Fisher Family History, 4th Generation

“Baby” Fisher

1311. 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)

1312. 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:

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 Ann (Fisher) Robinson (1869-1903)

1313. Minnie (or Millie) Ann Fisher was born on August 1, 1869, in Nebraska, probably in Big Sandy, Hobbs Precinct, Sherman County. She married John Hill Robinson, an English immigrant, on May 9, 1888, in Loup City, Sherman County. They had two children:

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 Ann (Fisher) Robinson died on October 7, 1903, in Sonoma County, at the young age of 34. She was buried at McPeak Cemetery above the Russian River in Hacienda, Sonoma County.

After Minnie's death, John and son Roy moved into Santa Rosa where they rented rooms at 416 5th Street. John worked as a grocery salesman and Roy worked as a cigar salesman.^{[Cen 1910]}

The following year, John remarried to Emma Mahalia (Dutcher) Davis, a divorcee, on February 15, 1911, in Santa Rosa. She had seven suriving children between the ages of 7 and 20. John and Emma had one daughter together, Violet Dorothy Robinson, born April 14, 1914, in Santa Rosa. John and Emma divorced by 1920.

After John's divorce, he likely he sublet a room from Mrs. Mae Mayberry at 225 6th Street in Santa Rosa, where he worked as a general clerk in a pool room.^{[Cen 1930]} He later moved back east to Nebraska, where he lived for a time, around 1935, with Emma's sister in Parnell Precinct, Greeley County, and then took up residence at the Gannon Hotel in Greeley by 1940.^{[Cen 1940]}

John Hill Robinson died on September 30, 1947, at the Gannon Hotel, age 83. He was buried on October 2 at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Greeley.^{[Obit 1947]}

David A. Fisher (1871-1903)

1314. 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 A. Fisher died on March 9, 1903, in Sonoma County, at the young age of 32. He had been living in Forestville at the time. David was reportedly buried in McPeak Cemetery in modern-day Hacienda. His wife Annie may also be buried there.

Theodoric Leathe Fisher⁴ (1877-1911)

1315. 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:

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.