#12-Lets Stick to the Story.

I have some conjectures, clues, theories etc. that I want to follow, but these are the things that researchers look to solve. It is not what you are probably interested in listening to me theorize about. So, rather than go into any more of this, when I actually get something concrete about these neighbors and other settlers if they pertain to James Sr. and John Sr. and where they came from or any other related persons, then I will share it.

For now, back to the family that we do know. We have already commented on what we know about James Sr., and Elizabeth including family tradition that has been passed down but not proved. I will add one more piece of information here. When I first began, the oldest living relative at the time that I could ask for information was Uncle Louis LaRue of Osceola, Wisconsin. He gave me bunches, and so far none of it has proven in error. (Not something that the other old timers who shared with me can claim.) Anyhow, his daughter Marilyn states that her dad had always said that the LaRues had a German back ground. I am guessing that Louis in talking to grand parents as he grew up was able to glean bits and pieces of family history that others never got. And, so far, in all my research of the LaRues and the female collateral lines that married into LaRues, I have not found anything that looks like a German name so far. But, names were adapted to look more American over time. So, where a line originated cannot always be determine from their name. In fact, when our LaRue Huguenot ancestors left France, many of them went into Protestant countries like England, Switzerland, Germany and Holland. Those last 3 countries were at one time part of a German Empire or spoke German or were called Deutsch aka German. So, another clue?

Also, Elizabeth Jordan has been offered as a daughter of Patrick aka Peter Jordan born in Ireland and his wife Elizabeth or Mary Shull who was born in Germany. There has been no definitive proof of this parentage yet. But it is interesting to note. And, this Jordan line had the father and sons participating in the Revolutionary War and some of them then migrated from Loudon County, Virginia up into the SW corner of Pennsylvania and eventually into Belmont, Guernsey and Noble County area. Right in the neighborhood where James Sr. is living. Is this the route that James Sr. took into Ohio? Is this the people he traveled with, his wife's people? Is this the source of the German background offered into the family line? This Patrick Jordan names all his sons when he leaves land and inheritance to them but no daughter Elizabeth. Could this mean that he had no daughter Elizabeth OR that he had already given her and her husband her inheritance already? Interesting to speculate, and maybe as we find more records, I will find more information that will clear this up.

There is another line of LaRue/Larews out of an Abraham Larew and his wife Abigail Rittenhouse. They had couple of children who married in the Guernsey County area and some remained a number of years in that vicinity. I won't confuse you with all their names, but they went from Virginia into the SW corner of Pennsylvania before migrating into the SE corner of Ohio, where we find James Sr. and his family. This line of Larew does have the name of William passed down in it. A coincidence? The route they took was similar to the Jordan family but it was similar to a LOT of people migrating West.

I am convinced that the naming of James Sr.'s children is indicative of his family and his wife's family. Naming children after honored family members was exceeding common and I simply feel that the names of their children provide clues. But, I will not consider them evidence. The use of the name Charity is not a common name among the Abraham group, nor is David or Laban. There is a Charity Larew who married a Jacob Rockefeller who would have been of the same general age of James Sr. Is she someone related? There are other names that James uses for his children that are interesting. But what is most interesting is the names that he does not use. He does not use the names of Abraham, Isaac,Jacob, Peter, nor Jabez. Some of these names are faithfully passed down by some Larue clans. But, not ours. Ever!

So, back to the children of James Sr. and Elizabeth. We have in order (as we know them) Sarah, Charity, William, Permelia, John, Margaret, James, Laban, David, unknown male, and Eliza Ellen.

#11-The Bureau of Land Management Records.

