Harmar Cemetery, west Marietta, Ohio

Harmar Cemetery is located across the Muskingum River in the western part of Marietta.  It is a little tricky to get too.  We were coming north on Hwy 7 and exited off at Gilman, if memory serves, and then drove to Stone Street.  This sign points the way and states that due to weather and flooding the earliest stones were destroyed.

Harmar Cemetery in Marietta.

Here are two overview photographs of this old cemetery.  As I walked around this burial site I felt sad because it was not in very good shape with broken stones and large empty areas where there maybe once were tombstones.

Harmar Cemetery looking west

Harmar Cemetery overview photos

There is a publication about this cemetery:

Source:  Burials in Harmar Cemetery, Marietta, Ohio, A Bicentennial Project of the Muskingum Valley Builders 4-H Club, April 7, 1977, Washington Co. Historical Society. 

“The Table of Contents Reads: Prefatory Essay, Abbreviations & Symbols, Over-All Key Map of Harmar Cemetery, Maps of Section 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 5, 7, Burials in Harmar Cemetery, Index to Additional Family Names, Civil War Memorial, Fragmentary Stones. “

Dr. Owen P. Hawley writes in the first chapter .  He describes the history of the cemeteries in the area and cites names of the burials giving information on the individuals mentioned.  He researched the Ohio Company records, history books, city records, the newspaper and more.  Mr. Hawley is the author of the Mound Cemetery book I have mentioned in past posts.

Here is the table tombstone for Noah Fearing:

Noah Fearing Tombstone

The tombstone of Henry Fearing 1798 to 1894 and more:

Henry Fearing Burial in Harmar

This is the Civil War Monument in Harmar:

Harmar Cemetery Civil War Memorial

More Fearing tombstones and monuments:

More Fearing family tombstones

This is Paul Fearing and his wife’s monument.  You will note a stack to the right.  In Ohio they pile the broken stones up into this type of stack which makes it impossible to read them for they are very heavy.

Paul Fearing”s Tombstone

William Skinner and Mary Chambers etc.

William Skinner in Harmar Cemetery

Levi Barber and Elizabeth Rouse’s tombstone

Levi Barber 1777 to 1833 and Elizabeth his wife

Here are 3 tombstones for the Humphreys family.  As you can see they are flaking and it is difficult to read them:

Flaking tombstones in Harmar – Humphreys

Here is another look at the geography of Harmar Cemetery which you can see is on a hill and highway 7 is right along the western border.  The book I mention above talked above slippage of the graves making it hard to figure out what graves belong to whom.

On this particular day we visited, it was cold, very wet and mushy so I stayed pretty close to the bottom of the hill rather than go exploring up into the higher areas.  What I saw are large areas without tombstones and that makes me wonder how many have disappeared over the years with debris covering them and more.

Find A Grave has this cemetery listed as well with 908 stones read with some more details than I list here.

Harmar Cemetery looking northwest

I have visited Mound, Oak Grove and now Harmar Cemetery looking for clues.  So I feel I have a good idea of why it is so difficult to find Solomon’s grave site.

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In search of the final resting place of Solomon Goss & Olive (Scott) Goss

Now that I have shared my findings regarding Solomon Goss’es will, I would like to share about my search for the final resting place of Solomon, Olive and David and Solomon Goss Jr’s two babies, while visiting the area of Marietta in September 2011.

Sadly, I was not successful in locating their graves.  I did give it a very good try.  Finding them with their stones would answer a lot of questions.  Here is what I did.

1.  I personally visited as many cemeteries as I could during the time I had. I noted their establishment dates like Rainbow, Harmar, Mound, Oak Grove, Berg, Rockland, and Waterford. Mound and Oak Grove are in the town of Marietta and they have monuments to the early pioneers. They also have DAR and SAR memorial plaques and flags:

Blog Posts about various cemeteries I visited:

1. Marietta and Washington County – A Dream Come True!, dated Sept. 13, 2011.  This post featured a little about Mound and Oak Grove and mentions my visits to Rainbow, Watertown, Rockland and Harmar.

http://sgossfamily.wordpress.com/2011/09/13/marietta-and-washington-county-a-dream-come-true/

2. Rainbow Cemetery was featured in the post The Lakes: Rainbow Cemetery, Washington County, Ohio, dated October 31, 2011:

http://sgossfamily.wordpress.com/2011/10/31/the-lakes-rainbow-cemetery-washington-co-ohio/

3. The Family of Daniel Goss and Lydia Ackley Goss, April 9, 2012 features Rockland Cemetery in Belpre.

http://sgossfamily.wordpress.com/2012/04/09/the-family-of-daniel-goss-and-lydia-ackley-goss/

I will present more of my photographs from my cemetery tour of Washington County in the next posts:  Mound, Oak Grove, Harmar, Berg, and Watertown.

