Henthorne Family - 1st Installment (1 of 4)

Family Research in Monroe County ...
by
Catherine Foreaker Fedorchak
7590 West 85th Avenue
Crown Point, Indiana 46307

Newspaper Column Appearing
in
"The Spirit of Democracy"
Woodsfield, Ohio
19 Nov 1970

(This series about the HENTHORN surname began Thursday, 19 Nov 1970)

Note: Some surname capitalization added by REH.

HENTHORNE FAMILY - 1st Installment

Is your surname HENTHORNE? If so, perhaps you have some scattered bits and pieces to add to this family tree, as again we have a tangled web to unweave. In addition to Mrs. Grace SCHAFER of Hannibal, who is a descendant, I have heard from Mrs. Roy L. HENTHORN of 6905 N.W. 32nd, Bethany, Okla. 73008; Mrs. A.R. BOLERJACK of 4870 Tony, San Jose, Calif. 95124; and a Mrs. COPUS of Wisconsin who even called me long distance one day just to see if I could add any information to what she already had. Her address is 913 W. Fulton St., Edgerton, Wisc. 53534.

According to Hardesty's History, JAMES HENTHORNE, the Original Clarington Settler (hereinafter referred to as James-OCS, to minimize the confusion) came to Monroe Co. about 1798-9 and was a Revolutionary Soldier. At this time I can not prove either one of the statements. He did not make application for a pension, but the first general law regarding pensions was passed in 1818, and he was probably deceased by then. I have never found an application made by his widow either. That source also states that he came from the Fort on Wheeling Creek and that he had been at the Fort when Boggs was killed on Boggs Island by the Indians. In order to pinpoint dates, it would be necessary to sidetrack to history in order to back track on this genealogy, but that is another story, and will be the subject of other columns. Suffice to say that since this is not my family, and I do not have any history books dealing specifically with the Indian Wars around Wheeling, I leave that for you, if this is your family.

Hardesty's History also states that James HENTHORNE, the O.C.S. had the following children: James Jr., Henry, William, Adam, Ann, and Mary. Marriage records for Ann and Mary can be found in Monongalia Co. W. Va. -- Ann married Daniel KIGER, Feb. 9, 1796 and Mary HENTHORNE married Thomas KIRKPATRICK, Feb. 11, 1800. Hardesty also states that James Jr. married Nancy BOWEN in Salem Township in 1800 and William married Susan PARROTT in Monroe Co., in 1807. If you add those pieces of information together, it appears that James HENTHORNE, the O.C.S. lived in Monongalia Co., Virginia until the first part of 1800, and then came to Monroe Co.

The next step is to try to find some dates for this James, the O.C.S., and we now surmise that he was in Monroe Co. by 1800. The earliest extant census for the State of Ohio is 1820, but there still is one for Newport Township in Washington Co. Ohio for 1800. That township later went to form Monroe Co. in 1820. That 1800 census shows James HINTHORN, James HINTHORN, Jr. and John HINTHORN.

The next information I have is the 1818 tax list for Monroe Co. and there I found listings for James HENTHORN, Sr.; James HENTHORN Jr.; and two women, Margaret HENTHORN & Elizabeth HENTHORN. This still doesn't add up to much, so we go to the 1820 census, and there we find families headed by Adam HENTHORNE, over 45 years of age; John HENTHORNE over 45; James HENTHORNE over 45 - but he also had four children under 10; Margaret HENTHORNE over 45. She had children in her family who were born between 1804-1810, so I think we can discount her as being the widow of James the O.C.S. It also seems that we can discount the 1820 listed James as being the O.C.S. so we back track to the 1818 tax list, and there we had a James Sr. and ames Jr. but it is my contention that the Sr. in that year was really James, the son of the original James, and the Jr. was a third generation HENTHORNE. It begins to look as if James, the O.C.S. was alive in 1800 and listed in Newport Township as James HINTHORN, but deceased by 1818, with Elizabeth being his widow, but that she too was deceased by 1820. However, proving this is likely to be difficult, in view of the scarcity of early Monroe Co. records.

Hardesty's History also has another bit of information which shows that James, the O.C.S. was deceased by 1822. That source states that the site of Clarington was willed by James HENTHORNE to his son William, who in turn sold it to David PIERSON, who laid out the town of Clarington in 1822.

Now we can try to find out when James, the O.C.S. was born. A general rule of thumb allows 30 years for a generation, but of course families in those days always had several children, so a parent could generally be around 20 years older than this oldest child, and 40 years older than his youngest child, but don't count on it. Hardesty's History also mentions a man who was 92 years older than his youngest child.

But, if this is the only thing to go on, you have to at least give it a try. The 1820 census shows James HENTHORNE over 45, so he had to be born at least by 1775. We fare better with John, as we have specific dates for him. He is buried in the HARTER Cemetery in Hannibal and was born Nov. 7, 1772 and died in July of 1846. The son, Adam, is also buried in the HARTER Cemetery, and his tombstone shows that he was born in 1780. The birthdate for Henry is placed circa 1775-80, and since Ann and Mary were married in 1796 and 1800 respectively, I suppose they were a few years younger than Henry. I have no date yet for William.

I would think that James, Jr. was the eldest son - Juniors generally are - so we can move his birth back a few years and still be within a safe range. Now we can surmise that James (the OCS) and his wife were probably married circa 1770, and if you again surmise that they were normal human beings, with normal instincts and were married when they were around 20 years of age, if we add another 17-20 years, we come up with a possible birthdate for them of around 1750, give or take a few years either way. Now we have a possible span of years in which they lived out their lives - 1750-1820, the proverbial three score years and ten.

