The Gore Line, A Narrative — Six

This is Chapter Six of eight. In this chapter, we will spend all of our time with our family in the 19th century, almost entirely in an area known as the Connecticut Western Reserve located in the Ohio Country.

Family

So much work in genealogy is about looking backward and trying to make sense of whatever history, stories, family anecdotes — are receding into the rearview mirror. For these family history narratives, we are attempting to look forward into the future — to a future that we know we will not be part of someday. We are creating and crafting a resource for the benefit of future generations.

“During the years when my ancestors went West, so did millions of other people… Many families moved again and again;
only a few headed back East across the mountains…

A French observer said that a true American’s life was like a soldier’s, here today and tomorrow fifty miles off…
Old America seems to be breaking up, and moving westward… towards the Ohio…”

Ian Frazier, author of Family
page 60

In 1994, the great American writer Ian Frazier published a wonderful book called Family, in which he criss-crossed the United States beautifully writing about the past and present histories of his family — from both sides —his mother’s, and his father’s. Much of the book took place in the Western Reserve of Ohio. It inspired us then and still does today! It was such joy for us to read, and with our encouragement, several of our siblings also read it. (In those years, our parents were in much declined health, and even though we told them how much we enjoyed Mr. Frazier’s Family, neither of them were able to read the book.)

We have excerpted a few Family quotes from Mr. Frazier’s book to use in this chapter. We hope he doesn’t mind — with thanks to you, Ian!

The last place we were with our grandfather Luke Gore, was in Belleville, Jefferson County, New York in the years after the War of 1812. From his generation, he and most of his siblings spread out across the young United States. We continue his story. (1)

Luke Gore Marries his First Cousin Mila

Our Grandfather Luke Gore married twice, but first-things-first, we’ll write about his first marriage to his first cousin Mila Gore.

In 1834, when Luke was 28 years old, he traveled to Bernardston, Massachusetts to visit his cousins — his paternal uncle, Ezekiel Gore’s family. Ezekiel was married to Miriam Strate and they had three daughters: Anna, Esther, and Mila. The History of The Town of Bernardston, Franklin Co., Massachusetts 1739-1900, wryly describes his visit:

“Mila m.[married] Jan 19, 1834, Luke Gore (a cousin) of Black River, N.Y., after a long and tedious courtship of three days.”

Mila was born in Halifax, Windham, Vermont and was living with her parents in Bernardston, Massachusetts. At that time Luke was living in Jefferson County, New York. The Bernardston book describes him as being from Black River, a small village in Jefferson county, named after the local river.

How were they cousins, you ask? In the previous generation, (see The Gore Line, A Narrative — Five), Luke Gore’s father Samuel Gore (4) and Mila Gore’s father Ezekiel Gore, were brothers. Observation: It’s reasonable to assume that marrying first cousins would not be allowed in today’s time, but things were different then…

We have a letter from a distant cousin, Pearl Avia Gordon Vestal, written on January 25, 1940, to our Grandmother Lulu (DeVoe) Gore, a portion of which further discusses this trip:

Luke Gore is our Great-Great-Grandfather, born April 1, 1805, Halifax, Windham, Vermont – died October 2, 1868, Newbury, Geauga, Ohio. He married Mila Gore on January 19, 1834 (as written above). She was born circa 1813 Bernardston, Franklin, Massachusetts – died September 29, 1848, Newbury, Geauga, Ohio. They had three children:

• Crockett Gore, born 1839 Brattleboro, Windham, Vermont – died December 9, 1900 Vienna, Genesee, Michigan. On January 16, 1866 he married Lois Haven.
• Eliza (Gore) Richmond, born May 1846 Russell, Geauga, Ohio – died June 9, 1917 Allapattah, Dade, Florida. On August 10, 1867 she married Cassius Richmond.
• Milan R. Gore, born January 6, 1847 Newbury, Geauga, Ohio – died February 20, 1920 Newton Falls, Trumbull, Ohio. On July 4, 1870 he married Myra Fowler.

Luke Gore married a second time about one year after Mila died. He was a widower with three young children. His second wife is Electa Stanhope, who is our Great-Great-Grandmother. They married September 20, 1849 in Claridon, Geauga, Ohio. Electa was born September 13, 1822 in New York – died January 6, 1907 in Chagrin Falls, Cuyahoga County, Ohio.

Her parents are Asahel Redington Stanhope born July 11, 1793 Gill, Franklin, Massachusetts – died September 8, 1879 Mantua, Portage, Ohio and Mary Finch. She was born May 21, 1798 in New York State – died 1873, unknown location.

