William Scruby – Our Casbon Journey

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.

A Visit to Ohio

February 18, 2020April 15, 2020 adminLeave a comment

aha moment
noun informal.
1. a point in time, event, or experience when one has a sudden insight or realization.^[1]

Most of the time, genealogy research is fairly routine. You ask a question—“when was so-and-so born?”—and look for records that might answer the question. You either find the answer or you don’t, and then you move on. What can make it fun is when you have that “aha” moment—when the answer to a question pops up quite unexpectedly. Has this ever happened to you?

I had such a moment last year when I was browsing through old newspaper articles on microfilm in the Valparaiso (Porter County , Indiana) Public Library. I found this in the Porter County Vidette of 27 August 1891.

Untitled news item, Porter County Vidette, 27 August 1891

This single sentence answered not one but two questions that I had all but given up on finding the answers to. The questions were:

Was Mary Payne, who married James Casbon in 1876, the same Mary Payne who arrived in Ohio from England with Mary Casbon in 1856?
Was William Scruby who lived in Porter County, Indiana in the late 1800s, the son of James Scruby of Wooster, Ohio?

After finding this article, it was clear to me that the answer to both questions was yes!

Some background information will help you see how I came to these conclusions. Accordingly, let me introduce a brief cast of characters:

Emma Scruby (1811–1870): the wife of Thomas Casbon (1803–1888)

Emma or Rachel Payne (b. 1830): a niece of Emma (Scruby) Casbon; daughter of Emma’s sister Sarah (Scruby) Payne

Mary Payne (b. 1832 or 33): another niece of Emma (Scruby) Casbon; sister of Emma/Rachel Payne

William Scruby (b. abt. 1837): a nephew of Emma (Scruby) Casbon; son of Emma’s brother, James Scruby; also a first cousin of Emma/Rachel and Mary Payne

James Casbon (1813–1884), the brother of Thomas Casbon

The Scruby family plays an important role in the story of the Casbon family in the United States. When Thomas and Emma (Scruby) Casbon migrated from England to Ohio in 1846, they were greeted by Emma’s older brother James Scruby, who left England in 1832 and settled near Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio. Thomas and Emma lived and raised their family in Ohio, initially in Wayne County, and later, a few miles south in Holmes County. James undoubtedly influenced their decision to emigrate and helped them to get settled.

In addition to their own family, Thomas and Emma brought Emma’s niece “Rachell [sic] or Emma Payne” with them from England. Two names are given for this niece because she is referred to in various records by either of these names and is also recorded as “Emma R. Payne.”

Ten years after the arrival of Thomas and Emma Casbon, Emma/Rachel’s sister, Mary Payne migrated from England to Ohio, along with Thomas Casbon’s niece, Mary Casbon, who was the daughter of Thomas’s deceased brother, Joseph. This story is told in a handwritten family history.

Detail from an untitled manuscript, author unknown, ca. 1890-92, describing Isaac Casbon
and the descendants of his son Thomas; note the term “Rachell or Emma Payne”

Mary Payne & Rachell or Emma Payne
came to America & They were the
daughters of Sarah Scruby sister to
Emma wife of Thomas Casbon
Mary Payne came to America in
the year 1856 Mary Casbon daughter of
Joseph Casbon who was a brother of
Thomas Casbon came to America with
Mary Payne Emma came with the
Family of Thomas Casbon to America

The story gets convoluted at this point. Mary Casbon, Thomas’s niece, married William Wallace Slocum in 1862.^[2] Mary evidently died within a few years. Mr. Slocum next married Emma R. Payne on 23 March 1865.^[3] In addition to the official marriage records, we find this part of the story published in a history of the Slocum family.

Detail from Charles Elihu Slocum, M.D., Ph.D., LL.D., History of the Slocums, Slocumbs and Slocombs of America
(Defiance, Ohio: privately published, 1908), vol. 2:129; the peculiar spelling is due to the fact that the
author was an adherent of a movement to simplify spellings in the English language.

We know from the description of her birthplace and voyage to America that Mr. Slocum’s third wife was same woman who emigrated to America with Thomas and Emma Casbon.

Through her marriage Emma/Rachel became the “Mrs. Rachel Slocum” referred to in the 1891 news brief. We can place Emma/Rachel in Shiloh, Ohio, because that is where her husband died in 1888.

But what of her sister Mary? Although she arrived in Ohio in 1856, Mary does not appear in the 1860 or 1870 censuses and I haven’t been able to find any trace of her during this time frame.

Enter, stage left, James Casbon. In 1870, James emigrated from England to Indiana, where his brother Thomas had been living since 1865. James married a woman named Mary Payne at Porter County, Indiana, in 1876, following the death of his wife Mary neé Jackson.

The marriage record of James Casbon and Mary Payne, Porter County, Indiana, 15 January 1876;
“Indiana Marriages, 1811–2007” (FamilySearch); citing Porter County Marriage Records, vol. 4:348
(Click on image to enlarge)

Was James Casbon’s wife the sister of Emma/Rachel Slocum? I thought she might be but did not have enough evidence to prove the relationship. James and Mary appear together in the 1880 U.S. census in Porter County. Her age was reported as 53, which would give her a birth year of about 1827—about five years earlier than expected for Emma/Rachel’s sister. Her birthplace was reported as England, so at least that fact fit the theory.

The question remained unresolved for several years until my “aha” moment arrived last year. “Mrs. James Casborn [sic]” was going to visit her sister, “Mrs. Rachel Slocum,” in Shilo [sic] O[hio]. Quod Erat Demonstrandum! The missing link was found!

There is still a lot of missing information. Where was Mary Payne between 1856 and 1876? When did she move to Indiana? What circumstances led to her marriage to James Casbon? My guess is that she either followed her aunt Emma and uncle Thomas Casbon to Indiana, or that she came with William Scruby, who was her cousin. Although it is common for relatives to remain in proximity to one another, it is still intriguing to me that the paths of Emma and Thomas Casbon, James Casbon, William Scruby, and Mary Payne intersected in so many places and points in time.

But what of William Scruby? He has had only had a minor role in today’s story. His story will be next.

[1] “aha moment,” Dictionary.com (https://www.dictionary.com/browse/aha-moment )
[2] “Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013 ” (FamilySearch) )>Huron >Marriage Records 1855-1866 vol 1 >image 220 of 306; citing Huron County.
[3] “Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2013 ” (FamilySearch) )>Huron >Marriage Records 1855-1866 vol 1 >image 277 of 306; citing Huron County.

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]