Little Old Cemetery On Our Place

Nestled in the densely forested grounds of the Dawes Arboretum is one of the oldest cemeteries in Licking County, Ohio.

The Beard-Green Cemetery is the final resting place for several of my paternal ancestors.

A historical marker details the backgrounds of the 210-year-old cemetery's namesakes, including Benjamin Green and his family who were the first legal settlers in spring 1800 of the area that would become Licking County in 1808. The marker also indicates that John Beard's family settled in 1808. 

Beard-Green Cemetery historical marker, photo by author

John Beard, who was married to Margaret Kirk, actually settled in the area at least two years prior to 1808. John was enumerated on the 1806 tax list for Fairfield County (the predecessor to Licking County), and purchased 400 acres in Licking Township, Fairfield County in January 1807. That deed indicated that John was "of Fairfield County..." and not just an out-of-towner buying up land.

But quibbles about the accuracy of the historical marker aside, the cemetery is an important place for my family history. 

John and Margaret Beard were, I believe, uncle and aunt to my fifth great-grandfather Thomas Kirk and his likely sister Mary (Kirk) Geiger - both of whom are also buried in the cemetery grounds. I believe John Beard was a father figure - if not legal guardian - for Thomas and Mary following the death of their father Joseph Kirk in Berkeley County, Virginia in about 1784. 

Missing and Deteriorating Headstones

Sadly, the passage of time has not been kind to many of the cemetery's headstones. While John Beard's marker stands prominent and majestically more than 200 years after his 1814 death, others are crumbling with weathered inscriptions or altogether missing.

Gone is the headstone for John's wife, Margaret. Presumably she was laid to rest beside her husband, but which side? There's a crumbled stone embedded in the ground to the right of John's marker (behind the flag in the picture below). However, there's no legible engraving. I've long assumed that was all that remained of Margaret's marker.

John Beard 1814 headstone, photo by author

Among the deteriorating memorials are fragments of the tombstones for my fifth great-grandparents Thomas and Sarah (Bonar) Kirk. Regrettably, the upper portion of their stones - with the invaluable biographical data - is now missing. A caretaker of the cemetery told me that many of the broken stones were buried in the northwest corner of the cemetery. 

In 2017, I worked with other Kirk descendants to lay a new headstone, which was placed between the stumps of their original headstones and commemorated their role as early settlers of Licking County.

Thomas and Sarah Kirk graves, photo by author

An exact date of death

I've long wondered what was engraved on Thomas' original tombstone. Did it provide his exact death date?

A family history published in the 1990's gave his death date as December 3, 1846, but there was no citation for where that date came from. Did it come from the tombstone?

The author of that history had visited Beard-Green and included a grainy photograph of Thomas' original headstone when it was still intact (albeit barely hanging on, clamped together by metal braces). Perhaps the stone was legible and the exact death date was pulled from the marker.

In June 1970, a local genealogy society conducted a census of burials - recording the basic bio-data that was still readable. Thomas' headstone was standing, but the information recorded was pretty basic.

Great, I had the birth and death years. I didn't want to be too greedy, but it sure would be nice to know what exactly was on the stone. Many of the markers in the cemetery give the deceased's name, exact death date and the age at death, which can then be used to calculate the birth year. 

Was that the case for Thomas?

Notes on a cemetery

During a recent visit to the genealogical society in Newark, Ohio, I landed on a new document that provided more insights. 

It was a photocopy of a notebook kept by Bertie Dawes (1872-1958), co-owner and caretaker for the surrounding Dawes grounds on which the cemetery is situated, titled, "Little Old Cemetery on our place."

The journal includes a map of burial locations (Margaret Beard was buried to the left of her husband!) and an index detailing the known burials in 1940. It also provides more of the information inscribed on each stone, including for Thomas.

In a handwritten list of burials ordered chronologically by year, Dawes recorded Thomas Kirk under 1846.

There it was in black and white. Thomas Kirk's tombstone gave his death date as December 3, 1846 at the age of 68 years, which suggested a birth year of 1778. 

This was the first time I had confirmation that the stone was the source of this information.

Although the data wasn't entirely new, Dawes' notebook provided a reference point, a citation that I could point to as corroborating evidence of Thomas' birth and death dates. That's important in any genealogy and strengthens my Kirk family history. 

Following Thomas Kirk's FAN Club Across 18th Century Virginia

I’ve located new evidence that suggests Thomas Kirk, my fifth great-grandfather, was not alone when he moved from Berkeley to Brooke County, (West) Virginia in about 1799.

Brooke County, (West) Virginia

In April 2018, I discovered Thomas Kirk on five years of tax lists in Brooke County, (West) Virginia: 1799 - 1803. This was an exciting discovery because it was the first time he had been found outside Licking County, Ohio (where he settled and died in 1846), and verified his children's claims in census enumerations that their father was born in Virginia.

Thomas’ appearance on the Brooke County tax lists put him in the home county of his future wife in the years just before family lore says that they married (about 1804).

1799 Brooke County, (West) Virginia Personal Property Tax List
Thomas Kirk made his first appearance in the home county of his
soon-to-be bride

Perhaps equally important to being in the right place at the right time was that Thomas disappeared from Brooke County’s tax lists (1804) when he and his bride likely married and moved across the Ohio River to Captina, Belmont County, Ohio (per published family histories).

But where was Thomas before his 1799 appearance in Brooke County?

Berkeley County, (West) Virginia

In the ensuing months, my research turned up a handful of DNA matches that indicated Thomas Kirk might have a sister, Mary Kirk. The investigation moved to Berkeley County, (West) Virginia when I learned that Mary married Anthony Geiger there in 1797.

A grandson of the Geigers gave me names to focus on when he wrote that Mary’s parents were Joseph and Sarah Kirk of Berkeley County.

In November 2018, research found Sarah Kirk widowed by the late 1780's but continuing to live on the 100-acre Berkeley County farm that Joseph leased in 1773. She was a good citizen and paid her taxes, leaving me a paper trail.

