Job Downen ca. 1826 - 1855
At the time I first wrote this page in 2011 I had believed that the Job Downen who married Mary Stockton in 1849 in McDonough County, Illinois, was the same Job Downen who married Ellen Coker in 1856 in Posey County, Indiana.
I have since realized that they are two different people. The reason for the confusion was pretty simple. They were first cousins who were born within a year or so of each other in Posey County. After doing more research on Johnson Downen's line I have determined that he and his whole family moved to McDonough County by 1840 and that is probably where Job Downen died in 1855. I have just constructed another page for the other Job Downen, which can be found here.
Job Downen was born in Posey County, Indiana, USA, ca. 1826. He was the son of Johnson Downen (1805-1855) and Hicksy Bowden (1807-1869).
Job married Mary E. Stockton (1833-1891) on 5 April 1849 in McDonough County, Illinois. They were the parents of three daughters:
Nancy Jane Downen Hills (ca. 1851 - After 1870)
Martha Ellen Downen Pennington (1853-1913)
Rachel Downen Thomas (1855-After 1900
There is only one census record with Job listed by name, the 1850 census in McDonough county which shows him and Mary. His name was rendered as Job Downer. Here's a link to the census image on Family Search Dot Org (registration required but as of 2019 it is completely free to sign up on the site): Census image here
His wife Mary's obituary from 1891 shows a death date of 5 November 1855 for Job. We do know that he had died before the 1860 census so the date is plausible. In 1860 Mary and the three girls were still in McDonough County. The 1860 census didn't have a column for whether someone was married or single, only if they had married within the last year. So it doesn't explicitly show that Mary was widowed, but Job is conspicuous by his absence. It's a pretty safe bet that the death date above is correct, or at least fairly close to correct.
Here's a link to the 1860 census image on Family Search: Census image here
Mary remarried, to Joseph Janes, on 3 October 1861. She had one known child with him, Henry Elmer Janes (1865-1943). I don't know what became of Joseph, whether she divorced him or he passed away, but by 1870 Mary had gone back to Downen as her surname and she was still living in McDonough County with Rachel and Henry (who was listed as being a Downen also, although later on in life he was known by his biological father's surname, Janes).
I just decided I'm going to add a page for Mary Stockton Downen and I will finish up the rest of her story on that page rather than do her the disservice of trying to cram all her information into Job's page. There is more information on their daughters on Mary's page as well (see the link to Mary's page above, in the same paragraph that discusses their marriage).
As for where Job is buried, I can't say for sure, but I have a strong suspicion that his remains rest in the Vail Cemetery in McDonough County. Both of his parents are there as are 8 of his 11 siblings. Out of all 12 children, only one is known to be buried in a different cemetery and that is Thomas, who moved to Pueblo, Colorado, and is buried there. John Downen was last found in Neosho County, Missouri, in 1900 and is most likely buried somewhere in that neighborhood. Job's brother Henry is not accounted for but given that he died in 1862 and was last found in the 1860 census in McDonough County he is also likely buried in the Vail Cemetery.
The Vail Cemetery was inventoried in 1975 and was in pretty bad shape then, a lot of the markers were down (although supposedly readable) and it is very likely that some of the markers were lost, buried, vandalized or destroyed by mother nature.
Other Links:
Job Downen page on Family Search Dot Org
Job Downen page on Genealogy Locator System database
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