John Henry Rising couldn't stay put. As a boy, he often ran away from home; as a man, he never put down roots anywhere. He resettled at least nine times and lived in five states.
A young man ventures out alone
J.H.'s wanderlust was in his blood. He was descended from James Rising, who left England in 1635 and migrated to Bermuda. James was 18, and he was traveling alone. Also aboard the Dorset were 96 passengers. Most of them were unrelated teenagers. There were a few married couples in their 30s, including a couple of ministers. Researchers speculate that the group was either bound for Bermuda to start a colony, or bound for service as indentured servants.
James eventually moved to Salem, Mass. (about 35 years before the witch trials), and later operated a ferry in Windsor, Conn. Later still, James and two sons, James and John, were among the first settlers of Suffield, Conn. They were prominent citizens in the close-knit community. The names of many other Suffield founders are also in the Rising family tree: Remington, Mather, Harmon, Kent, Devotion, Leavitt.
| |
|
Five generations later, Eli Rising moved his family to New York City. Eli's sons, Eli and Daniel, headed west. Daniel had studied medicine but apparently did not yet practice. Daniel married Rexanna, a girl from New York. Their five children -- Elizabeth, William, Eli, George, and Mary -- were born between 1841 and 1848 in Ohio. By November 1850, when the census was taken, they lived in Adams County, Indiana, where Daniel had a farm valued at $2,000, a respectable amount in those days. Rexanna, and apparently most of their children, died shortly after that. (I'm just speculating here. I haven't found Rexanna or any of the children, except Eli, in any censuses after 1850. There
were epidemics of cholera, yellow fever and influenza about this time. I doubt that Daniel abandoned his family.) By 1851, Daniel had married Ruth Johnson, the daughter of a neighbor, and had moved to Iowa.
Daniel and Ruth's son, John Henry, was born May 2, 1852, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. When J.H. was 2 years old, Daniel was granted a land patent for 120 acres outside Eldora in Hardin County, Iowa, where they lived for two years. Around this time, Daniel started practicing medicine. (In the 1850 Census, Daniel lists his profession as "Farmer"; in the 1856 Iowa State Census and the 1860 Federal Census, he lists his profession as "Physician.") In Hardin County, Daniel served on a grand jury and on a committee to form a new township. Then the family moved to Sac County; J.H.'s sister, Cordelia, was born there in 1857.
Runaway
As a small boy, J.H. used to run away from home. His son, Harry, later recalled stories his father told him:
"He seemed to like to go to another town. When he was ready he would come home. Guess they knew where he was. A young preacher used to bring him home."
Daniel Rising moved his family to Cedar Rapids, Hardin County, and Sac City. J.H. Rising and his family lived in Edgewood and Otterville. The Caltons lived in Fayette.
Explore more
See Daniel Rising's land patents: No. 1 | No. 2 | |
Running away wasn't the only way J.H. got in trouble.
“His father had bought him a new hatchet and he was skating home down the river carrying the hatchet when he fell and almost cut off his hand. He had to carry the crippled hand in his other hand. It was so bad his father stitched it and had a nurse watch him. The nurse, a male nurse, went to sleep and Dad took off the bandage because of the pain so the hand wasn't quite normal after that.”
In 1865, J.H.'s life changed forever. Harry wrote:
"[Ruth] was sick with pneumonia and he [Daniel] worked with her so hard trying to keep her alive, got her on her feet and walked her back and forth. He must have loved her a great deal. I think when she died he was broken hearted and he didn't live much longer, just a few hours."
Daniel was 51; Ruth was 35. They were buried in Grant City, Sac County, Iowa. Unfortunately, in 1919, a storm washed away all of the tombstones, so we can't find their graves.
So, at 14 years old, J.H. and Cordelia, 7, were left orphans. They "were handed from one family to another." J.H. told Harry that he remembered seeing furniture in many homes that had been in his father's home.
I haven't been able to find J.H. in the 1870 Census. Cordelia was living with a widow, Hannah Whitney, in Sac City. J.H.'s half-brother Eli was in Sac City as well, working as a carpenter. (He is the only child of Daniel's first marriage I have found.)
In 1877, J.H. was in Edgewood, Iowa. It was there that he married Alfretta Fredonia Whitcomb. He was 25. She was 18. Their first child, Anna May, was born in 1878. Perhaps J.H.'s "lost years" were spent wandering the western wilderness. He decided to settle his new family off the beaten path. In 1880, J.H., Alfretta and Annie were living in Franklin County, Nebraska. Cordelia, with her husband, William Hartson, and their two children, Myrtle and Irene, were their neighbors.
Hattie and Harry Rising were born there in 1881 and 1883, respectively, but the two families didn't stay in Nebraska long. By 1885, the Hartsons were living in Fayette County, Iowa. The Risings may have returned to Iowa, for a little while; at least long enough to bury Alfretta's father in Delhi, Delaware County, in 1892 and have her mother join their household. In 1895 they were living in Henryville, Tennessee.
Actually, they were leaving Tennessee. On May 22, 1895, they left Henryville. Traveling with another family, the Caltons, the Risings were heading for the Indian Territory by way of Kansas to visit Mrs. Calton's relatives.
So now that you have some background info, here is the diary.
Introduction