Berkeley County tax lists enumerated the number of white men over age 16 in the taxpayer’s household (because they were subject to a poll tax). From 1792-1795, there were no white men 16+ in Sarah’s household.

1795 Berkeley County, (West) Virginia Personal Property Tax List
Sarah Kirke was enumerated with no white men above the age of 16

In 1796, that changed.

In that year, a male above the age of 16 appeared. Depending on the exact date of birth, this male would have been born in about 1779. Pretty darn close to Thomas Kirk’s purported 1778 birth year.

1796 Berkeley County, (West) Virginia Personal Property Tax List
Sarah Kirke was enumerated with 1 one man above the age of 16

The unnamed male over 16 appeared with Sarah Kirk in the personal property tax lists for 1797, 1798, and 1799. They were both missing in 1800 and onward.

How convenient that a man, who was the approximate age of Thomas Kirk, appeared in Sarah Kirk’s household – the purported mother of Mary (Kirk) Geiger, who DNA suggests may have been Thomas’ sister. Perhaps Sarah was also his mother.

Did Thomas move in 1799 – appearing on both the Berkeley and Brooke counties tax lists? The paper trail supports that theory.

But would a young unwed Thomas move alone?

John Beard Appears Again

Fast on the heels of my research into John Beard, who played a reoccurring supporting role in the lives of my Kirk family (see The Linchpin Who Links an 18th Century Family Together), I found evidence that further substantiates the theory that Thomas was in Berkeley County prior to moving to Brooke County in 1799.

He had familiar company!

I just found an 1803 deed between “…John Beard late of Berkeley County and state of Virginia and Margaret his wife…” and George Harris. The Beards sold Harris 200 acres in Berkeley County for “…nine hundred pounds current money of Virginia…” The deed states that John inherited the land from his father Andrew Beard of Frederick County, Virginia.

1803 Berkeley County, (West) Virginia land indenture - John and Margaret Beard
sold 200 acres to George Harris

For descendants of John and Margaret Beard, this document is a treasure because it confirms the identity of John’s father.

For descendants of the Kirks, it’s important because of the curious notation that John was “late of Berkeley” – an indication that he had moved elsewhere. Where were the Beards now living?

The land deed concluded with a note from the clerk of [drum roll, please...] Brooke County, (West) Virginia.

The Beards were living in Brooke County, where they finalized the sale of their Berkeley County property.

1803 Berkeley County, (West) Virginia land indenture - John and Margaret Beard
sold 200 acres to George Harris, finalizing the sale from Brooke County, (West) Virginia

There is now proof that the Beards were in the same place at the same time as the Thomas Kirk I speculated was my fifth great-grandfather!

It seems more plausible that Thomas would travel from Berkeley to Brooke if he was accompanied by family rather than alone. How fitting that it was the Beard family – whom records have shown were an ever-present support to the Kirks.

It’s also curious that the Beards sold their land in November 1803. Did the Beards want the cash in hand because they planned to move across the Ohio River into the newly formed state of Ohio (where they also settled in Licking County and eventually sold Thomas his farm)?

While the research continues, I have sifted from the sparse 18th century paper trail complementary evidence that reinforces my growing confidence that Thomas Kirk was born in Berkeley County, (West) Virginia in 1778 to Joseph and Sarah Kirk, moved to Brooke County in 1799 where he married, and then crossed the river to settle in Licking County, Ohio.

The History of an Ohio Farm: From President John Adams to Grandpa Thomas Kirk

In the summer of 2017, I stood on the Licking County, Ohio land that my fifth great-grandfather Thomas Kirk once owned in the early part of the 19th century.

In the 200 years since he purchased the property, the landscape had changed considerably. His 100 acres of farmland were now developed with homes and manicured lawns and trees that obfuscated the original contours of the property. Despite the evolution, I could sense the history of the land.

Gazing towards Thomas Kirk's 100-acre farmland
Licking Township, Licking County, Ohio

It was this land that Thomas sold on March 1, 1838, to Charles Wallace for $2,000. This sale price represented a whopping return on Thomas' initial $175 investment. Over a span of 26 years, the value of the 100 acres grew more than 1,000%.

Perhaps the close proximity to the recently-built National Road made the land a lucrative investment. Profits aside, it may have been the sheer beauty of the land that prompted Wallace to make the purchase. A private family history on the shelves of the Licking County Genealogical Library includes a handwritten note:

"Charles Wallace worked on the 'National Pike' from 1828 on to 1835 part time from before Wheeling to Springfield [Illinois]. He rode horse back with saddle bags and superintended the masonry all along and when pay day came he paid off the men working on the stone culverts, some of which are still standing and being used. Going back and forth so many trips between Wheeling and Columbus he thought this farm was the prettiest between these two places... He thought about these things for a long time... finally he bought this farm."

March 1, 1838 deed of sale: Thomas Kirk sold 100 acres in
Licking Township, Licking County, Ohio to Charles Wallace.

Over a quarter century earlier, Thomas had bought the 100-acre farm from John and Margaret (Kirk) Beard. On January 25, 1812, in his first documented land transaction, Thomas paid the Beards $175 "current money of the United States" for 100 acres - a tract of land "situated in the Fourth Section, First Township and Twelfth United States Military Range."

January 25, 1812 deed of sale: Thomas Kirk bought 100 acres in
Licking Township, Licking County, Ohio from John Beard

Where did John Beard get the land from? On March 23, 1807, "John Beard of Fairfield County" (the county from which Licking was formed in 1808) paid Samuel Dick $700 for 400 acres located in "that certain tract or parcel of land...of the fourth quarter of the first township of the twelfth range of the tract appropriated for satisfying warrants for military services held by deed from Martin Baum and William C Schinek of the date of the 20th September in the year one thousand eight hundred..."

