Finding Red House Farm in Steubenville Township, Jefferson County, Ohio + What You May Find on a Historic County Map

Being curious about the location of the property Robert Nelson sold the coal under in 1869 and first purchased in 1858, I contacted the Genealogy Department of the Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County, Ohio, to ask for help.  Specifically I wanted to know about the location of the Red House Farm tract and whether it is currently a subdivision in Jefferson County.  I also mentioned Robert Nelson had purchased property on the tract in 1859.

The helpful librarian found references in several sources, including a map.   Below is a section of the Steubenville map from Atlas of Jefferson Co Ohio by F. W. Beers, 1871.  You can find this map and the full map below at FamilySearch.

You can see Red House Farm on the map and, in the upper left below the horizontal line, you can see R. Nelson.  It really is an R, not an H as it appears at first glance.  Robert originally purchased his property from Matthew Nicholson in 1858, and he was till the owner of much of the land on the Red House Farm tract in 1871.

Red House Farm is really a tract of land, though at one time there may have been a farm with a red house on it on the property.  Below are a few things I learned about Red House Farm.   

• "The [coperas] works were on top of the hill, at the Red House farm, back of the town."  The coperas works were established by Bazaleel Wells in about 1820.  (Historical Collections of Ohio, In Two Volumes, by Henry Howe, 1900; Volume I, p. 973)
• Using FamilySearch's Full-Text Search, I found another reference to Red House Farm.  The following is from a deed dated January 12th 1830.  A "...parcel of land heretofore known as part of the Red house farm, formerly the property of Alexander Wells [son of Bazaleel Wells, founder of Steubenville, Ohio], lying immediately below the Town of Steubenville.... containing [more than] 44 acres."  Boundaries are given in metes and bounds which agree with "the survey heretofore to wit on the thirtiest day of July A.D. 1814...."
• There are more deeds at FamilySearch which mention Red House Farm but this was the earliest. 

Below is the full map of Steubenville and Jefferson County.  For best viewing click on the map so it will open in a new window where you can again enlarge it to look closely.  Or visit FamilySearch where you can also enlarge it

Most of my mother's side of the family comes from Jefferson County, Ohio, so maps like these are a bounty for searching and possibly finding some of my other ancestors and where they lived.

But I was really taken with the lists on the side of this map.  They are almost like a miniature city directory.  These are some of the ways I might use these lists.

• If I had an ancestor who needed an attorney, would one on this list on this map be one he would have consulted, or would he have gone out of town?
• The list of companies suggest possible places for employment opportunities.  One of my ancestors was a carpenter.  He may have worked for one of the companies on this list.
• If I find a marriage record that names the minister but not the church, I might find the minister's name and, thereby, the church where they were married.  Could they and their families have also attended this church?  If so, it's another possible source for more information.
• If I had a photograph with the photographer's name at the bottom, I might find him on a list like this. 

In general, I think it's interesting to see these brief directories to get a lay of the land where my ancestors lived.  What might they have needed to purchase to live?  What shops were available?  What industries, small businesses, and social opportunities were available at the time?  How many doctors were in town?  With a good map and addresses, I could see how far they would have had to travel to buy bricks or a piece of furniture, fabric or paper, or ready-made clothes.

These kinds of maps interest me for the family history aspect of genealogy.  It's possible that not many county maps have lists like these but it's always worth checking.

In your searches of maps, have you found old ones with information like this one?  Was it helpful or of interest to you?

—Nancy.

Copyright © 2025 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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Map of Mineral Ridge, Ohio, 1910

I thought this 1910 map of Mineral Ridge, Weathersfield Township, Trumbull County, Ohio, was too good not to share.  To see an enlarged view, click on the map.  It will open in a new window and you'll be able to click again to see more detail. 

I enjoyed looking at this map.  Emma Bickerstaff, my maternal grandmother, and her family moved to the Ridge in about 1912 or 1913, soon after this map was published.  She was married in 1914 and she and her husband, W. C. Robert Meinzen, lived in Warren, then moved back to the Ridge in 1924.

