Lauretta was the first wife of John R Tanner who later became Governor of Illinois from 1897-1901. They were married on 12-25-1866. She died at the age of 39Y, 11M.
She was the oldest of fourteen children of Barton B. Ingraham and his wife Jane C. Johnston.
Sometime between 1863 to 1865, during the Civil War, her parents moved the family from Pennsylvania to Flora, Clay Co., Illinois.
Lauretta married on 25 Dec 1866, Clay Co., IL to (future Gov.) John Riley Tanner, son of John Tanner, Sr., and they settled down to farm.
1867 - About a year after their marriage, Lauretta's new husband John Tanner, who had served as a Union soldier during the Civil War, shot at his brother-in-law's brother with whom he was feuding and who had just thrown an ax at him, and killed him. He fled the state and Lauretta shortly followed him to Bates or Butler Co., MO, where they hid out in a cabin in the woods and where their daughter Lucinda was born later that year, as was their son Mack the following year. John was arrested not long after, returned to Clay Co., Illinois, and eventually acquitted of murder.
John must have had popular support locally, as he was almost immediately elected deputy sheriff of Clay County!
1870 census, Louisville, Clay Co., IL, p. 117
John Tanner, 26, deputy sheriff, born IN
Lauretta, 23, born PA
Lucinda, 2, born Missouri
James M., 1, born Missouri
1880 census, Louisville, Clay Co., Illinois, p 291
John R. Tanner, 36, Abstractor & Trader, b. IN; parents b. KY
wife Lauretta Tanner, 32, b. Pennsylvania
daughter Lucinda Tanner, 12, b. Missouri
son James M. Tanner, 11, b. Missouri
"Tanner entered politics in 1870, serving as sheriff of Clay County, an office he held two years. He served as clerk of the circuit court from 1872 to 1876, was a member of the Illinois State Senate from 1880 to 1883, and served as U.S. Marshall for the Southern District of Illinois in 1883. He also served as Illinois State Treasurer from 1886 to 1889, was a railroad commissioner in 1891, and served as assistant U.S. Treasurer for Chicago from 1892 to 1893. Tanner won the 1896 Republican gubernatorial nomination and was sworn into the governor's office on January 11, 1897."
[Source: Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 1, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.]
http://genealogytrails.com/ill/clay/biot.html
"In 1870, he [John R. Tanner] was elected to the office of Sheriff of Clay County, and at the expiration of his term of office was chosen Circuit Clerk. In 1876, he was appointed Master in Chancery, and in 1880 elected to the State Senate over Dr. Shirley, of Xenia, whom be defeated by a majority of nearly 400 votes, in a very close district. He was appointed a member of the State Central Committee of the Republican party in 1874, and has been retained in that capacity ever since. Mr. Tanner was married, December 25, 1886, to Miss Lauretta, daughter of Barton B. Ingraham of this county. Two children are the fruits of this union—Lucinda J. and James M." Excerpt from "History of Wayne and Clay Counties, Illinois 1884"
http://genealogytrails.com/ill/clay/biot.html
[Source: The Atlanta Constitution Atlanta, Georgia May 17, 1896]
Tanner's Strange Story - From the Chicago Record.
"John R. Tanner, republican nominee for governor of Illinois, owes his position as a political leader and even his liberty to move among men without fear to the vigilance of a sheriff who tracked him to the backwoods of Missouri more than a quarter of a century ago, surprised and covered him with a pistol and arrested him for murder. This strange story is worth repeating. Twenty-nine years ago Tanner was a farmer in Clay County, Illinois, in a district not noted in those days as the abode of peaceable, law-abiding folk. He quarreled with Tom Erskine, a neighboring farmer, whose brother had married Tanner's sister, and the quarrel grew to a deadly feud, each expecting the other to begin active hostilities and each prepared to defend his own life.
One day the two men met in the presence of several neighbors. Tanner had been working on the roads, after the fashion of farmers who pay their taxes by labor, and was returning to his home. He was in a wagon with several others, when he met Erskine, -who carried an ax. Angry words passed and Erskine threw the ax at Tanner. Tanner drew a pistol and fired, and when the smoke blew away Erskine was lying dead in the road. Tanner leaped, from the wagon and fled, and that night he disappeared from Clay County.
The sheriff of Clay county was Walton H. Finch, a small, quiet man, who had served through the war as an officer of an Illinois regiment. Sheriff Finch determined to find Tanner and bring him to trial, and he began a still hunt for the fugitive. Tanner's family disappeared soon after his flight. After eight or nine months of quiet work the sheriff obtained his first clue from some papers filed for record in a county clerk's office in Kansas, and he finally became satisfied that Tanner was in Bates county, Missouri. Procuring the necessary papers; Sheriff Finch went to Bates county, left the railroad at a small town and securing the assistance of a constable who knew the roads, drove at night out to a sparsely settled district, where Tanner was living in a log bouse at the edge of a heavy forest. Stopping before reaching a point from which the rattle of wheels could be heard at the house, the sheriff and his guide left the vehicle and proceeded on foot. Before them was a cabin that barely peeped from the woods into the clearing and the back door opened upon a thicket that would hide instantly one who might need to fly from the house to the depths of the forest. Another door faced the clearing. There was no light in the cabin and all was quiet, indicating that the occupant had gone to bed.
The sheriff sent the constable to guard the back door, and going: to the front door revolver In hand, he knocked lightly and stepped to one side. Soon the door was opened and a man in night attire peered out. Seeing no one in front of the door, he leaned outward to look along the front of the house. The sheriff s left arm slid quickly under the man's right arm and clasped it tightly, and the muzzle of a revolver was pressed against the man's chin. "John Tanner, I want you," said the sheriff. "All right, you've got me. I surrender. replied Tanner.
