8 Nov 1825 – 1 Jan 1904
Amy was one of 12 children born to Silas and Rebecca (Caughey) Fleming. Some family lore or his own tall-tales led to the local paper reporting that her father had immigrated from Ireland as a young man and fought in the War of 1812 (for the US) but other public records support his having been born in North Carolina (the War of 1812 stories were true). Amy’s mother appears to have died after the 1840 census but before 1843 when Silas remarried. Rebecca’s burial details are unknown but Silas is buried beside Amy.
Amy married Joseph Sampson Ireland in 1851, and together they had one child, daughter Clara. They lived in Bloomington, Illinois, where Joseph died just 7 years later. It seems likely she moved to Muncie to be close to family (two of her unmarried sisters are listed living with her on the 1860 census), and there she established a millinery business that she ran for many years. Though not mentioned in the lengthy and admiring write-up ran in the Muncie Evening Press the day she died, it appears she either employed those unmarried sisters (Cynthia and Lucinda) in the business or was partners with them. Both predeceased her by many years and are also buried in this cemetery, though it’s unclear from the posted pictures on @findagrave or the ones I took if they are on the same lot.
Clara married in 1878, but she and her husband, a successful attorney, had no surviving children. Both are buried on the lot opposite Amy and her father.
I like that the name on the family marker is not Fleming or her daughter’s married name, Templer – it’s Ireland in honor not of poor Joe who died too soon but in honor of Amy who raised her daughter, ran her business, and cared for her family.
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