March 23, 1807 deed of sale: John Beard bought 400 acres in
Fairfield County, Ohio from Samuel Dick

Nearly seven years earlier on September 20, 1800, Martin Baum and William C. Schenek "...both of the United States territory north west of the river Ohio..." sold to Samuel Dick "...for and in consideration of the sum of five shillings to them in hand well and truly paid..." 2,800 acres belonging to "...a certain tract or parcel of land being a part of the fourth quarter of the first township in the twelfth range of the tract appropriated for satisfying warrants for military services..."

September 20, 1800 deed of sale: Samuel Dick bought 2800 acres in the fourth
quarter, first township, twelfth range from Martin Baum & William Schenek

Licking County's Engineer shared a modern map where he highlighted the border of the fourth quarter, helping to identify the land.

Only months earlier on March 29, 1800, Martin Baum and William C. Schenek were granted 4,000 acres "being the fourth quarter of the first township in the twelfth range of the tract appropriated for satisfying warrants for military services" by President John Adams.

March 29, 1800 military service land grant from President John Adams
to Martin Baum and William C. Schenek

Over 38 years and several owners, the land once farmed by my fifth great-grandfather traced its ownership origins to President Adams who doled it out to two men in recognition of military service to the United States, and who, in turn, sold it for mere shillings.

Have you traced your ancestral land back or forward in time? What did you discover?

The Linchpin Who Links an 18th Century Family Together

During three decades spanning 1781 to 1812 and across two states, one man repeatedly appeared in records for my Kirk family.

John Beard is the glue holding a cast of characters together, and may prove to be the key to identifying the parents for my fifth great-grandfather Thomas Kirk.

In fact, John Beard is the common denominator - the linchpin - helping me to infer family relationships among a handful of Kirks where the traditional paper trail offers no surviving evidence to confirm family bonds.

John Beard: 1753 - February 1814

A published Beard family history says John was born in 1753 in Ireland, married a woman named Margaret Kirk, and died in February 1814 in Licking County, Ohio. He was buried in the Beard-Green Cemetery in Licking County, Ohio.

John Beard grave, Beard-Green Cemetery, Licking County, Ohio
(photo by author)

In an application to join the Daughters of the American Revolution that was submitted by Cora Beard Williams - a great-granddaughter of John Beard - she stated that John married Margaret Kirk who was born April 12, 1758 and died July 7, 1850. Some Beard family histories suggest that she, like John, was also born in Ireland.

Sadly, Margaret's headstone is no longer standing. I presume it is the crumbled heap of stone beside John's memorial.

Likely remains of Margaret (Kirk) Beard's headstone, Beard-Green Cemetery,
Licking County, Ohio (photo by author)

In 1970, the Johnstown Genealogy Society conducted a census of the Beard-Green Cemetery and recorded the most basic bio-data from the memorials still surviving in that year. Fortunately, Margaret's headstone was still upright and legible. Her marker once indicated that she was born in 1758 and died in 1850 and was the wife of John Beard.

Excerpt of Beard-Green Cemetery headstone inscriptions, highlighting
John and Margaret (Kirk) Beard

Margaret's relationship, if any, to my Kirk family is unknown.

Aside from the curious shared surname between my kin and Margaret's maiden name, the Beard-Green Cemetery is an important beginning to the role John Beard played in the lives of my Kirk family. Just yards from John's burial is the grave for my fifth great-grandfather Thomas Kirk (1778-1846).

John's eternal resting place is also near Mary (Kirk) Geiger (1774-1832) - a woman who I speculate was the older sister to my Thomas. Unfortunately, her headstone no longer survives. However, thanks again to the dedicated efforts of the Johnstown Genealogy Society, I know that in 1970 her memorial was still upright and indicated that she was born in 1774, died in 1832, and was the wife of Anthony Geiger.

Excerpt of Beard-Green Cemetery headstone inscriptions, highlighting
Mary (Kirk) Geiger

The paper trail links John with both Thomas and Mary.

John Beard in the Records

I first heard of John Beard when I found a land deed for my Thomas Kirk. In January 1812, Thomas purchased 100 acres in Licking County from John and Margaret Beard.

Thomas Kirk buys land from John and Margaret Beard - January 25, 1812

After discovering the record, I didn't think much of John Beard and carried on merrily with my research narrowly focused on Thomas.

It wasn't until some years later, when a fellow blogger and descendant of another 19th century Licking County resident, Mary (Kirk) Geiger, turned me on to the possibility that Mary and Thomas were siblings, that I happened upon the Beard name again.

Researching Mary Kirk, I discovered that she and her husband, Anthony Geiger, had married in Berkeley County, Virginia (now West Virginia).

A marriage bond, dated September 1797, was signed between Anthony Geiger and [drum roll, please] ... John Beard.

Anthony Geiger and Mary Kirk 1797 marriage bond with John Beard as surety

A review of Berkeley County land records confirmed that there was indeed a John and Margaret Beard living in the area. In June 1786, "John Beard and Margaret his wife" sold 25 acres to a William Roberson.

John and Margaret Beard sell land in Berkeley County, Virginia - June 1786

With a John Beard now affiliated with both Thomas Kirk and his alleged sister Mary (Kirk) Geiger, and all three buried in the same small Ohio cemetery, I continued to dig into Berkeley County records.

Geiger family histories stated - without corroborating evidence - that Mary Kirk was the daughter of Joseph and Sarah Kirk.

Fortunately, land and tax records confirmed that there was a Joseph and Sarah Kirk in Berkeley County.

In 1781, Joseph Kirk was required - like all area farmers - to provide grain to Virginia's Continental troops in support of the Revolutionary War effort.

Joseph Kirk received a certificate detailing his contribution. The certificate, numbered 486, was Joseph's receipt which he could use for later reimbursement with the government.

1781 Public Service War Claim for Joseph Kirk, #486

The certificates appeared to have been issued in the sequential order that they were received from area farmers. Certificate number 487? It belonged to [drum roll, please] ... John Beard.

1781 Public Service War Claim for John Beard, #487

Did Joseph Kirk and John Beard go to submit their war claims together? Perhaps it's a faint hint that there was in fact a relationship between the two men.