The sheriff whistled for the constable and called to the inmates of the cabin to make a light in the house and then stepped inside. Still holding his prisoner under cover of the pistol, the sheriff said to Mrs. Tanner, "If you have anything to shoot with I want it," and Mrs. Tanner took a revolver from under a pillow and handed it to him. Tanner admitted that he had been taken by surprise and regretted his carelessness in going to the door unarmed.
Yet that quiet arrest at midnight at the door of the lonely cabin in the Missouri backwoods was the best thing that ever happened to John R. Tanner and marked the turning point in his life the point where he ceased to be an outlaw and fugitive. Under compulsion he turned his face once more toward the world and soon he began to march forward to usefulness and honor. Sheriff Finch returned to Illinois with his prisoner and Tanner was placed on trial for his life. There was no question about the fact of the killing, but the defense alleged and tried to prove that Tanner was justified in believing his life in peril and that he fired in self-defense. The jury believed the killing was unnecessary and found Tanner guilty of manslaughter. A new trial was granted and a second jury returned a verdict of acquittal.
Tanner remained in Clay county and began life anew, and being a man of energy and brains, he took a leading part in public affairs and became in a few years one of the recognized leaders of the Republican party In Illinois. He and the sheriff remained on friendly terms In after years Tanner recognizing the service the officer rendered him in bringing him to trial. Walton H. Finch is now the proprietor of the Daily Republican of Ottawa, Kansas."
Probably in 1880 when John was elected a state senator, Lauretta and John moved their family to Springfield, Sangamon Co., IL.
Their daughter Lucinda's 1920 obituary states:
"She [Lucinda] was born (sic) and spent her childhood in Louisville (Clay Co.), Ill. Later she attended the Bettie Stuart Institute here (Springfield, Sangamon Co., IL) and afterwards Mrs. Summer's school in Washington.
In 1891 she was married to John A. Barnes of Louisville and made her home there until her father was elected governor, when they moved to this city. Later she went to Chicago."
Lauretta died 1887 in Springfield and was buried there. John and his second wife would later be buried nearby.
John finished raising their two children by himself and then upon being elected governor he remarried 30 Dec 1896, Sangamon Co., IL to Cora Edith English, a marriage celebrated in the book "The Governor takes a bride: The celebrated marriage of Cora English and John R. Tanner, Governor of Illinois (1897-1901)," 1977, by John Thomas Trutter. She served as the First Lady of Illinois when John became governor in 1897.
John and his wife Cora were listed on the 1900 census in Springfield, Illinois while John was governor:
1900 census, ED 96 Capitol Township, Precinct 1 Springfield city Ward 5, Sangamon, Illinois
head John R Tanner M 56 Indiana
wife Cora Tanner F 39 Illinois
[six servants listed in household]
John died in 1901 and was buried in a grand mausoleum near Lauretta's grave.
*****************
Lauretta Ingraham's children:
1. Lucinda "Lulu" F. Tanner, b. Dec 1867, Bates Co., MO; m. 26 Apr 1893, Cook Co., IL to John A. Barnes [b. Jun 1859, IL]; she d. 28 Aug 1920, Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Sangamon Co., IL.
1900 census, ED 1086 Precinct 13 Hyde Park Township Chicago city Ward 34, Cook, Illinois, p. 229
head John A Barnes, 41, b. Jun 1859, IL; married 7 yrs, parents b. IN; lawyer
wife Lulu F Barnes, 33, b. Dec 1867, IL; father b. IN; mother b. PA
son John A Barnes, 6, b. Apr 1894, Illinois
daughter Mildred E Barnes, 4, Feb 1896, Illinois
son Fred Barnes, b. Jan 1898, Illinois
servant Mary Miller F 29 Germany
Lucinda F. Tanner's children:
1) John A Barnes, b. Apr 1894, Chicago, Cook Co., IL
2) Mildred E Barnes, Feb 1896, Chicago, Cook Co., IL
3) Fred Barnes, b. Jan 1898, Chicago, Cook Co., IL
*****************
2. James "Mack" Tanner b. 10 Nov 1868, Bates, MO; m. 17 Apr 1894, Knox Co., IL to Flora "Patsie" Estella Ingersoll [b. Apr 1869; d. 1951]; he d. 15 Apr 1922; buried Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Sangamon Co., IL.
http://genealogytrails.com/ill/clay/biot.html
"J. Mack Tanner (Republican), Flora; farmer and orchardist; member of Committees on Agriculture, Executive Department, and Military Affairs. Was born in Butler County, Missouri, November 10, 1868. He is a graduate of Knox College, Galesburg, class of '91, with highest honors. Was teller and assistant cashier of the United States Sub-treasury at Chicago for two years; assistant cashier in the Cook County Treasurer's office, 1895-6; private secretary to Governor John R. Tanner, 1897-1901; secretary of State Board of Charities, 1901-1905. Colonel of the 4th Illinois Infantry, I. N. G., 1901-1905. President of the State Horticultural Society for two years; chairman Clay County Chapter Red Cross; chairman Clay County Committee of the Council of Defense; and sales director of the various Liberty loans for Clay County." [Source: "Illinois Blue Book"]
1900 census, ED 98 Capitol Township, Precinct 1 Springfield city Ward 5, Sangamon, Illinois
head J Mack Tanner, 32, b. Nov 1868, Missouri
wife Patsie E Tanner, 31, b. Apr 1869, Illinois
son John R Tanner, 5, b. Feb 1895 Illinois
son Bruce I Tanner, 4, b. Oct 1896 Illinois
J. Mack Tanner's children:
1) John R Tanner, b. Feb 1895, Illinois
2) Bruce I Tanner, b. Oct 1896, Illinois
She was the oldest of fourteen children of Barton B. Ingraham and his wife Jane C. Johnston.
