Family:Robert Laughlin and Rebecca Githens (1)

Robert & Rebecca were farmers in 1850 Nicholas Co. KY. All the children were born in Bourbon or Nicholas Counties. Robert & Rebecca are first found on census 1850 Nicholas Co., District #2 P 428 Line 551, no children. Robert's father and mother with younger siblings and his brother, John Jr. are nearby.

Robert is on the Early Tax List until 1862 and again in 1867. These were Civil War years. We (Laughlins) believe Robert participated in the war as a volunteer, but have not yet found a record.

About 1877 some of the grown children migrated to Jackson Co., MO and in the spring of 1879 Robert & Rebecca followed with the younger children. On the 1880 census son John is living in Washington Township near New Santa Fe, the historic stopping place on the western migration route to Oregon and New Mexico. John and wife Annie MORTON, with their baby daughter Clora Lee, are living nearby. New Santa Fe is on the Missouri-Kansas state line. A mile away, in Johnson Co. KS we find Robert & Rebecca living with two youngest sons William Elliot and Sterling. There is no 1890 census for these states.

Robert & Rebecca, with their children John B., Richard, Eli, Nancy, & Louise (Lizzie) are listed as members of the New Santa Fe Christian Church (Vital Historical Records of Jackson Co., MO 1826-1876).

1900 and 1910 our families are in Johnson County, KS. Robert & Rebecca living with their sons William Elliott, Sterling, and Eli, in Mission Township and then in Lenexa, Shawnee Township.

In June 1912, at ages 80 & 82, Robert & Rebecca traveled to Franklin Co., KS, to the home of daughter Louisa (Lizzie) Heinis. Probably by horse & buggy. For someone in their 80s in those days, 50 miles was a long and arduous trip. During the winter of 1912/13, Rebecca fell and broke a hip, dying of complications one week later.

Robert L. stayed in Franklin County and died 20 Oct 1914. They had a long life and lived together for 65 years. Both are buried in the Princeton Cemetery in Franklin Co., KS, where the Heinis family is also buried. The Sexton reports there are no stones marking the graves and no records have survived. The preceding (P 20-24) obituaries and Rebecca's Death Certificate are the only proof we have found as to their final resting place.

1. ↑ Johnson, Kansas, United States. 1910 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration Publication T624).

   _QUAY: 0x54

2. ↑ Find A Grave.
3. ↑ Find A Grave.
4. ↑ Kentucky, United States. County Marriage Records, 1783-1965 [database on-line]. (Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com, 2016).
5. ↑ Laughlin/Trimble Book page 20.
6. ↑ Laughlin/Trimble Book page 25.
7. ↑ Laughlin/Trimble Book page Descendants I.