Topeka, Kansas, December 2, 1929.

 

There appearing to be some interest among my relatives, near and distant, in our ancestral line and the origin of the Ives name, I have compiled the following pages and my sons, Nelson and Earl, have printed them.

 

HARRY MARKS IVES

 

 

 

I was born November 14, 1856, in Greenbay Township, Lee County, Iowa.

 

My father was Nelson Marks Ives and mother's maiden name was Emily Frances Davis.  Mother, I think, was born in Chenango County, New York, and was of New England ancestry.  Mother and father were married in Des Moines County, Iowa, November 30, 1851.

 

Nelson Marks Ives was born in Trumbull County, Ohio, near Newton Falls, January 2, 1818.   He had five brothers‑Edward H., Joseph Curtis, Eben, John H., Cephas; three sisters‑Sarah, Emeline, Elvira: all living to manhood and womanhood.  The family moved to Des Moines County, Iowa, from Ohio between 1840 and 1850.  Father enlisted for the Mexican War but his troop was sent to look after the Indians in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.  He was, however, rated a veteran of the Mexican War and drew a pension as such.  Most of his life was spent as a farmer but the latter part he was in the newspaper business, at Ottumwa, Iowa.  My memory of him is of a man of fine intelligence, wide in­formation, superlative kindliness and great moral and physical courage.  The Ottumwa, Iowa, Democrat said of him: "Doctor Ives, as he was familiarly known to the people of this county, was a resident here many years.  He was superintendent of schools at one time of this county and an editorial writer.  He was a vigorous writer, honest in opinion and very popular among the farmers.  He was elected justice of the peace and served two terms as such in this city, rendering opinions that were quoted as models of good sense and justice.  He had a kindly word for everybody, was honest and just in his transactions and leaves a good name behind him.  There will be many in this county who will think kindly and speak kindly as they remember the genial old man."

 

 

That there may be a true picture of the character of the men of my family of this generation I quote the fol­lowing from an obituary notice in the Ottumwa, Iowa, Courier of Uncle Joseph Curtis Ives, who was with father in military service and between whom there was always the greatest fraternal affection: "He was a veteran of the Mexican War and was one of those men of whom all say, `A good man has gone from among us.'  Of a gener­ous disposition and kindly heart, the deceased was ever ready to assist those in trouble and difficulty, whether known to him or not.  He had the universal respect of the community in which he lived, and leaves a wide circle of warm friends to mourn his decease."  The County Board of Supervisors in resolution said: "The Hon. J. C. Ives was a member of this board during the years 1890, 1891, and 1892; by his death this county has met with an irreparable loss.  Mr. Ives was one of Wapello County's best citizens, a kind neighbor, an honest and capable public officer."

 

 

My brother Charlie Nelson was born January 12, 1853, in Des Moines County, Iowa.  He died May 15, 1862, of malignant scarlet fever.

 

Sister Elvira Antionette, was born September 19,1861, in Des Moines County, Iowa.  She now lives at Sacra­mento, California, the wife of Mr. J. W. Holmes.  She has one son, Roy Van Maren, by a former marriage.

 

Brother Jesse was born August 30, 1868, in Wapello County, Iowa.  He died at Seattle, Washington, of intes­tinal cancer, June 4, 1926.  The Seattle Times said: "Since he was nineteen years old he had been actively associated with the lumber interests of the Pacific Coast.  He worked first in a lumber yard in Oakland and in 1898 entered the employment of the Stimson Mill Com­pany where he remained continuously for twenty‑eight years.  From 1898 to 1903 he was manager of the com­pany's lumber yards in Los Angeles.  He was transferred to Seattle and in five years became vice‑president and general manager of the company and the active head of the entire operations.

 

"In his youth one of the well‑known athletes of Cali­fornia, Mr. Ives was a man of great physical as well as mental strength.  Though handicapped by the loss of his sight during the last ten years of his life, Mr. Ives dis­played such force and courage and had such a complete mastery of the details of the mill's operations that he was able to continue in active charge of his work until May 27.

 

"Because of his varied interests Mr. Ives had many friends, who esteemed him for his courage, energy and dominant personality and his business and personal integrity.  He was outspoken in his opinions at all times and always fought in the open:'

 

Brother Jesse had two daughters ‑Doris (Mrs. Paul Masters), and Alice (Mrs. Herbert Richardson), now of Los Angles; a son, Laurence, of Seattle.

