Obituary Adam Zion 1861 - 1927

While searching Ancestry this morning I found the obituary of my great grandfather Adam.

Craig Empire Courier - April 13, 1927

"Adam Zion, 66 succumbs to long illness"

Adam Zion, one of Moffat county’s best citizens and a true Christian gentleman, died Thursday at the home of his daughter in Rosedale, after a long illness with cancer. His passing is mourned by a host of friends, who loved him for his accomplishments. Adam Zion was born In Decatur, la., September 26, 1861. He resided with his parents on a farm near Decatur until he was 16 years old, when he became a blacksmith’s apprentice. After four years as an apprentice he became a tradesman and was a blacksmith until forced by ill health to retire to a farm. He moved from Sargent, Neb,, to Moffat county in 1916. In partnership with his two sons he developed a large and profitable farm on the North fork of Big gulch. He united with the Christian church 30 years ago and stood firm in his beliefs throughout life. He was married in 1886 to Miss Rachel 'Milsap of Lamonl, la., who survives him. Their five children. Perry and Norton Zion of Craig, Mrs. O. M. Exley of Sargent. Nebr., and Mrs. M. A. Seick and Mrs. Floyd Sillivan of Craig, survive him. Funeral services were held in Craig Sunday.

Wordless Wednesday Meet Bucko and Great Grandpa Adam Zion

Wordless Wednesday, I can never be totally wordless.. This is a picture of my Great Grandpa Jonathan Adam Zion with his friend Bucko the sheep. They sheared him after taking this picture.

This picture was taken in the Craig Colorado area and was taken sometime in the 1920's. Adam was born September 29,1861 in Iowa and died April 07, 1927.

My Family Roots Run Deep .... Visiting My Ancestors One Cemetery to the Next part 1 Adam and Rachel Millsap Zion Colorado

Where are they buried? Where is the is the final resting place of my ancestors. My ancestors are buried across the United States. I want to visit them, to lay a flower on their grave and hopefully to let them know I am thinking of them and wondering about them. Who were they? What was their life like? Their loves and their dislikes. What was happening around them? How can I get to know them better. I hope by being able to visit their last resting place I will learn more about them and their time living and loving those around them.

Well if I was to plan a trip to see who could I find where would I start? First stop Craig, Colorado and the gravestones of my great grandparents Jonathan Adam and Rachel ( Millsap) Zion. This trip would take us 20 1/2 hours and 1236 miles from where I am today in Richmond, Texas.
http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Richmond&1s=TX&1y=US&1l=29.5819&1g=-95.760597&1v=CITY&2c=Craig&2s=CO&2y=US&2l=40.515301&2g=-107.545799&2v=CITY
Jonathan was born in Decatur, Iowa to John Henderson and Mary (Cassell) Zion in 1861.
Rachel was born to Flavious and Anna ( Woodmansee) Millsap April 19, 1862 in Mount Ayr, Ringgold county, Iowa. The years they were born the president of the United States was Abraham Lincoln and the United States was involved in a Civil War.

Adam and Rachel met and married in Iowa February 11th, 1886. <>





It was in Iowa where their five children were born. Perry the oldest is my grandfather on my dad's side. Perry was born 1886, Norton 1889, Mary Etta 1893, Anna Gertrude 1894 and Bessie 1898.

In 1902 they moved to Bemidji, Minnesota and two months later went to Wilton to homestead some land. For some reason they never finished this transaction and in 1906 to 1907 they moved to Burwell, Nebraska. It was in 1909 that they rented property in Custer, Colorado ( Sargent) near the line close to Taylor. There they worked and were active in Church. In the fall of 1915 a group of relatives went to Moffat county , Colorado to investigate the range homestead. They then moved in 1916 to Moffat county where he did homestead some land.
The picture below is of my great grandfather Adam , great grandmother Rachel. Their youngest daughter Bessie is seated between them. Back row left to right is my grandpa Perry, then Mary Etta, Norton and last is Gertrude.


My great grandfather was black smith by trade. He worked for twenty years doing this until the hard work finally wore his health down and he retired to the farm.
April 7, 1927 Adam passed away in Craig Colorado.
The last years of Rachel's life she lived in the state of Washington near her daughters Alta and Gertrude.
I am lucky to have a letter she wrote to my mother, father ( her grandson) and my grandma Day on November 23, 1943. She writes of not being able to be at my parents wedding and hoping they will come and visit in Washington where she will have a gift for them. Will not be expensive as she is not a rich woman. She talks about having five children, 30 grandchildren and 16 great grand children. It is so nice to have her handwriting and thoughts in pencil.
After her death on Mother's day 1945, she was returned to Craig to be buried next to Adam.

