Mt. Vernon County Seat – Knox Co., Ohio

 I visited Mt. Vernon from August 26 to September 2, 2011.  I am home now but I will continue to post highlights about the trip and archives that I visited and hopefully it will assist you in your research in these areas of Ohio.

Records Annex, Knox County, Ohio

Mt. Vernon is the county seat for Knox County, Ohio.  The courthouse is located just down from the Records Annex  at 117 High Street in Mount Vernon (Hwy 36) and not far from the round-about in the center of Mt. Vernon.   The Recorder’s office (for deeds) is on the floor when you enter through the main door.  The Record Center is in the basement.  I suggest you visit both for court documents such as probates, court records and more.  The clerks are all helpful and very nice.  The Recorders office has the indexes and books right out there for you to access.  The first index to 1843 contains a listing of old deeds.  I asked the clerk behind the counter and was told they go all the way back in the first book to 1803.  They will let you take photographs. 

Deed Index, Knox County, Ohio

I  tried to dig deep into early Knox County history looking for Kellers, Delano, Askins and more.  I have already studied the Spracklins and associated surnames of the children so I am confident I have them covered.  I decided this time to emphasize the other surnames. 

The Knox County History and Genealogical Society is also located at 117 High Street  in a room in the basement area right across from the Records Center office.  They have updated their website so you might want to check it out.   They are very small but I noticed that there was change from my last visit and they had been busy.  They have an obituary file, family histories, have books and more.  They are also very helpful.  Hours are short so check the website.  They are in the process of updating the cemetery books done by R. DeLauder so keep and eye out because they will make them even better.  Unfortunately they have to rebuild the database because the company that printed the books went out of business.  They could use volunteer help. 

Public Library of Mount Vernon & Knox County

The Mt. Vernon Public Library  (Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County) is located on Sugar Street and Mulberry St.  There is parking in the back of the library.  You can enter on Sugar (a narrow ramp up to the parking) or try Mulbery which is one way going south.  I visited the History room in the Mount Vernon Library which is heavy on Knox County sources.  They also have Mount Vernon newspapers on microfilm, family histories, city directories, school yearbooks and more.  It is worth a visit.  I spent two hours one day and another hour on another day at the library checking sources for obituary readings, plat maps and more. 

History Room of Library, Mt. Vernon, Ohio

The Mound Cemetery, one of the oldest in Knox County, is just north of the public library and even if you don’t have family buried there I suggest you visit it.  It is amazing, for there are a lot of huge, I mean huge, monuments in this cemetery.  I was overwhelmed by it.  You know me, I have seen a lot of cemeteries on my travels but this was awesome.  So once again get a map from the Delauder publications (Knox county books) so you can find the graves you are interested in and that may still be a challenge.  I will feature this cemetery in another post in the future. There are Kellers buried in Mound Cemetery.

Overview - Mound Cemetery, Mt. Vernon, Ohio

My recommendations are that if you want to do genealogical research in Knox County then you need to visit the Knox County Historical Society, Knox County History and Genealogical Society, the Mount Vernon Public Library and the Courthouse Annex and include the Morrow County Genealogical Library Annex as well.  Each has sources to offer and is worth a little of your time.  Now they might duplicate what each other has but because of the short hours of some of these respositories you may have to revisit a book or source and you will find it at one or the other location. 

I would like to encourage those of you with Knox and Morrow County roots, including the surrounding counties,  to submit some form of our family history:  copy of a bible, chart, booklet, reports to the historical society and genealogical societies.  It is really needed!!!!  I would also like to encourage you to volunteer your help if you live in the area or join as a member and learn about the people who built this State of Ohio.

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Mt. Gilead County Seat of Morrow County, Ohio – Est. 1848

Morrow County was in the title of my last post but I didn’t really mention it.  It stands on its own even though it is right next door to Knox and a portion was part of Knox.  

