Descendants of George GROOM

Notes

1. George GROOM

GROOM, GEORGE
  State: NJ Year: 1811
  County: Essex County        Record Type: September Tax List
  Township: Springfield       Page: 006
  Database: NJ Tax Lists Index 1772-1822
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(possible explanation for George's demise)

During the war, when our forces were defeated at the Michigan frontier, it was rumored that the Indians were coming to this section of country to massacre and burn Word was sent all along the line of the Walhonding and Muskingum rivers to the homes of the scattered settlers; most of whom were left unprotected, the husbands and sons being at the frontier.

The alarm thus sounded caused great consternation and there was a hasty gathering of friends and families into the various block-houses that were scattered through the country, awaiting the approach of the enemy. The feeling that prevailed at that time, and the sensations of terror experienced, are better portrayed in the language of one of the ministers of that day, whose mission it was to comfort and console the terror-stricken in the day of trouble, than by the pen of the historian of to-day. Rev. H. Calhoun writes of that. period in a short historical sketch as follows:

The war of 1812 was severely felt upon our border settlements in the west. Small and feeble villages were deprived of nearly all their male inhabitants, and thus a few trembling wives and daughters and helpless boys, with here and there some decrepid and infirm old man, incapable of enduring the hardships of the camp, were exposed to all the cruelties of the merciless savages, maddened by British bounties and presents. In this, situation, with many others, was Coshocton. At the cry of danger nearly every man, capable of bearing arms, volunteered for the army, bade farewell to home and hurried away to the northwest, the scene of the greatest danger and exposure. There was, however, no general engagement in which the soldiers' valor could be tested..

As they lay encamped and inactive, perhaps dreaming of the dear ones left at home, and little knowing what might betide them, a scene occurred of no little interest at this place; which we shall try to describe

People left in such a defenseless state in a time of general danger, are alive to every alarm and susceptible of a thousand fears. Mothers start at every strange sound which disturbs their slumbers and hug their children closely in their embraces, and many a familiar object, at twilight, by an excited imagination, is transformed into the dark outline of a murderous savage, waiting to spring upon his unsuspecting victim. In the:

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HISTORY OF COSHOCTON COUNTY. - 313

midst of this prevalent state of suspense, the village was one day thrown into consternation by the arrival of a messenger, with terror marked in his countenance, and impatient to communicate the intelligence that the wilderness to the northwest, between the Tuscarawas and Walhonding, was infested with Indians, whose murderous design could be nothing better than to pillage and burn In turning attention to another part of this scene, enter a cabin and observe what is passing there. It stands far back from the river, among the thick hazel bushes which covered the most of what is now the town There might be seen the young mother, with her babe, born and bred amid the comforts of an Eastern home, now the lonely occupant of a rude cabin, her husband in a distant town, and no one to cheer her lonely hours but a poor invalid, the son of a clergyman in an eastern city, with a broken-down constitution, and he himself now suffering with the prevailing sickness of the. country. Amid the general confusion and consternation they were forgotten, and neither heard the alarm, nor assembled with the rest at Colonel Charles Williams' at night, but slept as sweetly and safely as though nothing had occurred. The nest day they heard what had been done, but thinking their own cabin as safe as any other, spent the second night as they had the first.

The day following the first alarm which we have endeavored to describe, in the afternoon, a traveler, on horseback, faint and weary, might have been seen, a little to the east of where Newark now stands, making his way, in a road little better than an Indian trail, to Coshocton He looked now at the declining sun, and now into the thick gloom of the forest before him, and seemed anxious to reach some fixed point ere nightfall. The time flew by, the way seemed long and the companion of his journey weary. It was late when he passed the place where Irville now stands, but he still pressed on, as though his point of destination was yet before him. Night came on and he felt he could go no farther, and alighted at a solitary cabin, in the midst of the wilderness. As he went in, a stranger, there for the night, recognized him and asked if he was not from Coshocton He replied that he was; upon which he told him the startling news; the alarms of Indians; the momentary expectation of an attack, and that troops had been sent for, to Zanesville. The emotions of our traveler are better imagined than told. He thought no more of his own fatigue, or that of his horse; ordered him fed and, with as little delay as possible; was again on his way. It could not be expected that a father and a husband would sleep there, while hi family were in such peril. No ordinary feeling agitated his heart, as he rode on through the dark, dense forest, and thought of his wife an child as captives in the hands of the Indians, or the victims of the tomahawk.

