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Writer's picturejscanlan1

Was Jeni's Great, Great, Great Grandfather Murdered?


For the last few weeks I have been poking around Jeni's Family. I came across the Obituary of Thomas Richardson, Jeni's Great Grandfather x4. He was Born 1801 in Kentucky and raised. In 1825, he married Mary Clark. They lived for sometime in Kentucky and started a family. In November 1832, Great Grandfather X3 was born. Around 1835, they moved to Indiana and continued to have children, fourteen in total. They lived in Indiana for 22 years and moved the family to Wayne County Iowa in 1857. By the time he retired from farming, they had close to 2,000 acres.


In the Biographical and Historical Record of Wayne County published in 1886, it says that in February 1877, it is written that his son James, GGx3, was killed by his brother-in-law Benjamin Belleville. This is where my interest became peeked.


First, I had to document the children of Thomas and Mary the best I could. Through Census Records I was able to get most of them. I also did some searching for who Benjamin Belleville was and I found a marriage License for Benjamin Belvel and Martha Richardson, dated 1866. Martha was a sister to James so I found the connection. Benjamin Belvel was a Union Solder in the civil war getting out in 1865. Now putting some pieces together, I first searched if I could find where Benjamin was buried and I found the grave in the Evergreen Cemetery, Lineville, Wayne County Iowa. There was no Martha with him and so the next goal was to find the grave of Martha.


The next step was to track the movement of Martha so I started with the next census after their marriage which would be the 1870 Census. In the 1870 Census, I found Benjamin and Martha Belvel in Wayne county Iowa with children, Loyd age 3 and Ina age 1


The 1880 Census, We have a Mattie Bellville and Ina Bellville living with Thomas and Mary Richardson and we have Benjamin Belvel listed as Divorced.


The 1885 Census we have Martha Belvel and Ina Belvel living with Thomas and Mary.


Here is where I was stuck but not for long. I searched for Ina Belvel and found a Marriage license in Los Angeles, California for Ina Belvel and John Whittington. It showed that Ina was born in 1870 in Iowa so this looked promising. I search find a grave for Ina Whittington and John Whittington and that is when I put it all together. The photo of the grave is shown and it listed Mattie J Murphy and Lloyd Bellville along with Ina and John. Further investigation found that Mattie married John P Murphy in 1895 in Los Angeles, CA. I believe John Murphy was widowed and is most likely buried with is first wife. Martha / Mattie Died in March 1922 and is buried in Los Angeles, CA. Ina Died in September of 1922 at the age of 52. Benjamin Belvel died in 1905 in Leavenworth, Washington State.


Now that I have the individuals figured out, the question is how did James get Killed by Benjamin Belvel? Did the Divorce lead to the killing or did the killing lead to the divorce. I am sure Killing your wife's brother is kind of bad for a marriage. I think I will contact the Wayne County historical Society to see what they can find. They have helped me out on some obituaries already.


To be continued...........


Martha, Mattie Richardson






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