Person:Eliza French (4)

THE LOLLARS and THE LAND Chapter 5 Eliza French Lollar Tingle - 1825-1903 - Mother Robert Bruce Lollar - 1854-1911- Son Robert Bruce Lollar was 3 years old when he and his parents came back to The Ridge from Iowa in the fall of 1857. His mother, Eliza French Lollar, was not yet 33 when her husband David Lollar II died on January 2, 1858, so soon after their return. Apparently Eliza and her son (always known as Bruce) went immediately to live on the 100 acres in Union Township on the Lebanon-South Lebanon Road which she was to inherit from her father, Samuel French, two years later. Although the mother and small son lived alone they probably had a girl to help in the house and there surely had to be hired men to farm the acreage there on The Ridge. Comparatively, Bruce was a young man of means, having inherited his father's share of his Grandfather Moses' estate, and his father's share of the sale of David's Land, as well as his father's estate (notably the 80 acres of wild land and one town lot in Washington, Iowa) . In any event, legal regulations required that a minor have a bonded guardian and manager of any estate. In compliance with these regulations, on January 27, 1861, the Judge of the Probate Court of Warren County appointed Eliza Lollar, Samuel S. French (Eliza's half brother) and J. S. Totten, (neighbor who lived just up the road near The Ridge School House, and prominent public servant in many capacities), as Bruce's guardians. Then in 1866 the same Court declared this arrangements "void and of no effect," and a new guardian took over. No reason for this action was specified but it may have had to do with the fact that Eliza, on January 17, 1865, married William Tingle, about whom we shall hear much more as our story progresses. The new guardian appointed on February 20, 1866, was Allison L. Scott, another of the close connections of the Wilson and Lollar families which we noted earlier, Allison Scott being the husband of Elizabeth, Robert Wilson's only daughter. When Allison Scott took over the account he wrote: "He owns about 80 acres of wild land in the state of Iowa which does not probably exceed $800 in value and which produces no rents and profits- Also a town lot in Washington, Iowa, which is vacant, produces nothing and which will not probably exceed $200 in value. The mother has a dower interest in said realty of l/3 of the value." Allison Scott handled the affairs of Bruce's estate until August 28, 1875, Bruce having become 21 years of age on August 18. His Guardian's closing statement makes for very interesting reading: From 1866 to 1875 a long list of income items includes interest on mortgages and notes held in Bruce's account for various people, William and Cynthia Kelley Miner, whose father owned property behind Eliza's farm; John Cooper, who was postmaster of South Lebanon in 1871 (the post office's name just having been changed from Deerfield). And largest of all, William and Eliza Tingle themselves, a note of $693 with interest paid off at the time of the settlement. The expense items were almost all tax bills on the Iowa land. Now let us complete the story of the Iowa land before going back to The Ridge: On October 15, 1875, the 80 acres of wild land was sold to W. J. Lewis for $3,000. Signatures of the sellers, notarized in Warren County, Ohio were Eliza Tingle, Robert B. Lollar and William Tingle. On February 20, 1880, the town lot was sold for $190. The signatures this time included Kittie V. Lollar, because Bruce had married Kittie Van Jameson on December 31, 1879. Bruce was 25 when he married Kittie, daughter of Joseph and Sarah Ann Brown Jameson, early pioneers who came to Warren County by the way of Greene County. When Kittie was born on January 3, 1857, Joseph Jameson was superintendent of the County Infirmary on the south edge of Lebanon, so Kittie was probably born there. Family lore says that the "Van" in Kittie's name was after Dr. VanHarlingen, who was their doctor. In 1858 Kittie's father left his job at the Infirmary and bought a farm on the east side of The Ridge Road, back a long lane across from the Lollar Home Place. Bruce and Kittie probably went to school together at The Ridge one-room school as very young children. Kittie was 8 and Bruce wa 11 when the Jameson family moved from The Ridge. Kittie graduated from Lebanon Normal School and taught at The Ridge, Greentree and The Orphans Home schools. Her small autograph book from Normal School days filled with flowery avowals of friendship in elaborate Spencerian penmanship still exists. One of them was addressed to "Kitsey Witsey," a term I cannot begin to imagine in connection with the quiet little grandmother I knew 50 or 60 years later. Bruce and Kittie were married by a Minister of the Gospel, J. P. Sprowls, affidavit as to ages was signed by William Tingle. A small item in a newspaper of the time said "A large number of friends assembled at the residence of the bride's parents on the day of the wedding. A grand reception will be given the bridal party at Wm. Tingle's residence on New Year's Day." (Such events were called "infairs" and were said sometimes to be "uproarious.") Three years prior to his marriage to Kittie, Bruce had purchased a home from William E. Snook immediately to the north of the Lollar family farm. He paid $3,800 for 2/3 acres (undoubtedly the part with the house and other buildings) and $3,800 for 30 acres. Apparently Bruce and Kittie went immediately to his 30 acres after their marriage. The 1880 census shows William and Eliza Tingle as Family 76 and Bruce and Kittie V. Lollar as Family 77. They surely lived there through the birth of their son, Harry David Lollar, on October 16, 1885, although they did go to live at the home place with Eliza French Lolllar Tingle after William Tingle died on September 6, 1894 But that's getting far ahead of our story. We have first to meet and learn about William Tingle who married Eliza French Lollar on January 17, 