"Find someone 90+ years old."
A lot of us know of him as "Dad LaRue," but his full name was Charles Clarence LaRue, and he lived to be 97 years old. He was my Great-Great-Grandfather through his daughter, Lorene (LaRue) Blanford.
Charles was the son of Benjamin Hardin LaRue and Mary Philapine Lawrey - born June 8th, 1883, right here in Henderson County, KY. Likely in the Smith Mills/Geneva area. He was one of at least eleven children - more that we might not know about because they were born and died in between censuses. His mother, Mary, died prior to the 1900 census. We have no idea how many children she bore. His father, Ben, died in January of 1901. It is said that Ben and Mary are buried in the Smith Mills Cemetery, possibly near their son, in unmarked graves.
At least four of his siblings died prior to 1900 as they poof without a trace. At least three more died between 1900-1921. It seems that generation of LaRue's had a tendency of passing away young.
Charles went on to marry Carrie Annie Byrd on April 27th, 1904. They, too, had eleven children and three of them died young.
Dad and Carrie lived, for the most part, in the Smith Mills/Geneva/outer Corydon areas for most of their lives. At one point, they lived in Robards. According to Carrie's death certificate in 1955, they were living in Lawndale Apartments. I didn't even know Lawndale was that old, haha. After Dad re-married to his second wife, Sarah (Beck) Hallmark Roberts Wise Staser (yeah she married a few times)... they lived in Baskett a number of years. She preceded him in death in 1976.
For the last of his life, I believe, he lived with his daughter Lorene and her husband, Dick Blanford. He passed away on November 20th, 1980.
I grew up hearing stories of Dad LaRue frequently from my Mom (he passed when Mom was 17 years old) and of course from my Grandpa Jady. Grandpa Jady had an immense love for his Grandfather. I dare say he was one of Grandpa's favorite people in the world. I've heard Dad LaRue was a prankster, and a jokester. Grandpa Jady definitely inherited that.
Whenever I was first able to afford a GenealogyBank subscription and started looking for my ancestors names in the Evansville newspapers -- I found this article and have treasured it ever since. Apparently Dad LaRue never ever heard his Dad speak of another relative. His Mom's family, the Lawrey's, were here in Henderson and I'm guessing he knew of them/had met them. His Grandmother, Elizabeth (Hill) Lawrey lived to 1916 so I'm absolutely sure he had made her acquaintance on at least one occasion.
So Lorene, my Great-Grandma, wrote into the Evansville paper - the "Bish" columnist, and he answered. He posted Lorene's address and asked for correspondence from whoever might know of Benjamin Hardin LaRue and who his parents or siblings could be. I believe my Great-Grandma had an answer.
In the mid-1980's, Mom, my Grandparents, and my Great-Grandparents went on a road trip to South Dakota to see my Uncle Jay who was stationed there in the Air Force. On their return trip, they made a trip down to Kansas to visit a "relative of Lorene's." Mom didn't remember names or the town they lived in. I think these people corresponded in letters with Lorene and she went to go finally meet them on that trip. Because yes, Ben LaRue had a number of siblings who migrated westward into Missouri, Kansas, and other areas.
This many years later, aided a lot with DNA... I know Benjamin Hardin LaRue was the son of Josiah "Si" LaRue and Mary Castleman. They had at least eleven children but some could have been born and died between census years. They lived in Hardin Co, KY -- hence Benjamin's middle name being 'Hardin.' The LaRue and Hardin families marry into one another a number of times, too. It was also a LaRue relative that was a midwife during the birth of our 16th President -- Abraham Lincoln on February 12th, 1809.
Apparently, the love for our family history was born into us LaRue descendants. I have more DNA matches through Charles & Carrie than ANY other set of my Great-Great-Grandparents. There are SO many of us Blanford's, Ganno's, Buckman's, LaRue's, and all the rest -- we have such a deep love of our family roots and I believe it all started with Dad LaRue having a thirst to know his LaRue family!
For those of you who are descendants and don't know our origins yet - I'll take a moment to tell you. My 9x Great-Grandfather, Abraham Le Roux (Leroux) (LaRue) came to this country to escape religious persecution. He was what is called a French Huguenot. Some of our family died in what is known as the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572. It wasn't until 100 years later, in around 1680, when Abraham brought his family to the New World. Due to our roots in French history, the family tree is well filled out to the point that I know the name of my 13th Great-Grandparents on the Le Roux line.
The LaRue family has a rich history in this country - namely in Virginia and Kentucky. For more information - I always recommend the reading of the family Wikipedia page. (I've vetted all the information on it.)
So here's to you, Dad LaRue - thank you for leaving us with an amazing legacy. Thank you for leaving us, and especially myself, with a thirst to know ancestors, like yourself. You'd be 139 years old this year in June and your story lives on as I hope and pray that it will forever.
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