Lorenzo Dow and Elvira Voss

Lorenzo Dow Voss was a younger brother of my great-great-grandfather, William Voss. Lorenzo lived most of his adult life in Lawrence county, Indiana. He and William have adjacent entries in the 1850 U.S. census in Perry township, near Springville. I started this page with little more information than what I found in Lorenzo's biography, but was fascinated with the story of this bearded Justice of the Peace. I soon made contact with some of his descendants who were eager to supply more information. Several of his children moved in South Dakota, which was then a part of the Dakota Territory, in the 1880s. Lorenzo's descendants later scattered to all parts of the country, including Washington and Alaska.

Since the Vosses were Methodists, Lorenzo was undoubtedly named for Lorenzo Dow, a flamboyant and eccentric Methodist preacher of the early 19th Century. To illustrate the influence which Dow must have had in the early days of Indiana, we'll include the following, which appeared in the 12 May 1916 issue of the Bloomington Evening World during the pageant celebrating Indiana's centennial:

The scene opens with a revival meeting led by the famous Rev. Lorenzo Dow. The fervid religious spirit of those days is shown by crowds of kneeling, shouting, weeping and hysterical men and women. Some ribald scoffers are converted in the old time manner. A herd of cattle driven through the street interrupts the meeting.

Lorenzo Voss' biography below was transcribed from History of Lawrence, Orange and Washington Co.'s, Indiana, Goodspeed Bros. and Co., 1884, and is available on the Lawrence County, IN, biography site. His photo, and Elvira's, were sent to us by Jodie Kozloff, who has information on several generations of Lorenzo's descendants. She has dozens of photos of Lorenzo and his descendants at her myfamily.com site. Please contact Jodie for an invitation. It is our guess, after seeing his picture, that Lorenzo Dow Voss must have been every bit as flamboyant as the man for whom he was named!

LORENZO DOW VOSS, Justice of the Peace, is the youngest of six sons born to Clement and May Voss, whose maiden name was Britton. The birth of Mr. Voss occurred May 27, 1818, in Lee County, Va. His father was born in Delaware, and his mother was of North Carolina nativity.

This family is of German-Welsh lineage. In 1816 his parents emigrated from North Carolina to Virginia, where they remained a short time, and then removed to Grainger County, Tenn., and there the family lived until 1833, when they removed to Monroe County, Ind. His father died in 1862 in Owen County. In 1839 the subject of this brief sketch came to Lawrence County and settled in Springville, and immediately engaged in cabinet-making, at which he continued until 1856 when he removed to his present place of residence, one mile and a half south-east of the town, which was so named because of its numerous springs.

Mr. Voss was in 1841 united in marriage to Miss Elvira Wilson, a native of North Carolina, daughter of James and Mary Wilson, whose maiden name was Campbell. When Mrs. Voss was about fourteen years of age she came with her parents to Owen County, Ind., and this union was blessed with twelve children, and those that are living are as follows:

• Badora A.,
• Esther B.,
• Amon C.,
• Ellington T.,
• William E.,
• Arthur C.,
• Emery B. and
• Lorenzo C.

By occupation our subject is a farmer and stock-raiser. He now owns 200 acres of fairly well improved land. Mr. Voss is an earnest Republican, and cast his first Presidential vote for Harrison. In 1870 he was elected Justice of the Peace for Perry Township, was re-elected in 1878, and 1884 was re-elected again. In 1883 he held the same office by appointment. He was in the Quartermaster's service during the late war for fifteen months. Mr. and Mrs. Voss are leading members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and are among the prominent people of Lawrence County.

According to Lorenzo's g-g-g-granddaughter, Jodie Kozloff, Lorenzo died 31 July 1888 in Bedford, IN, and Elvira died 30 October 1888, also in Bedford. We don't know where Lorenzo and Elvira are buried. There are several Wilsons buried in the Methodist cemetery at Springville. Elvira is listed in the biography and in two censuses as born in North Carolina, but in the 1880 census as born in Indiana to parents from North Carolina.

Children. Jodie supplied the following list of Lorenzo's children and their birth dates, which another cousin had transcribed from his family Bible:

1. Badora A. Voss, born 19 Mar 1842. Name also spelled Badoura and Bedora.^1,2
2. Esther B. Voss, born 15 Feb 1844. Name usually spelled Hester, including by Hester herself.^1,3
3. Herschel W. Voss, born 16 Apr 1846, died in childhood. Name also spelled Harchel. A photo of Herschel's very weathered grave stone appears in our Springville cemetery scrapbook.
4. Amon Clement Voss, born 8 Jun 1848, died 13 Nov 1922. Sometimes listed erroneously as Amos.¹
5. Ellington Tally Voss, born 15 Oct 1850. Also known as Tally.^3,4
6. William Ezra Voss, born 20 Dec 1852. Also known as Ezra.³
7. Cornelia Voss, born 13 Feb 1854, died in childhood.
8. John Voss, born 18 Jan 1856, died in childhood.
9. Emery Britton Voss, born 18 May 1858, died 11 Feb 1939.³
10. Campbell Voss, born 8 Nov 1861, died 28 Jan 1931. Also known as Cammel, or Lorenzo Campbell Voss.³
11. Viola Voss, born 4 Dec 1862, died in childhood.
12. Effie Voss, born 27 Jan 1864, died in childhood.

