Henthorne & Rucker Families

HENTHORNE - Mrs. Eurla Brazdovic of 1732 E. Gonzales Road, Oxnard, CA 93030 tells me she purchased an old ledger book which belonged to Dr. Nimrod Henthorn and she has sent me the following information which she found in that ledger. On a separate sheet tucked in the book was a page headed GENEALOGY OF JAMES HENTHORN - "About 1798-99 James Henthorn settled at the mouth of Sunfish Creek. He moved from the old fort on Wheeling Creek. His sons were James, John, Henry, William and Adam, and his daughters were Ann and Mary. He made improvements where Clarington now stands. Adam Henthorn, son of James, married Susanna, and their children were: Dr. Nimrod Henthorn, Adam Henthorn, and William Henthorn." There is no documentation for these statements. I have written about the early settler, James Henthorn, before in these columns, and have found that documented evidence on him is difficult to come by.

The information in this ledger goes on, "Dr. Nimrod E. Henthorn married Nancy G. Durkee (Dierkes) - Nimrod was born Mar. 9, 1810 and died Mar. 1, 1879, and Nancy G. was born Apr. 4, 1817, and died Oct. 15, 1892. Their children were John Wesley Henthorn - b. Sept. 20, 1840 - d. April 1896; Deming O'Connor Henthorn - b. Apr. 23, 1845 - d. Mar. 9, 1911; Adam Henthorn; Richard Henthorn; George Henthorn; Nimrod Henthorn, Jr.; Matilda Henthorn; and Charles Henthorn. No dates were given for these last children.

Another page was entitled Buckhill School, written by Dr. Nimrod E. Henthorn. "In Monroe Co. four miles south of Clarington and two miles above Baresville, in the valley of the beautiful Ohio River, there is a large tract of land known as Buckhill Bottom. The inhabitants are principaly (sic) wealthy Germans. At or near the center of this beautiful bottom there is a school house erected for the education of the youth of the district. During the winter of 1858 or 1859, the school was under the charge of Miss Marina Patton, a lady of talent and a classical education." (probably now the site of the Aluminum plant)

Another yellowed sheet of paper, dated Sept. 1902 indicates that John Litman worked out road tax in favor of J.E. Bare in the amount of $2.17 and $3.50 - signed J.F. Thonen, Supt.

Old record books such as this are difficult to come by, and anyone having such a bit of nostalgic Monroe Co. memorabilia should certainly take some steps to preserve it for later generations. I believe the Monroe Co., Historical Society is a willing depository for materials of this type.

I recently heard from a Enid Harris Ostertag of 3005 Charles St., St. Joseph, Mo. 64501, who is a descended from Lemuel Rucker, a Monroe Co. Rev. soldier. She would like to hear from others of this family, maybe by pooling information, they can fill a few gaps in this family's history. When I researched Monroe Co., records, I found evidence of an Ephraim Rucker, who shows up in 1840 and prior years, but not in the 1850 census. I assumed he was a brother of the Rev. soldier Lemuel.

Now John Ogden of Arlington, VA. has sent me a photo-copy of pages 64 and 65 of a book he found (probably in the DAR Library). "RUCKER KINSMEN - A Colonial Va. Family" by Eva C.R. Davidson, 1924, printed by Kueffel & Esser Co., Arlington, Va. These pages give the family of James Rucker and Margaret Elzaphan. This James appears to have been the son of Peter Rucker whose estate was settled in 1752 - Deed Book 1, Page 400, 21 Feb. 1752 - Culpeper, Va. James served as Colonel in the Rev. too, in 1777, at which time he was about 65 years of age. James and Margaret had six sons to serve in the Rev.: i.e., James Jr.; Augustine; John; Lemuel; Samuel; E. Elzaphan; Ambrose; Reuben; and Wyatt or Waite. [Note: Mrs. Fedorchak seems to list nine sons after stating there were nine.] They also had three daughters: Margaret, Mary, Mildred, and one whose name was unknown to the compiler of this book. This source indicates that Lemuel came to Ohio and was married to Ann Booten - he is buried on the Hefr farm near Lewisville.

Lemuel's pension application shows that his father, James, also served in the War.

E. Elzaphan is probably the Ephraim for whom I found records in Monroe Co. (see my books, MONROE CO. OHIO RECORDS). According to this book, E. Elzaphan went to Ohio in 1817 with his brother, Lemuel. He died in Kentucky, and reference is given to the 1840 census of Ky. Carver Co. where he is shown under the name Elzaphan and living with a son, Elzaphan. (Since only heads of families are shown - I don't know how this source could say that both men living in the same family would be named - but any interested researcher could check that clue out for himself.) At any rate, that explains why I could never find out what happened to the Ephraim who was in Monroe Co early records, he probably went to Ky. and can be found under his other name, Elzaphan, which was his mother's maiden name. This source also shows that Ambrose, son of James, Sr. was a Captain in the Rev., born Culpeper, Va, Sept. 7, 1855 - deputy sheriff in Green-up Co. Ky. 1806-1809, in Ohio by 1812, and died in Ohio. This source did not know his wives names, but they are given in my account of this family - see MONROE CO. OHIO RECORDS.

Reuben is supposed to have died in Ohio too, but I never found any records for him in Monroe Co. The other son, Wyatt, is supposed to be in the 1st census for Ky.

The History of Maysville, Ky., by Glenn G. Clift, 1936 is supposed to contain information on Lemuel's brother, John.

Note: Typed, by Richard E. Henthorn, from the article by Mrs. Fedorchak that was published in, Family Research in Monroe County, Ohio, Volume V. Some commas, semi-colons, and paragraph breaks were added by Mr. Henthorn to improve readability.