Sometime between 1863 to 1865, during the Civil War, her parents moved the family from Pennsylvania to Flora, Clay Co., Illinois.
Lauretta married on 25 Dec 1866, Clay Co., IL to (future Gov.) John Riley Tanner, son of John Tanner, Sr., and they settled down to farm.
1867 - About a year after their marriage, Lauretta's new husband John Tanner, who had served as a Union soldier during the Civil War, shot at his brother-in-law's brother with whom he was feuding and who had just thrown an ax at him, and killed him. He fled the state and Lauretta shortly followed him to Bates or Butler Co., MO, where they hid out in a cabin in the woods and where their daughter Lucinda was born later that year, as was their son Mack the following year. John was arrested not long after, returned to Clay Co., Illinois, and eventually acquitted of murder.
John must have had popular support locally, as he was almost immediately elected deputy sheriff of Clay County!
1870 census, Louisville, Clay Co., IL, p. 117
John Tanner, 26, deputy sheriff, born IN
Lauretta, 23, born PA
Lucinda, 2, born Missouri
James M., 1, born Missouri
1880 census, Louisville, Clay Co., Illinois, p 291
John R. Tanner, 36, Abstractor & Trader, b. IN; parents b. KY
wife Lauretta Tanner, 32, b. Pennsylvania
daughter Lucinda Tanner, 12, b. Missouri
son James M. Tanner, 11, b. Missouri
"Tanner entered politics in 1870, serving as sheriff of Clay County, an office he held two years. He served as clerk of the circuit court from 1872 to 1876, was a member of the Illinois State Senate from 1880 to 1883, and served as U.S. Marshall for the Southern District of Illinois in 1883. He also served as Illinois State Treasurer from 1886 to 1889, was a railroad commissioner in 1891, and served as assistant U.S. Treasurer for Chicago from 1892 to 1893. Tanner won the 1896 Republican gubernatorial nomination and was sworn into the governor's office on January 11, 1897."
[Source: Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 1, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.]
http://genealogytrails.com/ill/clay/biot.html
"In 1870, he [John R. Tanner] was elected to the office of Sheriff of Clay County, and at the expiration of his term of office was chosen Circuit Clerk. In 1876, he was appointed Master in Chancery, and in 1880 elected to the State Senate over Dr. Shirley, of Xenia, whom be defeated by a majority of nearly 400 votes, in a very close district. He was appointed a member of the State Central Committee of the Republican party in 1874, and has been retained in that capacity ever since. Mr. Tanner was married, December 25, 1886, to Miss Lauretta, daughter of Barton B. Ingraham of this county. Two children are the fruits of this union—Lucinda J. and James M." Excerpt from "History of Wayne and Clay Counties, Illinois 1884"
http://genealogytrails.com/ill/clay/biot.html
[Source: The Atlanta Constitution Atlanta, Georgia May 17, 1896]
Tanner's Strange Story - From the Chicago Record.
"John R. Tanner, republican nominee for governor of Illinois, owes his position as a political leader and even his liberty to move among men without fear to the vigilance of a sheriff who tracked him to the backwoods of Missouri more than a quarter of a century ago, surprised and covered him with a pistol and arrested him for murder. This strange story is worth repeating. Twenty-nine years ago Tanner was a farmer in Clay County, Illinois, in a district not noted in those days as the abode of peaceable, law-abiding folk. He quarreled with Tom Erskine, a neighboring farmer, whose brother had married Tanner's sister, and the quarrel grew to a deadly feud, each expecting the other to begin active hostilities and each prepared to defend his own life.
One day the two men met in the presence of several neighbors. Tanner had been working on the roads, after the fashion of farmers who pay their taxes by labor, and was returning to his home. He was in a wagon with several others, when he met Erskine, -who carried an ax. Angry words passed and Erskine threw the ax at Tanner. Tanner drew a pistol and fired, and when the smoke blew away Erskine was lying dead in the road. Tanner leaped, from the wagon and fled, and that night he disappeared from Clay County.
The sheriff of Clay county was Walton H. Finch, a small, quiet man, who had served through the war as an officer of an Illinois regiment. Sheriff Finch determined to find Tanner and bring him to trial, and he began a still hunt for the fugitive. Tanner's family disappeared soon after his flight. After eight or nine months of quiet work the sheriff obtained his first clue from some papers filed for record in a county clerk's office in Kansas, and he finally became satisfied that Tanner was in Bates county, Missouri. Procuring the necessary papers; Sheriff Finch went to Bates county, left the railroad at a small town and securing the assistance of a constable who knew the roads, drove at night out to a sparsely settled district, where Tanner was living in a log bouse at the edge of a heavy forest. Stopping before reaching a point from which the rattle of wheels could be heard at the house, the sheriff and his guide left the vehicle and proceeded on foot. Before them was a cabin that barely peeped from the woods into the clearing and the back door opened upon a thicket that would hide instantly one who might need to fly from the house to the depths of the forest. Another door faced the clearing. There was no light in the cabin and all was quiet, indicating that the occupant had gone to bed.
The sheriff sent the constable to guard the back door, and going: to the front door revolver In hand, he knocked lightly and stepped to one side. Soon the door was opened and a man in night attire peered out. Seeing no one in front of the door, he leaned outward to look along the front of the house. The sheriff s left arm slid quickly under the man's right arm and clasped it tightly, and the muzzle of a revolver was pressed against the man's chin. "John Tanner, I want you," said the sheriff. "All right, you've got me. I surrender. replied Tanner.
