"As We Are Now Living Apart": the Second Marriage of Samuel Glenn

Way back in 2018, I wrote up my findings on the real parents of my ancestor Samuel Glenn. I ended the post with a teaser, claiming to have more information to share--a claim I never followed up on. 

Until today: here I will present information on Samuel Glenn's ill-fated second marriage. As a refresher, Samuel Glenn was born between 1776 and 1780 in Maryland. His first wife is reported to be Catherine Hickson, who died in Clermont County, Ohio on 11 Mar 1833. They had eight children together, some still at home when Catherine died.

I found a marriage record for a Samuel Glenn occurring in Campbell County, Kentucky in 1839. Campbell County is situated right across the river from Samuel's land in Clermont County, Ohio. Could this be the right Samuel? (Click any image to enlarge.)

Samuel Glenn to Sarah Colby Marriage Bond

"KNOW ALL MEN BY THESE PRESENTS: That We, Samuel Glenn and Wyatt Baxler, are held and firmly bound, unto the commonwealth of Kentucky, in the just and full sum of fifty pounds, current money, to the payment of which well, and truly to be made, We bind ourselves, our heirs, &c. jointly and severally, by these presents, sealed and dated this 9th day of Jany 1839. The condition of the above obligation, is such, that whereas, there is a marriage shortly intended to be solemnized, between the above bound Samuel Glenn and Sarah Colby, widow, now should there be no legal cause to obstruct the same, then the above obligation to be void, else to remain in full force and virtue.
Witness                    Saml Glenn
                                 W. Baxter"

Samuel Glenn to Sarah Colby Marriage License

"COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY, Campbell County, to wit,
To any legally authorized Minister of the Gospel,
These are to license and permit you to join together in the holy state of matrimony Samuel Glenn, Widower, and Sarah Colby, Widow, and in so doing this shall be your sufficient warrant, bond and security having been given.
Given under my hand this Ninth day of January 1839.
                                  John N. Taliaferro, Ck"

Record of Marriage
Campbell County, Kentucky Marriage Book 1830-1851, p. 91

"720: Samuel Glenn to Sarah Cobly (sic). Married by Revd C. L. Southgate January 9, 1839"

Samuel Glenn died in 1841 and does not appear in the Will Index in Clermont County probate records. His entry in the 1840 census lists only him, no one else in the household. Not looking good to find anything further about this mysterious widow Colby.

I shelved this information until a later date. I was perusing the dry and dusty deeds of Clermont County, Ohio, and uncovered the whole (or as much as was put into public record) story.

Clermont County, Ohio Deed Book 40

Page 27: “Know all men by these presents that I Sarah M Glenn wife of Samuel Glenn of Clermont County State of Ohio Do hereby relinquish all my right to and acquit my said husband Samuel Glenn his heirs executors and administrators of any claim whatsoever to him of any maintainence Dower allimony or any other claim on account of the marriage contract that now exists between himself and me to any of his Real or personal property both in law or equity that he now holds or may own at any time for the remainder of his natural life upon the following condition that Samuel Glenn my husband and me cannot by some means and for some difficulties live together as we now are living apart and mutually agree so to live so long as God shall spare our lives this day my said husband made to Dennis Smith my Trustee a Deed of General Warrantee for thirty acres of land lying in Stonelick Township in said County gave me one Cow worth about ten Dollars one half of the rent (Page 28) Wheat that he received last year the farm that I now live on last year and paid the Costs of a suit that was commenced by me against him in the Supreme Court of the State of Ohio for allimony all of which I acknowledge the receipt for as one equal third part of all he possesses and agree to leave the premises on which I now reside immediately and to never trouble him any more Witness my hand and seal this 31st day of March 1841