Electa and Luke had two sons:

• Dorr B. Gore, born September 8, 1851 Newbury, Geauga, Ohio – died June 11, 1930 Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio. (We are descended from Dorr B.)
• Otto S. Gore, born September 1854 Newbury, Geauga, Ohio – died April 17, 1941, same location. Otto married Charlotte (Luce) Reed in 1902. (2)

What Was Going On In “The Ohio Country”?

We grew up in the Western Reserve of Ohio and it was puzzling for us when visitors would go-on-and-on about how beautiful New England was in the Autumn. And this: OH My! The Maple Syrup! From our viewpoint, things around us looked just like Connecticut, and our maple syrup was a matter of esteemed civic pride. It all makes sense now, that where we grew up really is New England’s child.

“As a colony, and then as a state, Connecticut had never accepted the finality of her western boundary… After the war, when other states were giving up their western lands, Connecticut said she would yield all but a strip of the Ohio country 120 miles long and 50 miles wide.  She said she reserved this section for herself, which is how it got the name Western Reserve. Congress finally accepted this reserve… maybe because Connecticut was so persistent it was just easier to let her have her way.” [Frazier, page 54]

The area was the first gateway westward for the Northwest Territory, and became critical for settlement after President Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase of 1803. From Wikipedia.org: “The Ohio Lands were the several grants, tracts, districts and cessions which make up what is now the U.S. state of Ohio The Ohio Country was one of the first settled parts of the Midwest, and indeed one of the first settled parts of the United States beyond the original Thirteen Colonies.”

From the Western Reserve Historical Society, “The Connecticut Western Reserve was the area of northeast Ohio that Connecticut had reserved for her citizens in 1786 in exchange for ceding all western land claims to the U.S. government. The area comprised all land south of Lake Erie to 41′ latitude and within 120 miles of Pennsylvania’s western border. The Connecticut Land Company (1795-1809) was authorized by Connecticut to purchase and resell most of the Western Reserve, and received title to all Reserve land except for the 500,000-acre Firelands on the extreme west which was reserved for Connecticut victims whose lands were burned by the British in the Revolution. Gen. Moses Cleaveland, a company director and its general agent, led the first company survey party to the Reserve in 1796 and founded the settlement of Cleveland at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River.”

Because of many problems, the Connecticut Land Company failed to return a profit and was dissolved in about 1809. With the advent of the War of 1812, progress was further delayed, but eventually, settlers started to move into the region.

“There were two routes to the Western Reserve. One was through the Mohawk
Valley, crossed New York to Buffalo and entered Ohio either by boat or along the
lakeshore to Conneaut. The other crossed Pennsylvania, climbed the mountains and down to Pittsburgh, following the trails to Youngstown and into the Reserve from the southeast. Travel time for both was about the same.” [A Mini-History of Newbury]

Ohio became a state in 1803. Geauga County originated as part of Trumbull County, then partitioned and reorganized as Geauga County in 1806. In 1840, the northern part of the county was partitioned off to become Lake County. Since that time, Geauga County has had 16 townships. (3)

Those Two Younger Sisters

Perhaps it was the zeitgeist, or the spirit of the age, that propelled our ancestor Luke Gore with the urge to move west and settle in the Western Reserve of Ohio. It could also simply be because his two younger sisters (and his aunt) had gotten there first.

Belinda (Gore) Barton married Horace Barton in Chardon township, Geauga County, Ohio in 1835. Belinda lived in that area until she died in Lake County in 1900. Additionally, Mary Genette (Gore) Brayman married Lewis Brayman in Claridon township, Geauga, Ohio in 1837 and at some point the Brayman family then continued west to Iowa.

We also know that Luke Gore’s Aunt Sarah (Gore) Slater and her husband John were living in Chardon township at this time. They are listed as residing there for both the 1840 and 1850 censuses, so they must have arrived before 1840. Therefore, we think that all of these family members arrived in the area at about the same time.

Many of his children were born there…
We know that our grandfather Luke Gore was living in Geauga County in the 1840s, as four of his five children were born there, starting in 1846 with Eliza, then Milan in 1847, Dorr in 1851 and finally, Otto in 1854.

Tax assessments
He was also paying tax assessments from 1838 through 1852. One particular tax record of 1838 through 1852, for Newbury township, includes the name of his brother, Hart Gore.

