Person Page - 796

     Melona Ann Jennings was born on 26 December 1825 at VA. She married Samuel Daniel Holcombe, son of Judge John Vinton Holcombe and Chloe Mudge, on 3 August 1844 at Gallia Co., OH.¹ Melona Ann Jennings died on 6 February 1897 at Leando, IA, at age 71.

     James William Lunsford was born on 19 December 1927 at Davis Co., IA. He was the son of Wesley Moses Lunsford and Jessie Farley. James William Lunsford died on 2 September 2010 at Bonaparte, Van Buren Co., IA, at age 82. He was buried on 4 September 2010 at Bonaparte Cemetery, Bonaparte, Van Buren Co., IA.¹

James William Lunsford, 82, of Bonaparte died at 5:45 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 2, 2010, at the Donnellson Health Center.
Born Dec. 19, 1927, near Pulaski, he was the son of Wesley and Jessie Farley Lunsford. On June 29, 1948, he married Josephine Martin in Kahoka, Mo.
Mr. Lunsford graduated from Troy High School. He served in the Army National Guard. He worked on the family farm. He was plant superintendent at Barker Wire Products in Keosauqua for 35 years, retiring in 1986. He was a member of Bonaparte United Church.
Survivors include his wife; four sons, Joseph Lunsford of Fort Myers, Fla., Ernie Lunsford of Olathe, Kan., Wendell Lunsford of Stockport, and James Lunsford of Keosauqua; two daughters, Nancy Sperry of Danville, and Barbara Reinier of O'Fallon, Ill; 16 grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; one brother, Donald Lunsford of Ottumwa.
He was preceded in death by his parents, two sisters, three brothers, and a great-grandson.
Visitation will be from 2 to 4 p.m. Monday at Pedrick Funeral Home where family will receive friends at this time.
The funeral service for Mr. Lunsford will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Bonaparte United Church with the Rev. Richard Eis officiating. Burial with military honors by Iowa National Guard will be in Bonaparte Cemetery.
Memorials have been established for the Bonaparte United Church or Donnellson Health Center.

     Lucy Rupe was born on 23 April 1811 at Huntington Twp., Gallia Co., OH.¹ She married Amaziah Fuller on 25 January 1824.¹ Lucy Rupe married Mansley Holcombe, son of Judge John Vinton Holcombe and Chloe Mudge, on 2 December 1826 at Gallia Co., OH.² Lucy Rupe married Benjamin Woodruff on 21 December 1833 at Gallia Co., OH.¹ Lucy Rupe died on 6 October 1865 at Huntington Twp., Gallia Co., OH, at age 54.¹ She was buried at Mt. Tabor Cemetery, Gallia Co., OH.¹

     Anna Spencer was born circa 1793 at Granby, Hartford Co., CT. She was the daughter of Ebenezer Spencer and Betsey Little. Anna Spencer married Levi Case, son of Noah Case Jr. and Mary Adams. Anna Spencer died on 12 February 1823 at West Granby, Granby, Hartford Co., CT.

     Lucia Farnham was born on 14 February 1798 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT. She was the daughter of Benjamin Barnham and Abigail Robe. Lucia Farnham married Levi Case, son of Noah Case Jr. and Mary Adams, on 11 May 1824 at Barkhamsted, Litchfield Co., CT. Lucia Farnham died on 5 July 1882 at West Granby, Granby, Hartford Co., CT, at age 84.

     Lewis Case was born on 22 July 1833 at West Granby, Granby, Hartford Co., CT. He was the son of Levi Case and Lucia Farnham. Lewis Case married Elmena Stella Wilcox circa 1857. Lewis Case died on 19 September 1883 at age 50.

     Elmena Stella Wilcox was born on 12 September 1837. She married Lewis Case, son of Levi Case and Lucia Farnham, circa 1857. Elmena Stella Wilcox died on 5 November 1924 at age 87.

