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John "Jack" & Ella Shields Sheridan
The earliest settlers of the Sheridan family were John "Jack" Sheridan and his wife Ellen Shields Sheridan who came to the United States from Ireland in 1854 and settled in East Grove Township. It is not known why they chose this area to homestead, but since they were part of a large Irish population, it is possible that they joined friends and family after hearing about the possibilities the Western world had to offer.
Life could not have been easy for this young couple trying to make a home out on the prairie when it was little more than a wilderness. But nothing could have prepared Jack and Ella for the personal suffering they were about to endure when tragedy struck for the first time on August 23, 1863. Their first born son James died after living only 18 days.
15 years later they again met with heartache as they lost five of their eight children in one week's time due to a cholera epidemic. On December 21, 1878, their 16-year-old daughter Elizabeth was the first to succumb to this illness, for which they had no defenses. Five days later on the 26th, young Thomas Henry Sheridan died at the age of 2 years, 6 months, and 9 days. Ellen and Jack must have been numb with grief and exhaustion as they fought to care for their family only to lose the next three in rapid succession. Cathern J. Kane, their adopted daughter, died on the 27th at the age of 22 years, 3 months, and Margaret, who was 4 years, 6 months, and 26 days old followed on the 28th. The very next day a fifth child was lost as Mary Ellen died at the age of 14 years and 19 days, leaving just 3 children alive.
On the monument in St. Mary's Cemetery is etched the names of the 6 children, but there are also small stones identifying each child by name only and the parents as "Mother" and "Father." The smaller stones show the names of the six deceased, as well as Michael, Philip, and Hannah, three of their other children.
Only three of the Jack and Ella's children made grew to adulthood: Winifred who was born June 19, 1867, Katherine Jane who arrived on March 13, 1870, and John J. Sheridan who was born April 2, 1874. John "Jack" Sheridan, father, husband, and pioneer died on his son John's 12th birthday, April 2, of the year 1886.
Winifred, the eldest child of Jack and Ellen, married William F. Remsburg on June 19, 1888, which was also her 21st birthday. William was born on August 6, 1867, and died August 28, 1954 at the age of 87 years and 22 days. Winifred, or "Mae," died at the age of 78 years and 23 days on July 12, 1945. Both are buried in the Prairie Repose Cemetery. They had five children.
Their eldest child was named Mary Veronica (Mae) Remsburg and was born on January 13, 1889. She married Joseph Charles Green on April 18, 1912 and had three of her own children. The first, Joseph Perry Green was born September 9, 1916. He married Evelyn Voss on April 11, 1942. Together they had one child, JoAnn "Joni" who was born July 6, 1943. Joni later married Rhett Martin on June 28, 1969 and had two children. Brian Rhett Martin, their first, was born December 28, 1975, and Elizabeth Jo Martin, their other child, was born May 7, 1979.
The second child to Mary and Joseph was a daughter by the name of Mary Frances Green and was born on August 28, 1922. On February 19, 1950, she went on to marry Arnold Otto Latare. They had three children, the first of which was William Lee. William married Elizabeth Theresa Anderson and had 6 of his own kids: Paul born in 1972, Gail born in 1974, Mary Margaret born in 1977, Katherine Corinne born in 1978, Arnold Thomas born in 1981, and Anna Louise born in 1983. The second and third children of Mary Frances and Arnold Latare were Robert Guy Latare, who was born on July 10, 1953, and Douglas Keith Latare born on March 15, 1958.
The third child to Mary Veronica and Joseph Charles Green was William John Green, who married Corinne Langmann.
cont'd...www.genealogy.
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