 

I was married to Agnes Martha Toal, at Topeka, Kan­sas, July 6, 1882.  Her parents were natives of Northern Ireland‑Presbyterians‑and emigrated to Wyoming County, New York.  They are buried in the cemetery about a mile south of Peoria, New York.  Her father's name was David Toal, a farmer, and was eighty‑five years old at time of death.  Her mother's maiden name was Mary Ann Noble and died at the age of seventy‑two years.

 

Our son Nelson was born at Topeka, Kansas, in the house at 416 Monroe Street, September 25, 1883.  He married Marion Darlow, September 17, 1904, whose father's name was Thomas L. Darlow, born in England, and her mother's maiden name was Marion Annette Buchan, born in New York states of English parents.  They have two sons: Harry Marks, Jr., who was born May 11, 1906 and Robert, born September 13, 1909.

 

Our son Earl was born in the house at 613 West Eighth Street, Topeka, Kansas, March 11, 1886.  April 29,1908, he married Alice Maud Newland, whose father is Frank M. Newland, of Topeka, who was born in New York State, his ancestors being American for several generations; her mother's maiden name was Alice M. Armor, and she was born in Ontario, Canada, of English ancestry.  Their daughter Alice Asenath, was born May 9, 1909; sons: John Kenneth, born March 31,1913; Ralph New­land, born June 25, 1916; William Earl, born December 3, 1919.  A daughter, Mary Jane, was born 1922 and died 1923.

 

Our daughter Flossie Elvira was born February 2, 1888, and lived but three weeks, and is buried in Topeka Cemetery.

 

Father's father's name was Eben Ives.  He was born in Goshen, Connecticut, in 1792 and died near Burling­ton, Iowa, in 1855, and is buried in the Blakemoore Cemetery two  or three miles southwest of Danville, Iowa.  Beside him are buried his son Cephas, aged 18, and his daughter Elvira, aged 20, all three dying within two months from typhoid fever.

 

   

 

Eben Ives married Elizabeth Hull in 1817.  She was born at Cornwall, Connecticut, 1794.  Her father, Zeph­ania Hull, was a veteran of the Revolutionary War, and a pensioner.  His ancestral line is not certainly known but the best information I have leads me to be­lieve that his father was Samuel Hull and mother Eunice Cook, daughter of Captain Samuel Cook and Hannah Lewis Cook.  Samuel Hull was son of Ensign Caleb Hull and Mercy Graham Hull.  Then the line runs to Cap­tain Joseph Hull and Mary Nichols; Dr. John Hull and Mary Jones; Richard Hull and Priscilla Grant.  Elizabeth Ives died February 5, 1882, and is buried in Com­petine Cemetery, Wapello County, Iowa.

 

Eben Ives was a son of Asa Ives and Sarah Marks Ives who was daughter of Zachariah Marks and Mary Brian.  Zachariah Marks was son of Mordecai Marks and Eliza­beth Hawkins, daughter of Joseph Hawkins and Eliza­beth Gunn; then Jeremiah Gunn and Sarah Lane; Jasper Gunn and Sarah Hawley.

 

Father died at my home in Topeka, February 5, 1898, aged eighty years, and is buried in Topeka Cemetery.

 

A short time before his death, at my request he wrote the following: "My father was Eben Ives; mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Hull.  Paternal grandfather Asa or Asahel Ives.  His wife's maiden name, Sarah Marks.  Maternal grandfather, Zephaniah Hull; his wife's maiden name, Rachel Gilbert.  Both grandfathers were Revolutionary soldiers.  Grandfather Hull drew a service pension of eight dollars per month; he also was awarded a land warrant for 160 acres of land near the Scioto River in the State of Ohio.  My paternal grandfather, being in easy circumstances, would not apply for pension, alleging, as a reason, that he was able to care for himself and did not want any assistance from a debt‑burdened government."

 

Grandfather Eben Ives, on July 1, 1816, bought of Philo Collins, David Wadhams and Timothy Collies for $1211.78, 302.82 acres of land in Newton township, Trumbull County, Ohio.  The warranty deed was ex­ecuted in Goshen, Connecticut, and recorded January 15, 1818, in Trumbull County, Ohio.  This was a part of a tract of land 120 miles east and west and about 67 miles north and south, being northeastern Ohio, and known as the "Connecticut Western Reserve."  The title begins with the grant of James I, King of England, to the Plymouth Company (1630), by them to Robert Earl of Warwick, by him to Viscount Say and Seal and others, called the Patent of Connecticut (1631), con­firmed by King Charles II (1662).  The Western Reserve was sold in parcels by Connecticut to land companies and the grantors to Eben Ives, became the owners of a part of it.  Eben Ives and his wife moved from Goshen, Connecticut, on to this tract of raw land, which was heavily wooded, made a farm of it and raised their nine children.

