Introduction | Biographical Sketch | Scope and Content | Series Description | Inventory

Introduction

The Marilyn Clay Family Papers date from 1862 to 1904. The lives and activities of members of the families are reflected in a half linear foot of photocopied letters.

The papers of The Marilyn Clay Family were loaned to the Center for Archival Collections (CAC) for photocopying in 1982 through the cooperation of Marilyn Clay and Ann M. Bowers, Curator of Manuscripts of the CAC. Literary and property rights have been dedicated to the public and duplication is permitted for purposes of scholarly research. This register was prepared by Paulette J. Weiser, Graduate Assistant at the CAC and Susan Irwin.

Biographical Sketch

The Marilyn Clay Family Papers consist of correspondence from several families of which Marilyn Clay is related, but which are not directly related to one another. The family groups can be divided in the following manner; the Hannah Stevens family, the Martha Bernice Sindel and Erwin Moses Tappan family, and the Laura M. Fuller and William H. Wood family.

Hannah Stevens was born in New York State on June 5, 1837. She married her first husband, James D. Fisher in June of 1854 and had a son Joseph Irving (1856-1865) and a daughter Ida Jane in 1857. The family moved to Fulton, Ohio sometime between 1857-1860. Another son, Charles Frank was born in 1862. James enlisted in the Ohio Volunteer Infantry and served in the 67th Regiment, Co. F in 1862, and died the following year of Typhoid fever. In 1868 Hannah married William H. Scott who also served in the Civil War, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 23rd Regiment, Co. D. Hannah and William had a son Willie who died along with his father and Hannah's son Charles in 1871 of Scarlet fever. In 1873 Hannah married Ruben S. Woodring and had a daughter Laura Mae in 1874. Laura Mae later married Elwood Hallett. Daughter Ida Jane married Lewis Foster Davoll in 1876 and had two children, Zelva (1879) and Pearl (1881). Lewis operated a shingle mill and was awarded a patent for an improvement on a rotary engine which he exhibited at an "exposition" in Detroit in 1890. Both Ida and Lewis died in 1903. Hannah died in 1896 at the age of 59, followed by her husband in 1900.

Martha Bernice Sindel was born April 30, 1880 in Fulton County. She attended Fayette Normal School and married Erwin Moses Tappan in 1900. Erwin's maternal grandparents were William H. Wood and Laura M. Fuller. Erwin and Martha had three children; a daughter who died in infancy, John Herman and Mary Elizabeth. Mary Elizabeth married Murlin Elmer Falor in 1928 and they had a daughter Marilyn. Martha Bernice died in 1957 along with her husband. Marilyn Falor went on to marry Richard Louis Clay in 1948 and currently lives in Delta, Ohio.

Charts of the divisions in Marilyn Clay's family have been included with the collection for further reference.

Hannah Stevens

*These six people are buried in adjoining lots at Beulah Cemetery, Fulton County, Winameg, Ohio.

James D. Fisher

James D. Fisher was born c.1835, probably in Huron County, Ohio; married Hannah Stevens on 18 June 1854, in Huron County, Ohio. They moved to Fulton County, Ohio sometime between 1857 and 1860. On 23 October 1862, James enlisted in the Ohio Volunteer Infantry in Toledo, Ohio, and served in the 67th Regiment, Co. F, until 26 July 1863, when he died of typhoid fever in the hospital at Morris Island, South Carolina. He is buried in the cemetery there.

Nathaniel Fisher, his father, was born in Monaghan, Ireland, c.1815, and married Mary Knapp, born in New York, 1818 on 1 January 1835 in Huron County, Ohio. James D. was their oldest child. Charles, born 1843, married Helena Walton, and Ann Fisher married Thomas Lang.

William H. Scott

William H. Scott served in the Civil War, Co. D, 23rd Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He married Hannah Stevens Fisher on 14 April 1868 in Fulton County, Ohio. Their only child, Willie D. Scott, died of Scarlet fever in February 1871, at the age of 2. William H. Scott died on 16 November 1871, at the age of 32. Both are buried at Beulah Cemetery in Fulton County, Winameg, Ohio.

Reuben S. Woodring

Reuben S. Woodring was born on 4 October 1827, and was first married to Caty A. ?, who died at age 39. They had six children and owned farmland in Fulton County, Ohio. On 7 June 1873, Reuben married Hannah Stevens Fisher Scott, in Fulton County, Ohio. A daughter, Laura Mae, was born to them on 25 July 1874; she married Elwood Hallett. Reuben died on 31 March 1908 and is buried with Caty A. in Fulton Union Township Cemetery, Fulton County, Ohio.