There are some obvious differences between the lists given above, as well as conflicts between the biography, family Bible and other sources which should be mentioned.

• The 1884 biography says a total of twelve children were born to this couple. The Bible also lists twelve names, but the names don't agree.
• The biography lists a Lorenzo C. Voss, but no such child is listed in the Bible. We believe this is the Lorenzo Campbell Voss who became a doctor in Columbus, Nebraska. This person's birth dates differ between the Bible, his census entries and his obituary!
• The biography lists an Arthur C. Voss, but no such child appears in the Bible. However, there are 1870 and 1880 census entries for Otherl and Othraiel, respectively, who would have been born around 1864 to 1866. See the photo below, which was labelled Othnaiel. There is also the newspaper article describing the tragic death of a 22-year-old Arthur Voss in 1887. Could he be a thirteenth child? Or could his entry in the Bible have been mis-transcribed as Viola or Effie? We hope Jodie will be able to obtain at least a photocopy of the Bible list. (Does the Bible contain lists of deaths and marriages? These other lists could contain helpful information.)
• The names in the biography may not be listed in correct birth order.

The confusion is compounded by an obituary which was found in the same Bible. Jodie writes:

There is also an obit of Lorenzo C. Voss - born in Springfield, IN on 10/18/1862. There seems to be some discrepancy in dates. He was a doctor in Columbus [,Nebraska]. He married Carrie Todd of Holton, Kansas. He's also buried there. It mentioned he had two brothers, T. S. Voss of Millard, South Dakota and Emery Voss of Seattle. He was 68 years of age.

Is this a child who was left out of the Bible? The birth date is impossible if the other children's dates were recorded in the Bible correctly. Could the T. S. Voss actually be Ellington Tally Voss, who did indeed move to South Dakota some time in the 1880s, and whose name sometimes appears as T. E. Voss? Emery did indeed move to the Seattle area. If this Lorenzo is really Lorenzo Dow Voss' son, it's more likely he was born near Springville like his siblings, rather than Springfield, which is located on the Wabash River, near Evansville.

Descendants. We will present here some of the available information on Lorenzo and Elvira Voss' children and grandchildren, who scattered to various parts of the United States. Amon, Ellington, William and Emery all moved to Faulk County, South Dakota, where they obtained land patents between 1889 and 1894. Jodie kindly permitted us to copy several of their photos, most of which date back well into the 19th Century, from her site.

Badora Voss (1842-?), was married first to a Mr. Hardwick, about whom we have no information. They had a daughter:

• Elizabeth "Lizzie" Hardwick, born about 1859.

Badora later married James Day, a butcher 19 years her senior, with whom she was recorded in the 1870 census along with four children who were likely James' by a previous marriage. Badora was listed as a widow in the 1880 census. She was working as a dressmaker and Lizzie was living with her.

Badora

Hester Voss (1844-?) married William Carson, who was 34 years older than she. They had a son:

• William E. Carson, born about 1874 in Indiana.

In the 1880 census, Hester was enumerated in Owen county, IN, with her husband and son. She apparently also married a Mr. Haynes. According to Jodie: "On a photo of herself, Hester wrote on the back, 'Compliments of H. B. Haynes'."

Hester

Amon Clement Voss (1848-1922) married Sarah Frances "Sally" Hawkins, who was born 13 May 1852 in Lawrence county, IN. They had the following children:

1. John Bunyon Voss, born 27 Mar 1870 in Springville, Indiana, died 21 Jul 1887, when struck by lightning near Orient, SD.
2. Mary Viola Voss, born 14 Apr 1873 in Dallas county, MO.
3. Lorenzo Alexander Voss, born 4 Jun 1876 in Indiana, died 30 Aug 1937, in Gettysburg, SD.
4. Charles Siegel Voss, born 11 Sep 1880 in Indiana, died 29 Aug 1972, in Ogden, UT.
5. Ezra Earl Voss, born 20 Dec 1883 in Linton, IN, died 3 Jul 1963.
6. Inez Isis Voss, born 24 Oct 1887 in Faulk county, SD, died 16 Jul 1923 in Rochester, MN.
7. Roy Edgar Voss, born 12 Mar 1894 in Faulk county, SD, died 30 Dec 1926 in Huron, SD.

