Joseph Haven Sanborn, Loudonville, Ohio

Loudonville Cemetery is the final resting place of many members of the Sanborn family, who migrated to Loudonville, Ohio from New Hampshire before 1840. This stately gravestone marks the burial place of Joseph Haven Sanborn, born 13 January 1831 in Plymouth, New Hampshire, to parents Jeremiah B. Sanborn and Clarissa (Smith) Sanborn. Joseph was a railroad ticket agent for many years. He died in Loudonville, in Ashland County, on 24 August 1895, at the age of 64.

The marker, which bears the inscription "Blessed are the Dead, who die in the Lord," honors Joseph’s wife and daughter as well. Clarissa Annah “Clara” Smith (who usually went by Clara, possibly to avoid confusion with her mother-in-law) was born 6 January 1838 in Loudonville. She outlived her husband by many years, until 30 December 1913. The couple’s little daughter, Laura Clarissa Sanborn, was born 22 August 1870 and lived only five months, dying on 25 January 1871. Like her father and mother, she has her own little marker showing her actual location in the family plot.

Joseph H. and Clara Sanborn had three other children, who all lived to adulthood: Haven Levant Sanborn, Mary Asenath Sanborn, and Gilman Stanton Sanborn. None of them are buried in Ashland County.

Loudonville Cemetery sits on a hill not far from the center of town, and is well tended. It’s a pleasant spot in which to reflect on some of my husband’s early Ohio ancestors on a summer day.

--Shelley

Related Posts:

Joseph B. Sanborn and Mary Jane Smith Sanborn: Tombstone Tuesday

Clarissa Smith Sanborn of Loudonville: Sunday’s Obituary

Identifying a Mystery Photo

Joseph B. Sanborn and Mary Jane Smith Sanborn: Tombstone Tuesday

Loudonville Cemetery sits on a serene hillside in the heart of Loudonville in Ashland County, Ohio. This monument in the older section of the cemetery marks the final resting place of Joseph Beverly Sanborn, born March 6, 1810, in Chichester, New Hampshire, and his wife Mary Jane Smith Sanborn, born September 16, 1810, in New Hampshire.(1) Joseph B. Sanborn was a schoolteacher in Loudonville for many years.(2) Buried with them is their son, George P. Sanborn, who died at 11 years old.

The inscription reads:

JOSEPH B. SANBORN

MARCH 6, 1810

MARCH 8, 1882

HIS WIFE

MARY JANE SMITH

SEPT. 16, 1810

MARCH 19, 1870

GEORGE P. SANBORN

DEC. 30, 1833

SEPT. 25, 1845 (3)

Joseph B. Sanborn was my husband’s great-great-great-great-uncle.

(1) For Joseph B. Sanborn’s birth date and place: William H. Jones, Vital Statistics of Chichester New Hampshire 1742-1927 (Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, 2000), p. 35. For Mary Jane Smith’s birth place: 1850 U.S. Census, Hanover Township, Ashland County, Ohio, population schedule, p. 126B (stamped), p. 252 (written), dwelling 71, household 71, J.B. Sanborn; digital image, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed 24 June 2012); citing NARA microfilm publication M432, roll 658.

(2) 1860 U.S. census, Loudonville, Ashland Co., Ohio, population schedule, p. 177 (stamped), p. 197 (written), dwelling 1358, household 1401, Joseph B. Sanborn; digital image, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com: accessed 24 June 2012); citing NARA microfilm publication M653, roll 930.

(3) Joseph B. Sanborn, Mary Jane Smith, and George P. Sanborn tombstone, Loudonville Cemetery, Loudonville, Ashland County, Ohio; photographed by Shelley Bishop, June 2012.

Related Posts:

Moses L. Smith’s Toy Book: Treasure Chest Thursday

Honoring Civil War Veterans at The Ridges

On a pastoral hillside in Athens, Ohio, is one of the most poignant cemeteries I’ve ever seen. Called simply “The Ridges” by locals, it’s the burial grounds for the old Athens State Psychiatric Hospital (originally called the Athens Lunatic Asylum). If their bodies were not claimed by their families, patients who died at the hospital from the 1870’s until 1944 were buried in sloping rows with small, numbered headstones as their only markers.

