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Archiver > BRETHREN > 2000-09 > 0969835920
From: Arthur H Laube <>
Subject: Murley Branch Brethren?
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2000 18:52:00 -0400
Do you believe in coincidences? I am busting my chops trying to get our
memorial to my wifes Bowser grandmother to the printer and little added
notes, almost trivial, seem to keep popping up.
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Anna Maude Bowser Orr1877-1951, Brownsville, Licking County, Ohio. A
Jonathan Creek Brethren.
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My west-coast, son-in-law editor has signed off on the book and I am
trying to do the last minute cosmetics. I really dont want to add stuff
that he has not seen. So I am taking this course to publish and yet not
to publish. I am not going to give credit to everyone who has
contributed to this little note - there are too many....but many thanks
- you know who you are.
Anna Maudes Bowser story has an interesting theme in that so many of
the Bowsers Ohio neighbors were Brethren that came from the
Cumberland/Flintstone Gap/Wills Creek area. And I now suspect Murleys
Branch should be emphasized more than it is.
For example, 1800 Census of Allegany County, Murley Branch Dist. page
7. Jacob Bowser head of household, one male and one female both
26/45. Twigg Town is in Murley Branch Hundred and we know Mary Twigg, of
that family, married a Bowser, and we think it was this Jacob who was
the progenitor of the Bowsers of Jonathan Creek in Perry and Muskingum
County, Ohio. He and his descendants for several generations were part
of the Jonathan Creek Brethren.
Jonathan Creek rose from the Big Swamp, now Buckeye Lake. It flows east
through Hopewell and Newton Township in Perry and Muskingum County,
respectively. It enters the Muskingum just below Zanesville. And there
are circumstances which suggest that Mary Twigg's brothers and sisters
and there spouses who went to the Perry, Licking and Tuscarawas County
area of Ohio, along other tributaries of the Muskingum were also
Brethren - but I have not proven that. But this large area was served
by Elijah Scofield, a Brethren minister from where? Flintstone Gap,
Allegany County, Maryland. (Is Flintstone in Murley Branch Hundred? If
not it is close to its northern boundary.)
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Connie Beachy, a very active researcher in western Maryland, kindly sent
us a section of the Willison family history: Elijah Scofield, a
Brethren minister, lived near Flintstone Gap, married Ann Willison, and
went to Perry County, Ohio.
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It now develops that, Isaac Cheney also lived in Murley Branch and his
son Clemuel/Lemeuel Cheney/Chaney came to Perry County between 1826 and
1829. He died in 1852 and is buried in the Scofield/Eversole Cemetery.
Now he came a little late for us to include him in the early arrivals of
the Jonathan Creek Brethren. And maybe he wasn't Brethren but in his
last years and in death he is surrounded by them..
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A descendant of Isaac Cheney, Donald W. Nazelrod
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We have found that many living along Jonathan Creek before 1820 were
Brethren. We knew many of them from my wife's family antidotal history
- both her maternal and paternal antecedents lived within a stones
throw of that cemetery. Her Clark paternal side married a Brethren and
inherited land there in the last half of the 1800's. Later her paternal
line was ME.
Her Bowser maternal line was Brethren and they were along Jonathan Creek
in Muskingum County as well as the NE corner of Perry County as early as
1804 and most before 1820. So in our Bowser family history we include a
sub-title of Anna Maudes memorial A Jonathan Creek Brethren.
In the Scofield/Eversole Cemetery, seven surnames survived on stones to
be read, and there are 20 or so spouses and children. They are all
known Brethren, and include their first minister Elijah Scofield and
many of his family - except we do not know for sure about
Clemuel/Elemuel Cheney.
Considering the religious feelings of 1830-1850 we doubt very much that
he would have been buried there unless he were Brethren. Back in
Murleys Branch, he was among Scot-Irish - and Don W. Nazelrod believes
they were Episcopal. If so there was no Episcopal church anywhere
close when Elemuel Cheney arrived in Perry County before 1830. I would
guess there might have been an Episcopal Church in Zanesville - about 15
miles to the east. About this time Fairlawn Presbyterian church on the
National Pike, about five miles north, was organized. But Elemuels
widow, a North, elected to have him buried in the Scofield/Eversole
cemetery among the Brethren.
