Minerva Jane ALLUM

  General Notes:

Photo: The individual gravemarker for Minerva Jane (Allum) Garton is at Woodland Cemetery, Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa. Her year of birth is found in records as 1842 and 1846--and years between!--but her marker reads "1845."

Photo, taken in 2005, from DeeAnna Allum Granston


1840s BIRTH of Minerva Jane Allum

1850 CENSUS, Pennsylvania, Greene County, Richhill Township ("Minerva J.," age 8, with parents) (Thomas and 1st wife Matilda)

1853 MIGRATED from Pennsylvania to Iowa (with parents Thomas and Matilda)

1854 CENSUS, Iowa State Census, Scott County, Davenport (Minerva is one of five females--including her mother--in the Thomas Allum household)

1856 CENSUS, Iowa State Census, Scott County, Davenport (Minerva, age 14, with parents) (Thomas and 1st wife Matilda) ("Menervia" in some census indexes)

1859 DEATH of grandmother, Jemima (Barnhart) Allum

1860 CENSUS, Iowa, Jasper County, Newton Township, Newton ("Minerva J.," age 17, with parents) (Thomas and 1st wife Matilda)

1863 DEATH of mother Matilda (in April)

1863 MARRIAGE of Minerva Jane Allum and William Thomas Garton (on November 15) in Newton, Jasper County, Iowa by Samuel Westwood

1865 MARRIAGE of father Thomas to stepmother, Rebecca Wert

1868 DEATH of grandfather, Charles W. Allum

1870 CENSUS, Iowa, Polk County, DesMoines (William "F. Garten," age 29, born England; "Mary J. Garten," age 26, born Pennsylvania; Ada "Garten," age 5, born Iowa; Melville "Allen," age 12, born Iowa, the latter Minerva's younger brother, a son of Thomas and his first wife, Matilda) (In the 1870 census, Melville is also documented in the household of his father Thomas and stepmother Rebecca in Jasper County, Iowa, a county adjacent to Polk County)

1870 CENSUS, U. S. Federal Census Non-Population Schedule, Iowa, Polk County, P. O. Des Moines ("W. T. Garton," "Bakery")

1880 CENSUS, Iowa, Polk County, DesMoines 3rd Ward (William T. "Gasten," occupation, "Baker," age 38, born England; "Menerva," age 33, born Pennsylvania, father born Pennsylvania, mother born Massachusetts; Ada, age 15, born Iowa; "Willie," age 5, born Iowa; Alford, age 2, born Iowa)
Notice that Minerva "aged only 7 years" since the 1870 census

1880 CENSUS, U. S. Federal Census Non-Population Schedule, Iowa, Polk County, Des Moines (May 31) ("W. T. Garton," "Cracker Bakery")

1885 CENSUS, Iowa State Census, Iowa, Polk County, Des Moines (William T. Garton, "Confectioner"; wife "Minerva," born Pennsylvania) (sons Willie and Alford are in the household)

1895 CENSUS, Iowa State, Census, Iowa, Polk County, Des Moines (William T. Garton, born England; Minerva J. Garton, born Pennsylvania, son William Garton, born Polk County, Iowa)

1897 DEATH of father, Thomas Allum

1900 CENSUS, Iowa, Polk County, DesMoines (William T. Garton," age 57, "Commercial trader, Flour") (wife "Nerva J.," age 54, born Massachusetts!) (in the household is Ralph G. Dewey, age 13, grandson, born September 1886 in California) (Minerva is shown as having had 6 children, 2 living) (Prior to 1900, Minerva had actually given birth to 7 children)
Clearly, according to 1850 and 1860 census records, Minerva was born in Pennsylvania, not Massachusetts

1905 CENSUS, Iowa State Census, Polk County, DesMoines, Ward 3 ("William T." and "Minerva J.") (names only are in the Iowa State Census) (in the Garton household are son "Alfred" and his wife "Frances")