The sheriff whistled for the constable and called to the inmates of the cabin to make a light in the house and then stepped inside. Still holding his prisoner under cover of the pistol, the sheriff said to Mrs. Tanner, "If you have anything to shoot with I want it," and Mrs. Tanner took a revolver from under a pillow and handed it to him. Tanner admitted that he had been taken by surprise and regretted his carelessness in going to the door unarmed.
Yet that quiet arrest at midnight at the door of the lonely cabin in the Missouri backwoods was the best thing that ever happened to John R. Tanner and marked the turning point in his life the point where he ceased to be an outlaw and fugitive. Under compulsion he turned his face once more toward the world and soon he began to march forward to usefulness and honor. Sheriff Finch returned to Illinois with his prisoner and Tanner was placed on trial for his life. There was no question about the fact of the killing, but the defense alleged and tried to prove that Tanner was justified in believing his life in peril and that he fired in self-defense. The jury believed the killing was unnecessary and found Tanner guilty of manslaughter. A new trial was granted and a second jury returned a verdict of acquittal.
Tanner remained in Clay county and began life anew, and being a man of energy and brains, he took a leading part in public affairs and became in a few years one of the recognized leaders of the Republican party In Illinois. He and the sheriff remained on friendly terms In after years Tanner recognizing the service the officer rendered him in bringing him to trial. Walton H. Finch is now the proprietor of the Daily Republican of Ottawa, Kansas."
Probably in 1880 when John was elected a state senator, Lauretta and John moved their family to Springfield, Sangamon Co., IL.
Their daughter Lucinda's 1920 obituary states:
"She [Lucinda] was born (sic) and spent her childhood in Louisville (Clay Co.), Ill. Later she attended the Bettie Stuart Institute here (Springfield, Sangamon Co., IL) and afterwards Mrs. Summer's school in Washington.
In 1891 she was married to John A. Barnes of Louisville and made her home there until her father was elected governor, when they moved to this city. Later she went to Chicago."
Lauretta died 1887 in Springfield and was buried there. John and his second wife would later be buried nearby.
John finished raising their two children by himself and then upon being elected governor he remarried 30 Dec 1896, Sangamon Co., IL to Cora Edith English, a marriage celebrated in the book "The Governor takes a bride: The celebrated marriage of Cora English and John R. Tanner, Governor of Illinois (1897-1901)," 1977, by John Thomas Trutter. She served as the First Lady of Illinois when John became governor in 1897.
John and his wife Cora were listed on the 1900 census in Springfield, Illinois while John was governor:
1900 census, ED 96 Capitol Township, Precinct 1 Springfield city Ward 5, Sangamon, Illinois
head John R Tanner M 56 Indiana
wife Cora Tanner F 39 Illinois
[six servants listed in household]
John died in 1901 and was buried in a grand mausoleum near Lauretta's grave.
*****************
Lauretta Ingraham's children:
1. Lucinda "Lulu" F. Tanner, b. Dec 1867, Bates Co., MO; m. 26 Apr 1893, Cook Co., IL to John A. Barnes [b. Jun 1859, IL]; she d. 28 Aug 1920, Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Sangamon Co., IL.
1900 census, ED 1086 Precinct 13 Hyde Park Township Chicago city Ward 34, Cook, Illinois, p. 229
head John A Barnes, 41, b. Jun 1859, IL; married 7 yrs, parents b. IN; lawyer
wife Lulu F Barnes, 33, b. Dec 1867, IL; father b. IN; mother b. PA
son John A Barnes, 6, b. Apr 1894, Illinois
daughter Mildred E Barnes, 4, Feb 1896, Illinois
son Fred Barnes, b. Jan 1898, Illinois
servant Mary Miller F 29 Germany
Lucinda F. Tanner's children:
1) John A Barnes, b. Apr 1894, Chicago, Cook Co., IL
2) Mildred E Barnes, Feb 1896, Chicago, Cook Co., IL
3) Fred Barnes, b. Jan 1898, Chicago, Cook Co., IL
*****************
2. James "Mack" Tanner b. 10 Nov 1868, Bates, MO; m. 17 Apr 1894, Knox Co., IL to Flora "Patsie" Estella Ingersoll [b. Apr 1869; d. 1951]; he d. 15 Apr 1922; buried Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Sangamon Co., IL.
http://genealogytrails.com/ill/clay/biot.html
"J. Mack Tanner (Republican), Flora; farmer and orchardist; member of Committees on Agriculture, Executive Department, and Military Affairs. Was born in Butler County, Missouri, November 10, 1868. He is a graduate of Knox College, Galesburg, class of '91, with highest honors. Was teller and assistant cashier of the United States Sub-treasury at Chicago for two years; assistant cashier in the Cook County Treasurer's office, 1895-6; private secretary to Governor John R. Tanner, 1897-1901; secretary of State Board of Charities, 1901-1905. Colonel of the 4th Illinois Infantry, I. N. G., 1901-1905. President of the State Horticultural Society for two years; chairman Clay County Chapter Red Cross; chairman Clay County Committee of the Council of Defense; and sales director of the various Liberty loans for Clay County." [Source: "Illinois Blue Book"]
1900 census, ED 98 Capitol Township, Precinct 1 Springfield city Ward 5, Sangamon, Illinois
head J Mack Tanner, 32, b. Nov 1868, Missouri
wife Patsie E Tanner, 31, b. Apr 1869, Illinois
son John R Tanner, 5, b. Feb 1895 Illinois
son Bruce I Tanner, 4, b. Oct 1896 Illinois
J. Mack Tanner's children:
1) John R Tanner, b. Feb 1895, Illinois
2) Bruce I Tanner, b. Oct 1896, Illinois
Lauretta was the first wife of John R Tanner who later became Governor of Illinois from 1897-1901. They were married on 12-25-1866. She died at the age of 39Y, 11M.