                                                                                        Sarah M Glenn

Executed in presence of
Wm. Roudebush
Elizabeth her X mark Stagton
State of Ohio
Clermont County
Before me Wm. Roudebush a Justice of the peace in and for said County personally appeared the above name Sarah M Glenn and acknowledged the signing and sealing of the above Release to her husband to be her voluntary act and deed this 31st day of March 1841
                                                                                       Wm Roudebush JP
Recorded July 23d 1841”

Page 369: “Know all men by these presents that I Samuel Glenn of the County of Clermont & State of Ohio in consideration of the sum of one dollar and a full release from Sarah M. Glenn my present wife to me of all her legal right both in law and equity to me my heirs executors and administrators of all the property I now or shall own at any time during my natural life either real or personal have bargained and sold and do hereby bargain sell release and aquit all my title to (Page 370) Dennis Smith Trustee for Sarah M. Glenn my present wife in fee simple her heirs and assigns forever to the undivided half of the following premises situate in the County of Clermont and State of Ohio bounded and described as follows beginning at a white oak & 2 beeches south corner to Daniel Dumford thence running north 45o E 37⅓ poles to a stone thence S 50o E 107½ poles to a white oak & 2 beeches thence S 45o W 37⅓ poles to two ashes and a beech thence N 50o W 112 poles to the beginning Containing sixty acres this deed to convey thirty acres only of the above described land off of the south end next to where Samuel Waldren now lives to have and to hold the said premises with the appurtenances unto the Said Sarah M. Glenn said Trustee for her only use and the use of her heirs and assigns forever and etc.  Samuel Glenn for himself & his heirs doth hereby covenant with the said Dennis Smith Trustee for the said Sarah M Glenn for her use and the use of her heirs and assigns that he is lawfully seized of the premises aforesaid and that the premises are free and clear from all incumbrances whatsoever and that he will forever warrant and defend the same with the appurtenances unto the said Dennis Smith the Trustee above named for the use of the said Sarah M Glenn her heirs and assigns against the lawful claims of all persons whomsoever In Testimony whereof the said Samuel Glenn has hereunto set his hand and seal this 31st day of Mar 1841
Executed in presence of 
Wm Roudebush
William Tarr
Saml Glenn {seal}
State of Ohio Clermon County, SS
Before me Wm Roudebush a Justice of the peace in and for said County personally appeared the within named Samuel Glenn and acknowledged the signing and Sealing of the within conveyance to be his voluntary act and deed this 31st day of March 1841
Recorded April 6, 1842                             Wm. Roudebush JP”

So, the records tell us that Samuel and Sarah were married in January of 1839. By the time of the 1840 census, they were living apart. At some point, Sarah filed for divorce with the Supreme Court of Ohio, but agreed to drop the suit when, in March of 1841, Samuel gave her the real estate and personal property outlined above.

Samuel died three months later, on July 1, 1841.

I have not yet been able to find out more information on the widow Sarah M. Colby--maiden name, first marriage, or when she died. She went on to sell her 30 acres in 1845. A next step in research would be to find any of the divorce proceedings, if they exist. Those might give more detail as to why the couple could not get along.

Will the REAL Parents of Samuel Glenn Please Stand Up?

Mary Glenn Moore, granddaughter of this blog post's subject

For many years, the Glenn branch of my tree stopped at Samuel Glenn, who died July 1, 1841, in Clermont County, Ohio.  I was never tempted by the many-times-copied trees on Ancestry that showed his line extending back to Robert the Bruce, the most awesome king Scotland ever had.

Well, maybe a little tempted. I'd love to descend from Robert the Bruce. But these trees were all lacking one key ingredient: Proof.

I decided to work on this line a bit to see if I could make a breakthrough. I've been slowly entering proven information into a Rootsmagic database, and began putting in what facts I knew about Samuel. I had the following already:

• A photocopied Bible record belonging to Samuel's son Elias Glenn, stating that "Samuel Glenn My father died on the first day of July 1841."
• U.S. Federal Census records from Clermont County, Ohio for the years 1820, 1830, and 1840. By using the age data in these records, I narrowed Samuel's birth year to somewhere between 1776 and 1780.
• From Ancestry, I also had three records from the Ohio Early Census Index for the years 1801, 1809, and 1810. The first one was for the Virginia Military District, and the other two for Clermont County.