1910 CENSUS, Iowa, Polk County, DesMoines (William T. Garton, age 66, "Commercial trader, Flour") (wife "Minerva," age 64, born Massachusetts, "father born Scotland, mother born England")
Did Minerva not know locations of her parents' locations of birth? Or might she (or another in her household) have been thinking of Minerva's father's and mother's parents or heritage? Or was Minerva "reinventing herself"! In earlier census records, she is accurately documented as having been born in Pennsylvania)

1915 CENSUS, Iowa, Polk County, DesMoines, Ward 2 ("William T.," age 73, address 1503 Pleasant Street, completed 7 years of common school, church affiliation, "Baptist," place of birth, "England," father's place of birth, "England," mother's place of birth, "England")

1915 CENSUS, Iowa, Polk County, DesMoines, Ward 2 ("Minerva J.," age 66, address 1503 Pleasant Street, completed 8 years of grammar school and 4 years of high school, church affiliation, "Baptist," place of birth, "Massachusetts," father's place of birth, "England," mother's place of birth, "Scotland") (In 1915 Minerva would have been about 71 years old, not 66; note that she declares "66" as her age in the year 1910)

1918 DEATH of husband, William Thomas Garton (in March) at 77 years 3 months 5 days

1918 DEATH of stepmother, Rebecca (Wert) Allum (in October)

1920 CENSUS, Iowa, Polk County, DesMoines Township, DesMoines ("Mrs. W. T. Garton," widow, age 72, born Massachusetts, "father born England, mother born Scotland" [reverse of info in 1910 census], occupation "none")
It is documented that Minerva's father, Thomas Allum, was born in Pennsylvania, likewise her mother Matilda

1930 CENSUS, District of Columbia, Washington County, Washington, "United States Naval Yard" ("Minerva J.," widow, age 89, born Pennsylvania, is in the household of her son "Will M. Garton," Will's wife Katherine and their sons, Norman F., age 22, and Will M., Jr., age 18)

1931 DEATH, Minerva Jane (Allum) Garton


Will Minerva's Washington, D. C. death certificate corroborate her mother's maiden name as "Wallace"?




BOOKS: 1889-1891 CITY DIRECTORIES, DesMoines, Polk County, Iowa:

William T. Garton - H. P. Reynolds, Location 611 West Walnut, Business Name, "Garton & Co.," occupation, "bakery, restaurant, ice cream and oyster parlors"




BOOK: THE HISTORY OF POLK COUNTY, IOWA, Union Historical Company, Birdsall, Williams & Co., Des Moines, Iowa, 1880, page 807:


GARTON, W. T.--Confectioner and baker. Was born in England, Nov. 26, 1840, and partly received his education there. He remained in that country until June, 1852, when he emigrated to America, landing in New York, and from there he went to Indiana, where he completed his education. In the fall of 1856 he concluded to come to Iowa, and accordingly settled in this city, and has since resided here, following the above business. His marriage was in Newton, Jasper county, this State, November 12, 1863 to Miss Minerva Allum. They are the parents of seven children, three of whom are living: Ada L., Willie M., and Alfred. Lost four: Mary, Alice, A., and Rosa B. ("A" refers to Arthur; 'cemetery stone says "May," not Mary --DeeAnna)

Notes:

'Discrepancy about the year of birth for William Thomas Garton: 1840 or 1842. His bio provides "1840," his gravestone, 1842

Minerva's seven children were Ada; William Melville; Alfred (or Alford); Rosa Belle; Arthur; Alice; and May, not necessarily in that order.

Ada, Rosa Belle, Arthur, Alice and May are buried at Woodland Cemetery, Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa, as are their parents, William Thomas Garton and Minerva Jane (Allum) Garton.




BOOK: PIONEERS OF POLK COUNTY, IOWA and Reminiscences of Early Days by L. F. Andrews, Volume II, Baker-Trisler Company, Des Moines, Iowa, 1908, pages 454-458 (with a photo of Samuel B. Garton, brother of William Thomas Garton and brother-in-law to Minerva Jane Allum Garton):


SAMUEL B. GARTON

A pioneer of the county who has been closely identified with the growth of Des Moines, more especially that of the East Side, is Samuel B. Garton, or Sam, as he is familiarly called by old-timers. He was born in Wisley, County of Surrey, England, February Third, 1848.

