All In A Day's Work

"A History of The Kagy Relationship in America, From 1715 to 1900" by Franklin Kaegy that I recently purchased is just fascinating.  This book was written back in the late 1800s, taking Franklin Kaegy 23 years to write.  Not only does the book provide a record of births and marriages of the Kagy family in chronological order, but also includes glimpses of the lives, beliefs and character of our Kagy ancestry.  Some of these stories just need to be shared..........first let me show you how our distant cousin, Rebecca E. Groves Terry, fits in our lineage.

• Rudolph Kagy m. Frances Barglebaugh  about 1774  (Rudolph is the progenitor of our branch of the Kagy name and came to America from Switzerland in 1764)
• Christian Kagy m. Mary Bibler  about 1796   (Christian is a brother to Rudolph - our branch)
• Rebecca Kagy m. James A. Ashbrook  11-10-1836
• Abigail Ann Ashbrook m. Robert Groves  about 1859
• Rebecca E. Groves m. William H. Terry  9-23-1875

As told by Franklin Kaegy on page 491:  "Mr. Terry resided near Wildwood, Washington State.  On the 21st of March, 1883, he was engaged in clearing up some land, and in cutting down an alder tree it fell on him and killed him.  His wife found him and sawed the tree off in order to release him; she then carried him to the house, distant some two hundred yards, over a creek and up a hill.  She and her two little children (Mary born Dec 3, 1880 and George born Jan 21, 1883) were the only occupants of the house, the nearest house being two miles distant, and as this occurred about 5 o'clock in the evening she was compelled to remain there alone until morning.  When morning came she locked the door and started for her parent's home, carrying both of her children a distance of two miles.  During her stay in the house over night she prepared her husband's body for burial."

Isn't that wild?  Now, Rebecca was born in 1860 and died in 1953.  She was only 15 when she married William Terry.  Mr. Terry was born in 1846 so he was 14 years older than her.  Rebecca remarried the following year to a Charles B. Runyan and they had 3 children.  This incident would have happened during the time that Franklin Kaegy was writing this book and Rebecca lived long after this book was published.