| Description |
: |
DeBert is the son of Hiram Bliss Sr. and his wife Anna Gibson Ross, of Tioga County New York, and later, of Buchanan, Berrien County Michigan (whom he is buried next to). He was the 7th of nine children.
----------------------------------
Note: PLEASE, do NOT transfer this
memorial to other web sites.
Thanks, Nancy (Letcher) Heib.
---------------------------------
DeBert was commonly known as "Bert" Bliss.
---
(He is incorrectly listed as "Delburt" on his "Record of Death"). This document also lists his "place of death" as Niles, Michigan, when it should say Niles "township" (N.- E. of Buchanan, MI). He is incorrectly listed as "Deburt" on the "Return...
Read More
|
DeBert is the son of Hiram Bliss Sr. and his wife Anna Gibson Ross, of Tioga County New York, and later, of Buchanan, Berrien County Michigan (whom he is buried next to). He was the 7th of nine children.
----------------------------------
Note: PLEASE, do NOT transfer this
memorial to other web sites.
Thanks, Nancy (Letcher) Heib.
---------------------------------
DeBert was commonly known as "Bert" Bliss.
---
(He is incorrectly listed as "Delburt" on his "Record of Death"). This document also lists his "place of death" as Niles, Michigan, when it should say Niles "township" (N.- E. of Buchanan, MI). He is incorrectly listed as "Deburt" on the "Return of Deaths in the Township of Niles for the year 1887".
-------------------------------------
Note: He is listed as "DeBert" Bliss on ALL of the following: Census records, his marriage record, newspaper article when he sold his farm on the Galien-Buchanan Road, deed records when he bought his farm on Geyer Road, Mead school records, his will, his obituary, his headstone, article in "A Twentieth Century History of Berrien County Michigan", and information in the "Bliss family" genealogy.
-------------------------------------
In 1864, DeBert moved from Richford (near Speedsville, Rawson Hollow and Berkshire), in Tioga County New York to Buchanan, Berrien County Michigan with his parents, when he was 28 years old.
-----------------------------------
Both of his parents died later that same year
(in October and November, 1864).
------------------------------------
On March 9, 1865, DeBert married Nancy A. Smith, the daughter of James Smith Sr. and his first wife Sally (also known as Sarah) E. Carroll, in Bertrand Township, South of Buchanan, Berrien County Michigan, at the home of Nancy's newly married sister, Mrs. Mary Ellen Borden, and her husband Ezekiel James Borden, by Hiram Baker, Justice of the Peace. Marriage record states that DeBert was 28, and Nancy was 18. Simeon Hamilton (the husband of Nancy's eldest sister Huldah), and Ezekiel James Borden were the wittinesses.
--------------
Ezekiel James Borden and Nancy's sister Mary Ellen Smith were married one month earlier, on Feb. 5, 1865 at the residence of Simeon Hamilton (and his wife, Nancy's sister Huldah). Mary Ellen's sister Nancy A. Smith, and Enos Holmes (a neighbor), were the wittiness's.
----------------------------------
Note: The 1860 plat map of Buchanan and Bertrand Townships, shows the families of Enos Holmes, Simeon Hamilton, Hiram Baker, and James Smith [Sr.], all living on the South side of Chamberland Road (near the Bakertown Cemetery).
----------------------------------
Nancy was a school teacher, and taught at several of the one-room country schools in the Buchanan area (including the Pollywog School, and the Kansas School on West Bertrand Road).
----------------------------------
Nancy's step-mother was DeBert's cousin, Mary (Howe) DeMont - Smith.
---
When Nancy was a teenager, she lived with the family of DeBert's cousin, Francis Willard Howe (Mary's brother), on what was later known as the "Hall's Apple Farm", on Red Bud Trail, South of Buchanan, Berrien County Michigan.
-----------------------------------
After they were married, DeBert and Nancy lived on the farm that DeBert's parents had purchased when they came to Buchanan, Michigan in 1864, located two miles West-Southwest of Buchanan, MI consisting of 100 acres, located in the S.-E. corner of Section 33 of Buchanan Township, on the Galien-Buchanan Road (near the Bakertown Cemetery). DeBert and Nancy's son Milton
was born on this farm in 1870.
