The birth date, June 17, 1852, is from Rick Albright from the Bible of Etta Shipley Owens as quoted to her great grandson, Rick Albright, by her daughter, Mrs. Burnette Wishmeyer, now deceased. The Bible’s whereabouts today are unknown to Rick. Lynne Chandler says the birth date for Joseph Douty Shipley is the 12th of June, 1852.

He may have died in a buggy or horse accident.
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Joseph Douty Shipley And Nicey Emaline "Emma" Abercrombie Family
Douglas L. Moomey
December 21, 2005

Joseph Douty Shipley was born on June 12, 1852 in Green Township, Lawrence County, Missouri, the seventh child and fourth son born to Richard Shipley (Jr.) and Julinda Windham Shipley. At least one source, however, gives his date of birth as January 17, 1852. There was one additional child born to Richard (Jr.) and Julinda after Joseph Douty was born - George. However, although no documentation has been found concerning him, it appears that George died at a very young age. Joseph, therefore, was, for all practical purposes, the youngest child of Richard (Jr.) and Julinda.

It is not known where his middle name - Douty - came from. It has the appearance of a family name. However, the name has not shown up elsewhere in the Shipley family history and no existing Shipley family member knows of its origin. If it was a family name, therefore, it most likely was a name on the Windham side of the family. The Douty name was not found in any of the early censuses of the Hamilton County, Tennessee area. Since it is not known where Julinda Windham Shipley was from, other than that she was living in Hamilton County when she and Richard (Jr.) were married, it is not possible at this time to search the censuses, or other documents, of other areas in an attempt to locate the origin of the name.

In his early life, Joseph Douty was apparently known as Joe Shipley. By the time he moved to Kansas as a young man, however, he was apparently using only his first two initials. He was, therefore, known as "J. D. Shipley" in his later life.

The Richard Shipley (Jr.) family moved from Lawrence County, Missouri to Mahaska County, Iowa in 1856. The family first lived in Oskaloosa, Iowa. According to Benjamin Rush Shipley's obituary, they wintered in Oskaloosa in 1856 and then moved to Eddyville, presumably in the spring of 1857. Since Joseph was only about four and a half years old when the family moved to Iowa, the move was probably not a difficult move for him.

Since Joseph had not been born yet when the 1850 census was taken, he first appears in the 1860 Mahaska County, Iowa census. He is shown in Richard Shipley's household as a seven-year old son. However, young Joseph's life was about to take some major changes shortly after this census was taken.

1862 had to be a very traumatic year for young Joseph. Joseph was not yet ten years old when his mother, Julinda Windham Shipley, died on January 11, 1862. And, he was still one month short of this tenth birthday when his father remarried. His new stepmother, Amanda "Mandy" Cline Shipley, and his father were married on May 12, 1862 in Mahaska County, Iowa.

He had, however, just turned ten years old when his two oldest brothers left Iowa to fight for the Union army during the Civil War in Company D of the Thirty-sixth Iowa Infantry Volunteer Regiment. His oldest brother, William Preston Shipley, enlisted on August 13, 1862 while his next oldest brother, Benjamin Rush Shipley, had already enlisted on August 5, 1862. Both brothers were mustered into the Thirty-sixth Iowa on September 6, 1862. And, he was still just ten years old when he helped bury William Preston Shipley, who died on October 20, 1862. William Preston had only been in the army forty-five days when he contracted measles at Camp Lincoln, Keokuk, Iowa, and died.

1863 was somewhat less traumatic for young Joseph, but was still a difficult year for him. He was three months short of his eleventh birthday when his stepmother, Amanda Cline Shipley, died. Amanda died on March 14, 1863, possibly of childbirth, and is buried in the Cline family plot in the Bluff Creek Cemetery in Mahaska County.

And, he had turned eleven years old just twenty-two days before his father again married. Richard (Jr.) and Sarah Ann Fisher were married on July 4, 1863 at Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa. No record exists as to the relationship between Joseph and his new stepmother. However, since Sarah was only thirteen years older than Joseph, he might have felt she was more like an older sister than a stepmother.

The 1870 Wayne County, Iowa census shows Joseph as a seventeen-year old farm worker living in his father's household. It is not clear whether Joseph was working on his father's farm at the time or whether he was working on other farms but living at home. Whichever the case, he did not remain a farmer much longer.

Sometime between 1870 and 1880, he learned the blacksmith trade and moved to Kansas. Or, he might have moved to Kansas and learned the blacksmith trade there. His uncle, Benjamin Franklin Shipley, as well as his father, both had been blacksmiths at one time. While Richard (Jr.) is shown in the 1850 Lawrence County, Missouri census as a blacksmith, all subsequent censuses and other documents show him as a farmer. It is unknown whether Richard (Jr.) taught Joseph the trade or if Joseph learned it elsewhere.

