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Title: MacCabe, Gail
Text: From Gail MacCabe (maccabe@speakesy.net), 2004-02-05 note on my rootsweb family tree
Elijah Hayden is my 4th great grandfather. I also cannot answer with proof about whether Nathaniel Sr. or Nathaniel Jr. were his father. But I do have a few details I can add.
PICTURE: I have a picture of Elijah Hayden's tombstone in the Salem Baptist Church Cemetery. The spelling and appearance of the stone are very crude. The lettering appears to be handcarved.
Inscription below is as it appears exactly on tombstone with the unusual use of, or lack thereof, of capital letters:
"A Late Memorel Of EliJah hayden Who departed this life August the 5, 1811 In the 27 year of his age"
Picture sent by email to me on 6 Oct 2002 by Christine VanKirk.
CENSUS: A Jonathan Hayden is listed in Elizabeth Twp., Allegheny Co., Penn. 1810 Census on page 350: 1 male 26-45, 1 female 26-45. Also on same pg. of census there is an Elijah Hayden with:1 male 16 - 26, 1 female under 10, 1 female 16 - 2. Ours? Johnathan a brother?
Permelia E. Hayden, dau. of Elijah, was born in 1808 so she could be the female under 10. Elijah was born about 1784 and would be about 26 years old at the time of this census. Elijah is dead by 1811 at the age of 27. So if this is the right family then Permelia MAY BE THE ONLY CHILD.
BIOGRAPHY: The biography of Philo Starks mentions the names of Permelia Hayden's parents. The Biography is from "History of Elkhart County, Indiana; Together with Sketches of Its Cities, Villages and Townships . . ." Published Chicago, Chas. C. Chapman & Co., 1881, pgs. 719 - 720. I have a copy of this book.
"Philo Starks, farmer, section 35; P. O. Millersburg; was born in Vermont in 1806, the only child of William and Electa Starks, natives of the Green Mountain State [Vermont]. He became a resident of this county in 1832, a period of time when it might be literally said that Indiana was so deep in the wilderness that no wand of civilization marked its progress save the civilizing influence of the woodman's ax or the round-log cabin of the frontiersman. Previous to the date mentioned Mr. Starks had owned in Pennsylvania a small tract of land, and like many of the residents of that State he listened to the glowing accounts of productive land in Indiana, and made the trip in the usual mode of conveyance, a covered wagon, settling in Middlebury Township. He worked for three years as a cooper, when he purchased an 80-acre tract near what is now the town of Middlebury, for $100. He found the township heavily timbered, inhabitants limited in number, and Goshen, the city of the future, an embryo village composed of three cabins, one a receptacle for a few indiscriminate articles of merchandise. On section 35 Mr. Starks built a cabin, unadorned by windows or doors save the merest substitutes for them; the tools he farmed with were of the crudest description, and years elapsed before he became moderately prosperous. Game was very abundant during the days of his early settlement, and the veteran pioneer [re]calls vividly to mind a large Indian encampment of Pottawatomies on the banks of the Elkhart river. There were no grist-mills within any reasonable distance, with the single exception of what was familiarly termed a "corn-cracker," a small water mill used only for the purpose of grinding corn or buckwheat. The bill of fare in those days usually consisted of turkey, pork, venison and corn dodgers.
In 1830 Mr. Starks married Amelia [Permelia is known to be correct], daughter of Elijah and Sophia Haden. They are now in very comfortable circumstances, and like nearly all of those who endured the privations of early Western life, are liberal in all things worthy of their patronage. They have lived to see a territorial wilderness converted into a great State densely populated, over which a labyrinth of railroads carry their human freight with almost lightning-like rapidity; and to such men in the advance guard of civilization is the State indebted for the leading position it holds today among a vast constellation of States in the Union."
CENSUS: In the 1850 Census for Clinton Twp., Elkhart County, Indiana, Pg. 104B is listed the family of Philo Starks and Permelia Starks. They have a family of 7 children at this time and it is worthy to be noted that one of the sons in named "Elijah" Starks b. 30 Oct 1841. This child is probably named after Permelia's father. They also had a daughter named Sufiah Jane or Sophia Jane Starks b. 16 Nov 1836. Again probably named after Permelia's mother.
Other children are named: Noah b. 12 Jan 1832, Lucinda b. 19 Mar 1834, Percena b. 1 Jun 1839, Electa Ann or Lecta b. 20 Oct 1845, Amanda or Mandy b. 27 Aug 1847/1848, and Cynthia or Synthia b. 13 Jul 1852. Philo Starks parents were named: William and Electa.
TOMBSTONES: I have pictures of Philo Starks and Permelia (Hayden) Starks tombstones that I took myself in June of 2002.
Inscriptions read: "Permelia Wife Of Philo Starks Died Sept. 18, 1889 Aged 81Y. 3M. 29D." They are buried next to each other in Brown Cem., near Millersburg, Elkhart County, Indiana under a huge tree. "Philo Stark Died Aug. 2, 1883 Aged 73Y. 1M. 6Ds."
The ending "s" in Starks on Philo's tombstone is hard to tell if it was ever engraved or just worn off. The edge of the stone, where the Stark name ends, is eroded. However his wife is buried as a Starks right next to him and his biography calls him "Philo Starks" also.
FAMILY HEARSAY: On page 134 of Maon D. Funk's booklet of genealogy entitled "Along the Way with Our Ancestors," it states: "Permelia E. was born 1808 and Elijah, her father died in 1811, when she would have been three years old." According to Mrs. Elva (Starks) Keim, grand daughter of Permelia E., "Grandma Permelia E.'s father died when she was just a little girl, and was kicked from pillar to post."
[I, Gail, think this must mean that Permelia had a hard childhood. Permelia E.'s father was only 27 years old when he passed away.]
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