His oldest son Crockett Gore, was born in 1839, Brattleboro, Windham, Vermont, so we know that Luke and Mila were not living in Ohio yet — but after Crockett was born, he and Mila were on their way! Observation: So Luke was likely an investor and probably influenced by the choices of his relatives: his aunt, his younger sisters, and their husbands. (4)

“1798-1880 Pioneer and General History of Geauga County”

Below are excerpts from the book, 1798-1880 Pioneer and General History of Geauga County, which paint a picture of what life was like in that area from 1810 until the 1840s. It seems that initially, it was quite a wilderness.

“When the lands composing the Western Reserve were first surveyed [the 1790s], they were all covered by a dense forest, and were considered of little value, so were surveyed very carelessly. They connected but few or no lines. Many of the townships were surveyed by the job, as it is called… The townships of our county are called five miles square…”

“In the month of July, 1810, Mr. Lemuel Punderson and wife moved from Burton (where they had lived most of the time since their marriage in 1808) and settled where the Punderson homestead now stands, near the foot of the lake, and commenced improvements in earnest, where he had previously built their mill and distillery.” Mr. Punderson had been an agent for the Connecticut Land Grant Company. We were taught in school that our township of Newbury was among the first places to be surveyed in the area due to the large lakes there providing excellent sight-lines for the later surveyors. Today, those lakes are an Ohio state park named after Mr. Punderson.

“From [about] that time [1810] the settlement of Newbury became a reality, and family after family came into town from the eastern States. — In the year 1812 the State road was cut through to Chardon. [the County Seat] The contract was to cut all timber less than eight inches, and clear out the road. The larger timber was girdled so it would die. —In the year 1817 the present township of Newbury was set off from the township of Burton by the commissioners…“

“In 1819 Joshua M. Burnett returned to Massachusetts, received pay for property sold, and came back, bringing with him material for building, and that season employed David Hill, of Burton, to erect him a frame house, it being the first frame house in the township. [Prior to this time, settlers lived in log cabins] People gathered from all this and neighboring townships to the raising. They came early and stayed late, it being a new era in the new settlement. The building was named, after the custom of those days, “The Farmers’ Delight,” by Mr. Hamlet Coe, after which the bottle of whiskey was thrown from the top of the house to the center of the road without breaking, which was considered a good omen, and called forth loud huzzas.”

“In 1820, Welcome Bullock, J. M. Burnett, Lemuel Punderson, Jonah Johnson, and others blazed the trees and cut the brush from Burnett’s tavern to Chagrin Falls, there meeting a company from Cleveland at work on the same undertaking. They all camped a few rods north and east of the Falls. The next morning, after breakfast, they separated, each company going home over their own road.“
Observation: This roadway was very likely the street that we grew up on.

In fact, right next to the home we grew up in, was located the Morton Home. It was famous for who married there. From A Mini-History of Newbury: “Brigham Young married Mary Ann Angel, one of his numerous wives [wife number two], on the front porch of this house. She was a cousin of Mrs. Morton and a convert to Mormonism. Abraham Morton opposed the marriage and would not let Brigham Young into the house so the marriage took place on the front porch. That was in February 1834, and Brigham Young was 24 and Mary Ann Angel was 18.” (5)

The 1857 Library of Congress Map of Geauga County

Since 1838, Luke Gore had been paying taxes on properties he owned in various townships. Some of the names are localized designations within each township: Auburn Corners, Bainbridge, and South Newbury. Old tax records helped to locate some of the properties.

This incredible map provides a guide to exact locations in townships where Luke and some of his other family members owned property in the year 1857. This link provides a high resolution file which is zoomable:
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4083g.la000628/?r=0.306,0.936,0.098,0.047,0

From the high resolution map link above, we were able to locate the property he owned in Auburn Corners and South Newbury, situated on the border of the two townships. [See L. Gore 81a, 129a, 96-1/2a just below.] (6)

“After That, Mushrooms Were Never Served in the Home”

When we quizzed our mother Marguerite about what she knew of her Great-Grandfather Luke Gore, one of her stories always ended with the words, “After that, mushrooms were never served in the home.” Apparently, Grandfather Luke died on October 2, 1868 — from being poisoned by mushrooms. (Since the best season to forage for mushrooms in northeastern Ohio is late March and early April, perhaps the ones that killed him were mushrooms which had been stored for the winter? We will never know for certain…)

There are many types of mushrooms available for foraging, but the likely culprit here is probably Amanita phalloides. From Wikipedia.org: “These toxic mushrooms resemble several edible species (most notably Caesar’s mushroom and the straw mushroom) commonly consumed by humans… The genus Amanita contains about 600 species of agarics [a fungus of this style], including some of the most toxic known mushrooms found worldwide, as well as some well-regarded edible species. This genus is responsible for approximately 95% of the fatalities resulting from mushroom poisoning…”

