52 Ancestors: James Gorrell (1770-1826): The Immigrant Ancestor?

 
I know very little about the parents of Amos Gorrell (1804-1890). They were James Gorrell and Sarah Milholland. I first learned their story in a little book called Gorrell Family History by Joseph J. Gorrell.[1]

This little book has no source citations and is a genealogy of their seventh son, Joseph. All I have is a photocopy of the book that I received from my father-in-law, George J. Gorrell, when I started researching my husband’s lines.

So what was said about James in this book? That he was born in 13 Mar 1770 in Ireland. James and his brother, William, were sons of Oliver Gorrell and were soldiers under Robert Emmet, the Irish insurrectionist. They were captured by the English and exiled. William, the younger brother, settled in Virginia and James, the elder, in Beaver County, Pennsylvania.

It said he married Sarah Milholland but gave no date. She was born 5 Apr 1771 in Virginia. They had 21 children, with 19 growing to adulthood. The children listed were:

“James Gorrell, born 1790; Samuel Gorrell; Moses Gorrell; William Gorrell; Thomas Gorrell (who died in infancy); John Gorrell; Joseph Gorrell; Amos Gorrell; Jesses Gorrell; Thomas Gorrell (second son of same name, the first having died); Sarah (Gorrell) Hazlett; Elizabeth (Gorrell) White-Bliss; Hanna (Gorrell) Thompson; Rachel (Gorrell) Thurston; Lettie (Gorrell) Foughty; Eliza (Gorrell) Reynolds; Mary (Gorrell). . . married some unknown.”

These children were listed boys first, then girls, so there was no indication of birth order. The rest of the book followed Joseph’s line.

James died 1 Dec 1826 and was buried at Old Salem Presbyterian church in Beaver County, Pennsylvania.
It went on to say the family moved from Beaver County to Ohio, settling in Trumbull Co about 1831. Joseph’s family continued to Ossian, Indiana; Jesse’s family to New Haven, Indiana in 1845; and Lettie Foughty’s family to Ossian in 1851. Sarah Milholland Gorrell died at the home of her daughter Lettie and son-in-law, John W. Foughty in Columbiana County, Ohio on 18 Feb 1849.

Well, what is true? I have found Gorrells in census records of Beaver County.

1800	Name	Males	Females	Total
	James Gurl Sr	1 over 45	1 over 45	2
	James Gurl Jr	4 males under 10 1 males 10-15 1 male 26-44	2 fem under 10 1 fem 26 to 44	9
1810	Name	Males	Females	Total
	James Gorrell	males under 10: 4 males 10-15: 3 males 16 to 25: 1 males 26 to 44: 1	females under 10: 2 females 16-25: 2 females 26 to 44: 1 females over 45: 1	15
	Eliza Gorrell		females over 45: 1	1
1820	Name	Males	Females	Total
Ohio Twp	James Gorrell	males under 10: 2 males 10-15: 1 males 16 to 18: 1 16 to 26: 4 males 26 to 44: 1 males 45 & over: 1	females under 10: 2 females 10 to 16: 1 females 16-25: 2 females 26 to 44: 0 females over 45: 1	15
1830	Name	Males	Females	Total
Ohio Twp	James Gorrell	males under 10: 2 males 10-15: 1 males 16 to 18: 1 16 to 26: 4 males 26 to 44: 1 males 45 & over: 1	females under 10: 2 females 10 to 16: 1 females 16-25: 2 females 26 to 44: 0 females over 45: 1	15
Ohio Twp	Samuel Goral	1 male under 5 1 male 30 to 39	1 female 40-49	3
Ohio Twp	Sarah Goral	1 male 15-19 1 male 20-29	1 female 15-19 1 female 20-29 1 female 50-59	5
Ohio Twp	Joseph Gorrell	2 male under 5 1 male 20-29	1 female 20-29	3

While in Pittsburgh, I researched at the Carnegie Library up in the Pennsylvania Department. There were a lot of books about Beaver County and I searched each one for Gorrells: books on Wills, Deeds, Warrants & Patents, and Marriages and found no Gorrells listed. I did find some listings of Gorrells in Tax listings during the time period of 1804-1840, which make sense considering the Gorrells found in the census records.

On my Pittsburgh road trip, I went up to Beaver County to see this Salem Presbyterian Cemetery. All of the online listings of the cemetery had no listing for Gorrell. Could it be that no one read the tombstones? Could he have been missed? I wanted to see for myself.

So after getting lost, out of the trees we came to a clearing and there on the left was the New Salem Presbyterian Church and on the right was the New Salem Presbyterian Cemetery. Jackpot!

New Salem Presbyterian Church, Ohioville, PA

As I walked along the grassy cemetery, I could see why a burial for James Gorrell would not be found. There were so many blank spaces and open spaces that it was entirely possible the tombstone was long gone. There were not many with dates that old. It could have been made of a temporary material such as wood. Or perhaps a stone material that has deteriorated or broke beyond repair. Or perhaps it was stolen or sunk into the dirt.

New Salem Cemetery - Where James Gorrell is buried?

Anyway, here is a photo of the cemetery and church that the James Gorrell family might have attended and where James Gorrell is probably buried.

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[1] Joseph J. Gorrell, Gorrell Family History (Winamac, Indiana: n.p., rev. 1930 by Edmund C. Gorrell, rev. 1953 by Janet Gorrell Meyer.), p. 1.