Tuesday, February 28, 2012

The Culver family of Delaware County, Ohio

The Culvers


Just the Facts

The main source documenting the Culver family of Porter Township, Delaware County, Ohio is found in the History of Delaware County, Ohio (1880) in a biography of B. Culver of Condit, Delaware County. While such biographies do not constitute a primary source and are prone to significant misstatements, this entry has generally been the starting point for information on this family.

This biography states that B. Culver (Bazel or Bazeliel in other sources) was born 28 March 1811 in Berkshire Township (Sunbury Township by 1880), son of John and Catharine (Johnson) Culver. John Culver was reportedly born about 1770 in New Jersey and Catharine was born about 1779 in Pennsylvania. John Culver died in 1823. After his death, Catharine married a Mr. Beard and moved to Missouri. John and Catharine were parents of 12 children, including Bazel, 3 of whom were living in 1880. Elsewhere in the same volume, John Culver is said to have settled north of Culver’s Creek in Porter Township in 1809, together with Michael Ely.

John Culver is listed on the 1820 Census of Sunbury, Delaware County, Ohio as follows:

Free White Persons - Males - Under 10: 3
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 15: 2
Free White Persons - Males - 16 thru 25: 2
Free White Persons - Males - 26 thru 44: 1
Free White Persons - Males - 45 and over: 2
Free White Persons - Females - Under 10: 3
Free White Persons - Females - 10 thru 15: 2
Free White Persons - Females - 16 thru 25: 1
Free White Persons - Females - 45 and over : 1

This suggests that the family was composed of between 12-14 children. The only proven child is Bazel, who is tied to the family via the 1880 biography.

Speculation based on records

The 1830 Census records a number of Culver families in Delaware County, Ohio, including John and William Culver in Porter Township and Edward in Burlingame. William is immediately adjacent to Timothy and James Meeker (likely his father-in-law and brother-in-law). Many members of the Point and Place families are also found on the same page.

By 1840, a number of Delaware County, Ohio Culvers were resident in Amanda Township, Allen County, Ohio. They appear in close order on the census, including John Culver, William Culver, Orange Culver, and Victor Beard (who is assumed to be the Mr. Beard who married Catherine Johnson Culver after 1823).

It appears that William Culver and his family moved to Daviess County, Missouri, probably with Victor and Catharine Beard, in 1840-1841. Susan Culver married James Place in Daviess County, Missouri in 1841, although the family later returned to Amanda Township, Allen County, Ohio. Court records in Daviess County suggest that a Victor Beard was alive and associated with a Culver in an 1851 court case.

This data suggests a sibling relationship between several additional Culvers, namely:

1. William Culver (1796-1888) of Allen County, Ohio and later Daviess County, Missouri. His first wife was Sally Meeker, likely a daughter of Timothy Meeker; his second wife was Savannah Place, daughter of Peleg Place and Ann Bensley Place
2. John Culver (1800-1872) of Allen County, Ohio. He married Phoebe Place, daughter of Isaac Place and Clarinda Loveman Place.  
3. Orange Culver (1805-before 1850) of Allen County, Ohio. He probably married Esther Point, daughter of Daniel Point and Esther Meeker Point
4. Susan Culver (1817-1891) of Allen County, Ohio. She married James Place, son of Isaac Place and Clarinda Loveman Place.

Together with

5. Bazel Culver (1811-1891), of Delaware County, Ohio, who married Elizabeth Thomas, referenced above. this tentatively ties together five children.

The death certificate of Mary (Meeker) Williamson (1832-1913) of Porter Township, Delaware County, Ohio, lists her parents as James Meeker and Sarah Elizabeth Culver. James Meeker was an early pioneer of this township. His family intermarried with the Place, Point, and Culver families both in Delaware County, Ohio and in Allen County, Ohio, where they became neighbors in the 1850s-1860s. James’ wife was deceased by 1850, but it is assumed that she was another daughter of John and Catharine Culver.

Speculations

Although no definitive listing of the children of John and Catharine Culver has been found to date, several online trees give consistent names and birthdates for children as well as birth and death dates for John and Catherine. It seems reasonable to suspect that this data is drawn in some form from a family Bible record. Where able to be verified, the data has generally proven reliable. The record lists the following:

John Culver (11 Jun 1767-8 Sep 1823)

Catherine Johnson Culver (20 May 1774-4 Mar 1848), married 17 Mar 1791.

Children:

1. David Culver (b. 22 May 1793)
2. Betsey Culver (b. 23 Jan 1795)
3. William Culver (b. 8 May 1797)
4. John Culver (b. 3 Jun 1800)
5. Phoebe Culver (b. 17 Sep 1802)
6. Orange Culver (b. 22 Jan 1805)
7. Sallie Culver (b. 10 Mar 1807)
8. Katherine Culver (b. 11 Jan 1809)
9. Bazeleel Culver (b. 28 Mar 1811)
10. Caroline Culver (b. 1813)
11. Mary Culver (b. 22 Feb 1815)
12. Susan Culver (b. 4 Jul 1817)

Six of these children (David, Phoebe, Sallie, Katherine, Caroline, and Mary) remain unknown beyond this record. Most likely married in Delaware County, Ohio prior to the loss of all marriage records there in 1835. The biography of Bazel Culver (1880) states that only three of John Culver's 12 children were alive in 1880. Since Bazel (d. 1891), William (d. 1888), and Susan (d. 1891) were alive, it is assumed that the others were deceased by 1880.

There is little on which to base assumptions about the background of John Culver and Catharine Johnson Culver beyond the meager data cited above. The fact that the family was living very near Edward Culver in 1820 suggests a relationship, but none has been proven. Edward was the son of Jonathan and Sarah (Hinman) Culver of Litchfield, CT and later Canaan, Columbia County, NY. He had no brother John. The naming patterns of this extended family also do not match well those of John and Catharine’s family. However, it is likely that John fits somehow into the broader Edward Culver/Colver family of New England. Various lines of this extended family did follow a migration pattern from Connecticut to the Hudson River Valley of New York State to Luzerne County, Pennsylvania and Ohio.

There are two families in Luzerne County, PennsyIvania that hold promise. The first is the Daniel Culver family of Connecticut and later of Huntington Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Daniel appears on the 1796 tax list of Huntington Township. It is likely that he had sons Aaron, Reuben, and Samuel and a daughter, Phoebe, who married Miles Sutliff. The naming patterns of these families were similar to the Culver family of Delaware. The Daniel Culver family also associated closely with the John Johnson family of Huntington Township. This is likely the John Johnson who married Eunice Meeker, sister of Timothy Meeker of Delaware County. Several other Johnsons lived nearby. It is possible that John Johnson and David Johnson who married Eunice and Johanna, daughters of Amos Meeker, were brothers of Catharine Johnson Culver. This is purely speculation.

The other possibility is the family of David Culver of Exeter Township, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania (located on the opposite side of Luzerne County from Huntington). David Culver was a son of Robert Culver of Schooley’s Mountain, New Jersey. David and his son, David O. Culver (born about 1769) settled in Luzerne County, Pennslyvania about 1797. The younger David O. died in Luzerne in 1831 and is buried there. The elder David apparently moved back to New Jersey where he died. There does not appear to be a close relationship between the Daniel Culver family of Huntington and the David Culver family of Exeter. The naming patterns of both families resemble those of the John and Catharine (Johnson) Culver family to some degree.

Note: Footnotes are not included in this post due to technical limitations. They are available on request.

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