By 1784, it appears that Joseph Kirk was gravely ill or had died. The Kirks were hauled into court for falling behind in payments on their leased farm. Sarah Kirk was called into court. Joseph didn't accompany her. Instead, she was represented with, you guessed it, John Beard.

1784 Replevy Bond - Fairfax vs. Sarah Kirk and John Beard

A Theory

With John Beard's reoccurring appearances in the Kirk family records, I'm reminded of Elizabeth Shown Mill's recent admonishment that anyone connected to our family is someone we need to get to know well.

Could all of John Beard's appearances be a coincidence? Sure, of course.

But I suspect there's something more at play. John's multiple appearances have helped me stitch together this theory:

• Perhaps Thomas Kirk and Mary (Kirk) Geiger were siblings. 
• Maybe their parents were Joseph and Sarah Kirk. 
• Maybe Joseph died when both of his children were still minors, and John Beard stepped in to play the role of male guardian. 

Why would John do such a thing? Perhaps he was compelled to look after his family. Was John's wife, Margaret Kirk, a sister to Joseph Kirk thus linking the Beards and Kirks?

Although documentary proof has yet to surface, there's certainly enough here to chew on and ponder. What do you think? Is there anything to this notion?

A Genealogist's Love For the County Engineer's Office

In March 1838, Thomas Kirk sold his 100-acre farm in Licking Township - a small community on the southern border of Licking County.

The farm had been my fifth great-grandfather's home since 1805 when he was among the first settlers in the Ohio wilderness. In those early years, there were few people, vast stretches of untamed landscape, and no urban developments of note: no cities and no modes of transport like highways, trains, or canals.

But 33 years later all of that had changed, and Thomas moved about 23 miles northwest and settled on a 171-acre farm in Licking County's rural Monroe Township.

Why? Did he long for an escape from encroaching development?

The new National Road - America's first federally-funded road - was paved through Licking Township sometime between 1830 and 1833 and soon brought hordes of traffic and urbanization to Thomas' doorstep.

Literally, the National Road ran along the southern boundary of his Licking Township farm.

A 19th Century Freeway

Between 1825 and 1850, Touring Ohio notes that, “the National Road was the primary route immigrants and east coast settlers used in their western migration…Commerce thrived as thousands of wagons, coaches, carriages, and horseback riders moved across the state.”

The National Park Service estimates that nearly 200,000 people used the National Road every year during its heyday in the 1830's and 1840's.

In a series of vignettes recorded by Harper's Monthly in 1879, men who traveled the National Road during its prime shared recollections illustrating what ran along Thomas Kirk's doorstep:

"The wagons were so numerous that the leaders of one team had their noses in the trough at the end of the next wagon ahead and the coaches, drawn by four or six horses, dashed along at a speed of which a modern limited express might not feel ashamed. Besides the coaches and wagons, there were gentlemen travelling singly in the saddle, with all their luggage stuffed into their saddlebags. There were enormous droves of sheep and herds of cattle, which raised the dust like a cloud along their path."

It was the 19th century equivalent of Los Angeles' 405 barreling under Thomas' nose with the Eastern Seaboard moving past his home on its way west to manifest destiny.

Whether the National Road proved too much for Thomas remains uncertain. But what is now known, thanks to Engineer's Office of Licking County, is that he had been a supporter of early development efforts.

County Engineers Are A Genealogists Best Friend

To all the genealogists out there, listen carefully!

If you haven't already reached out to the Engineer's Office in the counties of your ancestors, I strongly recommend that you do so. Now!

At the recommendation of the Licking County Recorder, I contacted the Engineer's Office to ask about the existence of early county maps.

A single-sentence reply came back from the county's engineer himself with a hyperlink to scans of the office's historic records.

The no-frills webpage that loaded was a directory grouped by categories like Atlas and Maps, Original Plats and Field Notes, Record Plats, Right-of-Way, and Surveys. 

I found detailed maps of Licking County and its townships that illustrate the changes of property ownership from Thomas Kirk's days up to the early 20th century. I've long toiled with following the transformation of the property boundaries over the years. That job was just made so much easier!

But The Real [Unanticipated] Gold

The maps were an exciting find. If that was all the County Engineer shared with me, I would have been happy and called it a successful day.

But wait! There's more! [insert studio audience gasp here]

I peeked inside the Right-of-Way directory and found a sub-directory for Road Records. Within another sub-directory there more than 300 TIF files.

I clicked into the first record and loaded up an image of a handwritten June 1808 petition to the Licking County Board to build a road.

Licking County was formed in 1808. I was looking at records that shaped the development of Thomas Kirk's hometown and driven at the request of local community members.

---

Now, let's pause here for just a moment.

My genealogical research into Thomas Kirk has long ago exceeded the bounds of a traditional reasonably exhaustive search. I have a borderline obsessive bloodthirst desire to find every record that mentions Thomas. I have to. There are very few records touching on his life that survived Licking County's 1875 courthouse fire. Advancing my Kirk genealogy could hinge on a yet-to-be-discovered piece of evidence tucked away in the most obscure corner. I've made it my business to find every.single.record that mentions Thomas Kirk. And I have now spent years surfacing every.single.record that mentions Thomas Kirk. Until this week, I didn't think there were any more records in Licking County with Thomas' name on them that I hadn't already seen.

Until this week. [Now back to our story]

---

I began reviewing - page by page - the unindexed volume of petitions for roads to be built across the fledgling Licking County.

I kept "turning" the pages [opening new digital files] and quickly scanning the text for familiar names. Many records read something like this:

"Be it remembered that on the 4th day of December 1815, Ezekiel Wells and others presented a petition for a road as follows..."

Who were the and others? Maybe my kinfolk? Maybe Thomas Kirk? Almost none of the records detailed the parties entreating the county government to build their proposed roads. Almost none.

But the genealogy stars must have aligned because as I continued opening files, I came to page eleven.

"Be it remembered that on the 25th day of September AD 1810 John Stadden and others presented a petition for the establishment of a road from Newark toward Lancaster, which said petition reads as follows."

