This section details the ancestry of Sarah Ann KESTER, wife of David John MILLER. Information in this book is largely derived from research on RootsWeb WorldConnect and has therefore not been personally verified.
This section details the ancestry of Sarah Ann KESTER, wife of David John MILLER. Information in this book is largely derived from research on RootsWeb WorldConnect and has therefore not been personally verified.
Among Sarah Ann KESTER's ancestors are:
| 11. | John Bonham KESTER, Sr. | 24 Mar 1791 | 1 Jan 1840 | (48) |
By 1791, the KESTERs moved from Hunterdon County, New Jersey to Nelson County in central Kentucky, south of Louisville. Later they moved to Preble County in southwest Ohio, southwest of Dayton.
Paul KESTER died on 10 April 1814 in Preble County, Ohio. He was 53 or 54 years old.
Ruhama (BONHAM) KESTER died on 20 October 1846 in Pimento, Vigo County, Indiana, likely the home of one of her grandchildren who did not contine west to Iowa. She was 81 years old. Ruhama is buried at the Second Prarie Creek Baptist Cemetery in Linton Township, Vigo County.
| 11A. | George W. KESTER | 9 Feb 1817 | 11 Feb 1818 | (1) |
| 11B. | Sarah Ann KESTER | 18 Mar 1819 | 29 Jun 1902 | (83) |
| 11C. | Mary KESTER | 28 Oct 1820 | 23 Mar 1841 | (20) |
| 11D. | James Layson KESTER | 12 Apr 1822 | 23 Dec 1890 | (68) |
| 11E. | Cynthia Ann KESTER | 3 Oct 1823 | 10 Sep 1860 | (36) |
| 11F. | Elizabeth Ann KESTER | 20 Feb 1826 | 27 Mar 1854 | (28) |
| 11G. | Joseph KESTER | 19 Jan 1828 | 13 Jul 1828 | (5 mos.) |
| 11H. | John Bonham KESTER, Jr. | 19 Sep 1829 | 17 Jul 1921 | (91) |
| 11I. | William KESTER | 19 Aug 1831 | 27 Dec 1894 | (63) |
| 11J. | Naomi KESTER | 7 Sep 1833 | 18 Mar 1885 | (51) |
| 11K. | Eliza Jane KESTER | 17 Feb 1836 | 20 Dec 1888 | (52) |
| 11L. | Francis Marion KESTER | 1 Jul 1838 | 8 Mar 1920 | (81) |
The KESTERs were likely married in either Preble County, Ohio, after John's father died, or in Vigo County in eastern Indiana. It was probably in Pimento, south of Terre Haute in Vigo County, that the KESTERs started their large family and stayed there into 1822. By 1823 they moved a little further north to the area of Crawfordsville, Montgomery County.
During the Black Hawk War of 1831-1832, John enlisted in Vermilion County, Illinois as a private in Captain E. ASTON's Illinois Militia under (Colonel Isaac R.) MOORES' regiment.
Vermilion County, Illinois is located due west from Montgomery County, Indiana, just across the Illinois line. As such I suspect this does not necessarily imply that the KESTER family resided in Illinois during this time, rather that John likely crossed to Illinois to serve in the war leaving his family in Indiana.The following notes on the Black Hawk War give a brief overview of the campaign as well as some background that notes figures associated with John KESTER's company that predate the 1831-1832 hostilities, namely MOORE and HUBBARD. John's participation in this earlier activity is doubtful but until I find concrete details of the company's actions in the actual campaign these are the only insights I have to date on the Vermillion battalion's origin and actions.
In the run-up to the war, in July 1827 settlers at Fort Dearborn, near Chicago, were tipped by friendly Indians of massacre brewing so the U.S. government ordered the formation of troops under Brevet Brigadier General Henry ATKINSON and Illinois Governor Ninian EDWARDS called out the state militia to march to Galena, in the northwest corner of Illinois along the Mississippi River.
Colonel Gurdon HUBBARD was quickly dispatched from Fort Dearborn to Danville, Vermilion County to gather troops, forming the "Vermilion County Battalion" at Butler's Point (near Danville). The troops were released for the night to prepare five days of rations, and then set out on Sunday (July 15) for the Vermilion River and northward.