     Lucian was recorded in the 1900 Granby census, film T623-136, page 10A, line 23, a single head of the household, age 41, as a farmer. His widowed mother, "Amelia S." was living with him.

Lucian was recorded the 1920 Granby census, page 13A, line 31, a single head of the household and his mother, Elmena, was living with him.

Lucian was enumerated in the 1930 West Granby Village, Granby Town, Hartford Co., CT, federal census, page 14B. His sister Mina was actually listed as the head of household, age 67, he was 71. There was no one else in the household. Lucian Case was born in January 1859. He was the son of Lewis Case and Elmena Stella Wilcox.

     Mina Alice Case was born on 26 March 1863. She was the daughter of Lewis Case and Elmena Stella Wilcox. Mina Alice Case married Frederick Burton Case, son of Arlow Case and Lucy Jane Bacon, in 1885.

     Arlow Case was born on 12 December 1827 at Barkhamsted, Litchfield Co., CT. He was the son of Ezra Case and Dorcas Case. Arlow Case married Lucy Jane Bacon, daughter of Jarvis Bacon and Mary Sperry, on 26 April 1855 at First Congregational Church, Canton, Hartford Co., CT. Arlow Case died on 10 January 1899 at Avon, Hartford Co., CT, at age 71.

     Lucy Jane Bacon was born on 6 August 1833 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT. She was the daughter of Jarvis Bacon and Mary Sperry. Lucy Jane Bacon married Arlow Case, son of Ezra Case and Dorcas Case, on 26 April 1855 at First Congregational Church, Canton, Hartford Co., CT. Lucy Jane Bacon died Marach 8, 1911.

     Frederick Burton Case was born on 29 March 1857. He was the son of Arlow Case and Lucy Jane Bacon. Frederick Burton Case married Mina Alice Case, daughter of Lewis Case and Elmena Stella Wilcox, in 1885. Frederick Burton Case died on 13 June 1923 at age 66. Frederick and Mina are listed in the 1920 census of Granby, CT.

     Lucien August Saucier was born on 5 August 1938 at Wallagrass, ME. He married Donna Marie Holcombe, daughter of Donald McKenzie Holcombe and Mary Kisloski, on 14 December 1969 at Hartford, Hartford Co., CT. Lucien August Saucier died on 24 December 1983 at age 45.

     Rhoda Ruic was born on 10 September 1815 at Granby, Hartford Co., CT.¹ She was the daughter of William Ruic and Sarah Rice. Rhoda Ruic married Chester Case, son of Eliphalet Case and Rachel Case, on 29 April 1839 at Granby, Hartford Co., CT.² Rhoda Ruic died on 12 February 1888 at North Canton, Hartford Co., CT, at age 72.¹

     Sarah Ruic Case was born on 27 December 1842 at Canton, Hartford Co., CT. She was the daughter of Chester Case and Rhoda Ruic.^2,3 Sarah Ruic Case married Cyrus Horatio King, son of Artemus King and Sophia Granger, on 23 November 1863. Sarah Ruic Case died on 7 November 1873 at West Suffield, Hartford Co., CT, at age 30. She was buried at West Suffield, Hartford Co., CT.

     Abigail Harding was the daughter of Dr. Charles Weaver Harding and Dorothy Hoxworth.


From The Columbus Dispatch, August 14, 2015:

The memoir sat in his father’s book collection for years, offering Dr. Peter Harding a peek inside the family scandal.

But not until four years ago did the grandnephew of the 29th U.S. president, Warren G. Harding, crack open the book The President’s Daughter.

The 1927 book was written by Nan Britton, the president’s lover for the last six years of his life, who, after Harding’s death in 1923, revealed that she was the mother of his only child, Elizabeth.

Most of America at the time, including Harding’s family, viewed her story as a “fantasy, that she had carried childhood into adulthood,” said Dr. Harding, 72, a Big Sur, Calif., physician who grew up in Worthington.

