Groom Family

                                                   Samuel D. Groom Family.
File made by RKW...
The father [Samuel Dabney Groom], and his two sons, John and Charles Groom, were in Cowley County on Christmas Eve 1869. They camped just north of Winfield with A. T. Shenneman, who was in the freighting business, and with the Hudson Boys. (Note: This is from the Biographical Record of Cowley County, Published in 1901. RKW)
{Above information was confirmed by Robert Hudson, who said the following concerning the first Christmas in Cowley County in 1869: “In this group of homesteaders were members of prominent Winfield and Cowley County families, who remained here, among them the first members of the Groom family.”)

Kansas 1875 Census, Richland Township, Cowley County, March 1, 1875.
Name                                                 age  sex color      Place/birth      Where from
J. P. Groom                                        27    m      w           Missouri             Illinois
Sarah Groom                                      25    f        w           Illinois                Illinois
Minnie M. Groom                               4      f        w           Kansas
Edward Groom                                   2      m      w           Kansas
Samuel Groom                                    5m   w      w           Kansas
J.  W. Groom                                      29    m      w           Missouri             Illinois
Emma L. Groom                                 22    f        w           Illinois                Illinois
Mabell Groom                                    11m f        w           Kansas
S. D. Groom                                       53    m      w           Virginia              Illinois
Lucinda Groom                                   51    f        w           Ohio                  Illinois
Charles A. Groom                               21    m      w           Illinois                Illinois
Ella (Elnora L.) Groom                        15    f        w           Illinois                Illinois
Emma L. Groom                                 12    f        w           Illinois                Illinois
Samuel D. Groom was born September 13, 1821, in Louisa County, Virginia. The Groom family came west to Missouri about 1840. They found  Missouri too crowded so they moved on to Peoria township in Illinois.
Samuel, 22, married Lucinda Thompson, 20, on September 13, 1843, in Cole County, Missouri. She was born May 25, 1823 in Ohio. They had seven children: John William, born July 7, 1845: James Pierson, born March 27, 1848: Lydia Ann, born October 11,1850, died September 17, 1852; Charles Andrew: born October 1, 1853; Peoria Alice, born November 22, 1856: Elnora Lucretia, born November 20, 1859: and Emma Louisa, born December 27, 1862.
Samuel D. Groom and Lucinda Groom lived out their lives in the Wilmot neighbor-hood. Samuel died at the age of 71 on January 22, 1892, and Lucinda died at age 78 on February 13, 1901. They are both buried in the Wilmot cemetery.

John William Groom enlisted in the U. S. Army, Co. M. 11 Reg., Illinois Cavalry on January 27, 1865. He was discharged September 30, 1865, after suffering injuries when thrown from a horse. He homesteaded near Wilmot, (then Rock Creek Township,) in 1870. He assisted O. F. Short and others, under Col. Angell, in surveying the county. John Groom returned to Peoria County, Illinois, to marry Emma Celeste Stuber on July 27, 1873. (Her father was Captain Adam Stuber, of Wilmot. Her brother was Phillip; nephews, Ralph and Ray Stuber.) They had seven children: Mabel; Herbert; Harold E.; Floyd L.; Earl L.; Elva F.; and John F. She died December 20, 1927, after being hit by a car and is buried in Wilmot Cemetery. John W. Groom died May 18, 1928, and is buried beside his wife.
James Pierson Groom married Sarah A. Daniels November 7, 1869. They had ten children: Minnie Myrtle, Edward Tipton, Samuel Bennett, Lela Maud, Elluhu Francis, Arthur Lee, Elmer Perry, James Paul, alice, and Ray. He remained in Illinois to care for his mother and three sisters, while his father and two brothers came to Cowley County. About a year later James and his wife came to Cowley County. He was pleased with the farm that his brother, John, had located for him; however, he discovered there was a man already living there in a dugout. Fortunately the man had not filed an intent to homestead so James traded a team of horses and a wagon for the  property. They homesteaded in Rock Creek Township in 1871. They moved to Winfield in the twenties and lived at 1316 East Sixth. His house had electricity and natural gas. There was a bathtub in the house but the flushing stool was in a small house by the alley. He died January 9, 1923, and is buried at Wilmot, Kansas.
Charles Andrew Groom died at Winfield in Cowley County, Kansas, on December 3, 1910. He never married.
Peoria Alice Groom married Alexander Kelly April 12, 1874. They had eight children: Effie, Bessie, Bonnie, Wayne, Margaret, Edna, Harvey, and Vern. Mr. Kelly died in 1911.  She later married Alexander J. Mattox, who died in 1927. She died September 4, 1934, and is buried at Wilmot, Kansas.
Elnora Lucretia Groom married Marion Daniels, in Cowley County, Kansas, April 10, 1879. They had two daughters: Gussie, and Edith Pearl. She died March 25, 1940, at Cabool, Texas County, Missouri.
Emma Louisa Groom married William A. Sample, in Winfield, Cowley County, Kansas, May 28, 1905. They had no children. She died June 21, 1935, and is buried at Wilmot, Kansas.
(NOTE: The above is extracted from the book “Groom Family Scrapbook” by Joyce Lanier Krehbiel. Published in 1994 by Gregath Publishing Co.)