The BLM is the government agency which is responsible for the land patents sold by the government to private individuals. This is one record that I have searched. We do not know what day, month or year that James entered Ohio and settled on the land. We do not know what day he made application for his patent. (Either the record has gone missing, which is why his record at this point has written onto it "rec incomplete" or I simply have not found it yet.) Nor have I found a substitute record for this information. So far, the only record that we have that alludes to his entry date is the birth of his son, Laban born 18 October 1807 in according to his tombstone. So, I will use the records of the BLM in two ways at this point. First, I want to see who finalized their patent on the same day as James Sr. and I find that Stephen Ballard on Section 9 and Josiah Robe and David Frame on Section 23 all finalized their patents on 23 December 1811. Stephen Ballard lived within a mile of James Sr. and eventually his daughter, Rebecca Ballard marries John Larue Jr., son of James Sr. and my line of descent. Section 23 lies about 3 miles Northwest of James Sr., where Robe and Frame purchase their patent. The only relationship that I can find so far is much later a Belle Frame marries Eli Larue, son of John Jr. But, I do not know whether she is descended from David Frame or some other of the Frame family who settled in Guernsey County.

So, the second way I am going to use the BLM records [I printed out all the patents issued for Township 1 and Range 1 in Guernsey County.] is to look for all those patents issued to persons on sections of land surrounding or including Section 8, where James settled on a 1/4 of that section. These include sections 1,2,3, 7, 8, 9, 13,14,and 15. Anyone in these sections would be within about 1 mile of James Sr. But, will not include anyone who purchased their land from another individual not the government. Since the date given on these patents will pertain to the date that they finalized, we really won't know what day they settled, squatted or whatever. But, they are living right next door. Which could be important or not.

But, the names of those who were on these sections in the BLM patents for Guernsey County in Township 1 Range 1 include: Thomas Armstrong, John Bennet, John Askin, Philip Huff, James McCurdy, Stephen Ballard, Martin Baum, Samuel Perry, James Smith, Zaccheus Beatty, John Nunley, Zaccheus Biggs, Ebenezer Seger, Joshua Woodward, James Black, Luke Devore, Ebenezer Blackshire, Micheal Brill, Samuel Brill, William Carter, Samuel Hendry, Thomas W. Caruthers, John Caruthers, Henry Entrot, Reuben Field, John Fling, James Foreacre, John Larrow, Tobias Lent, Gilbert Mariner, Alexander McBride, Hugh Stewart, Roger McBride, William McConnell, John Bowers, John Medearis, Jacob Miller, Andrew Pinkerton, William Blake, William O'Hara, Joseph O'Hara, John Rogers, Massy Fluheart, John Russell, Stephen Crane, Edward Sanders, William Perry, Joseph W. Satterthwaite, Joseph Smith, Thomas Thompson, James Maxwell, Resin Welsh, Samuel White, Joel Williams, Dennis Cassall, Joseph Williams, John Woodside and Alexander Young.

And, most importantly, of these 58 names, 1 is James Sr.'s  brother John Sr., another is Stephen Ballard  the eventual father-in-law to his son. This leaves 56 persons, and of those 45 of them purchased Lot/Tracts in section 3 which leads me to think that this may have been the settling of a town area. Because this is way too many persons in one township for them to conceivable believe that they were going to farm it.

Nothing really fantastic jumps out at me hear, but it is another piece of information I will file away, because with more information down the line, this may all fall into place. So, it looks like I just am not going to find any other LaRues from these records that shed any light on mine. We only have James Sr. and his children or John Sr., so far.

But, what about any married names of females who may be related to the LaRues, and here is where we have some conjecture on the LaRues.

#10-What the Census Can Tell.