I was born about 40 years after this map was published but my memories of the Ridge don't start until the mid-to-late-1950s.  We lived on Furnace Street and my grandmother lived just two doors away.  Further down the street lived Bickerstaff cousins and even further still, a Bickerstaff aunt and uncle, siblings who shared a house. 

Our house, a double, was on the corner of Furnace and Merchant Streets.  When I was a child Merchant street was little more than an alley, but it was great fun because it had a hill.  We laboriously pedaled up the hill then turned our bikes around and sailed back down, pedaling to pick up speed, then coasting to the bottom.  If I went back to see it now it would probably look like a molehill.  On other streets around the Ridge I learned to ride my bike without holding the handlebars.  Surprisingly, I never fell.

Some observations about this map from 40-50 years after it was published:

• A street or two disappeared.  Maple Street appears to run between my grandparent's and their neighbor's properties in 1910.  When was it removed?  And Pine Street runs between Merchant and Maple Streets.  I don't remember a street with that name.  Was it renamed or removed?
• A holdover from when the Ridge was a coal mining community, Abandoned Coal RR runs loosely parallel to Main Street and then veers northeast.
• Many women owned property:  Lizzie Phillips, Ann Gallagher, Mary J. Evans, Anna Price, Mary Fox, Lucy Williams, Mary Ann Sweeney, Sarah Francis, Rebecca Williams, Jr. (yes, "Jr. is attached to her name!), Charlotte Whitney, Mary Jones, Mary Watkins, Kittie Owens, Jane Cunnick, Mary Brown, Hannah Thomas, Katherine Zipf, among others -- women whose names I never knew.
• There are familiar family names, though, those of families who stayed in the Ridge long after 1910:  Breeze, Knoyer, Garland, Koch, Pugh, Finnegan, Blunt.  Had I been a savvy child, I would have paid attention to the names and what happened to the individuals when my mom and grandmother discussed the old families.
• The block where "Union School" was located shows a Town Hall on the south side of the block.  I remember an Odd Fellow's Hall near there where my grandmother helped the Rebekahs make and serve sloppy joes to school kids and where they also made and sold doughnuts. 
• Many of the properties have "O.L" plus a number.  I don't know what that means but when I was little our phone number was OLympic 2-7979.  Could the O.L. stand for Olympic?
• Many properties on the map have small numbers.  Are they lot sizes in acres and part-acres, or do they signify something else?  I have no idea.

This map will be a delight for family history researchers who have ancestors who lived in Mineral Ridge around 1910.

See the original of this map here (with a free FamilySearch account), where you can enlarge it many times over.  It was originally published in the 1910 Trumbull County, Ohio, Tax Appraisal book.

FamilySearch's Citation for this map.
"Ohio, Trumbull County Records, 1795-2010," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9DT-VHLW?cc=2065327&wc=Q64Q-WMJ%3A1055416801%2C1055446601 : 22 May 2014), Tax records > Tax appraisements Mineral Ridge 1910 > image 2 of 27; Trumbull County Courthouse, Warren.

–Nancy.

Copyright ©2019, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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Using Tax Records and a Map to Answer A Question

My cousin's question was simple:  Do you know if Grampa owned the building where he had his barber shop?  Grampa is W. C. Robert Meinzen and the building was on Main Street in Mineral Ridge, Ohio, where he barbered for several decades in the mid-1900s.  I didn't know the answer.  I was the youngest of the grandchildren, not yet 10 when my grandfather retired, and it would have been highly unusual for the adults to carry on a conversation about property and finances within the earshot of children.

Though I didn't have a ready answer for my cousin I had an idea where I might find the information.  With any luck, FamilySearch's Trumbull County, Ohio, records might provide an answer.  I found tax appraisement records from 1931 and earlier but because the images are not indexed I needed to search year by year, page by page.  (For more about those records see previous post, County, Township, Range.)

