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Jacob Heter died on 23 December 1896, at the age of 76. Lucetta Gambee Heter
died on 24 February 1893, at the age of 72. Both are buried at Sterling
Cemetery. Their birth dates of 4 March 1820 and 4 October 1821 are recorded
on the picture frame. Obituaries for both were published in the Bulletin and
Gazette of Sterling, Kansas, on 3 March 1893 and December 25, 1896. According
to their obituaries, Lucetta was born in Chapman Township, Union County,
Pennsylvania; she moved in 1833 to Lime Township, Huron County, Ohio, with her
parents. Jacob went to Ohio at the age of six, with his parents. “His father
was one of the first settlers of Seneca County, where Jacob was raised to
manhood among the scenes of pioneer life. He often talked of the hardships
of those times and wondered how men could complain about the very favorable
conditions of the present day. For a number of years he was a resident of
Bellevue, Ohio, and moved from there to Sterling in March 1878.”
Jacob Heter and Lucetta Gambee were the first of the Heter family to migrate
to Sterling, Kansas. Their two youngest sons, Franklin Nelson Heter and
Thomas Jefferson Heter, and their daughter, Lavina Cleghorn, traveled with
them, and all three were living in Sterling with their parents in 1880. The
other three children, Sarah Ann, Charles W., and Celia Adaline, were already
married before the migration, and were living elsewhere in 1880.
According to the obituary of Thomas Jefferson Heter (Sterling Kansas Bulletin,
Thursday, August 7, 1913), the migration took place in March, 1878. According
to family legend, they traveled by stagecoach. Lavina Heater was a newlywed,
having married De Forest Cleghorn on 20 February 1878 in Sandusky County, Ohio.
The obituary does not say that De Forest traveled with them.
De Forest Cleghorn was the son of a stone mason of Massachusetts (whose name is
variously interpreted as Foster or Zorester), and Amy S. Hurd, of Vermont; they
appear in the 1850 census for Evans, Erie, New York, and in the 1860 census for
Florence, Erie, Ohio. De Forest Cleghorn is not listed in the 1880 census, and
the 1890 census was lost in a fire, but he is found in the 1900 census, living
with his wife Lavina in Sterling, Rice, Kansas, with no children.
Franklin Nelson Heater married Anna C. Rogers. They had no children, although
Anna had at least one daughter, named Lillian, by her first marriage. Frank
was born September 1853, and died 3 March 1937. Anna was born January 1860
in Missouri, and died 28 January 1944. Both are buried at Sterling Cemetery.
Listed in the 1900 census for Lyons Township, Rice, Kansas are George J. Heter
(born December 1875, Ohio) and his wife Elizabeth Heter (born August 1876,
Ohio), living in Lyons Township, Rice, Kansas; and Isaac J. Heter (born May
1879, Ohio), living with Thomas J. Heter and family. George J. Heter and
Thomas J. Heter were: the sons of Charles W. Heater and Phoebe Jane Kern; the
nephews of Thomas Jefferson Heater; and the grandsons of Jacob Heater and
Lucetta Gambee. They must have come to Kansas between 1880 and 1900.
Thomas Jefferson Heater married Elizabeth Josephine Dill on 1 May 1883 in
Sterling, Rice, Kansas. Her lineage is presented in a separate study. HERE
“Lizzie” Dill was the daughter of David R. Dill and Rebecca E. Kinton of
Indiana. She was born September 1865 in Iowa or Missouri. In the 1880 census
for Sterling, Rice, Kansas, David R. Dill (48) and Rebecca E. Dill (42) are
listed with eight children: Alonades K. (19), Emma A. (17), Hattie L. (16),
Lizzie J. (14), Ella D. (13), Olie A. (8), Willie H. (5), and Mary M. (3).
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