(Author's note: Having learned from the New Straitsville Fire Department the name of the local cemetery records keeper, who was up in years, I called her long distance to inquire about the burial of Elizabeth and James Earl in the local cemetery. I made an appointment to stop and call on her upon my arrival in town to investigate.

When we arrived in New Straitsville some days later, I searched out her home and paid her a visit. She said she had looked through her records ["I can't get around much anymore...these books are so cumbersome..."] as best she could, and found nothing.)

* * *

Saturday, 27 May, 1988 -- Today was the day I'd planned since last fall. A chance to look for the burial place of my Vernon great-grandparents. Abbie and I had planned our route with the help of one of her co-workers whose recollection of the backroads of his youth might keep us off of the bad roads.

Our route took us south on Route 77 to Cambridge in Guernsey County, then west on Rte 70 to Zanesville; south out of Zanesville on Rte 93 into Perry County. We were heading first to New Straitsville to find James Earl and Elizabeth at the New Straitsville Cemetery outside of town toward Logan. I had only the barest evidence I'd find them interred there, but that's all I had to go on.

Finding the cemetery was fairly easy, and once on the grounds, we came across a cemetery worker who had a ratty piece of a burial plot map. James and Elizabeth were not on the map. We did, however, find the headstones of a couple of their sons and their wives. I assumed that perhaps because of finances, maybe James and Elizabeth were buried without headstones. I photographed the headstones we found, and left. Our next stop was in Murray City, a few miles away in Hocking County on Rte 216 out of New Straitsville. I didn't expect to make any cemetery excursions there, since my information was that Grandfather Joseph (James Earl's son) was supposed to be resting in Nelsonville, farther south. But we spotted a cemetery high up on a hill off the road and decided to investigate for any Vernon burials. We made a quick tour of Murray City where my aunt was born, and decided on a longer stopover on our return.

We headed on to Nelsonville in Athens County, just inside the county's northern border. The three counties of Perry, Hocking and Athens abut in this region with Perry's southwestern corner, Hocking's eastern border and Athen's northern border, so that any traveler going through Nelsonville, Murray City and New Straitsville, is in all three counties.

Nelsonville's cemetery was east of the city off Rte 33. It is a large cemetery and required that I get Joseph's location from the groundskeeper. Inside his office, we set him to looking through his books for the gravesite.

The names were recorded alphabetically in one large book with a code number beside the name. I found Joseph's name raggedly scrawled in the book with the code number 3093 next to it. In another book were section maps with grave plots laid off. The groundskeeper found the page corresponding to Joseph's code number as Section 8, lot #39. Outside the office door, he pointed out where we'd find the plot, then led off to show us.

Section 8 is an extended, circular peninsula of grass on which sits a leafy shade tree close to the road. We started our search for Joseph's resting place roughly where the attendant had suggested. There were several plots with headstones. Abbie and I went over the entire section at least three times, and found no marker for Joseph or his wife Martha Jane. I had been waiting all through the winter months, with no small concern since I had planned, indeed expected, to have moved from our home in Euclid with the first sign of spring, perhaps moving out of state to New York State. I thought I might not have the opportunity to make a trip south to find these gravesites. Now, we were there, and couldn't find the resting places. However, it wasn't a total loss since I now had the recorded location for Joseph, and I did get some photos of the resting places of some great-uncles in New Straitsville. I have to take my victories where I win them. I would hope that before I finish my self-appointed mission as family historian I might be able to establish grave memorials for all those lineal ancestors whose final location is barely known. It would be my contribution to the memory of their physical existence, without which I wouldn't be here.

We retraced our route out of Nelsonville, after stopping in town at the historic train depot for a brief lunch break. We headed back to Murray City for one more quick look at this town that was an outpost of the Vernon migration north to the Akron area. I stopped along the way to pick up a souvenir of our trip back in history -- a small, dusty black lump of coal -- the reason my ancestors found themselves in this part of Ohio.

A couple of photos of Murray City later we were again on our way north on Rte 216 toward New Straitsville. We made one more stop at the cemetery, where we had earlier chatted with a local native some of whose family was buried there. Abbie remembered that he'd said his father had been a funeral director, so I asked him if he might have the records of some Vernon interments. He promised to investigate, and we exchanged addresses. One more brief look at the site of a granduncle's burial, and we headed for home.

[Note: Some months later this author wrote to Cousin Harold Dixon, wanting to stay in touch, relating to him our disappointment in our trip south. I told him where we'd gone looking, and what we found. He wrote back to give us the correct location for both James Earl and Elizabeth in New Straitsville -- and Joseph's location in Nelsonville. As it turns out, the first lot we'd been shown in Nelsonville was the wrong lot. On our next trip south in the spring, we found fall the sites we'd been looking for. Cousin Harold Dixon has been very helpful in our research.]

