The Story of Nelson and Mary Ann Houseworth

{note: This entry was originally ment to be posted in my family genealogy blog:
http://israelhouseworth.blogspot.com/
but I posted it in the wrong place...out of sorts? However, I believe the Black Swamp information is of interest to all...prh}

Nelson S. and Mary Ann Houseworth, first cousins they were, married on July 12, 1859, in Delaware, Ohio. Much of my early research failed to find a maiden name for Mary Ann, after a trip to the Delaware County Library in 1999 I discovered the reason may have been because their last names were indeed the same....Houseworth. I believe that Mary Ann's last name was omitted because of confusion by authorities or possible family embarrassment(although cousin marriages, even first cousins, were more common back in the day). The wedding photos/portraits posted earlier were sent me by a cousin Bessie Okray, a descendant of Cora, one of the children of Mary Ann and Nelson.

Mary Ann and Nelson and the 7 children born in Waldo, moved to Blue Creek Township, Paulding County, Ohio, in late 1872.....4 more children(including my Grandfather Sam) were born in Paulding County over the next 8 years.

OPINION

___________"I believe that Nelson and several other Houseworth families and Felkey cousins moved to southern Paulding County because the Great Black Swamp was being cleared and they saw the opportunity for cheap land and new jobs. The Family settled in Blue Creek Township where the 4 youngest children were born.

Nelson contracted Typhoid Fever and died in the long since gone town of Follmer(one of the Houseworth daughters married a man named Michael Follmer)...the location of Follmer, just north of what is now Haviland, is no more than acres of farmland in Blue Creek Township.

Nelson is buried in the Blue Creek Township Cemetery(stone photo shown earlier), records also indicate that William(died age 3) and oldest son Alonzo are also buried there, but I found no stone for either. Mary Ann was living in Tipton, Ohio, several miles away from the cemetery in June 1896, she passed away that September, but I have no record of where she is buried.

Blue Creek Township is located along the northern border of Van Wert County in south central Paulding County....it is located on the southern edge of the Great Black Swamp, in the 1800's when the swamp was being cleared, Blue Creek Township was indeed a harsh, wet, mosquito infested environment(it is possible that 50 year old Nelson died from the Typhoid caused by that very environment, we will never know).

For excellent information on the swamp go to:

http://users.ipfw.edu/zeppp/Nature/swamp.html

photo: Much of the Great Black Swamp of today looks like this....