------------------------------------
The 1871 "Berrien County Directory And History" lists: Bliss, Debert, land owner s.-e. section 33, Buchanan township.
--------------------------------------
In 1871, DeBert sold this farm to his cousin Willard Bliss French.
An article published in the "Berrien County Record" newspaper in Buchanan, MI on July 22, 1871, page 3, column 2, states:
---
TRANSFER. - On last Monday Willard B. French bought a farm of one hundred acres about two miles west of town, belonging formerly to DeBert Bliss. Consideration, $7, OOO.oo.
-----------------------------------
DeBert and Nancy then lived in Buchanan, MI for about one year.
------------------------------------
On Oct. 23, 1872, DeBert purchased a farm upon which Benjamin Geyer later resided, the "old Colvin farm", on Geyer Road. DeBert purchased the East half of the South-West quarter of Section 18, and the South-West quarter of the South-East quarter of Section 18, in Niles Township, on Geyer Road, N.-N.E. of Buchanan, Berrien County Michigan from Phillip Holler and his wife Matilda, of Barry County Michigan, for the sum of $5,615.oo (per: Deed book # 47, page 409). Phillip Calvin was a wittiness. On the same day, Phillip Calvin also purchased land from Phillip and Matilda Holler, the South-West quarter of the South-East quarter of Section 18, for the sum of $2,385.oo. Phillip Calvin then on the same day, turned around and sold to DeBert Bliss and his wife Nancy, the S.-E. quarter of Section 18 (containing fourty acres), and the South Half of the S.-E. quarter of the N.-E. quarter of Section 18 (containing 28 acres), for the sum of $4,000.oo (per: Deed book # 45, page 254). The 1872 Berrien County Plat Map shows DeBert Bliss owning this farm on Geyer Road.
----
Note: In the late 1890's this area (including Geyer Road), in Niles township, was transferred to Buchanan township (possibly because Niles township didn't want to help pay for the Buchanan bridge). This land transfer gave Buchanan township it's current square shape (six miles by six miles).
--------------------------------------
Note: Three Colvin brothers (Absalom, Mason, and Wilkerson Colvin), were very early settlers of Buchanan Township, Berrien County Michigan in the 1830's (and Absalom Colvin had also purchased items from the estate of Jacob Dragoo in 1838).
After Jacob Dragoo's son Peter died, Peter Dragoo's wife Anna, then married Wilkerson Colvin.
Note: (Phillip's last name is spelled as "Calvin" (not "Colvin"). Phillip Calvin was NOT related to the family of Absalom, Mason, and Wilkerson "Colvin".
---------------------------------------
Note: Lillie Belle Howe, the daughter of DeBert's cousin H. J. Howe, was the Valedictorian of the very first graduating class of the "old" Buchanan High School, in 1877.
-----------------------------------
After DeBert's death in 1887, DeBert's wife Nancy lived on this farm on Geyer Road with her son Milton James Bliss, until Nancy later moved to New Mexico with her daughter Anna and son-in-law Joseph P. Geyer, in late 1900.
---------------------------------------
In the "original record book" of the Mead School, in District No. 5, of Niles Township N.-E. of Buchanan, Michigan, is a letter to D. Bliss from the A.S. Barnes & Company in Chicago, ILL dated Dec. 20, 1880 regarding school books that DeBert Bliss must have ordered. (Could DeBert Bliss have been the director of the Mead school at this time?) Also, a list of "Names of Scholars of the Mead School in District No. 5", include DeBert's children, Milton and Anna Bliss.
On another page, it reads: "I here by accept the office of Director in school district No. five, of the township of Niles and Buchanan. Dated this 31 day of July, 1906, [signed], Milton J. Bliss".
The Mead school was started in 1839. It was "originally" located on the South-East corner of the West half of the South-West corner of Section 18. It later (about 1853), was located about 1/4 mile to the west, on the opposite side of the road, on the South-East corner of Geyer and Rangeline Roads. It was in District No. 5, and later became part of District No. 10.
