SOLVING THE PUZZLE OF STEPHEN DOUGLAS ARNOLD BISHOP
What do we know of Stephen Douglas Arnold Bishop?
1] He is listed as the person Amanda Jane Beeler McKeehan married, 30
November 1889 Burlington, IA, on the souvenir marriage certificate held by
her descendants.
2] He is listed in her Bible as her second husband and the father of her
three youngest children.
3] We have two pictures of him.
4] Stephen was supposedly a sales man for the Singer Sewing Machine Company.
The records, of the Singer Sewing Machine Company, are held by the Wisconsin
Historical Society and are not indexed and largely unorganized.
5] ‘Stephen A. D. resides in Fairfield, Iowa' is how he is listed in the
1892 Portrait and Biographical Record of Ford County, Illinois for Capt.
Lemuel Newton Bishop.
6] Stephen is listed in the 1895 Iowa State Census in Lee Co., IA with
Amanda and the children.
7] There is a Stephen D. Bishop listed in the marriage records of De Witt
County, IL, for a marriage to Isabelle Sites [nee Vance]. There is an IGI
and Illinois Online Marriage Index listing for this marriage. This couple
had four children.
8] The family Bible, of Isabelle Vance Sites Bishop, lists Steven Arnold
Douglas Bishop as her second husband. It also lists the births of their four
children.
9] A family member related, Amanda told they had found his divorce was not
final when they married and he had to go back to IL to have it finalized.
10] There is a Douglas A. Bishop in the 1900 census, IL OH RI he is listed
married, boarding in a home in La Salle Co., IL. No family is listed with
him.
11] Stephen is listed in the 1906 obituaries for Lemuel Newton Bishop, his
father, and Elsa Anna Bradford Bishop, his mother.
12] Oak Grove Cemetery Le Roy, IL 61752. Cemetery index and plot info lists S.
D. Bishop in the same plot with Isabelle Bishop. Block 106, Lot 407, grave
6, without dates and has a notation, ‘not buried here'.
13] When Albert Newton Bishop died in 1934, his obit lists him being
preceded in death by five brothers and one sister. Lemuel and Elsa Bishop
had six sons and 5 daughters.
A search of the 1860 Illinois census for McLean County produces the family
of Lemuel Newton Bishop with a son Stephen A. D. age 4 years. This Stephen
can be followed through the census with this family. The family is listed in
Champaign County, OH in 1870 and Champaign Co., IL in 1880. The last time he
is listed with them is in 1880, when he and his sister, La Delle are listed
as teachers. The last time the parents are listed on the census, in 1900,
Minnie is the only child living in the home.
A search of Ancestry.com's user submitted database yielded very little data.
A Search of their census records provided census documentation for Lemuel
Newton Bishop, his wife, children and some of the grandchildren.
A search of Heritage Quest online provided further census documentation.
Eventually this site was bought out by Ancestry or the LDS and it no longer has
different census records so it has become useless.
A search of FamilySearch.org yielded a list of Stephen Bishop's. Each was
checked for matching data and eliminated after their data did not match what
we already had obtained on this line; or was too radically different to
pursue. Data that provided further clues was investigated thoroughly.
The Illinois State Archives online databases provided clues to the location
of marriage and death records, these were obtained where available. A follow
up search for obituaries was done on the county level.
Rootsweb.com's Bishop surname list was searched for clues and contacts were
made with other researchers. No one seemed to have done research on this
Stephen Arnold Douglas Bishop. However, Lemuel Newton Bishop had been
researched and further contacts with researchers provided clues to the link
between Lemuel and our Stephen Douglas Arnold Bishop.
The obituaries for each generation brought us closer to finding present day
descendants who had Isabelle Vance Sites Bishop's family Bible and pictures
of her and her descendants. The Bible and her picture were copied, 28
October 2003.
Each of Stephen's siblings were followed to their areas of residence and
local archives were checked for data on each family. Census documentation
for each one, for every census, in which they could be found was documented.
Years in which they were not found continue to be searched for
documentation.
28 November 2003, phone conversation with a descendant of Ernest Leslie
Bishop, concerning Bishop genealogy.
In October 2006 I finally found the date of death and obituary for Stephen's last sibling, Sarah Z. Johnson who died 29
August 1929. Stephen is not listed as a survivor. Sarah's husband, George W. B.
Johnson's Civil War pension file listed Sarah having property in Oklahoma. A
search for Stephen in that county was conducted without results.
6 September 2010 We have continued to search for the documentation to prove our
connection to this Stephen Bishop. I still have not found his date and place of
death. I have found documentation for the parents and ancestors of Lemuel Newton
Bishop. If you are searching for Stephen Bishop please contact me. I feel a
group effort could some day find Stephen's final resting place.
DNA testing begun in December 2011, with results returned in March 2012 links
Our Bishop line to John Bishop, II the ancestor of Lemuel Newton Bishop. My DNA
testing in 2016 matches me to several descendants of Lillian Myrtle Bishop
Cornelius, Stephen A. D. Bishop's sister. We have continued to search for the
date of death for Stephen A. D. Bishop and his final resting place. As of 31
December 2023 his death and burial remain a mystery.
Stephen Douglas Arnold Bishop
Updated
8 February 2020; 31 July 2023 From the files of
Virginia L. Aldridge