"To the Commissioners of Licking County O.

We the undersigned citizens of Licking County, being sensible of the difficulty we are likely to labor under in consequence of the road leading from Newark to Lancaster as the sum has never been confirmed or established, and if there is money to be appropriated to the use of said road, we pray that a view and survey or such other proceedings as the Board may think for the welfare of the public as speedily as the nature of the ease will admit."

Nearly all of the handwritten petitions concluded there, but this record - this beautiful record - began listing the names of the and others.

There was John Stadden, Andrew Beard, William Hains, H. Pugh, P. Cunningham, Martin Lincoln, Adam Kits, and then... genealogy gold...

... Thos Kirk ...

My fifth great-grandfather, the man who may have moved further afield in the county to escape the hubbub that accompanied the heavily-trafficked National Road, was among the petitioners in 1810 who asked the county to build a road running south from Newark to the Licking County line towards Lancaster.

Among the petitioners were two other names of note:

John Beard was married to Margaret Kirk who I speculate was an aunt to Thomas Kirk. In 1812, John and Margaret sold Thomas the 100-acre farm in Licking Township that he had leased from them since 1805.

Anthony Geiger was married to Mary Kirk who I speculate was a sister to Thomas Kirk. John Beard had served as Mary's surety on her wedding bond.

Thomas Kirk along with likely uncle-in-law John Beard, and brother-in-law
Anthony Geiger petitioned county officials for construction of a road.

A path for the road was platted and eventually approved by the County Commissioners: "Whereupon it was ordered that said road be established a public highway."

Page twelve of the digitized records included a sketch of the road. 

Comparing it to the area on modern Google Maps, I realized that this road still exists today and is known as the Jacksontown Road or Highway 13.

The Jacksontown Road bordered Thomas Kirk's 100-acre farm along its western edge.

Sketch of the proposed road between Newark and the Fairfield County line
Thomas Kirk's 100-acre farm is detailed in red.

Jacksontown Road/Highway 13 on Google Maps. Thomas Kirk's 100-acre
farm sat at the northeast intersection of the road with the National Road (Highway 40).

A Lesson For the Family Historian

The key lesson for the family historian is to be sure that you have been in touch with all county offices that may have historic records. You may be so fortunate as to discover a county engineer who has digitized the records and is willing to share them with you.

Of course, this petition didn't tell me that Thomas Kirk was the son of [insert long-sought-after name here], but it did help me understand that he was an active voice in his community who sought development of his home county. That's invaluable to me because I have so little information detailing Thomas' perspectives and activities.

Have you had success finding family history records with a county engineer's office? What other unconventional county offices have helped your genealogical research?

Seeking Sisterhood: A Mitochondrial Research Project

For too long I've neglected the women.

My research has narrowly focused on my fifth great-grandfather Thomas Kirk (1778-1846). If you weren't sporting the Kirk surname or carrying the male Y chromosome, you were secondary to my genealogical investigation.

That's about to change. My Kirk family research is shifting gears and moving in a different direction. Perhaps this approach will yield previously overlooked clues that will help identify Thomas Kirk's parents.

Ladies of Suspicion 

Aside from his wife and daughters, three women have surfaced with biographies that curiously intersect with Thomas Kirk's life.

Were they related to Thomas? Could their histories help bridge the research gaps and pinpoint my Kirk ancestral origins?

The three suspects are Margaret (Kirk) Beard, Mary (Kirk) Geiger, and Ann (Kirk) Ford.

Margaret (Kirk) Beard
With no corroborating documentation, some genealogies claim that Margaret was an older sister to Thomas Kirk. Born twenty years before Thomas, indeed she would be a much older sister. Admittedly, the large age gap doesn't preclude them from being siblings, but it seems more likely - to me - that they would be aunt and nephew (or cousins).

According to an unsourced family history published in 1975 (The Beard Family Genealogy: The Beard Family From Virginia to Ohio and West by Glenneta Schott), "John Beard married Margaret Kirk who was born in Cork County, Ireland April 12, 1758 and who died July 7th 1850 in Ohio."

The Beards lived in Licking County, Ohio - where Thomas Kirk made his home - and are buried in the Beard-Green Cemetery - just steps from Thomas' final resting place. 

In 1812, the Beards sold 100 acres in Licking County to Thomas.

Before moving to Ohio, the Beards lived in Berkeley County, (West) Virginia. On June 17, 1786, they were grantors selling 25^1/2 acres in that county where, coincidentally, Joseph Kirk, a possible father to Thomas, Mary, and Ann, also lived.

Land indenture, John and Margaret Beard sell 25.5 acres
Berkeley County, (West) Virginia 17 June 1786

John Beard was tightly affiliated with Joseph Kirk and his wife Sarah. John even appeared in court with Sarah when the Kirks fell behind on their farm's rent.

Mary (Kirk) Geiger

Mary Kirk, born in about 1774, married Anthony Geiger in 1797 in Martinsburg, Berkeley County, (West) Virginia. John Beard was named a surety (bondsman) on their marriage bond, linking the Beards and Geigers.

Anthony Geiger and Mary Kirk marriage bond with John Beard as surety
Berkeley County, (West) Virginia, 26 September 1797

Mary and Anthony also lived in Licking County, Ohio, and she is buried in the Beard-Green Cemetery just steps from the graves of both the Beards and Thomas Kirk.

Perhaps most compelling of all, a handful of Thomas Kirk's descendants are autosomal DNA matches to descendants of Mary (Kirk) Geiger, confirming a genetic link that supports the theory that they were siblings.

Ann (Kirk) Ford
Ann Kirk was born in 1777, and married Hugh Ford in 1800 in Brooke County, (West) Virginia. They eventually moved and settled in Licking County.

Thomas Kirk was in the area, too, enumerated in Brooke County personal property tax records from 1799 through 1803. Did the Kirks move from Berkeley to Brooke County together?

The Fords named one of their sons Vatchel Ford. The unusual first name was also the name Thomas gave to his eldest son.

