The family of John Starr 1774-1837

 The next Starr in our family line is John, the son of John and Mary Sharp Starr.  He was born August 30, 1774 in Groton, Connecticut and married Elizabeth Chester Havens, known as Betsey, on October 7, 1801 in Groton.  She was the daughter of the elusive (to me) Jonathan Havens and Bathsheba Chester Havens.  Their first five children were born in Groton before the family moved in 1812 to what became Columbus, Ohio.  John's father had been given land in Franklin County as a reward for being wounded in the Revolutionary War Battle of Groton Heights, and as compensation for the property he left behind in Nova Scotia when fleeing when the War broke out.  This John would have been necessary to the family's survival, as his father had very little use of one arm (some records say right, some say left) from the battle.  The men would have worked together to raise homes for the families, but likely one was built first and then the second was constructed.

John and Betsey were members of the Presbyterian church in Columbus, John serving in many capacities there.  And they still had time to raise a large family:

Betsey was born August 30, 1802 and married Rev. Aaron Case Humphrey (first a pastor in the Methodist Episcopal Church and later in the Universalist Church).  They had Sophronia, Lurenda, Philo, John, Chester, Aaron, Lucinda, John, Sophronia, and Laura before Betsey died in 1849.  Aaron remarried and had four more children with his second wife.  This family moved to Iowa in about 1844, settling in Tipton, Cedar County.

John Havens Starr was the first born son.  He married Clarissa Falley, and they had 7 children: Samuel, Mary, Eunice, Frances, Myra, Harriet, and John Calvin.  I will write more of this family in my next post.  

Sophronia Starr was born in 1807.  She married, as his second wife,  Dr. Nathaniel Harris, son of Noah and Sarah Carroll or Carle Harris.  They lived in Springfield, Illinois.  Their children were Laura, Sophronia, Lorinda, Sarah, possibly Thomas, Emily, Mary, Ellen and Edward.  There were also four children from the doctor's first marriage, so it was quite a large family.  It's fascinating to think these people likely knew, or knew of, Abraham Lincoln.

Lorinda Starr was born in 1809 and married John Wildbahn, son of Thomas and Elizabeth Wildbahn.  They had a daughter, Elizabeth, and a son, Thomas.  Lorinda died in 1837, the same year that her son Thomas was born and died.  

Joseph was born in 1810. He married Martha Craig McDaniel, parents not known, and they had three children: Augustine, Samuel, and Andrew.  A little less than a year after Martha and son Andrew died, Joseph married Jane Suddick Long, and they had two children, William and John.  

The above children were born in Groton, so John and Betsey had five children aged ten and under when they made the move from Groton to Columbus.  We don't know how the family traveled.  It may have been by water, either through the Great Lakes and down, or down the Ohio River and then north, or they may have traveled over land, in wagons of some sort.  I wonder how Betsey handled this!

Lucinda was the first child born in Ohio, on August 17, 1813.  She married Dr. James Boals, son of James and Margaret Mitchell Boals.  Their children were Albert, Martha, and Ella.

Simeon was the next child born, in 1815.  He married Martha Sweetser, daughter of Charles and Flavia Darley Sweetser.  Their children were Sweetser, Ellen, Richard, and Charles.

William Starr was born in 1817.  He may have married Sophia.  Some sites says her last name was Starr, some say it was Baker, and I've been unable to find a marriage record.  (Also confusing is the marriage of an earlier Sophia Baker to a William Starr, who was born 20 years earlier and in a different location than this William.) At any rate, his children include Calvin and Mary, and possibly more. 

Then there was the sadness of a son, unnamed, who was born and died on January 10,1819.

Emily Starr was born just ten months and two days later.  Her husband was Henry Doremus, son of Hasel and Jane Demorest Doremus.   Their children were Charles, Henry, Mary, Leila, Alta, Frank, and John.  

The last son was Calvin, born in 1822.  He married Sophia McPhersen in Greene County, Ohio, and they had six children: George, Clarence, Joseph, Emma, Mary, and John.  He was a physician, and his second wife was also a physician, Dr. Jane Candee.  She was younger than he, but they didn't have any children together.   

A daughter was born and died on December 10, 1824, again not named.

Finally, Mary Jane Starr was born May 7, 1826.  She did not marry and died in 1878.  Betsey had given birth 13 times and perhaps enjoyed having her "baby" at home with her, whatever the reason that Mary Jane remained single.  

Although a few died at or shortly after birth, John and Betsey had about 40 grandchildren, some of whom lived in the Columbus area but many who went on to Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, and Texas.  I hope those who moved away wrote letters to Betsey, because she lived until 1865, roughly 28 years after the death of John.