OF NEOSHO COUNTY, KANSAS

(ALFRED TENNYSON HEADY)

ALFRED TENNYSON HEADY (FIFTH GENERATION) The late subject of this memoir was one of the early settlers of Erie township, Neosho County, having brought his young wife hither from Hamilton Co., Indiana in 1872. But Kansas at that time was no parallel for Indiana and the young soldier and farmer returned east and remained in the state of his birth untill 1878 when he came back to Kansas and took possession of the parental legacy where he made his home and died.

Mr. Heady was born in Hamilton county, Indiana, March 31, 1844, and was reared and educated in his native state. July 6, 1861, he enlisted in Co. E, 1st Ind. heavy artillery and passed through the war, veteranising and seeing and experiencing the closing acts of the rebellion. He was wounded at Camp Ryland, Louisiana, April 13, 1863, by gunshot wound in the left thigh and was sent to Morgan City hospital where he remained until finally disposed of in the Barracks hospital in New Orleans. He almost lost his life by complications before his wound finally healed but rejoined his regiment and re-enlisted for the remainder of the war when his first enlistment expired. He passed through so much hard service and was such a brave soldier that his company and regimental officers united in recommending him to Governor Morton for a commission in the regular army should he desire to join that establishment after his release from the volunteer service. He finally determined on civil instead of military pursuits and returned to the farm from whence he came.

On the 18th of October 1871, Mr. Heady married Martha Castetter, born in Hamilton County, Indiana on February 12, 1855, and a daughter of Michael & Sarah (Heady) Castetter. Her father died at 51 years, but in 1971 (according to accounts by Marie Heady Kyle) Martha’s mother was still surviving at the age of sixty-seven.

Mr. and Mrs. Heady resided with his father, Andrew Jackson Heady, the brief year they spent in Kansas but from 1878 to his death on August 23rd 1891, Mr. Heady owned and occupied the old home and was engaged in its successful cultivation. The effects of his army service finally caused his death and he passed away at the age of forty-seven.

The Family of our worthy subject comprised eleven children as follows: Charles Darvis, James Wesley, Michael John, Laura (who died at 8 months of age), Ada (wife of Henry Fouts), Ethel Elizabeth, Thomas Alfred, Emma, Pearl, Vearl Tennyson and Edith.

**(The above account is from Marie Heady Kyle in about 1971. (It is believed to have come primarily from accounts of an unknown author in 1901 or 1902)

(Following notes by Myrl Heady Jeffcoat:

There is also record of Alfred Tennyson Heady serving in Civil War for Company K, 21^st Indiana Heavy Artillery. G.A.R. 1861-1865 (on his tombstone in Erie, Kansas). Left for Indiana from Kansas sometime after the birth of his first child, Charles Darvis Heady, born August 15, 1872. Returned by wagon to Erie, Kansas on April 9, 1878. The above biography has him dying of old war injuries. Another account has him dying of blood poisoning after a sow pig bit him, but that account seems doubtful. He weighed 330 lbs. There was a large hedge tree on the Heady Farm in Erie, Kansas, where some accounts state, he would sit and crack the whip while his sons worked.

He married Martha Elizabeth Castetter the daughter of Sarah Elizabeth Heady and Michael Jacob Castetter. Alfred Tennyson Heady, who was the son of Andrew Jackson Heady. Andrew Jackson Heady and Sarah Elizabeth Heady’s father, Vinson Heady were brothers. . .so Alfred Tennyson Heady and Martha Elizabeth Castetter were second cousins as well as husband and wife.

It is also noted that Alfred Tennyson Heady’s father, Andrew Jackson Heady and his mother Lucretia (Lucy) Pearce were not married.

*Alfred Tennyson Heady (5th gen), Andrew Jackson Heady (4th gen), James Heady (3rd gen), Thomas Heady Jr. (2nd gen), married his 2nd cousin, Martha E. Castetter (6th generation), Sarah Elizabeth Heady (5th gen), Vincent (4th gen), James (3rd gen), Thomas Jr. (2nd gen), Thomas Sr. (first gen).

Vincent (4th gen) son of James (3rd gen) Thomas Jr. (2nd gen) had two daughters who married Castetter brothers. Sarah Elizabeth Heady (5th gen) married Michael Jacob Castetter; and Fanny Jane Heady (5th gen) married Benjamin P. Castetter.

Vincent (4th gen) married the second time after his first wife Polly Richardson died to Sarah "Sally" Castetter, the sister of the above Michael and Benjamin Castetter. (So Sarah and Fanny Jane's sister-in-law was also their step-mother.

**Image File of Civil War record for Alfred Tennyson Heady.