Joshua H. Chamness

  General Notes:

Joshua H. Chamness was born March 4, 1830 in Randolph
County, Indiana, the sixth child of William and Margaret (Hinshaw)
Chamness. Joshua grew up in the area south and west of
Bloomingsport. We do not know about his early education, but he was
able to read and write. His mother died when he was 16 and his father
moved to Wisconsin with several siblings. In the 1850 census he was
living with his half-sister Abigail and her husband Isaiah Jones in Waltz
Township, Wabash County, Indiana. A few months later he was
married in Randolph County.

Clorinda Coffin Hoggatt was born January 13, 1830 in Indiana,
probably in Randolph County. She and her twin brother Jabez H.
Hoggatt were the youngest children of Isaiah and Elizabeth
(McFetridge) Hoggatt.

Joshua and Clorinda were married in Randolph County on November 6, 1850
by John
Johnson, Justice of the Peace.

Joshua spent most of his life farming in the area around Bloomingsport,
Indiana. On
December 25, 1850, he and his brother Martin bought 80 acres immediately
east of Cherry
Grove, northeast of Bloomingsport. In 1854 they bought an adjacent plot
of 40 acres from
their mutual brother-in-law, Cyril Hoggatt. Martin died in 1859 and in
1860 Joshua bought
33.3 acres at the north edge of Bloomingsport.



The Civil War broke out in 1861. In July, 1863, General Morgan launched a
raid
through southern Indiana and Ohio. Joshua was one of 65,000 men in
Indiana to answer the
call for volunteers to protect the state. He joined Company D of the
105th Regiment along
with many others of the area. They marched toward southern Indiana, but
never found the
raiders. After only 6 days the 'minutemen' were mustered out in
Indianapolis (Tucker's
History of Randolph County, p. 267).

Joshua and Clorinda had a total of 10 children, however only 4 are named
in the family
Bible and only 3 lived to adulthood. We have no idea of the cause.


Joshua and Clorinda were members of the United Brethren Church. Later
Joshua
joined the Friends (Quakers).

Clorinda died July 15, 1895 of tuberculosis. Three years later Joshua was
married to
Rachel Davison Batchelor. His marriage return (Book D, p. 15) confirms
that he was born in
Randolph County and that his father was William Chamness and his mother
was Margaret
Hinshaw. His second wife died in 1900.

Joshua died October 23, 1901 of tuberculosis at the home of his
sister-in-law Sarah
Jane Adamson in Bloomingsport. Joshua and Clorinda are buried at Cherry
Grove Cemetery.

Joshua married Clorinda Coffin Hoggatt, daughter of Isaiah Hoggatt and Elizabeth McFetridge, on 6 Nov 1850 in Randolph, Indiana, USA. (Clorinda Coffin Hoggatt was born on 13 Jan 1830 in Randolph, Indiana, USA and died on 15 Jul 1895 in Bloomingsport, Randolph, Indiana.)

Joshua next married Rachel Davison Batchelor. (Rachel Davison Batchelor died in 1900.)