Migrations of the Henry McCart Family
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The Migrations of the Children of
Henry and Mary McCart
Who Were Early Ohio Pioneers - circa 1800
(1830's-1860's)
Researcher: Norris Taylor
Parent's Page: Henry and Mary McCart
Introduction
Henry McCart, Jr.
John McCart
Jesse McCart
Martha (McCart) Crawford
Sarah (McCart) Taylor
Amy (McCart) Bigelow
Rachel (McCart) Vanetta
Introduction
One thing must be said for the McCart's.. they were cutting edge
pioneers. Notice:
-
Henry McCart is mentioned in Brinkerhoff, Graham, and Baughman's histories
of Richland County as one of a small group of settlers that were the first
settlers in Richland Co, OH, in the spring of 1809.
-
Their daughter, Amy, married Daniel Bigelow in 1841. Daniel as a 22
year old young man, accompanied his father, also Daniel Bigelow, to Walworth
Co, Wisconsin in 1837. The History of Walworth County, by Western Historical
Company in 1882, says: "Daniel Bigelow and John Byrd did the first breaking
(of ground in Walworth County, WI) on sections 8 and 17, in the summer
of 1837.
-
Their son, Henry McCart, is also shown as settling on Section 8 in the
same year, 1837, the first year of settlement in Walworth Co, Wisconsin.
-
Their daughter, Martha McCart, was married to J. Crawford, the first
marriage in Walworth Co, WI, in 1837.
-
Their son, Jesse McCart, is shown in the History of Johnson County,
Iowa, 1883, as: "Among the earliest settlers on land now embraced in Lucas
Township (Johnson County, Iowa) were ....Jesse McCart, and many others."
This was probably also in the late 1830's (the first tax roll for that
township is dated May, 1839).
So, as you can see, the kids seemed to inherit a sense of pioneering
spirit from their parents, coming to lands before roads and post offices
were established and before the land had ever been broken for farming.
Following is an accounting of the migrations of the children of Henry
and Mary McCart that we have found thus far.
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Henry McCart (Jr.)
Raised in Richland Co, OH. We see a Henry McCart moved to Walworth County,
Wisconsin, in 1837, one of it's earliest settlers. The 1882 History of
Walworth County, Wisconsin reports him as not living at that time, 1882.
I believe him to be the older boy, Henry, primarily because three young
McCart's show up in Walworth County in the late 1830's, all with names
of our McCart siblings and one is married to the nephew of Gideon Bigelow,
who their mother married after Henry died. . He didn't use Jr., and was
referred to in the chancery for dower proceedings only as Henry. I have
seen references to a person who seems to be this Henry as William Henry
in the LDS Ancestral File, but I have not found any official document to
support that.
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John McCart
From a newspaper account of his mother's chancery for dower court action,
the reason that court action had to take place to assert the mother's dower
rights in the farm that Henry McCart owned when he died, was that John
McCart had left home and couldn't be located. That was in 1831. So, a court
action and public notice had to be done for her to get the property. That's
all we know about John at present.
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Jesse McCart
A Jesse McCart is reported to be one of the early pioneers of Johnson
County, Iowa, in the late 1830's. Is cited in several places in the History
of Johnson County, Iowa, for serving on a jury, on a tax roll, etc. This
Jesse McCart is a good candidate to be our Jesse.
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Martha McCart
A Martha McCart was married to a J. Crawford in Walworth County, Wisconsin
in 1837. It was the first marriage in the county. This is one of the young
McCart's that show up in Walworth County, all with given names of three
of Henry and Mary McCart's children.
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James and Sarah (McCart) Taylor
They lived in Richland County, OH, for about thirteen years after marrying
in 1843. In 1856, they migrated to Washington Co, IA, the county just south
of Johnson County, IA, where Jesse McCart moved to. See the biography
of James and Sarah (McCart) Taylor.
