Right off the bat, the librarian led me to an index of articles written over the last 150 years mentioning the Suttons and/or Davenports and which had been published in the Fire Lands Pioneer journal. One item was an obituary for Levi who died in 1872 at the age of 78. "Mr. Sutton was a very worthy man, enjoying the respect of all who knew him; and the confidence of his fellow townsmen was such that he held the offices of Township Clerk and Justice of the Peace many year, say 30 or more." Other items included a piece Levi wrote as a retrospect in the 1860. In it he wrote about the Indians:
"Seneca John resided on the Reserve in Seneca County and was a brother of Comstock, the principal chief of the Seneca tribe. I became acquainted with him soon after I settled on the Huron River in 1817. He would frequently call at my house when passing by, up to near the time of his death which, I believe, was in 1828. I understood from him that the Indians had their hunting grounds allotted off among themselves before the settlement of the whites, and no Indian had the right to intrude on another's territory by hunting or trapping. At the time I saw him, he claimed the west half of this township and the north west part of Greenfield for his hunting ground."
Then the librarian handed me gold. A book written by Alfred Tewell of Uniontown, PA about Moses Sutton and his descendants. It has everything in it I was searching for. Birth certificates, death certificates, land deeds - 300 pages worth. I could hardly quit holding it. Copying it at 25 cents a page was prohibitive so I went on to other volumes. After 3.5 hours, I reluctantly left and made by way to the courthouse where I found original marriage certificates for George M and Esther, and estate/probate records for Levi and several others. I left a list with the clerk and the items w
ill be copied and mailed to me.
ill be copied and mailed to me. Then off to the cemeteries!! Thank goodness for indices since I found the 2 cemeteries with Suttons and didn't have to comb through all 10. The cemeteries were both south of Monroeville. This was logical since Levi and Isaac's property were in the southeast corner of Lyme and northeast corner of Sherman Townships. (Note: Levi and Catharine owned their property jointly.) It took the AAA Ohio map, the cemetery position description from the index book, my phone and the GPS to make my way to these two sites. Both are maintained (grass mowed) but are located in cornfields and not subject to any recent burials. I found a lovely old stone for Moses Sutton (ggggg grandfather) with iron notations that he served in the Revolutionary War and War of 1812. I'm sure it is a replacement for the original stone since he died in 1827 but still nice.In the School House cemetery I found an obelisk for Levi and Catharine Kyle Sutton (ggg grandparents) with their graves on either side.
When I got back to the motel and my computer, I looked up a phone number for Mr. Tewell. Lo and behold he is still alive (age 81) as is his wife. He has some copies left of his book and for $30 will mail me one. Yippee!!!!!!! This book is also being shipped to Anne Desmond - although she doesn't know it. An all together satisfying day. No luck finding ancestor photos/portraits but will look at the library tomorrow. Thanks for listening. M
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