Tag Archives: Ohio

Charlotte Danison Ramsey: The Two Missing Children (52 Ancestors #38)

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You can learn a lot from two little numbers. In the 1900 and 1910 federal censuses, there were two questions asked of women: Mother of how many children and how many are still alive. For Charlotte Danison Ramsey, those numbers were 8 and 5.

I can identify six of her children:

  • Mary, born 1854
  • James Martin, born 1856
  • John (my great-grandfather), born 1860
  • Harriet, born 1862. She died in 1872 of spinal affliction.
  • Emma, born 1866
  • Louisa, born 1869

Who are Charlotte’s other two children? Charlotte married Samuel Elliot Ramsey in 1851. Did they have a child before Mary in 1854? Was there a child between James and John? Was there a child between Harriet and Emma? Was there a child after Louisa?

Ohio didn’t begin civil registration of births and deaths until 1868. I have looked through the records for Perry County, Ohio, where Charlotte and Samuel lived their entire lives. Unless we find a tombstone or a church record for the other two children, we will likely never know who they were.

Charlotte was born in 1832 and was the daughter of Abisha and Mary (Deffenbaugh) Danison. She married Samuel in 1851. After John’s death in 1906, Charlotte lived with her daughter Emma and her family. She died in 1911 and is buried in Mount Perry Cemetery.

Charlotte Ramsey 1910 census

Charlotte Ramsey, 1910 federal census, Hopewell Twp., Perry Co., Ohio.

Samuel Elliot Ramsey: My Surprising Shepherd (52 Ancestors #37)

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If you’ve been reading No Story Too Small for awhile, you might have picked up on the fact that I love non-population census schedules. While they don’t give specific genealogical details, they can offer us wonderful context about the people we are researching.

Coming from a long, Long, LONG line of farmers, I’m often drawn to the agricultural schedules. Yes, the census lists him as a farmer, but what did he raise? I was surprised at the answer for my great-great-grandfather Samuel Elliot Ramsey.

In 1860, Samuel is listed as having four horses, three “milch cows,” five “other cattle,” ten sheep, and 27 swine. Total value = $371. He also had 20 pounds of wool, but no crops. His father James lived next door. Unlike Samuel, James did have crops, including wheat, Indian corn, oats, potatoes, butter, hay, and molasses. It makes me wonder if they combined their farming operation, with Samuel being in charge of the livestock and James in charge of the crops.

By 1880, Samuel’s farming operation had grown substantially. His farm was worth $3,390, with 91 acres of improved, tilled land, 2 acres of meadows, and 20 acres of woodland. He raised Indian corn, oats, and wheat. and had 30 apple trees. All of these were in amounts a bit below average with his neighbors.

Where Samuel stood out was in the number of sheep that he raised. In June 1880, he had 110 sheep, all of whom were either shorn or were to be shorn. One of his neighbors had 150 sheep, but the others had 58 or fewer.

"Sheep," by Alice Popkorn.  (Used under Creative Commons license CC BY-ND 2.0.)

Sheep,” by Alice Popkorn.
(Used under Creative Commons license CC BY-ND 2.0.)

Samuel Elliot Ramsey was born in Perry County, Ohio in 1827 and was the son of James H. and Catherine Ramsey. He married Charlotte Danison in 1851. He died 2 August 1906 in Perry County and is buried in Mount Perry Cemetery.

William Orr: Proof of Murphy’s Law (52 Ancestors #35)

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I’ve written before about Murphy’s Law in genealogy: your ancestor will die in an area one year before they started keeping death records. If Murphy’s Law had a poster child, it would be my third-great-grandfather William Orr.

Several sources list him as dying in Licking County, Ohio in 1850. I have a letter from a woman I corresponded with in my earliest days of research which claims this date. Several online family trees list 1850, as does his memorial on Find A Grave. The problem is that I’ve yet to find a source for the date.

But wait, if he died in 1850, he should be on the mortality schedule, right?

He appears in the 1850 census in Bowling Green Township with his wife, Martha, and their five children. He was a farmer with $1200 in real property. Being alive in the census kinda prevents you from also being in the same mortality schedule. (I’m sure it’s happened, but not with this guy.)

In 1860, Martha is head of the household in Bowling Green Township, with four of the five children. She is without any real property and only $50 in personal property.

So if William died between 1850 and 1860, just look for probate. Well…. there’s the matter of the 1875 fire at the Licking County courthouse. We’re not talking about some little spark. No, this was a fire that destroyed a lot of the court records. (The Licking County commissioners have put together a list of the court records that survived. It’s a short list for pre-1875 materials.)