It is not known when or why Joseph moved to Kansas. His brother, Richard Reuben Shipley, moved to Marshall County, Kansas, in the northern part of the state, sometime between March 1876 and December 1877. However, it appears that Joseph may have already been living Kansas by that time. It, therefore, appears that Richard Reuben may have followed his younger brother, Joseph, to Kansas and not the other way around. One Kansas source has speculated that Joseph may have elected to live in Mitchell County in northern Kansas for a couple of reasons. This source speculates that (1) small towns in Kansas in those days often advertised in out-of-state newspapers when they needed a certain type of tradesman. Salt Creek, Kansas may have placed such an advertisement for a blacksmith in an Iowa newspaper and Joseph may have answered their ad. Additionally, (2) Salt Creek, Kansas was at the time a community of very strong and conservative Methodists. It, therefore, is possible that Joseph learned of the need for a blacksmith in Salt Creek through the Methodist church. His father, by that time, was a minister in a local Wayne County, Iowa Methodist church.

It does not appear, however, that Joseph Douty actually owned the blacksmith shop at Salt Creek. The shop appears to have been owned by a member of the Abercrombie family. However, while the shop does not appear to have been titled in J. D.'s name, it does appear that he ran the business.

It should be noted that the town is referred to here as both Salt Creek as well as Saltville. The Post Office address would have been Saltville, Kansas. However, the local residents generally referred to it as Salt Creek.

Joseph Douty Shipley is shown in the 1880 Mitchell County, Kansas census as J.D. Shipley. He was a twenty-seven year old single male, a blacksmith, and a boarder in the Stephen Forsom household. Stephen was a twenty-year old farmer who lived with his sister, Sarah, a twenty-three year old single woman who was keeping house for Stephen. The Forsom household was situated at Salt Creek, Kansas.

Interestingly, the Forsom household was only a couple of doors down from the William Wiley Abercrombie household. The oldest daughter in the William Abercrombie household was Nicey Emaline Abercrombie, age seventeen.

Joseph Douty Shipley and Nicey Emaline Abercrombie were married on August 17, 1880 in Minneapolis, Ottawa County, Kansas. Her name is shown differently in various sources. It is shown as Nancy Emaline (which would conflict with her sister's name - Nancy Caroline Abercrombie), as Emaline Nancy, as Nicy Emaline, as Nicy Emmaline, as well as other variations of these names. Nicey was a Brookshire family name. Her mother, Elizabeth Brookshire Abercrombie, had both an aunt and a sister who were named Nicey. Most legal documents as well as the few family documents that have survived from this time frame referred to her as Emaline. Nicey Emmaline appears to have also been used fairly often by the Abercrombie family. Nicey Emaline went by the name of Emma.

It is not clear why they were married at Minneapolis, Ottawa County and not at Salt Creek, Mitchell County. They may have eloped. He was twenty-seven years old and Emma was seventeen years old when they were married. While this marriage is recorded in the Index of Marriages in Ottawa County, the actual marriage license could not be located.

Emma was born on October 7, 1862 in Dahlonega, Lumpkin County, Georgia, the oldest child of William Wiley Abercrombie and Elizabeth Armon Brookshire Abercrombie. She was seven years old when she moved with her family to Mitchell County, Kansas in 1869. William is shown in the 1880 Mitchell County, Kansas census as a merchant. In addition to owning the general store at Salt Creek, he also operated a substantial farm.

Sources in Kansas speculate that the relationship between Joseph Douty and his new in-laws may not have been as good as it could have been. They speculate that the friction was possibly caused by one or all of the following:
· The Abercrombie family was from Georgia and moved to Kansas in 1869, after the Civil War. Emma's father enlisted in the Confederate army at sixteen years of age. Joseph, of course, while too young to enlist in either army, was from a fairly strong Union family that had lost one son to the Union cause and another son fought for the Union for almost three years.
· Another speculation for the friction, if it existed, was that the Abercrombie family was fairly wealthy. Joseph, on the other hand, was a blacksmith from an Iowa farm family of modest circumstances.
· Another speculation was that the friction may have been caused by the fact that Joseph was ten years older than Emma and that Emma was only seventeen when she married.
· Lastly, the W. W. Abercrombie family consisted of fairly strong Baptists whereas the Richard Shipley (Jr.) family members were fairly strong Methodists. This difference in religious affiliation was a reasonably important item in that era.
It should be stressed, however, that there are no known documents that discuss this relationship, good or bad. It is mostly a feeling of some members of the current day Abercrombie family. These sources also state that Emma never wanted to talk, later in her life, about her marriage to Joseph. However, it is not known why she was reluctant to talk about him or the marriage, if, in fact, she even had this reluctance.

