Site Visit: Vernon Township and the Hunt for a Vanished Date
A broken grave marker at old Rehobath Cemetery and census records help unseal the history of the Suttles family in Clinton County, Ohio.
Editor's note (October 3, 2026): I have revisited the records behind this article. Anne Suttles's broken marker preserves “Aug. 8” and the beginning of a year, “18,” but not the final digits. The 1850 census names Suttles children in several households. Although those pages were enumerated in September, the census asked for each person's usual residence on June 1, 1850. It cannot establish that the children moved after an August death. A marriage-license entry dated August 23, 1851 adds context, but no record examined so far confirms Anne's death year or the reason for the children's living arrangements.
In genealogical fieldwork, a “dead end” can be a question worth following. On Wisby Road in Vernon Township, I knelt beside the broken marker of Anne Suttles, wife of William Suttles and my fourth-great-grandmother, at Rehobath Cemetery. A diagonal break carried away the final digits of her death year.
The Surface Evidence
The surviving inscription identifies ANNE, Wife of WM SUTTLES, and DIED. Below that, “Aug. 8” is visible, followed by the beginning of a year, “18”. The break removes the digits that would settle the year. Cemetery surveys have offered 1880 and 1885 readings, but neither can be confirmed from the surviving stone alone.
Reading the Census Dates Carefully
The 1850 federal census for Clinton County contains these Suttles entries in three Vernon Township households:
Enumerated September 2: William T. and David Suttles appear in Joseph B. Newberry's household, which begins on the preceding census page.
Enumerated September 3: Margaret J. Suttles appears in Benjamin Richardson's household.
Enumerated September 4: Mary A. and Benjamin Suttles appear in Moses Garrison's household.
The dates above are when the census taker visited. The form itself asked for people whose usual place of abode was in each household on June 1. If completed as instructed, these entries describe household membership more than two months before a possible August 8 death. They do not establish a move in August or September, a reason for any move, kinship with the household heads, or a formal guardianship.
Other Suttles entries in the county need to be reconciled before treating this list as a complete account of the children. In particular, an Adams Township page enumerated on August 19 also lists a Mary A. Suttles, age seven, in John Suttles's household. I cannot yet tell whether the two Mary A. entries refer to the same person. That uncertainty is another reason to leave the family's movements open.
A Later Record: William and Elizabeth Brackney
A Clinton County marriage-license entry dated August 23, 1851 names William Suttles and Elizabeth Brackney. The image has no marriage return recorded alongside the entry, so this source alone does not establish that a ceremony occurred. It does not establish when Anne died or explain the 1850 census households.
Where the Evidence Stands
The marker preserves a day and month but not the full year. The census records several Suttles children in other households as of its June 1 reference date; it cannot show that Anne's death caused those arrangements. The later license entry adds a dated clue, but August 8, 1850 remains an unproven possibility.
Clinton County probate and guardianship files, along with church, cemetery, and contemporary newspaper records, may add the missing evidence. Until they do, I will leave Anne's death year open. The gap in the stone is part of the record; naming it honestly is part of honoring this family's story.