But wait, what about that Find a Grave record? Could we just look at his tombstone or request a photo of it? Not so fast. William is supposedly buried in Courson Cemetery. According to Robert Sizelove, who has been working on documenting Licking County cemeteries, Courson Cemetery “was one of the more difficult to locate.” Few stones still exist. Of course, William’s is not among them.

So, let’s recap:

  • William supposedly died in 1850, but lived too long to be listed in the mortality schedule.
  • A major fire took out probate records for the time we think he died.
  • The cemetery where he is reportedly buried has only a few remaining tombstones and his isn’t there.

But there are still some possibilities for getting a better idea of when William died:

  • Land and tax records. Most of those survived the 1875 fire. Tax records could be especially useful, as we might be able to find when the land goes from being taxed on William to being taxed on his heirs.
  • Voter lists. When does William stop voting?

William Orr. Considering the timing with how he fits in with the existing records, I’m surprised his last name isn’t Murphy.

facepalm

This is pretty much how I feel when researching William Orr.
Photo by Alex Proimos. Used under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC 2.0. No changes were made to this file.

Peter Starkey: Living Just Below the Radar (52 Ancestors #34)

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Have you ever researched an ancestor and had the feeling that he wanted to stay anonymous? Not to say that he didn’t want to be found, just that he didn’t want you to find out too much about him. That’s the feeling I get with my great-great-grandfather Peter Starkey.

Peter was born in Ohio (probably in Perry County) 3 November 1830, the second son of John and Mary (Monroe) Starkey. He married Elizabeth Denune 21 June 1854. Throughout his entries in the census, he is listed as a farmer. Yet, like John Kelley, his 1860 agricultural census entry didn’t tell a whole lot. He had $50 worth of farm equipment, 2 horses, and 1 cow.

He registered for the draft in 1863, but as far as I’ve been able to determine, he never served.

Ohio started keeping death records in 1868. The earliest records were kept in the county Probate Court in ledgers. While I’m thankful they started keeping them, these earliest records typically do not name the parents unless it was an infant who died. (It wasn’t until December 1908 when Ohio started with more “modern” death certificates that we start to see parents listed as a matter of course.)

So when did Peter die? December 11, 1907.

(Yes, I know that I’ve identified his parents and that I really don’t need a modern death certificate for him. I think that dying in December 1907 was his final way of “Ha! You’re not going to find out much about me!”)

Peter is buried in Olivet Cemetery in Perry County, not far from his son Edward.

Peter and Elizabeth Starkey tombstone, Olivet Cemetery, Perry County, Ohio. Photo by Amy Crow, 30 May 2004.

Peter and Elizabeth Starkey tombstone, Olivet Cemetery, Perry County, Ohio. Photo by Amy Crow, 30 May 2004.

Philip Mason: Civil War Vet… and Ladies Man? (52 Ancestors #32)

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For Veterans Day, I thought it would be appropriate to highlight Philip Mason, my third-great-grandfather and veteran of the 14th West Virginia Infantry. Philip was born 20 November 1834 in Monongalia County, (West) Virginia, the son of John and Elizabeth (Everts) Mason.

Philip married Martha Hibbs in 1858 in Marion County, (West) Virginia. (Of course, theirs would be among the three marriage records on the page that don’t have the exact date filled in. Thanks, Marion County clerk.) Martha died in 1893.

Not too surprisingly, Philip remarried after Martha’s death. On 3 July 1894, he married Amanda D. Lowers in Ritchie County, West Virginia.

Philip Mason and Amanda Lowers

Philip Mason and Amanda Lowers

As was typical for widows of Civil War veterans, Amanda applied for a widow’s pension after Philip died in 1909. It was in her declaration for a widow’s pension that I got a bit of a surprise:

philip-mason-pensionPhilip and Amanda were married on 3 July 1894. (Yes, I knew that.) Amanda D. Mason was divorced from Weeden N. Lowers on 21 June 1894.

What? Not only was Amanda married before, but she divorced her husband a mere 12 days before marrying Philip.

I haven’t tracked down the divorce file for Amanda and Weeden, but the dates makes me wonder how it played out that Philip married Amanda just 12 days after the divorce was finalized. Was Philip a bit of a ladies man?

Philip died 10 January 1909 in Washington County, Ohio and is buried in the veterans section of Oak Grove Cemetery in Marietta.