For decades, the list of names of those buried at The Ridges was considered restricted information. Over the years, a few families breached the red tape necessary to find their loved ones and install traditional markers with names and dates. The cemetery fell into sad disrepair for many years, but has been restored today through the efforts of dedicated volunteers. The Athens council National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI Athens) spearheaded The Ridges Cemeteries Project, and in 2005 the state legislature finally passed a bill making the names of those buried public. Terry Gilkey has created a downloadable directory to the graves.

On my last visit, I was struck by the number of Civil War veterans buried at The Ridges. Some are still identified only by their number.

Grave No. 265

Other families have replaced the anonymous stones with personalized markers. John C. Bocock served in Company B of the 91^st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, the same company as my great-great-great-grandfather, Newel King, and his brother Wesley King. They had to have known one another. Were they friends?

Here are some other Civil War veterans who rest at The Ridges:

John Curry

John R. Gillespie

Adam Kern, Co. D, 17th Ohio Infantry

Nathan C. Littler, Sergeant Major, 73rd Ohio Infantry

William M. Riley, Co. A, 3rd Ohio Infantry

On this Memorial Day, it seems fitting to pay tribute to these soldiers whose final months or years, perhaps, were difficult ones. It's good to know they have not been forgotten.

May they rest in peace. 

The Tragic Fate of Marshal Clark

It seems to me that people who research their family history share an important trait: empathy. Empathy for people long dead, whose lives played out before we were even dreamt of. Nowhere is this more keenly felt than in the loss of a life cut suddenly and tragically short. I feel for you, my soul whispers to theirs, across time and space. I’m sorry.

Consider the fate of Marshal Clark, my great-great-grandfather. His family could never have imagined that a routine trip from their farm in Delaware County, Ohio, into town would result in this front-page story in the Westerville Public Opinion:

RUNAWAY ACCIDENT

Results Fatally for Marshal Clark at Sunbury Thursday

      Marshal Clark, aged 60, a farmer residing near Sunbury, was fatally injured when his team ran away in Sunbury at 8:30 Thursday morning. The team became frightened at a passing train and bolted, dragging Mr. Clark a distance of 100 yards. After examination by Sunbury physicians he was taken to Mt. Carmel hospital, Columbus, where he died at noon.

      Mr. Clark had driven his team and wagon into town during the morning and while the wagon was standing near a railroad track a train went by, frightening the team of young horses. The wagon was overturned and Mr. Clark was caught in the harness and dragged. His skull was fractured and he sustained numerous other broken bones and probably internal injuries.

      Mr. Clark is survived by his wife, one son, one daughter, Mrs. Charles Ballenger, of Westerville, two grandchildren, aged parents, one brother and a sister.

I can imagine his wife, Rose, doing the wash or other routine chores that day. Perhaps she was already cooking the noon meal so it would be ready for Marshal’s return. She had probably asked him to pick up a few things for her while he was in town. Suddenly a horse comes galloping up to the farmhouse, its breathless rider dismounting. His news will break the sweet mundane tranquility of her day, of her life.

Marshal’s obituary ran in a similar front page story in the Sunbury News:

Marshal Clark Dies Of Injuries When

Team of Horses Throws Wagon On Him

      Marshal Clark one of our highly respected farmer citizens received injuries last Thursday which resulted in his death Thursday noon.

      He had brought milk to the skimming station at Condit and while his team was standing near the creamery a train came along and frightened the animals, which turned the wagon short, breaking the coupling pole and pinning Mr. Clark under the wagon. He was hurriedly brought to Sunbury for medical attention and he was then taken on the 9:45 train to Columbus. He died about noon from his injuries. The following is his obituary:

      

      Marshal Clark, son of James and Martha Clark, was born January 25, 1857 and died October 22, 1914 at the age of 57 years, 8 months and 25 days.

      He was married to Rose E. Edwards January 17, 1886. Their union was blest with two children, one daughter Mrs. Chas Ballenger of Westerville and one son, Mr. Wm. Clark still living on the old homestead in Trenton Tp. Delaware County.

