Notes for SERINUS EMMONS:
Son of ? and ?.
Born: About 1754 in Virginia.
Died: 1825 in Green Township, Mahoning County, Ohio.
Census: 1820 - Green Township, Columbiana County, Ohio.
Married: (1) Rebecca Grubbs 1779 in Unknown.
(2) Jane Frances ? September 26, 1805 in Frederick, County, Virginia.
Probate: August 7, 1825 in Columbiana County, Ohio.
Will Dated January 15, 1824:
I, Serinus Emmons of Green Township in Columbiana County and State of Ohio, being weak in body but of sound mind and perfect memory do make and declare this my Last Will and Testament in manner and form following.
I order and direct in the first place that all my just debts and funeral expenses be fully paid and satisfied. Item, I give unto my beloved wife, Jane Emmons, the use, profit and benefit of the plantation wheron I now live containing Seventy one Acres and a half to be the same more or less.
Also my personal estate after my debts, etc. are paid as first directed for and during her natural life or as long as she remains a widow. And at her decease or marriage I bequeath the plantation she is endo'd with unto my three sons namely Cornelius Emmons, Joel Emmons and Eli Emmons to be equally divided among them share and share alike in quantity and quality to them their heirs and assigns forever, and the moveable estate I have invested my wife with at her decease or marriage.
I direct as much of it be sold as will amount to twenty four dollars which twenty four dollars I give unto my eight children namely : Catherine Richards, Elias Emmons, Thomas Emmons, Miriam Durham, Rebecca Bates, Jonathon Emmons, Peggy Bates and Elisha Emmons to be equally divided among them share and share alike and remainder of moveable estate if any there be after paying the twenty four dollars aforesaid I appoint my wife, Jane Emmons, as sole executrix of my Last Will and Testament and thereby revoke all former will by me made ratifying and confirming this and no other to be my Last Will and Testament.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal this fifteenth day of January A. D. One Thousand Eight and Twenty Four 1824. his Serinus X Emmons (seal) mark
Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said Serinus Emmons for his Last Will and Testament in the presence of us who at his request and in his presence have subscribed our names as witness thereunto.
Jesse Holloway his, John X Zimmerman mark, Nathan Brown
Dan's Sources: # Title: Bible Records
Abbrev: WTE Bible
Author: Wilson Thomas Emmons
Note: RIN#1977
Repository:
# Title: Frederick County, Virginia, Marriages 1771-1825
Abbrev: Frederick County, Virginia, Ma
Author: Eliza Timberlake Davis
Note: RIN#2301
http://worldconnect.genealogy.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=treadway&id=I1979 (Dan Treadway)
The first record of Serinus Emmons I have been able to discover is in 1774 when he and Cornelius Emmons sold, for 24 pounds current money, to Isaac Hite a collection of things useful to farmers--two horses, three cows, six pigs, two hogsheads of tobacco, a harness, a plow, and various tools and furniture. Serinus Emmons appears again in the records in 1777, when he and a Jonathan Emmons each leased a hundred acres in the Manor of Greenway Court from Thomas B Martin, a nephew of Lord Fairfax, in Frederick County, (now northernmost Warren county, just south of the current town of Nineveh,) Virginia. The term of these leases was 21 years at five pounds current Virginia money, per year. The renters were prohibited from cutting timber except for use on the place to erect buildings and fences, and for fuel. Before the end of the term, they were each to erect a habitable house.
In 1792, a Jonathan Emmons, presumably the same one, bought a tract of two hundred acres, situated in the "Counties of Shanandoa, Frederick & Culpeper." This land seems to been quite near the present town of Chester Gap, straddling the Blue Ridge.
In 1798, Serinus renewed his lease for another 21 years, this time at ten pounds per year. He was still prohibited from removing timber from the plot, but this time the requirement to build a house on it was unnecessary. Evidently it was possible to escape the lease before the end of its term, for Serinus moved about 1805 to Columbiana County, Ohio, where he died in 1825, leaving a will.
Rent receipts for the period 1780 to 1806 have been handed down in the family of Elizabeth (Emmons) Foster. Some of these from the 1780s say "received of Joel Emmons" or "received of Cornelius Emmons". Were these Serinus' brothers?
A very useful article entitled "The Manor of Greenway Court," by Josiah Look Dickinson, appeared in Proceedings of the Clarke County Historical Association, volume IV, (1944) pages 47-57. It briefly tells the early history of this neighborhood and its inhabitants. One neighbor of Serenus Emmons was Isaac Davis, who came to Virginia from Salem County, New Jersey, and who moved to Columbiana County about the same time as Serenus Emmons, as well. Other neighbors included Thomas Grubbs, Joshua Antrim, Joseph Clevinger, Lewis Chastain (he was the officiating minister at Serenus' marriage to Jane Frances and at the marriage of Serenus' son Thomas to Mary "Polly" Davis, daughter of Isaac Davis) John Fawcett (descended from the Irish Quaker family who had settled in Pennsylvania,) William Cook, Moses McKay, Stephen Grubbs (who came to Virginia from Brandywine Hundred, Newcastle County, Delaware,) Jacob Painter, Isaiah Oglesby (of the Scotch Quaker family who had settled in Pennsylvania,) and John Romine. Most of these neighbors were Quakers, and the Crooked Run meeting house was close by the Emmons family home.
A copy of a letter to Thomas Emmons Ward from his uncle Wilfred Emmons, dated 26 Jun 1940, has been supplied to me by Richard Ward. This letter supplies the following information:
"Cyrenus Emmons, farmer came from Virginia and settled in Carroll Co. [sic] Ohio. His grandfather came from Holland. The family was probably of English origin, among those who went to Holland for religious freedom and then emigrated to America to avoid losing their English culture and traditions."
"Thomas Emmons, farmer, was a Luthern [sic] but became a Quaker when he married into a Quaker family."
Carrie Alice (Emmons) Ward told her grandson Richard B. Ward that the Emmons family moved from England to Germany to escape religious persecution, and came to the US from there.
During the early 19th century, the Chastain and Emmons names occur in conjunction in Ross County, Ohio; Grubbses and Emmonses were neighbors in Koskiusco county, Indiana. The name Serinus (or Cyrenus) Emmons appears in Clark, Jackson, and Martin Counties, Indiana. In each case, census records show that the older members of these midwestern Emmons families were born in Virginia. Can anyone tell whether and how all these Emmons families were related?