George Scruby – Our Casbon Journey

Five Families, Eleven Weddings

April 20, 2020April 20, 2020 Jon CasbonLeave a comment

Slocum … I’ve heard that name before; I wonder if she’s related?

Today’s post is an outgrowth of the two previous posts, in which I explored the connections between the Casbon and Aylesworth family trees. While conducting my Aylesworth research, I came upon the name of Martha Slocum, who married Philip Aylesworth, a member of the fourth generation of his family in America and a direct ancestor of many living Casbons.

The name Slocum was not new to me. William Wallace Slocum married Mary Casbon in Ohio, 1862.^[1] After Mary died, he married Emma Payne in 1865 (see “From England to America, Part 8”).^[2] Mary Casbon was the niece of Thomas Casbon, the original immigrant from England, and Emma Payne was the niece of Thomas’s wife, Emma Scruby. Emma Payne’s mother, Sarah Scruby, was married to James Payne of Meldreth, Cambridgeshire, England.

A little digging showed that Martha and William Wallace Slocum were distantly related. They were both descended from Giles Slocum ( ? –1682), who immigrated from England to Rhode Island before 1648.^[3] Martha was descended from Giles’s son Samuel and William Wallace from Giles’s son Eleazar. Martha was in the fifth generation of descendants and William Wallace in the seventh.

So now I knew that the Slocum, Aylesworth, and Casbon families were all related to one another.

Furthermore, with William Wallace Slocum’s marriage to Emma Payne, the Slocums became connected to the Scruby family, who were already related to the Casbons through the marriage of Emma Scruby to Thomas Casbon and later through the marriage of Mary Payne (Emma Payne’s sister) to James Casbon.

Are you confused yet?

I decided to plot out all the ways that the Slocum, Aylesworth, Scruby (including Payne), and Casbon families were related. I added a fifth family, Priest, because I was aware of multiple connections on their part as well. Here is the result of my efforts.

Diagram depicting interconnected family trees of the Slocum (green), Aylesworth (orange), Scruby (pink), Casbon (blue) and Priest (yellow) families. Superscript numbers denote generations, with “1” depicting either the original immigrant (Slocum and Aylesworth) or the common ancestor (Scruby, Casbon, and Priest); colored lines indicate parent-child relationships and arrows depict direct descent through multiple generations; marriages are connected by black lines (Click on image to enlarge)

You’ll need to enlarge the diagram to see details.

As the title suggests, these five families are connected to each other through eleven marriages. Here is a summary of the connections for each family:

Slocum:
– Connected to Aylesworth through the marriage of Martha⁵ Slocum to Philip⁴ Aylesworth, 1762^[4]
– Connected to Casbon through the marriage of William Wallace⁷ Slocum to Mary³ Casbon, 1862
– Connected to Scruby through the marriage of William Wallace⁷ Slocum to Emma³ Payne, 1865
Aylesworth:
– Connected to Slocum through the marriage of Philip⁴ Aylesworth to Martha⁵ Slocum, as above
– Connected to Casbon through the marriages of Mary Adaline⁷ Aylesworth to Sylvester³ Casbon, 1860,^[5] and Carrie Belle⁹ Aylesworth to Amos³ Casbon, 1900^[6]
– Connected to Scruby through the marriage of Louisa⁸ Aylesworth to George³ Scruby, 1872^[7]
– Connected to Priest through the marriage of Elliot⁷ Aylesworth to Caroline² Priest, 1848^[8]
Scruby:
– Connected to Slocum through the marriage of Emma³ Payne to William Wallace⁷ Slocum, as above
– Connected to Aylesworth through the marriage of George³ Scruby to Louisa⁸ Aylesworth, as above
– Connected to Casbon through the marriages of Emma² Scruby to Thomas² Casbon, 1830,^[9] and Mary³ Payne to James² Casbon, 1876^[10]
– Connected to Priest through the marriage of James² Scruby to Phebe² Priest, 1824^[11]
Casbon:
– Connected to Slocum through the marriage of Mary³ Casbon to William Wallace⁷ Slocum, as above
– Connected to Aylesworth through the marriages of Sylvester³ Casbon to Mary Adaline⁷ Aylesworth and Amos³ Casbon to Carrie Belle⁹ Aylesworth, as above
– Connected to Scruby through the marriages of Thomas² Casbon to Emma² Scruby and James² Casbon to Mary³ Payne, as above
– Connected to Priest through the marriage of Mary Ann³ Casbon to Elijah² Priest, 1853^[12]
Priest:
– Connected to Aylesworth through the marriage of Caroline² Priest to Elliot⁷ Aylesworth, as above
– Connected to Scruby through the marriage of Phebe² Priest to James² Scruby
– Connected to Casbon through the marriage of Elijah² Priest to Mary Ann³ Casbon, as above