2.  I studied as many of the published cemetery books for Washington County, Ohio, targeting the Marietta area and the Fearing Township area. The farther back a cemetery was recorded the better.  Some of these publications  are with the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.  I made an Excel spreadsheet as I studied the FHL records to keep track of my progress.  You will find that here in the form of a PDF:  SolomonGossCemSearch.  Some involved searching the newsletters of the genealogical and historical society for publications of the cemeteries in Washington County.  These publications cover established cemeteries not private ones.  I did not have time.

The Tallow Light is featured in the PDF – SolomonGossCemSearch.  It is the main publication of the Washington County Historical Society.

3. On my visit to Marietta, I visited the Washington County Public Library Genealogical and Historical Annex and searched their records, publications, maps and articles including the Jerry Devol collection. Mr. Devol has passed but he did leave his genealogical research which includes a lot of his cemetery research.  The volunteer at the annex, Lila Hill, is very knowledgeable and helpful and a member of the Washington Co. Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society.  Here is their website:  http://www.washogs.org/index.html

4.  I worked with Jean Yost, President of the Sons of the American Revolution Marietta Chapter who was very helpful.  They had a listing on their website of soldiers of the American Revolution from the area and Solomon Goss was included under their “Spirit of ’76 Patriots.”  http://mariettasar.com/spirit76.htm  Of course, there is more information and names at their website and it is definitely worth studying.

5. Mr. Yost gave me the name of the current owner of Solomon’s land in Fearing Twp. We both personally visited the land and met the owner. I do not publish the owners name out of respect for his privacy but I am willing to share if you contact me or leave a comment.

The current owner of Solomon Goss’es land told me he had never found nor located any burials on his property.  I took his word.  He further stated that he had lived there all his life and his parents had been there for a good 80 years.  He mentioned that there were other burials sites on farms near him. The area is very hilly and the roads are gravel.  They are very rough, very steep and have deep ruts.  My husband was brave in our rental car and drove up a steep hill with huge ruts to the Berg Cemetery which is on top of a big hill.  We did venture up to one area east of Solomon’s land which placed us on a ridge.  Again we climbed steep hills with gravel roads to get there.  My husband knocked on a door but no one was home. The farm was filled with lots of equipment, buildings, houses, junk and overgrown grass.  It was not a good idea to explore their land because we did not have permission and that would be trespassing.  So we decided to back off.  Much to my sadness, I was told that some of the farmers had plowed over burials.

6.  I studied online versions of cemetery lists for Washington County.

a.  Find A Grave is a good place to start.  They have Rainbow, Berg, Watertown, Harmar, Mound, Oak Grove, Oak Grove, Rockland and many more. I did not visit the Stanleyville Cemetery in Fearing Township but you will find it on Find A Grave. Caution:  Online listings are not always complete so check a publication as well or search out other alternatives.

b. The Washington County Cemetery Index was very helpful:  http://wchs-ohio.org/cem_index.htm  It gives a listing of the cemeteries and townships they are in and it also has a surname index.  There are no Goss listings.

c. Cemeteries in Fearing Twp are:

• Berg Church 1st Protestant 1846,
• Berg Old
• Saint Jacobs,
• Chapman
• Cherry
• St. Jacobs
• Flanders 1874,
• Gerkin,
• August Spindler Farm/Hobby Farm (Goldsmith) 1822,
• Lynch Church 1842,
• Miller
• Minor
• Mt. Ephraim,
• St. Jacob Church,
• Stanleyville 1806,
• Zimmer Family (Tuttle Family) 1817.

As you can see I was having trouble finding establishment dates for these cemeteries. I did not find any Goss names in any of these cemeteries.

In evaluating these cemeteries in my search I had to consider the religious affiliation (Protestant, Catholic, German etc.) as well.  See my  SolomonGossCemSearch PDF listed in #2 above for more detail.

The Washington Co. Public Library Annex has Cemetery readings for all except Gerkin, Cherry, and Miller.

