Parents Deny Their Son Shot the Sheriff

Located some more information in newspaper clippings about my black sheep cousin, Harry Pierpont, and his family.  Seems the family felt like the police were harassing them because of their son's involvement with John Dillinger.  They also claimed that he didn't murder the sheriff.

His parents were Joseph Gilbert and Lena (Orcutt) Pierpont.  Lena was related to me on the Metzner side of the family.  Will have to see if I can find out anything else about their tavern plans, I believe at one point they had a restaurant near Lakeville as well.

Hammond Times, Hammond, Indiana
July 13, 1934, page 14

PIERPONTS SEEK COURT ORDER

Goshen, Ind. July 13 (U.P.) - A court order to restrain detectives from following them will be sought by Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert Pierpont, parents of Harry Pierpont, Dillinger gang lieutenant.

Their intention was announced upon their arrival here to open a beer tavern two miles west of Goshen.

Both expressed bitterness over their inability to escape constant surveillance.

They denied that their son is guilty of slaying Sheriff Jesse Sarber, of Lima, O., in delivering John Dillinger from jail there last October, and claimed they neither was acquainted with the bandit leader.

They said Pierpont was at home the night Sarber was killed.  He is under death sentence in the Ohio state prison in connection with the murder.

Military Monday : Nathaniel Durbin Chew, World War II Draft Registration, 1942

Working my way through the hints in the Ancestry database for World War II Draft Registrations, 1942 and located this registration in Kent County, Michigan for Nathaniel Durbin Chew, my paternal first cousin three times removed.

Ancestry.com. U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.United States, Selective Service System. Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration. Records of the Selective Service System, Record Group Number 147. National Archives and Records Administration.

Before locating this record, I didn't have much information on Nathaniel, who was the son of Nathaniel Durbin Chew and Margaret H. Heistand.  Nathaniel's draft registration card indicates his exact date of birth as May 2, 1877 in Rossburg, Darke County, Ohio, where the Chew family lived before they moved by the 1880 census to Logansport, Cass County, Indiana.

Nathaniel was 64 years old at the time of the registration, and his nearest living relative was listed as Margaret Chew, of Evanston, Illinois, his daughter. 

Nathaniel's occupation in the 1910 census was given as missionary to Korea, and his employer listed on the draft registration card as Rev. Babbitt of the Courtland Circuit of the Methodist Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan.


Nathaniel was described as having a light complexion, white male, 5'10" with blue eyes and brown hair.

This draft registration provides a few more clues to add to my database.  Nathaniel was married to Nettie Trumbauer and was the father of three chidlren : Nathaniel, Margaret S. and Elizabeth.  

Military Monday – We all have ancestors who have served in the military. Military Monday is a place to post their images, stories and records of their service in various branches of the military. Military Monday is an ongoing series by Cindy at Everything’s Relative – Researching Your Family History.

Church Record Sunday : Beals Family, Westfield MM, Hamilton County, Indiana

Ancestry.com. U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data:Indiana Yearly Meeting Minutes. Earlham College Friends Collection & College Archives, Richmond, Indiana. 

My maternal 4th-great grandparents, John and Mary (Davis) Beals, were members of the Westfield Monthly Meeting of the Society of Friends (Quakers) in Hamilton County, Indiana.  Quaker membership records and monthly meeting minutes are available at Ancestry.com.

The record card of the family states:

John Beals, born Ohio, 6th month, 26th day, 1827; son of Nathan and Elizabeth Beals; received upon request at Westfield Monthly Meeting, married Mary Davis.
Mary Beals, born Holly Springs, North Carolina, 9th month, 9th day, 1825; daughter of John and Mary Davis; birthright member of Holly North Carolina Monthly Meeting, married John Beals.
Mary A. Beals, born Westfield, Indiana, 3rd month, 27th day, 1859; daughter of John and Mary Beals; received upon request at Westfield Monthly Meeting, released by letter.
John F. Beals, born Westfield, Indiana, 9th month, 21st day, 1866; son of John and Mary Beals; received upon request at Westfield Monthly Meeting.
Nathan Thos. Beals, born Westfield, Indiana, 2nd month, 7th day, 1856; son of John and Mary Beals; received upon request of Westfield Monthly Meeting, married Elizabeth Powe.
Elizabeth Beals; born Whitelick, Indiana, 1856; daughter of Isaac and Hannah Powe, birthright member of Whitelick, Indiana Monthly Meeting, married Nathan T. Beals.
Pearley May Beals, born Westfield, Indiana, 1877;daughter of N.T. and E. Beals, birthright member of Westfield Monthly Meeting.
Maggie Beals, born Westfield,Indiana,  9th month, 1880; daughter of N.T. and E. Beals, birthright member of Westfield Monthly Meeting.
Ethel Beals, born Westfield, Indiana; daughter of N.T. and Elizabeth Beals.
Nellie Beals

Some slight differences discovered in this membership record.  John Beals birth date is recorded as the 26th day, while in the genealogy Chronology of the Beals Family, which he wrote, he gave his birth date as the 25th.  John was not a birthright member of the Friends church, although his father (Nathan C. Beals) had been one, but he had been disowned.  Mary (Davis) Beals birth date matches what I have in my database, her parents John and Mary (Barker) Davis had moved from North Carolina to Indiana.

Of the children of John and Mary (Davis) Beals listed in this membership, Mary, John F. and Nathan Thomas, I have just a couple of updates to my data.  The birth date for John F. is listed as the 21st, when I had it as the 9th in my database, without a source, so there is one correction to make.  Nathan Thomas was in my database being born on the 17th, without a source as well.  So there are two corrections/updates to make.

Elizabeth Poe who married Nathan Thomas Beals was a birthright member of the Society from Whitelick Monthly Meeting in Morgan County, Indiana.  Her parents were Isaac and Hannah (Mills) Poe.

The listings of the children of Nathan T. and Elizabeth (Poe) Beals is a bit confusing.  Pearley May Beals was my 2nd-great grandmother, Pearl May Beals, who married Charles Wilson Lambertson.  I only show three daughters in the family of Nathan T. and Elizabeth (Poe) Beals : Pearl May (1878), Nellie Myrtle (1880) and Ethel Mable (1885).  This record gives the birth date of Pearl as 1877, when I show it was May 11, 1878.  I show Nellie born August 30, 1880 and Ethel born November 27, 1885.  This church membership record gives no birth dates for either Nellie or Ethel, but adds a Maggie Beals, born September 1880.   Did they confuse Nellie's middle name as Maggie and have her birthdate off by a month, or could there have been another daughter, possibly a twin of Nellie?  Being born August 30th, it's not a stretch to think the date could be recorded as September, especially since the birth took place in Nebraska and the membership role was created after the fact.  More mysteries.

Not all of John and Mary (Davis) Beals' children are listed in this record.  Left out are Elizabeth (b. 1849), Emma (b. 1851) and Sarah (b. 1854).  I do not know if they were ever members of the Society of Friends.


Church Record Sunday is a daily blogging prompt used by many genealogy bloggers to help them post content on their sites.

To participate in Church Record Sunday, describe a specific church record or a set of church records held by a denomination and how they can assist genealogists.   This is an on-going series developed by Gena Philbert Ortega at Gena's Genealogy.