Since this published collection of records ends in 1931, I needed to know what years my grandparents might have lived in the Ridge.  Census records told me that W. C. Robert and Emma Meinzen lived in Warren in 1920 and in Mineral Ridge in 1930.  With that information I guessed they may have moved sometime between those years and and that they may have purchased land before they moved.  (It was common knowledge in the family that Gramma and Grampa owned the home they lived in on Furnace Street, but I had no idea when they may have purchased it.)  I began a search of the 1931 records.

1910 Map of Mineral Ridge Village, Weathersfield Township, Trumbull County, Ohio

Wm. C. R. & Emma Meinzen paid taxes on the following properties for the years noted. 

1924-1931

• Out-Lot/Block/Division 109, identified as S. M. Pt. in the box "All or part of lot and name of street."  I believe this was on Furnace Street.

1928-1931

• Lot 7, Leitch Tract/Plat, with Fr. Pt Orchard Ct.  The lot size was 75.5 (along the street) x 63.52 feet deep. 

1931

• Lot 187, Leitch Tract/Plat, with 184.14 feet fronting Morris Street

The map above and the enlargement of a section below come from FamilySearch's Tax Appraisements Mineral Ridge, 1910, published 14 years earlier than when my grandparents first purchased property in Mineral Ridge.  I've been unable to find a map closer to the dates of their purchases.

Section of 1910 map of Mineral Ridge, Ohio, showing Furnace and Morris Streets

I see that Lot 109 is, indeed, on the north side of Furnace Street and is located where my grandparents' home was situated.  And Lot 187 on the south side of Morris Street is near where Emma's father, Edward Jesse Bickerstaff, built a home.  However, during the time I lived in the Ridge, decades after this map was published, there was no Maple Street running north from Furnace Street.

So my cousin's original question of whether Grampa owned the building where his barber shop was located will go unanswered until I have access to property records from 1931 through the late 1950s. 

But she had two other questions which I was able to answer as a result of these tax records and the 1910 map of Mineral Ridge:  When did Gramma and Grampa buy property in Mineral Ridge? and Where was the property on Furnace Street?  I'm thrilled the tax records helped narrow down the years of purchase and that the map gave the answers to the question about location, for both the property on Furnace Street and Morris Street.

I have yet to find Orchard Court on the 1910 map because, I suspect, it wasn't there until after that map was created.  And, of course, I'll want to learn whether Grampa owned the building where his barber shop was located.

This has been fun research, the results of which coincided with Amy Johnson Crow's 2019 version of 52 Ancestors' topic for this week:  "Map It Out."

--Nancy. 

Copyright ©2019, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved.
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner.
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Surely You Know about Randy Majors and His Search Sites?

By his own admission, Randy Majors is a map and geography geek.  Aren't we lucky that he has the talent to make these useful tools  and is willing to share them with us family historians and genealogists?  Thank you, Randy.

You can visit Randy's blog to read explanatory posts about some of these tools and how they can be useful to you.

Try these to see if you think they may be useful.

• AncestorSearch: Google Custom Search 
• City Limits on Google Maps 
• Climate Info on Google Maps 
• County Lines on Google Maps  (These maps currently include U.S., U.K., Ireland, and Australia.  It looks like more countries may be added in the future.) 
• Historical U.S. County Boundary Maps 
• Historical World Boundary Maps  With this tool you can see the county boundaries of any historical date for any U.S. location on a Google map. 
• Location Explorer on Google Maps 
• Time Zones on Google Maps 
• Township Range on Google Maps 
• ZIP Codes on Google Maps 
• Area Codes on Google Maps   

--Nancy.

Copyright ©2019, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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A Close-Knit Family - Mappy Monday

I can't help but think that despite being a widow -- or perhaps because of it -- Catherine (Saylor) Froman somehow managed to raise a close-knit family.  Her seven children were all born within 9 years of each other so it makes sense that they would have become each others' friends and playmates in childhood, not to mention the probable need to work together, physically as well as emotionally, for the good of the family.

Until adulthood or marriage, the children lived with their widowed mother in Pymatuning Township on the west edge of Mercer County.  At marriage, they moved to their own homes.  The daughters married first:  Elizabeth between 1881 and 1883; Tressa in 1885; Catherine in 1888; and then the sons:  Jacob in 1889; Adam in 1895; Jacob again in 1898; Gust in 1898; and finally John in 1910.

