Edward Herndon Piper and his descendants, part 1

Mirinda’s Elusive Aunt Ann

In her Memoirs, my great-great grandmother Mirinda Piper Andrews remembered that in 1854, “Father’s brother’s widow, Mrs. Ann Piper from South Bend, Indiana, spent a few days with us. I never saw her but that one time, her husband had been dead some years, his name was Edward Piper.” I got to wondering about that family, so I started looking things up. Here is what I found about Edward and Ann and their family.

Edward Herndon Piper was an older brother of my ancestor Beverly Bradley Piper. Edward was said by family records to have been born in Russelville, Logan County, Kentucky in 1793, but I found no official records to corroborate that information. The Findagrave record says April 4, 1792, but April 4 was also his death date, and maybe the creator of the Findagrave memorial decided he had died on his birthday. The photograph of his gravestone, which looks like an original stone, shows that he died April 4, 1835 and was 43 years old.

I think Edward probably served in the United States military during the War of 1812. In the Records of Men Enlisted in the U.S. Army Prior to the Peace Establishment, May 17, 1815, number 759 is Edward Piper, a private in the Infantry Volunteers under Capt. Nathan Stanley. Nothing was entered in the spaces for physical description, age, birthplace, or occupation, but his enlistment date is January 1, 1813 and the term is one year. The notes say that he was present for the roll call on April 3, 1813, but then “Receipt Roll reports him dead. Not borne on rolls for May and June 1813. Suspension case.” I’m not sure what this means, whether this is not our Edward after all, or whether it is and our Edward deserted.

Surely another Edward Piper was recorded in 1815 as having been given a U.S. War Bounty Land Warrant, Vol 1, page 503; Section NW 27, Township 2N, Range 10E, Warrant 24447. This could have been our Edward; at least we do know that our Edward survived the War of 1812. A veteran soldier was eligible for a War Bounty Land Warrant only if he had served five years. Thus I think our Edward did serve his five years and probably was not the one who went missing from Capt. Stanley’s company. He would have been granted 160 acres in his choice of Missouri, Louisiana Territory (present-day Arkansas), or Illinois. We know that our Edward lived in Illinois, so this Warrant would have been for Illinois if this is our Edward.

In 1816, we find our Edward H Piper buying 160 acres of land in Illinois. He might have sold his original warrant in order to buy this piece, or maybe he had the money to buy this piece to add to his original warrant. Here’s the data from Ancestry.com:

Name: Edward H Piper
Section: SE
Price per Acre: 2.00
Total Price: 320.00
Date: 30 Nov 1816
Volume: 086
Page: 170
Type: FD
Sect: 24
Township: 05S
Range: 09E
Meridian: 3
Acres: 160.00
Corr-Tag: 0
ID: 157949
Reside: 097

With land of his own, Edward could afford to go courting. He fell in love with Anna Blackburn, a young lady who had reputedly been born in Kentucky in 1798 or 1799, who was then probably living in western Indiana, not far from Edward. They were supposed to have been married in March 1820 in Indiana, but I cannot find any official record to corroborate this date and place.

Ann Blackburn Piper somehow eluded most record-making places in her life. There is nothing about her birth or her parents. No marriage record exists. No death record exists. The information we have about her comes from family traditions, supplemented by the meager amount I found.

In 1820, the Census taker found Edward and his wife living in Crawford County, Illinois. Edward was then about 28 and Ann 21. Accordingly, the columns for “Of 25 and under 45 years” and “Of 16 and under 25 years” are marked for their respective names. There’s also a female under age 10 living with them; since Edward and Ann were married on March 28th of that year, she probably was not a daughter (and indeed, no record exists of an eldest child being a daughter). She was probably a younger sister or something of one of them.

In 1823, Edward and Ann bought more land. Here is the Ancestry.com record information:

Name: Edward H Piper
Issue Date: 15 Sep 1823
Place: Crawford, Illinois, USA
Meridian: 2nd PM
Township: 007n
Range: 011W
Aliquots: NE¼
Section: 27 Accession Number: CV-0080-471
Document Number: 1414

In 1830, the Census taker found them in the same place. They appeared to have 4 little boys, two between 5 and 10, and two under 5, and one little girl under 5. This does not agree with other records, which show that they should have had just three boys and a girl at that time. Maybe the woman who lives with them, whose age is just younger than Ann, is the mother of the stray boy. Otherwise, maybe Ann and Edward had another son who died young and is otherwise unrecorded.

About this same time, Edward made a further purchase of government land. This time he bought 80 acres for $1.25 per acre. This land was in Section 35, Township 07N, in Section E2SE of the state. It is on the 2 Meridian, 11W Range.

Name: Edward H Piper
Section: E2SE
Price per Acre: 1.25
Total Price: 100.00
Date: 29 Apr 1830
Volume: 291
Page: 036
Type: FD
Sect: 35
Township: 07N
Range: 11W
Meridian: 2
Acres: 80.00
Corr-Tag: 0
ID: 133122
Reside: 017

Edward Herndon Piper died five years later, on April 4, 1835, and his grave in Crawford County, Illinois is memorialized on Findagrave and BillionGraves. I don’t know what killed him at the young age of about 43, but it could have been an accident, any of the numerous infectious diseases, an inherited problem like heart disease, or anything. All I know is that Ann was left in something of a predicament, with a farm and seven children under the age of 13, and one on the way who would be born the next September.

Ann may have had at least one brother who helped her out. Certainly by 1840 when the Census taker found her, Ann had moved with the children to LaPorte county, Indiana, where two residences away lived Alexander Blackburn and his young family. With Ann were children whose ages correspond to her sons William, John B, Edward H Jr., and James, and her daughters Ann Eliza and Margaret. Only her eldest son, Orlando, is not with her. At the age of 18 he was probably working elsewhere to support himself, and perhaps (if he were frugal and lucky enough to be making enough,) sending money home to help out.

Ann and Edward’s children were:

• Orlando Ficklin Piper, born 12 February 1822, but this conflicts with the next birthday.
• William Chauncey Piper, born 12 March 1822, which clearly doesn’t work. I can’t figure out which one is wrong, yet.
• Ann Eliza Piper, born 15 October 1824.
• John B Piper, born 4 November 1827.
• Edward Herndon Piper (Jr), born 16 February 1831.
• James A Piper, born 1 March 1833.
• Margaret Jane Piper, born 28 August 1834.
• Sarah Elizabeth Piper, born 29 September 1835.

All the children were born in the township of Palestine, Crawford County, Illinois.

I cannot find Ann in 1850, but in 1854 we know from Mirinda’s account that her Aunt Ann came to visit them from South Bend, Indiana (South Bend is next door to LaPorte County). In 1860 Ann was living with Alex Blackburn, surely her brother, and what remained of those at home for his family. Her family were all settled elsewhere. This was in Chalmers Township, McDonough County, Illinois, on the west side of the state. I wonder, though, given that Aunt Ann was said to be living in Indiana in 1854 and also to have died in the same place in 1867, whether or not she was on an extended visit to her brother in 1860 and thus was counted with his family in the census.

Ann Blackburn Piper was said to have died 7 May 1867 in LaPorte, Indiana. I cannot find a record of her grave.

I will post more on each of their children over the next few days.