I am easily distracted and therefore, I want to continue writing about Wilber V. and Mable Edith (Phillips) Herron. It is proper that their history begin with a little genealogy.

Jack Herron was born near Scottsburg, Scott County, Indiana the son of Alfred E and Hannah Jane (Gardner) Herron. So far as I’m able to determine, at least four generations of Herrons before Jack were farmers. His great great grandfather, William Herron, was born in Virginia, and moved to Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. He served in the American Revolutionary Army and received a land grant in Nelson County, Kentucky for his service. He moved his large family there and lived out the remainder of his life on that farm

William Sr. had a son William Herron, Jr. He was born in Nelson County, Kentucky and served in the War of 1812. Shortly after the war ended, he married Margaret “Peggy” Houston in Nelson County, Kentucky and they moved to Washington County, Indiana where they farmed. The land is very hilly and forested there. The family eventually grew to ten children. They moved one county south to Clark County, Indiana where they lived the remainder of their lives. They are buried in Charlestown, Clark County, Indiana.

Their third son, Winfield Scott Herron, was named to honor the commander of William Herron’s unit in the War of 1812. General Winfield Scott had the distinction of serving longer in the United States Army than any other general, a total of 53 years. There were hundreds, perhaps thousands of male children named to honor him.

In addition, William Herron met Comet de Volney, a French patriot who toured America east of the Mississippi River. Volney and his contemporary Lafayette, made an indelible impression on the places they visited. William Herron would begin the tradition of naming children in the Herron Family after Comet de Volney.as evidenced by his last son, James Volney Herron, born in 1833.

Winfield Scott Herron lived his entire life in Indiana, where he married twice. His first wife was Malinda Fouts, who bore him four children, and died birthing the fourth. He then remarried to Mary Jane Carlisle, who would be the mother of five more children. Winfield and Malinda Herron first lived in Washington County, Indiana and then moved to Scott County, Indiana situated about 50 miles to the north of Washington County.

Winfield and Mary Jane (Carlisle) Herron continued to live in Scott County, Indiana the remainder of their lives. It was there that their third child, Alfred E. Herron, was born in 1854. The 1870 U. S. Census records that Winfield Herron and his family lived at Little York, Finley Township, Scott County, Indiana and they were the owners of $2,500 in real estate and $600 in personal property. They would have been considered prosperous farmers.

Alfred E. Herron, the son of Winfield and Mary Jane Herron, was born on the farm at Little York, Indiana on April 25, 1854. He would spend his youth on his parents farm and later, in 1880, he married Hannah Jane Gardner, who was reared as a neighbor on a nearby farm. They lived on a small farm in Scott County, Indiana for about ten years until like many young people of that time, they saw greener pastures to the West. i don’t know the exact year, but before 1895, the couple and their young children moved to Mission Creek Township, Wabaunsee County, Kansas. Because most of the 1890 U. S. Census was lost in a tragic fire, it is difficult to determine the exact year of their move. However, they are listed on the 1895 U. S. Census as Mission Creek residents.

The Herrons would become the parents of five children, all of whom would become residents of and raise their families in northeast Kansas. Wilber Volney Herron, was the oldest of their children and was born in Scott County, Indiana on October 2, 1881. Their second child was Clarance Dorsey Herron, born in 1883, Carrie Blanche Herron born in Scott County, Indiana in 1886, George Scott Herron born in Scott County, Indiana in 1889, and Thomas Virgil Herron born in Scott County, Indiana in 1893.

I believe I will end there for today and continue the story in the next posting. I wish I had photos of some of the earlier Herrons, but I do not. Nick Clark