Mapping Three Farms

     Maps have always interested me.  When I was young I use to enjoy following our trips in the station wagon on whatever maps I could obtain.  I even had a map collection for a while.  I wish I had saved those maps.   
    While searching for information on a 3G-Grandfather, Joseph Homan I came across a page that gave me the location of his farm.  It was located along the banks of the Scioto River in Concord Township, Delaware County, Ohio.  
     Joseph's daughter, Elizabeth married Ira Fox of Jerome Township, Union County, Ohio.   I had originally found them in Union County but when I couldn't find their marriage record I had to broaden my search. Their marriage record was recorded in Delaware County.  The marriage record brought me to the land in Delaware County.  
     Ira and Elizabeth Fox settled on Ira's father's farm and upon the death of Chester Fox, Ira took over the farm.  Between 1851 and 1863 Ira and Elizabeth had seven children.  The youngest was Elizabeth Josephine (Lizzie) Fox.  
     Tragically, Ira drowned in the Scioto River on 9 Sep 1865.  I am still looking for newspaper accounts about this tragedy.
     Lizzie didn't go to far afield to find a husband.  She married Hardin R. Pickett.  That marriage lasted over 52 years.
     Studying these farms got me interested in creating a map to show the locations of these three farms.  The border between the two counties is between Concord Road and Jerome Road (at least in the vicinity of the Homan and Fox farms). All three farms are within five miles of each other.

To see the aerial view, change the Base map to Satellite View. 

Be sure to zoom in to get a better view.

Marriage Record of Ira Fox and Elizabeth Ann Homan¹

1. "Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-1994," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/X8X1-SY2 : accessed 21 Aug 2013), Ira Fox and Elizabeth Ann Hamons, 1850.


2. Google Maps Engine, Google Imagery 2013 Digital Globe, State of Ohio / OSIP, U.S. Geological Survey, USDA Farm Service Agency.

The Barn is Gone

The Home of Henry Fox, 2007

     My mother's maternal grandparents grew up in Jerome Township, Union County, Ohio.  Since they are buried there we decided to visit Jerome during a trip to Ohio in 2007.   In the years prior to that trip I had ordered a copy of a county atlas in order to try to locate the farms of my ancestors.  In the atlas they had an image of the Farm and Residence of Henry Fox¹ and as well as its location.   Henry Fox is my Great-Great-Granduncle.

The Barn of Henry Fox, 2007 

    What a surprise we had when we arrived in Jerome.  The house and barn were still standing and in reasonably good condition.   I knocked on the door to contact the owners but to no avail.  Later I learned that a real estate developer owned the house.
     Today as I was trying to create a new map to share on this blog,  I noticed on Google Maps that there was some construction in the area.  The barn was gone.  By using Google Earth's historical imagery I was able to determine that the barn was taken down sometime between 2007 and 2009.  I wish that I could have gone inside the barn back in 2007.   It is disappointing that we can't save all our old buildings.  In the name of progress, I guess.  There is something about walking in the same place that your ancestors once walked.





1.  Atlas of Union County Ohio,  A.S. Mowry, C. E.,  Harrison, Sutton & Hale, Philadelphia, 1877

2. Google Maps Engine, Google Imagery 2013 Digital Globe, State of Ohio / OSIP, U.S. Geological Survey, USDA Farm Service Agency.

Becoming a Citizen in 1820 Harrison County, Ohio

Harrison County Courthouse, Cadiz, Ohio

     A Union County, Ohio history pointed me towards some ancestors who might have lived in Harrison County. So when we were visiting relatives in Ohio, we arranged a side trip to coincide with a day when the Harrison County Genealogical Society was open.  After a drive through rural southeastern Ohio, with a stop at a cemetery, we arrived in Cadiz. I was blown away with the original documents that were filed with the genealogical society.  Evidently the local government had thrown many original documents in the dump but the society members rescued these papers.  Holding pages that were written between 1820 and 1850 was an experience.
     One of the documents was a request for citizenship by James B. Norris. The document was loaded with important genealogical information. Below is an image of the page with a transcription.

State of Ohio
Harrison County

To the Honourable the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas in and for the County of Harrison and the State of Ohio.   
Now Sitting
 James B. Norris aged fifty years Born in the County of Wilshear (Wiltshire?), England & Parish of Dunhead, Removed from that to Novoscota [sic] and from thence to New York, arrived at New York within The United States of America from Novo Scota on the twentieth day of May in the year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred & seventeen owing allegience to George the third King of the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland and intending to settle in the State of Ohio hereby reports himself for the purpose of being admitted to the rights of Citizenship within the United States, and prays that a record may be made of the same

July Ten 1820    J B Norris

     Finding this type of document certainly proves that local societies and archives are an essential resource for researchers.  It is also a shame when agencies (governmental or otherwise) are unable to store documents and artifacts with historical value.  

An Abolitionist Ancestor

   Last night's episode of the genealogical television show, Who Do You Think You Are followed the search for Zooey Deschanel's ancestor who had been involved in the abolitionist movement.  I have ancestors who were on both sides of the slavery issue so John G. Norris holds a special place in my family tree because of his opposition to slavery.  
     The obituary of John Gilbert Norris appeared in the Marysville Tribune on May 20, 1874 page 2 Column 3.  In part it says, 

"Rev. John Gilbert Norris ... was reared in the Episcopalian faith but June 25, 1822 he joined the M. E. movement. In October 1829 he left the Methodist Episcopal  because they censured him for preaching against slavery. In 1830 he united with the Protestant Methodists but as they commenced to affiliate with slavery, he helped organize several churches in Ohio called Anti-Slavery Methodists."

     Preaching against slavery got John G. Norris into trouble in 1829 - more than thirty years before the Civil War.  It must have been difficult to speak out in opposition when you know there might be a severe cost for that opposition.  I'm glad that I had such ancestors.