DeBert's children, Milton and Anna Bliss attended this school and Milton's son Lloyd Bliss most likely attended this school also, as well as Lloyd's children. Lloyd's daughter Thelma Bliss was the only student in the second grade in the Mead school in 1925 (per newspaper article). In a group photo of the students attending the Mead school in 1935, is pictured Lloyd's daughters Marguerite and Barbara Bliss.
--------------------------------------
In his will, DeBert leaves his real estate, all farming implements, tools and all livestock, to his son Milton, with DeBert's wife Nancy receiving "the use" of one-half of the real estate for her natural life.
--------------------------------------
Note: Milton's wife Julia later owned most of this farm in her name only (probably purchased with the money she received from her wealthy grandfather Joshua Feather Sr.).
----
In 1894, Julia Bliss purchased the East half of the S.-W. quarter of Section 18, containing 80 acres (and also a small strip of land), from her husband Milton Bliss, for the sum of $2,500.oo (per: Deed book # 111, page 446).
She must have purchased it with the money she received from her wealthy Grandfather Joshua Feather Sr. Joshua Sr. gave each of his children AND each of his grand-children, either land to start a farm, or money to buy a farm. (Joshua Sr. must have specified that the money was to be used only to purchase property).
In her will, Julia left her large share of this farm to her son Lloyd F. Bliss (instead of to her husband Milton), and Lloyd then moved back (from Edwardsburg, MI), to Geyer Road, to once again raise his family on Geyer Road.
This made four generations of the Bliss family, who have lived on this farm on Geyer Road: DeBert, Milton, Lloyd, and Lloyd's children: Thelma, Mary Louise, Marguerite, Barbara, Frances, Kathryn, and Gordon Bliss.
After Lloyd Bliss died, his wife Cecile sold this farm (between May of 1938 and March of 1939), and moved her family in-to town (Buchanan, MI).
--------------------------------------
On March 11, 1880, an article regarding DeBert and Nancy's 15th wedding anniversary was printed in the "Berrien County Record", newspaper, in Buchanan, Michigan. It reads as follows:
Mr. and Mrs. D. Bliss, of Niles Town-ship, celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of their wedding day, Tuesday by a surprise by their neighbors and friends which they could not refuse. It was a good time they had, nevertheless. The guests left as a remembrance the following list of presents: [It then lists all of the guests and the presents that they gave]. In the evening the young folks took possession and had a joyful time. In all, there were over one hundred persons present and all considered themselves treated like kings.
------
Note: The guests included the following:
Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Blake, Mr. and Mrs. B. M. Pennell, Mr. and Mrs. Robt. Mead (father-in-law of DeBert's cousin Joseph Merrill Bliss), Mr. and Mrs. Frank Gano, Mrs. Geyer, Mr. and Mrs. O. Main, Mr. and Mrs. Burdette, Mr. and Mrs. H. [Henry] Broceus, Mr. and Mrs. S. Starr, Mr. and Mrs. H. Rice, Mr. and Mrs. Geo. Treat, Mr. and Mrs. L. P. Alexander, Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Roe, Misses Gertie and Allie Stoddard, Mr. and Mrs. Walton, Mr. and Mrs. C. Evans, Mr. and Mrs. F. Franklin, Mr. and Mrs. J. W. Jackson, Mr. and Mrs. M. Wynn, Mrs. Anna Tichener, Mr. and Mrs. O. Kidwell, Mr. and Mrs. J. Huss, Mr. and Mrs. James Ezekiel Borden (Nancy's sister and brother-in-law), Mr. and Mrs. Francis Willard Howe (DeBert's cousin), Mr. and Mrs. W. O. Hamilton, Mr. and Mrs. F. R. Harding, Mrs. J. E. Wagner, Mr. and Mrs. G. [George] Hanley, Mrs. E. Engalls, Mrs. M. Dalrymple, Mr. and Mrs. E. [Eugene and Grace (French) Butts [daughter of DeBert's cousin Wlillard], Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Demott, Mr. and Mrs. D. A. Best, Mr. and Mrs. Willard Bliss French (DeBert's cousin), Misses M. and E. Samson, Mr. and Mrs. H. [Charles "Hervey"] French (DeBert's cousin), Mrs. Angie Watson, and Miss Alice Pennel.
