On this date in 1947 my 2nd great grandfather, Edward Hendricks died in Deer Creek Illinois. Ed was the grandfather of my maternal grandmother. He was born on 26 Sep 1872 in Irvine Kentucky to John and Vina (Richardson) Hendricks. Conrad (often spelled Coonrad) Hendricks is Vina’s maternal grandfather. Conrad is the brother of Frederick Hendricks, John’s paternal grandfather so they’re second cousins as well as spouses.
Ed was the 6th of Vina and John’s 10 children. His father worked as a Stonemason and later a farmer in Madison County and later Estill County Kentucky. Estill County is southeast of Lexington Kentucky.
At 19 Eddy married 16 year old Nancy “Nannie” Hatton. Like his parents, he and Nannie were cousins. Nan’s mother Cynthia is the daughter of Conrad Hendrick’s son Billy, so they are 3rd cousins.
Ed and Nan had eleven children between 1896 and 1917, their first child being my great grandmother, Bessie. The 1900 census shows them living in Bear Wallow Kentucky, renting and working on a farm. In 1910 they had moved to Riddell and he was listed as a farm laborer. Around 1914 they brought their family to Danvers, Illinois. I’m not sure what brought them to Illinois, though there was a Joshua Hendricks in Mclean County as early as 1882. Ed’s father John had a brother named Joshua and it’s possible that he came to Illinois and told Ed of the good farm soil here. The vast majority of the Hendricks family stayed in Kentucky for the next 100 years, indeed there are still Hendricks living in Estill County today.
Just one year after arriving in Danvers, my great grandmother Bessie Hendricks married Elmer Radcliff in Danvers. In the 1930 census Ed and Nan were living and working on a farm they were renting near Danvers. Just 5 years later Bessie died in childbirth with her 12th child in two decades, but that’s a story for another day. Ed and Nancy took in Bessie’s daughter Mary Radcliff and raised her primarily in Deer Creek Illinois, doing farm work as long as his body allowed. His obituary states at the time of his death in 1947, when he was 74 he had been an “invalid for several years.” In most of the photos I have of Ed he is either on crutches or is sitting.
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