Gloria (Magers) Bandle's Page

Hi Gloria, I don't know if I can help you with Magers from Missouri. I know very little about the Magers, actually, but would like to know more. My great-great grandmother was Henrietta Magers who lived in Knox County, Ohio. She married Thomas Spry (who was much older than she) and they had 2 sons, second of whom was Elias Daniel Spry, my great-grandfather. Most of the Sprys think her name was Henrietta Myers because it looks like that on the marriage records, but when I was in Mount Vernon, Ohio, doing some research I came across some original court records showing that Thomas Spry was being sued by his brother, William Spry! Well, it turns out William and a Lawrence Magers owned some land together when Lawrence died without a will. So his property went to all his siblings, one of whom was Thomas Spry's wife Henrietta. There was no doubt her last name was Magers! (Incidentally, the problem was that the Magers siblings did not want to pay taxes on the land and William didn't want to lose his investment....so the land was awarded to William.)
Elias married Emily Lambert in Knox County, Ohio, and they moved on to Illinois--Fulton County---where he enlisted in the Civil War. They had four children by that time. After the war, Elias and Emily moved to Cass County, Iowa, and eventually had a total of 10 children. The youngest was my grandfather.
Henrietta Magers Spry is buried in a small country cemetery five miles north of Wiota, Iowa (Bourne Cemetery). Her tombstone reads "wife of T. Spry, mother of E. Spry." I think she married a Samuel Spry after Thomas died when their sons were very small. However, I have never found that marriage record nor what happened to the first son, Thomas Spry jr. But she evidently moved from Illinois to Iowa with her son Elias. And Elias and Emily Spry were well-respected members of the Wiota/Anita, Iowa, community.
Now....did your Magers relatives come from Ohio? Would Elias Magers have been one of your ancestors? Or is there some other connection?
Thank you so much for writing. Am looking forward to hearing from you and wish you luck in your quest for Missouri relatives.
---Maxine Spry Jinkerson