7.  I called several historical societies like the one in Belpre for the Rockland Cemetery to find out where the grave of Daniel Goss was located and was informed they were updating their cemetery book.  I tried the Marietta Cemetery department but struck out.

8.  I was told by the President of the Washington County Historical Society that Marietta used to be a big shipping port and the ships would come in and the disease they brought would race up the Muskingum River valley wiping out many people.  They would bury people quickly and fast back in those days.  Did Olive and David get caught in one of these epidemics?

9.  There were floods on the Ohio and Muskingum River that destroyed graves.  Harmar Cemetery suffered greatly which is one of the oldest.

Solomon died in 1825.  Olive his wife and David his son probably died earlier before 1810 so those events took place 187 years ago.  See my previous post regarding Solomon’s will and my conclusions about the deaths of Olive and David.  I have seen how quickly a cemetery can be overcome with fallen and broken stones and the elements.

10.  The town government did not keep records of the cemeteries in the early years and many were moved as progress came.

The book “Mound Cemetery, Marietta, Ohio” by Owen Hawley is an excellent book published in 1996 by the Washington County Historical Society.  This book gives the history of the cemeteries in Marietta. I will share some of it in the post on the Mound Cemetery in following posts.

“Pioneer Cemeteries of Washington County,”  compiled by Mrs. C.R. Sloan.  ”Washington County (Ohio) Cemeteries 1789-1940,” by Mrs. Helen Hill Sloan, 1964.

Burials in Harmar Cemetery, Marietta, Ohio, Washington Co. Historical Society, April 1977

Oak Grove Cemetery, Marietta, Ohio Burials 1860-1920, by the Washington County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society

11.  The area around Rainbow was once a thriving community and it is possible that Solomon, Olive and David and Solomon Goss Jr’s two babies are buried in that area of Washington County, north and west of Marietta and west of Fearing Twp.  I personally visited Rainbow Cemetery.   I have posted about that cemetery.  See number #1 above for the link to the post I wrote on Rainbow.

12.  I have researched Solomon and Olive’s children trying to see if any information would shed light on the burial of their parents.  I have asked of descendants and cousins if they have any ideas or knowledge of the burials.

13.  Early vital records in Washington County were consulted.  Marriage is more widely published and death is very difficult to find before about 1867.

14.  I consulted the newspaper clipping files of the Washington County Historical Society and all I found was the estate notice that I have published in several posts in this blog regarding the Solomon Goss estate.  Here is a listing of Marietta newspapers I found in a Tallow Light publication.  As you read this list you see that there is a gap of missing issues right in the 1825 time period when Solomon died.

Marietta Newspapers and the years.

15.  I tried to find Obadiah Scott Jr’s resting place. He was Olive Scott Goss’es brother.  He is said to have been buried in the Waterford Cemetery/Round Bottom.  So we visited that cemetery but did not find any tombstone showing his burial. A Tallow Light publication did list him in the Waterford Landing Cemetery (Waterford Cemetery) on pg. 48 third from the bottom “Scott, Obadiah died 30 Nov. 1827 in 57th y.”

16.  I did find a listing for Wine Rood and Anne Andrews Rood and the Rood family in the Mound Cemetery in Marietta.  The Mound Cemetery book mentioned in #10 above has some good information about them.  Unfortunately when I visited the Mound Cemetery and searched out were they were buried I found no tombstones and that verifies what the Mound Cemetery book states. They are buried left of Rufus Putnam’s tombstone monument in the back north corner. Anne Andrews Rood is the sister of Elizabeth “Betty” Andrews Spracklin. I will talk about what I know about the Rood family in a future post.

In summary, I was traveling in an unfamiliar area with little time, so I had to target specific cemeteries and records.  I  feel that if the descendants of Solomon and Olive were to do more searching, it would require cultivating friendly connections to seek out further possibilities.  I did meet a lot of people while visiting Marietta and hopefully these contacts will remember me and something might turn up.

So Solomon, Olive, David and the two babies of Solomon Goss Jr. remain missing and I continue to dig into other records to learn about more them.

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A Little about Mary “Polly” Coburn Devol Goss!

Mary or rather Polly was the wife of Solomon Goss (Jr.).  She was a member of the Devol family who were rather prominent in the Washington County, Ohio area.