She was the oldest of fourteen children of Barton B. Ingraham and his wife Jane C. Johnston.
Sometime between 1863 to 1865, during the Civil War, her parents moved the family from Pennsylvania to Flora, Clay Co., Illinois.
Lauretta married on 25 Dec 1866, Clay Co., IL to (future Gov.) John Riley Tanner, son of John Tanner, Sr., and they settled down to farm.
1867 - About a year after their marriage, Lauretta's new husband John Tanner, who had served as a Union soldier during the Civil War, shot at his brother-in-law's brother with whom he was feuding and who had just thrown an ax at him, and killed him. He fled the state and Lauretta shortly followed him to Bates or Butler Co., MO, where they hid out in a cabin in the woods and where their daughter Lucinda was born later that year, as was their son Mack the following year. John was arrested not long after, returned to Clay Co., Illinois, and eventually acquitted of murder.
John must have had popular support locally, as he was almost immediately elected deputy sheriff of Clay County!
1870 census, Louisville, Clay Co., IL, p. 117
John Tanner, 26, deputy sheriff, born IN
Lauretta, 23, born PA
Lucinda, 2, born Missouri
James M., 1, born Missouri
1880 census, Louisville, Clay Co., Illinois, p 291
John R. Tanner, 36, Abstractor & Trader, b. IN; parents b. KY
wife Lauretta Tanner, 32, b. Pennsylvania
daughter Lucinda Tanner, 12, b. Missouri
son James M. Tanner, 11, b. Missouri
"Tanner entered politics in 1870, serving as sheriff of Clay County, an office he held two years. He served as clerk of the circuit court from 1872 to 1876, was a member of the Illinois State Senate from 1880 to 1883, and served as U.S. Marshall for the Southern District of Illinois in 1883. He also served as Illinois State Treasurer from 1886 to 1889, was a railroad commissioner in 1891, and served as assistant U.S. Treasurer for Chicago from 1892 to 1893. Tanner won the 1896 Republican gubernatorial nomination and was sworn into the governor's office on January 11, 1897."
[Source: Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 1, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.]
http://genealogytrails.com/ill/clay/biot.html
"In 1870, he [John R. Tanner] was elected to the office of Sheriff of Clay County, and at the expiration of his term of office was chosen Circuit Clerk. In 1876, he was appointed Master in Chancery, and in 1880 elected to the State Senate over Dr. Shirley, of Xenia, whom be defeated by a majority of nearly 400 votes, in a very close district. He was appointed a member of the State Central Committee of the Republican party in 1874, and has been retained in that capacity ever since. Mr. Tanner was married, December 25, 1886, to Miss Lauretta, daughter of Barton B. Ingraham of this county. Two children are the fruits of this union—Lucinda J. and James M." Excerpt from "History of Wayne and Clay Counties, Illinois 1884"
http://genealogytrails.com/ill/clay/biot.html
[Source: The Atlanta Constitution Atlanta, Georgia May 17, 1896]
Tanner's Strange Story - From the Chicago Record.
"John R. Tanner, republican nominee for governor of Illinois, owes his position as a political leader and even his liberty to move among men without fear to the vigilance of a sheriff who tracked him to the backwoods of Missouri more than a quarter of a century ago, surprised and covered him with a pistol and arrested him for murder. This strange story is worth repeating. Twenty-nine years ago Tanner was a farmer in Clay County, Illinois, in a district not noted in those days as the abode of peaceable, law-abiding folk. He quarreled with Tom Erskine, a neighboring farmer, whose brother had married Tanner's sister, and the quarrel grew to a deadly feud, each expecting the other to begin active hostilities and each prepared to defend his own life.
One day the two men met in the presence of several neighbors. Tanner had been working on the roads, after the fashion of farmers who pay their taxes by labor, and was returning to his home. He was in a wagon with several others, when he met Erskine, -who carried an ax. Angry words passed and Erskine threw the ax at Tanner. Tanner drew a pistol and fired, and when the smoke blew away Erskine was lying dead in the road. Tanner leaped, from the wagon and fled, and that night he disappeared from Clay County.
The sheriff of Clay county was Walton H. Finch, a small, quiet man, who had served through the war as an officer of an Illinois regiment. Sheriff Finch determined to find Tanner and bring him to trial, and he began a still hunt for the fugitive. Tanner's family disappeared soon after his flight. After eight or nine months of quiet work the sheriff obtained his first clue from some papers filed for record in a county clerk's office in Kansas, and he finally became satisfied that Tanner was in Bates county, Missouri. Procuring the necessary papers; Sheriff Finch went to Bates county, left the railroad at a small town and securing the assistance of a constable who knew the roads, drove at night out to a sparsely settled district, where Tanner was living in a log bouse at the edge of a heavy forest. Stopping before reaching a point from which the rattle of wheels could be heard at the house, the sheriff and his guide left the vehicle and proceeded on foot. Before them was a cabin that barely peeped from the woods into the clearing and the back door opened upon a thicket that would hide instantly one who might need to fly from the house to the depths of the forest. Another door faced the clearing. There was no light in the cabin and all was quiet, indicating that the occupant had gone to bed.
The sheriff sent the constable to guard the back door, and going: to the front door revolver In hand, he knocked lightly and stepped to one side. Soon the door was opened and a man in night attire peered out. Seeing no one in front of the door, he leaned outward to look along the front of the house. The sheriff s left arm slid quickly under the man's right arm and clasped it tightly, and the muzzle of a revolver was pressed against the man's chin. "John Tanner, I want you," said the sheriff. "All right, you've got me. I surrender. replied Tanner.
