 12 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren
and 22 great-great grandchildren. She was laid to rest in the Green Lawn
Cemetery in Columbus, having lived in the state capitol city for seven decades.
Her obituary was published in the Columbus Dispatch.
- Daughter Rhea Irene Radabaugh (1893-1987) married Joseph Emanuel Reed (1887-1977), the son of William and Ida M. Reed of Lima. In 1920, the Reeds lived in Gladwin, MI, where Joseph was a farmer. By 1930, they had moved to Midland, Midland County, MI, where James was employed as manager in a pickle factory. The Reeds had two daughters, Mary J. Reed and Ruth E. Reed. Later in life, Rhea and Joseph moved to Florida. He died in Lake County at the age of 90 on Dec. 23, 1977, and she passed away at the age of 93 on June 19, 1987, in Marion County, FL.
- Son Edward William Smith Jr. lived in Grove City, Franklin County, circa 1970.
Son Walter Van Horn married Ida M. Snow (1875- ? ) on March 16, 1896 in Allen County, OH. They moved to Sioux Falls, SD, where they made their home in 1923. They had three children -- William Henry Van Horn, Zelma R. Van Horn and Leon Van Horn.
Son Arthur Van Horn married Lizzie Reese on April 8, 1896 in Allen County, OH. In 1904, they lived at 1652 Peoria Ave., Toledo. In 1923, they resided in Jackson, MI.
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| Busy Lima Square in Lima, early 1900s |
Son Frank Van Horn served as a corporal in World War I, in Co. D of the 126th Infantry, 32nd Division. He married Goldie (?). They lived in Lima circa 1921. He died there in June 1966.
The fate of son/ward George Van Horn is unknown.
Notes about the fates of some of the Van Horn children were provided by Mary Bowles via William H. Gerdeman Jr., and by Judy Solomon.
Copyright © 2003-2008 Mark A. Miner