Upon reaching Joliet, southwest on the approach to Chicago, Colonel MOORES began building a fortification only to be recalled down river to General ATKINSON's headquarters at Ottawa to be relieved as the threat apparently had passed with only one white man killed in an ambush.
In 1829, the U.S. government ordered two tribes to vacate villages in Illinois and resettle west of the Mississippi River citing the Treaty of 1804.
In 1831, Black Hawk, a Sauk chief, protested and tried to return to Sauk lands at Rock Island on the east side of the Mississippi. He raised a force of 1,000 Indians and crossed the Mississippi on April 6, 1832. In response, five brigades were raised in Illinois and began pursuit of Black Hawk's force. This culminated in the first skirmish, the Battle of Stillman's Run, on May 14, when after a small ambush U.S. forces retreated in panic mistaking a band of 40 Indians for a much larger force. White blood having been spilled, this opened an all-out pursuit of Black Hawk which ended with Black Hawk's surrender at the Bad Axe River in Wisconsin.
The Sac and Fox Indians, Algonquin-speaking tribes, are believed to have originated near the Saint-Lawrence Seaway in Canda and later moved to Saginaw Bay, Michigan and Green Bay, Wisconsin under pressure of the White Man and the Iroquois in the mid-17th century. There the Sauk and Fox began to intermarry and the tribes joined. In the mid-18th century they moved again to Saukenuk (modern day Rock Island, Illinois) at the convergence of the Rock and Mississippi rivers. The U.S. government forced them out of Saukenuk into a 40-miles square reservation at the forks of the Iowa River -- not far from Greene as described above. However in 1832 Black Hawk, Keokuk's war-prone rival, made an unsuccessful attempt to retake Saukenuk, his birth place. This marked the last Native American fight for homelands east of the Mississippi. The Sac & Fox Nation later moved to Kansas and is now based in Stroud, Oklahoma, some 2,000 miles from their homeland.
The KESTERs stayed on in Montgomery County into 1836 before moving further west to Iowa, settling in Cedar Bluff, Cedar County, just south of Cedar Rapids, by 1838.
Not long after the move to Cedar Bluff, John Bonham KESTER, Sr. died there on 1 January 1840. He was only 48 years old. John is buried at the Gunsolus (Evergreen) Cemetery, in Cedar County.
Margaret lived on in Cedar County through at least the 1850 census where she was enumerated with her five youngest children and next door to her daughter, Elizabeth.
Margaret (LAYSON) KESTER died in Ivanhoe, (Linn or Montgomery County), Iowa on 17 July 1867. She was 70 years old.
About 1860, the KESTER children, beginning with James, began migrating westward to California. First James, and later John Jr., moved to Napa County. Then they relocated south to San Luis Obispo County about 1867 (about the time of Margaret's death) where many of the remaining children settled.
11B. Sarah Ann KESTER, the eldest daughter of John Bonham KESTER, Sr. and Margaret LAYSON, was born on 18 March 1819 in Vigo County, Indiana. She married David John MILLER in 1840 in Cedar County, Iowa. They had six children:
| 11B1. | Finetta A. MILLER | 23 Feb 1841 | 9 Apr 1908 | (67) |
| 11B2. | Isaac Dennis MILLER | 8 Dec 1843 | 25 May 1896 | (52) |
| 11B3. | Margaret Elizabeth MILLER | 15 Sep 1854 | 3 Apr 1938 | (83) |
| 11B4. | John Valentine MILLER | 24 Sep 1856 | 13 Apr 1940 | (83) |
| 11B5. | Mary Jane MILLER | 4 Jan 1859 | 3 Jul 1940 | (81) |
| 11B6. | Sarah Ellen MILLER | 21 Mar 1861 | 6 Nov 1932 | (71) |
David John MILLER died in 1892 in Table Rock, near Sam's Valley, Jackson County in southwest Oregon, just north of Medford. He was 74 years old.
Sarah Ann (KESTER) MILLER died 10 years later on 29 June 1902 in San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo County, California where some of her grandchildren lived. She was 83 years old.
See more under David John MILLER
| 11C1. | Malinda DENNIS | 10 Apr 1840 | Mar 1880 | (39) |
The DENNIS family remained in Cedar County where Mary died two brief years later on March 23, 1841 in Cedar Bluff. She was only 20 years old.
Isaac went on to remarry to Mary's younger sister, Elizabeth who also died only a few years after their wedding. Isaac died 18 June 1886 at the age of 66.