      Mr. Clark united with the M E Church at Wesley Chapel some twenty years ago, was baptized and was a firm believer in the power of the blessed Redeemer. He was a quiet inoffensive man ever ready to deny himself that he might lend a helping hand to others, as a husband he was without fault, as a father he was devoted to his children, as a neighbor to the full extent of the word, neighbor; as a friend kind and true.

      He leaves to remember him a devoted wife, one daughter, a son, a daughter-in-law, Mrs. Wm. Clark, a son-in-law, Mr. Charles Ballenger, two grand children, an aged father and mother, one brother, and one sister, Mrs. Thurston of Centerburg.

      His life gathered to him many friends and with them and the near relatives we will remember Marshal as a good man. Our loved ones go out from us but their lives and happy bygone days live with us and we exclaim with the poet:

Oh joys that are gone will yon return

To gladden our hearts as of yore;

Will we find you waiting us some happy morn,

When we drift to eternity’s shore.

Will dear eyes meet our own as in days that are past;

Will we thrill at the touch of a hand

Oh joys that are gone will we find you at last,

On the shores of a beautiful land.

I’m sorry.

Sunbury Memorial Park, Sunbury, Ohio

Does it seem to you that family historians have an extra dose of empathy?

Sources:

“Runaway Accident,” Public Opinion (Westerville, Ohio), 29 October 1914, p. 1, col. 1.

“Marshal Clark Dies,” Sunbury News (Sunbury, Ohio), 29 October 1914, p. 1., col. 1.

James Ballenger Suddenly Stricken - Sunday's Obituary

At the Ohio Historical Society last week, I discovered an obituary for my great-great-grandfather, James Ballenger, which appeared on the front page of the Westerville, Ohio Public Opinion. Besides providing a wealth of genealogical information, it paints a vivid picture of his last hours. (A word of explanation: "Africa" in this case refers to Africa, Ohio, a small community north of Westerville in Delaware County. Africa got its name from a particularly active section of the Underground Railroad, nicknamed the "Africa Road," that ran through the area.)

SUDDENLY STRICKEN

James M. Ballenger, of Africa,

Meets Death WIthout Warning

     James Madison Ballenger, son of Charles and Elizabeth Ballenger, was born in Athens County, O., Jan. 19, 1858, and died at his home near Africa, March 7, 1913, being 58 years, 2 months and 16 days old.
     His last sickness was very brief, he having arisen as usual and after a hearty breakfast nearly completed his morning chores, when he came to the house and complained of feeling weak. In a few moments he grew rapidly worse and said to his wife, "Let me lie down to die." His last words were a prayer for divine grace and mercy to prepare him for the presence of Jesus.
     January 19, 1881, he married Anna Payne, who with his four children, Charles of Westerville, Clarence of Detroit, Mich., Cecil and Cyril who are at home, one brother, Charles, and four sisters, mourn his sudden death.

     "When my heart the world is rending

      With its heaviest storm of care,

       My glad heart to God ascending

Finds a refuge from despair.

    There is a hand of mercy near me

       Tho' the waves of troubled roar;

            There's an hour of rest to cheer me

    When the toils of life are o'er.

Gently, Lord, O gently lead us

      Thru this lonely vale of tears;

                      Thru the changes thou hast decreed us,

             Til our last great change appears;

      When temptation's darts assail us,

      Let thy goodness never fail us,

           When in devious paths we stray,

   Lead us in thy perfect way."

     The funeral was held at Mr. Ballenger's late home, where a large circle of acquaintances paid their last respects to him who so recently was one of us. Rev. Arthur Smith, pastor of the Wesleyan church at Africa, spoke briefly from Psa. 46: 1-2, after which the body was laid away in Otterbein Cemetery.

