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FISHER Family History, Part IIIA

"Baby" FISHER

1CA1. A baby boy is said to have been born during the Civil War while father John Jackson Fisher was away serving the Union Army. The baby died before John's return at about two years of age. This child would most likely have been the first to be born to John and Harriett Fisher.

Orville H. FISHER^Δ (1866-1928)

1CA2. Orville H. Fisher^Δ was born in November 1866 in Nebraska.^{[Cen 1900]} There is a dispute as to whether his middle name was Hammond or Homer. Orville married Asenath Endora "Dora" (Smith) Dewey, the widow of Lester Scott Dewey (1849-1885), on January 9, 1888. He was 21 years old and she was 26.^{[Mar 1888]} Dora had three surviving children from her first marriage and they later had four more children together, all born in Nebraska^{[Cen 1900]}, with at least two of them born in Hazard, Sherman County, Nebraska:

--	Charles William Dewey	5 Nov 1881	Dec 1968	(87)
--	Walter A. Dewey	28 Apr 1883	19 May 1905	(22)
--	Flora May Dewey	16 Dec 1884	2 Feb 1971	(86)
1CA21.	Milton H. FisherΔ	5 Oct 1888	Oct 1966	(78)
1CA22.	Frederick R. Fisher	12 Aug 1890	5 Oct 1968	(78)
1CA23.	Arthur Edward Fisher	26 Sep 1892	1966	(73)
1CA24.	Lawrence Lester Fisher	13 Jan 1898	Dec 1982	(84)

Dora, a native of Morris, Grundy County, Illinois, and her first husband, Lester, moved from Mazon Township, Grundy County, Illinois, to Scott Township, Sherman County, Nebraska, in 1882. Lester died of pneumonia in 1885, followed two weeks later by their eldest daughter, Jessie, age 5. She died of "Summer Complaint" (cholera infantum). Dora and her three young children lived two years in their sod house on a homestead.

Orville and Dora married on January 8, 1888, in Sheman County. Two years later Dora lost her homestead and "Tree Claim" to the bank. They rented an 80-acre farm but again lost everything, except a team of horses and a wagon, to the bank in 1894. Sons Milton, Fred, and Arthur, all recorded Hazard, in Sherman County, as their place of birth when they registered for the World War I draft; however, Fred put Litchfield, 6 miles northwest of Hazard, as his place of birth when he married just 12 days before he registered for the draft.

Orville's parents and siblings all moved west to California around 1894.

Dora's former father-in-law, Sylvester Dewey, sent the family $35 to move back to Mazon Township in Illinois. It took six weeks, travelling every day but Sunday, and on Saturday nights Dora took down an old stove and baked bread for the upcoming week. The family finally arrived in Mazon Township in October and lived with Sylvester Dewey until resettling on a farm in March 1895 where they lived in a two-story "shanty" "eighty rods from the main road in the timbers." They lived there until 1902, when, as previously agreed, the farm was given to stepson Charles Dewey upon his marriage. Orville and Dora moved off the farm, presumably nearby.

On May 19, 1905, double tragedy struck when stepson Walter Dewey succumbed to tuberculosis after a year's battle, and Charles's one-year-old son Lester died from "convulsions caused by teething." Pastor Rev. J. L. Hoyt conducted a double funeral for the Dewey boys at the Congregational Church and both were laid to rest at Mazon Cemetery.

Orville and Dora moved about 20 miles west to Marseilles, La Salle County, Illinois, in the fall of 1907.

Asenth Endora (Smith Dewey) Fisher died on February 24, 1910, following surgery at Mary Thompson Hospital in Chicago. Her funeral was held in Marseilles and she was buried at Brookside Cemetery in Mazon on February 27. She was only 48 years old.^[Grave]

Soon after Dora's death, Orville removed a little ways west into neighboring La Salle County, where he and his three youngest boys lived in Marseilles, at the head of the "Grand Rapids" along the Illinois River, on Commercial Street. There Orville worked as a teamster for a paper mill, son Fred as a factory laborer, and son Arthur as a painter in a factory.^{[Cen 1910]}

Orville remarried to Sarah H. ("Sadie") Coughlin around 1913 (when Sadie was 40 years old^{[Cen 1930]}) and took in his widowed mother Harriet⁶ at their home on Commercial Street in the late 1910s. His youngest son Lawrence, a checker at the paper mill, lived next door.^{[Cen 1920]}

Orville Hammond Fisher died on December 9, 1928, in Marseilles, and was buried alongside his first wife, Dora, at Brookside Cemetery in Mazon Township, Grundy County, Illinois. He was 62 years old.^[Grave]

Minnie A. (FISHER) ROBINSON (1869-~1903)

1CA3. Minnie (or Millie) A. Fisher was born about August 1869 in Nebraska, probably in Big Sandy, Hobbs Precinct, Sherman County. She married John Hill Robinson about 1887 or 1888.^{[Cen 1900]}