The sheriff whistled for the constable and called to the inmates of the cabin to make a light in the house and then stepped inside. Still holding his prisoner under cover of the pistol, the sheriff said to Mrs. Tanner, "If you have anything to shoot with I want it," and Mrs. Tanner took a revolver from under a pillow and handed it to him. Tanner admitted that he had been taken by surprise and regretted his carelessness in going to the door unarmed.
Yet that quiet arrest at midnight at the door of the lonely cabin in the Missouri backwoods was the best thing that ever happened to John R. Tanner and marked the turning point in his life the point where he ceased to be an outlaw and fugitive. Under compulsion he turned his face once more toward the world and soon he began to march forward to usefulness and honor. Sheriff Finch returned to Illinois with his prisoner and Tanner was placed on trial for his life. There was no question about the fact of the killing, but the defense alleged and tried to prove that Tanner was justified in believing his life in peril and that he fired in self-defense. The jury believed the killing was unnecessary and found Tanner guilty of manslaughter. A new trial was granted and a second jury returned a verdict of acquittal.
Tanner remained in Clay county and began life anew, and being a man of energy and brains, he took a leading part in public affairs and became in a few years one of the recognized leaders of the Republican party In Illinois. He and the sheriff remained on friendly terms In after years Tanner recognizing the service the officer rendered him in bringing him to trial. Walton H. Finch is now the proprietor of the Daily Republican of Ottawa, Kansas."
Probably in 1880 when John was elected a state senator, Lauretta and John moved their family to Springfield, Sangamon Co., IL.
Their daughter Lucinda's 1920 obituary states:
"She [Lucinda] was born (sic) and spent her childhood in Louisville (Clay Co.), Ill. Later she attended the Bettie Stuart Institute here (Springfield, Sangamon Co., IL) and afterwards Mrs. Summer's school in Washington.
In 1891 she was married to John A. Barnes of Louisville and made her home there until her father was elected governor, when they moved to this city. Later she went to Chicago."
Lauretta died 1887 in Springfield and was buried there. John and his second wife would later be buried nearby.
John finished raising their two children by himself and then upon being elected governor he remarried 30 Dec 1896, Sangamon Co., IL to Cora Edith English, a marriage celebrated in the book "The Governor takes a bride: The celebrated marriage of Cora English and John R. Tanner, Governor of Illinois (1897-1901)," 1977, by John Thomas Trutter. She served as the First Lady of Illinois when John became governor in 1897.
John and his wife Cora were listed on the 1900 census in Springfield, Illinois while John was governor:
1900 census, ED 96 Capitol Township, Precinct 1 Springfield city Ward 5, Sangamon, Illinois
head John R Tanner M 56 Indiana
wife Cora Tanner F 39 Illinois
[six servants listed in household]
John died in 1901 and was buried in a grand mausoleum near Lauretta's grave.
*****************
Lauretta Ingraham's children:
1. Lucinda "Lulu" F. Tanner, b. Dec 1867, Bates Co., MO; m. 26 Apr 1893, Cook Co., IL to John A. Barnes [b. Jun 1859, IL]; she d. 28 Aug 1920, Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Sangamon Co., IL.
1900 census, ED 1086 Precinct 13 Hyde Park Township Chicago city Ward 34, Cook, Illinois, p. 229
head John A Barnes, 41, b. Jun 1859, IL; married 7 yrs, parents b. IN; lawyer
wife Lulu F Barnes, 33, b. Dec 1867, IL; father b. IN; mother b. PA
son John A Barnes, 6, b. Apr 1894, Illinois
daughter Mildred E Barnes, 4, Feb 1896, Illinois
son Fred Barnes, b. Jan 1898, Illinois
servant Mary Miller F 29 Germany
Lucinda F. Tanner's children:
1) John A Barnes, b. Apr 1894, Chicago, Cook Co., IL
2) Mildred E Barnes, Feb 1896, Chicago, Cook Co., IL
3) Fred Barnes, b. Jan 1898, Chicago, Cook Co., IL
*****************
2. James "Mack" Tanner b. 10 Nov 1868, Bates, MO; m. 17 Apr 1894, Knox Co., IL to Flora "Patsie" Estella Ingersoll [b. Apr 1869; d. 1951]; he d. 15 Apr 1922; buried Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Sangamon Co., IL.
http://genealogytrails.com/ill/clay/biot.html
"J. Mack Tanner (Republican), Flora; farmer and orchardist; member of Committees on Agriculture, Executive Department, and Military Affairs. Was born in Butler County, Missouri, November 10, 1868. He is a graduate of Knox College, Galesburg, class of '91, with highest honors. Was teller and assistant cashier of the United States Sub-treasury at Chicago for two years; assistant cashier in the Cook County Treasurer's office, 1895-6; private secretary to Governor John R. Tanner, 1897-1901; secretary of State Board of Charities, 1901-1905. Colonel of the 4th Illinois Infantry, I. N. G., 1901-1905. President of the State Horticultural Society for two years; chairman Clay County Chapter Red Cross; chairman Clay County Committee of the Council of Defense; and sales director of the various Liberty loans for Clay County." [Source: "Illinois Blue Book"]
1900 census, ED 98 Capitol Township, Precinct 1 Springfield city Ward 5, Sangamon, Illinois
head J Mack Tanner, 32, b. Nov 1868, Missouri
wife Patsie E Tanner, 31, b. Apr 1869, Illinois
son John R Tanner, 5, b. Feb 1895 Illinois
son Bruce I Tanner, 4, b. Oct 1896 Illinois
J. Mack Tanner's children:
1) John R Tanner, b. Feb 1895, Illinois
2) Bruce I Tanner, b. Oct 1896, Illinois
She was the oldest of fourteen children of Barton B. Ingraham and his wife Jane C. Johnston.
