Beulah Meek Sensabaugh - Daughter of James and Anna (Cooper) Meek

The Children of James and Anna (Cooper) Meek

Samuel Meek (great-grandfather) 1824 - 1902

David Cooper Meek (Samuel's twin) 1824 - 1901

Enoch Meek #1 1825 - 1901

                     Hiram   1826/7 - 1909  (Elizabeth's twin)

Elizabeth  1826/7 -1907 
Seth     1827 - 1845

Sidnah  1830 - 1872
James  1833 - 1865

Ednah  1834 - 1910

John  1836 - ?

*Beulah  1837 - 1912

Enoch #2   1840 - 1864

Solomon  1842 - 1917

Beulah (Bulah, Buelah) Meek was the youngest daughter in the James and Anna Meek family.  Born on December 13, 1837 in Unity Township, Columbiana County, Ohio. Beulah lived there much of her young life.  She married John Sensenbacher (Sensenbaugh), the son of German immigrants, and born in Germany himself.  John was  older than Beulah, as he was born on August 17, 1829 (tombstone) or August 1831 (census).  

By 1870, the couple had already moved to Hicksville Township, Defiance County, Ohio, and they were living next to Beulah's brother, Samuel Meek.  John was 39 and farming, while Beulah was 30, keeping house, with children, James, 8, and Annie (Etta), 5.  They owned real estate worth $3000 and their personal goods were estimated at $455.

John and Beulah were still in Hicksville Township in 1880, farming.  James, now 18, was working on the farm, along with another farmhand, Albert Rusman, 14.  Etta was 15.  In 1886, John set off on a trip to the West, perhaps scouting a possible move or visiting relatives. 

 

 Young Etta was pursuing her career as a teacher by May, 1887, as this notice was given in the Hicksville Tribune.

 

The 1900 census introduced all kinds of questions!  First of all, John was enumerated as James, not John.  John's birthday was reported as August 1831, and it was said that the couple had been married 35 years, making their marriage year 1865.  However, their son, James, 37, had a birthdate listed as February, 1863, prior then to the marriage. So, I really need a marriage record to clear this up, as well as some birth records.  With them was Mary, daughter, 34, born March 1866, which was probably a daughter-in-law, Mary Emlin Coulter, James' wife.  (By this time Etta had married, lived elsewhere and had a child.)  Beulah had had four children, but only two were living.  Living with the Sensenbacher family was Beulah's brother, John's, daughter, Flora W. Meek, a cousin, 32, and single, born October 1867.  In this census, John was a farmer and James was a day laborer, and they were living on Tight Street in Hicksville.

According to that same 1900 census, Etta had married John H. Diebel  and they resided in West Unity, Williams County, Ohio where he was serving as school principal. (They married July 5, 1888.)   The couple had one child, Lyndall Johnetta, born in March, 1895. 

On May 24, 1909, John Sensenbach died in Hicksville at 79 years old.  He had been sick for awhile, as was reported in newspapers back to December 1908.

 Just three years later, Beulah became ill and passed away on April 23, 1912.

By that time, Etta and John Diebel had settled in Columbus, Ohio.

 After much searching, I have not been able to locate an obituary for Beulah, she and John were both buried at the Forest Home Cemetery in Hicksville, Ohio, row 8, section 2 in the old section, and with them, their beloved son and wife.

"Sensenbacher, John J.  1829 - 1909  Father

Sensenbacher, Beulah M. 1837 - 1912  Mother

Sensenbacher, Emlin  1860 - 1925

Sensenbacher, James  1861- 1925

This story was posted by Steven Coulter at www.findagrave.com:

"Beulah's widowed older sister, Elizabeth Goodin, lived with her and her husband, John Sensenbacher in Hicksville, Ohio.  When Elizabeth died in 1907, she was cremated, and Beulah kept the urn of ashes on a ledge beside he stairway to the second floor of her home.

Beulah died in 1912, and her daughter, Etta, slipped the urn of Elizabeth's ashes beneath the pillow in Beulah's coffin; so the two sisters are buried together, although the gravestone names only Beulah."

It's interesting, too, that Ednah, who died three years after Elizabeth, also chose cremation.

Beulah's daughter was also buried in Forest Home Cemetery, along with her family. In Row 18, Section 1 of the old section, the tombstones are found.

Coulter, William Andrew   1882 - 1971

Coulter, Lyndal Diebel   1895 - 1989

     Large Diebel family monument

Diebel, John H.  1862 - 1957

Diebel, Etta S.  1865 - 1936 

As far as I can determine, James and Mary Emlin Sensenbacher had no children.