Read the Instructions… If You Can

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Yesterday, I mused about my great-great-grandfather John Kelley and why he’s listed on the 1860 agricultural schedule with no livestock and no crops. I gave three theories why this might be:

  • He raised something completely different, something that isn’t listed on the schedule.
  • He didn’t tell the enumerator what he raised.
  • The enumerator didn’t write it down or didn’t copy it over from his notes to this final copy.

No Story Too Small readers are awesome! Some came up with additional theories. Jade pointed out that the schedule was supposed to report the activity of the year prior to the official census date of June 2; perhaps John had recently acquired the land and hadn’t yet harvested anything. Great suggestion! In this case, however, John had acquired the land after his mother died in 1852.

Jade also wondered if there was a crop failure. We can’t discount that. (I’ve often said that if you want to gamble, don’t go to Vegas; just own a farm.)

Purslaneforever wondered if perhaps John leased the farm to someone else and that’s why the crops don’t show up. That got me wondering — how would a leased farm show up in the 1860 agricultural schedule? Would it be under the land owner or the person leasing it?

I couldn’t find the enumerator instructions for the 1860 agricultural schedule. There’s good reason for that. According to the Census Bureau, “No printed instructions were issued with reference to the schedules of 1860.” (Instructions for 1850 – 1900 are available as a PDF from the Census Bureau).

1860-instructions

Really? They give the enumerators a form with 48 columns without any instructions?!

There were instructions for the 1850 schedule:

“1. Under heading 1, entitled ‘Name of individual managing his farm or plantation,’ insert the name of the person residing upon or having charge of the farm, whether as owner, agent, or tenant.”

The enumerator in 1860 (Dawson (?) Teal) was not the same enumerator as 1850 (J. Shelley). Would he have followed the 1850 instructions and listed farms under the name of the person having charge of the farm (in other words, the lessee/tenant)? Or would he have listed everything under the owner, regardless of who had charge? Or would he have split the two: listing the land under the owner and the crops and livestock under the lessee/tenant?

Unfortunately, we may never know. My experience with Perry County land records is that leases were not commonly recorded in this time period. Also, there would be informal arrangements that wouldn’t even have been written down, let alone recorded at the courthouse.

So, we should add a fourth possibility to why John Kelley didn’t have any livestock or crops listed:

  • He leased the land to someone else and the enumerator opted to list the crops and livestock with the lessee.

I’m a big proponent of going through the enumerator’s instructions to see how they were supposed to record things. It would have helped had the 1860 agricultural schedule had some instructions!

Not John Kelley's farm, but for some reason, this is how I picture it. Maybe I'm just bitter that I don't know what he raised in 1860.

Not John Kelley’s farm, but for some reason, this is how I picture it. Maybe I’m just bitter that I don’t know what he raised in 1860.

Was John Kelley Really a Dirt Farmer? (52 Ancestors #31)

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I’m going to admit something right off the bat. I’m a non-population census geek. (I hope you were sitting down for that one.) As genealogists, we use the census to build the foundation of our research (at least in the U.S. for the period 1790-1940). But the part that we most often use — the pages that list the people who were living in the household — is just one part of many censuses. It’s called the “population schedule.”

Some census years had other schedules. Some of them focused on agriculture, while others focused on industry. In 1880, there was even a schedule for the “Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent” classes. (Give me some time with the DDD schedule and I’m a happy, happy girl.) These “other” census schedules can give us more context around our ancestors. Or, in the case of John Kelley, not so much…

John Kelley, my great-great-grandfather, was born in Ohio (probably Perry County) in 1820. In 1860, he was living alone in Hopewell Township. (He wouldn’t marry Susan Tucker, my great-great-grandmother, until 1863.) The 1860 census lists his occupation like it lists most of my ancestors: “farmer.”

John Kelley, 1860 U.S. census, population schedule, Hopewell Township, Perry County, Ohio, p. 404, household 1090, family 1056.

John Kelley, 1860 U.S. census, population schedule, Hopewell Township, Perry County, Ohio, p. 404, household 1090, family 1056.

$3000 worth of real estate and $150 worth of personal property. Not bad. But what did John grow on that farm? I turned to the 1860 agricultural schedule to find out.

1860 agriculture schedule, Hopewell Township, Perry County, Ohio.

1860 agriculture schedule, Hopewell Township, Perry County, Ohio.

