Thomas W. Jewell and Zillah Ward Jewell
Thomas W. Jewell and Zillah Ward Jewell are Ritchey’s great-great-grandparents. These were pioneers who moved westward to the center of our great nation.
Thomas Jewell was born April 3, 1815, in Maine, the son of Ebenezer Jewell and Patience Quimby. Ebenezer and Patience were born and married in New Hampshire before moving their small family to Maine. The two of them lived there until their deaths. Other than Thomas they were the parents of Enoch, Mary and Ebenezer Jewell.
Son Thomas struck out to follow his fortune to lands in the west. He stopped in Schuyler County, Illinois, where he married Zillah Ward, daughter of Aaron Ward, who was born March 18, 1823, in Indiana. After raising their family of 9: Thomas T., Lucinda Amanda, Julia Mirand, Charles T., John C., Ebenezer Ward, Enoch Sumner, Elmer E. and Parkhurst Jewell – Thomas and Zillah moved with daughter Lucinda and her husband, Charles Henry Ritchey, and others, to Fillmore County, Nebraska.
After traveling 2,000 miles from his birthplace, Thomas Jewell finally settled down. He and Zillah lived the rest of their days in Nebraska, farming and working the land. Thomas died August 19, 1895, and Zillah, September 5, 1909. They are buried in the town cemetery in Geneva, Nebraska. This beautiful stone marks their graves.
Categories: Cemeteries, Family Stories, Genealogy Ramblings