Martha Frost | John Howsmon |
Parents: Hannah (Taylor?) and Willam Frost | Parents: John Howsmon? |
Born: January 25, 1759, NY/NJ? (birth record) | Born: October 15, 1755 Frederick (Rockingham) VA (birth record) |
Married: March 15, 1782 to John Howsmon in Frederick, VA (marriage) | Married: March 15, 1782 to Martha Frost in Frederick, VA (marriage) |
Died: June 19, 1832, near Sedalia, Madison County, OH | Died: July 29, 1818, Range twp, Madison County, OH |
Interred: Bethel Cemetery, near Sedalia (tombstone) | Interred: Bethel Cemetery, near Sedalia (tombstone) |
Occupation: farmer | |
"The Frost family was in Frederick County, Virginia at least as early as 1735 in which year John Frost, sometimes called 'Captain Frost,' received by grant 300 acres of land near Winchester. He had at least three children and his wife's name was Mary. They were Quakers and probably of English descent. William and Hannah had a large family, of which Martha was one of the younger children. One story is that she was one of triplet sisters. Another story claims the family is related, through Martha's mother, to President Zachary Taylor. Martha is supposed to have come from New York or New Jersey to Virginia where she met and married John Howsmon. Martha is described as having been tall and straight with sparkling black eyes and black hair. In William Frost's will, preserved in the records of Frederick County, VA, he divided the proceeds from the sale of his personal estate to his wife Hannah and his unmarried daughters." -- William Perry Hay (1871-1947). | "John Howsmon is said to have been a native of Virginia and is known to have lived near Winchester, VA up to 1804 [maybe 1807*]. In that year, he moved with his family to Ross County, Ohio, and thence, in about 1812, to Madison County, where he settled on land about halfway between Sedalia [then called Midway] and Mount Sterling. His farm included what is now Bethel Cemetery and the old Howsmon burying ground is now a part of the cemetery. The old farm house is said to have stood near the present entrance. I have not been able to discover anything about the parents or the nationality of John Howsmon. However, I have developed the impression that the family was of English, rather than German, origin, that they were Quakers, and came to Virginia from Maryland or Pennsylvania." -- William Perry Hay (1871-1947). |
Census data: 1787, |
Howsmon 1805 Fractur Book - Antiques Magazine:1962 article, marriage, William,
Abraham and Jacob,
Hannah and Samuel,
baby Peggy,
close (no pages for Frances, Isaac or Mary -- or these pages not able to be restored -- and Martha not born yet). The magazine copy is not in color -- just this sepia black-and-white; in 2006, Antiques Magazine had no idea where the original book was.
Children: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name | Date of Birth, Place | Date of Death, Place | Married - date and to whom | # children | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1. William | 12/15/1782 Frederick, VA | 8/19/1863 Madison, OH | 1- 5/26(27?)/1802 Abigail Britton | 12
2. Frances 2/10/1785 Frederick, VA 4/18/1865 Madison, OH (never married) 0
3. Abraham 7/8/1787 Frederick, VA 1812 Sandusky, OH n/a 0
4. Isaac 12/3/1789 Frederick, VA 11/10/1866 Madison, OH 4/1/1819 Sarah McClimons 8
5. Mary "Polly" Frost 4/18/1791 Frederick, VA 6/18/1847 Madison, OH 3/28/1815 Thomas T. Reeves 12
6. Jacob 10/30/1794 Frederick, VA 12/18/1859 Madison, OH (never married) 0
7. Hannah 6/4/1797 Frederick, VA 12/22/1866 Madison, OH (never married) 0
8. Samuel Taylor 6/26/1800 Frederick, VA 8/10/1819 Madison, OH n/a 0
9. Margaret "Peggy" 6/26/1803 Frederick, VA 4/22/1885 Madison, OH 11/21/1822 James McClimans 10
10. Martha "Patsy" 2/14/1806 Frederick, VA 8/16/1878 Madison, OH 1- 9/23/1824 William Rayburn 7
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Notes: William Perry Hay listed two sons, Abraham and John, unknown birth, between Samuel and Margaret, but I am not sure this is correct. Abraham was reported missing after the Sandusky (Erie County, OH) Massacre in the War of 1812 -- last seen cleaning his rifle. *Martha stated on her census (in 1850, 1860 and 1870) that she was born in Virginia. But if the birthdate of 1806 is correct for her, and the Virginia birthplace is correct, the move to Ohio had to have been 1806/1807 and not 1804. For additional sources: W.P.Hay's ~1930s book and ~1950 The Housman Family of Frederick Virginia book (and a 1937 Houseman of Westmoreland,PA book).
Supporting the English heritage idea is the finding of a John Housman on a 1671 Wales Hearth Tax List (unknown if any relation).
Based on 1755-1761 voting records, it would appear that John's father's name was also John, and arrived in Frederick around the time of his birth. It is curious that a VanDolah ancestor married into a Houseman line at about the same time -- Charity VanDolah (born ~1732) is known to have married an unknown Houseman by 1758. While it is theoretically possible that this is a match, Howsmon/Houseman is not an uncommon name (although the German name is more common than the English/Welsh one), and this could only be considered to be a match if supporting documents are located to specify a Charity Hausman/Howsmon in VA, or John Hausman/Howsmon in NJ with no records after 1755.
John Houseman (Jr) was a soldier in 1774 for Lord Dunmore's Expedition under Capt. Peter Helphinstone.
For a description of Bethel Cemetery and the tombstone inscriptions for Howsmon descendants.