The Virginia Military District was a part of what would later be southwest Ohio. It was bounty land set aside for veterans of the Revolutionary War, who received payment for their service in land rather than money. Why was Samuel Glenn, who was born during the revolution, paying taxes on land there?

I was able to locate the original tax record on FamilySearch¹.  

1801 Tax List for Virginia Military District, image from FamilySearch

Samuel Glen was taxed for 200 acres of 2nd rate land
No. of Warrant 4939
Date of Entry with Surveyor 19 Jul 1800
Water Course and County: lower side Trakles Creek, Ross
Amount of tax: 70 cents

According to the book Revolutionary War Land Grants by Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck², 200 acres was the amount awarded to a non-commissioned officer who served a three-year term. However, if the soldier died or was killed in service, his heirs were entitled to the same amount of land. On page 202 of this book, Samuel Glen is listed as receiving 200 acres.

I knew I had to see information about this bounty warrant. Since the land was located in the Virginia Military District, it would not be located at the National Archives with federal land grants. A little sleuthing revealed these records were at the Library of Virginia on microfilm. And wonder of wonders, FamilySearch had copies of these microfilms! The particular one I wanted to see has been digitized, but must be viewed at a family history center or an affiliate library. I was off the day I discovered this, but my car was in the shop. Drat!

My next available day off, I was at the Indiana State Library first thing to check out this microfilm. The entry for Samuel Glen consisted of one index card and one handwritten document, front and back.³

Samuel Glen Bounty Warrant Index Card and Front of Supporting Document

Samuel Glen Bounty Warrant Index Card and Back of Supporting Document

The document says: 

"Corporation of Winchester, Sct May 31st 1799
   On the motion of Samuel Glen and it being proved to the satisfaction of the Court It is ordered to be certified that he is the only child and heir of Samuel Glen deceased an american soldier who was killed in the war between this country and Great Britain.
           A Copy Test,    J. Peyton CWH"

Winchester, Virginia is located in Frederick County. As of yet, I have not located any court records there that pertain to this document.

Shortly after this revelation, I found myself at the Allen County Public Library, and found this abstract from the Frederick County Minute Books⁴:

GLINN ELIZABETH WIFE OF (SOLDIER); MINUTES 1773-1780, p. 255, Elizabeth Glinn, whose husband is soldier in Morgnan Regiment in Continental Service, pension for herself and a child."

I was able to locate the Compiled Service Records for Samuel Glen on Fold3, but they did not shed any further light on his age or death date. 

In summary, Samuel Glenn b. 1776-1780, d. 1841 in Clermont County, Ohio was the only son and heir of Samuel Glen, a soldier who served from Frederick County, Virginia and died during the American Revolution, and his wife Elizabeth.

I have more information to share on Samuel Glenn (Jr.) and Samuel Glen (Sr.) in future blog posts. There is also more research to be done, and I hope to uncover more.

Sources:

¹ Tax records of Ohio, 1801-1814, "Book entries of the lands of non-residents situated between the Scioto & Little Miami Rivers commonly known by the name of the Virginia Army Lands (Virginia Military District ), v. 1, 1801," entry for Samuel Glen, image 51, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 7 Sep 2018).

² Revolutionary War Bounty Land Grants [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. Original data: Bockstruck, Lloyd DeWitt. Revolutionary War Bounty Land Grants. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1998.

³ Virginia, Office of the Governor, "Bounty warrants, 1779-1860," Box 58, Given, John to Goodrum, Thomas, FHL film 008140688 Item 4

⁴ Daughter of the American Revolution, Virginia, Series 2, v. 35, Abstracts of court records, Frederick County, Virginia, 1763-1830, (Virginia: Virginia DAR, 1994).