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The Enoch G. McAninch Family (of Ringgold County, Iowa) |
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“Enoch G. [George] McAninch was born October 19, 1824 in Kentucky. [written 1935; Notes 1, 2, 3] |
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Araunah Knighten McAninch was born July 5, 1841, in Indiana. [Note 4] |
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Mr. McAninch was one of thirteen children. He received his education in a log schoolhouse with slabs for seats [during the 1830’s and 1840’s, in Hendricks County, Indiana, probably Franklin Twp.]. |
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Mr. McAninch, his first wife [Note 5] and one child came to Iowa [see additional info at the end of this article] and purchased one hundred and twenty acres in southeast Poe township [Ringgold Co., Note 6]. The deed to the farm was signed by Franklin Pierce in 1856 [Note 7]. John Dwyre was hired to break up the land with oxen and a log house was built. Two brothers and a sister also came to Iowa and located in the same community: William, Joseph, and Arminta, later Mrs. John Harlan. |
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Mrs. McAninch and the baby died soon after coming to Iowa [see additional info at the end of article]. Later Mr. McAninch went to Indiana and after a time returned in a covered wagon accompanied by a bride, Araunah Knighten McAninch [Note 4]. Several visits were made to Indiana later. Their first two children died [Note 8]. On one of their visits to Indiana, Lydia was born [Apr. 3, 1867]. Nine children were born, three in the log house and three in a frame house which they built in 1876. Four children are living now (1935), Lydia, Eva (Mrs. Grant Swigart), Otis, and Jesse. |
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A severe epidemic of typhoid fever broke out during the summer of 1887. One son died of the fever in July [George, born July 26, 1875, died July 22, 1887], and a daughter died in September [Eudora, born April 4, 1870, died Sept. 5, 1887]. The youngest child, Howard, was born in October, of the same year. He was killed in France during the World War [28 Sept. 1918, during the Argonne drive, Note 9]. |
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Mr. McAninch helped build the church at Caledonia, where he and his family attended, going in the wagon for many years. |
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Until the railroad was built in Mount Ayr, mail service was irregular. After the railroad came, mail was carried from Mount Ayr to Caledonia each Thursday. Those living in the townships traversed by the railroad paid a “railroad tax”. Mr. McAninch paid tax amounting to $300 for that purpose. |
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The family used a great deal of corn meal as it was cheaper than wheat flour. Wheat was taken to Davis City to be ground. In the fall before corn was dry enough to take to mill, it was grated on a homemade grater. |
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In the spring of 1908 McAninch’s home was in the path of a cyclone that took the roof off the barn, tore the buggy shed down and damaged the house so that it was necessary to build another which they did. Mrs. McAninch did all of the sewing for the family, including overalls, shirts and underwear. |
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The sewing, knitting, and cooking kept her busy. One could not buy a loaf of bread in those days. Besides her own work she was often called to the neighbor’s to help in sickness. |
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Mr. McAninch died November 18, 1910, at the age of eighty-six [buried Shaha Cem., Ringgold Co.]. |
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Mrs. McAninch died October 31, 1914, at the age of 73 [buried Shaha Cem., Poe Twp., Ringgold Co.]. |
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[additional information added later, before 1981 publication] |
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There is an error in the McAninch narrative. Additional information developed since that time reveals that Isabelle Ridpath, who was married Jan. 1, 1852, first wife of Enoch McAninch, either did not come to Ringgold County or if she did come to Iowa she returned to Indiana where she died June 2, 1860, and was buried with their only child in the Methodist Hill Cemetery south [sic] of Stilesville, Ind. |
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McAninch Family History NL, VI-2 April, 1998 Copyright Frank McAninch page 1998-21 |