Luke’s wife Electa lived on after him for another 38 years, dying in 1907 in Newbury, Geauga, Ohio. In the next chapter, we are following the life of the son of Luke Gore, the uniquely-named Dorr B. Gore, our Great-Grandfather. After what seems like centuries of Thomas(s), Richard(s), and William(s) — it’s very refreshing to have a uniquely named relative! (7)

Following are the footnotes for the Primary Source Materials,
Notes, and Observations

Family

(1) — one record

Family
by Ian Frazier
Farrar Straus Giroux, New York publishers
1994, First edition
Note: We have excerpted material from pages 54, 60, and 61.

Luke Gore Marries his First Cousin Mila

(2) — sixteen records

History of the Town of Bernardston, Franklin County, Massachusetts. 1736-1900. With genealogies
Lucy Jane Cutler Kellogg
https://archive.org/details/historyoftownofb00kell/page/398/mode/2up
Book page: 399, Digital page: 398/581

Luke Gore
Vital – Vermont Vital Records, 1760-1954
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XFVV-SNP
and here:
Mila Gore
Vital – Vermont, Vital Records, 1760-1954
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XFVV-SN5
Digital page: 2136/3631
Note: For their marriage.

Black River, New York
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_River,_New_York

Personal letter from Pearl Avia Gordon Vestal, written on January 25, 1940,
to our Grandmother Lulu (DeVoe) Gore. Note: Pearl is the Great-Granddaughter of Mary Gennette (Gore) Brayman, the sister of our Great-Great-Grandfather, Luke Gore.

Electa Stanhope
Marriage – Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2016
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XDK1-1XM
Book page: 98, Digital page: 51/304, Left page, bottom entry.
Note: For their marriage record.

Electa Gore
in the U.S., Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/33908463:60525?tid=&pid=&queryId=01e68cb856b290befd25d11e71fc4700&_phsrc=tde1&_phstart=successSource
and here:
Electa Stanhope Gore
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/69080516/electa-gore

Asahel Redington Stanhope
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/K4YX-CQH
Note: For information on Electa Stanhope’s father, mother, siblings, etc.

Crockett Gore
Marriage – Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2016
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZZ1-3HW
and
Crocket Gore
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/99BS-9CJ

Eliza E. Gore
Marriage – Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2016
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZZ1-C4Q
and
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LYV5-LBS

Milan Gore
Vital – Ohio Marriages, 1800-1958
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XDN7-MLV
and
Milan R Gore
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/99Y1-5FL

Otto S Gore
Death – Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XZDC-TDL

Otto S. Gore
Marriage – Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2016
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XDL9-6JP

What Was Going On In “The Ohio Country”?

(3) — fifteen records

Connecticut Museum of Culture and History
A Map of the Connecticut Western Reserve, from actual Survey, circa 1798
Surveyed by Seth Pease
Updated by Abraham Tappan
http://emuseum.chs.org/emuseum/objects/16111/a-map-of-the-connecticut-western-reserve-from-actual-survey;jsessionid=3FC242D53A8EC28FBD414CE74F33B0D2

WRHS
Western Reserve Historical Society
Manuscripts Relating to the Early History of the Connecticut Western Reserve (MS0001)
https://wrhs.saas.dgicloud.com/islandora/object/wrhs:MS0001?solr_nav[id]=d7c76b828d9b67d7021f&solr_nav[page]=0&solr_nav[offset]=1

Ohio Lands
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_Lands#:~:text=The Ohio Lands were the,beyond the original Thirteen Colonies.

Conneticut Land Company
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connecticut_Land_Company

Annual Report of the Western Reserve Historical Society 1916
The Western Reserve, article
https://archive.org/details/connecticutlandc00west/page/68/mode/2up?view=theater
Book pages: 69-70, Digital pages: 68-70/234

A Mini-History of Newbury
Marian Gould Bottger and the Newbury Bicentennial Committee, 1976
https://www.newburyohio.com/Newbury_MiniHistory.pdf
Downloadable .pdf document.

