Lucretia Henry
b. 1822/23, Nineveh Township, Johnson County, Indiana, to John and Elizabeth (Musselman) Henry
d. after 1896, Independence, Montgomery County, Kansas
m. 18 May 1842, Nineveh Township, Johnson County, Indiana
Robert Samuel Parkhurst
b. 2 February 1823, Henry County, Kentucky
d. 27 June 1911, Independence, Montgomery County, Kansas
Children with Robert Samuel Parkhurst:
• Abigail (b. 1843) married Lewis W. Hudiburg/ Heidiburg
• Mary Elizabeth (b. 1844) married Iverson Ellis Utterback
• Matilda (b. 1849) married Richard Harvey DeMott
• Sarah (b. 1849)
• Lucinda Caroline (b. 1854) married William Edward Smith
Lucretia and Robert’s five girls were all born in Johnson County, Indiana. Robert was a farmer and one of the proprietors of the New York Store in Franklin, the county seat.
In the fall of 1869, Robert, Lucretia, and a colony of 17 families, including all of their daughters and their families, departed Johnson County, Indiana, and drove their teams overland, taking about five weeks to reach Independence, Montgomery County, Kansas, about October 1869. It was still primitive and chaotic, with Indians still in the area and the first winter Robert housed his family in a hay house in which his horses were also sheltered. In the spring he started building a home and other buildings needed for farming. Being one of the pioneers of Independence, much of the land on which the city is built was once owned by him. He accumulated several hundred acres of land in his lifetime and was a stockholder in the First National Bank.
Submitted by:
Jocelyn J. Wickens
Powells Point NC