Searching through four decades of census records fosters the image of a close-knit family.  The 1900 U.S. Census, the first after most of the children had moved from home, finds Fromans in and near Stoneboro, Pennsylvania.  Stoneboro is a small community in Lake Township on the eastern side of Mercer County, whose town proper consists of less than 2 dozen streets.

In 1900, I found

• John, Jacob, and their mother, Catherine, in Lake Township, E.D. 146, dwelling 36, family 36
• Gust Froman in Lake Township, E.D. 146, dwelling 36, family 37
• Catherine on Linden Street, Stoneboro, E.D. 167, dwelling 13, family 13
• Elizabeth on West Mercer Road, Stoneboro, E.D. 167, dwelling 208, family 209
• Tressa on an (unnamed street), E. D. 167, dwelling 231, family 232
• Adam in Sandy Lake Township, E.D. 157, about 2 miles east of Stoneboro

Sandy Lake is a smaller village than Stoneboro, situated about 2 miles northeast of Stoneboro.  The village had its own enumeration district during the census years in this post.  Surrounding Sandy Lake is the township of Sandy Lake where most of the land was rural farmland.  Adam was in the township of Sandy Lake, not the community of Sandy Lake.

In 1910, I found

• John in Lake Township, E.D. 163, dwelling 30, family 30
• Jacob and his mother, Catherine, in Lake Township, E.D. 163, dwelling 30, family 31
• Gust on unnamed street in Stoneboro, E.D. 184, dwelling 126, family 135
• Elizabeth on Strawberry Hill, Stoneboro, E.D. 184, dwelling 191, family 202
• Tressa on Strawberry Hill, Stoneboro, E.D. 184, dwelling 187, family 198
• Adam in Sandy Lake Township, E.D. 175, dwelling 62, family 65
• Catherine in Sandy Lake Township, E.D. 175, dwelling 134, family 140  (Catherine and family had moved)

In 1920, I found

• John on Linden Street, Stoneboro, E.D. 94, dwelling 131, family 136
• Jacob and mother, Catherine, on Linden Street, Stoneboro, E. D. 94, dwelling 132, family 137
• Gust on Linden Street, Stoneboro, E.D. 94, dwelling 136, family 142
• Elizabeth on Linden Street, Stoneboro, E.D. 94, dwelling 138, family 144
• Tressa on Linden Street, Stoneboro, E.D. 94, dwelling 106, family 106
• Adam in Sandy Lake Township, E.D. 77, dwelling 122, family 122
• Catherine in Sandy Lake Township, E.D. 77, dwelling 57, family 57

Elizabeth Froman Proud died in 1927; her mother, Catherine (Saylor) Froman, in 1928.

In 1930, I found

• John on Linden Street, Stoneboro, E.D. 43-78, dwelling 88, family 88
• Jacob on Linden Street, Stoneboro, E.D. 43-78, dwelling 89, family 89
• Gust on Linden Street, Stoneboro, E.D. 43-78, dwelling 73, family 73
• Tressa on Linden Street, Stoneboro, E.D. 43-78, dwelling 67, family 67
• Adam on Hittle Avenue, Greenville, E.D. 43-25, dwelling 233, family 239
• Catherine in Sandy Lake Township, E.D. 43-53, dwelling 99, family 100

Greenville is located nearly 20 miles west of Stoneboro, still in Mercer County.  Rather than Adam having been the forgotten son, Tressa (Doyle) Wilson may not have known him because visits may have been less frequent.

Most of the siblings seemed, over the years, to gravitate to Linden Street in Stoneboro -- all except Catherine and Adam.  Perhaps it's the times in which I live when people move every few years, and move away from parents and siblings, that causes me to be so surprised at the proximity of the Froman siblings' homes.

By the 1940 census all of the siblings were gone.  Just as they'd been born within 9 years of each other, they all passed away during a 9-year period.  

No stories have been passed down so I have no knowledge of family dynamics among these Froman siblings.  How I wish I did!  But all things considered, they continue to impress me as a close-knot family.