His father lived on a small, rented farm, raised wheat and table vegetables, which he took to London and sold in a market stall. Having a family of four boys and three girls, he found it difficult to mae both ends meet at the end of the year. Hearing so much of the possibilities for a poor man in America, he decided to come and try it. Accordingly, May Twenty-third, 1854, with his family, he left London on the sailing vessel, Christiana, and arrived at New York on the evening of July Fourth, aid the glare of fireworks and hubbub of the celeration of the anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by the New England, a strange greeting to an English-born citizen.

Immediately on landing, he went to Centerville, Indiana, where a sister had for some time resided. There he rented a farm for a time, but later opened a grocery on the Pike. The children attended school and assisted in the store and on the farm.

Nearby resided a wealthy farmer, who owned a farm on what was known as Saylor Bottoms, north of Des Moines. He made a proposition to Garton to go there and operate the farm, which was accepted, and in October, 1856, Garton, with his brother-in-law, Anthony Tilley, well known in Des Moines in the early days, and their families, started for Saylor Bottoms with two two-horse wagons, two one-horse wagons loaded with the usual outfit of clothing, bedding, housekeeping articles and a coop of chickens "on behind." The route was through Indianapolis, Bloomington, and Burlington. Illinois was a trackless prairie, not a house was seen. At Bloomington, they had to buy water for their horses, a severe drouth having dried up all the sources of water supply, and water was at a premium.

They arrived at the farm late in the month, and found a renter in possession, with the right theret until March. Their only resort was an unoccupied log cabin with two rooms. Each family took one room. Poles were cut, and a lean-to, with thatched roof, for sheltering the horses was attached to the cabin, and preparation made to pass the Winter. Flour was sixteen dollars a barrel, and Garton often said that had it not been for wild turkeys and prairie chickens which they shot, they would have starved. Tilley being a butcher, bought cattle, killed them, sold the carcasses in Des Moines, and with the proceeds purchased provisions for the families in a very limited way.

The next year came a big flood, in July, wheat and oats in the shock floated off down the river, and the corn was ruined. They therefore abandoned the bottoms, and rented land where the Danish College, Children's Home, and D. H. Kooker's residence now are, north of Union Park, and began farming again. They lilved in a log cabin which stood where is now the pavilion at Union Park. During the Winter, the boys and girls attended the Alfred Harris School, three and a half miles distant, walking it every day. Subsequently, Samuel, and an older brother, William T., supplemented their education with a course in the business college of C. B. Worthington and J. W. Muffly, the first school of the kind in Des Moines.

In the early Sixties, Father Garton, as he was usually called, purchased an interest in the Carlisle flour mill, and, with his family, went into the milling business, where he remained several years, when his taste for farming induced him to purchase forty acres near Avon, and, with Samuel, turned over the wild prairie, fenced it, and put it under cultivation.

William T. also left the milling business and learned that of making bread and cakes, and early in the Spring of 1865 rented a small, one-story frame building of "Billy" Moore, and opened a bakery. It was on Walnut Street, at the southweast corner of Fourth, "Billy" having the year before moved his Hoosier Store up from Second Street. The bakery was on the third lot from the corner, next east of "Billy's" store, a two-story frame; next east, on the alley, where Kurtz's store now is, was "Billy's" residence, a small, two-story frame. On the opposite corner north, the Lairds hada grocery. On the northwest corner, where the Valley National Bank now is, Anthony Tilley opened a butcher shop in a log cabin, and Harry Stephenson, who owned the corner, had his residence in the rear and west from the cabin. On the southwest corner was the old Savery House, now Kirkwood. In 1867, William T. leased ground of Judge Casady and built a two-story frame on the second lot west from the hotel (the lot next to the alley being occupied by Mrs. O'Toole, a milliner, in a one-story frame), moved his bakery into it, and, with his wife, lived on the upper floor. Next westward was W. A. Galbraith's grain and feed store, next Martin Tuttle's rocery, and on the corner Weaver & Maish's drug store, all in two-story frame buildings, trade then having only just begun its movement west of Fourth street.