Sometime between 1863 to 1865, during the Civil War, her parents moved the family from Pennsylvania to Flora, Clay Co., Illinois.
Lauretta married on 25 Dec 1866, Clay Co., IL to (future Gov.) John Riley Tanner, son of John Tanner, Sr., and they settled down to farm.
1867 - About a year after their marriage, Lauretta's new husband John Tanner, who had served as a Union soldier during the Civil War, shot at his brother-in-law's brother with whom he was feuding and who had just thrown an ax at him, and killed him. He fled the state and Lauretta shortly followed him to Bates or Butler Co., MO, where they hid out in a cabin in the woods and where their daughter Lucinda was born later that year, as was their son Mack the following year. John was arrested not long after, returned to Clay Co., Illinois, and eventually acquitted of murder.
John must have had popular support locally, as he was almost immediately elected deputy sheriff of Clay County!
1870 census, Louisville, Clay Co., IL, p. 117
John Tanner, 26, deputy sheriff, born IN
Lauretta, 23, born PA
Lucinda, 2, born Missouri
James M., 1, born Missouri
1880 census, Louisville, Clay Co., Illinois, p 291
John R. Tanner, 36, Abstractor & Trader, b. IN; parents b. KY
wife Lauretta Tanner, 32, b. Pennsylvania
daughter Lucinda Tanner, 12, b. Missouri
son James M. Tanner, 11, b. Missouri
"Tanner entered politics in 1870, serving as sheriff of Clay County, an office he held two years. He served as clerk of the circuit court from 1872 to 1876, was a member of the Illinois State Senate from 1880 to 1883, and served as U.S. Marshall for the Southern District of Illinois in 1883. He also served as Illinois State Treasurer from 1886 to 1889, was a railroad commissioner in 1891, and served as assistant U.S. Treasurer for Chicago from 1892 to 1893. Tanner won the 1896 Republican gubernatorial nomination and was sworn into the governor's office on January 11, 1897."
[Source: Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 1, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.]
http://genealogytrails.com/ill/clay/biot.html
"In 1870, he [John R. Tanner] was elected to the office of Sheriff of Clay County, and at the expiration of his term of office was chosen Circuit Clerk. In 1876, he was appointed Master in Chancery, and in 1880 elected to the State Senate over Dr. Shirley, of Xenia, whom be defeated by a majority of nearly 400 votes, in a very close district. He was appointed a member of the State Central Committee of the Republican party in 1874, and has been retained in that capacity ever since. Mr. Tanner was married, December 25, 1886, to Miss Lauretta, daughter of Barton B. Ingraham of this county. Two children are the fruits of this union—Lucinda J. and James M." Excerpt from "History of Wayne and Clay Counties, Illinois 1884"
http://genealogytrails.com/ill/clay/biot.html
[Source: The Atlanta Constitution Atlanta, Georgia May 17, 1896]
Tanner's Strange Story - From the Chicago Record.
"John R. Tanner, republican nominee for governor of Illinois, owes his position as a political leader and even his liberty to move among men without fear to the vigilance of a sheriff who tracked him to the backwoods of Missouri more than a quarter of a century ago, surprised and covered him with a pistol and arrested him for murder. This strange story is worth repeating. Twenty-nine years ago Tanner was a farmer in Clay County, Illinois, in a district not noted in those days as the abode of peaceable, law-abiding folk. He quarreled with Tom Erskine, a neighboring farmer, whose brother had married Tanner's sister, and the quarrel grew to a deadly feud, each expecting the other to begin active hostilities and each prepared to defend his own life.
One day the two men met in the presence of several neighbors. Tanner had been working on the roads, after the fashion of farmers who pay their taxes by labor, and was returning to his home. He was in a wagon with several others, when he met Erskine, -who carried an ax. Angry words passed and Erskine threw the ax at Tanner. Tanner drew a pistol and fired, and when the smoke blew away Erskine was lying dead in the road. Tanner leaped, from the wagon and fled, and that night he disappeared from Clay County.
The sheriff of Clay county was Walton H. Finch, a small, quiet man, who had served through the war as an officer of an Illinois regiment. Sheriff Finch determined to find Tanner and bring him to trial, and he began a still hunt for the fugitive. Tanner's family disappeared soon after his flight. After eight or nine months of quiet work the sheriff obtained his first clue from some papers filed for record in a county clerk's office in Kansas, and he finally became satisfied that Tanner was in Bates county, Missouri. Procuring the necessary papers; Sheriff Finch went to Bates county, left the railroad at a small town and securing the assistance of a constable who knew the roads, drove at night out to a sparsely settled district, where Tanner was living in a log bouse at the edge of a heavy forest. Stopping before reaching a point from which the rattle of wheels could be heard at the house, the sheriff and his guide left the vehicle and proceeded on foot. Before them was a cabin that barely peeped from the woods into the clearing and the back door opened upon a thicket that would hide instantly one who might need to fly from the house to the depths of the forest. Another door faced the clearing. There was no light in the cabin and all was quiet, indicating that the occupant had gone to bed.
The sheriff sent the constable to guard the back door, and going: to the front door revolver In hand, he knocked lightly and stepped to one side. Soon the door was opened and a man in night attire peered out. Seeing no one in front of the door, he leaned outward to look along the front of the house. The sheriff s left arm slid quickly under the man's right arm and clasped it tightly, and the muzzle of a revolver was pressed against the man's chin. "John Tanner, I want you," said the sheriff. "All right, you've got me. I surrender. replied Tanner.