---
Note: Many of these guests were prominent citizens of Buchanan, Michigan. L. P. Alexander was the general contractor when he built the first Buchanan High School in 1871. He also was elected to the State legislature, and was a state Senator. See the memorial for Lorenzo P. Alexander.
------------------------------------
DeBert and Nancy A. Bliss had two children, Anna G. Bliss (1865-1953), (who married Joseph P. Geyer and they moved to New Mexico with DeBert's wife Nancy, and are buried in the Fairmont Cemetery in Raton, Colfax County New Mexico), and Milton James Bliss (1870-1932), who married Julia M. Feather, the daughter of John Henry Feather Sr. and his second wife Sophia S. Koppenheffer, of Hinchman, Oronoko Township, Berrien County, Michigan. (Milton Bliss and his family are buried in the Oak Ridge Cemetery, Buchanan, MI).
-------------------------------------
DeBert died on Sept. 27, 1887, on his farm on Geyer Road, in Niles Towhship, N.-N.E. of Buchanan, Berrien Co. Michigan.
------------------------------------
His death certificate states that he died of "congestive chill" (malaria), at the age of 50 years, 9 months and 28 days.
------------------------------------
DeBert's obituary was published in the "Buchanan Record" newspaper, in Buchanan, Michigan, on Sept. 29, 1887, Page 3, Column 2. His obituary reads as follows:
----
MR. DeBERT BLISS, of Niles township, who had been under the doctor's care for a number of years, died Tuesday. A post mortem examination was made by Drs. Roe and Henderson, when it was discovered that his malady [disease] was in the liver.
------------------------------------
After DeBert's passing, an article was printed in the "Buchanan Record" newspaper on Oct. 6, 1887, page 3. It states:
----
We wish to thank our friends and neighbors for their sympathy and favors in our sad bereavement. A special thanks for those flowers for our dead and to the singers for the excellent music furnished. [Signed] Milton J. Bliss [his son] and Mrs. H. A. Bliss [his wife]. [It "should" have said Mrs. "N. A." Bliss].
-------------------------------------
Another short obituary for him
(with his name spelled incorrectly),
was published in the "Niles Daily Star"
newspaper, in Niles, MI on
Sept. 30, 1887, page 4, column 2:
The funeral of
D. B. [DeBert] Blish [Bliss],
occurred yesterday, the funeral
taking place at the French [should
say "Howe"] Cemetery.
----------------------------------
DeBert's will (probated Nov. 7, 1887) is on file in Berrien County Michigan. DeBert appointed his cousin, Charles Franklin Howe, of Buchanan, Michigan (the son of his father's sister Polly), as the executor of his will.
(Note: His cousin, Charles Franklin Howe (1832-1913), was a prominent man in Buchanan, Michigan, and a veteran of the Civil War. See an article on Charles F. Howe (with pictures of him and his wife), in "History of Berrien and Van Buren Counties, Michigan). Charles F. Howe was also on the cemetery board of the first "public" cemetery in Buchanan, Michigan, known as the "McCoy Cemetery" (now the site of Kathryn Park), when the board put an article in the local newspaper, asking for anyone with loved ones buried in that cemetery, to move them to the new "Oak Ridge Cemetery". He also held numerous township and County offices, including the "Register" of Berien County MI from 1846 to 1854. Charles F. Howe lived in Section 11, of Buchanan township, Berrien County Michigan.
-----------------------------------
DeBert Bliss is buried next to his parents, in Row 5, Lot # 189. DeBert's headstone reads:
FATHER
DeBERT BLISS
1835 (should be 1836)-1887.
------
Note: The birth year on DeBert's headstone
looks like 1835, but is should be 1836,
because the "Bliss Genealogy" gives
his "date of birth" as Nov. 25, 1836,
and because DeBert's older brother
Malcom Bliss was born May 17, 1835.
(See the memorial for Malcom Bliss, with a
photo of his headstone, on this web site).
Also, DeBert's death certificate
states that he died at 50 years,
9 months, and 28 days (which would make
his year-of-birth 1836).
