Rachel Saul - Just The Wife of David Fawley

I was working on the Saul family tree and imputing the information about Edward Saul's children.  I decided to enter the information about Edward's siblings before going to Edward's children.  Edward Saul (my great, great, great-grandfather) was the oldest of 7 children born to Samuel and Anna Saul.  Edward's sister, Rachel Saul, was born about 2 years after him and in 1846 at the age of 18, married a Rev. David Fawley.  She died at the age of 62.

Rachel and David had 12 children and had moved from Ohio to Kosciusko County, Indiana in 1848 after the death of their first child who was about a year old when she died.  Their second child was just about 4 when he died.  Their 10th and 11th children were twins and one died when she was about 6 years old just 4 days after the 12th child died who was about 6 months old. The other twin died just before she turned 20.  Needed to check out this Rev. David Fawley..........

David Fawley was born in Brocks Gap, Rockingham Co, Virginia in 1824.  When he was 10, he and his family moved to Crawford Co, OH and there grew to manhood.  In 1844 he and his family moved to Kosciusko Co, IN in Harrison Twp.  After a little more than a year, David returned to Ohio where he married Rachel Saul in Fairfield Co. in 1846.  Their first child, Margaret, was born in 1847.   Their second child, Samuel, was born in 1848.  The older child, Margaret, died in 1848 about 6 days after her brother, Samuel, was born.  David then moved his wife and baby son to Kosciusko Co, IN.  Another child, Mary ElizaCatherine, was born in 1850.  Samuel died in 1852, just a month before his 4th birthday.

Elder David Fawley  -  In 1848, with his wife and one child, our subject returned to this county, coming with a team and wagon, which required eight days to make the journey.  They were obliged to camp out at night and follow the trails and Government roads.  In 1873 he located upon his present farm in Harrison Township, and has been a successful farmer.  In 1860 he was ordained to preach, having united with the Old School Baptists, since which time he has been a zealous laborer in the Masters vineyard.  He is the present pastor of a church located upon his own farm.  Being of an unassuming and retiring nature, he has always refused office, although frequently solicited to be a candidate.  He owns 191 acres of good land, with modern buildings, and it is considered one of the best farms in the township.  Politically he affiliates with the Democratic party. 

(From the Biographical and Historical Record of Kosciusko County, Indiana published by Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1887 - page 222).

"Providence Primitive Baptist Church - organized October 5, 1850 by five members:  Abraham Truex, Sarah Truex, Elia.s.O. Pittman, Sarah Pittman ad Jacob Francis.  Primitive Baptists trace their American origin to the early colonies.  The English Baptists from which these Primitive Baptist emerged were often referred to as Particular Baptists.  They held to a very strict form of Calvinistic doctrine.  The acrostic TULIP is often used to describe the main doctrinal points.  T:  represents the Total Depravity of man.  U:  is the Unconditional Election of those God chooses to save from Hell.  L:  represents the Limited Atonement Christ's sacrifice on the cross provides for only the elect.  I:  indicates that God's grace in drawing the elect to salvation is Irresistible.  P:  stands for the ability God gives the elect to Persevere in God's saving grace to their deaths and ultimate glorification in Heaven.  Elder David Fawley served as pastor from 1861 to 1874 and then in partnership with other Elders until 1879."  (from Genealogy Trails website - Indiana - Elkhart County - Providence Primitive Baptist Church and Cemetery of Elkhart County)

The next 6 children, after Mary ElizaCatherine, born to David and Rachel all lived to adulthood.  Then Rachel gave birth to twins on 5-13-1866, Minerva and Saloma.  Six years later, Rachel at the age of 45, gave birth to their 12th and last child, Rosa on 9-27-1872.  Rosa died 4-5-1873. She was about 6 months old.  Then 4 days later, one of the twins, Minerva, died 4-9-1873.  She was around 6 years old.  The other twin, Saloma, died on 1-12-1886, 4 months before reaching her 20th birthday.

Rachel died 5-16-1890.  She was 62.  The last child (31 yrs old), James A. W. was getting married June 8, 1890.  She had seen the death of 5 young children.  The other 7 were grown and no longer living at home.  

