Stephen Tibbetts Leighton (1839 - 1914)

Born 6 Feb 1839 in Parkman, Piscataquis, Maine, United States

Descendants

Died 15 Apr 1914 at age 75 in Iowa City, Johnson, Iowa, United States

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Biography

Stephen Tibbetts was the 2nd of seven. children born to Isaac Leighton and Permelia Lancaster. His middle name is presumed to be his paternal grandmother's maiden name.

His siblings: Charlotte Bradford, Mariam Jordan, Lyman ( DY), Alice Jeanette, Ezra Lancaster ( DY ) and Delphina Ann.

He traveled with his parents and sister Charlotte to Cattaraugus County, New York, where they lived for a time, moving on to Washington County, Iowa in the mid 1840s. There is a story that they made the trip to Iowa via the Ohio River, and Stephen, only 3, fell overboard and was saved by his 5 year old sister, Charlotte. The 1850 Census shows them in Washington County, Iowa and in Lime Creek township ( same county ) in the 1856 and 1869 census records.

Civil War : Stephen served from September 24, 1861 to July 17, 1865 in Company C, 11th Iowa Regiment, taking part in battles at Shiloh, Vicksburg and Atlanta and in Sherman's march through Georgia. During this time, he " recieved a wound from a spent ball, striking him in the temple...lodging under the scalp." The ball was removed and given to his father as a war relic and Stephen rejoined his regiment.

After his military discharge, Stephen became a farmer and stock-raiser and farmed 80 acres of the land his father originally owned in Lime Creek Township. In 1879 he took up 160 acres in South Dakota, He intended to settle there, even moving his family there, but the ill-health and eventual death of his father brought him back to Washington County where he lived out the rest of his days.

On November 12, 1873, Stephen married Jane Wellman, whose father donated the land on which the town of Wellman, Iowa was founded. They had eight children. Elmer Allen, Esther Inez, Walter Lane, Wilbur Stephen, Isaac Wellman, Morris Morgan, Golda Era and Lewis Lancaster. At least two of the children, Morris and Golda, were very interested in genealogy and helped other family members to trace their history.

Sources

• From " A History of Washington County, Iowa "
• Findagrave.com # 63632926 by Gayle on Jan 2, 2011
• Iowa Marriages Records 1889-1937
• "United States Census, 1910," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MGMZ-XLW : accessed 16 October 2018), Stephen T Leighton, Iowa Ward 4, Johnson, Iowa, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) ED 90, sheet 7B, family 148, NARA microfilm publication T624 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1982), roll 408; FHL microfilm 1,374,421.
• "Iowa, Armed Forces Grave Registrations, ca. 1835-1998," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2QV-PQY1 : 11 February 2019), Isaac Leighton in entry for Stephen Tibbett Leighton, 15 Apr 1914; citing Iowa City, Johnson, Iowa, United States, The State Historical Society of Iowa, Des Moines.; FHL microfilm 2,196,070.