* * *

1F#8 Joseph Vernon's parents were 1F#16 James Earl Vernon and 1F#17 Dora Elizabeth Hardy.

James Earl is the lineal mystery great-grandparent who is not very mysterious. He essentially brought the Vernon lineage out of the fog of pre-1850 datelessness in the south and into the vital statistics records.

James Earl was born somewhere in North Carolina in 1821 to Isaac and Elizabeth Vernon.

The index page of the Surrey County, North Carolina marriage bonds records, page 167, show him entered as "James Varnum". James is entered as the groom of bride Elizabeth Hardy, wed on 21 March 1844. The bride's bondsman was David H. Thompson (bonding a bride seems to have been a practice brought over from England, along with many other practices).

The couple was first encountered, in connection with son Joseph as a member of the family, in the 1880 U.S. census records for Harrison County, West Virginia. They are recorded in Coal Township (family no. 242-230, page 33, film page no. 312, line 12) in Harrison County. In 1850, they are found in Carroll County, Virginia, on the North Carolina border. James is shown recorded with (as it turns out) parents Isaac and Elizabeth Vernon, and sibling Isaac Vernon, Jr. and family.

In the course of his 76 years James Earl saw to the migration of his family from North Carolina to Virginia to West Virginia, to the coal fields of Ohio.

James Earl died in 1897, six years after he laid his beloved Elizabeth to rest in New Straitsville.

* * *

1F#17 Dora Elizabeth Hardy was born in Virginia on 15 January 1828, probably in Grayson County. While there certainly must be much about her to be recorded for posterity, at this writing she too is somewhere between an enigma and a mystery.

Dora Elizabeth died on her birthday, 15 January 1891 in New Straitsville, Ohio. She, husband James Earl, and eighth child James Robert Vernon are interred side by side beneath a double-trunk tree in lot #40 in New Straitsville Cemetery. As one enters the cemetery driveway by the front gate, one turns up the road to the immediate right. The double-trunk tree is just off the berm about 40 or 50 yards or so along the road. Elizabeth and James Earl had fourteen children at last reckoning:

1F#16.1 Abner Vernon- b 1844 in Carroll County, Virginia. A coal miner, m about 1868 to Miss Mary A.- b about 1842 in Virginia; eight children: 1F#16.1.1 Lavinia A. Vernon- b 1864, m 18 June, 1844 to George W. Golden, son of A. B. and M. A. Golden; 1F#16.1.2 Mary E. (or L.) Vernon- b 1866; 1F#16.1.3 Marcella A. Vernon- b 1867; 1F#16.1.4 Perry Cawper Vernon- b July, 1868 in Harrison County, West Virginia, m to

Virginia Looman- b July, 1862, dau of Mary Looman; five children: 1F#16.1.4.1 Thomas E. Vernon- b June, 1889; 1F#16.1.4.2 V.[irginia?] Mary Vernon- b August, 1891; 1F#16.1.4.3 Persy Picholta Vernon- b March, 1896; 1F#16.1.4.5 Margarette Vernon- b March, 1899; 1F#16.1.5 James H. Vernon- b May, 1870 in Harrison County, m 1 November, 1894 to Sarah Allie (Allison) Shaw- b March, 1871, dau of John and Octavia Shaw; at least four children: 1F#16.1.5.1 James L. Vernon- b 6 March, 1896; 1F#16.1.5.2 Ms Russetic[?] Vernon- b October, 1897; 1F#16.1.5.3 Lillie Vernon- b December, 1898; 1F#16.1.5.4 Lucy Vernon- b December, 1898, d 12 July, 1900 in Harrison County; 1F#16.1.6 Frank H. Vernon- b September, 1872, m to Miss Tina- b September, 1879; at least one dau, 1F#16.1.6.1 Bessie Vernon- b October, 1897 in Moundsville, Marshall County, West Virginia; 1F#16.1.7 Sarah L. Vernon- b 1875; 1F#16.1.8 Charity E. Vernon- b 1879.

