Guernsey Co., Ohio



Guernsey Co., Ohio

The last couple of days I have spent a lot of time studying this map of Guernsey Co., Ohio. My 4th great grandfather spent a good part of his life in Madison Township, Guernsey Co., Ohio. His name was Samuel Pounds. He was the son of my Revolutionary War ancestor William Pound and his wife Elizabeth Tune.

Samuel was born 26 June 1778 in Chatham Co., North Carolina. According to his daughter Naomi, Samuel raised two families. Nothing is known about the first family, but the names of the second family are listed on the pages of Samuel's family Bible. I have been able to discover a lot about Samuel and I'll be telling you about him from time to time. However, I have never been able to identify positively where and when Samuel died. There are many other unknowns in his life also.

No one knows exactly when Samuel came to the Northwest Territory. We don't know who is first wife was, nor the names of most of the children from that marriage. We don't know exactly when he left home and took off for the "territories" nor what he did for those 20 some-odd years before he shows up in the 1820 Ohio Census for Guernsey Co., Madison Township. I've been studying the tax records for these early counties and townships trying to learn more about Samuel and his life.

Family tradition puts Samuel in Northwest Territory in 1812. It is said that he served as a scout during the War of 1812, although there are not records to support that claim. As a scout, it was not necessary to enlist and evidently he never enlisted. But he would've had to be in the area long enough to become familiar enough with it in order to scout. I personally believe he was in the area around 1804. Someday I hope to be able to prove that assumption. That is the fun of genealogy...the discoveries and the ever present quest to learn more.