So he had 55 acres of improved land, 23 acres of unimproved land, and a horse. No livestock — not even a cow. Hmmm…  He must have raised some crops…

john-kelley-1860-ag4aNo wheat, rye, corn, oats, rice, tobacco, ginned cotton, or wool. Let’s scroll to the next page where more crops are listed…

john-kelley-1860-ag2aNo peas, potatoes, barley, or buckwheat. No butter, cheese, hay, or clover.

john-kelley-1860-ag3aNo hemp (yes, it was a real crop), flax or flax seed. No silk cocoons (I keep hoping to find an ancestor who had some), maple sugar, cane sugar, or molasses. No honey and no beeswax.

What did John raise on that farm?! For 1860, I still don’t know. The possibilities are:

  • He raised something completely different, something that isn’t listed on the schedule.
  • He didn’t tell the enumerator what he raised.
  • The enumerator didn’t write it down or didn’t copy it over from his notes to this final copy.

There is a fourth possibility. I’ve joked for years that I come from a long line of dirt farmers. Maybe John Kelley really was one.

John Kelley died 7 July 1891 and is buried in Hopewell Methodist Church Cemetery in Perry County, Ohio.

EDIT: I’ve formed another possibility about John’s listing in the 1860 agricultural schedule.

Edward Winfield Starkey: What a Name (52 Ancestors #30)

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I’ve reflected before about how some of the names of my ancestors fascinate me. Perhaps my children should be thankful that I hadn’t discovered Abisha Danison or Melzena (Kelly) Ramsey before they were born 😉

Another such ancestor is my great-grandfather Edward Winfield Starkey. Where in the world did “Winfield” come from? There aren’t any others in the family (at least, not that I’ve found so far). Edward was born in 1881. Could the middle name have come from Winfield Scott Hancock, who was the Democratic presidential nominee in 1880? If so, that would shed some light on the politics of his parents, Peter and Elizabeth Starkey. At this point, it is just conjecture.

Edward Winfield Starkey registration card, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942, Ancestry.

Edward Winfield Starkey registration card, World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942, Ancestry.

Edward was born 7 March 1881 in Perry County, Ohio, the youngest child of Peter and Elizabeth. Edward married Clara Skinner on 10 October 1901. He worked various jobs, including as a laborer for Central Silica (a quarry company). Edward died 13 September 1960 and is buried in Olivet Cemetery in Perry County.

Edward and Clara Starkey tombstone, Olivet Cemetery, Perry County, Ohio. Photo by Amy Crow, 2004.

Edward and Clara Starkey tombstone, Olivet Cemetery, Perry County, Ohio. Photo by Amy Crow, 2004.

That Little Troublemaker: Ann Stephens Johnson (52 Ancestors #28)

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I wrote recently about the wedding of my 3rd-great-grandparents David Stephens (Stevens) and Rebecca Dickinson in Robeson Monthly Meeting. They were married 22 May 1829. Just a few weeks later on 10 July, David and Rebecca requested a certificate of removal to Short Creek Monthly Meeting in Ohio. They eventually ended up in Deerfield Monthly Meeting in Morgan County, Ohio.

Here is where some of my notions that I formed as a young genealogist (way back in the day) had to be challenged. For some reason, I never considered David and Rebecca following their Quaker faith in Ohio. Perhaps it was because at least one of their children (my great-great-grandmother Ann) had married a non-Quaker. I just never followed up on it. (Remember, I was a young genealogist when I originally discovered they were even Quakers.)

So off I went to one of the mainstays of Quaker research, William Wade Hinshaw’s Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy. As I (now) expected, I found David and Rebecca’s admittance to the Deerfield Monthly Meeting on 13 January 1831. It also lists the family register in Deerfield MM for David, Rebecca, and their six children.

Hinshaw’s Encyclopedia is great in that it covers not only the vital records, but also indexes the monthly meeting minutes, which is where you find the requests for certificates of removal and various disciplinary actions. That’s when I noticed it…

Ancestry.com. U.S., Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, Vol I–VI, 1607–1943 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Hinshaw, William Wade, et al., compilers. Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy. 6 vols. 1936–1950. Reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1991–1994.

Ancestry.com. U.S., Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, Vol I–VI, 1607–1943 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Hinshaw, William Wade, et al., compilers. Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy. 6 vols. 1936–1950. Reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1991–1994. Citing vol. IV, p. 1078.

 1850, 3, 14. [14 March 1850] Ann dis disunity

My great-great-grandmother had been kicked out of the Quakers.

