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Irena Neighbarger
and John W. Griffith
According to Clyde Neibarger's research, Irena Neighbarger was married to John W. Griffith before she married Valentine Spawr. She also supposedly had two children, James Ross Griffith and Amanda Adelaide Griffith, both born after 1850. Until today, all that fit. John Griffith was in the James Neighbarger household in the 1850 census. Clara's sister, Ella, talked of two step-children (of Irena Neighbarger and Valentine Spawr). And my aunts remembered visiting cousin Jesse (Payne) Peterson in Iowa; Jesse was the daughter of Amanda Griffith and Jesse Payne, and Jesse's mother was the sister, or half-sister, of Clara Spawr Barrows. Finally, I have a photo of Roy Barrows and another man labeled "cousin Jimmy Payne." Jesse had a brother named James. So I'm sure Amanda (and her brother James) were part of the family. I've always assumed John Griffith died and that's why Irena married Valentine sometime in the 1850s, probably after her family moved from Licking County, Ohio, to McLean Co., Ill., where the Spawrs lived. Divorce was supposed to be rare then, wasn't it? But I've always wondered why the two children weren't with Irena and Valentine in any of the censuses. I found them today. Amanda and James were living in McLean Co., Ill., in the 1860 census with none other than their still-alive father, John W. Griffith! He gave his age as 36, and his wife was Mary, age 21. They had a 9-month-old baby in addition to 12-year-old James Ross Griffith and 14-year-old Amanda Griffith. Now, if James and Amanda were 12 and 14 in 1860, they would have been 2 and 4 in 1850. So why weren't they in the Neighbarger home with John W. Griffith and Irena Neighbarger (Griffith?). I searched for them every way I could think of in the 1850 census for Licking Co., Ohio, and came up with nothing. If they were someone else's kids, why did Irena's grandchildren think of them as cousins or at least step-cousins? I found some later census records that I'm pretty sure show that James Ross Griffith married a woman named Sarah. They had a son named Frank. I'll try to pursue that line, but it's daunting because Griffith is such a common name. Maybe someday a descendant of one of these people will come forward and solve the mystery!
Updated 5/23/09 |