Abel Armitage - Alive Another Year

The last knowledge I had of Abel Armitage was the 1880 U. S. census in which he was 61 years old and disabled.  He was living in Steubenville, Ohio, with his 49-year-old wife, Ann; 3 sons; 1 daughter; two grandsons; one granddaughter; and 2 boarders.  I have been unable to find any record of his or his wife's death.

I am a great-great-grandaughter of Abel through his daughter, Elizabeth Armitage Meinzen; through her son William Carl Robert Meinzen; through his daughter, Audrey Meinzen Doyle.

Another Armitage researcher contacted me last week and sent word of a news article in a Cincinnati newspaper about Abel's wife Ann suing the city of Steubenville in January, 1881.   I made a quick trip to the Ohio Historical Society Archives Library this Saturday with the hope that one of the Steubenville newspapers offered more information than the one in Cincinnati.

Yes!   There were two articles in two different papers.  The suit was filed by both Abel and Ann Armitage, which adds another half year to Abel's life.   The newspapers published the court case as a newsy item, not as a court item, but I noticed that several of the newspapers announced the outcome of another case or two.  I hoped that I would find more about Abel and Ann's case but after searching several subsequent weeks, I found nothing.

My next step for more information?   Court of Common Pleas of Jefferson County, Steubenville, Ohio?

Transcriptions are below:

The Ohio Press (Steubenville), Friday, January 21, 1881, Vol II No. 23, p. 4, col. 2, OHS Microfilm Roll #3026203

"-----Suit entered against city by Abel and Ann Armitage to recover $5,100 damages by reason of injuries sustained by the latter in November last, by falling over a stake set in the gutter on Fifth street-----"

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The Steubenville Daily Gazette, Saturday, January 15, 1881, p. 4, col. 2, OHS Microfilm Roll #22103

---W. A. Owesney, Esq., this morning commenced a suit in the Court of Common Pleas for Abel Armitage and Ann, his wife, against the City of Steubenville, to recover damages in the sum of $5,100 which they claim to have sustained by reason of Mrs. Armitage falling on the street and fracturing her left leg above the knee.  They aver that the city negligently permitted a post about ten inches high to stand in the gutter on the West side of Fifth street, and that on the 25th of November last she was passing along the street, slipped on an uneven place and fell on this post resulting in the injury complained of.

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--Nancy.
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