William Utley 1829-1911
William Utley was born in October 1829 in Posey County, Indiana, USA, the son of Frederick Utley (1799-1860) and Margaret Downen (1800-1844).
He married Christena Jane Bell on 15 November 1855 in Posey County. The names of the following children are known, although according to the 1900 census there were additional children born whose names are not known:
John Henry Utley (1857-1935)
George E. Utley (1858-1928)
Nolia B. Utley (1861-1930)
Mary Utley (1862-After 1880)
James Utley (1866-After 1870)
William first showed up in the 1850 census in Robinson Township of Posey County, in his father Frederick's household. (census image here)
After his marriage to Christena Bell the couple apparently moved to McDonough County, Illinois, which is where they appeared in the 1860 census along with their two oldest sons. (census image here)
By 1870 the family was back in Posey County, this time in Black Township. All of the children whose names are known to us show up in this census. (census image here)
For some reason the family does not show up in the 1880 census, but marriage records and the census records the children show up in give us some clue what was going on. John Henry married Julia (or Anna) Downen) in 1877 and the couple were living in Marrs Township of Posey County at the time of the 1880 census. George married Lillie Pickles in 1881 and the two of them later moved to Gallatin County, Illinois. Nolia married William M. Downen in 1880. William was a second cousin once removed of the Julia whom John Henry married. Also in 1880, Mary married Bush Downen, who was also a second cousin once removed of Julia Downen.
In spite of all the marriages, which would have normally been good news, not everything turned out peachy-keen. I don't know the exact chronology of events, but I have an idea of when things happened. John's wife Julia must have died between 1880 and 1883 after having a daughter with John, and he ended up marrying her sister Elizabeth in 1884. Fortunately their marriage was a long one (at least 51 years), and hopefully, a happy one too. Mary had a daughter with Bush Downen and then she, too, dropped out of sight much like Julia Downen did, I assume she must have died between the end of 1880 (when their daughter Stella was born) and the end of 1882, when Bush married Cornelia Buchanan. If Mary died in childbirth, obviously, that would pin the date.
William and Christena also ended up moving to Gallatin County, where they showed up in the 1900 census. Their granddaughter Stella also showed up in the census records, which was a crucial piece of information I needed to prove that Mary Utley was Bush Downen's first wife, which no one else on Ancestry seems to have picked up on. In addition to the presence of Stella, there is a mystery in the form of one Cora Utley, born in December 1882 in Illinois. She is listed as a daughter on the census, but there is a 16 year gap between her birth and their next youngest child. It is, of course, possible that she is their daughter, but I can't shake the niggling feeling that she is actually a granddaughter that I haven't been able to place yet. But she is very clearly listed on the census as a 'daughter' whereas Stella is listed just as clearly as a 'granddaughter'. If Cora were in fact a granddaughter who been adopted by the couple I don't know if they would make that distinction or not. (census image here)
One other interesting thing about the 1900 census was the answer to a question asked of Christena; how many children she had given birth to and how many were still alive. The answer was 11 and 4. That tells us that she and William had several more children who were either stillborn or died in infancy.
In 1910 William and Christena were still in Omaha Township of Gallatin County, but all the children and grandchildren were gone. Gone, but not necessarily too far away, since I know John and his family were also living in Omaha Township. George and Lillie had been living in Omaha Township also but by 1910 they had moved to Oklahoma. Nolia and William Downen were living not too far away in Asbury Township of Gallatin County, but Stella had married William Blackard and moved to Arkansas. (census image here)
William died in 1911 and is buried in Palestine #1 Cemetery in Gallatin County. Christena died in 1924 and is buried next to him.
Other Links
William Utley page at Find A Grave
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