Michael and Mariah Walters Kline of Hocking County, Ohio

 

Michael Kline

Born on June 3, 1815, in Hocking County, Ohio, to Solomon Kline, Sr. and Barbara Fought Kline, Michael was a resident of Hocking County his entire life.  He married Mariah Walters on March 24, 1842 in Hocking County.  Mariah was also a native of Hocking County, born there on February 1, 1817. Michael and Mariah had twelve children together.  I can account for nine of them; the others may have died in childbirth or infancy.

The children of Michael and Mariah Walters Kline included: 

Sarah Kline - (m. George W. Blosser) 13 Sept 1844 - 10 Nov 1921  

Elizabeth "Eliza" Kline - 9 Dec 1845 - 3 Nov 1865

* John Wesley Kline (m. Dora Tena Myers) - 2 February 1849 - 6 July 1923

Margaret "Maggie" Kline (m. Solomon David Yantes) 30 March 1850- 24 Jan 1913

Amos Austin Kline (m. Caroline Meyer) - 28 Sept 1851 - 3 Feb 1937

Mary Ann Kline (m. William Bailey) 23 Apr. 1853- 14 Aug. 1900

Jacob Kline (m. Mary Ellen Stewart) - 21 Apr 1855 - 26 Feb 1926

Isaiah Kline (m. Emma Trout) - 2 Apr 1858 - 20 Oct 1906

Jane Malinda "Jennie" Kline (m. Benjamin R. Edwards) - 10 July 1861 - 4 Oct 1947

Mariah Walters Kline

The first Federal Census after their marriage was on July 31,1850, when they were settled in Good Hope Township.  Michael was 33, farming real estate worth $900.  These children were there: Sarah, 6 - Eliza, 4 - John, 1 - and Margaret, 2 months. 

By the 1860 enumeration, their land value had grown to $1,000 and their personal estate was $170.  Four more children were added to the Good Hope Township Michael Kline family: Amos, 8 -Mary, 7 - Jacob- 5 and Isaiah, 3.  Sarah and Eliza were now teenagers and John (now called Wesley) was 11.  Margaret was also called Mary.

On September 9, 1861, Michael, at the age of 46, enlisted in the 5th Ohio Cavalry, Company B which formed in Cincinnati at Camp Dick Corwin.  By February 1862, the group was on the move into Kentucky and Mississippi, and by March,1863, they played an active role in the battle at Shiloh.  Later in 1863, they joined Sherman and his march to Chattanooga, and later Atlanta. By this time, the company had lost most of their horses to hard battle, and so they had become essentially an infantry unit.  Is this OUR Michael Kline?  I wondered just because of the age he enlisted, but a Graves Registration Card for the Civil War entitled Kline, Andrew (alias) Kline, Michael with the same birth and death date for Michael seems to seal the fact that this is great-great-grandfather, Michael.  The whole unit was mustered out on October 30, 1865, but he was discharged November 29, 1864.  However, I cannot find him on the Ohio roster for the 5th Cavalry, so this is a mystery to be solved.

 Elizabeth, the second oldest daughter, died a year after his return, on November 3, 1865, at the age of 19.

"Gone Home" - Eliza Ann Kline, buried at the Fairview Methodist Church Cemetery, Good Hope Twp.

So, in the 1870 Federal Census of Good Hope Township, Michael, 55, and Maria, 53, had real estate worth $2500.  Neither Michael nor Maria could read or write.  John Wesley, 21, was still home, working as a farmhand.  Margaret/ Mary, 18, worked as a private maid and Amos, 16, worked on the farm.  Jacob, 15, and Isaiah, 12, were at school and Malinda was 6. (Her tombstone said she was born in 1862, but this would indicate a later birth.)

The last census for Michael Kline was in 1880 when he was 65 and still farming, and Mariah was 62.  Amos, 28, Mary, 26, and Jane/Jennie, 18, were all single and helping their parents. The 1876 atlas of Good Hope Township indicated that Michael owned 120 acres in Section 33, divided by a road with a school at the north end of the property and a church at the south end.  In Section 34, he owned 106 acres and there sat his residence.

Nothing much is known of Michael's life until he wrote his will on January 5, 1894. On June 3, 1897, the Logan Journal Gazette reported that "Michael Kline is lying at the point of death."  That very day, he died.  His obituary appeared in the same newspaper on June 10, 1897:

"CANTWELL CLIFF, June 7 - Michael Kline passed from among the living June 3, that being his 82nd birthday.  He was buried at Fairview cemetery June 5th, funeral sermon by Rev. Wright of Logan.  He was the father of 12 children, eight of whom are still living.  He was a member of the Lutheran church all his life."

His will was probated on July 17, 1897, with Amos Kline, Wesley Kline and Henry Miller as executors. His wife, Mariah, had preceded him in death on April 26, 1890, so his estate, per the will, was to be divided equally among his eight children, named Wesley Kline, Amos Kline, Jacob Kline, Isaiah Kline, Mary A. Bailey, Jane/Jennie Edwards, Sarah Blosser and Margaret Yantes. He also ordered his executors to accept a wagon road which would go through his property running east from the church.  Then he made his mark... x 

At the time, all of his children lived in Hocking County, except Sarah who lived in Jefferson County, Illinois.  Amos held a public sale of home and farm goods, and the farm was divided and sold to Isaiah Kline, 91 acres in Section 5, for $875.00, and 229 acres in Section 33 & 34 to Carrie Kline for $1655.00.  Each of the siblings was awarded their share, $159.00.

Notice the small military star marker on the left front corner of the stone base, another confirmation of military service in the Civil War.