In 1869, Samuel quit farming and joined his brother, William T. In 1873, they opened a branch on a northwest corner of East Fifth and Locust streets, in a two-story frame building, and Sam became the manager.

When the big fire occurred in Chicago in 1871, and a cry went out for help, John J. Williams offered to furnish the Gartons all the flour the could make into bread, and four men worked two days and nights making bread, which was carried free to Chicago by the Rock Island Road.

In 1876, the partnership having been dissolved, Samuel leased the ground at Three Hundred and Thirty-one East Locust, built a two-story frame thereon, moved his bakery there, and lived in the upper story. In 1882, a boom having strck the East Side, he bought the ground at Five Hundred and Twenty-three East Locust, and built the brick building in which he still has his bakery and lunch room. He then built a three-story brck at Three Hundred and Thirty-one East Locust, in which is now Graber's dry goods store.

There is not now a merchant in business on the East Side who was there when he commenced business, and in all those years his store has been open for business six days in the week, and has received his personal attention.

Politically, he is a Republican, though his father was a Democrat until the Civil War came. He gives little attention to the game of politics, and in local affairs votes for the man deemed best fitted for the place.

Socially, he is affable, of sanguine-lymphatic temperament, somewhat stubborn in opinion, takes little interest in society fads, is a zealous supporter of schools, churches and industrial affairs, public-spirited and highly esteemed for uprightness and integrity. He is not a member of any clubs or societies except the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He contributed liberally to the fund which purchased and presented to the State Agricultural Society the grounds for the State Fair, and also to the fund for building the first iron bridge at Locust Street.

Religiously, he is a Baptist and an enthusiastic member of Calvary Church. He is the church Treasurer, and financed the building of the edifice dedicated June Twenty-fifth, 1905, free of debt. For twenty years, he has been a church Deacon.

December Twenty-second, 1907.




DEATH NOTICE (William) from the DES MOINES TRIBUNE, DesMoines, Polk County, Iowa, March 2, 1918:

W. T. GARTON

W. T. Garton, 1503 Pleasant street, died at the Methodist hospital Friday afternoon. Mr. Garton is the father of Dr. W. N. (sic) Garton of the United States navy. The latter was formerly a resident of this city.

Funeral arrangements later.

No further information appeared in subsequent newspapers. --DeeAnna




DEATH NOTICE (Minerva) from the DES MOINES TRIBUNE, DesMoines, Polk County, Iowa, January 5, 1931:

GARTON--Funeral services for Mrs. W. T. Garton, pioneer resident of DesMoines who passed away in Washington, D. C. will be held at Dunn's Funeral Home Tuesday afternoon at 2 o'clock. Interment at Woodland.




BURIAL: Woodland Cemetery, DesMoines, Polk County, Iowa, Section 14, Lot 144




PHOTOGRAPHS:

Section 14, Lot 144:
Gravestone of Minerva (Allum) Garton at Woodland Cemetery, DesMoines, Polk County, Iowa
Gravestone of William Thomas Garton at Woodland Cemetery, DesMoines, Polk County, Iowa
Overall Garton plot at Woodland
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Former home of William Thomas Garton and Minerva (Allum) Garton in DesMoines, Polk County, Iowa

William's and Minerva's gravestones are in fine shape beneath an oak tree at Woodland Cemetery. Of the babies' stones, however, two have been damaged (age related), and a third is impossible to read. Fortunately, transcriptions were created many years ago, and the sexton's records do contain pertinent information. According to cemetery records, four young children--Rosa Belle, Arthur R., May and Alice--are on William and Minerva's plot. But of the three babies' stones, might one have been engraved with two now-unreadable names? Or is one stone missing?

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Minerva married William Thomas GARTON, son of Thomas GARTON and Harriet TILLEY, on November 15, 1863 in Newton, Jasper County, Iowa. (William Thomas GARTON was born on November 26, 1840 in West Horsley, Surrey, England, died on March 1, 1918 in Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa and was buried on March 3, 1918 in Woodland Cemetery, Des Moines, Polk County, Iowa.)