I promised to share a little of what I know of the Devol family.  My curiosity of course was always with Solomon and Olive (Scott) Goss and any leads on them.  However, I was also a little curious about where Polly came from.  On my trip to Ohio in August and September of 2011, I finally found the link for Polly to her parents.  I feel much better now!

Apparently I was not the only one that was confused with all the Polly Devol’s that I was finding.  A Robert McCargar wrote a letter on May 18, 1970 to a Mr. Devol in which he is discussing the identity of different Polly Devols.  Unfortunately the letter from Mr. Devol is not included in the correspondence of this file.

“There must be a least two Mary Coburn (Polly) Devols.  Polly #1, as described by you was born but the date is unknown m. Gilbert Devol. Jr. on March 25, 1790 and d. ca. 1802.  She had ten children. 

Polly #2…was born July 5, 1795, according to records in my family.  The Old Northwest Genealogical Quarterly, Vol. IV., p. 86 says that a Rev. David Young married Solomon Goss, Jr. and Polly Devol., Nov. 19, 1812.  Two independently written histories of the Goss family say that Mary Coburn Devol married Solomon Goss Jr. on that same date.  One of these historians says she died April 1865.  This Mary Coburn (Polly) Devol is certainly distinct from the one you describe.  She had eleven children, among them, one named Gilbert Devol Goss. (Polly #2 was my great, great, great-grandmother.) ”  Mr. McCargar was living in Ann Arbor at the time. 

Source:  Goss Family and other files:  FHL#940938 Items 4-5.

The Washington County Public Library in Marietta has an Annex for the genealogical and family history located down the street from the main library to the south.  It is on the corner.  See the links to the right for Ohio.

The Main Library in Marietta, but not the genealogy annex

Mr. Jerry Devol, who passed in the late 1990′s, was quite the researcher having documented many of the cemeteries and the families in the area.  All his work is still housed at the library genealogical annex.  The Washington County Genealogical Society is also located there along with their holdings.  It is a really great archive.

The Marietta Library Annex and Me!

They had in their possession a book titled Rhode Island Genealogical Register, Jan. 1983, Tiverton Wills.

Devol. Jonathan, of Ti, gentleman.  Will dated 6 Aug 1782, proved 2 Sep 1782, pg: 321-322. Mentions: Wife Mary Devol., Sons Gilbert Devol, Silas Devol presumable dec., Stephen Devol., Daniel Devol, Benjamin Devol, & Jonathan Devol Jr. The unnamed heirs of my son Silas Devol. Witn. Charles Hull, Philip Briggs, Thos. Howland.  Note:  The Gilbert Devol mentioned is Sr. I believe?

They also had a big book titled “Devol Early Settlers in Rhode Island (1639) and in Ohio (1788)” with the coat of arms on the front cover.  This book was researched and compiled by Jerry Barker Devol (same as the man mentioned above in the letter) and printed and published by Herbert Gordon Devol.  There are also file folders containing information about the families in the area. I tried Worldcat to search for this book and see where it might be housed and was surprised to see that there is another copy in the Marietta College Library but nothing else was suggested.  The Family History Library had Jerry Barker Devol titles but not this book exact book.  So you will have to call or contact the annex.  The volunteer who does a lot of the research for those who inquire is very eager to be of service.

The Devol Book – it’s very detailed!

Mary Coburn “Polly” is listed on page 127  under Gilbert Jr., here are some highlights:

• III.  Mary Coburn “Polly”
• b. Marietta, Washington County, North West Territory, 5 Jul 1795
• d. Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa, __5 Jul 1795.
• m. Solomon Goss, Jr., Harmar, Ohio 19 Nov. 1812, by Rev. David Young, Vol. 4, page 86
• b.  Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania (?), 5 May 1788.
• d. Oskaloosa, Iowa, 2 Nov. 1864
• Son of Solomon, Sr. and Olive (Scott) Goss.
• Resident Fearing Township, Washington County, Ohio, 1830

On page 65 Polly’s father and mother are listed – Gilbert Devol and Mary Coburn:

• V. Gilbert, Jr. 10c
• b. Tiverton, Rhode Island, ______1766
• d. Point Harmar, Marietta, Ohio, 25 Apr 1812. Ref.: Western Spectator, Marietta, Ohio
• Buried Harmar Cemetery
• m. 1. Mary “Polly” Coburn, Washington County, North West Territory, 25 Mar 1790, by Benjamin Tupper.
• b. Sturbridge, Worcester County, Massachusetts, __ ___ 1770
• d.
• Daughter of Major Asa and Mary (McClure) Coburn.
• m. 2 Rachel Peek, Washington County, Ohio, 14 Jul 1803, by Rev. Nehemiah Davis,
• b. Connecticut 1786
• d.
• Rachel m. 2 Oliver Shute, Washington County, Ohio, 6 Oct 1821, by Rev. John McMahon
• b. New  Jersey, 1786.
• d.