Joseph and Emma had four children. The first two were twins. Etta Earnestine Shipley Jones was born on June 18, 1881 in Beloit, Mitchell County, Kansas. Her middle name is also shown as Ernestine. Edna Christine Shipley Hatcher, Etta's twin sister, was, of course, also born on June 18, 1881 in Beloit, Mitchell County, Kansas. Benjamin Wiley Shipley was born on April 9, 1883 in Beloit, Mitchell County, Kansas. He carries the same middle name as his grandfather Abercrombie and went by the names of B. W. Shipley and Ben Shipley. 4. Julinda (Julia) Elizabeth Shipley was born on July 20, 1885 in Beloit, Mitchell County, Kansas. She apparently was given her grandmother's, Julinda Windom Shipley, first name and her other grandmother, Elizabeth Armon Brookshire Abercrombie, provided her middle name.

Joseph died on November 4, 1886 in Beloit, Mitchell County, Kansas and is buried in the Elmwood Cemetery in Beloit. Shipley family oral history states he died as the result of a wagon or a horse accident. Unfortunately, neither an obituary or a death certificate could be located, either of which might have identified the cause of death. He was thirty-four years, four months, and twenty-two days old when he died. Emma had just celebrated her twenty-fourth birthday twenty-eight days before Joseph died. Interestingly, Emma's obituary states Joseph died in November 1885. Obviously, Emma was left with four very small children to raise. When Joseph died, the twins, Etta Earnestine and Edna Christine, were five years old, Benjamin Wiley was three years old, and Julinda (Julia) Elizabeth was one year old.

Emma raised the children as a single mother from the time Joseph died on November 4, 1886 until March 1, 1889, when she married John Peck. It is not known where she lived during these two years and four months, but it is very possible she lived with, or was heavily supported by, her parents. Her parents were relatively well off compared to the estate Joseph most likely left her.

Nicey Emaline "Emma" Abercrombie Shipley married John Walter Peck on March 1, 1889 in Mitchell County, Kansas. The marriage license states that both John and Emma were from Mitchell County and shows their names as John W. Peck and Emaline Shipley. They were married by Sidney Peck, Justice of the Peace. Sidney Peck could very well have been John's father, although no documentation to that fact was found. His father's name was Sidney Peck. According to the marriage license, John was thirty-three years old and Emma was twenty-six years old when they were married. John Walter brought two children to the marriage and Emma brought four children. Their first spouses had both died a few years prior to the marriage.

John Walter Peck was born on April 1, 1855 although some sources state he was born in 1856. His parents were Sidney and Eliza Ann Stanton Peck. The 1880 Mitchell County census states John Walter was born in Illinois and that both of his parents were born in New York.

John and Emma Peck could not be found in the fragments of the 1890 census. However, sometime shortly after their marriage, they moved from Mitchell County, Kansas to Stillwater, Oklahoma. Emma's parents had moved to Stillwater by 1891.

John and Emma are shown in the 1900 Payne County, Oklahoma census. They were living in Clayton at the time. John is shown as a forty-four year old farmer and Emma as a thirty-seven year old housewife. Their children were listed as:
1. Edna C. Shipley, an eighteen-year old stepdaughter born in June 1881
2. Benjamin W. Shipley, a sixteen-year old stepson born in April 1883
3. Julia E. Shipley, a fourteen-year old stepdaughter born in July 1885
4. Raymond Peck, a thirteen-year old son born in June 1887.
5. Sidney C. Peck, an eight-year old son born in August 4, 1891. Sidney's middle name was Carlton but he apparently went by the name of Carl. . In later censuses, he is listed as Carl S. Peck. He was likely named for his grandfather, Sidney Peck, and might have changed his names around to eliminate confusion with his grandfather's name. Sidney Carlton died on February 1, 1918 in Greensburg, Kansas and is buried in the Fairview Cemetery in Greensburg.
6. Eunice E. Peck, a six-year old daughter born on November 3,1893 in Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma. Her middle name was Eliza. Eunice later married Charles N. Rich on June 12, 1916 in Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma. They are shown in the 1930 census as living in Greensburg, Kiowa County, Kansas. She was living in Greensburg, Kansas when her mother died, as well as when other family members died. She died in Greensburg on March 3, 1973 and is buried in the Fairview Cemetery in Greensburg, Kansas.
7. Harlan R. Peck was a five-year old son born in April 11, 1896. Harlan's middle name was Ralph. He was born in Stillwater, Payne County, Oklahoma. Harlan married Beatrice Martin on March 16, 1940 in Auburn, Nebraska. Harlan Ralph died on January 31, 1949 at Princeton, Kansas. He is buried in the Highland Cemetery at Ottawa, Kansas.
8. Kittie L. Peck, a two-year old daughter born in February 22, 1898. She is also shown as being born in 1897. Kittie's middle name was Lee. She was apparently named for her aunt, Kitty Lee Abercrombie. Her first name, later in life, is generally spelled Kitty on most documents. Kitty married Thomas DeArmand on December 24, 1952 in Greensburg, Kansas. She later married Carl Hertlein on November 15, 1966. Kitty died on April 30, 1992.
9. Baby Peck, a 0/12 year old newborn son born in May 1900. "Baby Peck" was Ellis Lyndon Peck who was born on May 12, 1900 in Payne County, Oklahoma. He apparently had not been named yet when the census was taken. He married Nettie Irene Shuck in Greensburg, Kansas. Nettie Irene was born on October 28, 1901 in Brenham, Kiowa County, Kansas and was the daughter of Minor Shuck and Ida Freeman Shuck. Ellis Lyndon and Nettie Irene had eight children. Ellis is shown as living in Haviland, Kansas when his mother died in 1952 and is shown as living in Greensburg, Kansas when his half-brother, Benjamin, and his half-sister, Edna, died in 1971. Nettie Irene died in Greensburg, Kansas on October 14, 1989. Ellis Lyndon died about on May 12, 1900. Some sources state he died also in Greensburg, Kansas but his last known address in the Social Security records was Coldwater, Comanche County, Kansas.