Now Don also tells us of a Brother Schofield who was a Brethren minister
in Berkeley County, Virginia in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
century. The name is known to be Scofield in Maryland and in Perry
County in early Ohio. At some point, after the family relocated to
Franklin Township, many families added an "h" to make the name
Schofield. We do not know if this was a misspelling or deliberate. We
have kept the name Scofield in our history. It seems very likely that
Elijah Scofield, the hero of our Jonathan Creek story, was was from
the Brother Schofield of Berkeley County. Should I add that additional
information in Elijahs story. Anyone?
Peter Eversole and Catherine Shelhorn were married in 1790 in the First
Reformed Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania; they were Mennonites.
Shortly after they were married they accompanied her parents to
Hampshire County, (West) Virginia. Her parents deeded land to them and,
in 1794, removed to Allegany County, Maryland, where her father, Balser
Shelhorn, died in 1797. Peter and Catherine were very moved by Elijah
Scofield's (or maybe it was Brother Schofileds) burial service for her
father, and when they discovered that Elijah was leading a party to
Ohio, they determined to accompany him (an assumption). Peters brother,
Abraham, joined them. They were Brethren.
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In his will Balser Eversole left a gift to the Brethren church. Where
was this church?
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In 1804 and 1806, Peter Eversole purchased a half-section of land in
Greenfield Township, Fairfield County, Ohio, from the Chillicothe Land
Office. In 1811 and 1813, he purchased a half-section on Jonathan Creek
contiguous with the property of George Nye and Adam Plank. Later, the
Eversoles purchased the contiguous Scofield property, and the Scofield
cemetery became known as the Eversole cemetery. Peter Eversole's son,
John, inherited the farm and it was occupied by Eversoles into the 20th
century.
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Eversole Family of Perry County, Ohio. Brethren Roots, Spring 1998.
Volume 30, Number 1. Jane Elsmere. John Eversole was the youngest son
of Peter.
1883 History of Perry County, Ohio. County History by E.H. Colburn.
Compiled by A.A. Graham. 1883. Page 399-400. A list of "German
Baptists in belief"
And family recollection and personal visits to the area.
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Jacob SNIDER Born: About 1732. Died: 1790 in Berkeley County, Virginia
(now West Virginia). This is a work in progress but some Snider
researchers believe that his father came with Alexander Mack in 1729.
His son Daniel and his grandson Jacob were Brethren ministers in the
Jonathan Creek community.
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Daniel Snider Book, Lawrence A Clark, 1977. Courtesy of Bob Longbottom,
aka .
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There were of course many Brethren north of Murley Branch in
Pennsylvania along Wills Creek. And there were Brethren to the South in
Berkeley County, VA. And there are the several families of Murley
Branch named above who either were Brethren or became Brethren soon
after they arrived in Perry County, Ohio. In those early days the
Brethren were not much for keeping records. I can not imagine them
keeping a record of giving ( I have often been tempted to encourage a
mainline modern day church to develop that kind of responsibility in
their congregation - but of course Big Brother needs the giving
records.) and there are few early Brethren membership records of any
kind to be found - so it would not be surprising if there were Brethren
living in Murley Branch among the Scot-Irish, meeting in their homes
and unknown to present day Murley Branchers any comments?
I seem to feel these many Brethren knocking on my soul - wanting to be
recognized - before I close out this account of the Jonathan Creek
Brethren But as an engineer I have closed out many a million dollar
project and I am going to go to the printer with this one - even though
the Brethren are calling. Any last minute help appreciated.
Do you believe this is all just coincidental? I will tell you that I
am ever grateful that my dear wifes grandmother was a Brethren - I
think they had/have something pretty special. .
Regards to all of you listers, and I hope you never have this happen
to you! . Hal.
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