The three sons who were still living in 1931 are mentioned in their uncle Lorenzo's probate records.

In the 1870 census, Amon and Sally were recorded in Springville, on the page before Lorenzo and Elvira. They were still in Lawrence county for the 1880 census, then moved to South Dakota during the 1880s. Most of this family remained in South Dakota for several decades. In the 1920 census we located:

• Amon and Sally
• Lorenzo
• Charles
• Ezra, listed as Earl E., a minister in Iowa
• Roy

Amon, Roy Edgar and Sally (Hawkins) Voss

Amon and Sally

Amon and Sally, standing behind Elvira and Lorenzo Voss

Ellington Tally Voss (1850-?), was still single and living with his parents in Indiana at the time of the 1880 census, but about 1884 he married Elizabeth Duncan, who was born March 1864 in Indiana, and moved to the Dakota Territory with her. They were enumerated in the 1900 census and 1920 census in Faulk county, SD, not far from Amon and Sally's families. At the time of his brother Lorenzo's death in 1931, Ellington was reported to be living in Millard, SD. Ellington and Elizabeth had the following children, all born in South Dakota:

1. Alma D. Voss, born 17 Aug 1884, or August 1885.⁵
2. Bertha E. Voss, born 13 Oct 1887, or October 1888.⁵
3. Leona (or Lena) Estelle Voss, born 10 Oct 1889, or October 1890.⁵
4. Dove W. Voss, born September 1892.

Rev. William Ezra Voss (1852-?), a Presbyterian minister, accompanied his brothers to South Dakota, but also lived in Missouri, then Oklahoma. About 1885, he married a woman named Alice, who was born about 1860 in Missouri. They had six children, of whom five survived to adulthood. Their last three children were:

• William L. Voss, born about 1891 in MO.
• Ernest W. Voss, born about 1893 in MO.
• Leslie M. Voss, born about 1899 in OK.

All three sons, and possibly two earlier daughters, are mentioned in their uncle Lorenzo's probate records. William and Alice were enumerated in El Reno, a suburb of Oklahoma City, in the 1910 and 1920 censuses.

Emery Britton Voss (1858-1939) married Harriet Elbina "Hattie" Kelso, who was born 22 Jul 1864 in Greencastle, IN. They were married 16 Sep 1885 in Newpoint, IN. Emery and Hattie had the following children, all possibly born in Lawrence county:

1. Jessie Alice Voss, born 29 Aug 1886,⁵ died 29 Mar 1965 in Auburn, WA.
2. Leslie Grace Voss, born 25 Jun 1888.
3. Jodie Kozloff's great-grandfather, Clarence Emery Voss, born 25 Jun 1890, died 21 Apr 1968 in Portland, OR.
4. Lawrence Erwin Voss, born 16 Oct 1900, died 11 Dec 1900 in Lawrence county.

Jodie says that Hattie mentions losing "...our first baby girl at six weeks old..." and wonders if this could be Jessie's twin. Emery joined his brothers in South Dakota for awhile, since Hattie mentions a trip there, "driving an ox team". As mentioned in his obituary below, he arrived in Washington in 1907. In the 1920 census we located:

• Emery and Hattie
• Clarence

Emery

Hattie

Jodie sent us Emery's obituary, from the Auburn Globe News of Friday, 10 Feb 1939:

Voss-- Funeral services will be held Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Algona Methodist church for Emery B. Voss, 80, who died of a heart ailment Tuesday at his home in Algona. Scott's funeral home have charge of funeral arrangements. Rev. Faulkner of Sumner, assisted by Rev. McConnell, will conduct the services and burial will be made at the Sumner cemetery.

Voss was born in Springville, Indiana, May 18, 1858. His boyhood was spent in Indiana and his marriage to Hattie Kelso took place Sept. 16, 1885. They came to Washington in 1907 and settled in Algona the following year. He was one of the founders of the Methodist church there and has been a member for 31 years.

Surviving are his widow, Hattie Voss, a son, Clarence, both of Algona; two daughters, Jessie Ellis, Russel, Pennsylvania, and Grace Ogan, Soap Lake and adopted son, Dale of Cama; and adopted daughter, Mrs. J.L. Bryan, San Pedro, California; 18 grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren.

Jodie has Emery and Hattie's memorial books which include lists of people attending their funerals and several beautiful tributes. She also has Emery and Hattie's King county, WA, death certificates, which show Emery's dates as "05/18/1858 to 02/07/1939" and Hattie's as "07/22/1864 to 04/14/1947". Before Hattie's death, she entrusted her family photo albums to her daughter Jessie, writing:

Dear, we have decided to send you these pictures and the old album, to keep and it will be your birthday gift from us. I confess some of them seemed very dear when it came to sending them away. But we looked at it in this way. We can't possibly be here many years to care for them. You are the only one of our children who seems to care for anything of the kind. So to your care we jointly commend them...

