Over the years of my HUFFORD research, some have asked, “But are YOU a Hufford descendant?”

The answer, of course, is yes.

My most recent ancestor who was born with the HUFFORD name is Elizabeth Hufford who was born June 25, 1851, in Carroll Co., Indiana.  She is pictured with her husband and children on page 81 of the 1909 HUFFORD FAMILY HISTORY.

Elizabeth is front and center. Left front, with his cane, is Elizabeth’s husband, George Hooker. On George’s lap is their son Challence (born in 1889). Right front is daughter Dora (born in 1886). Standing, from left to right are Theodore (b. 1882), Sarah Catharine (b. 1871), George (b. 1877), Rosa (b. 1874), William (b. 1879), Mary Elizabeth (b. 1873), and James (b. 1882). The family dog is lying on the ground in front of them.

I am one of Elizabeth Hufford’s great-great-granddaughters.

Elizabeth was a strait-laced, German Baptist Brethren farm girl who married a Catholic man who had served in the Civil War.  Together, they had nine children and raised all to adulthood.

She lived out her life in Clay Township, Carroll Co., Indiana, part of the corn belt that crosses the middle of Indiana.  She was in Carroll Co. for all but a few years of her life.  In 1899, after her husband had lost everything when a flood washed away his logging business, they moved with their sons to Minot, Ward Co., North Dakota, and began again. Before 1910, Elizabeth and George returned to Carroll Co., but their sons remained in North Dakota.

Elizabeth and George were married for fifty years and seven months, until he died in 1921, and they argued about religion until the day that he died. In private, their argument must have ceased: They had nine children, with the first child born 11 months after they married and the ninth child born when Elizabeth was 38.

Always, Elizabeth’s attitudes were German Baptist.  Always, her husband’s attitudes were Roman Catholic. One time their sons were in the attic of their house playing cards. Elizabeth was scandalized that her sons were playing cards, and she complained to George that their boys were “sinning.”  George answered, “But they’re doing it quietly.”

By the laws of the Catholic church of that time, as soon as George married Elizabeth, he was excommunicated as a Catholic.

Here’s Elizabeth’s line: Elizabeth b. 1851 > Andrew b. 1827 > Abraham b. 1788 > Casper b. > Christian b. 1716 in Schwaigern, Germany.

The photo below shows Elizabeth with her husband, after many years of marriage.  Her head covering is typical of Brethren women.