1865. William Tingle was born in Warren County on October 13, 1820. His father was Samuel Parker Tingle, son of Jedediah Tingle, one of the most respected early settlers in the Lebanon area. Samuel Parker Tingle was an itinerate preacher and his journeys in ministering to wide-spread congregations took him north into Ohio, to Lima, in Allen County, where he and his family became early settlers. While living in Allen County, William was married two times, first to Eliza Jane Gillespy and second to Mary Ann Bates. Between the two marriages he had three or four children. While he lived in Lima he was sheriff of Allen County, and also operated a kind of hotel or rooming accommodations called "Tingle House." (Could "Tingle House" listed in the census mean the Allen County jail?) It is not known just when, or why, he came back to Warren County, in fact, nothing more is known until he married Eliza in 1865. There was an earlier blood line connection between Eliza's family, the Frenches, and the Tingles when, in 1819, Amy, Jedediah Tingle's daughter, married Daniel French, Eliza's uncle. It may have been Eliza and William knew each other as children, or that mutual relatives introduced them in mature life. After William and Eliza were married he went to live with her on her farm on The Ridge, became a father to Bruce but apparently his children from his first two marriages remained in Allen County. As an occupation he went often to Cincinnati for something to do with "stock." At first it was thought that meant livestock, but it appears more logical that it was the stock market, since there was no place in Lebanon to deal in stocks and bonds. In the 1876 he began buying pieces of adjoining land to add to Eliza's original homestead. He bought pieces from Allison Scott, Samuel Burdsal, and William E. Snook, and on January 20, 1879, a whole farm, including buildings, from Malinda and John W. Roosa. That place had been the site of a notorious multiple murder case on December 26, 1864, when members of the Roosa family were killed by a hatchet murderer. Mrs. Roosa was also attacked but survived. Mr. Roosa was at the time a patient in the Dayton Lunatic Asylum but it was thought he might have escaped and committed the murder. However, it was proven that he was safely incarcerated when the murders occurred. What followed was worthy of the most outlandish murder mystery including arresting of two different suspects, two trials, one called a mistrial because of a juror, until finally one Samuel Coovert was convicted and hanged, in what some say was the only capital punishment ever carried out in Warren County. When William Tingle died on September 6, 1894, he left a will specifically " bequeathing all my estate and property both real and personal to my loved wife Eliza." However, Elizabeth J. Aungst, of Akron, Ohio, William' daughter by one of his earlier marriages came forward and petitioned that the will be set aside in favor of herself and another daughter, Mrs. Eliza Jane Marsh of Nodaway, Iowa, and two grandchildren. The Warren County Probate Court declared that the petition had no merit and Elizabeth J. Aungst withdrew it. Nevertheless, Eliza, as executrix of William's will, did award compromise settlements: $2,000 to each of the two daughters, and $1,000 each to granddaughter Lillie M. Tingle Kirk and grandson Willie C. Tingle. When Eliza French Lollar Tingle died in May, 1903, she left a will dated April 13 of that year. Some quotations from that will tell something about Eliza and her love of fine things, as well as the future of the Lollar farm on The Ridge: "I will to Harry D. Lollar, my grandson the Roosa farm, containing 225 acres, more or less, he to have the use of it during his lifetime and should he die without heirs then same is to go to the children of Mr. French, my late husband. Should Harry leave issue then the said property to go to them. I also will Harry D. my sideboard containing all my china dishes and other contents and also will him all my silver ware. She then enumerates $100 bequests to each of several persons, including: Rebecca Swanger and Phebe Lollar (sisters of her first husband David Lollar II) Joseph French and Mollie Snook ( children of her half-brother, Samuel S. French) Harry Lollar, ( her grandson), and Bruce Lollar, (her son) Also," my watch and paisley shawl I will to Eliza J. Marsh, my late husband's daughter" Eliza's will goes back to disposal of the farmland: "The farm on which I reside (the home farm) is to go to Bruce Lollar during his lifetime, and if he should die without other issue then the farm is to go to Harry D. and if he should die without issue, then the farm is to go to the French heirs. "Anna Shurts is hereby authorized to purchase material or goods to prepare my body for burial. . . I only want a few flowers, but what she buys, want them of the very best. In making my shroud I want cream merino and satin ribbon (cream) of the very best. I do hereby appoint my friend Geo. W. Carey executor." George W. Carey, who did go on and execute the will, was an insurance agent in Lebanon, who had previously had mercantile establishments and served in various capacities of respect in local civic and government organizations Eliza is buried in the Lebanon Cemetery between her two husbands, David Lollar on the left and William Tingle on the right. Eliza's son, Robert Bruce Lollar, lived just 8 years longer than his mother did. He was 57 when he died on June 15, 1911, leaving his widow, Kittie, and his son, Harry David, at the Home Place of the Lollar Farm on The Ridge, having leased his own 34.59 acres to Stephen R. Murphy on December 29, 1900, when little Harry was 5 years old. © 2006 Katherine Rowland. All rights reserved

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 1850 United States Federal Census
   Union Twp, Warren, OH; District 149 27 Jul 1850, 26 May 2006.
2.   Katherine Rowland. www.katherinelollarrowland.com
   THE LOLLARS and THE LAND; Chapter 5, 5 Jun 2006.