John George Albright/Albrecht, Kessler/Liberty Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio. (2023 photo by Karen)
This is the tombstone of John George Albright, located in row 15 of Kessler/Liberty Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio.
This tombstone is weathered and is nearly illegible. I believe, at this time, the best reading of this tombstone is from 33 years ago, when the Mercer County Chapter OGS read the cemetery in 1990.
Their 1990 reading: J.G. Alhricht [died] 3 October 1850, [aged] 11 J, 9 M, 11 T. [1]
Although it would appear that 11-year J.G. Alhricht is buried here, I believe this is the tombstone of 44-year-old John Georg Albright/Albrecht, and that what has been read as age 11 years of age is actually age 44 years of age. Certain numbers are difficult to read on old, weathered marble tombstones and the number 4 is one of them. The number 4 often had a bold vertical line and thin horizontal and angled lines. Those thin strokes nearly disappear over time and years later the number 4 may end up looking like the number 1. I believe that is the case with this tombstone.
The surname is also difficult to read and I believe Alhricht is actually Albright/Albrecht.
Several items support the fact that this is the tombstone of 44-year-old John George Albright, who died 3 October 1850:
- An 1897 affidavit states that John George Albright died 3 October 1850, as stated by two of his Liberty Township neighbors. [2]
- John George Albright owned a farm and lived about a mile from Kessler/Liberty Cemetery and was the only J.G. Albright living in the area at that time.
- The 44-year age agrees with John George Albright’s age on the ship’s passenger list and his age in the 1850 census.
- John George Albright died after 14 September 1850, the day the 1850 census was taken in Liberty Township, and before 16 July 1852, when his daughter Christine Albright died. Her church death record states that her father was deceased.
- His widow Eva Barbara Albright gave consent for their underage daughter to marry in 1853. The father John George would have given consent if he were alive.
- John George Albright’s wife Eva Barbara was called Widow Albright in Zion Schumm’s records when she married Adam Ehrman in 1853.
John George Albright, Kessler/Liberty Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio. (2023 photo by Karen)
Assuming this is the tombstone of 44 year-old John George Albright, his date of birth was 22 December 1805, as calculated from his tombstone.
John George Albright, 37, emigrated from Bavaria in 1842, arriving in America with his wife Eva Barbara, 38, two daughters, Anna, 6, and Christina, 3, and Andrew Hiller, 42. They sailed from Bremen on the ship Emma and arrived in New York on 26 July 1842. [3]
The John George Albright family and Andrew Hiller immediately settled in Liberty Township, Mercer County, Ohio. Both men were enumerated in Mercer County’s 1843 Quadrennial Enumeration. [4]
About that same time, John George Albright purchased 40 acres of land in Liberty Township. His 40-acre farm was located in the NE Quarter of the NW Quarter of Section 17, as listed in the 1853 Mercer County Plat Book. [5] The Albright farm was located on the south side of what is now Oregon Road, about a quarter mile east of State Route 49.
The Albrights and Andrew Hiller were enumerated in the 1850 census in Liberty Township:
John C [G] Albrite [Albright], 45
Barbara Albrite, [Albright], 40
Barbara Albrite, [Albright], 14
Christina Albrite, [Albright], 11
Andrew Hellen [Hiller], 51.
All members of the household were born in Germany and John and Andrew were farmers. [6]
Andrew Hiller immigrated with the Albrights and lived with the Albrights in Liberty Township. Was he related to John or Barbara? I have a feeling he was.
That 1850 census enumeration was taken in Liberty Township on 14 September 1850. John Georg Albright died a couple weeks later, on 3 October 1850, and is buried in row 15 of Kessler/Liberty Cemetery.
John George Albright’s widow Eva Barbara married widower Adam Ehrman in Van Wert County on 2 August 1853 .
Eva Barbara Albright Ehrman (1810-1853) died on 17 September 1853, about six weeks after her marriage to Adam Ehrman. Three months later, on 18 November 1853, her second husband Adam Ehrman (1799-1853) died.
John George and Eva Barbara Albright had two daughters that immigrated with them:
Anna Barbara Albright (1836-1913), married George Bollenbacher (1830-1912)
Christine Albright (1839-1852)
[1] Mercer County Chapter OGS, compiler, Mercer County, Ohio, Cemetery Inscriptions, Vol. VI, Blackcreek, Hopewell, and Liberty Townships, (Celina, Ohio : Privately printed, 1990), p.66.
[2] Mercer County, Ohio, Recorder’s Office, affidavit, Vol. 15:525.
[3] New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1957, 1842, Arrival, New York, New York, Line 8, list number 659, Andre Hiller; Ancestry.com, viewed 10 May 2023.
[4] 1827 and 1843 Quadrennial Enumeration of Adult White Males of Mercer County, Ohio, The Mercer County Chapter of the Ohio Genealogical Society, 2004, data from the Paul Lawrence Dunbar Library Special Collections and Archives, Wright State University, p. 28.
[5] 1853 Mercer County, Ohio, Plat Book, p. 199.
[6] 1850 U.S. Census, Liberty, Mercer, Ohio, p.287A, dwelling, family, John C Albrite [sic]; Ancestry.com, viewed 10 May 2023.
