THE DOCUMENTED TRAVELS OF ANCESTOR ICHABOD CLAWSON -
THROUGH AT LEAST SEVEN STATES - 1,600 MILES - 50 YEARS OF MIGRATION
(and some biographical information).
(and some biographical information).
Ichabod Clawson is my one ancestor who has put the most miles under his feet here in the U.S. that I'm aware of, not including military ancestors (most never went beyond Ohio). Although I know various places he landed, I do not know what routes he traveled yet. Image above from the Library of Congress.
1) About 1780 -- Born in New Jersey according to the 1850 census. Some of his children in later census records when asked about birthplace of parents, indicated New York, among other places. With ever-changing boundaries as the country moved forward, this could have been true literally, or could have meant after it became something else.Vermont became a state (previously New York) in 1791.
2) 1807 -- Married in Fairfield, Vermont - There is a Nathan Closson listed in the 1800 census (age 26-44 age bracket) but Ichabod only appears in the 1810 (Shabod Clossin). Here he married Catherine Beden in 1807. Why did he go to northern Vermont in the first place? Who is Nathan?
3) By 1822 -- Shelby County, Ohio - arriving with children born in Vermont, between 1816 (when his son Abraham was born in Vermont, and 1822 when his son Phillip was born in Ohio). Wife Catherine also died during that period as he married Clarissa Davis in Shelby County, Ohio in 1825. In 1833 he married Alice King.
4) By 1840, Owens County, Indiana, probably traveling via the National Road, built 1811-1837 Cumberland, Maryland to Vandalia, Illinois. He probably traveled with horse or oxen and a wagon, and in a group as family also migrated there. In 1841 he was listed as owning 80 acres and by 1850, his wife Alice, son Philip and three unknown Shiler children had moved on to...
4) By 1840, Owens County, Indiana, probably traveling via the National Road, built 1811-1837 Cumberland, Maryland to Vandalia, Illinois. He probably traveled with horse or oxen and a wagon, and in a group as family also migrated there. In 1841 he was listed as owning 80 acres and by 1850, his wife Alice, son Philip and three unknown Shiler children had moved on to...
5) Coles County, Illinois - If Find-A-Grave had not become a thing, I would have never known he moved to Coles County, probably again following the National Road. His grave marker still stands which gives us his death date of 1854. There is not a stone for his wife although the 1855 Illinois census for their son P.B. Clawson (Phillip Benjamin Clawson) has someone in his household, gender not specified, born between 1785-1795. This could be step-momma - the only date we have for her is age 49 in the 1850 census and she would have raised him from age 11 on. The age is a bit off (not unusual) but it could be someone from Phillip's wife's family, I just don't know...
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• 6 Jan 1779 possible birthdate from a Coles County, Illinois gravestone
• 1781 b. NJ (1850 census Indiana)
• 1802 age 21
Note: see my blog http://straybranches.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-lassforeel-story.html about why most transcribed marriage records for where Catherine Beden and Ichabod Clawson are in error.
• 1809-1810 son Henry born VT (died Indiana)
• 1810 census Fairfield VT
• 1811 daughter Lydia Catherine born VT (died Ohio)
• 1811-12 Thought to be when Catherine Beden Clawson's brother Benjamin migrated from Vermont to Ohio.
• 1813 daughter Sophia born VT (died Ohio)
• 1816 son Abraham born VT (died Ohio)
• 1816 Volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora 10 April 1815 is considered to be the cause of the Year Without A Summer of 1816. People literally froze to death and starvation ran rampant in many parts of the world. Google "Year Without A Summer 1816" for more info. The heavy clouds of volcanic ash caused heavy migrations out of New England because it snowed every month that year, causing widespread crop failure.
• 1819 Shelby County formed from Miami County
• 1819 Shelby County Oh Tax List - no
• 1820 Shelby County Oh Tax List - no
• 1820 census – US-wide search for all Ichabods – nothing found, but mis-spellings are notorious and may not have picked up with website algorithms.
