Elvira Ford is another example of an isolated burial in the cemetery. There are no other Fords and no indication that she is related to any of the others. She arrived in Dayton with her husband by June of 1850 and appeared in the census in Dayton with her husband and daughter, but died shortly thereafter.

Elvira was born about 1826 in New Hampshire, the daughter of Solomon and Jane (Willoughby) Hall. On April 13, 1846 she married Calvin F. Ford in Lowell, Massachusetts. He was born September 25, 1820, in Maine, the son of Isaac and Charlotte (Heselton) Ford. Elvira and Calvin had one child, Mary Jane, born June 30, 1847, in Maine.

They came to Dayton by 1850, where Calvin was working as a miller, At that time he owned no land.  Apparently Calvin wrote home to tell of opportunities in the west. William Crompton, who was married to Calvin’s sister, moved to Freedom township, La Salle county, with his wife and family.

Elvira died January 9, 1852, in Dayton and was buried in the Dayton cemetery.

On November 11, 1852, Calvin married Martha Crompton, the sister of William Crompton. Martha was born December 7, 1805, in Industry, Maine, the daughter of Samuel and Martha Crompton. Martha was unmarried and had been living with her sister’s family in New Sharon, Maine in 1850. When her brother William moved to Illinois, Martha came with him.

In the early 1850s Calvin, Martha, and Mary Jane moved to Union township, Black Hawk county, Iowa. By 1860 he owned land worth $5000.

Martha died on June 29, 1863 and on May 12, 1864, Calvin married Lois Maria Gilkey.

By 1870 Calvin, Lois, and Mary Jane had moved into Cedar Rapids, where Calvin was selling agricultural implements. His real estate was valued at $2500. In 1880 the family was back in Union township, where Calvin died on October 23. He was buried in the neighboring Gerholdt Cemetery.

In 1882, at age 35, Mary Jane Ford married Frank A. Butler. They had one child, Fred, born in 1884. Mary Jane (Jennie) died August 15, 1925, and is also buried in the Gerholdt Cemetery.

MRS. BROWN, 91, DAYTON RESIDENT PASSES AWAY

As the larger part of the world celebrated the advent of a new year at 1 o’clock yesterday morning death ended the career of Mrs. Katherine Hess Brown, aged 91, wife of William Morrell Brown and a well known Dayton resident. A fall four years ago greatly impaired Mrs. Brown’s health and had since made is necessary for her to go about in a wheel chair but her final illness dates to a cold she contracted the day after Christmas.

Funeral services are to be held tomorrow afternoon at 2 o’clock from the family home in Dayton and burial will be made in the Ottawa Avenue cemetery.

Mrs. Brown was one of the oldest residents in this part of the country and was greatly beloved by all who knew her. She was born July 1, 1837 in Rockingham county, Virginia but came to La Salle county with her parents in 1850. Her girlhood was spent on the farm north of Ottawa which is commonly known as the “Ells farm”.

Her marriage to William M. Brown took place on May 10, 1871. The family resided for many years on a farm near Dayton township after which they moved into Ottawa and resided here for two years. Twenty years ago they moved to Dayton where they have since resided.

Mrs. Brown is survived by her husband and two sons, Wells Brown of Ottawa and Frank A. Brown of Dayton.¹

DEATH PARTS, THEN REUNITES DAYTON COUPLE

Death, which separated Mr. and Mrs. William Morrell Brown on New Year’s, when Mrs. Brown died at her home in Dayton, joined the couple this morning, when Mr. Brown, aged 91, died after an illness of a few days duration.

Mr. and Mrs. Brown had been married fifty-eight years, and both were 91 years of age at their deaths.

Funeral services will be held at 2 o’clock tomorrow afternoon at Gladfelter’s chapel. Ottawa Commandery of the Masons will be in charge. Rev. George C. Fetter, pastor of First Baptist church, will preach the sermon. Interment will be in Ottawa Avenue cemetery.

Mr. Brown was born May 22, 1837, in the east, and came to Dayton when a young man. He was united in marriage with Miss Katherine Hess May 10, 1871. Following their marriage, they made their home on a farm near Dayton for a quarter of a century, when they retired from farming life and moved to Ottawa. For five years they resided there and then moved to Dayton, where they made their home.

Mrs. Brown died at 1 o’clock New Year’s morning and the next day Mr. Brown became unconscious and died without regaining consciousness. He had not been ill, but it is thought that the shock of his wife’s death was too great for him.

He is survived by two sons, Wells Brown of Ottawa and Frank Brown of Dayton. A third son, Lester, died 25 years ago. Two grandchildren, Everett and Stanley Brown and two great-grandchildren, Edward and Mary Katherine Brown and two sisters, survive.²

Although both obituaries list their marriage date as 1871, they were actually married in Livingston county, Illinois on May 10, 1870.

1. Ottawa Daily Republican Times,  January 2, 1929, p. 2.
2. ibid, January 14, 1929, p. 7.

Photos courtesy of Rand James.