Card of Thanks

     We wish to thank our dear friends and neighbors for their kindness at the death of our loving father and husband, and also for the beautiful tribute of flowers.
                                                                                             Mrs. Anna Ballenger
                                                                                             and Children


I can't imagine what Anna must have felt that day when her husband of 32 years walked in from his morning chores (she was probably in the middle of her own) and told her he needed to lie down and die. What do you say in response to that? The official cause of death on James' death certificate was "Neuralgia of heart." I found "neuralgia" defined as "severe sharp stabbing paroxysmal of pain," so to my non-medical eye it sounds like he suffered a heart attack.

One new piece of information I gained from the obituary is James' middle name, Madison. All the other records I have for him only give the initial M. There are discrepancies, however, between the obituary, tombstone, and death certificate on two important points: the year of birth and the day of death. The death certificate and tombstone both say James was born in 1855, making him 58 years old in 1913. The obituary confirms he was 58 years old, but gives his year of birth as 1858 (which would make him only 55). I tend to trust the certificate and tombstone on this point. The tombstone and obituary both say he died on March 7, but the death certificate reads a scrawled March 8. I'm less sure about which is correct for this one. My next steps are to look for a probate file and funeral home record. Maybe one of them will settle the matter. Either way, it was not a good day for the Ballenger family.

Sources:
   James M. Ballenger obituary, Public Opinion (Westerville, Ohio), 13 March 1913, p. 1 col. 5.
   "Ohio Deaths 1908-1953," digital image, FamilySearch (www.familysearch.org: accessed 12 May 2011), death certificate no. 14644 (1913), James M. Ballenger; citing original records of Ohio Department of Health, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus.
    Otterbein Cemetery (Westerville, Franklin County, Ohio), J. M. Ballenger marker, section 3; personally read, 2010.

More Questions than Answers: Augusta Bishop

Don’t you love those ancestors who left a nice paper trail for you to follow? With time and study, you come to know and understand them, forging a bond of kinship across the ages. Then there are those who generated precious few records, leaving only crumbs for their descendants to trace. When questions outnumber the answers, it’s harder to create that bond.

My husband’s great-great-grandmother, Augusta Bishop, was one of the latter. So far I’ve located just four records on which her name appears: her marriage certificate, the 1860 census, her death record, and this tombstone in Freedom West Cemetery in Freedom, Ohio. Now worn and nearly indecipherable, the stone originally read, “AUGUSTA, Wife of Albert Bishop, Died Dec. 25, 1878, Aged 38 years.” The marker is unadorned, the message simple and straightforward. But here’s the first tug at my heartstrings: she died on Christmas Day. At 38 years old.

Augusta married Albert F. Bishop on February 23, 1859, in Portage County, Ohio. Her maiden name on the certificate appears as Augusta Dyke. Her death record says she was born in Shalersville in Portage County. I haven’t been able to identify her parents or find a Dyke family with a daughter Augusta in the 1850 census, so her origins are still a mystery. Could she possibly be the 10-year-old Augusta Dyler or Dyke living in the household of Nathan Severance in Shalersville? If so, why? Was she orphaned? Chalk one up for the questions.

I like to think the first couple of years of Albert and Augusta’s marriage were happy ones. The 1860 census of Freedom Township in Portage County shows them with their three-month-old son, Theodore. Albert, age 21, was working as a laborer, and Augusta was 19. But the good times did not last. Albert fell ill with consumption, and died in January 1865, shortly before their sixth anniversary. (You can read Albert’s story here.)

Finding herself a widow at age 24, with a five-year-old son, must have been difficult for Augusta. It appears she was unable to keep her son, for by 1870 ten-year-old Theodore Bishop was living as a servant in the household of Watson and Eunice Allen in Hiram. My efforts to locate Augusta in 1870 have proven fruitless so far. A search of the guardians’ dockets in Portage County does not show any entry for Theodore, nor is there any mention of the Allens. Was Theodore apprenticed to Watson Allen? If so, where was Augusta? More questions.

Augusta died of consumption—the same illness that claimed her husband—that Christmas in 1878. At the time of her death, she was living in Hiram and working as a housekeeper. Her only living relatives were her son, Theodore, now 18, and her mother-in-law, Sarah Ann Bishop. One of them must have arranged for her to be buried beside Albert in the Bishop family plot in Freedom West Cemetery.