In 1838, Thomas Kirk moved from Licking Township to Monroe Township (both located in Licking County). His new farm was south of the Fords who also lived in Monroe Township. In 1847, following Thomas' death, the Probate Court appointed Hugh Ford to appraise the value of Thomas' estate.

Detail of Monroe Township, Licking County, Ohio 1847 Land Owners Map
Kirk and Ford farms

In The Genealogy of the Ford Family, a letter from their son Hugh Ford Jr. - who consulted a family bible in the possession of his sister - noted that Ann Ford was the daughter of Joseph Kirk. Of the cast of characters, this is the only one to have a parent named by an immediate family member who would be best positioned to know. Descendants of Mary Geiger often allege - without documentation that I've seen - that her father was also a Joseph Kirk.

If naming conventions are important, it's worth noting that Thomas Kirk, Margaret Beard, Mary Geiger, and Ann Ford all named a son Joseph.

Mitochondrial DNA Research Project

Could I use DNA - specifically mitochondrial DNA - to determine whether these women shared a common maternal ancestor, supporting the claim that they were sisters?

Mothers pass their Mitochondrial DNA on to all of their children. However, only a mother's daughters can pass that same mitochondrial DNA - mostly unchanged - on to her children.

This unique inheritance pattern allows us to trace a direct maternal line back in time following the path of the mitochondrial DNA.

If I can trace a living direct female descendant from Margaret Beard, Mary Geiger, and Ann Ford, we can test the mitochondrial DNA to see if they match.

If the descendants of all three women share the same mitochondrial DNA, we would know that - at some point in history - they shared a common maternal ancestor.

A match would also complement the pieces of the paper trail that hint at a closer family relationship between the three. To be clear, a mitochondrial DNA test wouldn't tell us that the women were sisters, but it could confirm that as a genetic possibility. And that's what this research project endeavors to prove.

If you are a direct female descendant of one of these women, you're eligible for a mitochondrial DNA test with Family Tree DNA. Congratulations! Reach out to familysleuther@gmail.com.

Building A Reverse Genealogy Case Study With DNA, Land, and Tax Records

I think I'm on the cusp of breaking through one of my most impenetrable brick walls.

Regular readers know that the hunt is on to identify the parents of my fifth great-grandfather Thomas Kirk.

A flurry of recently discovered evidence is finally settling and beginning to coalesce around a person of interest.

Into the Wilds of Virginia

Although he was born in Virginia in 1778, the earliest recorded appearance of Thomas Kirk in the paper trail was an 1806 tax list for Licking County, Ohio. From that document until his death in 1846, he lived in Ohio.

It was just a couple weeks ago that I finally discovered the first evidence of Thomas Kirk in Virginia. A collection of five personal property tax records spanning the years 1799 through 1803 enumerated Thomas in his soon-to-be wife's hometown: Brooke County, Virginia (now West Virginia).

Also enumerated with Thomas in each of those five tax records was a John Kirk. Both men first appeared in Brooke County's tax records in 1799. Neither man was there in 1798. Did they travel to the area together?

If yes, who was John and what relationship, if any, was he to Thomas?

A Sister Moves The Narrative Further Into The Old Dominion

A week before I discovered the Virginia tax records, I shared a DNA case study investigating the possibility that Thomas' Licking County neighbor Mary (Kirk) Geiger was his sister.

Although the distant generations under scrutiny made it difficult to say definitively, the small amounts of shared DNA between descendants of Thomas and Mary matched what one would expect to see if these two Kirks were siblings.

Bottom line: the DNA case study determined that the genetic evidence supported the theory that Thomas and Mary were brother and sister.

Who was sister Mary and what light could she shed on the Kirks' parentage?

Born in 1774, Mary was just four years older than Thomas. On September 26, 1797, a marriage bond in Berkeley County, Virginia (now West Virginia) recorded that a "marriage is suddenly intended to be solemnized between the above-bound Anthony Geiger and Mary Kirk."

1797 Marriage Bond for Anthony Geiger and Mary Kirk, Berkeley County, (West) Virginia

Even before the genetic link between Thomas and Mary was identified, the marriage bond was curious because of the surety, John Beard.

Why was John Beard serving as the surety instead of the bride's father or a brother? What relationship was he to her?

John Beard had lots of overlap with Thomas Kirk's history. He would later surface in Brooke County, Virginia, and eventually make his way to Licking County, Ohio where he sold Thomas 100 acres in 1812.

Furthermore, published genealogies and a DAR application state that the maiden name of John's wife Margaret was Kirk. I've long speculated that, if Margaret was related to Thomas Kirk, she was most likely an aunt due to her age. Born in 1758, she was twenty years older than Thomas.

Was John Beard serving as the surety on Mary Kirk's marriage bond because he was her uncle?

Berkeley County, (West) Virginia Under Scrutiny

Mary (Kirk) Geiger was clearly a person of interest, and her marriage in Berkeley County made the area prime investigative real estate.

Given that a male Kirk did not serve as the surety for her marriage bond, I wondered if Mary's father had died before her 1797 nuptials requiring a maybe-uncle John Beard to fill the role.

Beginning with that year and working backwards, I explored the surviving records now digitized on FamilySearch for any Kirks.

First up were the land deeds, which date to 1772.

On April 9, 1773, an indenture was made "between the Honourable George William Fairfax Esquire of the one part and Joseph Kirk of the County of Berkeley Farmer of the other part..." Joseph Kirk leased 100 acres that, in that year, was located in Norborne Parish in Berkeley County, (West) Virginia.

1773 Lease for Lives between George William Fairfax and Joseph Kirk
Berkeley County, (West) Virginia

In the margins of the indenture, the agreement was classified as a "Lease for Lives" with the following stipulations:

"To have and to hold the said land promises to the said Joseph Kirk his heirs or assigns for and during the natural lives of him the said Joseph Kirk, John Kirk his brother and Joseph Olive son of Joseph Olive yielding and paying unto the said George William Fairfax his certain attorney heirs executors administrators or assigns yearly and every year on the fifteenth day of September the rent or sum of three pounds ten shillings current money of Virginia..."