“Dis disunity” is Hinshaw’s way of saying that she was disowned (kicked out) for disunity. Unfortunately, Hinshaw didn’t bother to say what the disunity was. Was 17-year-old Ann speaking out of turn after the meeting had reached a consensus? Had she run afoul of some of the mores of the group and refused to acknowledge her wrongdoing?

In fairness, her brother Elwood and sister Elizabeth were also kicked out of the Quakers, though both of them were for “marrying contrary to discipline.” (In other words, they married non-Quakers.) This wasn’t Ann’s offense. Hers was “disunity,” plus this was a full three years before she married Eber Johnson.

I won’t know what Ann’s offense was until I can track down the Deercreek Monthly Meeting minutes. All I know right now is that whatever it was, it was enough to get Ann kicked out of the Quakers. That little troublemaker…

Ann Stephens/Stevens Johnson was born in Morgan County, Ohio 15 March 1833 and died in Lawrence County, Ohio 9 June 1923.

How I Attended My 3rd-Great-Grandparents’ Wedding: (Stevens/Dickinson 52 Ancestors #25-26)

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They say that genealogy connects us with the past, and I firmly believe that to be true. There are ancestors to whom I feel especially connected. But when I found the marriage record of my third-great-grandparents David Steven(s) and Rebecca S. Dickinson, I felt like I had stepped into a time machine and was at their wedding.

David and Rebecca were both Quakers. I had seen references to their marriage in the Robeson Monthly Meeting in Berks County, Pennsylvania before, but had never seen the record until recently. Many of my other ancestors’ Quaker marriages have been documented in in the certificates of removal, such as when Rebecca’s father, Nathaniel Dickinson, left the Exeter Monthly Meeting to marry Rachel Moore of the Sadsbury Monthly Meeting. But the marriage record itself is truly incredible. I’ll let David and Rebecca’s marriage record speak for itself:

Whereas David Stephen of Robeson Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, son of Samuel Stephen, late of the same place, deceased, and Elizabeth his wife, and Rebecca S. Dickinson daughter of Nathaniel Dickinson of the aforesaid place, and Rachel his wife, deceased, having declared their intentions of marriage with each other, before a Monthly Meeting of the religious society of Friends, held at Robeson aforesaid, and having consent of surviving parents their said proposal of marriage was allowed of by the said meeting.

Now these are to certify, that for the full accomplishment of their said intentions, this twenty-second day of the fifth month in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty nine, they, the said David Stephen and Rebecca S. Dickinson appeared in a public meeting of the said people held at Robeson aforesaid; and they the said David Stephen taking the said Rebecca S. Dickinson by the hand, did, on this solemn occasion openly declare, that he took her the said Rebecca S. Dickinson to be his wife, promising with divine asistance [sic] to be unto her a loving and faithful Husband until death should seperate [sic] them; and then, in the same assembly, the said Rebecca S. Dickinson, did in the like manner declare, that she took him the said David Stephen to be her husband, promising with divine assistance to be unto him a loving and faithful Wife until death should separate them.

And Moreover, they, the said David Stephen and Rebecca S. Dickinson (she according to the custom of marriage assuming the name of her husband) did as a further confirmation thereof, then and there to these presents set their hands.

/ss David Stephen
Rebecca S. Stephen

David Steven and Rebecca S. Dickinson marriage record (page 1). From Marriages, 1791-1864, Robeson Monthly Meeting, Berks County, Pennsylvania. U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1944, Ancestry.com.

David Steven and Rebecca S. Dickinson marriage record (page 1). From Marriages, 1791-1864, Robeson Monthly Meeting, Berks County, Pennsylvania. U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1944, Ancestry.com.

Following that are the names of the 61 people who were in attendance at David and Rebecca’s wedding.

David Steven and Rebecca S. Dickinson marriage record (page 2). From Marriages, 1791-1864, Robeson Monthly Meeting, Berks County, Pennsylvania. U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1944, Ancestry.com.

David Steven and Rebecca S. Dickinson marriage record (page 2). From Marriages, 1791-1864, Robeson Monthly Meeting, Berks County, Pennsylvania. U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1944, Ancestry.com.

I’m happy whenever I can find the marriage record of any of my ancestors. But this particular marriage record makes me feel like I was actually at the wedding.

David and Rebecca eventually moved from Berks County, Pennsylvania to Morgan County, Ohio. Their children include: William, my great-great grandmother Ann (wife of Eber Johnson), Elizabeth, Elwood, Lydia, Rachel, and Deborah. David Stephen(s) died 15 March 1865; Rebecca died 27 June 1874.