As I write this, I realize Augusta’s life reads largely like a tragedy. Possibly living apart from her parents by 10 years old, widowed and a single mother by 24, separated from her young son, and dead at 38—that’s not exactly a life of ease and contentment. But through her has come a strong line of Bishop descendants. I find I want to know more, to dig deeper and find the answers to my questions, if I can. In a way, the unknowns of Augusta’s life are creating their own bonds, pulling me toward discovering her story.

Robert Bishop (my father-in-law) with the markers of his great-grandparents,
Albert and Augusta Bishop, in Freedom West Cemetery in Freedom, Ohio

Related Posts:

Albert Bishop (1838-1865)

The Final Days of Fitch Bishop

The Short Story of Walter H. Bishop

Lettie A. Bishop - Wednesday's Child

Walter F. Bishop, Aged 20 yrs.

The Short Story of Walter H. Bishop

This plain stone, wiped almost clean by the hands of time, marks the grave of Walter H. Bishop in Freedom West Cemetery in Freedom, Ohio. Walking through the cemetery today, nothing would compel you to stop and linger at Walter’s grave. Only his first name is readable. But even the plainest stone has a story to tell.

Walter’s obituary in the Ohio Star on September 3, 1845 gives a little more of his story. It says that Walter H. Bishop died 24 ultima (the previous month) in Freedom at age 13 months, 14 days, the son of Fitch and Sarah A. Bishop.¹ This identifies his parents, gives his date of death, and tells us he was just an infant when he died. But like his stone, the obituary is frustratingly cryptic. I want more details!

My research on the Bishop family shows that Walter H. was the third child born to Fitch Bishop and his wife Sarah Ann. Fitch was a farmer with 21 acres of good, fertile land in growing Portage County, Ohio, part of the Western Reserve. He and Sarah already had two sons, five-year-old Albert and three-year-old George, when Walter was born on July 10, 1844. Nothing tells me if Walter was a healthy baby or if he was sickly from the start. Did he like watching his brothers play outside in the yard? Did he crawl around in the small farmhouse during the long Northeast Ohio winter? Did he suddenly become ill, or was there some kind of accident? All I know is that he lived barely past his first birthday. On August 24, 1845, he was gone.

Walter’s is the oldest burial in the Bishop family plot (no. 91) at Freedom West Cemetery. It seems likely that Fitch, needing a place to bury his little son, bought the plot in 1845. The tombstone he installed originally read, “Walter H., son of F. & S. Bishop, died Aug. 24, 1845, age 13 mos., 14 days.”² For almost two decades, Walter’s was the only marker in the Bishop family plot. The next burial there was another toddler, Lettie A. Bishop, the 14-month-old daughter of George and his wife Mary, who died in April 1864. Lettie would have been Walter’s niece.

Fitch and Sarah went on to have two more children. A daughter, Ann Jennett, was born in December 1846, and a son, Walter F., in August 1851. I can’t help but think that this second Walter was named in memory of his lost brother.

A faded tombstone and a brief obituary are all that remain to tell us about Walter Bishop’s short life. But he was a real little boy, and no doubt very much loved. I guess that’s why it seems so important to try to piece together even a little more of the story behind the stone. Maybe I'm just sentimental, but somehow it feels good to share and preserve it.

1.  Michael Barren Clegg, Portage County, Ohio Newspaper Obituary Abstracts, 1825-1870 (Ohio Newspaper Abstracts Series, Vol. 2: Ft. Wayne, Indiana, 1982): 16.

2.  Portage County Genealogical Society, compiler, Portage County, Ohio Cemeteries, Volume IV: Freedom Township and Windham Township, 1812-1992 (the Society: Ravenna, Ohio, 1993): 90-91.


Related Posts:
The Final Days of Fitch Bishop
Walter F. Bishop, Aged 20 yrs.
Lettie A. Bishop - Wednesday's Child
Albert Bishop (1838-1865)
More Questions than Answers: Augusta Bishop

The Final Days of Fitch Bishop

This weathered stone marks the grave of Fitch Bishop, patriarch of my husband’s ancestors in Portage County, Ohio. Pitted with age, the letters indistinct and barely legible, the stone reads: “FITCH BISHOP, DIED May 22, 1868, AGED 56 yrs, 9 mos.”

