Monday is for Mothers: Delilah "Lila" Grove (1845 - 1925)

Delilah "Lila" Grove is my maternal great great grandmother, the daughter of Frederick Grove and Leah Bixler. When she was barely a year old her family moved to Iowa where they can be found living in Fairview, Jones County, in the 1850 U.S. Census.

[Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29]

Exactly where she was born isn't clear from the records we have available. Some early sources give her birthplace as Ohio or Iowa but later ones state she was born in Pennsylvania (except for 1910 where she's alleged to have come from Maryland). Looking at her parents' records, Ohio seems the most likely place and that they were born in Pennsylvania.

But there's no doubt that she spent the rest of her life in Jones County, most often in Fairview, and that's where she married Willet Orlando Worden, usually known as Richard or Dick, on February 27, 1867. He was a veteran of the Civil War, having served in the 24th Iowa Infantry Regiment which took part in Grant's Vicksburg Campaign and later opposed Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley under General Phil Sheridan.

[Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.Minnesota census schedules for 1870. NARA microfilm publication T132, 13 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.]

The couple had eight children in total, four of whom pre-deceased their mother. My great grandmother Elnora was their oldest.

Dick Worden, who had first applied for his military pension in 1885, died in 1912 and Delilah filed for her widow's pension shortly thereafter.

["United States Veterans Administration Pension Payment Cards, 1907-1933," index and images, FamilySearch ( https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-17527-92496-9?cc=1832324 : accessed 22 Sep 2014), Woratzeck, Josephine - Workwell, John > image 346 of 768; citing NARA microfilm publication M850.]

Her obituary in the Anamosa Eureka dated December 10, 1925 ends with these lines:

"Those left to mourn her loss are Mrs. Nora Webb of Winnetoon, Nebraska, Frederick of Cedar Rapids. Nelson and Dan of Anamosa. Nineteen grandchildren and thirteen great grandchildren survive her. For nearly forty-five years she was a faithful member of the Fairview Baptist church. After an illness of several months she passed away at the home of her son, Dan, on December 5th. at the age of 80 years, 7 months and 26 days.
She was always a kind and loving mother and friend and will be missed by a large circle of friends and acquaintances."

It's through her lineage that my mitochondrial DNA J1 comes from.

© 2014 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.