Morrow County was created from four other counties.  Bloomfield township was part of Knox County and is now South Bloomfield.  Morrow was established in 1848 but apparently it takes time to create a county and it was formally a county by 1849.  Where are the records?  Well the volunteer at the Morrow County Genealogical Society Library told me that the original books are still at the courthouse in Knox County.  So if you are researching ancestors from 1803 to 1848 you will need to include Knox in your Morrow County research on your list to study both counties and there records or other counties that were parents of Morrow like:  Richland, Delaware, Knox and Delaware.   I asked several times about records and whether they had been moved to the new county but it was not a clear cut answer so check the parent counties as well. 

Mt. Gilead Center round-about

I visited Mt. Gilead on August 30th a Tuesday during my trip.  The center of Mt. Gilead has an obelisk in the center yet it is still a lovely town.  I found it easy to drive from Mt. Vernon up Hwy 13 and then turned left onto Hwy 95 heading west to Mt. Gilead.  Mt. Gilead is the county seat of Morrow County.  The road took me through Chesterville where I stopped at the Maple Grove Cemetery to search out a Keller Monument.  I found the Keller tombstone in the far back area to the right.  Maple Grove is huge with this very large brick entrance which you cannot miss.  They do have a map on the board at the entrance but the writing is very tiny so bring your magnifier. 

Morrow County Genealogical Library Annex

After parking in the back of the Genealogical Library Annex in Mt. Gilead, I discovered that the Morrow County Genealogical Library Annex was open a bit earlier than 10 am so that was cool.  I spent a great time studying their family histories, Morrow County sources, and other county information.  There was a Sells/Lacy book that was new (not there in 2007) and I found Harriet Keller who married John Lacy in this book but not their children.  This is a very nice library with a nice collection and publications.  I found several obituaries one for Martha (Kees) Keller and another for Peter Keller.  Not all the newspapers in their collection are on microfilm.  A lot of the same publications and information is at this library that I had found for Knox so it made it nice for double checking something if I wanted. I like one stop shopping.  I tried to find the burial location of Harrison and Amarilla (Keller) Barr but they were not showing up in Crawford County information.  I did find some of their children?  More on this in a future post.

Morrow County Library Annex - next door to Main Library

After I finished up at the genealogical library I headed to Sames and Cook for lunch and had French Onion soup and homemade cherry pie which was delicious.  They are located on the main street in Mt. Gilead.  They are on Facebook so click the link on the name.  The proprietor wanted me to sign their guest book because I had come a long way.   They had the most wonderful tin ceiling.

Sames & Cook Restaurant (A little fuzzy)

Well, I got lost and headed west instead of east back to Mt. Vernon and couldn’t figure out why I was entering Marion County.  Giggle…I finally righted myself.  I seem to do that when I get tired.  I found the Rivercliff Cemetery tucked in off Center Street at the west end of town.  It is huge.  I was again looking for Keller monuments and found one this time with no writing on it.  However there were two tombstones in front of it about 3 feet or more?  This is a very big cemetery and you need a map which I found in a cemetery publication.  

On the way back from Mt. Gilead I turned south on Hwy 314 in Chesterville and headed south to Hwy 229.  I wanted to take a picture of the area that was John and Mary Keller’s land and John and Lydia Spracklin’s land.  I found John Keller’s off of Hwy 194 down to the Keller Road which was unmarked but a deadend.  I might be slightly to north but it is the general area for John and Mary’s land. 

John and Mary Keller's land approximately!

John Spracklins land was more tricky.  I east and back up Cochran off Hwy 229 and about the middle before the Wayne Township sign I took several photos.  Green Valley Cemetery is in Wayne Township while John and Lydia’s land is just on the border of Liberty and Wayne townships. 

Wayne Township Sign - Cochran Road

 

 

John and Lydia Spracklin's Land - approximately!

I will share my findings for Maple Grove and Rivercliff in a future post with more photos.  I am on the trail of Keller’s trying to see if I cannot figure out who John Keller’s parents are and collecting more information.  I was told by a man doing research at the Morrow County Genealogical Society Library that finding parents in the early 1800′s in Ohio was very hard to do?  Sigh!

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