My Trails into the Past

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 o...

We began the search for David Shotts’ estate records from a newspaper notice submitted by the administrator, Daniel Shotts asking for debtors to pay up and anyone with debts against the estate to come forward. The complete story about the notice is here . Because the notice was found in the newspaper, the probate records were searched for David Shotts. In the Testamentary Docket, the index gave two pages for David Shotts. [1] Index for Testamentary Docket showing David Shotts, decd. So on page 180, there was a summary of what happened when Daniel Shotts came to the October Term 1825 term on the 14 October 1825. “On motion and it appearing to the satisfaction of the court that the widow has relinquished her right of administering. Ordered that Letters of administration be granted unto Daniel Shotts on the estate of David Shotts decd on his being qualified and giving bond and security to the satisfaction of the court whereupon the said Daniel Sho...

In the 27 October 1825 issue of the Scioto Gazette , a newspaper published in Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio, there was a notice put in by the administrator, Daniel Shotts for the estate of David Shotts, late of Huntington Township in Ross County. [1] Scioto (Chillicothe, Ohio) Gazette, 27 Oct 1825, p. 3 The administrator of the estate was responsible for collecting any debts owed to the estate and any debts that the estate owed to someone. This newspaper ad, that was likely in several consecutive issues, was asking that anyone who has a claim against the estate to “present them within one year” and that those who do owe money to the estate were “requested to make immediate payment.” This is also a clue to me that there should be probate records concerning this estate. So on to FamilySearch.org to search for a probate record for David Shotts around 1825 in Ross County, Ohio. The records are online there but are browse only records.  David Shotts was my daught...

Daniel Shotts and Mary Ann Bishop were my children’s third great-grandparents on their father’s side. On 28 March 1831, Daniel Shotts married Mary Ann Bishop in Ross County, Ohio. [1] They had obtained their license on the 19th of March and were married nine days later by Pleasant Thurman. 1831 Ross Co., Ohio Marriage Daniel Shotts & Mary Ann Bishop So what can be learned from this record? There were no other records with Pleasant Thurman listed on the same page. Some of the marriages on the page did identify if the officiant, perhaps as M.G. (Minister of the Gospel) or even by identifying the church. So was Pleasant Thurman a minister? He could also have been a justice of the peace. Searching in Ross County records on Ancestry.com, I found Pleasant Thurman living in the area in the 1820, 1830, 1840, and 1850 censuses. The 1850 census for Chillicothe, Ross County, Ohio, gave no occupation. He was sixty-six years old. [2] In an abstract of death notices from ne...

I found the newspaper item where Jacob Bishop requested the partitioning of a piece of property in Huntington Township, Ross County, Ohio, and listed all of the children and heirs of Henry Bishop and Catherine Schreyer. [1]   You can find that post here . Then on 31 May 1838, another item was found in the Scioto Gazette . [2] It was a notice of the public sale at the Courthouse in Chillicothe of the same tract of land from the previous notice.  Here is the transcription. Ross Common Pleas. Scioto (Chillicothe Ohio) Gazette , 31 May 1838, p 3 Jacob Bishop,                    }        vs.                                }  Petition for Partition . David Bishop and others   } By virtue of an order made in the above cause at the April Term...

It's been a while since I posted. I am currently working on my husband's Bishop line. I found this notice in the Scioto Gazette , a newspaper published from 1835 to 1854 in Chillicothe, Ohio, which is in Ross County. [1] Family names that were searched in this newspaper were GORRELL, SHOTTS, and BISHOP. What brought my attention to this article was Mary Shotts’ name along with her husband, Daniel Shotts. These are my husband’s paternal 2nd great-grandparents. Mary’s maiden name was Bishop. Notice. “Notice,” Scioto Gazette, 18 Jan 1838, p3, GenealogyBank.com ( http://www.genealogybank.com  : 17 Nov 2014). JACOB BISHOP, of Ross county, Ohio, hereby gives notice To David Bishop, who resides in Indiana, Amos Bishop, Mary Shotts, late Mary Bishop, and her husband, Daniel Shotts, Eliza Toops, late Eliza Bishop, and her husband Tho- mas Toops, and Catharine Bishop, all of whom reside in Ross county, Ohio; Daniel Bishop who resides in Ross county, Ro- bert Bis...