The sheriff whistled for the constable and called to the inmates of the cabin to make a light in the house and then stepped inside. Still holding his prisoner under cover of the pistol, the sheriff said to Mrs. Tanner, "If you have anything to shoot with I want it," and Mrs. Tanner took a revolver from under a pillow and handed it to him. Tanner admitted that he had been taken by surprise and regretted his carelessness in going to the door unarmed.
Yet that quiet arrest at midnight at the door of the lonely cabin in the Missouri backwoods was the best thing that ever happened to John R. Tanner and marked the turning point in his life the point where he ceased to be an outlaw and fugitive. Under compulsion he turned his face once more toward the world and soon he began to march forward to usefulness and honor. Sheriff Finch returned to Illinois with his prisoner and Tanner was placed on trial for his life. There was no question about the fact of the killing, but the defense alleged and tried to prove that Tanner was justified in believing his life in peril and that he fired in self-defense. The jury believed the killing was unnecessary and found Tanner guilty of manslaughter. A new trial was granted and a second jury returned a verdict of acquittal.
Tanner remained in Clay county and began life anew, and being a man of energy and brains, he took a leading part in public affairs and became in a few years one of the recognized leaders of the Republican party In Illinois. He and the sheriff remained on friendly terms In after years Tanner recognizing the service the officer rendered him in bringing him to trial. Walton H. Finch is now the proprietor of the Daily Republican of Ottawa, Kansas."
Probably in 1880 when John was elected a state senator, Lauretta and John moved their family to Springfield, Sangamon Co., IL.
Their daughter Lucinda's 1920 obituary states:
"She [Lucinda] was born (sic) and spent her childhood in Louisville (Clay Co.), Ill. Later she attended the Bettie Stuart Institute here (Springfield, Sangamon Co., IL) and afterwards Mrs. Summer's school in Washington.
In 1891 she was married to John A. Barnes of Louisville and made her home there until her father was elected governor, when they moved to this city. Later she went to Chicago."
Lauretta died 1887 in Springfield and was buried there. John and his second wife would later be buried nearby.
John finished raising their two children by himself and then upon being elected governor he remarried 30 Dec 1896, Sangamon Co., IL to Cora Edith English, a marriage celebrated in the book "The Governor takes a bride: The celebrated marriage of Cora English and John R. Tanner, Governor of Illinois (1897-1901)," 1977, by John Thomas Trutter. She served as the First Lady of Illinois when John became governor in 1897.
John and his wife Cora were listed on the 1900 census in Springfield, Illinois while John was governor:
1900 census, ED 96 Capitol Township, Precinct 1 Springfield city Ward 5, Sangamon, Illinois
head John R Tanner M 56 Indiana
wife Cora Tanner F 39 Illinois
[six servants listed in household]
John died in 1901 and was buried in a grand mausoleum near Lauretta's grave.
*****************
Lauretta Ingraham's children:
1. Lucinda "Lulu" F. Tanner, b. Dec 1867, Bates Co., MO; m. 26 Apr 1893, Cook Co., IL to John A. Barnes [b. Jun 1859, IL]; she d. 28 Aug 1920, Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Sangamon Co., IL.
1900 census, ED 1086 Precinct 13 Hyde Park Township Chicago city Ward 34, Cook, Illinois, p. 229
head John A Barnes, 41, b. Jun 1859, IL; married 7 yrs, parents b. IN; lawyer
wife Lulu F Barnes, 33, b. Dec 1867, IL; father b. IN; mother b. PA
son John A Barnes, 6, b. Apr 1894, Illinois
daughter Mildred E Barnes, 4, Feb 1896, Illinois
son Fred Barnes, b. Jan 1898, Illinois
servant Mary Miller F 29 Germany
Lucinda F. Tanner's children:
1) John A Barnes, b. Apr 1894, Chicago, Cook Co., IL
2) Mildred E Barnes, Feb 1896, Chicago, Cook Co., IL
3) Fred Barnes, b. Jan 1898, Chicago, Cook Co., IL
*****************
2. James "Mack" Tanner b. 10 Nov 1868, Bates, MO; m. 17 Apr 1894, Knox Co., IL to Flora "Patsie" Estella Ingersoll [b. Apr 1869; d. 1951]; he d. 15 Apr 1922; buried Oak Ridge Cemetery, Springfield, Sangamon Co., IL.
http://genealogytrails.com/ill/clay/biot.html
"J. Mack Tanner (Republican), Flora; farmer and orchardist; member of Committees on Agriculture, Executive Department, and Military Affairs. Was born in Butler County, Missouri, November 10, 1868. He is a graduate of Knox College, Galesburg, class of '91, with highest honors. Was teller and assistant cashier of the United States Sub-treasury at Chicago for two years; assistant cashier in the Cook County Treasurer's office, 1895-6; private secretary to Governor John R. Tanner, 1897-1901; secretary of State Board of Charities, 1901-1905. Colonel of the 4th Illinois Infantry, I. N. G., 1901-1905. President of the State Horticultural Society for two years; chairman Clay County Chapter Red Cross; chairman Clay County Committee of the Council of Defense; and sales director of the various Liberty loans for Clay County." [Source: "Illinois Blue Book"]
1900 census, ED 98 Capitol Township, Precinct 1 Springfield city Ward 5, Sangamon, Illinois
head J Mack Tanner, 32, b. Nov 1868, Missouri
wife Patsie E Tanner, 31, b. Apr 1869, Illinois
son John R Tanner, 5, b. Feb 1895 Illinois
son Bruce I Tanner, 4, b. Oct 1896 Illinois
J. Mack Tanner's children:
1) John R Tanner, b. Feb 1895, Illinois
2) Bruce I Tanner, b. Oct 1896, Illinois
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