The Ancestry of Mary Jane Ingraham

The Ingrahams have a long and rich American lineage. The first Ingraham, Edward, came to this country in 1635, 15 years after the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. Edward's brother, Richard, followed in 1639. It was Richard Ingraham from whom Mary Jane Tolstedt descended. The Ingrahams settled in the area of Hadley, Massachusetts. Ingrahams have fought in the French and Indian War, the American Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, WWI, and WWII. Richard Ingraham and his wife, Elizabeth Wignall, had a son named John. John Ingraham and his wife, Elizabeth Gardner, also named a son John. John Ingraham II and his wife, Mehitable Dickinson, named one of their sons John. John Ingraham III and his wife, Lydia Boltwood, gave birth to Philip. Philip Ingraham and his wife, Experience Pierce, had a son named William. William Ingraham and his wife, Esther White, had a son named Quartus. Quartus Ingraham and his wife, Elizabeth Dewey Wells (there is some confusion about her last name), had a son named Lorenzo.

It is with Lorenzo Wellington Ingraham, born in Williamsburg, Massachusetts on August 13, 1819, that the Tolstedt connection begins. Lorenzo married Jeanetta Doage/Doig on September 9, 1841 in Hamilton County, New York. Lorenzo and Jeanetta (sometimes spelled Jennette or Jennet) had 9 sons, four of whom died in infancy. The sons who survived to adulthood included John Doage Ingraham, William D. Ingraham, Alonzo Ingraham, Samuel G. Ingraham, and Alexander Ingraham. The Ingrahams moved to western Illinois (Warren County) in 1856. From 1864 until 1870 the Ingrahams, along with Lorenzo's brother, Quartus Clark Ingraham, and sister, Phidelia Ingraham Gifford, lived in or near Warren County. Lorenzo moved to Union County in 1866. In 1870, Lorenzo and his sons moved to Marshall County, Iowa.

John Doage Ingraham, born May 21, 1842 in Northville, New York, met and, on October 1863, married Lucinda Salter in Henderson County, Illinois. Lucinda was the daughter of John Salter and Jane Vreeland. She was born in Bayonne, New Jersey on October 5, 1844. John Doage and Lucinda Ingraham had 12 children, 5 sons and 7 daughters. Their oldest daughter, Mary Jane Ingraham, married Franklin Benjamin Tolstedt. The Ingraham girls were strong individuals and remained close throughout their lives.

The Ingraham Girls

Mary Jane on the top left, Lucinda on the top right