Eliza Ann (Ross) Birch (1838)

Born 6 Apr 1838 in West Virginia, United States

Ancestors

Wife of John Allen Birch — married 15 Sep 1857 in Guernsey, Ohio, United States

Descendants

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Biography

Sources

• "Ohio Marriages, 1800-1958," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XDNH-JZX : 10 February 2018), John A. Birch and Eliza A. Ross, 15 Sep 1857; citing Guernsey,Ohio, reference ; FHL microfilm 0894935 V. A-C.

. Eliza Ann ROSS(65) (15)(66) (photo) was born on 6 Apr 1838 in Mononglia Co., WV. ["near Morgantown;" Birch family bible confirms this date.] She died on 13 Feb 1929 in Corning, Tehama Co., CA. [This death date is recorded in the Birch family bible and adds that she died "aged 90 yrs and 10 months.] She was buried in Orland, Glenn Co., CA. Moved from OH to Flora, Ill, shortly after marriage. "In 1871 Eliza Ann (Ross) Birch and her sister Harriet Marie (Ross) Birch (sisters married brothers) with their respective families, moved to California over the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads. They settled in Colusa County, California, but in the part which afterward became Glenn County. They took up homesteads, about 5 and 7 miles respectively, south by east of where the town of Orland now stands. Eliza Ann and John Allen Birch, later, moved (in 1890) to Chico, California where they lived the remainder of their lives." "I (Claire) remember her as grandpa's mother. The first family reunion I went to was in their back yard in Chico. She was a very stern woman. I never saw her smile. She was the one who took care of Mom (Doris) when her mother was gone to have an operation. When she bent down on the floor to get something under the sink, Mom jumped on her back and hit her on the head with a frying pan. Grandpa had just come in and saw her do it. He then gave her the only spanking she ever had. She (Mom) said she got her cat, went up into the hayloft of the barn and cried thinking no one loved her any more." (Claire) According to LDS soundex records, she is listed with her family in the 1880 census (Orland, CA) with the first name of "Elizabeth," age 40, and birthplace of "Virginia." Her obituary from the Orland Unit, Friday, February 15, 1929, states: "Mrs. E. A. Birch died at the home of her son, L. R. Birch, in Corning, on Wednesday morning, after an illness of only a few weeks. She had reached the ripe old age of 90 years and 10 months. Mrs. Birch, whose maiden name was Eliza Anna Ross, was born in West Virginia. When but a girl she moved with her parents to Ohio, and there in her young womanhood she met and was wooed by Mr. Birch. With him she moved to Illinois, where they lived, several of their children being born in that state, till the year 1871, when they came to California. Their home for many years was on a ranch southeast of Orland. The Birch home was the center of social and religious activity for a large community. It was in their home that the first Methodist church in this part of the country was organized, and where services were held during the period before the church was able to erect a building for the purpose. Mr. and Mrs. Birch were the mainstay of the religious life of the neighborhood, and later, moving into Orland in 1886, they were among the pioneers of the Orland Methodist church. In 1892 Mr. and Mrs. Birch moved to Chico, where they lived till separated a little more than a year ago by the death of the husband. Mrs. Birch retained her faculties in the face of approaching age, taking the same keen interest in church and family and political matters at ninety that she did at twenty. She remembered the days of President Pierce, and the historic visit of commodore Perry to Japan, and her last vote was cast last November for Herbert Hoover. Her church activity was limited during the last few years only by her physical frailty. Six children are left to mourn her loss: Mrs. J. L. Ingraham of Chico, Mrs. Minnie McKaig of Corning, L. R. Birch of Corning, J. W. Birch of Orland, F. C. Birch of Marshfield, Oregon, and Mrs. Myrtle Gould of Blythe, California. There are also nineteen (someone crossed this number out and inserted "16") grandchildren and thirty one (someone crossed this number out and inserted "29") great-grandchildren. The funeral was held from the Orland Methodist church yesterday afternoon, the services being conducted by Rev. N. A. Christensen, pastor of the Chico Methodist church, of which body Mrs. Birch had been a member for the past thirty years. The remains were interred beside those of her husband in the Odd Fellows cemetery."

source: http://www.wheelerfolk.org/keithgen/birch~19.jpg