The Devol book goes onto describe more about the life and activities of Gilbert Devol, Jr. with sources.  He was a blacksmith in Point Harmar (west of Marietta) and some of his work has survived.

Polly’s siblings are and I believe these were the children of Mary Coburn from the same book:

Harriet Devol b. about 1795, d. about 1826, m. George Dunlevy 8 July 1812, b. 1776 in Virginia and died 28 Dec 1836, Marietta, Washington Co., Ohio.  He remarried to a Mrs. Eliza (Buell)  Buell, 20 April 1826.  Eliza was born 22 August 1798 and d in Indiana 26 March 1885.  She was the daughter of Timothy and Sarah “Sally (DeWitt) Buell.  Widow of Salmon D. (DeWitt) Buell. Both are buried in Mound Cemetery, Marietta, Ohio, Range 64, Lot 1.

 Clarissa Devol b. about 1791, Farmer’s Castle, Belpre, Northwest Territory m. Joseph Cook (III) 29 November 1812, born 20 July 1785 Long Plain, (Bristol Co.)  Massachusetts, d. 3 August 1823, Belpre, Washington Co., Ohio. Joseph was the son of Captain Joseph Jr. and Elizabeth (Barker) Cook.  Residence Wood County, Virginia then Belpre 1813.  Kept a tavern “Cook House.” They are buried in (Riverview) Cemetery, Parkersburg, West Virginia.

Mary “Polly” Coburn Devol – our subject in past posts and wife of Solomon Goss (Jr.).

Lucy b. 18 Dec 1797, Marietta, d. 17 January 1867, Danbury Twp., Ottawa Co., Ohio m. Isaac Rice 25 November 1816,  b. 7 May 1792, Brattleboro, Windham Co., Vermont and died 14 April 1845 Danbury Twp., Ottawa Co., Ohio.

Gilbert Devol III b. 25 March 1800, Marietta, Washington Co., Ohio and died 24 July 1871, Lancaster, Fairfield Co., Ohio  m. Cynthia Goodwin 25 Mary 1823, she was born 6 April 1803 in Canada and died 8 June 1870 in Lancaster, Fairfield Co., Ohio. They had one child Sophia S. Devol who died after 1897 in Belpre, Washington Co., Ohio?

With his second wife Rachel he had

Harrison Devol b. about 1804 in Washington Co., Ohio and died 29 May 1873 Staunton Twp., Miami Co., Ohio m. Jane Orr 11 June 1835,  b. about 1806 in Pennsylvania and died 6 January 1870 in Staunton Twp., Miami Co., Ohio

Benjamin Franklin Devol b. about 1809 Point Harmar, Washington Co., Ohio and died after 1870, Prairie Creek Twp., Vigo Co., Indiana, m. Sarah C. Turnham 16 December 1841, she was born before 1823 in Spencer Co., Kentucky and died about 1868 in Vigo Co., Indiana.  They had two children Athelinda b. before 1813 m. Myhew Rollins.  Austin Devol b. Feb 1813 and died after 1840, m. Elizabeth Blue 28 November 1838.

The book Abstracts of Wills and Administration of Estates of Washington Co., by Genevieve Mary Potts about 1946 is at the FHL in book and microfilm form, here is the book form FHL#977.198 P28p and I have run into it in other archives. This book is a good start to located estates for families and the Devols, Goss and many others are listed.  Be careful mistakes have been made in the transcribing so check the actual record in the probates of the county.

Contacting the Washington County Library Local History and Genealogy Annex is at this link.

http://www.wcplib.lib.oh.us/locations.htm#hist

Don’t forget the Marietta College’s Special Collections and Digital Collection – Manuscripts and Documents of the Ohio Company in particular for land records regarding the families in the area.  The archivist I interacted with when I visited was very nice and very helpful.   http://digicoll.marietta.edu/oca/

The Washington County Historical Society is also very good and if you are doing any research in the area you need to contact them as well.  They have a lot of the old records from the courthouse.