Three of the families—Aylesworth, Scruby, and Casbon—are connected by marriage to all four of the remaining families. The remaining two families—Slocum and Priest—are connected to three of the other four families. Of the marriages, one took place in England, one in Rhode Island, six in Ohio, and three in Indiana.

The chart shows how entangled family trees can become. I’m going to coin a new term for this. Instead of a family tree, this is a family hedge! It’s an accurate description of what we see, with branches from several families intermingling and creating complex relationships.

I suspect this occurs more often than we might realize, but we might not see it because we’re not looking for it. Have you discovered any hedges in your family history?

[1] Ohio, Huron County, Marriage Records, vol. 1 [1855–1866], p. 350; imaged as “Ohio, County Marriages, 1789–2013,” FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZ65-99 : accessed 21 Jul 2016) >Huron >Marriage Records 1855–1866 vol 1 >image 220 of 306.
[2] Ohio, Huron County, Marriage Records, vol. 1 [1855–1866], p. 465, no. 2779; imaged as “Ohio, County Marriages, 1789–2013,” FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZ65-99 : accessed 22 May 2018) >Huron >Marriage Records 1855–1866 vol 1 >image 277 of 306.
[3] “Giles Slocum (abt. 1623 – aft. 1683),” article, WikiTree (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Slocum-10 : accessed 9 Apr 2020).
[4] James Newell Arnold, Rhode Island Vital Extracts, 1636–1850, volume 1 (Providence, R.I.: Narragansett Historical Publishing Company, 1891), p. 4; imaged at Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/3897/ : accessed 2 Apr 2020) >Vol· 01: Kent County: Births, Marriages, Deaths >image 432 of 637.
[5] Indiana, Porter County, Marriage Record Book 2 [Dec. 1850–Jun. 186], p. 458; Valparaiso (Indiana) Public Library.
[6] Indiana, Porter County, Marriage Record, vol. 12 [Nov. 1898–Oct. 1901], p. 326; browsable images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/005014498?cat=608739 : accessed 8 Apr 2020) > Film # 005014497 >image 548 of 922.
[7] Ohio, Holmes County, Marriage Record, vol. 5 [1868–1877], p. 217; browsable images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/004024929?cat=229343 : accessed 8 Apr 2020) > Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013 >Holmes >Marriage records 1868-1877 vol 5 >image 491 of 649.
[8] Ohio, Wayne County, Marriage Record, vol. 4B [1843–1851], p. 377; browsable images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/004260649?cat=335541 : accessed 26 Aug 2016) >Film # 004260649 >image 550 of 644.
[9] Church of England, Melbourn (Cambridgeshire), Marriages, 1813–1837, p. 59, no. 175; browsable images, ” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/007549343?cat=210722 : accessed 5 Feb. 2019) >image 318 of 710.
[10] Indiana, Porter County, Marriage Record, vol. 4 [Sep. 1871–Jan. 1875], p. 348; browsable images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/005014495?cat=608739 : accessed 8 Apr 2020) > Film # 005014494 >image 693 of 928.
[11] Ohio, Wayne County, Marriage Record, vol. 4A [1835–1843], p. 91; browsable images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/004260649?cat=335541 : accessed 8 Apr 2020) >Film # 004260649 >image 77 of 644.
[12] Ohio, Wayne County, Marriage Record, vol. 4 (1-2) [1844–1856], p. 140; FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/search/film/004260672?cat=335541 : accessed 8 Apr 2020) > Film # 004260672 >image 97 of 720.

William Scruby … or, “Aha,” Continued

February 23, 2020 admin3 Comments

In my last post I presented this news item from the Porter County (Indiana) Vidette of
27 August 1891.

Untitled news item, Porter County Vidette, 27 August 1891

I explained how finding this article had been an “aha” moment for me because it proved that Mary (Payne) Casbon and Emma/Rachel (Payne) Slocum were sisters. With this post I want to show how the article confirmed my belief that William Scruby was the son of James Scruby of Wooster, Ohio and the cousin of Mary and Emma/Rachel.

I need to step back 45 years earlier, to 1846, when Thomas Casbon and his family arrived in Ohio after leaving England. They chose to come to Wayne County, Ohio, because that is where James Scruby, the brother of Thomas’s wife, Emma, lived with his family.

James Scruby also had another sister, Sarah, who had married James Payne in England. Mary (i.e., “Mrs. James”) Casbon and Emma/Rachel Slocum were Sarah’s daughters. Therefore, the two sisters were first cousins to both James Scruby’s and Thomas Casbon’s children. This explains how William Scruby was related to the two sisters in the news item. However, before finding this news item, I had not been able to positively link William to Porter County, Indiana.

James Scruby, who was born about 1807, came to America in 1832. He appears in a document I call the “Isaac Manuscript,” because it is a handwritten family history that begins with Thomas Casbon’s father, Isaac.

Detail from an untitled manuscript, author unknown, ca. 1890-92,
describing Isaac Casbon and the descendants of his son Thomas

James Scruby came to United States of
America settled in Wayne Co Ohio
Married Pheobe [sic] Priest to them was
born seven children
Joab William Charles Sam George
are all dead excep [sic] two first named
no heirs left but George’s two boys
Bennett and Olen

James, a farmer, appears in the 1850 U.S. census with his wife Phoebe (or Phebe) and the five sons mentioned in the manuscript.^[1] (They also had a daughter who died in infancy. I haven’t been able to find evidence of a seventh child.)

Detail from 1850 U.S. census. Plain Township, Wayne County, Ohio (FamilySearch) (Click on image to enlarge)

Phoebe died in November 1851 and James died 11 months later, leaving the boys orphans ranging in age from 4 to 17 years old. Guardians were appointed for the boys, and Thomas Casbon was appointed as the guardian for William Scruby. The guardianship was required until William reached the age of 21, in about 1858. Thus, it’s possible that William lived in Thomas’s household until that time.

William’s brother Charles died from diptheria in 1863 while serving in the Union Army during the American Civil War. Samuel also served in the Union Army. He died of an unknown cause just one month after mustering out in June 1865. Brother George, who became a farmer in Wayne County, died in 1882. These deaths account for the statement “all dead excep two first named” in the Isaac Manuscript, above.

Joab Scruby, the oldest brother, became a teacher. He remained in Wayne County for many years, but eventually moved to Des Moines, Iowa, where he died in 1901. Contrary to what is said in the Isaac Manuscript, Joab had four sons, thus there were six heirs, including George’s two sons.

Returning to William, we find him listed in the 1860 census, in Wayne County, where he is reported as living alone in Plain Township, with the occupation of “Shoe Maker.”^[2] In 1863 he registered for the draft in Wayne County.^[3] However, there is no evidence that he ever served during the Civil War.

In the 1870 census, William Scruby, age 29, occupation “laborer,” and born in Ohio, was living in Boone Township, Porter County, Indiana.^[4] Was this the same William? The reported age is about four years too young for our William. Before finding the news item above, I could not be sure he was the same man. However, with that new piece of information, I had proof, or at least strong circumstantial evidence that William Scruby—the son of James Scruby of Ohio—was living in Porter County in 1891. Therefore, I think it is likely that he was also the man reported on the 1870 census. Unfortunately, I have never found a listing for him in the 1880 census and the 1890 census was lost in a fire.

Assuming that William was living in Porter County, Indiana, in 1870, it is certainly possible that he arrived there at about the same time as Thomas Casbon, who moved there from Ohio in 1865. The fact that William came to Porter County at all suggests that he maintained a close relationship with Thomas and Emma Casbon. Perhaps the fact that Thomas had been his guardian created a strong and lasting bond.

William died on 9 May 1900.^[5] His death was noted in the Porter County Vidette.