It appears that my 3x-great grandfather and Mary's nephew, Isaac Dennis MILLER, was named after her husband in 1843.
| 11DA. | John B. KESTER | 30 Aug 1846 | 18 Apr 1847 | (7 mos.) |
| 11DB. | James G. KESTER | 23 Mar 1848 | 25 Dec 1919 | (71) |
| 11DC. | Clorinda KESTER | 1 Jan 1850 | After 1905 | (>55) |
| 11DD. | Jasper Frank Robert KESTER | 29 Nov 1852 | 15 Feb 1929 | (76) |
| 11DE. | Lydia A. KESTER | 28 Sep 1854 | 9 Jan 1940 | (85) |
| 11DF. | Newton Nethanial KESTER | 18 Mar 1857 | Mar 1904 | (47) |
| 11DG. | Ruth KESTER | 25 Dec 1859 | 18 Feb 1864 | (4) |
| 11DH. | William B. KESTER | 23 Aug 1862 | 19 Feb 1866 | (3) |
| 11DI. | Emma Jane "Ella" KESTER | 25 Dec 1864 | ||
| 11DJ. | Charles Henry KESTER | 23 Jun 1867 | 28 Apr 1937 | (69) |
| 11DK. | Elva Elisabeth KESTER | 17 Aug 1869 | 13 Apr 1873 | (3) |
| 11DL. | Lillie M. KESTER | 2 Mar 1873 |
The first five children were born in Iowa, Ruth, the fifth, born in Kansas, likely in Riley County as per the 1860 census, and then the family moved west to Napa County, California about 1860, perhaps the first of his many siblings to move to California. The next three children may have been born there before the family moved south to San Luis Obispo County in 1867. There they lived in Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo, and Los Osos.
James Layson KESTER died on 23 December 1890 in Los Osos, San Luis Obispo County, California. He was 68 years old. His wife, Ruth Ann/Eddy (MORSE) KESTER died six years later on 25 August 1896 in San Luis Obispo.
Ruth Ann MORSE, the daughter of Nathaniel Brown MORSE, was also the eldest sister of Stephen E. MORSE who married into another allied family of our KESTER-MILLER family, the ANDREWS family.
| 11E1. | Horace William THOMPSON | 28 Dec 1849 | ||
| 11E2. | John Thomas THOMPSON | May 1852 | (<1860) | (<8) |
| 11E3. | Lewis Wayman THOMPSON | 25 Jan 1855 | ||
| 11E4. | Adelia Ann THOMPSON | 1 Nov 1857 | (<1860) | (<3) |
Cynthia Ann (KESTER) THOMPSON died on September 14, 1860 in Cedar Bluff, Cedar County, Iowa at the age of 36. She is buried at the Gunsolus (Evergreen) Cemetery, Cass Township, in Cedar County.
Cynthia's widower appears to have remarried twice after Cynthia's death. First to a Harriet A. per the 1870 census of Solon, Cedar Township, Johnson County, Iowa, and later to a Sarah W. per the 1880 census of Cedar Township. The census show he had at least four childrewn with Harriet, another two with Sarah, and gained Sarah's son, George KNIGHT, as a step-son.
Lewis H. THOMPSON, Jr. lived to the age of 59 and died on 6 April 1883. He is also buried at the Gunsolus (Evergreen) Cemetery, Cass Township, in Cedar County.
| 11F1. | Martha Margrete DENNIS | 27 Jun 1849 | 30 May 1892 | (42) |
| 11F2. | Walter William DENNIS | (1851) |
After their marriage, Elizabeth, Isaac, Isaac's daughter from his first marriage (and Elizabeth's niece), and their young daughter are enumerated in the 1850 census of Center Township, Cedar County, Iowa, and next door to Elizabeth's mother and five youngest siblings.
Unfortunately, Elizabeth died only five and a half years into their marriage on March 27, 1854 in Johnson County, Iowa. She was only 28 years old.
After Elizabeth's death, Isaac remarried for a third time to Mary Ann HAYNES on June 23, 1857 in Johnson County, Iowa and had one son:
| -- | John M. DENNIS | (1858) |
Isaac King DENNIS died on June 18, 1886 at the age of 66. He is buried at the FACKLER's Grove Cemetery in Johnson County. Mary Ann (HAYNES) DENNIS died five years later in Johnson County and is also buried at the FACKLER's Grove Cemetery.
