Amy Johnson Crow of No Story Too Small issued the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge. Each week focus on one ancestor and post something about him or her.
Me - My Mom - Ruby Alberta Belknap - Bessie Beatrice Landers - James Robert Landers - John William Landers
My third great grandfather John William Landers probably had a great impact on his granddaughter, Bessie Landers and her brother, Fred and sister, Ruby. In the 1900 census, John and his wife Mary have their three grandchildren living with them on a farm in Mercer County, Illinois. John is stated as being 70 and Mary as 67. They have had eight children of their own, four of them alive in 1900. John is listed as a farmer and his grandson, Fred, is listed as a farm laborer. He owns the farm, but it's mortgaged. The children's father James R. Landers is living in a house in Aledo, Mercer, Illinois with his 2nd wife and their four children.
To find out a little more about John W. Landers, there is a little biography in the book "The History of Mercer County" published in 1882.
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| John W. Landers |
I wasn't sure what a greenbacker was. But after I read a couple of websites, I learned that it was a political party active between 1874 and 1889. It was named after the green currency used during the civil war. The party had some modern views about income tax, eight hour work days, and women rights to vote. Not sure what it means that he was religiously a liberal.
John W. Landers and Mary Humbert's marriage can be found on the website FamilySearch. On March 21, 1853 they were issued a marriage license in Fountain County, Indiana. They were married three days later on March 24 by Thomas Lyons J.P. They were married for 56 years.
John died in Abingdon, Mercer, Illinois on April 22, 1909. He's buried in the Keithsburg Greenmound Cemetery in Keithsburg, Mercer, Illinois. His wife Mary lives till 1924 and buried beside him.
More about the Landers family:
52 Ancestors - Bessie Beatrice Landers (Belknap) his granddaughter
Sources:
