Index of Liberty Township Estray Book

Livestock

Was your ancestor a livestock owner in Liberty Township in the mid-1800s? If so, he probably registered his livestock’s earmark brand with the clerk in this Mercer County, Ohio, township.

I wrote about the Liberty Township Estray Book in last week’s blog post. The first part of this old book deals with stray animals while the back half of the book contains the descriptions of livestock earmarks registered by the farmers.

Earmarks were specific cuts in an animal’s ear, each earmark particular to a certain farmer so he could identify his own livestock.

There is not really any genealogical information in this Estray book but registering one’s earmark placed that person in a certain place at a specific time. That can be important information if you are trying to establish where your ancestor lived, trace his migration or prove his residency for a lineage society.

The earmarks in the Liberty Township Estray Book date back to 1841.The first marks were registered by Philip Bolton and Daniel Freeman on 15 June 1841. The last earmark in the book was registered by Anton Feissel on 21 November 1884.

I noticed that some of the earmarks were transferred to another individual after a period of time, probably after the original registrant moved from the area or passed away. It was probably difficult to come up with new and different earmarks and transferring older unused marks would make them available to another farmer.

Livestock

This week I created an index of sorts of the names of those that had registered earmarks in the Liberty Township Estray Book. The pages in the book are not numbered so it is a little difficult to find the names from the index. But the index is nice to have and is sort like a township census that spans several decades.

I put the registrant names in alphabetical order below, letters A-H, with the date they registered their earmarks.Some of the writing was difficult to read, was faded, and  some name spellings were challenging. I underlined a name if I was unsure of the spelling.

Liberty Township earmark registrants, A-H:

Albright, John G., 14 February 1843  (Transferred to John Lininger 11 October 1859)
Alt, Adam, 5 November 1877
Alt, Frederick, 10 January 1877
Alt, John, 1 December 1877
Alt, John, 13 November 1865   (Changed to mark of John Alt 1 December 1877)
Anders, Frederick, 7 March 1865  (Transferred to Henry V. Hinton 14 April 1865)
Annselment, John, 3 April 1874
Anselment, Lewis, 24 July 1863
Bacher, John, 16 October 1851  (Transferred to John J. Schaadt 3 November 1868)
Bacher, Philip, 16 May 1851
Baker, Jacob, 27 July 1865
Baker, John, 6 August 1855
Bance, John, 18 August 1866
Baurer, Michael, 6 April 1863  (Transferred to Nicholas Hider 9 September 1865)
Beach, Hiram, 26 November 1854  (Transferred to Mary Wernet 13 September 1870)
Betzel, Frederick, 4 April 1853
Beverstine, Abraham, 15 November 1876
Bock, Leonard, 24 July 1867
Bolenbacher, Adam, 14 February 1843
Bollenbacher, Jacob, 5 May 1881
Bollenbacher, John Jacob, 17 November 1876
Bollenbaucher, George Jr., 6 March 1860
Bollenbaucher, Jacob, 10 May 1866
Bollenbaugh, Adam, 6 May 1865
Bollenbaugh, George Sr., 4 April 1853
Bolton, Philip, 15 June 1841 (Transferred to Theopohilus Wilson 6 January 1843)
Bolton, Philip, 1843  (Transferred to Fredrick Kable 24 November 18?0)
Brahm, John, 20 June 1873
Brechheiser, Martin, 10 May 1865
Brehm, John C., 9 May 1878
Brehm, Peter, 15 March 1884
Brumer, George, 20 October 1864
Burger, Michael, 20 April 1865  (Transferred to Joseph Felver 1 April 1867; Transferred to Jacob Linn 18 July 1876)
Carmony, Henry, 11 October 1842  (Transferred to Peter Fisher 10 February 1846)
Chapman, John H., 20 April 1852
Coon, Henry, 29 May 1852
Cox, Benjamin, 3 April 1843  (Transferred to Philip Linn 17 July 1876)
Curbaugh, Horace B., 17 March 1851  (Transferred to John C. Brehm 1 February 1866)
Daily, Thomas G., 15 January 1866
Deaner, Frederic, 3 March 1865
Deitsch, Jacob, 1 May 1846  (Transferred to John Deitsch 28 January 1876)
Deitsch, Jacob, 21 December [no year]   (Transferred to John G. Brumen 20 October 1864)
Deitsch, John 28 January 1876  (Transferred to Anton Feissel 21 November 1884)
Deutch, Jacob, 25 August 1841
Deutch, Philip, 15 June 1842
Dickes, Mary M., 23 July 1860  (Transferred to M. Kutsch [no date])
Dickes, Rinehart, 23 July 1860
Ditsch, Wm, 1 May 1846
Dixon, Amos, 31 March 1857  (Transferred to Henry Grote 9 April 1869)
Dixon, Henry, 7 April 1866
Dixon, Henry, 8 April 1861  (Transferred to John Myer 7 April 1873)
Dixon, Samuel, 8 June 1855  (Transferred to Job Thorp 8 May 1871)
Emerick, Philip, 6 April 1874
Feissel, Anton, 21 November 1884
Fidlir, John, 6 April 1854  (Transferred to John Cox 16 November 1854)
Fieldheizer, George, 22 October 1847  (Transferred to Jacob Hoffman 19 November 1850)
Fiesser, Nick, 16 February 1879
Fisher, John, 5 April 1842  (Transferred to Henry Doner 8 April 1859)
Fisher, Peter, 7 January 1843  (Transferred to Mathas Kutch 2 February 1871)
Fissel, Frank, 26 February 1881
Freeman Danl, 15 June 1841 (Transferred to Henry Trisel 25 Feb 1871; Transferred to James Steward 9 December 1883)
Freeman, William, 21 January 1843
Gillespie, Charles, 18 January 1851
Glass, Martin, 22 February 1851 ( Transferred to Christian Kessler 18 April 1862)
Grote, Henry, 9 April 1869
Harb, Joseph, 31 January 1874
Hardsock, John, 11 February 1862
Harold, John, 1 May 1846  (Transferred to John Grabner 9 November 1865)
Harold, John, 25 November 1850
Heins, Georg, 29 May 1871
Hengel, Andrew, 31 October 1868
Hinton, Henry V., 14 April 1868
Hinton, Thomas, 7 April 1865
Hoofman, Ferdinand, [no date]
Hough, William, 4 February 1844  (Transferred to William Koch 11 October 1859)