1CA31.	Ethel Lewis Robinson	15 Feb 1889	31 Oct 1945	(56)
1CA32.	Roy Leathe Robinson	19 Dec 1892	20 Jun 1912	(19)
1CA32.	Emma M. Robinson	(1900-1901)	--	--

Based on the 1900 census, both children were born in Nebraska so their migration to California was after 1892, likely around 1894 when Minnie's parents and brothers David and Theodoric moved to California.^{[Cen 1900]}

Minnie A. (Fisher) Robinson likely died in 1903 or 1904, probably in Sonoma County, California. The 1910 census records her widowed husband John, who had been married for 16 years, with their son Roy in Santa Rosa.^{[Cen 1910]}

David A. FISHER (1871-)

1CA4. David A. Fisher was born in March 1871 in Nebraska, probably in Big Sandy, Hobbs Precinct, Sherman County. He was likely named for his grandfather King David Fisher. He moved to California by 1895 and married Annie Blakeley in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, on December 24, 1895. Their ceremony was officiated by O. T. Baldwin.

By 1896 he was living in west Redwood near Guerneville in Sonoma County, California, not far from his brother Theodoric in Forestville. At this time he was a blacksmith who is described as being 6' 3½" tall with a dark complexion, blue eyes, and brown hair. He had a tattoo on his right arm.

Over the next few years they moved to Merced County, California where David worked as a wood chopper.^{[Cen 1900]}

David and Annie are both believed to be buried at the McPeak Cemetery in Forestville, Sonoma County, California, as are David's brother Theodoric and his wife Harriet.

David A. Fisher died on March 9, 1903, in Sonoma County. He was about 32 years old and had been living in Forestville at the time. David was reportedly buried in McPeak Cemetery in Forestville.

Theodoric Leathe FISHER⁴ (1877-1911)

1CA5. Theodoric "Bud" Leathe Fisher⁴ was said to have been born in Lincoln, Lancaster County, Nebraska, on March 23, 1877, however, at about that time the Fisher family was probably living in Sherman County in central Nebraska. He was apparently named after his paternal uncle. Theodoric married Cora Ethel Miller⁸ of Old Creek, San Luis Obispo County, California, on March 22, 1898. They had two boys and five daughters:

1CA51.	Howard Earl Fisher	30 Jan 1899	15 Jan 1966	(66)
1CA52.	Pearl Elizabeth Fisher5	7 Jan 1901	30 Oct 1941	(40)
1CA53.	Mildred May Fisher	27 Dec 1902	8 Apr 1989	(86)
1CA54.	Carrie Truett Fisher	12 Aug 1904	18 Aug 1936	(32)
1CA55.	Merle Everett Fisher	23 Feb 1906	18 Aug 1990	(84)
1CA56.	Sonoma C. Fisher	8 Dec 1907	2 Jul 1993	(85)
1CA57.	Alta Vivian Fisher	3 Aug 1909	22 Feb 1910	(6 mos.)

About 1894, the Fisher family moved to California with Cora's family. By 1896 they had settled in Forestville, Sonoma County, not far from Theodoric's brother David in nearby Guerneville. Theodoric's voter registration on August 13, 1898, listed him as a blacksmith, as was his father, and described him as standing 6' 3" tall with gray eyes, and dark hair.

Theodoric L. Fisher married Cora E. Miller on March 22, 1898, in Santa Rosa (Fulton), Sonoma County, California. They were married by J. Brown, with Theodoric's older brother David Fisher and sister-in-law Annie Fisher, both residents of Forestville, in attendance.

Come 1900, Theodoric, Cora, and Theodoric's parents moved briefly to Stillwater, Churchill County, Nevada, east of Reno. There Theodoric worked as a farm laborer and his father worked as a blacksmith for the John W. and Hannah Freeman family. Interestingly, Cora was noted in the census as having had one child (Howard Earl), but he was not enumerated with them.^{[Cen 1900]}

Six months later, the Fishers swung back through Lockeford, San Joaquin County, California, where their first daughter Pearl was born, and a little later resettled briefly in Forestville, where Mildred was born in 1902.

Around 1903, the Fisher family moved to the Asti Winery near Cloverdale where Theodoric worked as a foreman and had four more children. Theodoric's father died in 1906 and in 1910 his mother remarried to Ira T. Williams, a widower Civil War veteran. During this time, Theodoric had slowly been wasting away from consumption (tuberculosis) over a period of six years, the last three or four he was mostly bedridden. Cora helped support the family by picking hops. Bud became friends with new elder stepbrother, Al Williams, who kept the family fed with fresh game. They lived in the Cloverdale-Asti area until the Theodoric's death.

Theodoric "Bud" Leathe Fisher succumbed to tuberculosis and died on January 25, 1911, at the early age of 33. He and Cora had only been married 12 years and left Cora with six children between the ages of 3 and 11 years. Bud is buried at Mount Olive Cemetery, Cloverdale, Sonoma County, California.

After Theordoric's death, Cora remarried to Al Williams and went on to have four more children.