 

Eben Ives' father was Asa Ives, of Goshen, Connecticut.  The headstone of his grave, in the old cemetery at West Goshen, Connecticut, reads: "In Memory of Asa Ives.  Died Jan. 7, 1848, aged 90." He was born (see History of Goshen) in New Haven.  Page 349, Vital Records of New Haven: "Asa, son of Lazarus and Mabel Ives was born March 8, 1758."

 

Father said Asa Ives was a Revolutionary soldier.  I have found no record of Asa Ives in the Revolutionary military records.

 

The book "Connecticut in the Revolution" (official) says, in introduction, page x: "In view of the importance of the campaign of 1776, it is to be regretted that the rolls of seven of the Connecticut regiments for that year are missing." Page xi: "From correspondence used by Governor Trumbull in his correspondence, the wording of the calls for temporary service, and the make‑up of town militia lists, it is apparent that barring a small loyalist element in the western part of the state, nearly every able‑bodied man in Connecticut rendered, or was enrolled as notified and prepared to render some kind of service during the Revolutionary War."  However there was an Asahel Ives served from Woodbury, a town about 25 miles south of Goshen, in the same county, and the Census of 1790 gives only one Asa Ives in Connecticut and he lived in Woodbury, and there is no Asahel Ives listed as a resident of Connecticut.  It is probable that Asahel and Asa Ives of Woodbury is the Asa Ives who may later have moved to Goshen. 

 

On the other hand, the History of Goshen, Conn., by Rev. A. G. Hibbard, published in 1897, says that Asa Ives came to Goshen from Hamden, then part of New Haven, about 1773, and married Sarah, daughter of Zachariah Marks of Milford, Conn., about 1791; but the census lists the only Asa Ives as head of a family in Woodbury in 1790.  Apparently Rev. Hibbard's dates were not taken from official records as he uses the word "about," and  a "Milford" might well be "New Milford" located a few miles from Woodbury and Goshen, rather than "Milford" on the coast, a considerable distance away. 

 

The ancestral chain of Asa Ives begins in America with William Ives.  The vital and other records of New Haven and the History of Goshen establish this.   

 

William Ives, was a member of the original New Haven Company of "Free Planters."  He died before 1849, and as the New Haven vital records begin in 1849, his death is not shown.  A plot of the holdings of the original allottees made up from the records of real estate titles in New Haven shows an allotment to William Ives.  "It was located on the corner made by the streets now named Hill Street and Congress street (Atwater's History of New Haven, page 150).  In 1646 William Ives was seated in the third row in the seats in the first New Haven church on the east side for men.  In the fourth row of women's seats on the side sat `Sister' Ives." (Id. 543.)

 

Atwater says William Ives had four children.  We have definite record of two sons in the "Ancient Records of New Haven," Vol. 1, page 109: In the Court held in New Haven, March 2, 1651, William Basset, "husband of the widow of William Ives," sold certain lands belonging to the eldest son of William Ives, and "William Basset now engageth to the court so many cattell as is worth eleven pounds for security for the child's portion."

 

At the session of court held in private December 20, 1664: "John Thomas having by some examination be­fore the magistrate made confession of the business con­cerning the posts and fence (under which Sam Ford stood as justly suspicious) and he confessed that they, viz., Sam Ford, Sam Tharpe and himself was together when it was done, but layed the doing of it all on Sam Tharpe, for which now Sam Tharpe was called in examination; who, after sundry evasions did say he would re­late the truth in the case and said that he and John Thomas, Junior, did stay at the west hill until Sam Ford came to them that last day of the week at night, and so came together, and when they came to the posts a little on this side the west bridge, John Thomas said to him, split two or three of them posts for they was Thompson's, and he had took a load, of wood of his, and he having his brother Nathaniel's axe did so, but being come away from them Sam Ford turned back and said split the rest of them for he had took a load of pallasadoes from him, and so he went and split the rest of them; then as they were coming along the west lane John Thomas said let us go a viewing and I said where? and they said `Saint' (John) Alling's fence, and when they come to it they said split the posts at one blow, and they would pull it down, and so Sam Tharpe said he did, and they did pull it down, and further said that John Thomas having his father's cloak about him, Sam Ford laughed at him to see how he busied with it to pull down the fence; then Sam Tharpe said that Sam Ford took the axe of him to carry to his brother's and so they parted, but further said that he un­derstood by discourse of Sam Ford and Thomas Adams that they two with John Ives had pulled down the rest of the fence that had formerly been broke down in the west lane." At the court held February 7th, 1664, "John Thomas,  'Samuel Clark and Joseph Ives were complained of by Elwood Preston for disorders in the meeting on the Lord's day.  They were dismissed with a serious admonition and told that they should suspend the punishment  they thought of in hopes of amendment, but if ever they were took in like offense this would be remembered against them."

