John Martin Downen 1836 - 1922
John Martin Downen was born in September 1836 in Posey County, Indiana, the son of Job Downen (1809-1862) and Susannah Annis Martin (ca. 1813-ca. 1843).
Job married Mary Russell (1841-1932) in Sullivan County, Missouri on 4 February 1861. They had the following children:
Isadora Downen (1860-1926)
Charles Downen (1864-After 1880)
Job Downen (1865-1949)
William Downen (1867-1943)
Sarah Downen (1871-After 1880)
John Downen (1875-After 1930)
Anna Downen (1878-1963)
The first census that John showed up by name in was in 1850 in Marrs Township, Posey County. By then his mother had died but he was living with his father Job and stepmother Margaret, along with his brothers Johnson and Joel and his half-brothers James and Samuel. (census image here)
During the 1850s the entire family picked up and moved west to Sullivan County, where they were found in the 1860 census. The rest of John's half-siblings showed up in this census with the exception of Jobe, who hadn't been born yet. (census image here)
John married Mary Russell in 1861 so it is entirely possible that he had his own household before his father died in September 1862. He registered for the Union Army civil war draft on 1 July 1863 and listed his address as Sullivan County, not surprisingly.
Tommy Temple of Marshall County, Kansas has been researching John and has found evidence that he served in the Missouri Militia which was an auxiliary of the Union Army during the Civil War. This would not be surprising as his brother Joel has a grave marker listing service with Company G of the Second Missouri State Militia Cavalry. I hope more information may come to light on John's civil war service.
I was initially unable to find John and his family in the 1870 census but when I started tweaking my search they finally came up. Researchers who have spent a lot of time working on the Downen lines have discovered that the census records often record them as Downey or Downing and for some reason Ancestry.com's searches don't seem to find those when looking for Downen. I just now submitted Downen as an alternate surname for that census record on Ancestry so that may be helpful to anyone else researching the family. In any event, John, Mary and all the kids up through William show up here, still in Sullivan County. (census image here)
The 1880 census found the family still in Sullivan County. I don't know where Isadora was, she doesn't show up but she didn't marry Frank Cox until 1882. I checked her step-grandmother's household just in case (Margaret Outlaw Downen was still living in Sullivan County as well, probably not too far from John and Mary's family) but didn't find her there. I suspect Isadora will turn up sooner or later in some census record from that year. In any event, John and Mary and the rest of the children show up in this census. (census image here)
Between 1880 and 1900 the family apparently moved to Adair County, Missouri, which is just east of Sullivan County. Of the children, only William and John Junior still show up at home. I know the whereabouts of Isadora (Benton County, Missouri), Job (probably Linn County, Missouri) and Anna (not married to George Ray yet as that would happen in 1901 but living with a Cory family in Adair County listed as a servant) at this time but Charles and Sarah have gone missing. Sarah easily could have gotten married and I just haven't found her married name yet, but I would have thought Charles would show up somewhere else if he were still alive. (census image here)
I haven't found them in the 1910 census but John and Mary showed up in the 1915 Kansas State census in Marshall County, Kansas, along with their 3 year old grandson Ray (John Jr's son). John Jr. was apparently briefly married to a woman named Dora and Ray seems to have been a result of such. The 1920 census shows them all still in Marshall County, oddly enough, William and John Jr. are still there as is grandson Ray. By this time William was 53 and John Jr. 45, no idea if they were taking care of their parents or their parents were taking care of them. (census image here)
John died on 23 February 1922 and is buried in the Marysville Cemetery in Marysville, Marshall County. Mary died 10 years later and their son William died 11 years after her, all three have unmarked burial spaces. As of September 2012 Tommy Temple is working on getting the paperwork to have a marker put on John's burial space courtesy of the government since we believe John is a Civil War veteran and he should be eligible for a government provided marker.
Other Links
John Martin Downen page at Find A Grave
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