How well I remember that trip in South Dakota, your aunt Bettie along [Ellington's wife?], dad driving an ox team for the first (and only) time. What fun we had...

We're all grateful to people like Hattie who are determined to pass their family treasures on to those who might appreciate them. Jodie has many more of these photos which she will be pleased to show anybody who might be interested.

Dr. Lorenzo Campbell Voss (1862-1931). We could find no listing anywhere in the 1880 census for this son, who would have been about 18 years old at the time. Could he have been overlooked while away at college? There is, however, a "Lorenzo Voss" listed among the 1888 graduates of the Homeopathic Medical College of Missouri, located at Saint Louis, and a Dr. Voss is listed in U. S. censuses in Columbus, Platte county, Nebraska:

• 1900 - Dr. Lorenzo Voss, 37 years old, born Nov 1862.
• 1910 - Dr. Campbell L. Voss, 47 years old.
• 1920 - Dr. Lorenzo O. [?] Voss, 58 years old.

Hattie wrote Uncle Cammel on this photo

Quite a few mentions of Dr. Voss were found at the Platte county, NE, RootsWeb site. There were some news items describing his medical assistance to various people, as well as several stories which might be of biographical interest, starting with the following item from the Columbus Journal for 4 November 1891:

MARRIED

VOSS-TODD--At Holton, Kansas, Oct. 29, at 3 p.m., by Rev. D. Tood, Dr. H.C. Voss of this city, and Miss Carrie B. Todd of Holton.

The bride we do not know personally, but the groom is a prominent physician of this city.

Mr. and Mrs. Voss will be at home after this week, corner Seventeenth street and Nebraska avenue. The Journal bids Mrs. Voss a hearty welcome and wishes them all the happiness this world affords.

The Columbus Journal for 5 October 1904 reports:

Dr. L.C. Voss returned home last evening from his visit to the St. Louis exposition. Mrs. Voss who accompanied him, has gone to Holton, Kansas, to visit her relatives, where she will remain about ten days.

From a lodge brother's obituary, we learn that Dr. L.C. Voss was chief of the "Columbus branch of the order of Ben Hur."

Hoffhine's Columbus City Directory listed Lorenzo and Carrie as follows:

The following entries appeared in the Platte county index to probate files:

There is quite a lot of information on him and other Vosses in Dr. Campbell's probate record, which states that "Lorenzo C. Voss, late of Columbus in the County of Platte, departed this life at Columbus in the County of Platte, State of Nebraska, on the 28th day of January, A. D. 1931 intestate..." The record lists the "heirs at law of said deceased, and other persons interested in said estate as follows:"

Dr. Voss was apparently a kind and forgiving businessman since an inventory of his estate included a list of some $7,900 in accounts receivable from more than 100 people, with the comment: "Many of these accounts are worthless and the net value is difficult to estimate." He owned two cars, a 1927 Oldsmobile and a 1926 Willys-Knight, a collection of worthless deeds and stocks and "three pair of silver fox" on a ranch in New Mexico. All of his heirs were eventually identified as follows, with our guesses at their identities in green:

Arthur C. Voss (1864?-1887). The following article, describing the tragic death of Arthur Voss, was found on page 2 of the 11 May 1887 issue of the Bloomington Republican Progress:

Bedford, Ind., May 2--William Evans,⁶ a young man 20 years old, accidentally killed Arthur Voss last night in Springville, a little town nine miles west of here. The facts are as follows: several of the boys started out after church to have a time by rocking the out houses of the citizens of the place.

William Evans was on his way home, and meeting two gentlemen on the street who were listening to the noise, he said to them: "I will go to the alley and fire my revolver off to scare them, and when they run by you can see who they are."

He went to the mouth of the alley and fired his revolver four times, after which he returned to the men on the street and said "They all ran but one."

It was not long before his brother came running up and said, "You killed Arthur Voss."

Evans became wild with grief and the revolver had to be taken away from him to keep him from killing himself.

Voss is 22 years old and was the boon companion of the man who killed him. The coroner's verdict was in accordance with the above facts.

Could this be Arthur Voss? Hattie wrote under this picture: Othneil Clarence "Othie" Voss

This young man is almost certainly Lorenzo and Elvira's son, although his name is certainly spelled strangely in both censuses. A tragedy like this may have been gossiped about (or just hushed up) for several generations. If any of our Voss cousins can shed any light on this story or the discrepancies in his name and age as given in various sources, let us hear from you!