Wife of Charles Hess
Nancy Culp, wife of Charles Hess, 1787-1877. This headstone, purchased by her children, and inscribed MOTHER on the cap, illustrates the children's love for their mother, and, quite possibly, their disdain for their previously-deceased father, Charles Hess (in lieu of the fact that they listed her maiden name on the stone). Family history, as told by a great-grandson, W. Bruce Hess, suggests that when Nancy was 31 and had a new "babe in arms" (Catherine, born 1818), she was forced--due to "straitened circumstances"--to walk nearly 30 miles up Fishing Creek from their home near Bloomsburg to "bind" some of her young children--Joseph H., age 4, Elisha age 5, and Aaron age 7--to another Hess family in what is now Sugarloaf Township, Columbia Co., PA; and that Joseph eventually married the daughter, Elizabeth Hess, of the family to which he had been bound as a child (Joseph & Elizabeth were the parents of Harmon J, and the grandparents of W. Bruce Hess). Census records for 1820 (two years after the "binding") show three males under age 10 living with Charles Hess in Bloom township, indicating that the "binding" was a temporary placement, and that the young boys were back home by 1820 or sooner. Nevertheless, this event certainly may have tainted the children's feelings toward their father. Courthouse records show that some of the children were sent to a pauper's school, adding more credence to the notion that Charles had difficulty supporting his large family as a Shoemaker. Charles died in 1833, supposedly in a drunken brawl (although this has never been confirmed), leaving Nancy with 11 children, eight of whom were under age 20 at the time. Charles was buried in the Old Rosemont Cemetery on the hill in Bloomsburg, most likely in a pauper's grave (no marker or record of his burial has ever been found). Nancy never remarried, and survived more than 44 years following Charles' death, living in her widowhood with several of her children over the years. During the Civil War and until her death in 1877, she lived with her son Joseph H. Hess & family, in the small clapboard-covered cabin known to us as the Joseph Hess Homestead, along with his wife Elizabeth, teenage daughters Hester Ellen & Amanda, and his son Harmon's wife [while Harmon served as a Private in the 198th Pennsylvania Infantry] and their three small children: Bruce, aged 3, "Wall" aged 1 1/2, and Alfred, a small baby (talk about close quarters)! Nancy Culp Hess is buried near her son, Joseph (whose family she lived with in later years in the Joseph Hess Homestead) in Jonestown United Methodist Church Cemetery
Nancy Culp, wife of Charles Hess, 1787-1877. This headstone, purchased by her children, and inscribed MOTHER on the cap, illustrates the children's love for their mother, and, quite possibly, their disdain for their previously-deceased father, Charles Hess (in lieu of the fact that they listed her maiden name on the stone). Family history, as told by a great-grandson, W. Bruce Hess, suggests that when Nancy was 31 and had a new "babe in arms" (Catherine, born 1818), she was forced--due to "straitened circumstances"--to walk nearly 30 miles up Fishing Creek from their home near Bloomsburg to "bind" some of her young children--Joseph H., age 4, Elisha age 5, and Aaron age 7--to another Hess family in what is now Sugarloaf Township, Columbia Co., PA; and that Joseph eventually married the daughter, Elizabeth Hess, of the family to which he had been bound as a child (Joseph & Elizabeth were the parents of Harmon J, and the grandparents of W. Bruce Hess). Census records for 1820 (two years after the "binding") show three males under age 10 living with Charles Hess in Bloom township, indicating that the "binding" was a temporary placement, and that the young boys were back home by 1820 or sooner. Nevertheless, this event certainly may have tainted the children's feelings toward their father. Courthouse records show that some of the children were sent to a pauper's school, adding more credence to the notion that Charles had difficulty supporting his large family as a Shoemaker. Charles died in 1833, supposedly in a drunken brawl (although this has never been confirmed), leaving Nancy with 11 children, eight of whom were under age 20 at the time. Charles was buried in the Old Rosemont Cemetery on the hill in Bloomsburg, most likely in a pauper's grave (no marker or record of his burial has ever been found). Nancy never remarried, and survived more than 44 years following Charles' death, living in her widowhood with several of her children over the years. During the Civil War and until her death in 1877, she lived with her son Joseph H. Hess & family, in the small clapboard-covered cabin known to us as the Joseph Hess Homestead, along with his wife Elizabeth, teenage daughters Hester Ellen & Amanda, and his son Harmon's wife [while Harmon served as a Private in the 198th Pennsylvania Infantry] and their three small children: Bruce, aged 3, "Wall" aged 1 1/2, and Alfred, a small baby (talk about close quarters)! Nancy Culp Hess is buried near her son, Joseph (whose family she lived with in later years in the Joseph Hess Homestead) in Jonestown United Methodist Church Cemetery
Wife of Charles Hess