Regarding the cemeteries in Washington County, Ohio.  I will write a post or two about this topic as regards to my visit there in 2011 with sources and photographs.  Mr. Devol mentions Harmar one of the oldest but it is right on the Muskingum River and has been flooded.  The other is another old cemetery the Mound.

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Marietta and Washington County – A Dream Come True!

For years I have wanted to visit Marietta and do genealogical research in Washington County, Ohio.  I have been studying Solomon Goss for years and this was a major goal of mine.  I visited the area on my recent trip from Friday September 2 to Wednesday September 7th, 2011.  It was a very busy visit.

I picked up my hubby at the Columbus airport on September 1st, 2011 and we drove back to Mount Vernon and the Apple Valley Resort condo for one more night.  Checking out the next day we drove down to Gambier and took a quite visit to the Oak Grove Cemetery there looking for more Kellers.

Heading south we drove down Hwy to Hwy 229 to Hwy 31, 586 and 146 where we came out in Zanesville. It was an interesting scenic drive over country roads that went through beautiful farmlands.  From Zanesville we got onto Interstate 70 and headed east to Interstate 77 to go south to Marietta.  We stopped at a Denny’s for some lunch and discovered a very different Denny’s.  This one was a vintage Denny’s.  The waitress said there were about 80 built but only around 40 left operating.  This one had an Art Deco appearance.  It was really easy to get to Marietta from Zanesville and took about 1.5 hours maybe less.  Know that I know the way I see that it was pretty easy.

Washington County Historical Society

We arrived in Marietta in time to visit the Washington County Historical Society which is located north of the city in a sort of group of official looking brick buildings.  There was highway work going on so it was a little confusing to find the entrance.  I spent the first part of my visit getting signed up for their membership and studying their cemetery listings.

The sad part was when the President Ken Finkel tried to find the original will of Solomon Goss.  It was missing!!!!!

Someone had taken it back in 1991 and left a note with initials.  Mr. Finkel was very unhappy and tried another document that was also missing.  The rest were okay for I searched for them on the following Tuesday when I visited again.

I had traveled a long way to see this will of Solomon Goss’s and this was very disappointing to me.  Taking a document like this makes it so that those who are descendants will never get to see it.  I can just imagine that it is now lost forever.

I checked the courthouse later in the week and they didn’t have it.  A lot of original documents were given to the Historical Society and they are taking very good care.  This was not their fault.  I felt bad that I upset Mr. Finkel really cares about the records of Washington County.  I do too.

PLEASE DON”T TAKE ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS!

There is a Mound Cemetery in Marietta that is very old.  They have a monument to the Revolutionary war soldiers.  They also have a Pioneer Monument to the lost graves of those buried in the area.  I have been trying to figure out where Solomon Goss, Olive (Scott) Goss, their son David and two of Solomon Goss (Jr’s.) babies might be buried.  Many tombstones are lost, flooding has taken its toll in 1913 and again in 1937?  There are readings of the many cemeteries in Washington County at the Historical Society and the Library but these are the larger cemeteries not the family ones on private land that may exist now or are gone totally.

Mound Cemetery Entrance

We had dinner at the Lafayette Hotel in the downtown area of Marietta.  It is located on the Ohio River and there is a little park there to view the river and see the sternwheeler boats tied up.  It was very lovely inside the hotel.  The dining room looked like it had been a theatre at one time and apparently they do occasionally hold events.  I did not book us into it because their website worried me with the broken links.  My husband was told they were updating it?  We stayed at the Comfort Inn on the other side of Interstate 77th.  It was okay but not the best Comfort Inn that I have stayed at.

Lafayette Hotel in Marietta

The Ohio River at Marietta

The next day we went to the Washington County Genealogical Society which has its collection in the library annex at the Washington County Public Library Local History and Genealogy Annex which is a completely different building than the main Library and situated a block south on the corner.  Again I looked at cemetery records, family history files, and more.  They had microfilm to access as well.  It was a very nice library.  I joined the Washington County Genealogical Society for $8.00.

Washington County Library Local History & Genealogy Annex

The next cemetery was Oak Grove which also had a Section 19 where they had moved many of the old pioneers to that area of the cemetery from the old locations in Marietta.  From the book about Mound Cemetery (very good book) I figured out that there were probably about 3-4 cemeteries that had disappeared because of removal to other cemeteries in Marietta.  I will talk more about this and the cemeteries of Washington County in a future post. Oak Grove Cemetery is on a hill with one lane roads that wind around.  It is a very hilly and scary cemetery because of these narrow roads, so be careful.