It appears that my 3x-great grandfather and Mary and Elizabeth's nephew, Isaac Dennis MILLER, was named after her husband in 1843.
| 11H1. | John Chord KESTER | 7 Jun 1855 | 20 Apr 1932 | (76) |
| 11H2. | Willard Ward KESTER | 6 Feb 1857 | 20 Dec 1927 | (70) |
| 11H3. | Margaret Ann KESTER | 1 Oct 1859 | ||
| 11H4. | Upton Frank KESTER | 22 Sep 1861 | 29 Mar 1947 | (85) |
| 11H5. | Edwin James KESTER | 14 Sep 1866 | 27 Feb 1914 | (47) |
| 11H6. | Charles Decater KESTER | 14 Sep 1871 | 18 Dec 1948 | (77) |
| 11H7. | George KESTER | 20 Dec 1874 | 23 Dec 1875 | (1) |
| 11H8. | Felix KESTER | 6 May 1877 | 27 Aug 1948 | (71) |
The first two children were born in Johnson County, Iowa and about 1859 moved briefly to Collin County, Texas where their third child, Margaret, was born. By the 1860 census they returned Graham Township, Johnson County, Iowa but not long after moved west to California in 1863. By 1866 they had settled in Napa County, as did John's eldest brother James did several years earlier, where Edwin James was born. The family then moved south to San Luis Obispo County by 1871, probably following John's eldest brother again. Here they set down roots in the town of Cayucos.
Sarah Jane (CHORD) KESTER died on 13 January 1881 in Cayucos and was buried at the Cayucos-Morro Bay Cemetery.
John is said to have later served as the San Luis Obispo County Supervisor from 1890 to 1898.
John Bonham KESTER, Jr. lived another 40 years and died on 17 July 1921 in Cayucos at the age of 91. He is also buried at the Cayucos-Morro Bay Cemetery.
| 11I1. | Dulcena Estell KESTER | 4 Apr 1855 | ||
| 11I2. | Homer K. KESTER | 31 Dec 1857 | Bef. 1945 | (<88) |
| 11I3. | Emma KESTER | Apr (1860) | ||
| 11I4. | Eunice Lillian KESTER | 2 Jul 1860 | 25 Nov 1946 | (86) |
| 11I5. | Herbert Harlow KESTER | 15 Jun 1863 |
By the time of Harriet's mother's death in 1879, the KESTERs had moved to Stockton, San Joaquin County, California. By the 1900 census they moved further north to the Pitt River district in Lassen County.
My 3x-great grandparents, William's nephew Isaac MILLER and Harriet's niece Candace ANDREWS were wed in 1868 prior to moving to California.
William KESTER died on 27 December 1894 in California at the age of 63. Harriet (ANDREWS) KESTER died nine years later on 6 October 1913 in Pittville, (Shasta/Lassen County), California. She was 80 years old.
| 11J1. | Chloe M. WORKMAN | 25 October 1854 | 23 Jun 1874 | (19) |
| 11J2. | Jane M. WORKMAN | 6 May 1857 | 15 Nov 1884 | (27) |
| 11J3. | John Frank WORKMAN | 11 Jul 1859 | ||
| 11J4. | Isaac M. WORKMAN | 7 Apr 1864 | 23 Feb 1893 | (28) |
| 11J5. | Electra R. WORKMAN | 14 Feb 1867 | ||
| 11J6. | James E. WORKMAN | 27 Jun 1867 |
Naomi (KESTER) WORKMAN died on 18 March 1885 at the age of 51. Her husband Stephanas lived 16 years longer and died on 17 April 1901 at the age of 72.
| 11K1. | David Wilbert BALDWIN | 5 May 1855 | ||
| 11K2. | Chester BALDWIN | After 1856 | 1868 | (11) |
| 11K3. | Edgar Dighton BALDWIN | 2 Aug 1861 | After 1904 | (>43) |
| 11K4. | Elma Eliza BALDWIN | 12 Oct 1869 | 4 Aug 1929 | (59) |
The BALDWINs live in Iowa into the 1860's and then moved to Scio, Linn County, Oregon by the end of the decade.
David died on 20 February 1871 at the age of about 38. Eliza remarried five years later to Alvin BRIGGS.