 

In the Handbook of Heraldry, opposite page 289, is a plate, showing the alphabet as written at the time of the settlement of New England.  The characters J and 1 are shown but no I or i; the characters U and a but no V or v.  This accounts for the spelling of the name Ives in the early Vital Records of New Haven, "Jues: " We also have Jsaac for Isaac, Steuens for Stevens, etc. 

 

The following entries show in the Vital Records of New Haven, which begin with the year 1649: Page 5 "Mary Yale, ye daughter of Thomas Yale, was borne the 16th of October, 1650."

Page 31. "Joseph Jues and Mary Yale were married by Mr. Wm. Jones January 2, 1672."

Page 74. "Ebenezer, son of Joseph Jues was borne the 6th day of April, 1692."                                                                            `

Page 121. "Ebenezer Jues and Mary Atwater were married January 17, 1714/15:"

Page 124. "Lazarus, ye son of Ebenezer Jues, was borne October 19, 1715."

Page 233. "Lazarus Jues and Mabel Punderson, both of New Haven were joyned in marriage the 28th day of November 1743 by the Revd. Wm. Joseph Noyes."

  

From the History of Goshen, Corn., p. 461:

                                                                             '

"I. Ebenezer Ives married Mary Atwater Jan. 17, 1715.  They had eight children born at New Haven previous to 1730.  The oldest was named Lazarus, born October 19, 1715.

 

"II. Lazarus Ives, son of Ebenezer, born Oct. 19, 1715; married Mabel Punderson of New Haven.  Children, born New Haven, Ezra, Lazarus, Amos, Jonah, Jesse, Ebenezer, Asa, born about 1756.  (Should be 1758. New Haven Vital Records, page 349: 'Asa, son of Lazr. and Mabel Ives, was born March 8, 1758.'  Asa's gravestone says he died 90 years old in 1848.)

 

"III. Asa Ives (son of Lazarus, son of Ebenezer) born New Haven, March 8, 1756 (1758); married Sarah daughter of Zachariah Marks of Milford, Conn., about 1791.  She died at Goshen January 7, 1848.  He came to Goshen from Hamden, then part of New Haven, about 1773."

 

The statement is usually in genealogies of the Ives fam­ily that William Ives probably came to Boston, 1635; aged 28, in the Truelove from London.  This statement seems to rest on page 131 of "The Original Lists of Per­sons of Quality" that emigrated from England to Amer­ica.  It says, "Theis underwritten are to be transported to New England imbargued in the Truelove, Jo. Gibbs.  Mr. The men have taken the oaths of Alleg. and Su. prem."  Then in the list appears "Wm. Joes, 28."  This may have been William Ives.  However, we find from the History of New Haven Colony, by Atwater, that owing to the intolerable religious oppressions of the crown a company of about 250 Puritans secretly left England in the ship Hector and another ship--name not known--­and arrived at Boston, June 26,1637.  The list of names of these emigrants have been lost, if there ever was one.  There could have been no official list as the sailing was without the knowledge of the King's officers.  William Ives may have been one of these emigrants.  At least the first authentic knowledge we have of him is as a member of the Colony when it arrived at New Haven from Boston in 1638.  No one, so far as I am aware, has ever de­finitely connected William Ives up with any particular Ives family of England.  It is interesting to note that eleven of the descendants of William Ives up to 1828 were graduates of Yale College, and that thirty‑two are known to have served in the Revolutionary Armies..

 

The name Ives seems to be very ancient as a personal name with Northern Teutonic peoples.  But before dis­cussing it we must realize that family names were not in use before the eleventh century; people had only given names.  The book Patronymica Britannica, p. xiii, says: "I see no reason for departing from the year 1000 as the proximate date for the assumption of family names.  The practice commenced in Normandy and gradually ex­tended itself into England, Scotland, Ireland."  Hence we understand how it come about that having a family or gens name, and consequently being a gentlemen, or man with a family, implied superior station.

 

Before there was printing and proof‑readers there was no uniformity in spelling, and people of the same coun­try, locally but little separated, pronounced the same words quite differently.  The book above quoted states that in the middle ages the name Shirecliffe is found spelled in fifty‑five, and that of Mainwaring in one hun­dred and thirty‑one, different ways.