1F#16.2 Patricia Vernon- b 1845 in Carroll County, Virginia;

1F#16.3 John Vernon- b 1846 in Hillsville, Carroll County, m 1.) to Emily Varner, dau of James and Rebecca Varner; at least three children: 1F#16.3.1 James Vernon- at least one child; 1F#16.3.1.1 John Vernon; 1F#16.3.2 Dora Vernon- m to Mr. Ford, said to have had five children; 1F#16.3.3 Elam Elbert Vernon- b 2 January, 1870, d in 1942, m to Edeucic Theolia Collums of Clarksburg, West Virginia; five children;

1F#16.4 Amanda Vernon- b 3 July, 1846, m to Mr. Pancoast; 1F#16.5 Joseph Vernon- b 7 October, 1847 in Carroll County, Virginia, d 13 February, 1917 in Hocking County, Ohio, m 16 April, 1872 in Harrison County, West Virginia to Martha Jane Branegan-Frantz[?]; twelve children;

1F#16.6 Elizabeth Vernon- b 1 April, 1851, d 1 April, 1866 in Harrison County, West Virginia;

1F#16.7 Isham Hardy Vernon- b 16 August, 1852 in Carroll County, d 29 March, 1923, interred in Hepzibah Cemetery, Hepzibah, near Shinnston, Harrison County, m 1.) 8 July, 1875 to Emily Jane Exline- b 1859, dau of Joseph and Rebecca Exline; at least four children: 1F#16.7.1 Elsa Vernon- b 17 March, 1883; 1F#16.7.2 Rebecca Vernon- b August 1886; 1F#16.7.3 Emma Vernon- b 17 August, 1893, d 22 September, 1893 in Harrison County, West Virginia; 1F#16.7.4 Bonnie B. Vernon- b September 1894; m 2.) 1 May, 1912 to Lettie Vandergrift, age 26, of Harrison County, West Virginia.

1F#16.8 Issac Vernon- b 2 May, 1865 in Coal Township, Harrison County, d 22 July, 1900 in New Straitsville, Ohio, m 1881 to Cecelia Callaghan- b April 1865; ten children: 1F#16.8.1 Otis Vernon- b December 1882; 1F#16.8.2 Abner D. Vernon- b 3 April, 1884 in Perry County, Ohio; 1F#16.8.3 Emmie (Emma) Vernon- b 25 August, 1885; 1F#16.8.4 Rosie (Rose) Vernon- b April 1887; 1F#16.8.5 James Vernon- b 4 December, 1889; 1F#16.8.6 Katie (Katherine) Vernon- b 15 March, 1891; 1F#16.8.7 Calia (Celia) Vernon- b 25 November, 1892; 1F#16.8.8 Evenilia (Emily) Vernon- b 18 April, 1895, d in Parkersburg, West Virginia; 1F#16.8.9 Eda (Edith) May Vernon- b 16 February, 1897 in New Straitsville, d 28 November, 1900; 1F#16.8.10 Ruth Alma Vernon- b 2 July, 1899;

