Muhlenberg County Kentucky

Old Muhlenberg Map

Family Group Records C

Robert Marion Cessna & Kathryn Amanda Culbertson

Robert Marion Cessna.
Born: 25 Apr 1846, Powderly, Muhlenberg, Kentucky
Married: 1) Kathryn Amanda Culbertson, 29 Nov 1870
Married: 2) Sarah Margaret Samantha Tooley, 7 Mar 1880, Muhlenberg County.
Died: 29 Jan 1937
Father: Robert John Culbertson Cessna
Mother: Angeline Calvert

Robert Marion Cessna was the first born child of Robert John Culbertson and Angeline Calvert. He was born April 25, 1846 in Powderly, Kentucky and was a farmer all of his life. At the start of the Civil War in 1861, Robert was 15 years old and old enough to go, but the story has it that he did not go as he had a bad limp, due to a fall from a loft in a barn. Pictures of him in his elderly years shows him sporting a cane.

In the 1870 Muhlenberg Census, Robert Marion is shown to be 24 years old, a farm laborer, with an estimated wealth of $300. He was living with his cousin, Robert Boyd, son of his aunt and uncle, Joannah Cessna and her husband, Rev. Adlai Boyd. Robert Boyd was 26 years old and had a wealth of $300. Listed occupation was that of farm laborer. Both men were living with their paternal aunt, Nancy Cessna Kirtley, widow of Thomas Kirtley. In the 1870 census, living next door, was an African American Kirtley family and the thought is that after the Civil War, the Kirtley slaves were freed and so the young men, Robert Boyd and Robert Cessna, went to live with their aunt to help tend the farm.

On November 29, 1870, Robert Marion Cessna married Kathryn Amanda Culbertson, the daughter of his first cousins Elizabeth Berryman and John Beck Culbertson, her husband.

(Elizabeth Margaret Berryman was the daughter of Margaret Cessna Berryman, the daughter of Elizabeth Culbertson Cessna, the daughter of Capt. John Culbertson. John Beck Culbertson was the son of Rebecca Beck and Joseph Culbertson of Ohio Co., Kentucky. Joseph was the eldest son of Capt. John Culbertson and the brother of Elizabeth Culbertson Cessna.)

Marriage 1: Kathryn Amanda Culbertson
Alternate name: Katie
Died: 19 Apr 1879
Father: John Beck Culbertson
Mother: Elizabeth Berryman

Family Group Record of Robert Marion Cessna & Sarah Margaret Samantha Tooley

Children of Robert M. Cessna & Kathryn A. Culbertson:

  1. John Eclas “Eck”, born August 28, 1871; married Mary Elizabeth Calvert December 5, 1893; died November 21, 1956 Island, McLean Co., Kentucky. Mary Elizabeth Calvert was a daughter of William Calvert and Florence Watkins. William Calvert was a son of Reuben Collins Calvert, brother to Mrs. Robert J.C. Cessna, Angeline Calvert Cessna. Reuben Calvert's wife was Mary Elizabeth Long, daughter of Samuel Culbertson Long and his wife Joannah Culbertson, daughter of Capt. John Culbertson and his wife Mary.
  2. Anna Elizabeth Jane “Lizzie”, born March 4, 1873; married Millard J. Eaves August 31, 1932 in South Bend, Indiana; died August 17, 1954, South Bend, Indiana.
  3. Sarah “Sallie”, born unknown; married Jacob C. Bauer, date unnknown; died date unknown but probably in the Russellville, Kentucky area.
  4. Joretta, born unknown; married Frank Murphy, date unknown; died unknown.
  5. Thomas Robert, born December 25, 1878; married Edmonia Murphy about 1902; died May 1, 1946, buried at Cessna Cemetery, Powderly.

See also The Cessna Family in Muhlenberg and McLean Counties
Contributed by Cheryl Cessna

Updated July 23, 2017