The government took a census on the 10 year dates beginning in 1790. Not many of the 1790 exist as they burned in a fire. And it would be way to early to find any LaRues in Ohio anyhow. The LaRues were not in Ohio to our knowledge for the 1800 and we do not know where they were living a that time. But the 1810 would be fantastic, if it existed for Ohio, which apparently it does not since I can find no record of it anywhere. So, we are left with checking the 1820 census and that was taken at least 13 years after James Sr. moved into Ohio. It is not the best record to use, but one to look at none the less. Only one problem, it is really hard to read. These old census' were generally written by traveling census takers and the combination of old paper, poor writing tools, poor handwriting and spelling, preservation of the records and their resulting conditions do not make them easy records to read. The 1820 census for Guernsey County has been microfilmed but is virtually impossible to read except for a few letters here and there on the pages that contain James Sr.. In that census it looks like our James is listed as either Larrow or Darrow. He has what appears to be a total of 13 persons in his household, most likely 11 of them his children. But, we only know of 10 children for him at this point, so the unknown male child born 1810-1820 is where this first appears. We find no enumeration for his brother John Sr. living in this household, so John must have land of his own somewhere. John does not obtain a patent until 1825 which is also when he shows up on the tax rolls along with James Sr. There is a name on the previous page of the 1820 census that may be for John, but the writing and condition of the census is not conclusive.  The 1830 census is a little better but it is simply to long after their first settlement to suit my purposes. So, what other records can I use to determine who may have settled in Guernsey County at about the same time as James Sr.?

#9-Traveling with Friends or Who's Living in the Neighborhood?

So, back to the whole concept of James Sr., his wife Elizabeth, brother John Sr. and all James children traveling into Ohio. I am going to tentatively state that I believe that they traveled with a group. I just cannot believe that this kind of move could have reasonably been conducted without more protection and help. But with whom? There are some ways at looking for candidates and I will share the records that I used, but they are not conclusive for everyone who may have traveled into Ohio at this time.

What one must take into consideration at this early date, is that after Lewis and Clark went West on their Journey of Exploration that the continental US was WIDE open for settlement. Ohio had become a state in our young country just a couple years before James Sr. went there. And, almost everyone who was moving West looking for new open lands went through Ohio. So, settling in or traveling through Ohio was a common fact. And, the National Road (which goes right by the LaRue lands) was a well known and well traveled route.

I have used a couple of record groups to see who was in the State at that time, but none tell the whole story. So, first of all I looked at patents. A patent was the first ownership/title to land obtained by an individual from the government. Once the government obtained possession of the area, they had to survey the land, then they could sell or award it. This first title, was called a patent.  While there were LaRue/Larue/Larrow/Larew/Larron names found in numerous areas around Ohio, I am going to stick with those patents for Larue/LaRues in the SE corner of Ohio and especially those whose residence is given as Belmont or Guernsey County on their patents. These records can be viewed online and are the records of the Bureau of Land Management. If someone bought their land from another individual or prior owner, they will not be in this collection, so a lot of land transfers will not be here, but it is a start.

Of course we can look for all names close to the spelling of LaRue as those are very likely related to our family in some manner. But, what if there was a sister with a married name other than LaRue? Or an Aunt? Those are names that we do not know at this point, even though I have one group of names that may or may not be related. Remember, LOTS of people were going to and thru Ohio, so just because they lived close by, it does not necessarily mean that they were related. So, back to the SE corner of Ohio and land patents.

The earliest  LaRue patent that I can find is for one James Larron in 1811 (hand writing and spelling were very suspect in a time when many could not read or write their own names). It was a credit purchase which I think means that he bought it on credit at an earlier date and 1811 is the date of final payment. He is said to have been "of Belmont County" on the patent, which means that the area where he settled was in Belmont county prior to its breaking off to create Guernsey County in 1810. This is supported by the fact that the section, range and township numbers stay the same through time. It is in the NE 1/4 of  section 8 in Richland Township, about 160 acres. This is the land that stays in the LaRue family for at  least the next 80 years until the death of Laban LaRue in 1891 and the land is then purchased by Hans Weaver. It is the land that has the LaRue Road  (see photo of sign in earlier posting) still bordering the property. It is lying in a kind of valley plain (see photo on early posting) between two elevated areas. Near by would be the small villages later of Gibson Station and Washington.

The next LaRue patent that I can find, before 1820 is where in 1819 a John D. Larue signs for land with another person, Nicholas Bichard for one Daniel Davis in Guernsey County in section 16 Township 1 Range 3 This could be the John D. Larue who on some later records is referred to as John DeLarue.  We are not sure who this John D. could be at this point. He does not obtain the land for himself, but for Davis. So what could that mean?

