Site Visit: Vernon Township and the Hunt for a Vanished Date
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.
In genealogical fieldwork, a "dead end" isn't a wall; it’s a puzzle waiting for the right tool.
I recently found myself on Wisby Road in Vernon Township, investigating the scattered remains of Rehobath Cemetery. Amidst the weathered lime stones, I knelt before the marker of Anne Suttles, the wife of William Suttles and my 4th-great-grandmother. The stone is a classic mid-19th-century slab, but it bears the scars of time: a jagged, diagonal break has unsealed the bottom right corner, carrying away the most vital evidence of a vanished ancestor—her death year.
The surface evidence
At first glance, the marker offers a tantalizing but incomplete story. The inscription is clear through the first few lines: ANNE, Wife of WM SUTTLES, DIED.
Below that, the forensic trail thins. The letters "Aug. 8" are clearly visible, followed by the unmistakable tops of the numerals "18". However, the break occurs exactly where the final two digits should reside. Local cemetery surveys have suggested 1885, even 1880, as a death year, but as a researcher who "digs deeper," I knew the physical evidence on the stone wasn't the only witness we needed to depose.
Hunting the September scattering
To solve the mystery of the broken stone, I had to look at the living. I moved the investigation to the 1850 Federal Census for Clinton County. In genealogy, we often look for families together; here, I was looking for a family — originally made up of 12 children — that had fallen apart.
The evidence I unsealed was chilling in its precision. Between September 2 and September 4, 1850, the Suttles household effectively vanished. Five of Anne’s children were found living in three separate homes of prominent local families:
September 2: William Thomas and David Suttles were enumerated in the Joseph B. Newbury home.
September 3: Margaret Jane was found with the Benjamin Richardson family.
September 4: Benjamin Franklin and Mary A. were living with Moses Garrison.
A family doesn't scatter like this without a catalyst. When you align the "Aug. 8" on that broken headstone with a cluster of children placed in foster care by September 2, the forensic timeline locks into place. Anne Suttles didn't die in 1885. She likely passed on August 8, 1850, leaving her husband, William, just three weeks to find homes for five children before the census taker knocked on the door.
The reconstruction: Enter Elizabeth Brackney
The investigation didn't stop at the grave. To confirm this timeline, I hunted for William Suttles' next move. A year after the family collapsed, the paper trail warmed up again.
On August 23, 1851—exactly one year and two weeks after Anne's death—a marriage license was issued in Clinton County to William Suttles and Elizabeth Brackney. Elizabeth was a woman with a history of her own, bringing a substantial household into the fold.
The Brackney children included:
William, Charles, and Benjamin
Rachel, Keziah, and Mary
Jeremiah and Sarah
By the 1860 Census, the reconstruction was complete. We find William and Elizabeth living in Adams Township with a household that reflected a new chapter: 18-year-old Elizabeth Brackney (likely a namesake from Elizabeth's first family) and a six-month-old infant, Marion Tison. Most of the scattered Suttles children had grown and started families of their own, and a new, blended household for William had risen from the ashes of the 1850 crisis.
The conclusion
We often think of history as a series of static dates. But through forensic reconstruction, we see it for what it truly is: a series of reactions to trauma and survival.
The break in Anne Suttles' stone was a "dead end" only if we looked at the limestone alone. By cross-referencing the physical evidence with the census and marriage dockets, we unsealed the truth. Anne’s likely death in August 1850 wasn't just a date—it was the moment a family shattered,which then had to be pieced back together through multiple households and a new union with the Brackney family.
This is why we do the work. We don't just find names; we restore the chronologies of lives that were nearly lost to time.
Next Tactical Step: I am currently preparing a records hunt for the 1850 Guardianship Bonds in the Clinton County Probate Court. These documents may officially name the neighbors who took in the Suttles children.