Eliza Jane (KESTER BALDWIN) BRIGGS died on 20 December 1888 in Monterey County, California. She was 52 years old.
| 11L1. | Mary Margaret KESTER | 27 Aug 1883 | 13 Sep 1883 | (2 wks) |
| 11L2. | Annie Aquila KESTER | 19 Nov 1884 | ||
| 11L3. | Albert Francis KESTER | 25 May 1886 | ||
| 11L4. | Sarah Ann KESTER | 3 Feb 1888 | ||
| 11L5. | Chester Abot KESTER | 2 Apr 1890 | ||
| 11L6. | Myron Sidney KESTER | 18 Mar 1892 | 20 Oct 1960 | (68) |
| 11L7. | Melissa Elizabeth KESTER | 20 Nov 1894 | ||
| 11L8. | Walter Marion KESTER | 17 May 1902 | ||
| 11L9. | Ruth Myrtle KESTER | 10 Dec 1907 | 26 Nov 1993 | (85) |
Francis Marion KESTER died on 8 March 1920 at the county hospital in San Luis Obispo. He was 81 years old. His widow Mary Ruth (MATTHEWS) KESTER died 15 years later in Atascadero, San Luis Obispo County, California on 31 December 1935. She was 72.
| 11. | Nicholas Hekekiah BONHAM | (1631) | 20 Jul 1684 | (53) |
George BONHAM died in Plymouth on 28 April 1704.
| 111. | Hannah BONHAM | 8 Oct 1659 | ||
| 112. | Mary BONHAM | 4 Oct 1661 | ||
| 113. | Sarah BONHAM | 16 Feb 1662/1663 | ||
| 114. | Elizabeth BONHAM | 1666 | ||
| 115. | Hezekiah BONHAM, Sr. | 6 May 1667 | 1738 | (71) |
| 116. | Samuel BONHAM | 7 Sep 1672 | ||
| 117. | Jane BONHAM | 29 Jan 1673/74 | ||
| 118. | Priscilla BONHAM | 1 Nov 1677 |
The BONHAM family apparently moved to Piscataway, Middlesex County, New Jersey in the 1660's.
Nicholas BONHAM died on 20 July 1684 in Piscataway, Middlesex County, New Jersey at around the age of 53 years. His widow, Hannah (FULLER) BONHAM, died there two years later on 23 August 1686. She was about 48 years old.
115. Hezekiah BONHAM, Sr. was born on 6 May 1667 in Piscataway, Middlesex County, New Jersey. He married Mary BISHOP around 1695 and fathered at least one son. Soon after Mary died and Hezekiah remarried to Ann HUNT and fathered another son. Both sons were born in Maidenhead (now Lawrenceville) in modern-day Mercer County, New Jersey, just north of Trenton:
| 1151. | Hezekiah BONHAM, Jr. | (1699) | ||
| 1152. | Amariah BONHAM | (1709) | 1803 | (94) |
| 11521. | Christine BONHAM | (1733) | (1821) | (88) |
| 11522. | Rebecca BONHAM | (1735) | ||
| 11523. | Sarah BONHAM | (1737) | ||
| 11524. | Jeriah BONHAM | (1741) | ||
| 11525. | Jacob BONHAM | (1743) | 9 Jun 1782 | (39) |
Amariah BONHAM later remarried to Elizabeth DRAKE about 1736. They moved across the Pennsylvania border into Washington County where he died around 1803. He was about 94 years old.
| 115251. | Ruhama BONHAM | (1764) | 20 Oct 1846 | (82) |
| 115252. | Mary BONHAM | (1767) | ||
| 115253. | Sarah BONHAM | (1769) | ||
| 115254. | Landon BONHAM | (1772) | ||
| 115255. | John BONHAM | (1772) | ||
| 115256. | Amariah BONHAM | 21 Apr 1773 | 10 Jul 1820 | (47) |
| 115257. | Patience BONHAM | (1777) |
The BONHAM family moved to Bourbon County, Kentucky, near Lexington, by the early 1770's and later moved north into Ohio at Sandusky.
Sandusky may refer to Sandusky Township in Crawford County, Sandusky in Erie County, or Sandusky County.
Jacob BONHAM died in Sandusky on 9 June 1782. He was about 39 years old. His widow Mary died before 1779.
