Reuben and Nancy Lunsford have not been found in the 1850 census, and there may have been more Lunsford children not yet accounted for. They probably wed in Virginia about 1833.
The places of birth of their children - some in Augusta County, Virginia, others in counties in West Virginia - suggests the family moved about a good bit within the region. In 1860 Reuben and Nancy, together with children Ellen, Martha, Lucy, Napoleon and Alice, were residing in Lawrence County, Ohio. Reuben is listed as a farmer with personal property valued at $300.
The 1870 census finds Reuben and Nancy, with daughter Alice and young son William, in Stewart County, Tennessee. Reuben was working as a farm laborer. Residing nearby are daughter Martha and her husband Robert Dalton. By this time all of the other known Lunsford daughters had settled with their husbands in Minnesota.
In 1880 Reuben and Nancy were in Eddyville, Lyon County, Kentucky, with daughter Alice. Daughter Martha and son-in-law Robert Dalton are living next door. The census shows Nancy's father was born in Ireland.
The Minnesota state census of 1885 shows Reuben, Nancy and Alice Lunsford in Collinwood, Meeker County, Minnesota, near eldest daughter Elizabeth and son-in-law Matt DeLong.
Evidently the Lunsfords returned to Lyon County, Kentucky, to live out their final years. After more than fifty years together, they died just three months apart.
Daughter Alice was in Collinwood in 1895 but returned to Kentucky where she is found in the 1900 census, residing with friends on Hawthorne Street in Kuttawa. She never married, and is buried near her parents. Inscription:
Father let thy grace ... That we may meet ...
Burial: Kuttawa Cemetery Kuttawa Lyon County Kentucky, USA
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Featured National Park champion connections: Reuben is 13 degrees from Theodore Roosevelt, 22 degrees from Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, 17 degrees from George Catlin, 14 degrees from Marjory Douglas, 18 degrees from Sueko Embrey, 17 degrees from George Grinnell, 27 degrees from Anton Kröller, 18 degrees from Stephen Mather, 24 degrees from Kara McKean, 17 degrees from John Muir, 17 degrees from Victoria Hanover and 22 degrees from Charles Young on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
L > Lunsford > Reuben L Lunsford
Categories: Kuttawa Cemetery, Kuttawa, Kentucky