1. Elias Hinshaw (c1786-c1840) m Sarah Williams (1789-?)
 2.. Silas Hinshaw (1831-1865)
     +Melvina Ellen Ledington (1835-1918)
 3...  Elihu William Hinshaw (1856-1930) 1,2,3,4,5
 3...  Nancy Jane Hinshaw (c1857-?) 3
 3...  Daniel Ephraim Hinshaw (1858-?) 1,2,3,4,5,6
 3...  Martha Malinda Hinshaw (1862-1929) 1,2,3,5

Silas Hinshaw     [ID 02629]

Click here to switch to Ancestror Tree view:

Born Nov 7 1831, Indiana.^1,4,7  

Silas was shown in the 1850 census (Oct 2 1850), living at home with his widowed mother and siblings in Madison County, Iowa:⁷

Silas was shown in the 1854 Iowa state census (Jul 1 1854), Madison County, Iowa:⁸

He married Melvina Ellen Ledington^1,9,10 [Melvina Ellen Leddington⁹], Sep 20 1855^1,9,10, Gentry County, Missouri^1,9,10.  Melvina, daughter of Thomas Nathan Ledington & Lucinda Ann Hendrickson^2,3,11, was born Feb 28 1835^2,3,11 [about 1832⁶, Aug - 1835¹³], Cumberland Gap, Virginia^2,3,11 [Kentucky¹², Indiana⁴, Missouri⁵].  

Silas and Melvina were shown in the 1856 Iowa state census, Madison County, Iowa:¹²

By 1857 or 1858² (or more probably shortly after 1860)⁴ Silas and Melvina had settled in Platte County, Missouri, where they lived on the farm of Daniel King, an uncle by marriage to Melvina.  Daughter Martha was born on the King farm.²  

Silas and family were shown in the 1860 census, Vienna Township, Pottawatomie County, Kansas Territory:⁴

Silas Hinshaw died Jun 16 1865, Deer Spring / Deer Creek Station, Dakota Territory.^2,9,15  

Silas Hinshaw, of Leavenworth, Kansas, was a private in Company A, Eleventh Regiment, Kansas Volunteer Cavalry^15,16,17 (enlisted Aug 14 1862).¹⁵  He was killed by Indians in the line of duty.^16,18  (Deer Creek Station was along the old Oregon Trail, eighty miles west of Fort Laramie, twenty miles east of Platte Bridge Station.  In 1865 Indians had been cutting the telegraph line and killing guards, which is probably how Silas was killed).²  

On Jun 6 1866, Melvina E. Hinshaw applied for a pension as wife of Silas Hinshaw, veteran of Company A, 11th Kansas Cavalry.¹⁹  

After Silas died, Melvina moved to Kansas to live near her brothers.²  She lived in Pottawatomie County, Kansas; she was living at America City, Nehama County, Kansas when she filed for her pension.²  

Widow Melvina and family were shown in the 1870 census (Jul 12 1870), Vienna Township, Pottawatomie County, Kansas:⁵

Widow Melvina and family were shown in the 1880 census (Jun 16 1880), Mill Creek Township, Pottawatomie County, Kansas:⁶

In 1883 Melvina and family, and the Ledingtons, left Onga, Kansas and moved to Idaho, settling in the Salubria valley near Cambridge, Idaho.²  

Widow Melvina was shown in the 1900 census (Jun 12 1900), living with her brothers in Salubria Precinct, Washington County, Idaho:¹³

Melvina died Jan 9 1918, Cambridge, Washington County, Idaho; buried Salubria Cemetery, Washington County, Idaho.^2,3  

Melvina's obituary was published on Thursday, January 17, 1918 in the "Weiser American" (Weiser, Washington County, Idaho), page 5:²

Jan 9, 1918 Mrs. Melvina Hinshaw passed away Wednesday evening at 11:00.  Mrs. Hinshaw had only been ill a few days, but she was quite old.  She had not been strong all winter.  The remains was kept until Saturday morning in order for a brother to reach here from Missouri.  The funeral service were [sic] held Saturday morning at the Baptist Church by Rev. T. A... [unclear] and later laid to rest in the cemetery at Salubria.  She came to this area with her brothers and son's family in 1883.

