Ann Hess

 Ann Hess was born about 1789, in PA.    We believe she was the daughter of John Hess and Mary (maiden name unknown).  

Ann married John F. Penter (Painter), Jr. about 1808, in TN, probably in Blount County.    (Note: Early census records use the Painter spelling, while later census records use the Penter or Pinter spelling.)    John Penter was born about 1780, in VA.   He was the son of John Penter (Painter), Sr., who was born about 1760, in Tennessee and died December 12, 1820, in Independence County, Arkansas, and Barbery (maiden name unknown), who was born about 1762.    

    Information obtained from an article in The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, Vol VII, dated March, 1906, tells us that in 1820, John and Ann Penter moved their family from Blount County, Tennessee to Independence County, Arkansas.    Traveling with them on the wagon train were the families of John Penter, Sr., Russell Bates and William Tate.     John Penter, Sr. died a few short months after arriving in Independence County.   

John and Ann appear on the 1830 Independence County census with 10 children, 8 sons and 2 daughters.    He is listed as John Painter on the census.   

John Penter died October 7, 1839, in Independence County.    

Ann Painter appears on the 1840 Independence County census with four childlren, 3 sons and 1 daughter, still living at home.    Her sons, Joseph, William, Martin and Samuel were living nearby with their families.   

Ann married Armsted W. Cox on July 2, 1842, in Independence County.     Armsted Cox was born about 1800, in Virginia, according to census.    He was widowed with at least one child.  

The 1850 Independence County census shows the couple living in Wallace Township.    The census shows Armsted Cox, 47, a farmer, born in Virginia; Ann, 60, born in Pennsylvania; Elizabeth Penter, 40, born in Tennessee, idiotic; and Napolean Cox, 16, a farmer, born in Arkansas. 

    About 1854, Ann and Armsted moved to California along with Ann's sons, William and Joseph Penter and their families.     Ann's daughter, Elizabeth, died prior to 1859.    We are unsure if Elizabeth died in Arkansas prior to their move to California.     About 1854, several of John and Ann Penter's other children moved to Oregon with their families. 

The 1860 El Dorado County, California census, Mud Springs Township, shows A. W. Cox, 60, a farmer, $200 personal property, born in Virginia and Ann, 75, born in Pennsylvania.    They were living next to Ann's son William Penter and his family.  

Ann died prior to 1869, probably in El Dorado County, California.    We believe Armsted may have also died prior to 1870. 

Census indicates that John and Ann Penter had ten children.    We have record of eight of those children.

Children of John Penter, Jr. and Ann Hess

1. Elizabeth Penter was born about 1810, in Blount Co, TN.    She appears on the 1830 and 1840 Independence Co, AR census with her family.   The 1850 Independence Co census shows her living with her mother, step-father and step-brother.    She was listed as "idiotic" on the census.     Elizabeth never married.    She died prior to 1860. 

2. Susan Penter was born about 1813, in Blount Co, TN.    She married Wesley Allen on Sept 19, 1833, in Independence Co, AR.    Wesley Allen was born about 1813, in IL, according to census.    The family appears on the 1840 and 1850 Independence Co census.    About 1854, the family moved to OR.    They appear on the 1860 Umpqua Co, OR census, and the 1870 and 1880 Douglas Co, OR census.     Susan died in 1898, in OR.   Wesley died there prior to 1900.    Children of Wesley and Susan included: (all born in Independence Co, AR) (1) John Allen, b. 1834; (2) Martha Allen, b. 1836; (3) Aaron Allen, b. 1840; (4) Jane Allen, b. 1845; (5) Harrison Allen, b. 1848; and (6) Solan Allen, b. 1852. 

3. Samuel C. Penter was born May 1814, in Blount Co, TN.   He married  Matilda Caroline Keizer on Sept 12, 1837, in Van Buren Co, AR.    Matilda Keizer was born 1820, in NC.    We believe she was the daughter of Thomas Dove Keizer (b. 1793, NC; d. 1871, OR) and Mary Gurley (b. 1793, NC; d. 1853, OR), and was a sister to Mary Louise Keizer, who was born 1817, in NC, and married Samuel's cousin, Joseph W. Hess.     The Penter family appears on the 1840 Independence Co census.    About 1841 the family was in MO and in 1843, they migrated by wagon train to OR.    Samuel was the first of John and Ann Penter's children to move to OR.   Samuel wrote an article, Recollections of an Oregon Pioneer of 1843, which appeared in The Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, Vol VII, dated March 1906, in which he recounted his father's trip from Blount Co, TN to AR when Samuel was a boy, and then his own trip to OR Territory with his family in 1843.    (Note: Samuel's cousin, Joseph W. Hess, and his family accompanied the Penter family on their treck to OR.)     Samuel and Matilda appear on the 1850, 1860 and 1870 Marion Co, OR census.    Samuel and Matilda divorced between 1871 and 1878.    Samuel married Rebecca ____ prior to 1880, in OR.    Samuel and Rebecca appear on the 1880 Marion Co, OR census with four of Rebecca's children from a prior marriage.    Matilda appears on the 1880 Marion Co census living with their son Thomas H. Penter and his family.   Also living with Thomas's family were his sister, Laura J. Penter, and his brother, James M. Penter.    The census listed Matilda as divorced.    Samuel died Feb 6, 1908, in Marion Co, OR.     Children of Samuel and Matilda included: (1) Thomas H. Penter, b. 1838, AR; (2) S. Monroe Penter, b. 1841, MO; (3) Susan Penter, b. 1849, OR; (4) Laura J. Penter, b. 1854, OR; (5) D. L. Penter (male), b. 1858, OR; d. 1861-1868, OR; and (6) Warren James M. Penter, b. 1860, OR.