The next patents down in this SE corner with Larue connections came about in 1825. And as I said again and will mention here simply as a reminder, patents were only one way to obtain the land. Purchase from an individual is another, and we do not have all those at this point. [This is another line of research that I should tackle.]  Anyhow, the 1825 patents are found for William Lerow of Guernsey County (our William, son of James Sr. would have been around 26 years old at this time and married so a perfect candidate for this record) in Morgan County (just next door to Guernsey County) for about 80 acres in the E1/2 of the NE 1/4 of Section 21 , Township 1 Range 1. Also, in 1825 we find a John Larue obtaining a patent in Morgan County, in Section 20. On the same day and right next door to William. This John was also said to have been of Guernsey County. Was this John Sr?, he would be of age to make this purchase. But, John Jr., son of James Sr. who was about 24 years old could said to have been of age also, even though he was not married at this time. So maybe the two oldest children of James Sr. were spreading their wings.

Then again in 1825 we find a John Larrow of Guernsey County obtaining his patent of the NE 1/4 (therefore 160 acres) in section 13 township 1 and range 1 next door to James Sr..  John the son of James Sr. would only be about 24 years old at this time, and not married yet, so he could be a candidate but I think not. Especially when in 1832 I find John Sr. selling this land to John Jr. Therefore the original patent I feel was obtained by John Sr.

In 1827 we find a James Larrow (no residency county given on the record) as one of the signers with James Nichols, for land in Section 12 Township 1 Range 1 in Guernsey county for a George Gooderl. James Sr. is believed to have died by 1825, so it is not him. Therefore James Jr. son of James Sr. is our best candidate, although only about 22 years of age and not yet married.

Then, in 1837 we find a John Larrow of Guernsey County obtaining 5 patents in Perry County, just to the SW of Guernsey County. It looks like he obtained about 280 in 5 separate transactions in April and August of that year. We do not know where John Sr. would be living a this time. We believe that he is still living but have no conclusive proof of this. Some earlier researchers give his death as possibly around 1840, but still have yet to find him past 1830. Is this him buying land? Or is it again, John Jr. son of James Sr.?

By 1840 and later we find other sons of James R., all reported as "of Guernsey County" on the patents, obtaining patents with David in Noble County and Laban in Washington County. And these are only the records of patents. I wonder what land they bought? And since the 1820 census record for James Sr. says that he is not in agriculture but in commerce, I am wondering if land speculation was what this family business was all about?

From these records, we really do not learn of any other LaRue family. But, we do have evidence of records pertaining to them and any business interests in other counties in the SE corner of Ohio. So, what other records can I use to see who else may be in this area of Ohio at the same time and may be related to our family? If I want to find out where our family came from before Guernsey County, I really need to know as much about James Sr. and John Sr. and any possible other family members.

#8-Forgeddaboutit.

Well, after reading a bunch a stuff about security, spam, registration, OpenID etc. etc., I have decided to table the whole comments thing for now. If you want to let me know what you think, offer constructive suggestions, ask questions or anything even remotely related to my blog, MyLaRueLinks, then please respond to me at either of my email addresses or on my Facebook page. My brain is spinning about the Comments box, so need to clean it out and reboot.

#7-Leaving Comments.

I am trying to figure out how people can leave comments to this blog. I want to leave this so that anyone publically can read this. I do not want to open it up to anyone to comment, as that will encourage and allow unwanted spam etc. So, I think that I have this so that registered users can leave comments. But, without seeing what is showing up on someone elses computer I cannot be sure that I have set it up correctly. And therefore cannot help anyone on how they can register. Look at your own computer and give me some feedback. Give it a try. Leave or try to leave me a comment and if it does not work...oh well, back to the drawing board!

#6-Traveling With Children.