Ida Jane Fisher Davoll

Ida Jane Fisher was born on 3 December 1857 in Huron County, Ohio and married Lewis Foster Davoll on 14 January 1876. They lived in Fulton County, Ohio, then moved to Michigan. Their children were Zelva, born c.1879, and Pearl, born 8 September 1881, in Fulton County, Ohio. Ida Jane died 22 March 1903 at age 47, and is buried at Beulah Cemetery, Winameg, Ohio.

Lewis Foster Davoll

Lewis Foster Davoll, fourth son of William Potter Davoll and Eliza Pickens Sherman, was born on 19 June 1857. After his marriage to Ida Jane Fisher on 14 January 1876, they lived for some time in Drayton Plains, Michigan, and in Boyne Falls, Michigan, where he operated a shingle mill. Davoll was awarded a United States patent for an improvement on a rotary engine which he exhibited at an "Exposition" in Detroit, in September 1890.

Martha Bernice Sindel

Martha Bernice Sindel, daughter of John Milton Sindel and Elizabeth Elliott, was born on 30 April 1880, in Fulton County, Ohio. She attended Fayette Normal School in Fayette, Ohio. On 25 November 1900, she married Erwin Moses Tappan, son of Herman Moses Tappan and Harriet Ann Wood. Three children were born to them: a daughter who died in infancy; John Herman; and Mary Elizabeth, who was born on 24 March 1909. Bernice, as she was known, was an excellent seamstress and a member of the Church of Christ. She died on 4 September 1957 and is buried at Beulah Cemetery in Fulton County, Winameg, Ohio.

(Note: I have no record that she ever became a school teacher.)

Erwin Moses Tappan

Erwin Moses Tappan, second son of Herman Moses Tappan and Harriet Ann Wood, was born on 3 February 1879, in Fulton County, Ohio. After his marriage to Martha Bernice Sindel on 25 November 1900, he continued farming in Pike Township until the family moved to Delta, Ohio around 1920. He was a carpenter, car dealer and farm implement dealer, and a member of the Church of Christ. He died on 10 February 1957 and is buried at Beulah Cemetery, Fulton County, Winameg, Ohio.

(Note: Tappan was in an automobile accident sometime in the twenties and suffered the loss of his left arm below the elbow.)

Scope and Content

The Marilyn Clay Family Papers consist of correspondence pertaining mostly to family matters and relationships. The first series of correspondence gives insight into life in the ranks of the Ohio Infantry during the Civil War, how one man felt about his situation at war and his family's situation at home. The second series of letters, though mostly concerned with the activities and health of family members, does give witness to a family squabble over an inheritance, and expresses the different ties between family members. The third series tells of a young woman's experiences at school during the turn-of-the-century. The final series, though not as informative as the preceding series, does mention the activity of family members including traveling, schooling and their health. Not all of the letters are completely legible and difficulties may arise as to the identification of family members and their relationships to one another.

Series Description

CORRESPONDENCE

FISHER--STEVENS-FISHER
1862-1863
Contains letters from James D. Fisher, member of Co. F, 67th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry, stationed in Virginia, North and South Carolina, to his wife Hannah Stevens-Fisher and their two children, Joseph Irving and Ida Jane, in Lorain County, Ohio, regarding army life, the Civil War, and the running of the household in his absence.

FISHER-DAVOLL--WOODRING FAMILY
1887-1893, 1904
Contains letters between Hannah Stevens Fisher Scott Woodring, her daughter Ida Jane Fisher-Davoll, Ida's half-sister Laura, Ida's cousin Dora Justice Knapp, Ida's Aunt Ann and Uncle Tom Lang, Aunt Lena, Uncle Gouldy Stevens and Ida's husband Lewis Foster Davoll concerning news of family members and activities, particularly about the court battle over the incompetence of Ida's paternal Grandmother Fisher and the inheritance from the estate of Grandfather Fisher.

SINDEL--TAPPAN
1896-1897
Contains letters from Martha Bernice Sindel to her future husband Erwin Moses Tappan in Winameg, Ohio about her friends, school and extracurricular activities at Fayette Normal School in Fayette, Ohio.

WOOD--WETHERBY-STINE
1903-1904
Contains letters between Maude Wetherby-Steine, her Aunt Laura Wood and cousin A. H. Stine, concerning family health and activities. campaign

Inventory

Box 1

Folder

1. Correspondence - Fisher--Stevens-Fisher, 1862-1863
2. Correspondence - Fisher-Davoll--Woodring, 1887-1893, 1904
3. Correspondence - Sindel--Tappan, 1896-1897
4. Correspondence - Wood--Wetherby-Stine, 1903-1904

MS 258 - Transcript List
Manuscripts by Subject | Civil War Collections | Family Collections