There are multiple tax records for Luke Gore in the Geauga County area, in three locations:
Auburn Corners, Auburn township
Bainbridge, Bainbridge township
South Newbury, Newbury township
https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?f.collectionId=1473259&q.anyDate.from=1798&q.anyPlace=Geauga,%20Ohio,%20United%20States&q.givenName=Luke&q.surname=Gore

“1798-1880 Pioneer and General History of Geauga County”

(4) — four records

Geauga County, Ohio
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geauga_County,_Ohio

1798 – 1880, Pioneer and General History of Geauga County, with Sketches of Some of the Pioneers and Prominent Men
by The Historical Society of Geauga County
https://archive.org/details/oh-geauga-1880-historical-society/page/n9/mode/2up?view=theater
Notes: Topics researched as follows —
Surveying work, Book page: 56, Digital page: 55/821
Mr. Lemuel Punderson, Book page: 228, Digital page: 227/821
1810 in Newbury, Book page: 228, Digital page: 227/821
State road to Chardon, Book page: 229, Digital page: 229/821
Township clerk listing, Book page: 237, Digital page: 237/821

Historical Collections of Ohio…
by Henry Howe
https://archive.org/details/historicalcollec00howe_4/page/n9/mode/2up?view=theater
Notes: Topics researched as follows —
Geauga County, Book pages: 187-190, Digital pages: 186-190/593
Chagrin Falls, Book pages: 125-126, Digital pages: 124-126/593
View in Chardon, Book page: 189, Digital pages: 189/593
Note: “…is a work of history published in one volume in 1847 by Henry Howe (1816–1893). Howe had spent more than a year traveling across the state of Ohio making sketches, interviewing people, and collecting data.”

Those Two Younger Sisters

(5) — ten records

Bilindy Gore
Marriage – Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2016
Book page: 99, Digital page: 54/247, Right page, center entry.
Note: For Belinda Gore 1835 marriage to Horace Barton, in Chardon, Ohio.

Mary G. Gore
Marriage – Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2016
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X8F4-BRM
Book page: 1100, Digital page: 519/658      Left page, bottom entry
Note: For Mary Genette Gore 1837 marriage to Lewis Brayman, in Portage County, Ohio.

John Slater
in the 1840 United States Federal Census
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/2631001:8057?tid=&pid=&queryId=bdbd843f14af9ad72653b54ed1691fcf&_phsrc=akv29&_phstart=successSource
Digital page: 5/20, Entry 3 from the end (last entry).
Note: For Sarah (Gore) Slater and her husband John Slater, in Chardon township, Geauga County, Ohio.
and
John Slater
in the 1850 United States Federal Census
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-D8MW-6BK?view=index&personArk=/ark:/61903/1:1:MXQS-2RZ&action=view
Digital page: 276/448, Entries 5 and 6.

Luke Gore
Tax – Ohio Tax Records, 1800-1850
https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?f.collectionId=1473259&q.anyDate.from=1798&q.anyPlace=Geauga, Ohio, United States&q.givenName=Luke&q.surname=Gore

Luke Gore, Tax – Ohio Tax Records, 1800-1850
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2RG-S4GP
Note: The actual record is for 1838-1852 and includes the name
of his Uncle Hart Gore.
Digital page: 172/735, Left page, lower middle.

A Mini-History of Newbury
Marian Gould Bottger and the Newbury Bicentennial Committee, 1976
https://www.newburyohio.com/Newbury_MiniHistory.pdf
Downloadable .pdf document.

Brigham Young
Marriage – Ohio, County Marriages, 1789-2016
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X86K-5V3
Book page: 34, Digital page: 24/312, Left page, middle entry.

Brigham Young
in the Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1774-1993
https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/2148305:61378?tid=&pid=&queryId=a76b4bcd-5e77-4f2e-95ab-f328b13b6739&_phsrc=DBV1&_phstart=successSource
cd-5e77-4f2e-95ab-f328b13b6739&_phsrc=DBV1&_phstart=successSource
Book page: 42, Digital page: 22/391, Left page, bottom entry

The 1857 Library of Congress Map of Geauga County

(6) — two records

Library of Congress
1857 Map of Geauga and Lake Counties, Ohio
by Robert Pearsall Smith, 1827-1898, Philadelphia : S.H. Matthews [1857]
https://www.loc.gov/item/2012591126/
and here:
This link provides a high resolution file which is zoomable:
https://www.loc.gov/resource/g4083g.la000628/?r=0.306,0.936,0.098,0.047,0

“After That, Mushrooms Were Never Served in the Home”

(7) — four records

Ohio State University Extension
Wild Mushrooms
https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/plpath-gen-11#

Amanita
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita
and
Amanita phalloides
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanita_phalloides#:~:text=Amanita%20phalloides%20is%20the%20type,Amanita%20species%20thus%20far%20identified.

Luke Gore
Vital – Ohio Deaths and Burials, 1854-1997
Film # 004016916
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F6ZP-L59
Book page: 8, Digital page: 210/469, Left page, entry #73.