“Here and There … Death of Wm. Scobey,” Porter County Vidette, 17 May 1900, p. 2, col. 1; microfilm image, Valparaiso Public Library; William’s age is misstated—he was actually 67 years old

The strength of his relationship with his two female cousins is evidenced by the terms of his Will, in which he bequeathed 500 dollars to Mary and 250 dollars to Emma.

“Will of William Scruby,” Porter County Vidette, 24 May 1900, p. 1, col. 2;
microfilm image, Porter County Public Library

William’s death ended a chapter of the story that began when his father, James Scruby, came to America in 1832, followed by Thomas Casbon and Emma/Rachel Payne in 1846, Mary Payne in 1856, and James Casbon in 1870. The story shows how family ties formed a bridge between continents, how those ties played an important role in the immigration to America, and how they continued to influence lives over the course of several decades.

[1] 1850 U.S. census, Wayne County, Ohio, Plain Township, p. 382 (stamped), dwelling 397, family 407 (surname indexed as “Lemly”; FamilySearch.org.
[2] 1860 U.S. census, Wayne County, Ohio, Plain Township, p. 52, dwelling 401, family 400; FamilySearch.org.
[3] Records of the Provost Marshall General’s Bureau, Enrollment Lists and Corrections, 1863-1865, Ohio, 14th Congressional District, Class 1, (L-Z), p. 431; contained in “Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865,” database with images, Ancestry.com > Ohio >14th > Vol 2 of 3 >image 318 of 549; citing NARA, RG 110.
[4] 1870 U.S. census, Porter County, Indiana, Boone Twp., page 17, dwelling & family 137, William Scruby (indexed as “Sernby”) in household of Henry Smity; FamilySearch.org.
[5] Indiana, State Board of Health, Certificate of Death, no. 189, Porter County, Boone Township, 9 May 1900, William Scruby; imaged as “Indiana, Death Certificates, 1899-2011,” Ancestry.com >Certificate >1899 – 1900 >15 >image 24 of 3028.

From England to Indiana, Part 7

November 11, 2016April 14, 2020 adminLeave a comment

This the seventh in a series of posts reviewing a handwritten family history of Isaac Casbon and his son Thomas. I’ve been dividing it into ‘bite-sized’ chunks to keep from overwhelming myself and my readers. This post will cover Emma Scruby’s (wife of Thomas) brother James and his descendents.

(Click on image to enlarge)

James Scruby came to United States of America settled in Wayne Co Ohio Married Pheobe Priest to them was born seven children
Joab William Charles Sam George are all dead excep two first named
no heirs left but George’s two boys Bennett and Olen

For a long time, I wondered why Thomas Casbon settled in Ohio before moving on eventually to Indiana. Then I read the following in the biography of Thomas’ son Charles, in History of Porter County, Indiana:

Thomas Casbon … determined to bring his family to America, which was then a land of opportunities and almost undeveloped resources…. The sailing vessel on which they all embarked encountered adverse winds that after several weeks drove it back within sight of the starting point, and it was a long voyage before the western continent appeared. The boat came down the St. Lawrence river, and from Buffalo the family continued on to Cleveland. Thomas Casbon then walked on to Wooster, Ohio, where James Scruby, a brother of his wife and a farmer, lived, and having obtained a horse and wagon returned to Cleveland for his family. [1]

This explained why he initially chose Wayne County, Ohio (Wooster is the county seat) as his destination. It’s simple: he had family there! Imagine what a relief it must have been, after leaving their home and country, enduring a difficult voyage, and arriving in a strange country, to be reunited with a family member who was already settled and could ease their transition to this new life.

This was when I first learned of Emma’s brother James.

There are relatively few records available concerning James. I haven’t found a birth or baptismal record for him in England, and he is not listed on any census in England. I eventually located him in the 1840 United States Census for Plain Township, Wayne County, Ohio. [2]

(Click on image to enlarge)

His age was listed as 30-39 (exact ages were not recorded in 1840), and his household included two males under 5 years old, one male 5-9 years, and one female 30-39.