Fitch’s death was unexpected and sudden. On May 17, 1873, his wife, Sarah, wrote in her diary, “5 years today since my husband was stricken down in full health with his last sickness, I cannot realize it.” On May 19, she recalled, “I was watching by the bed of a sick and dying husband.”

It appears that Fitch may have suffered a stroke or heart attack that did not immediately kill him, but left him lingering in a greatly weakened state. The concern was immediate. A will was hastily drawn up and witnesses gathered. On May 17^th, the same day he was stricken, Fitch scrawled his signature on a paper that read:

                                   Freedom, May 17^th, 1868         

                       The last will and testament of

                       Fitch Bishop

                       I hereby give and bequeath all my

                       property both real and personal

                       to my wife Sarah Ann Bishop

                       This is my last will and Testament

                                                      Fitch Bishop

                                          {         E. R. Kneeland

                          Witnesses {         J. J. Hutchins

I imagine that a doctor was called and everything possible done to make Fitch comfortable. Fitch and Sarah’s three living children no doubt drew near. Annette, 21, and Walter, 16, living at home, could have been by his side at once. George, almost 27, had to be summoned. If George was still working as a wagon-maker in Hiram, as he had been in 1860, it was a short ride to Freedom. Augusta Bishop, widow of Fitch’s oldest son, Albert, might have brought eight-year-old Theodore to his grandfather’s bedside. 

Work in the fields and routine household chores likely stopped for a time. Neighbors and friends, alerted to the crisis, might have come by to see Fitch and offer words of comfort to Sarah. But in the end, all they could do was wait.

Five days later, Fitch succumbed. The Portage County Democrat reported only, “In Freedom, on the 22d of May, ult., of heart disease, after a few days illness, Mr. Fitch Bishop, aged 57 years.” A grieving Sarah had to make funeral arrangements and prepare for another trip to Freedom West Cemetery, where she had already laid two sons and a granddaughter to rest.

I feel fortunate to have such a variety of records to draw on regarding the end of Fitch’s life, sad as it was. What I wouldn’t give for just one to tell me about his beginnings!

Sources:

1.  Portage County Genealogical Society, compiler, Portage County, Ohio Cemeteries, Volume IV: Freedom Township and Windham Township (Ravenna, Ohio: the society, 1993), p. 90-91.

2.  Sarah Ann Barnum Bishop, Pocket Diary 1873, entries for May 17 and May 19. This diary passed from Theodore H. Bishop to Annah L. Bishop to Robert F. Bishop; privately held by Shelley Bishop.

3.  Portage County, Ohio, probate file 2108 (loose papers), Fitch Bishop, Portage County Historical Society, Ravenna.

4.  Fitch Bishop obituary, Portage County Democrat (Ravenna, Ohio), 3 June 1868, p. 2 col. 8.

Related Posts:
Albert Bishop (1828-1865)
More Questions than Answers: Augusta Bishop
The Short Story of Walter H. Bishop
Walter F. Bishop, Aged 20 yrs.
Lettie A. Bishop-Wednesday's Child

Lettie A. Bishop - Wednesday's Child

This little tombstone doesn’t look like much these days. Not your big, well-carved monument designed to last the ages. It’s sunk into the ground so far that I could only make out the letters of the name by tracing them with my finger. L-E-T-T-I-E. When I was photographing the headstones of my husband’s Bishop ancestors in Freedom West Cemetery, in rural Freedom, Ohio, this little one puzzled me. Who was Lettie?