We do not know where James & Elizabeth with brother John were coming from but we do know where they ended up. By the birth of their son Laban whose tombstone says he was born in 1807 and other records say that he was born in Guernsey County (which if on the patent that James filed, was actually originally in Belmont County and then became Guernsey County in 1810.) we get a general end date.

So, they were "on the road" for how long? We are not sure. The previous child, James Jr. born 1805 Virginia, son of James Sr. could be a clue. But, I have other reports that give his birth date in 1804 and Laban's birth in 1806. So probably traveling anywhere from under a year upwards to 2 years.

What ever the year, James Sr. with at least his brother John Sr. as two adult males accompanied Elizabeth and 7 children under the age of 13 years old. The eldest two children are girls. And the youngest is probably still nursing and in diapers! Was this all there was to the group? That is not a lot of help in making camp, hunting for food, protection or any thing else. Could they have traveled with a group that we have not discerned yet? Maybe a look at any other persons who filed for patents at the same time will help, along with any others who filed patents close by James at the same time.

We know that there was not any train travel to this wilderness. And, I would guess no stage coach travel for the whole way either. Did they have wagons and animals? How did they get them across the Ohio River? Did they sell them and float the river then walk the remainder with this batch of children? Where did they sleep with these kids until a shelter was made? Gives you a whole new perspective on camping, doesn't it? But, I really think that they had to have traveled with a larger group. The whole safety in numbers thing.

So, James finds the land he wants, and has to file the patent. This is a trip of over 25 miles to Zanesville Land Office in Muskingum County to the West. Did he find the land first, then make the trip? Or did he go to the land office, find out which property was unclaimed and then scout it out? Where did he leave his family? Did they go with? Traveling over 25 miles through the wilderness is neither easy nor fast. I am guessing, and by this time, Elizabeth is probably pregnant with their next child, Laban! I have seen this land, and considering how hilly this SE corner of Ohio is,  bordering on coal country to the south, it is really admirable that he found a parcel that lies as a valley plain between two elevated areas with Will Creek running through it. As one can see from my photo of the gravel road, it is still not developed nor populated and that is amazing to me.

So, he finalizes his ownership of Section 8 Range 1 Township 1, in Richland Township, Guernsey County, Ohio for the NE 1/4 which is generally about 160 acres. That credit purchase is finalized and paid for by 1811. Just in time for the War of 1812! And what did that event mean to these newcomers to the new State of Ohio?

#5-James & Elizabeth, Marriage and Family.

In my earlier post on Charity, I had covered her marriage to John Stewart/Stuart and their move to Illinois with their 4 children, Elizabeth, Charles, James and William. John and Charity are buried in Trexler Cemetery in Jasper County. So are their children Charles, James and William. We have not found where Elizabeth is buried nor when she died. Her last known residence, according to the 1910 Federal census, is with her niece's family, the Daggy family,  in Jasper county, and Elizabeth is 86 years old.  So, maybe she died in that county and is also buried in Jasper county, but we have not found the records at this time. She would have been the last surviving child of John and Charity.

We also know that Elizabeth and William never married and had no descendants. So no further information on them will evolve. 

But Charles B. and James L. Stuart did marry and did have children. So that is who I will discuss next.  By in large I do not use my time to extensively follow collateral lines. But, I do have the beginnings of these families, as they are all still LaRue descendants. And I do have the goal of recognizing all LaRue descendants in my family line.

Charles B. was the second child of John and Charity (Larue) Stuart.He married Margaret Long between 1850 and 1860 before they moved to IL.  He died on 22 Feb 1869 most likely in Jasper County, IL and is buried in the Trexler Cemetery along with his wife, and most of his family.

After his death, she remarried to William Black. She died in 1880 and is buried in the Trexler Cemetery near the rest of her family. Since their first child appears to have been born in 1861, I am guessing a marriage date around 1859 is possible, and most likely in either Noble or Guernsey County, Ohio. Their children were Mary Jane (born 1861 in IL),  Elizabeth Victoria ( born 1863), Jeanette (born 1865) and Charles William Stuart (born 1867 and died 1878). The three girls all married but Charles died young in Jasper County and is buried in the same cemetery with his grandparents and parents.