--Nancy.

© 2014 Copyright by Nancy Messier. All rights reserved.

Old Homestead, New Photo, Street Address

In the post Old Map, Current Map, Homestead I wrote about overlaying an old map onto a new one using ProQuest's Historic Map Works™ to find the location of my g-g-grandfather Dixon Bartley's homestead.  I felt certain that Dixon's homestead was on Bruin Road, west of Daubenspeck Road.

I closed that post with the words,"While I still don't have a street address, I think it would be fairly easy to find Dixon's home -- if I could only persuade my husband to go on a road trip...."  I have not yet persuaded my husband to drive to Bruin with me but the next best thing was having my brother and sister-in-law take the trip, find the home, and take photos of it.  Thank you, Bob and Eva!!!  I am beyond excited:  I am thrilled!

Courtesy of Google Earth

I am pleased to know that the house and nearby building are still standing and appear to be in decent condition.  There are some changes but all in all the structure looks good (at least from the outside).  I'm so sad that beautiful, long board walk is gone, though.

Bob said the number on the mail box was 121, and since they'd driven westward from Bruin, it would have seemed as though it was Washington Street.  But as I look at a current map I see that Washington Street turns into Bruin Road at Daubenspeck Road.  Dixon's property (according to the old map) and the homestead (according to Google Earth) are located west of Daubenspeck Road.

Courtesy of Google Maps

I did a little more research just to be sure I had it right, mapping 121 Bruin Road and 121 Washington Street.  I believe the address 121 Bruin Road, Bruin (or Petrolia, as it's known today) is correct.  (Click on the map at left to enlarge it.)

I was able to locate the names and address of owners of the property at the Butler County, Pennsylvania, auditor's website.  For their privacy I won't include that information here.

When I finally persuade my husband to go on that road trip, I'll contact the owners and see if they might be willing to give us a "tour" of the property and buildings.  How fabulous it would be to stand within the walls of the home where my ancestors walked, lived, cooked, ate, entertained, and slept.

Now, for the next step:  learn the history of the building.  Did Dixon build it himself?  If not, who built it?  And when?  Who inherited it and who owned it from then until now?  What changes took place within its walls?  Do you suppose it's possible? 

–Nancy.

Copyright ©2010-2020, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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Old Map, Current Map, Homestead

Since first seeing this 1909 photo of my ancestor Dixon Bartley's home, I've wanted to know if it still existed and where it was located in Butler County, Pennsylvania.  I have an 1874 map of Butler County property owners and discovered two locations in Parker Township with "D. Bartley" as property owner.  The map names towns, railroads, creeks, school houses, a saloon, and oil wells; but no streets are named. 

A few weeks ago ProQuest offered free access to their Historic Map Works™ database during Library Week, 2013.  ProQuest is often available at public libraries but Historic Map Works was new to me.  I spent an evening searching for maps of the places where my ancestors lived, finally narrowing my search to Dixon's property. 

The map of Parker Township, Butler County, PA, below, is one I already had.  It is nearly identical to the one at Historic Map Works™ (except theirs is pink).  You can see "D. Bartley" twice on the road that borders and splits from the railroad track south of Martinsburg.  I wanted to know the name of that road.  I'm comfortable with modern maps but I really need road and street names to get around.

At Historic Map Works™ I was able to overlay the old map onto a current one.  The view, below, is at 100% opacity.  I couldn't see the current map behind the old map. 

I played with the opacity until finally, at 16%, I was able to see the old map with property owners' names and road locations and the new map with streets names.  The map overlay does not exactly align both maps but layers them so that the roads on both maps can be seen parallel to each other. 

Seeing both maps together, I realized that if Dixon's house existed on one of the two properties and if it were still standing, it would likely be on Bruin Road between Daubenspeck Road on the east and Snake Road on the west; or west of Snake Road.  By knowing the names of streets I hoped I might be able to locate the house.  I switched to the satellite view but didn't find it helpful.

