The Hyphen Family Lineage

Note: The names and marital history of Margaret Eley

Establishing Margaret's history has been challenging owing primarily to her multiple marriages, some difficulty in finding her in the indexed federal censuses, and what appears to be some inconsistency in her called name (between Lydia and Margaret). Additionally, her relocation from Indiana to Miami Cty, Ohio - following at least a few of her siblings - also brought some manner of complication to the research.

After she was counted as a young girl in her parents' household in Pike Twp, Jay Cty, Indiana in the 1860 US Census (named Lydia), she next appeared as a boarder in Lost Creek Twp, Miami Cty, Ohio in the 1870 US Census - the same township as two of her older married siblings (John Eley and Mary Erhard) - and was named Margaret. In early 1877, she married Samuel Stickel in Miami Cty (with her marriage record naming her Lydia M.), and the two of them appear to have had two children (Ella and Harry) in the early 1880s. Her children will be reviewed further down.

I have not found a listing for the couple in the 1880 US Census, though I would assume they lived somewhere in Miami Cty, Ohio. I have not found vital dates for Samuel, nor a complete name, parentage, or burial location. I believe their marriage ended in Samuel's death, though the window of time in which this may have happened is fairly wide - between 1883, when their son Harry was born, and about 1899, when Margaret appears to have remarried. It is possible they divorced and that Samuel was still alive, but that seems unlikely, as I have not found any confirmed records for Samuel from after the turn of the century.

The next record I have found for Margaret is her marriage record (where she is named L.M. Stickel) to Swiss-born Frederick Gurtner (possibly anglicized from Guertner - b. about 1853, d. 4 Jul 1913) in Miami Cty in late 1898; the two of them are recorded in the 1900 US Census as boarders in Troy, Miami Cty, Ohio (where she is called "Maggie" in the listing). On the census form, Margaret was noted as being mother to two children, only one of whom was still living at the time of the census that year.

By the time of the 1910 US Census, Fred was living as a patient at the infirmary at Staunton, Miami Cty, Ohio, with his status given as "married." I have not found any listing for Margaret in the indexed census that year, though I would expect that she was likely still living in Miami Cty. Fred died there in Staunton in mid-1913, and his death record indicates he was buried in Riverside Cemetery in Troy.

About eleven months after Fred's death, Margaret remarried to Pennsylvania-born D.G. Mccutcheon (or possibly Mccutchen). Her third husband appears to have been several years younger than Margaret, reporting his birthdate as 1859, and Margaret erroneously reported hers as about 1857. This record names her Margaret Gurtner, but help in confirmation comes in the reporting of her birthplace ("Jay Co., Indiana") and her parents' names ("Martin Eley and Sarah Ferrel").

I have not found further confirmed records of Mr. Mccutcheon (including parentage, vital dates, or burial location), and I cannot say how long he and Margaret may have resided together, if at all; by the time of the 1920 US Census, Margaret was living alone in Troy, with her marital status given as "married" but without anyone else in the household. (Her name on the form and in the indexed record appears to be "Maggie McCutchem.") In the 1930 US Census, she was still living alone in Troy, but with her name given as "Maggie Gurtner" and her status given as widowed.

Margaret died in mid-1933 in Troy, with her death record naming her "Margret Gurtner McCutchen." The informant on the record was Ella Karnehm, Margaret's daughter, and I suspect most of the listed family information came from her knowledge. In this record, Margaret's birthplace was named "Pittsburg, Indiana," with her parents named "Martin Eley and Sarah Farrel" and her spouse named "William McCutchen." Margaret was buried in Riverside Cemetery with a headstone that reads "Margaret Eley McCutcheon."

For Margaret's son Harry L. Stickel, I have found his birth record from Elizabeth Twp, Miami Cty, Ohio, naming his parents "Samuel Stickle" and "Margaret Ely." His birthdate was 30 Oct 1883, and it should be noted that there was born on that same date in Clinton, Seneca Cty, Ohio was a man named Harry Luther Stickel, son of John stickel and Fannie Hoffman. The coincidence seems quite unlikely, but our Harry's death was recorded in mid-1899 in Troy, while the other Harry L. Stickel lived in Seneca Cty and Sandusky Cty until 1960. Further corroboration of our Harry's death comes from his mother's listing in the 1900 US Census, at which point she indicated that one of her two children was no longer living. Harry was also buried in Riverside Cemetery in Troy.

I have not found a birth record for Martha's older child, her daughter Ella; the first record I found for her was her Miami Cty marriage record in late 1905, where her parents were named "John Stickel" and "Margaret Ely," and her birthdate and place were given as 1881 in Miami Cty. Earlier, in the 1900 US Census, Ella was listed as a boarder in Staunton, while her mother Margaret was living in Troy with her second husband Fred Gurtner. Ella's death record named her parents "Samuel Stickel" and "Margaret Ely."

Ella's marriage in 1905 was to Charles A. Karnehm, b. 1875; the two of them remained married until her death in 1943, having survived her mother by only ten years. (Charles, though six years older than Ella, survived his wife by thirty years.) The two of them had several children, and it is through Ella only that Margaret's line has continued. Like her mother and brother, Ella is also buried in Riverside Cemetery in Troy.