The Rev. David Fawley remarried 10-18-1890.  That is 4 months after his wife's death, the wife he had been married to for 44 years and bore him 12 children.

Elder David Fawley died March 28, 1904.  According to his obituary written up in the Primitive Monitor by Elder George Bretz, a few years earlier, David had made him promise to come and speak to his children and friends upon his death.  Here are a few excerpts from this eulogy.

His wife and half of his family went before him to the eternal country.  Six of his children, five of whom are members of the Primitive Baptist Church, and his second wife, with many grandchildren, are living to mingle their tears together and speak f their great loss......................  

But while he was a good farmer, a good citizen and neighor, the greatest events of his life were his spiritual experiences and sweet ministry.  At the early age of fourteen years he became concerned about the condition of his soul before God, and fourteen years later found peace in the wounded side of our dear Redeemer.............He began preaching in 1857 and was ordained in May, 1860..............

He was mighty in prayer and exhortation, I was present at the waterside when his daughter-in-law was to be baptized by me, and had him speak in prayer.  He forgot all but heaven, which seemed so feelingly near us all.  My soul was never so stirred under any man's prayer - a prayer heaven-given and by heaven heard.  In his appeals to his brethren to stand firm in the old paths, and for them to take heed to their ways, he was so tender, so melting!

After his death I was wired to come and I did so under a sense of my weakness and imperfection.  The precious words of the dying apostle came to me:  "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith."  they seemed so appropriate, and I spoke from them to a crowded house, although the weather was inclement.

His death was a triumph overall, and we humbly bow in submission to the great and good God.  God bless his devoted widow, his godly children, his dear, sorrowing church, and the hundreds he comforted in life.                                             Geo. A. Bretz

There are so many questions and I will never find the answers.  For some reason, my heart goes out to Rachel.  I think she must have lived a very sad life.  How did the children die?  The oldest child died when Rachel was about to give birth to another child.  Margaret died 11 days before Samuel was born. The youngest child died 4 days before one of the twins died.  Was Rachel unable to keep the children in line?  Were the children behaving ungodly?  Were they crying?  Were they sick?

After the first child died, David uprooted her and traveled to another state, away from the grave of her first born, away from her family - the Sauls.  Rachel was only 20 at the time;  still a child herself.  After reading the obituary, it was obvious that the church members had put Elder David Fawley on a pedestal; he, after all, was the 'dying apostle' and I seriously doubt that anyone would have questioned his words or actions.
I could not find an obituary for Rachel.  My heart goes out to Rachel for all the heartache she must have endured.  She was just the wife of David Fawley.

Our State Street Home in Indianapolis

My mother purchased our State Street home that was located at the corner of State Street and Ohio, 1 block north of Washington Street, the main east-west street of Indianapolis, IN.  We moved to this house after living with my grandmother on N. College.  It was a 2 story, white frame house with 3 bedrooms and bath upstairs.  I had an imaginary friend named Jean who lived in the mirror above the sink in the bathroom.  She had dark hair and was a good listener.  Mother rented the bedrooms out and we lived in the downstairs part.  I know we had 'roomers', but I really don't remember anyone ever being there except for my mother's best friend, Joyce.  She lived in the pink bedroom.  There was one roomer that lived upstairs that let us use his TV in the living room, but I don't remember what he even looked like.  Come to think of it, it may have been Joyce's TV.  Renting rooms to single people was pretty common back then.  So, the dining room was converted to the bedroom for my mother, brother, sister and I.  We had a front porch with a brick half wall around it.  There was a small backyard.  On Sunday, my mother would do the laundry down in the basement with a wringer washer and tubs for rinsing.  I was always afraid that I would get my arm stuck in between the rollers of the washer.   She would hang the washing outside in good weather.  She also had lines strung up in the basement in case of bad weather.  The back yard was also our burial ground for our only 2 pets, a parakeet named Mickey and a gold fish.