Mary Jane Stuart, the first daughter of Charles B. and Margaret (Long) Stuart/Stewart married Commodore Perry Reisner in IL in 1879. They had seven children born between 1879 and 1890 in Illinois. At least two of their sons moved out to California. It seems that their eldest daughter died at the age of 25 and may not have married. Others of their children stayed in Illinois and seem to have all married and had children. Mary Jane and Commodore are buried at the Riverside Cemetery, Newton, Jasper County, IL.

The second daughter, Elizabeth Victoria (often called Victoria) married Albert Deming and they moved to Oregon with their two children. Victoria died 1905 in that state. One child Leigh Stuart
Deming is last seen in California.

The last daughter of Charles B. and Margaret, Jeanette married by 1882 to James Willard Daggy in Illinois. They had their 7 children born in Jasper county by 1900. Jeanette and James Daggy are both buried in the Trexler Cemetery with all the others of their family.

The third child of John and Charity Stuart and the last in our discussion with descendants, is James L. Stuart. (I think it very likely that this child was named James Larue Stuart after Charity's father.) James marries before 1857 a woman named Sara. It is very likely that he married her in Ohio before moving to Illinois. James dies in 1863 and is buried in the Trexler Cemetery.

They had two daughters. Armintha was born June 1857 and Caroline was born between 1860 and before Oct 1864. Sara remarries after James' death to a Mr. Burton or Buntain and looks like they moved onto Kansas by 1900. Armintha marries George W. Stratton in Illinois, and has 6 children with him in Illinois. George dies in Kansas, but we have no further information on Armintha or her children. The other child of James L. and Sara, one Caroline, married John Murphy in Jasper county, Illinois in 1875. They had 3 children, before they died. Caroline and John must have died before 1893 as their surviving children have appointed guardians in the Will of their Uncle Laban Larue. Their daughter Manda is believed to have died young as we find no records of her to date and she is not mentioned in her Uncle Labans beneficiaries. Their sons James and George have appointed guardian and seem to have lived in Jasper County, Illinois until their adulthood.

All of which gives me lots still to do if I want to follow these descendants of Charity, the second daughter of James Larue Sr. of Guernsey County, Ohio, throuhg her marriage to John Stuart.

#4-LaRue's in Early Guernsey County.

So, I was able to place James Sr. (1758-1825) in Guernsey County by @1806. Photo's taken by me in a trip to the area in 2005 of the road that borders this land and the sign still reading LaRue Road (although no LaRue family has lived on the road since 1891) can be seen in the first posting to this blog in April 2011.

 It appears that James' presumed brother John Sr. (@1769- after 1840) was in the county at the same time eventually buying land right next door to James. James lived in Richland Twp., and at his death it appears that John moved in with the widow Elizabeth and some of her children. In fact in the 1830 census in one household we see an enumeration that seems to refer to John Sr, (60-70 years old) and widow Elizabeth (50-60 years old) as the two oldest adults. There is also reference to a 30-40 year old male adult, a 20-30 year old female adult and 2 male children 5-10 years old. This only fits the profile for Elizabeth's second son, John Jr. and his young family (this is my line). She has none of her unmarried children with her in this household, so they must have been either missed by the census taker or more likely are living with other siblings. If you have never been to a reconstructed historical village and walked into some of the  buildings, you can see why they had to place children among the family members. The houses were simply to small to hold many people.

All of which raises the questions 1) what occupations did they follow while in Guernsey County? most everyone called themselves farmers, but did they have other skills that they used to generate income? 2) What was the route that they used to migrate into Ohio? Did they come up from Kentucky, cross the Ohio River, go through Washington County, Ohio one of the first settled areas in Ohio? Or did they go up through the SW corner of Pennsylvania then float down the Ohio River and get off to follow the well traveled National Road West?  Both were well established routes into Ohio. 3) Where did this family originate? Did they live in numerous locations before settling in Ohio? Considering how primitive the area was, with Ohio just recently becoming a state, why did they travel there? Did they know of land available, or did they have land awarded to them? 4) Did they belong to any church? or have any other affiliations such as political, military etc.?