I was not born till 1948 so she never met me but I am pleased to have her letter, pictures of her and grandpa Adam and stories family members have passed down about them
Next stop Sterling , Logan Colorado . Total Travel Estimate: 5 hours 28 minutes / 321.87 miles timed by http://www.mapquest.com/ http://www.mapquest.com/maps? This is where my great aunt Mary Etta Zion Exley is buried. She is a sister of my grandpa Perry and one of my dad's aunts. http://www.mapquest.com/maps?1c=Richmond&1s=TX&1y=US&1l=29.5819&1g=-95.760597&1v=CITY&2c=Craig&2s=CO&2y=US&2l=40.515301&2g=-107.545799&2v=CITY#b/maps/m:map:3:35.046124:-101.58203::::::1:1:::::::::/l:::Richmond:TX::US:29.5819:-95.760597:city::1:::/l:::Craig:CO::US:40.515301:-107.545799:city::1:::/l:::Sterling:CO::US:40.625599:-103.207199:city:Logan+County:1:::/io:1:::::f:en_US:M:/bl:/e

Tombstone Tuesday My Great Grandparents Adam and Rachel Zion

Today for Tombstone Tuesday I am sharing the gravestone of one of my great grand parents

This is Johnathan Adam and Rachel Ann Millsap Zion at the time they married.

Johnathan was born September 29, 1861 and died April 07, 1927

Rachel was born 1863. I have her birth date as April 19, 1862 but gravestone says 1863 which is

probably correct. Need to check on that further. She died May 13, 1945.

They married in 1866 in Lamoni, Decatur, Iowa and had five Children. Perry ( my grandfather),

Norton, Bessie , Gertrude and Mary E

They are buried in Craig Colorado at the Fairview Cemetery in Moffat County. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~comoffat/index.htm

Rest in peace grandpa and grandma.

Who Were My Great Grandparents Part 5 Jonathan Zion Rachel Millsap

This is the fifth of my great grandparents. My first four great grandparents were from my mother's side of the family. Now I am sharing from my dad's side of the family.

This is Jonathan Adam Zion my dad's grandfather. His son Perry was my father's father.

Jonathan was born September 29, 1861 in Decatur county Iowa to John Henderson and Mary Margaret (Cossill ) Zion. He was called Adam most of the time.

When he was sixteen years old he left home to learn the blacksmith trade. After spending four years as an apprentice he followed his trade for 20 years.

He married Rachel Millsap February 11, 1886 near Lamoni Iowa and soon moved to Kendal Kansas.












Their first child was Perry who was born December 12, 1886. In the winter of 1888 / 89 they moved to Tuskgee Iowa where their second child Norton was born. They moved back Decatur Co where their two daughters Etta and Gertrude were born during that time. They moved to Diagonal Iowa around 1894 where the youngest daughter Bessie was born.In 1900 they moved to Hope Idaho. After this they resided in Minnesota before moving by wagon to Nebraska in 1909. In 1916 they went with many other homesteaders by train to Moffat County Colorado arriving March 22, 1916.

Family memories tell that he like to chew tobacco and raised sheep. One time he turned his back on the big Ram and got butted. He was a large man around the waist. My uncle Joe tells of trying on his pants and he could of gotten them around him twice. Uncle Joe was no small man. Grandma Rachel was probably a great cook.

Adam's health began to deteriorate due to the hard work of being a blacksmith and he retired to the farm.

He developed the family brand in 1907 and this branding iron is still used today by my cousins on their cattle. It is a Z with quarter circle under the Z.

My grandpa Perry is the handsome man on the left

In about 1926 he went to Denver to see the doctors about the cancer he had. He was unable to work after this and spent time with his grandchildren giving them memories that they have passed on to the family.

Adam passed away April 07 1927 and is buried in the Craig Cemetery in Craig Colorado.

Find a Grave Web site From your Laptop

Last night I posted some of the top web sites for genealogy. One of them was Find a Grave

I love to wander the cemetary. Quiet and so peaceful. Today I had dh stop at a cemetary in the Houston area. Will tell about that in another post. But tonight I wandered Craig Cemetary from my laptop.

Find a Grave is a simple-yet-powerful cemetery database has grown to more than 31 million grave transcriptions. You can search by name (with options for maiden names and partial surnames), birth date, death date or cemetery location, or browse a cemetery for people you think might be your ancestors. There's also a surname index and the Social Security Death Index.

Tonight I went to the site. Registered as a member, offered to take pictures of gravestones in my area. I then found that the pictures of my great grandmother Rachel and great grandfather Adam Zion plus there grave stone had been posted. I had seen these pictures before on the internet, but to night I was able to also get the name of the cemetary in a picture also. Before leaving I left viritual flowers for them. .

That is my grandfather Perry upper left hand corner.

Try to take some time to check out this web site. I am amazed. I will be taking some time to searching this site. I hope to be able to find graves of my ancestors that I have not seen yet.

Happy searching