A bright moon rode the heavens above him and enabled him to discern his way. Suddenly he emerged from the wood into a small clearing, which had been deserted by some unfortunate settler, and to his utter consternation as he supposed, found himself in the midst of Indians encamped for the night. By the uncertain light of the moon, he could see one and another scat tered thick over the clearing, startled from slumber by his unexpected appearance among them. ha a moment, for there was no time to lose, he resolved not to return, but press his way through them and trust to the fleetness of his horse to make good his escape. To go back or forward seemed alike dangerous. Judge now of his surprise and joy, as he dashed into their midst, to find what his excited imagination had worked up into an encampment and the figures of dark and murderous savages, was only a herd of peaceful cattle that had been grazing in the woods, and had come out into the opening, as is their custom,. to sleep at night. Recovering gradually from his fright, he now rode along, only taking the precaution to provide himself w with a good hickory club, his only means of defense in case of emergency. As he thought over his own alarm and the ease with which in the excited state of the public mind false alarms might be raised, he could not but hope that the Indians who had been reported as threatening ruin to his own home, might prove as harmless as those he had just encountered.

By noon of night, he arrived at a well-known place of entertainment, on the banks of the Muskingum some five miles above where Dresden now stands. Here he found his hopes more than realized. The kind host informed him that the alarm had all proved false; the troops had returned to Zanesville after committing various depredations upon the poultry and cattle by the way, and the inhabitants had returned to their homes. He accordingly, having fought his own battle with his imaginary foes, and feeling disposed to let the women and children defend themselves from theirs, for the rest of the night at least, retired for the night.

The settlers of Coshocton county mainly congregated, during this scare, in the house of Charles Williams, except those in the far northwestern section of the county, who generally flocked to a large block house that had been built during the war at what is now the village of New Castle in New Castle township.

A small portion of the citizens of Coshocton s county, among others, Levi and George Magness, were with the American army, on the Canadian side of the line, under Generals Scott and Brown.

Nancy Ann FLETCHER

According to family legend, Nancy Ann Fletcher (she was always refered to by full name when her Walker descendants spoke of her) was quite a "rounder".  She was "a large, strong woman of unusual physical stamina who could outwork most men; and she outlived four husbands and gave birth to at least eight children; and between those of her own and those of her various husbands', she managed the raising of a dozen children".

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

NOUN: 1. One that rounds, especially a tool for rounding corners and edges. 2. One, such as a security guard, who makes rounds. 3. A dissolute person. 4. Sports a. A boxing match that goes on for a specified number of rounds. Often used in combination: a five-rounder. b. rounders (used with a sing. verb) An English ball game similar to baseball.

ADJECTIVE: Inflected forms: round·er, round·est
1a. Being such that every part of the surface or the circumference is equidistant from the center: a round ball. b. Moving in or forming a circle. c. Shaped like a cylinder; cylindrical. d. Rather rounded in shape: the child's round face. e. Full in physique; plump: a round figure. 2a. Linguistics Formed or articulated with the lips in a rounded shape: a round vowel. b. Full in tone; sonorous. 3. Whole or complete; full: a round dozen. 4a. Mathematics Expressed or designated as a whole number or integer; not fractional. b. Not exact; approximate: a round estimate. 5. Large; considerable: a round sum of money. 6. Brought to satisfactory conclusion or completion; finished. 7a. Outspoken; blunt: a round scolding. b. Done with full force; unrestrained: gave me a round thrashing.     

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Oxford Township, Coshocton, Ohio
George Anspaugh from near Carlisle, Pennsylvania came about 1811 and settled on the place now occupied by Jacob Wolfe a short distance west of Wolfe's Corners.

Nancy Ann Fletcher was born of parentage unrecorded in the Family Record, at a place and on a day and month unrecorded in the Family Record, in 1782.  In the 1850 census she gives her age as 59 which means she would have been born around 1791.

Nancy Ann was of Scottish ancestry.  The Fletchers were of the clan DAVIDSON.  

FLETCHER BIRTHPLACE:  Glen Orchy

The Fletchers were arrowmakers to the Mac Gregors

                        FLETCHER COAT OF ARMS

BADGE:  Two naked arms proper, shooting an arrow out of a bow sable

TARTANS:  Fletcher of Dunans

PLANT BADGE:  Pine Tree

GAELIC NAME:  Mac an Fhleisteir

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Adam Fletcher's descendants knew Nancy as Aunt Halsey.  At one time she apparently lived with Betts Hawkins, possibly in her old age.  There are family memories of going to visit Aunt Halsey.

1870 Census, Fort Crook, Shasta Co, California
Head of Household:  Benjamin B. Hawkins, age 55, born Ohio
Wife:               Elizabeth, age 49, born Ohio
Son:                Benjamin, age 27, born Illinois
                   Nancy A. Halsey, age 79, born England (with                       foreign-born parents)
                   Emma Hicks, age 15, born Ohio

HALSEY, NANCY A.
  State: CA               Year: 1870
  County: Shasta County   Record Type: Federal Population Schedule
  Township: Twp 4         Page: 477
  Database: CA 1870 Federal Census Index

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