--------------------------------------
DeBert is buried next to his parents, in the Howe Cemetery, on Buffalo Road, South of Buchanan, Michigan (in Row 5, Lot # 189). The land for this cemetery was donated by DeBert's Aunt Polly (Bliss) Howe and her husband Frederick Howe Sr. It was origionally part of their farm. (See the memorial for Polly (Bliss) Howe, on this web site).
--------------------------------------
The "1892 Berrien County Michigan Directory" lists on page 429: Mrs. Debert Bliss, business-farmer, Section 18, 80 acres, value-$3730, Niles township, Buchanan post office.
------------------------------------
DeBert's wife Nancy later moved to Las Vegas, New Mexico in late 1900, with her daughter Anna and son-in-law Joseph P. Geyer. Nancy was married two more times. Before Nancy died, she moved in with her daughter Anna and son-in-law Joseph P. Geyer, in Springer, Colfax County New Mexico. Nancy is buried in the Fairmont Cemetery in Raton, Colfax County New Mexico next to her daughter Anna, Joseph P. Geyer and grandson Fred Geyer (in Section 1, Row 7, lot # 32).
------------------------------------
Note: This memorial was
researched and written,
by Nancy (Letcher) Heib.
--------------------------------
Note: See article on DeBert's son Milton Bliss in "A Twentieth Century History of Berrien County Michigan", by Judge Orville W. Coolidge, 1906, Pages 567 & 568.
[This article also mentions DeBert and his parents Hiram and Anna Bliss].
------------------------------------
DeBert also had a cousin named
Joseph Merrill Bliss, who is buried
(with his "second" wife Harriet),
in the Oak Ridge Cemetery, in
Buchanan, Michigan (Section 1, Lot 6).
DeBert also had a cousin named
Sarah S. Bliss, who was the 1st wife
of his cousin Joseph Merrill Bliss.
Sarah was buried in the very first
"public" cemetery in Buchanan, MI,
now the site of Kathryn Park.
DeBert's cousin Mary Bliss is also
buried in "The Old Burying Ground"
(now the site of Kathryn Park).
They were the children of Hiram
Bliss' brother Peter Bliss Sr.
and his wife Fanny Bardwell.
--------------------------------
Note: See "Genealogy Of The Bliss Family In America" (a three-volume set), compiled and published by Aaron Tyler Bliss, Midland, MI., 1982. Volumes I and II, pages 244,494-497, 827-828, 1151-1152, 1222, and 1458. Located in the Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana (http://www.acpl.lib.in.us) and in the
Library of Michigan, Lansing, Michigan.(www.michigan.gov/libraryofmichigan)
----
Note: This Bliss genealogy states that DeBert Bliss and his wife Nancy had a sawmill near Speedsville, New York. This is NOT correct. It was DeBert's father Hiram Bliss Sr., who had the sawmill near Speedsville, New York (where DeBert also worked). Nancy never lived in Speedsville, New York. Nancy moved to Buchanan, Michigan with her parents when she was an infant. (DeBert later met and married Nancy, South of Buchanan, in Bertrand Township, Berrien County Michigan). Note: When Nancy was a teenager, she was living with the family of DeBert's cousin, in Bertrand Township, South of Buchanan.
-------------------------------------
See the memorial for his mother Anna,
for information on DeBert's cousin,
a famous man in our nation's history
named Edmund Gibson Ross (1826-1907).
(or "Google" his name).
---------------------------------
Note: See the memorials for DeBert's
family, on this web site:
Cousin, Charles Franklin Howe (1832-1913),
of Michigan. (Buried Howe Cemetery).
Father, Hiram Bliss Sr., of Michigan.
Mother, Anna (Ross) Bliss, of Michigan.
Wife, Nancy (Smith-Bliss) Studebaker,
of New Mexico.
Daughter, Anna (Bliss) Geyer, of New Mexico.
Son, Milton James Bliss, of Michigan.
Grandson, Lloyd Feather Bliss, of Michigan.
Great, Granddaughter,
Thelma (Bliss) Letcher, of Michigan.
-----
Note: DeBert Bliss and his wife Nancy,
are my Great, Great, Grandparents.
Nancy (Letcher) Heib.
-----------------------------------
Click on photos to see enlargements,
captions, and additional photos.
-----------------------------------
|
