52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – Week 14: Brick Wall – The father of David Shotts (1760-1825)

This is my second year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow. I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.

I smiled when I saw "brick walls" as the theme for this week. This is going to be a difficult topic because I have many brick walls (as many of us do). I can just open up my RootsMagic database program and check out any line, and there will be a missing parent at the end.

Some of my lines, I’d like to keep my research close to hand and not spill it out just yet, in case I wish to write articles about my findings, especially those that were difficult to solve with indirect or negative evidence. However there  are other lines that I can probably share and perhaps this blog post will help. Someone out there might have a clue to help me, or actually have the answer.

The third great-grandfather of my husband was David Shotts. According to what I have recorded in my database, David Shotts was born 1 March 1760. The only source I have about his birth, however, is an image of his tombstone in the Shotts Farm Cemetery in Denver, Ross County, Ohio, which only gives the year of his birth and death: 1760 – 1825. The Findagrave memorial gives the exact birthdate.[1]

Many books about the history of Ross County have a paragraph or two about David Shotts. These history books were very popular in the late 19th century, but the information in them must be considered secondary, even if the stories were written by descendants. Stories could be elaborated.

In Pioneer Record of Ross County, Ohio, this was written about David:

"David Shotts, father of Mrs. Margaret Bishop, emigrated to Ohio from Virginia in the year 1810; was in the Revolutionary war, and stood guard at Frederick city; was also in the Whisky insurrection. He died, in the year 1825, in the following manner: He had been away from home and was returning, when he was overtaken, hear his own home, by a severe thunder storm, and took shelter under a large oak tree, which was struck by lightning; he was there found dead; there were seven other trees struck near the spot, from appearances, at the same time. Mr. Shotts was quite a hunter, and in early days killed several bears, some two or three on his own farm. His family consisted of ten children, to-wit: Catherine, Jacob, Elizabeth, Margaret, Hannah, Mary, Daniel, Sophia, Susan, and Jonas, all living except Catherine.”[2]

Another book gave similar information:

“David Shotts entered Huntington [township] in 1809. He was a native of Virginia, and was in the Revolutionary war. He also assisted General Washington in the suppression of the whiskey rebellion. He died 1825. He had been away from home, and on his return was overtaken by a severe thunder storm He took shelter under a large oak tree which was struck by lightning. He was found there dead. His family consisted of seven girls and three boys, viz: Catherine, Jacob, Elizabeth, Margaret, Hannah, Mary, Daniel, Sophia, Jonas, and Susan. Catharine and Daniel are dead. The others, eight in number, are remarkable for their longevity, the youngest being over sixty years of age, and the oldest eighty-five. Margaret (or Peggy) married Jacob Bishop, a cousin of Robert Bishop, Sr.”[3]

So my assumption that he was born in Pennsylvania might be false. These two accounts, give the birthplace as Virginia, though it was quite possible that he passed through Pennsylvania on his way to Ohio.

A later book, published in 1902, had more information. Under his grandson, David C. Shotts’ biography, additional information is revealed, however, David never knew his grandfather.

“David C. Shotts, a civil war veteran and substantial farmer of Huntington township, belongs to a family which has had representatives in Ross county since the first decade of the nineteenth century.  David and Mary Shotts were Germans who became immigrants to Virginia in or about the year 1800, and nine years later joined the army of movers westward bound, finishing their journey on the banks of the Scioto. Shortly after arriving in Ross county, the head of the house bought 290 acres of land in Huntington township, on which he lived until his death and which has ever since been in the possession of his descendants. David Shotts was killed by a stroke of lightning in 1825, but his widow long survived him and lived to be ninety-six years old. They had ten children: Cathrine, Elizabeth, Hannah, Mary, Sophia, Margaret, Susan, Jacob, Daniel and Jonas.”[4]

David C. Shotts was the son of Daniel Shotts and Mary A. Bishop. Though he never knew his grandfather, he did know his grandmother, who may have told him the story of their life.

In the biography of James C. Gragg, a few sentences where written about Margaret (Shoults) Gragg, granddaughter of David and Mary Shotts. Along with that a few sentences about David:

“David Shotts was a scout under “Mad Anthony” Wayne, was the first settler of the family in Ross County, and met his death during a thunder storm, in 1825, while seeking shelter under a tree. His wife was Mary Wagner, who, as a small girl, gave Gen. George Washington a drink of water on one of his surveying tours in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.”[5]

None of these tales give the parents of David Shotts. They are all consistent about how he died, that he served in the Revolutionary War, and arrived in Ross County, Ohio in the early 19th century.

I have done some research on David. I searched some in the Scioto Gazette looking for an article about his death by lightning, but didn’t find anything about it. I do have his probate record.[6] I have not yet found the deed for his purchase of the property. Deeds for Shotts purchases in the indexes are for a much later time period. He appeared in the 1820 census, so was in the county at least by then.[7]

1820 U.S. census, Ross Co, Ohio, Huntington twp, p 307

To do list:

1. Find out if the index is modern and what happened to an earlier one.

2. Check tax records of Ross County. This might give a clue as to when he arrived in the county.

3. Review the records gathered in 2016 at the genealogical society in Chillicothe, Ohio. There might be clues there.

This is research I had done a long time ago, when I didn’t keep very good records. I do have written notes in spiral bound notebooks. These need to be checked as well and then recorded or scanned for future needs.

---

[1] Find A Grave, database with images (http://www.findagrave.com), Memorial# 15626499, David Shotts, Shotts Farm Cemetery, Denver, Ross County, Ohio.

[2] Isaac J. Finley and Rufus Putnam, Pioneer Record and Reminiscences of the Early Settlers and Settlement of Ross County, Ohio, (Cincinnati: Self-published, 1871), 25-26.

[3] History of Ross and Highland Counties, Ohio with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches, (Cleveland: W.W. Williams, 1880), 288.

[4] Henry Holcomb Bennett, ed, The County of Ross: A History of Ross County, Ohio, from the Earliest Days, with Special Chapters on the Bench and Bar, Medical Profession Educational Development, Industry and Agriculture and Biographical Sketches, (Madison, Wisconsin: Selwyn A. Brant, 1902), 686.

[5] Lyle S. Evans, ed, A Standard History of Ross County, Ohio: An Authentic Narrative of the Past, with Particular Attention to the Modern Era in the Commercial, Industrial, Civic and Social Development, V. II, (Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Co, 1917), 841.

[6] “Probate case files, ca. 1796-1910,” Probate Court, Ross County,  “Probate case files, no. 7758-7864, ca. 1830-1886,” Case no. 7863 (images 1795-1803), David Shotts, Daniel Shotts, administrator, digital images, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org), citing film 2203706.

[7] 1820 U.S. census, Ross Co, Ohio, pop. sched., Huntington twp, p 307, David Shotts, digital image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed 13 Jan 2017), NARA M33, roll 92.

Copyright © 2019 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.