Celia Elizabeth (Draper) Matten (1847 - 1897)

Born 4 Sep 1847 in Vandalia, Jasper, Iowa, United States

Ancestors

Wife of David Matten — married 6 Sep 1865 in Dawson, Richardson, Nebraska, United States

Descendants

Died 21 Oct 1897 at age 50 in Lincoln, Lancaster, Nebraska, United States [uncertain]

Problems/Questions Profile manager: David Draper [send private message]

Biography

Cecilia Elizabeth Draper Matten^[1][2]

BIRTH 4 Sep 1847 Iowa, USA

MARRIAGE 1865 to David Matten^[3] (1836–1897)

CHILDREN

• Infant Daughter Matten
• Elmer Ellsworth Matten 1866–1945
• Nellie Matten Brandow 1870–1947
• Maud R. Matten Lynch 1873–1927

DEATH 21 Oct 1897 (aged 50) Richardson County, Nebraska, USA

BURIAL Starr Cemetery Rural Humboldt, Richardson County, Nebraska, USA

Celia Elizabeth Draper was born in the late summer of 1847, near Indianapolis, Indiana, on Sept 4. She was the 2nd daughter of Ira Draper and Celia Means Draper, and the fifth child of the 11 children that Ira and Celia would have, that would reach maturity.

Around age 10, she moved with her family to the Des Moines, Iowa area where her parents farmed and would plant family roots. But that changed in an instant when Celia Elizabeth was 17 years old. Her family had been helping runaway slaves. They were being hidden on her parents farm during the day, then moved farther north in the cover of darkness at night.

The violent pro-slavery activists found out what the family was up to, and put a bounty on her father, and wanted him dead or alive. (see biography of Ira Draper They would have slaughtered the family.

Grabbing only essentials, they left for Nebraska. They were not alone. The Deweese family also left abruptly with them. They too were most likely involved in this activity. The family history states they (Draper and Deweese) returned to Iowa, making two trips, evidently to retrieve their livestock and possessions. Still living in Iowa were Draper and Means family members that could look after their belongings when they escaped.

A year later, in 1865, Celia Elizabeth married David Matten and lived "on a Matten farm on the Nemaha (river) then moved on the old home place west of Draper Farm", as it states word for word on page 8 of the Draper Family History.

Starr Cemetery was part of Draper Farm. Elizabeth's father, Ira Dillingham Draper donated an acre of land to create the cemetery. A picture looking to the west of Starr Cemetery is in the Ira Draper biography. If their farm house was still there, you would see it in that picture. The house is gone, but the landscape looks exactly the same, except for the power lines, as it did in the 1860's

They had six children, of whom five reached maturity. Celia Elizabeth had a "cancerous growth removed from her right cheek, and later developed stomach cancer" (quoted from the history). Four months after her husband, David, died, she passed away on Thursday, October 27th in 1897 at her daughter Nellie's home, probably in Lincoln, Nebraska. Her youngest son was only 11. Her other children were much older and some already married when she passed.

There is a Matten tombstone in Starr Cemetery, belonging to Maria Jane Ely Matten born February 14, 1840 to December 24, 1862, age 22. There is a spelling problem. The grave stone is spelled Mattin, while Find A Grave spells it Matten. The Draper Family history also spells it Matten.

The time period suggests that this is a sister or cousin of David Matten, Celia Elizabeth Matten's husband, whose birth was estimated in 1847.

Something else we are struggling with is that Starr Cemetery (Draper Cemetery back then) was not established in 1862. The first to be laid to rest in that cemetery were Jasper Draper who died in 1867, and then the body of his brother Lewis Draper was moved from Iliff Cemetery South/East of Dawson, Nebraska, and buried next to his brother. It is possible that the body of Maria Jane Ely Mattin/Matten was moved to Starr Cemetery.

There are some mysteries to be solved in this "Matten/Mattin Matter" !

David and Celia Elizabeth Matten's final resting place is not known to me, Dave Draper at the time of this entry, 9/6/3031. Celia could be buried in Lincoln, Nebraska as she spent her last days with her daughter Nellie Matten Brandow.

Sources

1. ↑ Find A Grave https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/43523296/cecilia-elizabeth-matten
2. ↑ History of the Draper Family by Mabelle Estella (Draper) Hummel
3. ↑ Find A Grave https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/43523322/david-matten