Recently I found one other way that they could have obtained the land in this US Military District without being veterans of the Revolutionary War. "The U.S. Military District was established in 1796, lying to the west of the first Congressional survey and to the north of the second Congressional survey. It was used as payment for service in the Revolutionary War, though many veterans sold their bounties to others, and beginning in 1803 unclaimed land was sold on the open market. Unlike the Congressional surveys, the Military District's ranges and townships are five miles wide and five miles square, respectively. In addition, although they are numbered in the same fashion as for the Congressional lands (south to north, east to west), the numbering is not continuous with them, beginning anew in the District's southeast corner. So, for example, Cambridge is located in Range 3, Township 2." This could explain one possibiltiy for the purchase of this land by James. They heard about large unclaimed tracts of land available for purchase.

As to their occupations, the 1820 census report for James Larrow, does not list him as engaged in agriculture. Rather, it lists him as engaged in commerce. Interesting? What did he sell, I wonder? He has died by the 1830 census so we can not get a reading from that year and they never asked for occupation then anyhow.  Likewise, in my earlier Apr 2011 post I have provided a photo of the papers from the Special Court session called for at his death in Fall 1825 to appoint the administrators, when his widow Elizabeth declines, and her two eldest sons, William and John Jr. are appointed. But, I have yet to find the proceedings of the probate of this estate. More microfilms to search and court records to examine. Maybe the settlement of his estate will give us a better understanding of this mans life. Likewise, I have found no reference to the death of John Sr., where or when. (Tradition offers a date around 1840.) These court records are needed so that I can examine his probate also, for more information on this family group. Tradition states that John Sr. never married, but other information about this family has been in error before, so I don't rule anything out.

Church affiliation seems to be established after the death of James Sr., by some of Elizabeth's children with the Salem Baptist Church, in Wills Township, Guernsey County as early as 1828. Most of the family is buried in this abandoned church cemetery in a front row closest to the church.

In my earlier post I have provided the photo from the cemetery where James Sr. and most likely his brother John are buried. It is called Leatherwood Cemetery and no records have confirmed nor denied their burial in that location. Family members interviewed by early researchers, state that he is buried there but that there is no tombstone viewable and that they did not remember the location. The stones in the cemetery are in very poor shape, so it is unlikely that we can find anything new from this cemetery. We can only hope that if we find the complete file of James probate that this information my be included somewhere in those records.

The land that James patented, stayed in the LaRue family until 1891, when his last Guernsey County family member, a son Laban, died and the land was sold to Hans Weaver. Before that time it appears that at James death, that the land was inherited by all his children, and then bit by bit they sold out or gave their portions to Laban to provide a home for their widowed mother, Elizabeth. A complete title search of this property may provide more information about the family.  Another thing on my research "to do" list.

#3-Finding James Sr.

The name of this earliest La Rue ancestor came from traditional genealogical research. Take a specific name in a  line and follow it backwards generation by generation. This means that I looked at birth, death and marriage records for my parents, then grandparents etc. and on those documents you will find the names of their parents and sometimes where they were born. In this manner I found that my grandfather Roy Hamilton La Rue (1Myrtle Juhlin 2 Ruth Hein) was the son of Wilbur Chester La Rue (Alfaretta Ida Abbott) was the son of Hamilton La Rue (Elizabeth Jane Upham)  was the son of John Larue (Rebecca Ballard) was the son of James Larue (Elizabeth Jordan).

Since this will be a La Rue forum, I will not go into the details or the genealogy of their wives. I will give their names.  But let me say right here and now, I can trace the wives lines back much further with numerous lines serving in the Revolutionary War and at least 3 lines of descent from the Mayflower Pilgrims!