Warren Harding never met his daughter but provided financial support until his untimely death at age 57. Britton, who was 31 years younger than Harding, grew up in Marion, about 45 miles north of Columbus, where he was editor of The Marion Star before turning to politics.

They began their affair while he was a U.S. senator and continued it after he became president. Britton wrote in her book that they “made love” in “a small closet in the anteroom” in the West Wing.

Now, tests of DNA from Dr. Harding; his cousin Abigail Harding, of Worthington; and James Blaesing, Britton’s grandson, have revealed that the three are in fact related, vindicating Britton.

The finding prompted a celebration among the newly minted cousins, Dr. Harding said Thursday. ” We felt like kids who had won the lottery.”

Throughout Peter and Abigail’s childhood, older family members squelched their suspicions of any truth to Britton’s story. They were told that the president was sterile and couldn’t possibly have children, because he had contracted mumps as a boy. Warren Harding and his wife, Florence, had no children.

Dr. Harding believed his elders until the discovery in 1964 of letters that Warren Harding had written to another mistress, Carrie Fulton Phillips. (Britton said she had destroyed her love letters from the president, at his request.)

“I thought, ‘There’s something fishy here,’” Dr. Harding said. “I started thinking maybe there’s more to this.”

He talked to his cousin Abigail and tracked down Blaesing, a construction contractor in Portland, Ore; and the three underwent DNA testing through Ancestry.com. They have known for a year about the results, which became public through a New York Times story published Thursday.

For Blaesing, 65, the test provided a chance to clear his grandmother’s name.

“My grandmother wouldn’t lie for anything,” he said on Thursday. “She was the classiest (and) the most wonderful woman you would ever meet.”

Abigail Harding, 72, said she admires Blaesing’s decision to provide his DNA.

“It was very brave of him to do it,” the retired Worthington high-school biology teacher said. ” (I felt) real relief because I thought, if we put this guy through this and it wasn’t true, it would be awful.”

The two families are planning a reunion for March and a large party in November 2017 -- President Harding’s birth month -- in Marion.

Tour guides at the Harding home in Marion have always told visitors there was not enough evidence to either confirm or deny Harding’s paternity, site manager Sherry Hall said Thursday.

She doesn’t believe that the affirmation that he had an illegitimate child will tarnish his reputation.

“It’s just part of his overall story, and that’s what we’re trying to present here anyway,” Hall, 58, said.

Even so, Dr. Harding hopes that the president will be remembered for more than his private life.

“I hope that, with the resolution, it will take his sex life out of the news so people can focus on his achievements,” he said. “He loved women and he loved sex, as every healthy American man does, (but) he was not a womanizer.”.

     Pauline Barbit Dries was born on 2 July 1884 at Plymouth, Plymouth Co., MA.¹ She was the daughter of Antoine Dries and Pauline B. Schulz. Pauline Barbit Dries married Henry Harvey Couch, son of Wilbur Vincent Couch and Gertrude Naomi Holcombe, on 29 November 1913 at Westfield, Hampden Co., MA.¹ Pauline Barbit Dries died on 16 July 1964 at Noble Hospital, Westfield, Hampden Co., MA, at age 80.¹ She was buried at Pine Hill Cemetery, Westfield, Hampden Co., MA.¹

     William Kilgour was born on 6 December 1882 at Springfield, Hampden Co., MA. He married Ruth Irene Couch, daughter of Wilbur Vincent Couch and Gertrude Naomi Holcombe, on 24 April 1929 at NY.¹

     Ezra G. Tripp married Chloe F. Hamlin.

     Chloe F. Hamlin married Ezra G. Tripp.

     Gertrude H. Demski was born on 31 January 1916.¹ She was the daughter of August Demski and Augusta F. (?) Gertrude H. Demski married Ralph Phillips Holcombe, son of Amos Roberts Holcombe and Ida Belle Cook. Gertrude H. Demski died on 23 October 1992 at Canton, Hartford Co., CT, at age 76.