There was a small house behind us that a little girl and her parents lived in.  Her name was Marcia.  Even though she lived right behind us, I don't remember playing with her that much.  While most of the houses on our side of State Street were single family dwellings, the houses across the street were mostly doubles of frame construction.  Those houses sat really close together and always looked dingy to me.  I don't think I ever went across the street.  Most of the yards in our neighborhood were just dirt.  I remember Mother trying to get grass to grow, but it never would. We had friends that we played with on our side of the street - Butchie who lived with his grandparents (his grandmother was the lady who had the big iron press),  It always seemed dark inside and had that 'old people' house smell.  Do you know what I am talking about?    
There were 4 young girls living in a double down the street with their parents.  The oldest girl was my age and her name was Donna, too - Donna Sue.  One winter after a big snow, her dad made a Daniel Boone snowman with rifle and coon skin hat.  It was really cool!  It seemed like her parents fought a lot - I think he drank too much.  When he built the Daniel Boone snowman, I thought to myself - why couldn't he be that nice all the time.  The Daniel Boone snowman was really cool and everyone was really happy.  Just across the alley from them, there was a boy a few years older that lived there.  They had a big maple tree in the front yard and in order to climb it, you had to throw a rope around the lower big limb and hoist yourself up the trunk.  Once, I got halfway up, the rope broke and I fell on my back.  It hurt and I crawled home.  Actually, I didn't hurt all that bad, I just liked the drama..............After the houses, there were a few businesses on State Street towards Washington Street.  A cleaners that had a sloped parking area in front that was great for roller skating, Next to it was an auto garage that smelled of oil and grease.  The old men would sit outside the overhead garage door.  They were always nice and would say 'hi' when we walked by, but I was a scared of them.  Then at the corner there was the drugstore.   After my grandmother would go downtown on Saturday for her dressmaking shopping, she would take the bus to our house to visit.  The bus stop was at the corner of State and Washington and my brother and I would walk her to the bus stop when she left.  She would give us each a dime to buy something at the drugstore.  You could buy a lot for a dime.  Sometimes we would buy bubble gum or small tablets to draw in and then there were always the wood paddles with the rubber balls.  My brother and I were big suckers for those wooden paddles and balls.  They usually broke within 10 minutes and then Mother would have herself a new paddle.  We had a big heavy white upright piano in our bedroom and when Grandma would call to talk to Mother, Eddie and I would get the paddle and push it under the piano.  There was quite a stash when we moved out of that house.    
Here is a newer picture of our block (1) our house (2) the cleaners (3) auto garage (no longer there) (4) drugstore (no longer there) (5) Marcia's house and (6) was the alley.  Back then, the garbage cans were left at the alley where the garbage trucks would drive through to pick up the garbage.  Garbage was just thrown in the garbage cans - we didn't have plastic bags.  It always smelled bad.  I'm not sure when this aerial was taken or if that house is the same one that we lived in.  It seemed that there were more houses when we lived there in the 1950s.

My brother and I also liked playing on our front porch - it was big.  There was a big glider to swing on and a milk box by the front door for the milkman to leave milk in.  We could even ride our tricycles on the front porch.

We had the freedom to play and our imaginations knew no boundaries.  The house was our toy box.  Here is another aerial picture of our house.   The apartments across Ohio St were the apartments that we stood next to for our pictures with our sister.

This is one of the pictures with Joyce, my mother's best friend, taken with my brother, sister and I.  Joyce was very pretty.  She was a sweet and fun lady and had a bubbly personality.  

The State Street house holds lots of memories.  This is where we lived when Eddie and I had our picture taken on the pony.  My sister was born here and this is where we lived when Eddie and I started school.  That first year of school for me was rough.  Eddie was still at home and was able to play with all the toys by himself.  It was really bad if we got a new 'toy' and I had to go to school.  I remember one time, someone gave us these big photograph books.  There weren't any photographs in them;  just blank thick paper.  We were going to draw in them.  I just knew Eddie was going to draw on all the paper while I was at school.  There were many mornings that I had to be physically pushed out the door.  Quickly the door would shut and I had no where to go but to school.  It just wasn't fair!