BROWN CO, OHIO COURTHOUSE FIRES

   From:
        "Hauser, Rolland" <RHAUSER@csuchico.edu>
     To:
        "'Hermon Brown Fagley'" <hermfagley@juno.com>
 
Hermon:  I am so glad that you are setting me and the rest of us straight
on
this item (the undated letter from Reba Shepard) that I saw this week on
the
current ROOTSWEB "MISSING LINKS" e-publication.  I was puzzled by this
item,
and that is the reason I sent it in.  I have read your many e-mails and
postings fairly carefully, and I had not seen a mention of something like
this "Brown County courthouse fire."  It raised by antennae.  Thanks.

You have been so helpful to us as I (who am fairly new to the job) have
tried to understand some of the background of the Jacob Sellers and Deborah
Dunn marriage.

It turns out that my wife and I will be spending some time in the East next
year in the May and June time frame.  If you are going to be at home during
some larger or smaller portion of May and June 2000, might I contact you
again as the time grows closer?  We would love to meet you, chew the fact a
little bit regarding our mutual obsession, and perhaps take you to lunch.
What do you think?

Cheers.  Rollie Hauser

> ----------
> From:         HERMON B FAGLEY
> Reply To:     SELLERS-L@rootsweb.com
> Sent:         Monday, November 29, 1999 17:13
> To:   SELLERS-L@rootsweb.com
> Subject:      Re: Brown County, Ohio, Item
>
> I have been trying to add to,and correct the errors in this note.
> Brown Co Oh courthouse, "in GEORGETOWN,not" RIPLEY"  BURNED in the ]
> 1970-arson. Many records were saved by volunteers, and 1st dried-stored
> in
> a warehouse. Buckley O'DAY says there were 65 boxes stored at thr
> BROWN CO, GENEALOGY SOC LIBRARY,IN 1987. Brown Co now has
> an archives room. Many-most? have been microfilmed,and indexed.
> Georgetown has  a large LDS,or Morman CHURCH.
> Anyway,Ripley,and neither of Ripley's Historical Societies have anthing
> to do
> with the records.They are in Georgetown-10 miles north.
> I think the following letter was some years old,also.
>
> On Mon, 29 Nov 1999 12:12:02 -0600 marie sellers hollinger
> <mari@netins.net> writes:
> >
> >
> >"Hauser, Rolland" wrote:
> >
> >> Marie:  Here is an item that I just came across.  I thought it
> >> might be interesting because of the several Sellers who
> >> are found in Brown County, Ohio, in the early 1800s.
> >>
> >> Cheers.  Rollie Hauser
> >> ----------------------------------------------------
> >> > Subject:      Extract from Missing Links, Vol. 4, No. 48
> >> >
> >> >                     *    *    *    *    *
> >> >
> >> > SUCCESSFUL LINKS: WHAT CAN YOU DO IF "THE COURTHOUSE BURNED"?
> >> >
> >> >              by Reba Shepard <rshep70683@aol.com>
> >> >
> >> > While researching my great-great-grandfather, my husband Larry
> >> > and I wandered into the Brown County Historical Society in
> >> > Ripley, Ohio, across the river from Maysville, where the man we
> >> > thought was my great-great-great-grandfather landed when he came
> >> > down the Ohio River on a flatboat in 1784.
> >> >
> >> > The family name repeated most often was John, and we sought to
> >> > prove whether David MASTERSON (1796-1844) was the father of John
> >> > (1836-1913), and the son of another John (1750-1812). An unusual
> >> > family name made us believe this was the case --Keturah was the
> >> > name. In 1750 John married a Keturah and in 1836 John named a
> >> > daughter Ida Keturah. Other than in the Bible, that was the only
> >> > place we had ever seen that name.
> >> > We got the often heard story "the courthouse burned," but
> >> > positive as we are, we said, "OK, but what happened to the
> >> > records?" The archivist looked surprised at our question, stated
> >> > nobody ever asked that, but the records had been preseved,
> >> > burned edges and all, and they were located in a warehouse a few
> >> > blocks away.
> >> >
> >> > We asked how we could search those records, and she gave us a
> >> > key to the warehouse. Hours later, covered in soot, we returned
> >> > victorious to the Historical Society, knowing the proof we
> >> > sought lay between covers of burned books with burned edges.
> >> >
> >> > We asked how we could secure a copy of that record and were told
> >> > "go get the book, bring it here and we will copy it." We drove
> >> > back, picked up the book, and took it to the Brown County
> >> > Historical Society archivist who copied each page we sought. We
> >> > then, on her instructions, returned the huge burned book to its
> >> > resting place in the warehouse.
> >> >
> >> > Something had to tell us that a burned courthouse doesn't
> >> > necessarily mean burned records. We asked. We received! Two
> >> > court records of 1845 proved John and his brother Joseph were
> >> > orphaned sons of David MASATERSON. An 1820 land record proved
> >> > that David was the son of 1750 John and his wife Keturah.