• 1822 son Phillip born in Ohio. His middle name was Benjamin - for his uncle, for a statesman or president, or did they just like the name? (Phillip later moved on to Nebraska where he died in 1907)
• 1822-1825 wife Catherine died
• 1824 Perry Township, Shelby County, Ohio Tax List - Early Ohio Tax Records by Esther Weygandt Powell. He was found in this.
• 1825 Erie Canal finished - Hudson River in Albany, New York to Lake Erie in Buffalo. The Miami and Erie Canal ran from Cincinnati to Toledo, Ohio and was very close to Shelby County, Ohio. This would have been very convenient, if not for the fact that it was not completed until 1845. Well, there was that pesky Niagara Falls in the way too.
• 1825 marriage Shelby County, Ohio to Clarissa Davis
• 1826 - 1829 wife Clarissa died
• Ohio Tax Records, 1800-1850 tax assessment (I am not clear as to what this tax consisted of - real estate? personal property? combination?) Clicking through the pages to try to find this information (familysearch.org) only says: Most are based on personal property, real estate, and income.
1828 Salem Township, Shelby, Ohio, United States
1829 Salem Township, Shelby, Ohio, United States
(1830-1833 not listed, familysearch.org, accessed October 2019)
• 1830 - Shelby County, Ohio (census), no female of the appropriate age listed.
• 1831 - Mar 3 - MAPES, Benjamin to Sophia CLAWSON – consent: Ichabod CLAWSON (Gateway To The West, Vol 2). She died in 1861. 1850 census birth: Ohio (1860 Census birth: Vermont.) (Always hope for more than one birthplace source!)
• 1833 Shelby County, Ohio marriage Alice King, born 1801
• Ohio Tax Records, 1800-1850 tax assessment (continued)
1834 Salem Township, Shelby, Ohio, United States
1835 Salem Township, Shelby, Ohio, United States
1836 Salem Township, Shelby, Ohio, United States
1837 Salem Township, Shelby, Ohio, United States
1838 Salem Township, Shelby, Ohio, United States
• 1840 Owen County, Indiana (census)
• 1841 Land Patent Owen County, Indiana (land patent records) - 80 acres
• 1850 Owen County, Indiana, b. NJ; wife Alice, son Phillip b. Ohio + 3 unknown Schiler minors.
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FURTHER RESEARCH:
• Land records for every state he was known to live in. This could fine-tune the timeline.
• Where was he for the 1820 census? Because of the horrible writing and transcriptions thereof, it may require a page by page search in Fairfield, Vermont, or Shelby County, Ohio.
• Were there other early settlers to Shelby County who migrated from Vermont?
• Who are his parents? Our Ichabod is not the son of Ichabod Clawson 1764 md. Sally Safford living in Rockingham, Windham County, Vermont because ages don't gel - this Ichabod was born in 1764 and his son Ichabod in 1807.
• Were there other early settlers to Shelby County who migrated from Vermont?
• Who are his parents? Our Ichabod is not the son of Ichabod Clawson 1764 md. Sally Safford living in Rockingham, Windham County, Vermont because ages don't gel - this Ichabod was born in 1764 and his son Ichabod in 1807.
• Canadian records? Ichabod lived very close to the Canadian border. An early researcher noted a John S. and Lydia of New York purchased property in Crosby Township, Leeds County, Ontario, Canada in 1811 (not exactly close to Fairfield unless one goes across country and down the St. Lawrence River), and may have followed a possible brother (Caleb, a British officer) to Canada. Interestingly, they have a goodly number of Ichabods in their branches.
• Why did Ichabod and his family go to Ohio in particular? Other Clawsons of Shelby County seem to all be descended from Virginia Clawsons according to years of dedicated researchers whom I have been in contact with over the years.
- Brother-in-law Benjamin Beden had moved there about a decade earlier, and before the War of 1812 so it's not like he stumbled across the area during battle.
- A quick search of the 1850 census which lists people's state of birth shows several people in Shelby County from Vermont.
- Shelby County did not fall within the Virginia Military District so Revolutionary Soldiers receiving land for service would not have been a factor.
• Most of all, how did Ichabod and others physically make it to Ohio? The canal systems between Vermont and western Ohio were not in full swing yet and neither were railroads.
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