     James Alexander Moore was born on 18 January 1888 at Belfast, Ireland. He married Marjorie Edyth Holcombe, daughter of Charles Joseph Holcombe and Edith Sarah King, on 25 July 1923 at Granby, Hartford Co., CT. James Alexander Moore died Septembr 13, 1960 at West Hartford, Hartford Co., CT.

     Heydon Alexander Moore was born on 2 May 1928 at Hartford, Hartford Co., CT.² He was the son of James Alexander Moore and Marjorie Edyth Holcombe. Heydon Alexander Moore died on 18 January 2001 at Haines City, Polk Co., FL, at age 72.³

from the Hartford Courant, 21 January 2001, page B5:

Heydon Alexander Moore, 72, of Haines City, FL, husband of Inez Moore, died Thursday, (January 18, 2001) at Winter Haven Hospital. He was born May 2, 1928 in Hartford, and moved to Haines City, FL from West Hartford nine years ago. He was a retired athletic trainer at the university level, a Boy Scout troop leader for many years, a member of Masonic Lodge of West Hartford, and past president Lake Region HI-12 Club, Haines City, FL. Besides his wife, he is survived by a daughter, Janice Kingsbury of Bristol; and three sons, Bruce Moore of Concord, NH, David Moore of Bristol, and James Moore of Agawam, MA; three grandchildren; and two great grandchildren. Funeral service will be Monday, January 22, 10 a.m., at Dax, Meyer & Locke Funeral Home, Dundee, FL.

     Edith Gertrude Roberts was born on 6 August 1901. She was the daughter of William Warren Roberts and Gertrude Hill. Edith Gertrude Roberts married Henry Valentine Holcombe, son of Charles Joseph Holcombe and Edith Sarah King, in May 1920 at Springfield, Hampden Co., MA. Edith Gertrude Roberts died on 27 October 1922 at age 21. She was buried at Oak Grove Cemetery.

     William Warren Roberts was born on 22 November 1874 at Granville, Hampden Co., MA.¹ He was the son of Lemuel Buel Roberts and Nancy Jane Austin.²

     Harold W. Holcombe was born on 16 June 1922 at Springfield, Hampden Co., MA.² He was the son of Henry Valentine Holcombe and Edith Gertrude Roberts. Harold W. Holcombe married Anna Pauline Price on 11 February 1945 at Winsted, Litchfield Co., CT.³ Harold W. Holcombe died on 2 July 1955 at Winchester, Litchfield Co., CT, at age 33. He was buried at Center Cemetery, Granby, Hartford Co., CT.⁴

     Hilda Jeannette Whipple was born on 14 May 1907 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT. She was the daughter of Arthur Garfield Whipple and Mary Curtiss. Hilda Jeannette Whipple married Henry Valentine Holcombe, son of Charles Joseph Holcombe and Edith Sarah King, on 24 April 1924 at Simsbury, Hartford Co., CT. Hilda Jeannette Whipple died on 21 December 1999 at CT at age 92.

     Henry Valentine Holcombe Jr. was born on 28 June 1925 at Granby, Hartford Co., CT.² He was the son of Henry Valentine Holcombe and Hilda Jeannette Whipple. Henry Valentine Holcombe Jr. married Beverly L. Creighton on 22 April 1943 at Granby, Hartford Co., CT. Henry Valentine Holcombe Jr. married Alma Ellise Cummings on 19 April 1961. Henry Valentine Holcombe Jr. and Beverly L. Creighton were divorced in September 1961 at Brevard Co., FL.³ Henry Valentine Holcombe Jr. died on 30 April 2016 at Granby, Hartford Co., CT, at age 90. He was buried at Silver Street Cemetery, Granville, Hampden Co., MA.⁴

From the Westfield News, 2 May 2016:

Henry V. Holcomb, Jr., 90, of Granby, husband of the late Alma (Cummings) Holcomb, passed away peacefully on Saturday, April 30, 2016. Born in Granby to the late Henry Sr. and Hilda "Jennette" (Whipple) Holcomb, he has been a Granby resident all of his life. Henry owned and operated Granby Construction and H & M Septic as well as his own farms in Granby which he was awarded a trip around the country as a prize for having the best milk in CT. He was a hardworking man who enjoyed fishing & hunting, dancing, playing cards and spending time with his family who will miss him dearly. He is survived by his sons Richard Holcomb and his wife Laurie of Brewster, MA, Thomas Holcomb and his wife Sara of East Hartland, Henry Holcomb, III and his wife Sally of East Hartland and William Holcomb and his wife Reva of Florida; his daughters Sharon Dimmick and her husband Russell of Randolph Center, VT, Kathleen Johnson and her husband William of North Granby, Mary Keaton and her husband William of Granby, Lisa Taylor and her husband John of Granby and Gayle Max and her husband Doug of Granby; his stepson Douglas McVey of Granby; his stepdaughters Sheila Shaw and her husband John Parla of Granby and Charlene Bellott of Terryville. Although too many to list, he was always so very proud of and loved all 95 of his grand, great-grand and great-great grandchildren. Besides his wife and parents he was predeceased by his brothers Harold and Gordon Holcomb and his sister Grace Trombley. A funeral service will be held at 2 PM Thursday, May 5 at the Hayes Huling & Carmon Funeral Home, 364 Salmon Brook St Granby. His family will receive friends prior to the service on Thursday from 12 PM to 2 PM. Burial will be private and at the convenience of the family. In lieu of flowers please make memorial donations to the Shriner's Hospital for Children, 51 Blossom St Boston, MA 02114. For online condolences please visit www.carmonfuneralhome.com.

     Grace Jeannette Holcombe was born on 23 July 1926 at Granby, Hartford Co., CT.² She was the daughter of Henry Valentine Holcombe and Hilda Jeannette Whipple. Grace Jeannette Holcombe married Lafayette Webster Shaw, son of Guy Lafayette Shaw, on 6 November 1945 at Granby, Hartford Co., CT. Grace Jeannette Holcombe died on 14 July 2012 at Bradenton, Manatee Co., FL, at age 85.³ She was buried on 16 July 2012 at Silver Street Cemetery, Granville, Hampden Co., MA.³

The Roberts Reunion Association printed a supplement in August 1987.

At the time of her mother's death in 1999, Grace was living in Venice, FL.

     Irene Cordelia Andrews was born on 5 October 1906 at East Hartland, CT.² She was the daughter of Harry Andrews and Lillian May Case.³ Irene Cordelia Andrews married Charles Joseph Holcombe Jr., son of Charles Joseph Holcombe and Edith Sarah King, on 26 July 1926. Irene Cordelia Andrews died on 12 December 2006 at MeadowBrook, Granby, Hartford Co., CT, at age 100.² She was buried at Elmwood Cemetery, East Granby, Hartford Co., CT.⁴

From the Hartford Courant on 13 December 2006:

Irene A. Holcomb, 100, of East Granby beloved wife of the late Charles J. Holcomb passed away Tuesday, (December 12, 2006) at MeadowBrook of Granby. Born in Hartland October 5, 1906, daughter of the late Harry and Lillian (Case) Andrews. She lived in East Hartland and Granby moving to East Granby 75 years ago. She was a member of the Copper Hill United Methodist Church in East Granby. She leaves a daughter and son-in-law, Mildred and Curtis Adams of East Granby; four grandsons, Charles and Kathy Adams of Tolland, MA., Paul and Nancy Adams of Barkhamsted, David and Linda Adams of Chichester, NH., Thomas and DeAnna Adams of East Granby; seven great grandchildren and one great great granddaughter and several nieces and nephews. A private service will be held with burial at Elmwood Cemetery in East Granby. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to the Copper Hill United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 422, East Granby 06026. Hayes-Huling & Carmon Funeral Home has care of arrangements.