1773 Lease for Lives between George William Fairfax and Joseph Kirk
Berkeley County, (West) Virginia

Failure to pay the rent would result in George William Fairfax having legal authority to occupy and regain full ownership and possession of the land.

In her book Locating Your Roots: Discover Your Ancestors Using Land Records, Patricia Law Hatcher wrote that the lease for lives concept was widely used in the Northern Neck of Virginia. Hatcher explained that these agreements were "really a land grant, but its language is that of a lease. With a lease, technically the land still was the property of the proprietor (who was trying to retain his right to quitrents or taxes)."

The record's identification of Joseph Kirk's brother John was a great genealogical gem. They were the only enumerated Kirks owning land in late 18th century Berkeley County. Land tax records, beginning in 1782 record Joseph paying tax on the 100 acres leased from Fairfax.

1787 Land Tax List for Berkeley County, (West) Virginia

Sometime between the 1787 and 1788 tax lists, Joseph Kirk died. The 1788 enumeration includes his name, but also the initials "Exrs".

1788 Land Tax List for Berkeley County, (West) Virginia

This peculiar abbreviation follows his name on the next nine years of land tax lists. In 1795, the abbreviation was spelled out: "Executors".

Was Joseph's name still appearing in land tax records because of the terms of the Lease for Lives, which, in the event of Joseph's death, assigned the lease to his brother John Kirk and Joseph Olive?

Personal Property Tax Lists

Owning or leasing real estate in the 1700s seemed like a rarity. Perhaps more Kirks would show up in Berkeley County's personal property tax lists.

Beginning in 1783, the tax lists enumerated just two Kirks: Joseph and John. In that year, Joseph paid tax on 3 horses and 4 cattle. John paid tax on 2 horses and 1 cattle.

Both men appeared on the 1784 personal property tax list with the same amount of livestock. However, I couldn't find either man on the 1785 list.

In 1786, only John Kirk appeared in what would be his last appearance on the tax list. He was enumerated with no livestock. Did the Kirks fall on hard times?

Where was Joseph? Did he actually die earlier than the 1787-1788 range suggested by the land tax lists? Joseph's last appearance in the personal property tax list in 1784 expands the window of his death to 1784-1788.

In the 1787 personal property tax list, a new Kirk emerges: Sarah Kirk. She continued to appear intermittently in the personal property tax lists for 1788, 1792, and each year 1794 through 1799. She was the only Kirk enumerated. In 1799, her name was followed by the notation "Rich Lands" and she was enumerated with 2 horses.

1799 Personal Property Tax List, Berkeley County, (West) Virginia

Was Sarah the widow of Joseph or John? Without a probate record, I don't know. Berkeley County probate materials are digitized on FamilySearch, but are frustratingly only viewable from a designated library or research center.

The Makings For A Reverse Genealogy Case Study

In a recent blog, Amie Bowser Tennant, wrote about using the reverse genealogy approach to break through genealogical brick walls: instead of tracing your ancestors backwards to a brick wall, develop a theory, identify a person of interest, and work their tree forward in time to see if it meets your known pedigree.

Collectively, the DNA, land, and tax records have provided me a cast of characters with the right surname, in the right place, at the right time, and teed me up for a strong reverse genealogy case study.

Since they were the only Kirks recorded in Berkeley County's paper trail, Joseph, John, and Sarah are prime research targets.

It's eyebrow-raising that Joseph Kirk was deceased before the 1797 nuptials of Mary Kirk. Was he her father and his absence from the marriage bond was because he was dead?

John Kirk's disappearance from the tax lists means we can't rule out that he also pre-deceased the 1797 marriage. Maybe he was Mary's father. Or maybe her uncle, and his passing meant that the bondsman role fell to John Beard. Or maybe he was the John Kirk that appeared with Thomas Kirk in the 1799 Brooke County tax list. If that's the case where was he between 1786 and 1799?

I need a probate package for Joseph, John, or Sarah to help me piece together the family relationships.

Do you see what I mean? Answers are within reach.

I feel strongly that I'm almost through. Just one more whack and I may finally crack the Kirk family mystery wide open. I'm salivating at the thought of finding an estate settlement that names the heirs of Joseph or John. Could they include a daughter Mary and maybe just maybe a son, Thomas Kirk?

Virginia Is For Lovers: Finding Thomas Kirk In His Father-In-Law's Hometown Tax Records

For 15 hours over two rainy days, I researched my heart out at Salt Lake City's famed Family History Library.

I stared at digitized records on computer screens until I was bleary-eyed, and trawled through enough miles of microfilm to circle the earth, twice.

Slowly, my steadfast research surfaced exciting new details integral to my chief genealogy obsession: my fifth great-grandfather Thomas Kirk.

An Exciting Discovery
On Saturday, with a few short hours before closing time, I made an exciting discovery - a collection of tax records that spanned 1797 into the early 1800s.

"Tax records?" I hear you asking with a yawn.

Admittedly, tax lists don't sound that exciting, but, I believe these particular documents account for five previously unaccounted years of Thomas Kirk's life. Five!

Furthermore, these records position him, for the first time, in the state of Virginia, corroborating the birth location given by his children to census enumerators in 1880 and 1900.

Thomas and his wife Sarah Bonar were early settlers in Licking County, Ohio. An 1806 Licking County tax record was, before this weekend, the earliest known record for Thomas. It indicated that the Kirks were in the Buckeye State by 1805 (the year the 1806 record assessed).

My speculative pre-Ohio timeline for Thomas went something like this:

• Born in Virginia in 1778, 
• Married Sarah Bonar in about 1804 (perhaps in Brooke County, Virginia or maybe Belmont County, Ohio), and 
• Their first child, my fourth great-grandfather Vachel Kirk, was born in Ohio in 1805.

Thomas' exact birth location in Virginia or any of his whereabouts before his arrival in Ohio were a mystery. I feared records of his pre-Ohio movements might have been destroyed during the Civil War.

