Francis Cordrey

     Francis Cordrey was born on 6 February 1838 in New Philadelphia, Tuscarawas County, Ohio.^2,3,4,5 He was the son of Moses Ayres Cordrey and Hannah Black.¹ He married Christiana Catharina Gramlich, daughter of Johann Friederich Gramlich and Friederike Juliana Foit, on 24 December 1865 in Hardin County, Ohio.^6,2 He died on 15 February 1917 in Hope Hospital, Fort Wayne, Allen County, Indiana, at age 79.^4,7 He was buried on 18 February 1917 in Lindenwood Cemetery, Fort Wayne.⁴
     
     Francis, the oldest son, was born and raised in Tuscarawas County. He left home about 1860 and moved to Hardin County, Ohio. There he briefly attended, then taught school in Cessna township, and fell in "love at first sight" with one of the pupils, Christeann Gramlich.

     Francis returned to Tuscarawas County without assurance that Christeann would wait for him, and enlisted in the Union Army in 1862 at age 24. As a member of Company E, 126^th OVI, he was in many of the major battles in Virginia, including Battle of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania Court House, Cold Harbor and the Siege of Petersburg. During the siege he wrote a letter to Christeann and enclosed a dogwood leaf from the tree he was sitting under at the time. At the Battle of Monocacy (Maryland) in 1864, he was shot through the thigh and spent time recuperating in Army hospitals. He returned to active duty and was honorably discharged in May 1865. His two diaries survive and are in the possession of Jean Horn of New Richland, Minnesota. The first diary commences 22 August 1862 and ends 30 December 1863. The second diary has entries dated between 4 May 1864 and 22 May 1904.

     Following his discharge, Francis immediately returned home to Tuscarawas County, but by December he was in Hardin County where Christmas Eve, he and Christeann married. They apparently lived there a few months before setting up housekeeping in Tuscarawas County on 19 April 1866. Francis taught school in Fairfield township.

     In August 1868, Francis, Christeann and baby John Ayres returned to Hardin County and moved into a new home on November 1^st that Francis built on his land. That same day, their daughter Hannah was born. Francis returned to his old job as a teacher in Cessna township, and probably farmed as well. While living there, he applied for and was granted an invalid pension for his war injury.

     On 14^th March 1871 the family, now increased to five members by the birth of Minerva in 1870, moved four miles west of Fort Wayne, Indiana. There Francis farmed, taught school, dabbled in local politics, worked for the railroad, and was an inventor. He received a patent for a car coupler and a mowing machine.

     Francis also like to write. Several of his articles about Civil War battles were published in newspapers. In a long, unpublished manuscript, he wrote of his childhood and of his experiences in the War. He also wrote poetry. He had professionally printed a poem to his brothers and sisters in memory of their parents. In about 1891, he wrote the Family Record in a ledger now owned by his great-grandson, Charles Horn.

     Francis and Christeann had another child, Ralph Ethen, born in Fort Wayne, but he lived only a few months. A month after his death Christeann died and Francis never remarried. Of their three surviving children, Ayres never married so the Cordrey name daughtered out in his line, Hannah married and had two daughters who had no children, and Minerva married and died from complications a few weeks after giving birth to her only child, Ruth Minerva Fairfield. When Ruth's father Ed, who had remarried, moved to Texas and sent for his family, including Ruth who had never lived with him, Francis was devastated. He couldn't believe Ruth was being forced to move to that "God forsaken country." Defying strict instructions from Ed, he took Ruth on his lap and told her all about her real mother. He never saw Ruth again, but he provided for her generously in his will.

     Francis fell and broke his femur in 1917 which was a contributing factor in his death from pneumonia. Funeral services were at the home of his daughter and son-in-law, Hannah and David Bitner.