I decided to begin searching at the Butler County Auditor's office on their Webmap Viewer to see if they showed photos of homes.  Even though I didn't know an address I hoped that the website would provide addresses.  It gave only property parcel numbers.  It was hard to tell much from the aerial view and the markings on the map.  Tired and exasperated, I went to bed.

I couldn't get Dixon's house on Bruin Road off my mind.  Now that I knew an approximate location I wanted to know if it still existed and what it looked like if it did.  The next day I decided to try a different approach.  I went to Google Maps and typed in Bruin Road, Petrolia, PA.  I love Google Maps street view because I can stop anywhere along the way and pan the camera 360°.  The little man in the box at lower right of the screen indicates where I am on the street and which direction I'm headed.  The views of homes are not high quality but I can get an idea what they look like.

Once there, I moved to street view and traveled along Bruin Road, a rural two-lane road.  I was looking for houses between Snake Road and Daubenspeck Road.  I knew from the photo of Dixon's home that there was a hill behind his house.  As I was traveling east along the road I noticed that the terrain on the right (south) was low and on the left (north) was hilly.  I began paying closer attention to the buildings on the left.   You see the home on the left in the photo below?  Is it?  Could it be?

Courtesy of Google Earth

I arrived at what I believe is Dixon Bartley's old home.  I was elated.  I tried to get closer for a clearer image but it was not possible.  What do you think?  The same house or not?

Image on right courtesy of Google Earth

It looks as much like Dixon's home as any I've seen though it looks somewhat the worse for wear.  The wide front steps are gone, replaced by a banister across the upper porch, and the detail on the porch posts on either side of the old steps is gone.  The steps on the left side of the house look like they may be gone, too.  The railing between the dormer windows is gone.  And that long, beautiful walkway is gone.  But the structure looks very much the same though not quite so loved.  This photo was taken in May, 2009.  The home may or may not still be there. 

Dixon passed away in April, 1900.  He divided his property like this:

• Thomas Bartley received 53 acres of land known as the James Dickson farm.
• Alvira (Elvira) Gerner received forty acres of the old homestead on which she then resided.
• Edward Boyed (probably Boyd) received 43 acres which was known as his mother Jane Bartley's share off the East end of the old homestead subject to the reserves in Fred Gerner's & Ace Steel's deeds, for roads & limestone. 
• Lavina Steel received 40 acres off the old homestead.
• Gilmore Bartley heirs, Ross Bartley, Clara Bartley & Edward Bartley, received 100 acres joining Henry Daubenspeck, Thomas B. Smith on the South, the widow Walley on the West, Elexander Thompson on the north, Henry Daubenspeck & other on the East. 
• Bell Steel & heirs received 50 acres in Fairview & Parker Township known as part of Thom Graig farm. 
• Dixon's executor was to sell 41 acres lying West of Edward Boyed's share, the money to be applied to paying Sula Bartley (widow of Dixon's son, Washington) & funeral expenses, the balance if any left & residue of the old homestead was to go to Dixson Steel.  [Did he mean Dixon Bartley or Ace Steel?]
• No division was to be made of the above property during Dixon's lifetime. 

It would be interesting to trace the ownership of the property from Dixon to now.  While I still don't have a street address, I think it would be fairly easy to find Dixon's home -- if I could only persuade my husband to go on a road trip....

I'm linking this post to The 2nd Annual Genealogy Blog Potluck Picnic at My Descendant's Ancestors.  Thanks for creating and hosting, Elizabeth.

This post was highlighted in Upfront with GNS's post, Upfront Mini Bytes, on May 31, 2013.

–Nancy.

Copyright ©2010-2024, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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Free Historic Maps . . .

. . . available through April 20, 2013.  As part of National Library Week ProQuest is making its Historic Map Works Library Edition database available at no cost to all.  Perhaps you will find an ancestor's name on an old property map, see the lay of the land when your ancestor walked, or make some other connection between land and your ancestor.  (UPDATED:  It appears that you must to to ProQuest to get to Historic Map Works.)