Fortunately, the cemetery markers were first read by Ernest Moore in 1927 on behalf of the Western Reserve Historical Society. His transcriptions were used to help decipher stones that had deteriorated by 1992, when the Portage County Genealogical Society set about compiling cemetery records. The stone, now virtually illegible, once read: “Lettie A. Bishop, died Apr. 7, 1864, age 14 mos, 18 days.”¹

Ahhhh. This was somebody’s baby girl. But whose? I cast around the family plot for a likely candidate. Perhaps she was Albert & Augusta Bishop’s daughter. They were buried nearby, and the right age to have been her parents. But speculation won’t do in solving these little mysteries. And so one hot summer morning found me in the cool depths of Reed Memorial Library in Ravenna, searching the microfilm records of local newspapers. There, on the second page of the April 27, 1864 edition of the Portage County Democrat, I found the answer:

“In Freedom, April 7^th, of congestion of the brain, Lettie A., daughter and only child of George and Mary Bishop, aged 14 months.

         'And is she gone? Oh, sudden solitude!

         How oft that fearful question will intrude.

         ‘Twas but a moment past when here she stood,

         And then without the portal’s front she rushed,

         To live again in Heaven.’”

What a world of sorrow conveyed in just a few words. Even from a distance of 146 years, I can feel their pain.  Neither George nor Mary is buried in Freedom. Lettie rests with her aunt, uncles, and grandfather. One day, no doubt, her little stone will be gone. But she won’t be forgotten.

1.     Portage County Genealogical Society, compiler, Portage County, Ohio Cemeteries, Volume IV: Freedom Township and Windham Township 1812-1992 (Ravenna, Ohio, 1993), p. 91.


Related Posts:
The Final Days of Fitch Bishop
Albert Bishop (1838-1865)
The Short Story of Walter H. Bishop
More Questions than Answers: Augusta Bishop
Walter F. Bishop, Aged 20 yrs.

Albert Bishop (1838-1865)

Albert F. Bishop, a resident of Freedom in Portage County, Ohio, was 
my husband's great-great-grandfather. He suffered an untimely death
146 years ago this week, as noted in the Portage County Democrat:

“Died.

BISHOP—in Freedom, on the 28^th inst., of consumption, Albert F. Bishop,

son of F. and S. A. Bishop, aged 26 years.

         The deceased was an excellent young man, and bore his long and

painful illness with Christian composure and resignation, and leaves

behind him as a testimony, for the comfort of surviving friends, his

expression of unshaken confidence in his salvation, through the

atonement purchased by the blood of Christ. He selected a text for his

funeral sermon, Psalms 93:4. Though I walk through the valley of the

shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me; thy rod and thy

staff they comfort me. He requested Rev. William Potter, to preach the

sermon.

         Thus in early manhood has passed away a kind and dutiful son, an 

affectionate and loving husband and father, leaving behind him the savor

of a good name.

         He leaves a wife and one child, and parents and brothers and

sister, to mourn this sad bereavement, but not to mourn as those who

have no hope, for in his case hope is full of a blessed immortality.”


It appears from his obituary that Albert fought consumption 
(tuberculosis)for quite awhile--long enough to reach a stage of 
acceptance and plan his own funeral service. He would have been too 
sick to fight in the Civil War, which ended shortly after he lost his own 
battle. His widow, Augusta, now faced raising their five-year-old son, 
Theodore, alone. She was just 24. Both she and the country had some 
healing to do over the next few years.

Citations:

Albert F. Bishop obituary, Portage County Democrat (Ravenna, Ohio), 1 February 1865, p. 2, col. 8. (Transcribed August 2010 by Shelley Bishop)

Freedom West Cemetery (Freedom, Portage County, Ohio), Albert F. Bishop marker, lot 91; photographed by Shelley Bishop, 2009.


Related Posts:
More Questions than Answers: Augusta Bishop
The Final Days of Fitch Bishop
Lettie A. Bishop
The Short Story of Walter H. Bishop
Walter F. Bishop, Aged 20 yrs.

Ten "Ancestor Approved" Discoveries

I was thrilled earlier this month when Linda McCauley, who writes Documenting the Details, gave me the “Ancestor Approved Award.” The award was created by Leslie Ann of Ancestors Live Here in March 2010, and has been passed along to many genealogical bloggers. I am honored to be in such wonderful company. Thank you, Linda, for the unexpected but much-appreciated recognition!

