Saturday, January 15, 2011

John Harrison Stotler

This one is captioned "John Harrison Stotler". He was the son of Hiram Stotler (1838-1920) and Hannah Argo (1833-1871). He was the brother of my 2nd great grandmother, Mary Hay (Stotler) Ross, so that makes him my 2nd great grand uncle. He would have been Clara (Ross) Fowlie's uncle, if that helps connect things.

John Harrison Stotler was born February 15, 1867 in Illinois to Hiram A. Stotler and Hannah Argo. He was probably born in or near Piatt County, Illinois since his family was recorded to be living in Sangamon township, Piatt County, Illinois in 1870. John became a minister and married Anna M. Perry around 1890. In 1900, John was a minister in Mt. Carmel, Wabash County, Illinois. I don't have a religion listed, but it was most likely a Protestant faith. They had no children in 1900. According to my notes, he died in Indianapolis, Indiana in 1913 due to a flood. There was a large flood in Indiana in March of 1913, so his death might have occurred in that flood. He might be buried at Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, IN where his brother and father are buried, but the online database for Crown Hill conflicts with some of my notes. I'll post an update in the future if I find anything else.

Update: John Stotler apparently was killed in Franklin County, Ohio rather than Indianapolis. My grandmother has a letter from the Franklin County, Ohio Coroner dated April 3, 1913 that says he and his wife Katharine were killed in the flooding at that time. The best I can do at this time is say that according to the Ohio Historical Society's website around 100 were killed in Columbus, Ohio and 467 total in the state of Ohio. I will scan the telegram and post it when it becomes available. Apparently, John Stotler remarried Katharine following Anna's death.

Update: I'm starting to have doubts on the flood story. The source of that story was the April 1913 notification of Mary Ross by a Franklin County Coroner following the disastrous flooding. I now think that the notification was in error and in the confusion following the flood, the wrong Stotlers were notified. The death certificates for John and Katherine Stotler that died during the flood indicate they were much older by 20 years and were born in Germany, not Illinois. Based on this, I think I need to go back to the drawing board on John Harrison Stotler.