On Saturday night, I walked away from the library's hallowed stacks with five new records that just might fill in missing years in the timeline of Thomas Kirk's life and give my research new avenues of pursuit.

Snooping Around His Father-In-Law
One of my primary research goals for this trip was to examine land, tax, and probate records for Brooke County, Virginia (now West Virginia).

Sarah Bonar's parents William and Jane (McCulloch) Bonar lived in Brooke County. According to the Bonar Genealogy, compiled by Dorothy Elizabeth Rine Brown, "Brooke Co was referred to as the 'wilderness' by frontiersmen" and William Bonar was documented as one of the county's early "home-seekers."

Brown wrote that the Bonars spent their entire lives in the county: "Here on their plantation William and Jane lived and died and reared a family of four sons and six daughters." Among those daughters was Sarah, Thomas' soon-to-be wife.

Surely Thomas Kirk would eventually bound onto the scene in Brooke County. How else was he going to meet and marry Sarah? The question was would he stick around long enough to leave his mark on the paper trail.

Brooke County's personal property tax lists, dating to 1797, survive and are available online.

I opened the first record and began my review of names. The lists are in alphabetical order by surname.

I quickly found Sarah's father William Bonar on the 1797 tax list, but there were no Kirks enumerated that year.

1797 Brooke County (West) Virginia Personal Property Tax List

I moved on to the 1798 tax list. Again, there was William Bonar yet no Kirks.

I loaded up the 1799 tax list. William Bonar was there as expected, but there were some new names under the Ks. Making their first appearance in the records were three Kirks. One of them was - drum roll, please - named Thomas!

1799 Brooke County (West) Virginia Personal Property Tax List

In addition to Thomas, the list included a John Kirk and a Caleb Kirk.

The first column in the tax list denoted, "White above 16". All three Kirks have a mark in this field.

The fourth column (the only other field with a notation) tracked the number of "Horses, Mares, Colts & Mules." John Kirk had none and, accordingly, was assessed no personal property tax. Both Thomas and Caleb Kirk had one and were each assessed a 12 cent tax.

The relationship, if any, between Thomas, John, and Caleb is unknown. Research needs to be done on the identities of these other two men.

Curiously, neither John nor Caleb were names that my Thomas Kirk gave to any of his sons, initially suggesting to me that they were not family names and raising some doubts about a familial relationship between the three men. But, alas, the tax records provide no answers on this front and only raise more questions. It remains interesting that three men surnamed Kirk appeared in the same county in the same year.

Over the next four years, Thomas Kirk was enumerated in Brooke County's personal property tax lists.

In 1800, Thomas and John Kirk were enumerated one after the other. John still didn't own any horses, but Thomas now owned two and paid a 24 cent tax. Caleb Kirk disappeared from the tax list entirely.

1800 Brooke County (West) Virginia Personal Property Tax List

In 1801 and 1802, Thomas and John Kirk appeared again - the only Kirks enumerated those years. In both years, Thomas paid a 24 cent tax for his two horses. John still did not own a horse.

1801 Brooke County (West) Virginia Personal Property Tax List

1802 Brooke County (West) Virginia Personal Property Tax List

In 1803, both men were enumerated for the fifth year in a row. However, John's personal fortunes were finally on the upswing. He now owned two horses, like Thomas, and was assessed a 24 cent tax (congratulations?!).

1803 Brooke County (West) Virginia Personal Property Tax List

In 1804, the year after Ohio became the 17th state to join the United States of America, Thomas Kirk was on the move. He no longer appeared in the tax list, although John Kirk remained with his two horses.

1804 Brooke County (West) Virginia Personal Property Tax List

John Kirk disappeared from Brooke County's personal property tax list the following year in 1805; himself now on the move.

Inference Is All I Have
How do I know that the Thomas Kirk enumerated in the Brooke County personal property tax lists between 1799 and 1803 is my fifth great-grandfather?

I don't, definitively.

The records simply don't afford me the luxury of a clear-cut answer.

However, when I triangulate this information with other research and family lore, the appearance of a Thomas Kirk in this particular area during this particular time is certainly eyebrow raising.

Just consider the facts:

• My Thomas Kirk married Sarah Bonar in about 1804.
• A Thomas Kirk appeared in Sarah Bonar's home county between 1799 and 1803.
• A Thomas Kirk disappeared from that county in 1804, the same year family lore speculates he married Sarah and moved across the Ohio River to Belmont County, Ohio.

This Thomas Kirk was simply in the right place at the right time.

I have also reviewed Brooke County's land tax records for this time period. It's noteworthy that Sarah Bonar's father, William Bonar, appeared on those lists and paid tax for sizable amounts of acreage. However, no men surnamed Kirk appeared on those lists. Thomas' absence from these lists doesn't strike me as unusual. He was a young man of 21 just starting out in the world. He would need to amass some fortune before he could purchase land.

Perhaps Thomas and Sarah saw greater opportunity for their new family in the wilderness of Ohio where vast amounts of land lured young pioneers with promises of wealth. That narrative would fit with known Kirk family and American history.

Pulling At Threads, Stitching a Research Path Forward

I would be remiss if I didn't also flag that among the tax lists were two other men who played a role in the story of Thomas Kirk:

• John Beard, who was married to a Margaret Kirk and sold Thomas Kirk 100 acres in Licking County, Ohio in 1812, was enumerated on Brooke County's tax lists beginning in 1798.
• Hugh Ford, who was married to Ann Kirk - an alleged sister to my Thomas Kirk, appeared on the tax lists from 1797 to 1802.

Hugh and Ann (Kirk) Ford moved to Belmont County, Ohio. Did Thomas and Sarah (Bonar) Kirk follow them there before continuing on to Licking County?

Although no marriage record has surfaced for Thomas and Sarah in either Brooke or Belmont counties, perhaps an 1804 tax record survives for Belmont County that enumerates Thomas Kirk.

Oh the possibilities! With new clues at hand, the sleuthing continues with renewed vigor.