Look at your census transcriptions to find where your ancestors lived, then use the search box at the website to type in a location.  When a list of available maps appears, click on one of them to be taken to the map.  When the map appears, click on it to enlarge it.  It seems there's also an option to overlay an old map on a current one (though I haven't tried it).

Options available at the website include Browse, Search, Address, GPS Mapfinder, Illustrations, Directories, and Points of Interest.  Directories seem to be limited but the Illustrations section is extensive.  Do a broad search for a state, or a narrower search for a specific location.  When the results appear, use the F3 button on your keyboard (a search box will appear on the bottom of your monitor) to search for a location or name.  You will also be offered the options to print and/or save the map.

I just learned of this free resource this evening and haven't had time to search.  I'm hopeful!  What a generous offer from ProQuest.  Thank you.

--Nancy.
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Where On Earth Is Christian? -- Mappy Monday

You can read about Christian and his family.  You can read about Christian and his neighbors.  But I'm not sure you can read about Christian and his property (except that he claims property ownership in census reports).

The 1860 and 1870 U.S. censuses of Fairview Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania, both indicate that Christian/Christopher Garner/Gardner owned property.  (And he probably continued to own the same property in 1880 based on neighbors in the 1880 census.)  But if that's so, why is his name and the location of his property not shown on the 1874 map of Fairview Township, Butler County, Pennsylvania?  (You can enlarge the map by clicking on it.  It will open in a new window.  If you click again, it will enlarge again.)

On the right hand side of the map from about the middle up, you can see the names of Christian's near neighbors.  In fact, you can almost follow in the footsteps of the census takers in 1860 and 1870, going from south to north:
--> A. McAlroy (or Andrew McElroy)
--> A Story (Alex B. Story)
--> S. Wiles (Simon Wiles)
Christian should be here according to 1860, 1870, and 1880 census reports.
--> W. McGurvey (or Wm. McGarvy)

Other neighbors mentioned in the 1870 census and shown on the 1874 map include Mrs. Mortimer, T. Jamison, S. Farringer, and J. Kaylor, among others.

As far as I can see, C. Garner/Gardner's name does not on this map in the neighborhood or anywhere else.  Am I blind?  Have I missed C. Garner/Gardner/some other variation of his last name?

Do you ever feel like an ancestor just doesn't want to be found?  Hmph!

--Nancy.
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A Property Puzzle

To the right is the house my great-grandfather, Edward Jesse Bickerstaff, built. I think.  So I was told by my mom.  She said Edward Jesse was a carpenter.  Census records tell me that at different times in his life he was also a farmer (1900), a masonry contractor (1910), and a shearman at a lath works (1920).

This house is on Morris Street in Mineral Ridge, Ohio. E. J. and his family moved to Mineral Ridge after 1910 and before 1914.

I was scouting around at the Trumbull County Auditor's website the other day to see if I could find any information about the house.  There was a photo and layout of the house and it listed the owner, property and house values, and date it was built: 1908. 1908?!!!  How could E. J. have built the house in 1908 if he was still living in Jefferson County, Ohio, in 1908?

I continued to look around the auditor's website and came upon another interesting find.  In the image above you might be able to see the following:

BICKERSTAFF PLAT NO. 1 VOL. 30 PG. 71
BICKERSTAFF PLAT NO. 2 VOL. 35 PG. 107
BICKERSTAFF PLAT NO. 4 VOL. 37 PG. 61

I don't yet have much experience with property records but from the purchase of our own home I believe that a plat is named after a person who bought a somewhat large tract of land early on and resold smaller portions at a later date.  From all the research I've done, there were no other Bickerstaffs in Trumbull or Mahoning Counties before my E. J. and his family moved there.

The puzzle for me is figuring out how a house was built in 1908 and plats were named after my great-grandfather who didn't move to the area until after 1910.

I sent an email to the Trumbull County Recorder who has information about land records. I hope to sort this out.

While all of this doesn't technically have anything to do with genealogy, in my mind it has lots to do with family history.  Information about moves from one location to another, property purchases, and occupations helps me put flesh on the bare bones of the names and dates of people I never knew in person.

--Nancy.

Copyright ©2011-2019, Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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