I also found a “James Scrubby” named on a passenger list of the ship Plato which disembarked in New York June 26^th, 1832. [3]

(Click on image to enlarge)

This James was 26 years old and his occupation was listed as “Farmer.” His country of origin was listed as England. These few facts matched up with what little I knew about James, but I could not be sure that “James Scrubby” in the passenger list was MY James Scruby. My confidence was boosted considerably when I found this inquiry in the December 29, 1851 Portage Sentinel newspaper from Ravenna, Ohio. [4]

Based on the statement that he “left England some 18 years ago,” James would have immigrated to the United States about 1833. This matches closely enough to the date of the passenger list, that I’m reasonably certain they all refer to the same person. If he was 26 years old when he arrived in 1832, his birth date would have been about 1806. This is very close to reported age of 45 when he died on October 11^th, 1852, in Wayne County, Ohio. [5]

The fact that James married Phebe Priest is interesting. Recall that Thomas Casbon’s daughter Mary Ann married Elijah Priest and later migrated to Porter County, Indiana. I’m not sure whether Phebe and Elijah Priest were siblings, but they must have been related.

As to the children of James and Phebe, the manuscript says seven children were born to them but only lists five. I’ve been able to locate records pertaining to six of them. The one not listed was Catharine Scruby. She died in March 1843 when she was about 1 year old. [6]

Joab and William Scruby were the only two surviving sons at the time the manuscript was written (early 1890s, see Part 5 in this series). Joab Scruby was born 1835 in Ohio and died in 1901. [7] William Scruby was born about 1837. I haven’t been able to find a record of his death.

Charles Scruby was born about 1838 in Millbrook, Wayne County, Ohio. He enlisted in the 120^th Ohio Volunteer Infantry in August 1862 and died in April 1863 at Milliken’s Bend, Louisiana. [8]

Samuel Scruby also served the American Civil War. He was born in 1843, served in the 102^nd Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and died in July 1865 shortly after mustering out of his unit. [9]

George Scruby was born about 1848. [10] He married Louisa Aylesworth in 1872. [11] Louisa was the daughter of Eliott Aylesworth and Caroline Priest, (sister of Elijah Priest, who married Mary Anne Casbon, daughter of Thomas and Emma (Scruby) Casbon). George died in 1882. [12]

Here is a chart of James Scruby and his descendants.

(Click on image to enlarge)

The final statement of this section of the manuscript, “no heirs left but George’s two boys Bennett and Olen” is confusing – and incorrect. It ignores Joab’s four sons, all of whom moved to Iowa with their parents and lived well into the 20^th century. That fact that the author knew about Bennett and Olin suggests that there was continued contact between the Casbons in Indiana and the surviving Scrubys in Ohio for a number of years.

[1] “Charles Thomas Casbon.” History of Porter County, Indiana: A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, its People and its Principal Interests. Lewis Publishing Company (1912) p. 458. Indiana State Library Digital Collections http://cdm16066.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/p1819coll6/id/31510 [accessed 30 October 2016]
[2] “United States Census, 1840.” FamilySearch https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHRJ-1DC [accessed 24 August 2015]
[3] “New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1891.” FamilySearch https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVPX-G734 [accessed 13 Aug 2016]
[4] Portage Sentinel, December 29, 1851, Image 3 (of 4). Library of Congress http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83035101/1851-12-29/ed-1/seq-3/ [accessed 13 Aug 2016]
[5] “Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center Obituary Index”, Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center http://index.rbhayes.org/hayes/index/record_detail.asp?id=2304084 [accessed 16 Aug 2016]
[6] “Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center Obituary Index”, Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center, Search on surname Scruby. http://index.rbhayes.org/hayes/index/record_detail.asp?id=2304094 [accessed 16 Aug 2016]
[7] “Joab Scruby.” Find A Grave http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=27335862 [accessed 25 Aug 2016]
[8] Holderfield, S. “Company A, 120th OVI, Scruby, Charles.” Research report. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~holder/coa/scruby_charlescoapdf.pdf [accessed 25 Aug 2016]
[9] “Samuel Scruby.” Find A Grave, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=37988351 [accessed 24 Aug 2016]
[10] “United States Census, 1880” FamilySearch https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M83C-6DB [accessed 15 Aug 2016]
[11] “Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013.”, FamilySearch https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZND-MXF [accessed 15 Aug 2016]
[12] “Ohio, Deaths and Burials, 1854-1997”, FamilySearch https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F6C1-JNB [accessed 15 Aug 2016]