 

English Surnames, their Sources and Significations (Bardsley) page 34, says, in discussing English names of Norman origin: "`Ivar' or `Iver', still familiarized to Scotchmen in `Mac‑Iver', came to the Normans from the Northern lands whence they were sprung, and with them into England.  It was not its first appearance here, as St. Ives of Huntingdonshire could have testified in the seventh century.  Still its popular character was due to the Norman.  Such names as Yvo de Taillbois (1211) mentioned in Bishop Pudsey's Survey of the Dunham See, Ive le Mercer, Walter fil. Ive; William Iveson; Ivetta Millicent, or John fil. Ivette, serve to show how familiar was the appellation with both sexes."

 

A Dictionary of Family Names of the United King­dom (Lower) page 170: "Ive. This name with some varia­tions of orthography seems to have existed in several countries.  The town of St. Ives, in Cornwall, was desig­nated after Iva, an Irish saint, and that of St. Ives, in Huntingdonshire, after Ivo, a Persian Archbishop.  [Ivo was probably the Danish or Anglo‑Saxon interpretation of a similar Persian name, if there was ever a Persian Archbishop who was buried at St. Ives.  Ive was also an Anglo‑Saxon personal name, and Ivo was the Norman form.  The surnames Ives, Iveson, Ivison, Ison and per­haps Ivett and Ivatts, are derivatives."

 

I suspect that quite naturally the Normans called both St. Iva and St. Ivo St. Ives, as there were two Norman Churchman so named; in much the same way as the English oversea traders called Setubel in Portugal St. Ives, and the French called it St. Yves.

 

Snorro, the ancient Icelandic chronicler, in his history of the Norse kings tells this story of Knut (or Canute), the Danish king of England, in which "Ivar the White" of Norway has a part. (Year about 1030):

 

"Knut's brother‑in‑law, Jarl Ulf, had prepared a great feast for him.  The jarl was the most agreeable of hosts; but the king was silent and sullen.  The jarl talked to him in every way to make him cheerful, and brought forward everything he could think of to amuse him; but the king remained stern, and speaking little.  At last the jarl proposed a game of chess which he agreed to. A chessboard was produced, and they played together.  Jarl Ulf was hasty in temper, stiff, and in nothing yielding; but everything he managed went on well in his hands; and he was a great warrior about whom there were many stories.  He was the most powerful man in Denmark next to the king.

 

"When they had played a while, the king made a false move; on which the jarl took a knight from him; but the king set the piece on the board again, and told the jarl to make another move.  But the jarl flew angry, tum­bled the chessboard over, rose, and went away.  The king said, `Run thy ways Ulf the Fearful: The jarl turned round at the door and said, 'Thou wouldst have run farther at Helge River hadst thou been left to battle there.  Thou didst not call me Ulf the Fearful when I hastened to thy help while the Swedes were beating thee like a dog.' The jarl then went out and went to bed.

 

"The following morning, while the king was putting on his clothes, he said to his footboy, `Go thou to Jarl Ulf and kill him.' The lad went, was away awhile, and then came back.  The king said, `Halt thou killed the jarl?' `I did not kill him for he has gone to St. Lucius's Church.' There was a man called Ivar the White, a Norwegian by birth, who was the king's courtman and chamberlain.  The king said to him, `Go thou and kill the jarl.' Ivar went to the church and in at the choir, and thrust his sword through the jarl, who died on the spot.  Then Ivar went to the king with the bloody sword in his hand.

 

"The King said, `Hast thou killed the jarl?'  `I have killed him,' said he.  'Thou has done well,' answered the king."

 

Carlyle in Oliver Cromwell says: "This is St. Ives, a most ancient cattle market by the shores of the sable Ouse, on the edge of the Fen‑Country; where, among other things that happened, Oliver Cromwell passed five years of his existence as a farmer and Brazier.  Who the primitive Ives himself was, remains problematic; Canden says he was `Ivo a Persian'‑surely far out of his road here! From him however, Phantasm as he is (being indeed nothing‑except an ancient `stone coffin' with bones, and tatters of `bright cloth' in it, accidently ploughed up in this spot, and acted on by opaque human wonder, miraculous `dreams', and the `Abbot of Ram­sey'), church and village indisputably took rise and name; about the year 1000 or later‑and have stood ever since; being founded on cattle‑dealing and the firm earth withal.  Ives or Yves, the worthy Frenchmen, Bishop of Chartres in the time of Henry Beauclerk; neither he nor the other French Yves, patron saint of attorneys, have anything to do with this locality; but miraculous `Ivo the Persian Bishop' and that anonymous‑stone coffin alone."