Porter County, Indiana, Family Sketches
An American Adventure
Photo of Cyrus Bay
Bay - Cyrus Bay married Lucinda Frame in March 1850 in Berrien County, Michigan. Lucinda came to Porter County from Preble County, Ohio, with her father Newton Frame when she was just a year old. Cyrus and Lucinda raised a family of at least eight children, many of whom remained in the Porter County area. A carpenter by trade, Cyrus served in the Indiana 99th. There are indications that Cyrus was born in Cumberland County in Pennsylvania and perhaps spent some time in Wayne County, Ohio, where a Mary Ann Bay married a Benjamin Crull.

Campbell - Samuel Campbell and wife Elizabeth Frame joined the Frame family on their trek to Porter County in 1834, Samuel holding many county offices prior to his death in 1884.

Photo of Lucinda Frame
Frame - William Frame and sons Newton Frame and William Frame were Porter County pioneers in 1834, establishing their family as one of the earliest in Porter County. Joined in 1849 by another son, John Frame, who settled in Pine Township, these pioneers and their extended families became part of Porter County life for generations to come. Lucinda Frame, daughter of Newton Frame and Elizabeth Peake, married Cyrus Bay in Berrien County, Michigan in March 1850.

McCoy - William McCoy and wife Margaret Frame were Porter County pioneers, arriving with other members of the Frame family in 1834. William apparently died before the 1850 census, leaving Margaret to raise their family of seven sons alone. Son John McCoy and brother Weeden McCoy joined uncle Presley Warnock for the 1853 journey on the Oregon Trail. By 1870 the widow Margaret McCoy Frame joined her sons John McCoy, Weeden McCoy, Francis McCoy, George McCoy, and Oliver McCoy in Colusa County, California. Son William McCoy is the one son who remained in Porter County. The story of Jeremiah McCoy is unknown at this time.

Peake - Francis Peake and wife Lucinda likely came to Porter County with the Frame family. Daughter Elizabeth Peake married Newton Frame in 1829 in Preble County, Ohio; daughter Ufa Peake married John Frame in Preble County in 1827. Francis and Lucinda were living in Portage Township in 1850. Francis was still residing in Portage Township in 1860 at age 80. Francis is believed to have been the youngest son of Kentucky pioneers Thomas Peake and Lettice Moseley.

Photo of Aurie Marie Phillips
Phillips - Edward Dougherty Phillips married Lucy Elizabeth Bay in 1878 in Porter County. Edward's origins are unknown other than that he was born in New Jersey around 1851. Where did he live after that? How long had he been in Porter County before his marriage to Lucy? In the 1880 census in Portage Township, five year old Blanche was enumerated with Edward and Lucy. Was Edward married previously? Of the three known children born to this couple, only their son Otis Edward Phillips, Sr., survived into adulthood. Daughter Aurie Marie Phillips died tragically of typhoid fever as a young woman.

Warnock - Presley Warnock and wife Rachel Frame moved with the Frame family from Preble County, Ohio to Porter County about 1834. Rachel died at a young age, perhaps in childbirth, in 1846. In 1853, Presley and his five children, joined by two McCoy nephews, traversed the Oregon Trail, arriving in Oregon City, Clackamas County, Oregon on 25 September 1853, according to papers filed with a land claim. The Warnock children married other Oregon pioneers and established families throughout the Pacific Northwest.