A biographical sketch of Melvina Ledington Henshaw was included in the Kansas history "Old Settler's Tales" by F.F. Crevecoeur¹¹ (note that this sketch differs in some dates and details):

Thomas Ledington, sr., a widower, came here from Missouri in 1858 or 1859, with his children, Melvina (Mrs. Silas Henshaw, whose husband was killed by Indians in Wyoming), William, Thomas, jr., Daniel, Elijah, and Lettie, who died while still a younger girl.  Melvina (Mrs. Henshaw) had three children when she came, Elihu, Daniel, and Martha (Mrs. Charles Points).  Mrs. Henshaw stayed here but a short time, when she went back to Missouri, but she returned here in 1865, and made her home with her children, her father and brothers.  Mrs. Henshaw pre-empted George Regar's home place about 1873, and lived there several years in a small frame house she had put up.

Sources

1. Contribution from Hope Phillips ().
2. Family group sheets by Alta Ione Bradbury, Kanab, Utah
3. Contribution from Sherry Fleischer ().
4. 1860 census, Louisville P.O., Vienna Township, Pottawatomie County, Kansas Territory; roll M653-352, page 551, line #6, dwelling #345, family #271.
5. 1870 census, Louisville P.O., Vienna Township, Pottawatomie County, Kansas; roll M593-441, page 462, line #33, dwelling #99, family #99.
6. 1880 census, Mill Creek Township, Pottawatomie County, Kansas; roll T9-393, ED 239, page 218D-219A, line #50, dwelling #219, family #235.
7. 1850 census, Madison County, Iowa; roll M432-187, page 140A, line #11, dwelling #727, family #784.
8. 1854 Iowa state census, Madison Township, Madison County, Iowa; http://www.ancestry.com.
9. Contribution from Lucille Bigelow ().
10. "Old Settler's Tales" by F.F. Crevecoeur;
    "The Kansas Collection", University of Kansas:
    http://www.ukans.edu/carrie/kancoll/books/crevecoeur/ost06.htm#00170.
11. "Old Settler's Tales" by F.F. Crevecoeur;
    "The Kansas Collection", University of Kansas:
    http://www.kancoll.org/books/crevecoeur/ost06.htm.
12. 1856 Iowa state census, Union Township, Madison County, Iowa; http://www.ancestry.com.
13. 1900 census, Salubria Precinct, Washington County, Idaho; roll T623-234, ED 110, page 6A, line #9, dwelling #93, family #94.
14. 1860 census, Louisville P.O., Vienna Township, Pottawatomie County, Kansas Territory; roll M653-352, page 551, line #10, dwelling #346, family #272.
15. American Civil War Soldiers; http://www.ancestry.com.
16. William Cutler's "History of the State of Kansas"; The Kansas Collection:
    http://www.kancoll.org/books/cutler/sthist/milrec-p12.html.
17. U.S. National Park Service - "Civil War Soldiers & Sailors System":
    http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/.
18. Graden, Debra, ed. "Kansas Adjutant General Roll, Civil War Soldiers, 1861-1865". Orem, UT: Ancestry, Inc., 1999.
19. National Archives and Records Administration. "General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934":
    "Civil War Pension Index". [database] Provo, UT: Ancestry.com, 2000.
20. 1870 census, Louisville P.O., Vienna Township, Pottawatomie County, Kansas; roll M593-441, page 462, line #39, dwelling #100, family #100.

If you have additional information on this person, please share!

If you would like to be automatically notified by email whenever an update is made affecting this page then enter your email address and click the "Enter" button below:

How is this person related to other ancestors? To find out, enter the database ID number of another ancestor, and then click the "Enter" button below:

If you would like to save this person on your computer ▾ more...

Return to HFA Home Page