52 Ancestors: #38 Nancy Tombaugh, Midwife of Richland County

The Illinois Medical Practice Act of 1877 included the creation of the Illinois Board of Health, which was charged with the responsibility of regulating physicians and midwives. Midwives would now be required to register with and be approved by the Illinois Board of Health.

"Midwives To Whom Certificates Have Been Issued" from the Annual Report of the State Board of Health of Illinois 

On December 15, 1877, Nancy Kimmel registered for a midwife certificate.  She was 54 years old and had practiced as a midwife for 15 years in Richland County, Illinois.  Her certificate was issued on October 19, 1878.

Nancy was born on May 8. 1821 in Akron, Ohio to Solomon Tombaugh and Catherine Myers. At the age of 21, Nancy Tombaugh married Jacob Kimmel on October 9, 1842 in Stark County, Ohio. Jacob's sister, Elizabeth Kimmel Shook, was also a midwife in Richland County.  Nancy and Jacob had seven known children. Their youngest child, Susanna, born in 1860, was my third great-grandmother.

On March 14, 1862, their 13-year-old daughter Sarah died of "winter fever" (an archaic term for pneumonia that was used only in Southern Illinois.)  Soon after Sarah's death, Nancy began her occupation as a midwife.  (Perhaps to keep her mind off of her loss?)

Nancy Kimmel died on May 9, 1879, less than a year after she received her midwife certificate.

52 Ancestors: #23 Susanna "Anna" Kimmel, Grandmother of Red Skelton

Susanna "Anna" Kimmel was born around 1860 in Olney, Richland County, Illinois.  She was the tenth and last child of Jacob Kimmel and Nancy Tombaugh.  At the age of seventeen she became the wife of Asa M. Fields.  Their marriage took place on December 23, 1877 at the home of the bride's father.  Anna's brother-in-law, Samuel Forney, performed the marriage ceremony.  Their first daughter, Stella, was born in 1880.  Around 1881-1882, the family relocated to Nebraska, where four more Fields children were born: Mary Kathryn (born in 1882), Ida Mae (1884), and twins Eddie and Freddie (1888).  Ida Mae was the mother of Richard "Red" Skelton.

The Fields were affiliated with a German Baptist church in Kearney, Nebraska. The Wood River Church was organized May 28th, 1881 at the residence of Moses Snavely. At the first meeting, there were just 13 members present, among them: Minister Samuel Forney and Asa and Susanna Fields. However, on February 11, 1882, Asa and Anna left the congregation, as recorded in the minute books from the church. 

Vincennes Sun Commercial, February 20, 1939

Around 1890, Asa and Anna moved their family again, this time to Vincennes, Indiana.  My great-great grandmother, Carrie, was born there in 1891, and the last of Asa and Anna's children, Robert Hergel, was born in 1899. 

 I am unable to find an obituary or death certificate for Asa, but I think he died sometime around 1900.  In a letter to her brother, Lewis Kimmel, dated May 5, 1938, Anna wrote that she had been a widow for 38 years.  She said she had two sons and three daughters living out of 14 children, 25 grand children and 13 great grand children. Her pension was $11.00 a month. She was living in one room all alone. Her youngest son (Robert) was married and lived on the same lot with her. Her address was shown as 702 Upper 11th, Vincennes. 

In 1939, Anna (called Susan in the newspaper) attended a luncheon honoring her famous grandson, Red Skelton.

Anna Fields died March 17, 1945 and is buried at Fairview Cemetery in Vincennes. 

Indianapolis Star, March 20, 1945