Nancy Culp, wife of Charles Hess, 1787-1877. This headstone, purchased by her children, and inscribed MOTHER on the cap, illustrates the children's love for their mother, and, quite possibly, their disdain for their previously-deceased father, Charles Hess (in lieu of the fact that they listed her maiden name on the stone). Family history, as told by a great-grandson, W. Bruce Hess, suggests that when Nancy was 31 and had a new "babe in arms" (Catherine, born 1818), she was forced--due to "straitened circumstances"--to walk nearly 30 miles up Fishing Creek from their home near Bloomsburg to "bind" some of her young children--Joseph H., age 4, Elisha age 5, and Aaron age 7--to another Hess family in what is now Sugarloaf Township, Columbia Co., PA; and that Joseph eventually married the daughter, Elizabeth Hess, of the family to which he had been bound as a child (Joseph & Elizabeth were the parents of Harmon J, and the grandparents of W. Bruce Hess). Census records for 1820 (two years after the "binding") show three males under age 10 living with Charles Hess in Bloom township, indicating that the "binding" was a temporary placement, and that the young boys were back home by 1820 or sooner. Nevertheless, this event certainly may have tainted the children's feelings toward their father. Courthouse records show that some of the children were sent to a pauper's school, adding more credence to the notion that Charles had difficulty supporting his large family as a Shoemaker. Charles died in 1833, supposedly in a drunken brawl (although this has never been confirmed), leaving Nancy with 11 children, eight of whom were under age 20 at the time. Charles was buried in the Old Rosemont Cemetery on the hill in Bloomsburg, most likely in a pauper's grave (no marker or record of his burial has ever been found). Nancy never remarried, and survived more than 44 years following Charles' death, living in her widowhood with several of her children over the years. During the Civil War and until her death in 1877, she lived with her son Joseph H. Hess & family, in the small clapboard-covered cabin known to us as the Joseph Hess Homestead, along with his wife Elizabeth, teenage daughters Hester Ellen & Amanda, and his son Harmon's wife [while Harmon served as a Private in the 198th Pennsylvania Infantry] and their three small children: Bruce, aged 3, "Wall" aged 1 1/2, and Alfred, a small baby (talk about close quarters)! Nancy Culp Hess is buried near her son, Joseph (whose family she lived with in later years in the Joseph Hess Homestead) in Jonestown United Methodist Church Cemetery
Nancy Culp, wife of Charles Hess, 1787-1877. This headstone, purchased by her children, and inscribed MOTHER on the cap, illustrates the children's love for their mother, and, quite possibly, their disdain for their previously-deceased father, Charles Hess (in lieu of the fact that they listed her maiden name on the stone). Family history, as told by a great-grandson, W. Bruce Hess, suggests that when Nancy was 31 and had a new "babe in arms" (Catherine, born 1818), she was forced--due to "straitened circumstances"--to walk nearly 30 miles up Fishing Creek from their home near Bloomsburg to "bind" some of her young children--Joseph H., age 4, Elisha age 5, and Aaron age 7--to another Hess family in what is now Sugarloaf Township, Columbia Co., PA; and that Joseph eventually married the daughter, Elizabeth Hess, of the family to which he had been bound as a child (Joseph & Elizabeth were the parents of Harmon J, and the grandparents of W. Bruce Hess). Census records for 1820 (two years after the "binding") show three males under age 10 living with Charles Hess in Bloom township, indicating that the "binding" was a temporary placement, and that the young boys were back home by 1820 or sooner. Nevertheless, this event certainly may have tainted the children's feelings toward their father. Courthouse records show that some of the children were sent to a pauper's school, adding more credence to the notion that Charles had difficulty supporting his large family as a Shoemaker. Charles died in 1833, supposedly in a drunken brawl (although this has never been confirmed), leaving Nancy with 11 children, eight of whom were under age 20 at the time. Charles was buried in the Old Rosemont Cemetery on the hill in Bloomsburg, most likely in a pauper's grave (no marker or record of his burial has ever been found). Nancy never remarried, and survived more than 44 years following Charles' death, living in her widowhood with several of her children over the years. During the Civil War and until her death in 1877, she lived with her son Joseph H. Hess & family, in the small clapboard-covered cabin known to us as the Joseph Hess Homestead, along with his wife Elizabeth, teenage daughters Hester Ellen & Amanda, and his son Harmon's wife [while Harmon served as a Private in the 198th Pennsylvania Infantry] and their three small children: Bruce, aged 3, "Wall" aged 1 1/2, and Alfred, a small baby (talk about close quarters)! Nancy Culp Hess is buried near her son, Joseph (whose family she lived with in later years in the Joseph Hess Homestead) in Jonestown United Methodist Church Cemetery
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