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James H. Bendure was born May 6, 1840, in Moorehead Co. Ohio. He was, based on current research, the oldest of the 7 children born to John M. Bendure and Nancy Ann Hibbs. In a census record, it showed that he worked as a carpenter and another showed him as working in a mercantile.
James H., his father and brother William were one of the first to join the Ohio militia. James H. has a service record that shows him enlisting Sept. 21, 1861, in Flushing, Ohio in Company K of the Ohio Militia. He and his father were at the Battle of Shiloh where James H. was wounded, losing his index finger of his left hand making him unable to shoot a gun. He was disability discharged on June 30, 1862. However, this did not discourage him. He signed up for 2 more tours before being finally discharged Sept 25, 1865, as a private. More detailed research needs to be done to see if, as some records seem to indicate, he was a teamster who worked along the rail lines in the Washington, DC area during the last days of the Civil War.
Family stories were that, upon being discharged from the Army at the end of he war, James H. was coming home to Ohio when he came across the Indian Removal of the Cherokees during the Trail of Tears. It, according to family legend, is where he met and fell in love with an Indian maiden named Sarah "Sallie" (Little Granny) Ward. Per the legend, they were married and he joined them on their travel to Indian Territory, where he and his bride settled around the area now known as Grove, Oklahoma before eventually winding up with land given to the Cherokees in the Chouteau, Oklahoma area. However, the dates of the Trail of Tears do not seem to match well with this legend, and paperwork at the National Archives in Washington, DC, shows that James H and Sarah Ward were married July 21, 1869 in Honey Creek, Indian Territory.
Information on Sarah "Sallie" Ann Ward is somewhat sketchy. Ward is a popular name in Cherokee history and there are a great many lines to try to follow. (James Westfall was in possession of a book of Ward History but since his death I have been unable to trace it.) Using some documentation from the National Archives, it appears that Sarah is the daughter of George Hilmon Ward and Margaret "Peggy" McIntosh. Records indicate that she was born Jan 11, 1851, in Indian Territory, although this needs to be researched in greater detail. As I said, there are alot of Wards! George Hilmon Ward was born May 7, 1827, in Cherokee Territory of Georgia. Sarah "Sallie" Ann did probably walk the Trail of Tears as this began in the 1830's but no proof has ever been established that she and James H. met along that way.
If this did happen to be true, why would James H. go to an uncharted land? Was it because, if they were married or to marry, that he knew his Indian wife would never be accepted in Ohio or by his Ohio family? At the time of the first Indian Removal, no land was being given (that came later) so other than being together there was really no way to guarantee a life in Indian Territory. It is interesting that when you research the Bendure family in Ohio, you hear of one branch that no one wants to talk about (that being James H.'s branch)...is this because he married an Indian and "disgraced" the Bendure family name?
For whatever reason, James H. and Sarah "Sallie" Ann were married, were in Indian Territory and had 5 children: John Bryant, George Edward, Nancy (died young), Charles Hubbard, and Frank (died young). It is interesting that the name Bryant and Nancy come up with Sarah "Sallie" children as there is a famous Cherokee Maiden who was involved with a Bryant Ward. Still working on this connection.
James H. died in September of 1883 per a handwritten note by a Dr. Bliss found at the National Archives in Washington, DC. It indicated he died of Typhoid fever and an inflammed knee as a result of Civil War service. The handwritten note did not tell where he was buried at, and to date, we cannot find any indication that this is in the Chouteau, Oklahoma area. (I would really like to find his burial place as he is entitled to a military headstone for his service during the Civil War.) Sarah "Sallie" Ann went on to marry Ed Livingston (in 1866) and had 2 boys by him: Alfred and Lonnie. When Ed Livingston died in 1895, Sarah "Sallie" Ann went to Anderson, Kansas where these two sons lived. Upon her death in March of 1934, her son Ray Bendure took a wagon to get her body to bring it back to bury at the Chouteau Cemetery (per info provided by James E. Bendure). There are documents in the National Archives that describe her as a very pleasant woman, small in stature, and that her debts were paid at her death. She is buried in Chouteau and a marker is there for her and Ed Livingston.
There are lots of questions that could still be researched on these two. If someone would like to take this task on, some of the main questions would be to verify Sarah "Sallie" Ann Ward's line, where James H. Bendure was buried, and answer the Trail of Tears questions.