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Daniel and Amy (McCart) Bigelow
Biographical Sketch
History of Walworth County, WI - 1882
Western Historical Company
"DANIEL BIGELOW, farmer, sec 17; PO Millard. He
has 140 acres of land; is the son of Daniel and Emma Bigelow, was born
near Halifax, Nova Scotia, July 24, 1815. He came to Milwaukee with his
parents in 1834. They made their home in the woods, on the Milwaukee River,
four miles above Juneau's trading post, which was about all there was of
Milwaukee at the time. There his father built a saw-mill, and the family
resided at that place until April, 1837, when he came to Sugar Creek, Walworth
Co; located on the land which he now occupies until 1841, where he also
kept bacehlor's hall. Then he went to Ashland, Ohio, and was married the
21st of that month, to Miss Amy McCart, daughter of John McCart (See
Editors Note Below). Mrs. Bigelow was born in Richland Co, Ohio. They
at once proceeded to take possession of the log cabin at Sugar Creek. In
the course of time they were blessed with four children, three daughters
and a son - Mary, Dora, A.D. and Ella. The oldest daughter married is the
wife of Charles Kinne, of Sugar Creek. Dora is Mrs. Robert Hall, of Vivian,
Waseca, Co, Minn. A.D. married Miss Melissa Welch, and resides in Sugar
Creek. Mr. Bigelow has served two terms as Assessor of Sugar Creek. During
the year of 1874, he made a tour of California and Oregon. Fine buildings
and a well cultivated farm now greet the eyes in place of the log cabin
and woods of 1837, on the site of the old claim."
The History of Walworth County goes on to say:
"Daniel Bigelow was one of the earliest comers
of 1837. He took up his claim, where he still lives, on Section 17, where
the first plowing in the town was done, and the first crop of Winter wheat
was harvested.
"Daniel Bigelow and John Byrd did the first
breaking on Sections 8 and 17, in the summer of 1837. They plowed nearly
fifty acres which was sown to winter wheat, and was, when harvested in
1837, the first crop of wheat raised in the town. They did their plowing
with two yoke of oxen. After it was finished, Mr. Bigelow went with the
team to Ottawa, Illionois, a distance of over one hundred miles, for the
seed wheat required. It cost him in Ottawa $2.00 per bushel. So scarce
was seed wheat in the newly-settled country that on his return he was offered
$5.00 per bushel. Nothing short of the price of his whole expected crop
could have bought it. These pioneer families lived on the plainest possible
fare while starting this first field, and it required fortitude, patience,
and perserverance to inaugurate farming, even on the fertile fields of
Sugar Creek, WI, forty five years ago.
"The first road was the mail route from Milwaukee
to Janesville, via Troy, opened in 1838 ( a year after the Bigelow's and
other early settlers arrived). In 1839, the territorial road from Racine
was opened through the town.
"The first post office was established in 1840.
The first general store was opened in 1840. The first school was opened
in 1840.
"Thus, from the small cabin of the hermit Davis,
in 1836, and the first field of Daniel Bigelow, in 1837, have grown the
broad acres of well-tilled farms, dotted with farmhouses, and barns and
granaries; the homes of as thrifty and independent a people as dwells in
all the land. Nowhere but in America have such marvelous changes been wrought
within the span of a single life and the memory of men still living."
Editor's Note:
The article lists John McCart as Amy's father. I believe that Henry McCart
of Richland Co, OH was her father for the following reasons: Henry had
a daughter named Amy, per chancery for dower court action, documented.
The Bigelow genealogy has this Amy, wife of Daniel, as the daughter of
Henry and Mary McCart. The only John McCart I have run across in Richland
County, OH, from 1809 through 1850, was the John McCart mentioned in one
of the early histories of Richland Co as being there in 1809. But, he is
not listed in any subsequent census, or any other record that I can find.
The only other John was Amy's brother. However, it's always precarious
to assume a historical record has a mistake because it doesn't fit the
"neat" picture I have drawn. I will be looking for other evidence to show
that this Amy is the daughter of the Richland County, OH, Henry McCart.
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Benjamin and Rachel (McCart)
Vanatta
Rachel married Benjamin Vanatta in Richland County, Ohio, on November
9, 1843. I haven't been able to locate them as yet. There is a 27 year-old
Rachel, about the right age, with a small child, Josephine, in the household
of her 65 year-old step-father, Gideon Bigelow, in 1850. However, the census
shows the surname as Bigelow, simply by showing "ditto" marks for her.
If the name in the census is wrong, and this is really Rachel (McCart)
Vanatta, this could suggest either a death of Benjamin, divorce, or simply
Benjamin was out west somewhere establishing a home for the family, and
that she was simply staying with her step-father in the meantime.
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Related Links
Return to the McCart Index at this
site.
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