Obituary of Philip LeMaster, Muncie Star Press, May 15, 1915

Located the obituary of my paternal great-great granduncle, Phillip LeMaster, in the Muncie Star Press.  Philip was the son of the Rev. Luman Walker and Nancy (Young) LeMasters, and the older brother of my ancestor, Luman Walker LeMaster Jr.

Muncie Star Press
Muncie, Indiana
May 15, 1915, page 3

PIONEER DEAD

Philip LeMaster, a former resident of Madison township died at midnight Thursday after a lingering illness of kidney trouble.  Mr. LeMaster was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Newton LeMaster and was born in Madison township eighty years ago.  He is survived by his wife and an adopted daughter, Mrs. Bessie Henry.  The funeral services will be held Monday.  His nephew, Sheriff J.W.M. Cunningham, his brother, Walker LeMaster and two sisters, Mrs. John Petry and Mrs. William Wilson all of Greene township, will attend the funeral service.  Mr. Walker LeMaster had been at the beside of his brother and came home Thursday afternoon.

A couple of interesting things stand out in the obituary.  Besides the typographical error of his parents names - he was not the son of Newton LeMaster but the son of Luman Walker LeMaster - there is also the fact that the obituary mentions that his daughter, Mrs. Bessie Henry, was adopted.  Prior to this obituary, I knew that he had a daughter, but was not aware that she was adopted and had assumed that she was a biological daughter.  This gives me some other records to try and research to find out more about this adoption.

Phillip died in Spencerville, Allen County, Ohio though the obituary doesn't mention that.  It does allude to the fact that my ancestor, his brother Luman Walker, was at his bedside during the final days.

I also located a follow-up article in another Muncie area newspaper regarding his funeral:

Muncie Evening Press
Muncie, Indiana
May 19, 1915, page 2

John W.M. Cunningham, Mr. and Mrs. Walker LeMaster, Mr. and Mrs. John Petry and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Myron, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur LeMaster, Mrs. William Wilson, Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Jordan, all of this county, have returned home from Spencerville, Ohio, where they attended the funeral services of the late Philip LeMaster.

Philip was a Methodist minister and had pastored churches in Logan and Allen counties, Ohio.  He was married to Elizabeth C. Hoover in 1870 in Allen County, Ohio.  He is buried in the Lima cemetery.

Penisten sketches of Pike County, Ohio

The following sketches about PENISTEN men in the Pike County, Ohio are were found in the book "History of lower Scioto Valley, Ohio..." by Andrew Roy, 1884, Chicago, Inter-state Pub. Co., page 769


George Penisten


George Penisten, Sr., was born in the State of New Jersey, and while still in his youth removed to Kentucky.  From there he emigrated to Ohio about the year 1797 and settled on what was then known as "Bullskin" near Cincinnati.  He afterward located in the present territory of Pike County (then a part of Ross County) where he died about the year 1847, at the age of 79 years, nine months, one day.  He reared a family of ten children; five boys and five girls, all of whom lived to rear families of their own.  George Penisten, Jr., the only surviving son of George Penisten, Sr., was born in 1804.  In 1833 he married Vienna Murphy.  They reared a family of eight children, five boys and three girls, all of whom are now dead except three.  Isaac C., the second son, died while a member of the Ohio Legislature.  He served two terms as Auditor of Pike County.  George Penisten lived all his life in Pike County with the exception of five years when he resided in Highland County, where he married his second wife, Rebecca Rains, who is still living.  Mr. Penisten filled many local offices and served in the militia five years as First Lieutenant.


Lewis Penisten 


Lewis Penisten, also a son of George, Sr., was born in 1809, in what is now Pike County; lived all his life in said county.  He was the father of twelve children, eight boys and four girls, nine of whom are now living, all in the West except Uriah.


Uriah Penisten


Uriah Penisten, third son of Lewis and Elizabeth (Boyles) Penisten, was born in Benton Township, Pike Co., Ohio, Jan. 18, 1836.  His father was also born in Pike County about the year 1809, and after living out a lifetime of usefulness died at fifty-two years of age.  His widow still survives him.  Our subject assisted his father on the farm until attaining his majority.  The two years following he engaged with his cousin at farming.  At the close of the first year he married Elizabeth Henry, by whom he had three children, two daughters and one son - Amanda, William Henry and Agnes Alwilda.  Since the year 1877 he has been engaged in the mercantile business.  He located in Waverly in the fall of 1881 where he operates a general store and is also proprietor of the hotel known as the Penisten House, located on Market street.  Mr. Penisten comes of pioneer stock and is one of the substantial and enterprising business men of Waverly.  He is a member of the Idaho Lodge, No. 620, I.O.O.F.; was also one of the charter members.


On page 855:


George Wesley Pennisten


George Wesley Pennisten, junior member of the firm of Humphreys, Pennisten & Co., dealers in dry-goods, groceries and general merchandise, Brington, was born April 2, 1848, in Pike County.  He lived on a farm till seventeen years of age, and was educated at the common schools, after which he taught school during the winter seasons and farmed in the summer season for a number of years.  He was elected Assessor of Sunfish Township when twenty-one years old and served three years.  He was Township Clerk one year, and served as a member of the Board of Education of Pebble Township, and also School Director in Sub-district No. 9.  He also served as County School Examiner from 1872 till 1875, and was appointed to that position in the spring of 1883.  He has been Treasurer of Mifflin Township since 1879, and is serving his second year as member of the Board of Education of this Township.  He was Assistant Postmaster at Idaho, Pike County, two years, and in November, 1880, was appointed Postmaster of Brington.  In 1875 he engaged in his present mercantile business, with his father-in-law, under the firm name of Humphreys & Pennisten.  He was married Feb. 21, 1875, to Calverna M., daughter of John and Elizabeth A. (Mustard) Humphreys, of Brington.  They have five children - Clarence E., John W., Charles R., F. Grace, and Leroy H.  Mrs. Pennisten belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church.  Our subject's father, William Pennisten, was born in Pike County and was married to Mary Ann E. Anderson, a native of Virginia.


On page 869:


George Penisten, Jr.


George Penisten, Jr., was born in Pike County, June 8, 1825, a son of Joseph and Jerusha (Lunbeck) Penisten, his father a native of Kentucky and his mother of Ohio.  His mother died July 17, 1830, aged thirty years, leaving six children.  His father afterward married Sarah Ann Hill, by whom he had nine children.  He was magistrate for thirty years, and an officer in the State militia for many years.  He died May 2, 1866, at the age of seventy years, six months, twenty seven days.  George Penisten was married March 26, 1846, to Amanda Melvina Cawgill, a native of Virginia, who was born Feb. 10, 1827.  They have had ten children - Mary J., born Jan. 2, 1847; Nancy J. (deceased), born Feb. 11, 1849; Juliett (deceased), born Oct. 4, 1851; Ann Eliza., born March 25, 1854; William A., born Nov. 2, 1856; Daniel (deceased), born March 11, 1859; Harriet E., born March 30, 1860; Georgiana, born June 1, 1863; Flora Gale, born Sept. 11, 1866, and Virginia Maie, born April 28, 1869.


Each of these sketches will definitely give me more information to research and try to tie all of these various PENISTEN lines together.  Particularly the first three sketches appear closely related to the lines that came to Madison County, Indiana.