4. Martin Penter was born about 1816, in Blount Co, TN.    He married Nancy A. Bowerman on July 18, 1834, in Independence Co, AR.    Nancy Bowerman was born May 23, 1817, in Blount Co, TN.    The couple appears on the 1840 Independence Co, AR census with two sons under the age of 5 years.   Martin died in 1841, in Independence Co.    Nancy married Thomas H. Hardester on Nov 17, 1842, in Independence Co.    Thomas Hardester was born 1819, in TN.     Nancy and Thomas Hardester lived in Independence Co, where they had at least six children.   Nancy died Jan 11, 1898.    Martin and Nancy had three children (all born in Independence Co): (1) Eli Penter, b. 1836; (2) John F. Penter, b. 1839; d. May 1880, in Independence Co from typhoid fever; and (3) Susan Penter, b. 1841. 

5. William Penter was born about 1818, in Blount Co, TN.    He married Delila Queen on Aug 22, 1838, in Independence Co, AR.    Delila Queen was born about 1818, in AL, according to census.    The couple appears on the 1840 and 1850 Independence Co census.    About 1854, the couple moved their family to CA.    William's mother and step-father, along with William's brother Joseph and his family appear to have moved to CA together.    William's family appears on the 1860 El Dorado Co, CA census, living next to his mother and step-father, in Mud Springs Twp.    The family appears on the 1870 Merced Co, CA census, and on the 1880 Amador Co, CA census.    Delila died June 24, 1892 and William died prior to 1900, in CA.    Those children born in AR were all born in Independence Co.    William and Delila's children included: (1) Elizabeth A. Penter, b. Sept 11, 1839, AR; d. Oct 15, 1872, CA; m. F. M. Hurst, then m. John F. Toll; (2) John R. Penter, b. 1841, AR; (3) William C. Penter, b. Nov 1842, AR; (4) George W. Penter, b. 1844, AR; (5) Louisa Eliza G. Penter, b. Oct 7, 1845, AR; d. Oct 25, 1862, CA; m. Aaron C. Hitchcock; (6) Joseph C. Penter, b. Dec 1, 1846, AR; d. Sept 17, 1874, El Dorado Co, CA; (7) Margaret A. Penter, b. 1849, AR; d. 1866, El Dorado Co, CA; m. William T. Porter; (8) Miles Penter, b. 1851, AR; (9) Jane Penter, b. 1853, AR; (10) Samuel Penter, b. Apr 1855, CA; (11) Robert Penter, b. 1857, CA; and (12) Mary E. Penter, b. 1860, CA

6. Joseph Penter was born about 1819, in Blount Co, TN.    He married Louisa Eliza Queen on June 25, 1839, in Independence Co, AR.    Louisa Queen was born about 1818, in TN, according to census.     The couple appears on the 1840 and 1850 Independence Co census.    About 1854, Joseph moved his family to CA, along with his brother William's family and his mother and step-father.     Joseph and Louisa appear on the 1860 El Dorado Co, CA, Placerville Twp census.    It appears Louisa died prior to 1870.    Joseph appears alone on the 1870 El Dorado Co, CA, Placerville Twp census.     The 1880 El Dorado Co, CA, Placerville Twp census shows Joseph, age 62.   Living with him was his son William, daughter Martha Hart and grandson Reuben Hart, age 6.    Joseph and Louisa's children, except for the youngest, were born in Independence Co, AR.    Their children included: (1) Eliza J. Penter, b. 1843, AR; d. Nov 1849, AR; (2) Reuben Penter, b. 1845, AR; (3) James R. Penter, b. 1847, AR; d. bef 1860; (4) Delila Penter, b. 1850, AR; d. bef 1860; (5) William Penter, b. 1852, AR; and (6) Martha Penter, b. 1856, CA; m. ____ Hart.      

7. Redmond Penter was born about 1822, in Independence Co, AR.    He married his cousin Mary Ann "Polly" Hess on Feb 2, 1842, in Independence Co.    Mary Ann Hess was born 1823, in Independence Co, the daughter of Samuel Hess and Sarah ____.     (We believe Samuel and Redmond's mother, Ann, were siblings, which made Redmond and Mary Ann 1st cousins).   The couple appears on the 1850 Independence Co census and the 1860 and 1870 Jackson Co, AR census.    The four older children were born in Independence Co and the two youngest in Jackson Co.    Redmond and Mary Ann's children included: (1) James H. Penter, b. 1846, AR; (2) Susan E. Penter, b. 1848, AR; d. bef 1859, AR; (3) Sophronia Penter, b. 1851, AR; (4) Joseph M. Penter, b. 1853, AR; (5) Sophenia Penter, b. 1855, AR; and (6) J. A. Penter (male), b. Jan 1859, AR; d. Sept 1859, AR, from encephalitis.       

8. James B. Penter was born about 1824, in Independence Co, AR.    He married Emily Jane Goodman on Aug 18, 1847, in Independence Co.    Emily Goodman was born about 1833, in TN.    The couple appears on the 1850 and 1860 Independence Co census.     The family appears on the 1870 and 1880 Sharp Co, AR census.    (Note: Sharp Co was formed in 1868 from a portion of Independence Co, so the family wound up in a different county simply because of this division.)    All the children, except the youngest, were born in Independence Co.    James and Emily's children included: (1) Jesse S. Penter, b. 1850, AR; (2) Lydia Penter, b. 1853, AR; (3) Louisa Penter, b. 1855, AR; (4) Samuel Penter, b. 1857, AR; (5) Susan Penter, b. 1860, AR; (6) Nancy E. Penter, b. 1865, AR; (7) Isabella Penter, b. 1867, AR; and (8) Samantha Penter, b. 1874, AR.