Oak Grove Section 19 Pioneer Monument

My husband said the man from the Marietta Cemetery Department called and left a message saying he didn’t find any Goss in Marietta.  So he did search.  The question is whether he did all cemeteries in Marietta or just Oak Grove.  I will let you know when I figure that out.

We also visited the Campus Martius Museum.  There is a three floor museum in the building and out buildings including the original Ohio Land Office that Rufus Putnam worked out of.  Also his home has been rebuilt inside the museum and you are taken on a tour of it.  It was so hot I had to leave because I started to get a little shaky.  Rufus and I are fast friends for I have seen the location of his home in North Brookfield.  I shall do a tribute post to this man, he knew my family and was quite a player in the history of the southeastern Ohio.   The name of the museum is pronounced like Marcius without the “t,” and is a Latin word.  We did not have time for the Ohio River Museum which would have been very interesting.

I have to admit I am confused.  I have seen documents coming from Campus Martius regarding genealogical research but apparently that has changed.  I tried to find out on my visit just what the status was for researching at this museum but I did not make much progress.  I was told it was not a research library but maybe you can visit by making an appointment.

The weather in Ohio had been fine till I picked up my hubby at the Columbus Airport on Thursday September 1st.  It had turned hot and muggy.  They did not get hit with Hurricane Irene but they were just about to get hit with heavy rain from Tropical Storm Lee. The Washington County Fair was taking place while we were there so we visited on Saturday in hot, muggy weather to see the hynotist at 6 pm.  It was a fun performance but I decided we needed to eat in a cool restaurant and they had an Applebee’s near our hotel.  It worked.  We would be missing the Sternwheeler Festival coming up in the next week.

On Sunday, September 4th we toured Washington County and visited several cemeteries:  Rainbow, Watertown, Rockland and Harmar.  I will discuss my findings in future posts.  I was looking for Goss, Scott and Lake burials and I wanted to see the general state of condition of the cemetery and get a feel for the distances.  We stopped in Belpre where the Historical Society is located but they were closed for the weekend.  I did call them before I headed to Ohio and they were very helpful in locating a grave in the Rockland Cemetery.  They are redoing the cemetery publications.

Belpre Historical Society

Sunday we ate at Austyn’s which was very fancy and located in the heart of Marietta.  Later was the Buckley House on our last night which was even more fancy.  I had salmon with peach sauce and it was delicious.  The Buckley House is an old Victorian home that used to be a B&B so it is a little unusual for a restaurant.  The theme is black and white with touches of red.  A really happy end for a last night in Marietta.

Tuesday I revisited the Washington County Historical Society and dug into the court documents for Solomon Goss, Obadiah Scott and Wine Rood.  They have indexes and finding aids.  I used white gloves to look a the original records.  Mr. Ken Finkel the President helped me try to find Obadiah Scott’s burial but it was not happening in published records.  He should be in the Waterford Cemetery.  He also helped with trying to locate a deed regarding Solomon Goss.

After the historical society we headed to the Marietta College in the rain.  My goal was the Special Collections.  I was greeted by Linda the archivist and she helped me to further dig for clues and answers.  I highly recommend a visit to this College which is in the heart of Marietta.  Linda is wonderful and friendly and very helpful.  They have a lot of information about the Ohio Company and Rufus Putnam on their digital website.  Very good.

Marietta College Special Collections

On Wednesday our last day, I visited the Washington County Courthouse probate office, recorders office and clerk of the courts.  It was a wonderful visit.  In fact, all my visits to courthouses in Ohio have been very enjoyable and the staff have been helpful and friendly.

Washington County Courthouse records

My time was up and we headed back to Columbus via Interstate 77 north and then west on 70.  We stopped in Zanesville and visited the Pioneer & Historical Society (Muskingum County) there and took a tour.  Did you know Zanesville was on the Muskingum River and did you know it was four towns before becoming one? Rufus Putnam and family were big in the history of the area?  Oh, it was also like Marietta part of the Underground Railroad.

Ah yes, Solomon Goss’s land.  Where is it?  That is for another post in the future.  It is on private land so I cannot reveal too much.  I would like to point out that a cousin gave me information years ago and it is wrong!  So be careful.

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