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Powell, Abner

Abner Powell Family of Monroe Co., Ohio

Mr. Moore, editor of this paper [The Spirit of Democracy] turned over to me several letters for genealogical information which this paper had received and among that material was an account of the Powell family, not dated, signed, or documented, however interesting. I have run across the name of Abner Powell before, especially in Hardesty's History, but this material carried a few more pieces of information. However, the reader is cautioned that this account is not documented, and should be used as a frame work for further research and proof!

[Mrs. Fedorchak doesn't cite page numbers to the Hardesty reference. REH]

Mr. ABNER POWELL was one of the first settlers in what is now Washington Township, [Monroe Co., OH] having settled there about 1816. (The first place to look then is the 1820 census to see if that statement appears to be true.) He was born in Va. in 1760 (census schedules would also verify that) and he was married twice. His first wife Sara Hall. (I have written of a Rev. soldier Wm. Hall in this columns [sic] and I believe he was her father, but more work needs to be done there.) There were several children born to this union among them Hiram Powell who was born in 1808.

[Abner Powell was living in Centre Township at the time of the 1820 census, page 123. The census records of 1850 and 1860 do not verify the year of birth as, 1760. In the 1850 census he is listed as age, 80, and in the 1860 census he is listed as, age, 90, both of which give a calculated birth date of, Abt. 1770. A birthdate for Hiram H. Powell of Abt. 27 Feb 1808 in Ohio has been listed, with on source citation. The children of this marriage were: Hiram H. ; Alfred; John; and Isaac. Alfred married a woman named, Elizabeth, and had at least 9 children. REH]

Abner's second marriage occurred when he was an old man, and his second wife was much younger, Catherine Eaky. Four sons were born to this union, one son, Anthony was born when Mr. Powell was 93 years old. (Hardesty's History also carries this statement.)

[Again, no page citation for the Hardesty reference. Catherine (Eaky) Powell was age, 70, at the time of the 1870 census, thus her birth year can be calculate to Abt. 1820. Children of this union were: Joseph, b. Abt. 1845; George W., b. Abt. 1848; William, b. Abt. 1849; John D., b. Abt. 1850; Josiah C., b. Abt. 1856 and Anthony Barnbas, b. Abt. Nov 1856. If her first son, with Abner Powell, Joseph, was in fact born, Abt. 1845 in OH, she probably married to Abner Powell, Abt. 1844/1845 when she was Abt. 24/25 years old and Abner was Abt. 74/75 years old, a very unusual marriage. Her son, Anthony Barnbas Powell, has been listed as born in, Nov 1856 with no source citation. In the 1860 census he is listed as age, 3, born in Ohio which calculates to born, Abt. 1857. His father was listed as, 90 years old in that census, thus making him, Abt. 87 years old at the time of Anthony's birth. REH]

Agner [sic, Abner] Powell owned and cleared the land where Graysville, [OH] is situated, helped build the first school house in that community, and was the first justice of [the] peace in Washington Twp.

One night, when he was about 65 years of age, returning home from a visit, he was waylaid and shot, the bullet going entirely through his body, but hitting no vital organ. In order to clean the blood from the wound, a silk cloth was drawn through the hole left by the bullet. A brother-in-law was arrested for the crime, but was never proven guilty because of insufficient evidence. It was supposed that the brother-in-law was angry because of a decision which Mr. Powell had rendered against him in his court.

Abner Powell served in the War of 1812, and died in 1856, as the age of 96. He and the first Mrs. Powell are buried in the old cemetery at Graysville.

[Abner Powell didn't die in 1856. There are census records for him in 1850 and in 1860. He was listed as age, 70, in the 1850 census and age, 80, in the 1860 census, which both calculate to a birth date of, Abt. 1770. Assuming that the age at death was, in fact, 96 years old we arrive at a calculated death date of, Abt. 1866. We know he was alive in 1860 and dead before 1870 because Catherine Powell was head of household at the time of that census. REH]

Hiram Powell, son of Abner and Sarah, was born in 1808. In 1833, he married Miss Mary Sill, who was born in 1811 in Westmoreland Co., Md. She came to Ohio with her parents in 1822 (An early settler here was Oswald Sill, possibly her father - my note.) Hiram and Mary settled on the Little Muskingum River about 1 mile north of Rinards Mill. Their children were: Abner, Christopher E., Otty (probably for her father Oswald Sill), Thomas H., Wm. R., Sarah A., Abigail, Dorothy and Mary I. One child died in infancy. Hiram Powell died in 1857, and his wife, Mary, died in 1886. There are both buried in Lowgap Cemetery, 5 miles south of Graysville, Ohio on Rt. 26.

Thomas H. Powell, son of Hiram and Mary, was born in Monroe Co., Sept. 30, 1844. His first wife was Miss Liza Crow who died at the birth of her first child. Both mother and child were buried together. On Feb. 18, 1869 Thomas was married again to Sarah Isabell McVey, b. Jan. 25, 1852. She was the dau.[ghter] of John and Louise (Hupp) McVey. Mrs. Powell's mother, Mrs. Louise McVey died in 1866.

Thomas Powell had two brothers, Christopher E. and Otty, who served in the 77th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, both were fatally wounded at the battle of Shiloh. They were taken to a hospital at Louisville, Ky. and both died. Christopher is buried at Louisville, Ky. and Otty is buried at Lowgap Cemetery. Mrs. Thomas H. Powell had three uncles in the Civil War, and Thomas Powell also saw service when he was called up to stop the advance of Col. John Morgan, Confederate general, when he was making his raid through Ohio.

(Source: Extracted from the column, "Family Research in Monroe Co.," by Catharine Foreaker Fedorchak, "The Spirit of Democracy," Woodsfield, Ohio, 6 Jan 1981, republished in "Family Research in Monroe County, Ohio," Volume V, pages 41-42. Comments in square brackets [ ] by Richard E. Henthorn, 10 May 2004)