 

If you recognize a name and would like additional information about their earmark, please let me know. I will put the rest of the earmark index in a future blog post.

 

4 comments

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    • Miriam Fetters on June 21, 2013 at 9:44 am
    • Reply

    Hi, Karen – You’ve found a bunch of my relatives – when you get a chance, I’d like more info on:
    Adam Bolenbacher
    Bollenbaucher, George, 6 March 1860
    Bollenbaugh, George Sr., 4 April 1853
    Deaner, Frederic, 3 March 1865
    Ditsch, Wm, 1 May 1846
    Deitsch, Jacob, 1 May 1846 (Transferred to John Deitsch 28 January 1876)
    Deitsch, Jacob, 21 December [no year] (Transferred to John G. Brumen 20 October 1864)
    Deitsch, John 28 January 1876 (Transferred to Anton Feissel 21 November 1884)
    Deutch, Jacob, 25 August 1841
    Grote, Henry, 9 April 1869
    Thanks.

    1. Wow! It does look like there are several of your ancestors there. And this is just the A-H earmark index! When I saw “Deaner” I thought it might be your ancestor. I’ll either scan or photograph those pages for you and send them to you. I wish I had a Blackcreek book like this, too!

    • Kim Schlatter on May 1, 2014 at 9:32 pm
    • Reply

    Hi Karen,
    Several of my relatives are on the list. Would it be possible to get a scan or photograph of the entries? The names are:
    John Bacher 16 October 1851 (Transferred to John J Schaadt 3 November 1868)
    Phillip Bacher 16 May 1851
    Henry V Hinton 14 April 1868
    Thomas Hinton 7 April 1865
    Thanks so much for posting this!

    1. Yes. I will send you a scan within the next few days.

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