Edna Christine Shipley was married on February 24, 1901. She was obviously not living in the household at the time the census was taken in May 1900, however. The subsequent 1910 census shows a Carl S. Peck, an eighteen-year old son. That would put his birth year at 1893, not 1891 as shown above. The 1900 census was taken on June 6, 1900. The newborn son had apparently not been named yet. He is shown elsewhere as Ellis L. Peck.

According to Emma's obituary, the family moved from Oklahoma to Kiowa County, Kansas in 1909. They farmed north of Greensburg from then until 1922, at which time they retired and moved into Greensburg.

When the 1910 census was taken it shows the John Peck family as living in Valley Township, Kiowa County, Kansas. John is shown as a fifty-five year old farmer and Emma is shown as a forty-seven year old housewife. The household also consisted of:
1. Carl S. Peck, an eighteen-year old son working on the home farm
2. Eunice E. Peck, a sixteen-year old daughter
3. Harlan R. Peck, a fourteen-year old son
4. Kittie L. Peck, a twelve-year old daughter
5. Ellis L. Peck, a ten-year old son.
By the time this census was taken, the family was getting noticeably smaller. Etta Earnestine Shipley, Edna Christine Shipley, Benjamin Wiley Shipley, Julinda (Julia) Elizabeth Shipley, and Raymond Peck had all left home.

When the 1920 census was taken, the John Peck family was still living in Valley Township, Kiowa County, Kansas. John was now sixty-four years old and is still shown as a farmer. Emma is shown as a fifty-six year old housewife. The household now consists, in addition to John and Emma, of the following children:
1. Harlan R. Peck, a twenty-eight year old son and is shown as a farm laborer
2. Kittie L Peck, a twenty-one year old daughter with no occupation shown
3. Ellis L. Peck, a nineteen-year old son with no occupation shown.

John Peck died on January 5, 1927 in Greensburg, Kansas after two weeks of serious illness. His obituary states he had moved to town several years prior to his death due to failing health. This is consistent with the statement in Emma's obituary that says they moved to town in 1922. He is buried in Greensburg.

The 1930 census shows Emma Peck as a sixty-six year old widow. She was still living in Kiowa County, Kansas in the town of Greensburg. Interestingly, this census mistakenly shows her place of birth as Germany. She still had two of her children living with her in her household.
1. Harlan Peck, a thirty-four year old son who is shown as a "Dept. Game Warden".
2. Kitty L. Peck, a thirty-three year old daughter without an occupation shown. Kittie apparently changed the spelling of her name from Kittie to Kitty sometime prior to this census.

Emma's obituary states "…After the death of Mr. Peck, Mrs. Peck resided here with her daughter, Kitty Lee…". It is not clear when Harlan left home. It is assumed Emma and Kitty were living in Emma's household. However, since no census newer than 1930 is available, it is not clear which one was the head of the household. Kitty did not marry for the first time until seven months after Emma died.

Nicey Emaline Abercrombie Shipley Peck died on May 11, 1952 in Greensburg, Kansas and is buried at the Fairview Cemetery in Greensburg. She was eighty-nine years, four months, and twenty-six days old when she died. Her obituary states she was preceded in death by Etta, Carl, Harlan, and Mrs. Blanche Davis. Blanche Davis was Sara Blanche Peck, Emma's stepdaughter.