1F#16.9 Thomas Clay Vernon- b 13 July, 1858 in Carroll County, d 2 December, 1922 in New Straitsville, m 20 July, 1875 in Harrison County to Sarah Ann Exline- b January 1857 in Marion County, West Virginia, dau of Joseph and Rebecca Exline. Thomas Clay was president of city council of New Straitsville in 1907. Thomas and Sarah had at least eleven children: 1F#16.9.1 George Stewart Vernon- b September 1876, d 1950, m 29 October, 1898 to Sarah Matilda "Tillie" Dishong- b 24 December, 1878, dau of Mose and Susanna Dishong; ten children: 1F#16.9.1.1 Clyde Vernon- b 12 October, 1899, deceased at this writing, m 21 May, 1919 to Lena Flowers; son 1F#16.9.1.1.1 Robert Vernon; 1F#16.9.1.2 Grace May Vernon- b 20 November, 1900, m to Clem Craig. Dau married to Mr. Jack Huston; 1F#16.9.1.3 George T. Vernon- b 10 March 1903, d 24 August, 1907; 1F#16.9.1.4 Susanna R. Vernon- b 13 March 1907, d 12 November 1969, m to George McQuade. Children: 1F#16.9.1.4.1 Matilda "Tillie" McQuade- m to Earl Graham; 1F#16.9.1.4.2 Peter McQuade of Nelsonville; 1F#16.9.1.4.3 Clarence McQuade of Magnolia, New Jersey. 1F#16.9.1.5 Clarence "Pete" M. Vernon- b 1909, d 1959, m to Ruth Beaver; 1F#16.9.1.6 Elizabeth "Beth" Vernon- b 20 April, 1913, m to Charles E. Duffy; 1F#16.9.1.7 Howard Clay "Buss" Vernon- b 16 August, 1915; 1F#16.9.1.8 Harold Sylvester Vernon- b 2 September, 1917, m 24 February, 1948 to Adelaide "Adele" "Addie" Louella Kroening- b 8 May, 1923 in Bruderheim, Alberta, Canada, dau of Emil Kroening and Bertha Mayan; three children: 1F#16.9.1.8.1 George "Butch" Vernon- b 15 April, 1950, m 2.) 15 August, 1984 Shu Juan; 1F#16.9.1.8.2 Mickey Lauren Vernon- b 20 June, 1951, m 24 April, 1987 to Tina Herasimuk; 1F#16.9.1.8.3 Kerry "Jamie" James Vernon- b 2 April, 1955, m 22 October, 1977 to Sheila Sabo; 1F#16.9.1.9 Kathleen Novella Vernon- b 20 December, 1919, m to Mr. Jones; 1F#16.9.1.10 Virginia "Ginnie" Ellen Vernon- b 19 February, 1922, m to Mr. Wilson; 1F#16.9.2 Ellen "Ella V., Allie V." Vernon- b 25 July, 1879 in Harrison County, West Virginia, m 23 September, 1899 to Harry Leake; five children, including two daus: Harry Leake, Jr.; Robert "Bob" Leake- b 1909; Floyd Leake; 1F#16.9.3 James Thomas Vernon- b 18 or 21 October, 1882 in New Straitsville, m 2.) 14 June, 1924 to Helen Lytle; 1F#16.9.4 Joseph Vernon- b August 1885; 1F#16.9.5 John Frank Vernon- b 3 June, 1887, m 26 January, 1918 to Allie Linton of Athens County, Ohio, dau of William Linton and Clarissa Crable; 1F#16.9.6 William Alexander Vernon- b 25 May (birth certificate) or 27 April, 1888 in Perry County, Ohio, m 21 August, 1909 to Stella Evans; 1F#16.9.7 Gracie Vernon- b 27 March, 1892, d 30 January, 1896 of scarlet fever in New Straitsville; 1F#16.9.8 Tessa "Tessie" Ann Vernon- b 19 September, 1893, m 1.) 21 June, 1910 in Perry County to John Edward Christian; dau: 1F#16.9.8.1 Violet Christian- m to Mr. Bryan; m 2.) to Mr. McDermot; 1F#16.9.9 Hazel Marie Vernon- b 29 September, 1895, m 1.) 8 January, 1913 to William Henry Swain, m 2.) to Tom Lynch; 1F#16.9.10 Thomas C. Vernon- b 3 December, 1897, d 3 January, 1898 in New Straitsville; 1F#16.9.11 Della A. [Stella?] Vernon- b 27 or 29 June, 1899 in Perry County, m 17 February, 1916 to Michael F. Lynch- b 21 November, 1896; dau: Galore [Delores?] Madeline Lynch[?]- b 20 December, 1896 in Falls Gore, Hocking County, Ohio;

1F#16.10 James Robert Vernon- b 22 September, 1859 in Harrison County, d 25 January, 1926 in New Straitsville of cancer of the throat,

James Robert Vernon.

Lena,seated, with four of their seven children; Annie, Josh, Nellie, and Florence.

1F#16.11 James Baltzer A. Vernon- b September, 1863, d in 1914 in New Straitsville, m 11 June, 1885 to Jane[?] "Jennie" Holt- b 6 March, 1868; at least five children: 1F#16.11.1 Howard Vernon- b 10 October, 1896, d 10 September, 1888; 1F#16.11.2 Minnie [Minerva?] Vernon- b 29 October, 1888, m 27 June, 1906 to Jacoson Williamson; 1F#16.11.3 Lizzie (Elizabeth) Vernon- b April, 1891; 1F#16.11.4 Jennie (Jennifer) Vernon- b February or 9 January, 1893, d 1912, m to H. A. McCloy; 1F#16.11.5 Walter L. Vernon- b 21 February, 1896, m 14 April, 1920 to Elizabeth Matthews;

1F#16.12 Ulysses Grant Vernon- b July or 15 August, 1869, d 5 April, 1930, m 13 May, 1891 to Eva (Evaline, or Evelyn) Chappelear- b March, 1870; three children: 1F#16.12.1 William A. Vernon- b 23 March, 1892; 1F#16.12.2 James H. Vernon- b 14 October, 1894; 1F#16.12.3 Forrest Rose Vernon- b 26 January, 1899, d 10 December, 1900 of pneumonia, interred in New Straitsville Cemetery;

1F#16.13 Sarah A. Vernon- b 13 May (or March), 1873, d 22 March, 1873 in Harrison County, West Virginia, lived 8d, child of James and Elizabeth Vernon (Harrison County Deaths 1853-1903 by Patricia B. Hickman);

1F#16.14 Martha Vernon.

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