So, the information that I have gathered from my own research and the contributed information from others for James states that he was born 22 Apr 1758 in Virginia. The year of birth is consistent with early census records which determine his year of birth between 1750 and 1760. I have not found any document which verifies his exact birth date. The location of his birth being given as Virginia agrees with the census questions asked of his children in later years, where these children report that their parents were both born in Virginia. At that 1758 date, Virgina could include also parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Pennsylvania etc. Some earlier researchers have offered Loudon county as their original source. I have found no documents to substantiate this. I am still looking. Only through the accumulation of many documents and their combined information will we be able to find out more about James & Elizabeth and where they were located before entering Belmont later Guernsey Co., Ohio around 1806.

Other reports from earlier genealogy offer that James and his father Jabez served in the last year of the Revolutionary War. I have no idea where this information came from. So far I have found 1) no evidence that James served in that war and 2) that his father's name was Jabez. The name could be misfiled, they may not have reported their participation (remember, if the American colonists had not won that war, they would have been considered traitors and therefore subject to English law for traitors!) or it is simply wrong. Personally, at this time I think that the information is in error. I think that an early researcher drew erroneous conclusions from information. But, I could also be wrong. The location of the land that James obtained in Belmont later Guernsey County, was in the US Military District Survey, that being land awarded to veterans of the Revolutionary War. Could it have been part of the dowry for Elizabeth from her father? Someone may have felt that this meant that James served in the War. I have not found anything to support or contradict this assumption.

Likewise I have found nothing to support the name of Jabez as his father. In fact, in conventional naming practices of the time, James does not name his first born son Jabez, rather William. And at no later time does he name any of his other 4 sons Jabez. Further, none of his sons pass on the name of Jabez as a given nor a middle name, nor do any of his daughters use the name. This would be very unusual for the time. Personally, I find the name William as the name of his father as a much more likely candidate. And, since it seems as if James and Elizabeth and their children pass along the names of Elizabeth/ Eliza, James, William and Laban, it seems to me that they were not adverse to passing on names to later generations.

About the same time as James arrived in the area, one John LaRue settled there also. In fact, he purchased land in section 13, not far from James land. John seems to be younger, with birth between the years of 1760 and 1770.  Earlier researchers said that a brother of James lived with them, and since John does not purchase his land until 1825 he could very likely have lived with them until then. That earlier research also says that they called this brother "Uncle Ned". And that this Ned was a fiddler. What appears to have happened, if I am translating the information from the 1830 census correctly, is that at the death of James, John combined households with his sister-in-law and some of her younger children. The older children were either already married or those who were not, were placed with older siblings. By 1832, John Larrow/Larue Sr. sold his land in section 13 to his possible nephew John Jr., the son of James Sr. And at the Special Court Session in Nov. 1825, where the administrators were named in the estate proceedings of James Larrow/Larue Sr., surety was offered by this John Larrow/Larue Sr. and Stephen Ballard the father-in-law to Jame's son John Jr. All of which I believe supports the theory of John and James being related in some manner. I believe it to be brothers, but cousins is a possibility also.

Further court records and land record research may help add more information. And, the search continues.

#2-Welcome, all LaRue family and descendants.

While talking with a cousin at a recent family wedding, it was brought to my attention that not everyone was informed of our La Rue family history. They had either not received the previous printed materials at our last gathering in 1996ish OR had mislaid it. But, never fear, I have learned a lot since that time and am going to share it. While talking to this cousin, it got my mind buzzing about HOW was I going to share all of the information and still allow for the growth/addition of new information as I found it? While my previous attempts at blogging bogged down on me, I felt that this was the best way to share the information. Printing it was out of the question. It is just to voluminous. Sharing my research from my genealogy software program would not be readily decipherable to anyone except another genealogist. Not to mention the need to download the free program to individual computers. So, using Google and another of their many Free tools, I have created this blog. You can quickly access this at http://mylaruelinks.blogspot.com/ and enjoy.