Recipients are asked to make a list of ten things they have learned about their ancestors that have humbled, surprised, or enlightened them. Then they are to pass on the award to ten other bloggers who are doing their ancestors proud. Because I had to replace my computer’s hard drive and was busy preparing for the holidays, it took me a little while to compile my list. It’s been a good wrap-up exercise for the end of the year, though. Here are my ten:

1.    I was surprised to find my ancestors Samuel and Matilda Wright living in the area served by the Dublin, Ohio post office in 1870. This is the community where I now live. It’s nice to know I have roots here that go back deep into the city’s 200-year history.

2.    I was humbled by the hardships suffered by two of my Civil War ancestors, Newel King and John Steele. Newel contracted measles in camp, and endured seizures and ill health the rest of his life. John fell sick on a march, which left him permanently weakened and unable to work. They were just ordinary soldiers, but their stories make the sacrifices of that generation real to me.

3.    I was humbled, too, by the fortitude of the women of the Civil War generation. Mary Steele applied for a widow’s pension as soon as she was eligible, but it took over a decade of continuously submitting affidavits and forms before her application was approved. In the meantime, she was destitute. Somehow she managed to raise her kids and survive.

4.    It was enlightening to discover what my 7^th great-grandfather, Johan Adam Rausch, likely experienced when he immigrated to the colony of Pennsylvania in 1736. It was a long, hard journey from the German Rhineland to Philadelphia, with an uncertain future upon arrival. There are so many questions I would love to ask him!

5.    It was enlightening to learn about the Revolutionary War service of my 6^th great-grandfather, Jacob Roush, who served in a Virginia militia from Dunmore (now Shenandoah) County. He also fought in the Battle of Point Pleasant in Lord Dunmore’s War (October 1774)—a fascinating story of miscommunication and bravery.

6.    I was excited to find Jacob Roush then bought land in Gallia County, Ohio, along the Ohio River, in April 1803—just a month after Ohio became a state. His descendents remained in Gallia County for nearly a century. Maybe that’s why I feel a special affinity for southeastern Ohio. I have a long kinship there. Two of my children have carried the connection forward as students at Ohio University in Athens.

7.    I was thrilled to discover the original baptismal Fraktur of two of my great-grandparents, John Llewellyn Eberhard and Mary Madina Comfort, in my aunt’s possession. These beautifully illustrated parchments, characteristic of the “Pennsylvania Dutch,” document their births in Lehigh County and are priceless family heirlooms.

8.    My husband’s ancestors are just as interesting and inspiring as my own. It’s been tremendously satisfying to trace six generations of his family in Portage County, Ohio, and to locate the graves of his 3^rd great-grandfather, Fitch Bishop, and 4^th great-grandfather, Eli Barnum—both previously unknown. Sharing what I’ve found with my father-in-law has been one of my highlights  as a family historian.

9.    I am deeply indebted to the ancestors who took up the role of family historian long before me. Christine Steele, Harold Crites, and Harriet Boynton Whiting left written chronologies and summaries that have proven invaluable. Even though they are gone, I feel a sense of partnership with them, almost as if we are collaborating through some transcendence of time.

10. It’s amazing to realize how far back I can go with people I actually knew. I remember my paternal great-grandmother, Irene (Clark) Ballenger, who was born in 1887. My memories of my maternal great-grandmother, Mabel (Seely) Herrel, born in 1891, are even clearer. Of course I knew these women late in their lives, and only from a child’s perspective. But still, that’s a long reach, and it makes me realize I need to write those memories down. Now.  

If choosing ten things about my ancestors was hard, choosing just ten bloggers out of the dozens that I read was even harder! There are so many talented and interesting writers in the genealogical blogosphere. And you are all doing your ancestors proud! I tried to identify bloggers who may not have received the Ancestor Approved Award before, though there's probably some overlap:

1.    Malissa at Family Epic

2.    Rita at Tattered Past

3.    Teresa at Teresa’s Tangled Roots

4.    Kelly at Sunny Ancestry

5.    Elizabeth at Genealogy Geek

6.    Cheryl at Have You Seen My Roots?

7.  Caroline at Family Stories

8.  Diana at Random Relatives

9.  Travis at TJL Genes

10. Jenna at Desperately Seeking Surnames