Notes for: Ambrose Sharpless Bodine

Here is a photograph of what must be this Ambrose Sharpless Bodine's tombstone. The stone is knocked over, but it clearly appears to say Ambrose Sharpless Bodine. My appreciation to Brian Bodine for sending this in.

Peter Bodine


From: Swanilda73 at aol.com [Swanilda73 at aol.com]
Sent: Sun, January 12, 2003
Subject: John Vought Bodine

Hi Dave,
I haven't contacted you for a while. I just received some information on my Van Houten line today and with it was some information on John Vought Bodine.

As you know, Anna Jane Bodine married John Franklin Young. Their oldest child was Violet Ruth Young (my grandmother). Violet married Herman Chester "Chet" Van Houten. Chet was the son of Glode Requa Van Houten and Ida May Straut. Glode was the son of Peter Van Houten and Adaline Sherwood. Anyway, I have been in contact with Rich Van Houten, who has his gedcom posted on ancestry.com. Rich has done extensive research on the Van Houten families. Rich just sent me the 1920 census for Ramapo, Rockland Co., NY. His reason for sending it was that Glode Van Houten's family is listed. I was very happy to notice that just below Glode's family, and living right next door was John Vought Bodine. I knew that John's father was originally from New Jersey. Bergen Co., NJ and Rockland Co., NY border each other, so I have many ancestors from both counties. I always wondered why the Bodines moved from the NY/NJ area to PA and then back again. Even my father didn't know how his parents met. Now, I have a guess. The census lists John Vought Bodine as head of household, age 77, widowed. Living with him were his son, William D. Bodine, age 39, widowed, and his grandaughter, Violet Ruth Young, age 26, single. My guess is that Violet went to live with them in order to cook and clean house for the two widowed gentlemen. Here, she met Chet who was living next door. They must have married the following year because my uncle was born in 1922. I have attached the census file to this email.

Also, after receiving this file from Rich, I revisited your website and was happy to find new editions. Thank you for all of your hard work. The name Ambrose Sharpless Bodine can probably be dropped as Anna Jane Bodine's brother. I never had any proof of this. I just remember seeing the name when I was a little girl. I haven't seen it again since. When I saw it, I was researching my mother's Sharpless line.

Best regards,
Deborah Thomas

From: Swanilda73 at aol.com
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2003
Subject: Bodine family history

Dave,
Some time ago, I told you I remembered that my great-grandmother, Anna Jane Bodine, had a brother named Ambrose Sharpless Bodine. I remembered hearing this name in my youth. It stuck with me because the surname Bodine is from my paternal line, and the name Sharpless from my maternal line. I could never find anything to confirm his existence, however.
Yesterday, I came into possessions of some of my father's papers. There, I found a wonderful discovery. My father's "Young" cousin wrote him a letter. In it she sent a photo copy of a page in the Bodine family Bible. Here is what it says (spelling as is written):

John V. Bodine (handwritten above it is "Vought") was born October the twentieth in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fourty two.
Margaret H. (handwritten above it is "Hughes") Bodine formely Kern was born September 14th 1845.
Ambrose S. (handwritten above it is Sharpless) Bodine was born July 25th 1865.
Anna Jane Bodine was born May 10th 1867.
Peter Beckner Bodine was born November 7th 1869.
Emma Elizabeth Bodine was born Dec, 5th 1872.
Frank Manhardt Bodine was born May 19th 1878.
Catherine Sigmond (I'm not positive of this spelling) Bodine was born May 19th 1878.
William Diener Bodine was born February 23rd 1880.
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Also written on the front and back of this photocopy was a note from my father's cousin which reads, " I have our grandmother's wedding book and certificate. Inside were two folded up, frayed, torn and yellow with age pieces of paper. This page was evidently torn out of an old Bible, where they recorded births. The one I have circled is our grandmother {Anna Jane}. I think you will be more than interested in her older brother's name, Ambrose Sharpless. Our grandmother's Baptisimal Certificate was the other "worn out" piece of paper. It took place in Columbia, PA, May 8, 1870 by a Rev. D. Beckner, Pastor of Catawissa English Southern Church. You will notice that they used the minister's name Beckner for the middle name of their next child. Our grandmother's father, Rev. John Vought Bodine, was a minister and he married J. Frank Young and Anna J. Bodine. The only ones I remember clearly were Emma Elizabeth who we called Aunt Till, Catherine, who we called Aunt Cottie, and Uncle Will, the youngest. Cottie's twin died of a young age. Because Aunt Cottie and Uncle will lived together, I always thought they were the twins (until I found this piece of paper.)"
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Now, I would like to find out if Ambrose survived childhood. I also wonder how William's middle name was changed from Diener to Dallas in records.

Hope you find this helpful,
Deborah (D'Lee) Thomas


Bodine, Elizabeth John (H) Danville 26-?-? Star of the North 1851-01-16
Bodine, Levi Howard Henry F. (F) Bloomsburg 1-6-27 Star of the North 1863-10-28 diphtheria
Bodine, Levi Howard Henry F. (F) Bloomsburg 1-6-27 Columbia Democrat 1863-10-31 diphtheria
Bodine, Peter Catawissa 68-?-? Columbia Democrat 1864-12-24
Bodine, Ambrose Sharpless John V. (F) Catawissa Twp. 0-8-20 Columbia Democrat 1866-04-25

From Ronny Bodine:

Burials in Union Cemetery, Catawissa, Columbia County.
Ambrose Sharpless Bodine Died April 16, 1856 Aged 8 Yr. 20 Da.