Thomas Asher McLeland and Caroline Decker saw 5 of their 8 children grow to maturity. Only 1 of those children remained in Iola, Kansas where the family resided for most of the married life of Thomas and Caroline. But they were closely knit by regular correspondence and regularly shared photographs as well. The images in the pages linked at the bottom come from the archives of James Riland McLeland and his wife Nellie Valentine Whitman as well as the papers of their son Roy Whitman McLeland.
These 1886 formal cabinet card portraits of Thomas and Caroline were widely spread among the family – with copies mounted in ivory folders with ornate borders being sent to all their children as well as Lindamira Winslow and Robert B. McLeland and probably other of Thomas’ siblings. In addition to the cabinet card photos Thomas and Caroline had the photos reproduced in a 14 x 20 inch wall mounted style that was then “hand painted” by someone in the photography studio. Details were touched up and soft color was added to produce a lovely hybrid formal portrait. Those portraits still in their ornate gilded and painted plaster frames are now in my possession. They came to me water spotted and dirty and with the frames much chipped but I had them restored and they grace the hall of my 120 year old house.
Joanna McLeland Taylor and family – I know that there are other photos of Jo and her daughters among her descendants as well. The first image of Jo on this page was shared with me by cousin Maria Stahl.
James Riland McLeland and family
I am attempting to do some research involving my grandparents, Asher. I have a line from my mother Dixie back to Asa born in 1822 (or 1821), died 1880. As I read it, he was the father of Alvin b 9/1/1857, d 4/5/1915. Where I run into problems is at Asa’s father. I have seen both Thomas (married to Sarah Sumpter) and Dillon (married to Henrietta Bowling) as Asa’s father. My interest in this lies in the fact that along Dillon’s line, his wife Henrietta’s father was the son of William Bowling and a wife named Car-Na-Loo-Ge-Acke, also known as Runsafter McLemore. I have been unable to make a solid Cherokee connection and this is the closest I have found.
Do you have anything beyond Asa Asher? Mine gets muddled and I am looking to find anything.
Thank you,
Michael Sharp
Sarah! That may be my missing link!
Mom’s family notes state General Thomas Sumter’s wife and nearly all their children were killed in a raid on their home during the Revolutionary War. The only one to survive was 17-year-old Thomas Jr. who hid in a tree and escaped. I believe that’s the Thomas Sumter who married Nathalie DeLage and they had a son who was also named Thomas – Thomas DeLage Sumter. Then there’s a gap of 1 generation (if I have this all figured out correctly) which would have been a daughter because the surname changes, and that could be Sarah Sumter! Her son would be Thomas Asher McLeland.
The family notes all spell the name Sumpter, but they also talk about General “Sumpter” and there’s definitely no P in that name.
Forgive me if I’m doing this wrong, this is all new to me.
I found more prints of the photos of Thomas Asher McLeland and Caroline Decker McLeland like you have above, with the ages at the time of photographs written on the backs. Thomas 63, Caroline 56. So the portraits were done in about 1886.
Maria
We’ve emailed quite a bit about the McLeland side of things but not talked about the Ashers. I don’t think that Sarah Sumpter/Sumter was the mother of Matilda Asher McLeland (grandmother of Thomas Asher McLeland) I can find absolutely no documentation that indicates the Asher’s of Ohio which is the Thomas that married Sarah Sumter ever moved to Indiana. In fact they were in Green County Ohio long after our Thomas Asher bought land in Wayne County Indiana. I think that this is a case of “the name is the same so the family is the same.” There are a very large number of Asher families in the US at this time and many moving through NC, KY, OH and IN.
Maria – I have to take back what I said about Sarah’s surname. While in SLC this week I found a death record for Rebecca Asher Lowry one of Matilda Asher McLeland’s sisters. The maiden name of her mother was given as Sumpter. The informant on the death certificate was Rebecca’s daughter Elda who knew her grandmother and who live with her mother Rebecca all her life. I feel pretty comfortable that Elda knew her grandmother’s maiden name – although who can say for sure.
But I still have a several problems with the connection to the general. First and foremost – he had only 1 son Thomas jr. who was born in 1768 (the whole thing about a fire is, I think, a misinterpretation of a fire that took place on the family plantation in the early 1930s.) Sarah Sumpter Asher was born in about 1790. There is no way she could be a grand child of a man who was born in 1768. The math just isn’t possible. And the lives and families of both Thomas Sumpter and his son Thomas Delage Sumpter are exceedingly well documented due to their public service records. So I think we got a useable name but not a lineage. There are a fair number of Sumpter’s running around VA, NE, TN.
Michael;
I can’t believe I didn’t respond to your comment. I am sorry.
The Asa in my lineage, Asa C. Asher, was the son of Thomas Asher and Sarah Sumpter. He was born in Wayne County, IN in 1822 and died sometime after 1900 most likely in Texas. There are at least 2 other Asa Asher’s in that generation born in Indiana. One is connected to the Barlett Asher family of Owen County, IN via Barlett’s son William Blount Asher and that line is pretty well documented. The other is less well known and I haven’t done any work research on him. As far as I know Dillon Asher doesn’t have a documented son named Asa. But he (and his uncle Dillon) was a pretty sketchy individual who may have been a bigamist among other less savory things. If you think you have a Cherokee connection I would do some DNA work and prove it that way – then consider how that connection might have come to be.