Browning v. Beck, Pt 5 - “State Your Name For The Record, Please?”

When we last left it -- on 26 Oct 1837 -- Samuel had submitted his statement for Trespass On The Case. Counsel for both sides were tasked with drawing up witness lists and filling out subpoenas for those they chose to call. William Milligan, the sheriff of Harrison County, was given all the subpoenas to serve.

He had served all the supoenas (either in writing or by reading them aloud) to all the witnesses by 27 October. Listed on all the subpoenas is a tally of the cost of his services. On each one, he made sure to note his mileage. I can't help but picture the odometer on his horse ticking away….

Following is as complete a list of witnesses as I'm aware of, since I may be missing some case files:

LIST OF WITNESSES FOR THE PLAINTIFF
In Julia Ann's Bastardy Case	In Samuel's Trespass On The Case
Joseph Townsend	David Rankin
Samuel Skinner, Esq	Sarah Rankin
Alexander Hamilton	Timothy Titus
Samuel Crawford	David Cunningham
James Rowland	John Mitchell
Uriah Moore	Samuel Clifford
Cyrus Rowland
James Wilson Jr

LIST OF WITNESSES FOR THE DEFENDANT (James Beck)
In Julia Ann's Bastardy Case	In Samuel's Trespass On The Case
Hester Nash	Jonathan Peoples
Rebecca Hamilton	Abraham Camp
John Ruby	Nancy Camp
Jonathan Peoples	Hannah Drake
Abraham Camp	Washington Brock
Nancy Camp	Joseph Townsend
Thomas Drake	William Jones
Hannah Drake	Hester Nash
	Charles Kinsey
	Charles Wells Jr
	Joseph Johnson

LIST OF WITNESSES FOR THE PLAINTIFF SUBPOENAED AFTER THE FIRST DAY OF TRIAL
In Julia Ann's Bastardy Case	In Samuel's Trespass On The Case
Thomas Nash	Peter Hinton
Amy Nash	Joseph Rea
	Philip Fulton Jr
	James Wilson
	Uriah Titus
	Rebecca Hamilton
LIST OF WITNESSES FOR THE DEFENDANT (James Beck) SUBPOENAED AFTER THE FIRST DAY OF TRIAL
In Julia Ann's Bastardy Case
Washington Brock

Looking over the witness lists, a couple of things immediately jumped out at me. First, I noticed that two witnesses, Rebecca Hamilton and Joseph Townsend, had been called for both plaintiff and defense; plaintiff witnesses for Julia's bastardy suit and defense witnesses against Samuel's Trespass On The Case suit. I'm curious, but I don't feel that I can speculate on the reasons for this.

I researched some of the witnesses in this case, hoping to find clues that would guide me in my research into Samuel's ancestry. I didn't have much luck with many of the witnesses -- I think because some were young people at the time and I didn't have a census with names that I could use -- and none of them seemed to connect with my Brownings, but I did manage to find out some interesting things.

Timothy Titus and his son Uriah were called as witnesses in Samuel's Trespass on the Case suit. Timothy Titus was born around 1789 and died in late 1858/early 1859. His will lists Uriah as his son. Uriah was born around 1813 and would have been about 24 years old at the time of the case.

Julia Ann called James and Cyrus Rowland and Uriah Moore as witnesses in her case. Samuel called Philip Fulton Jr. as a witness in his case. James (b. 1805) and Cyrus Rowland were the sons of John Rowland and Rachel Engle. John and Rachel Rowland lived in Moorefield Township and were buried in the Rankin Cemetery there. Whether this means they have ties with the Rankin family (and two more of the witnesses, David and Sarah Rankin) is unknown.

Uriah Moore (b. 1814) was apprenticed with Henry Moore of Cadiz as a wheelwright at age 16. He worked there for three years (c1830-1833) before erecting his own shop in Moorefield Township, which was where Samuel and Julia Ann were living at the time of the case.

I discovered that the Rowland family and the Fulton family were related by marriage and the Moore family was soon to follow. James and Cyrus Rowland's brother William married Jane Fulton in 1820. Jane was one of the daughters of Philip Fulton. Uriah Moore married another of Philip Fulton's daughters, Mary Ann, in October of 1842. I also located the marriage of a James Moore to Elizabeth Rowland in Jan 1829. I don't know if James and Uriah are any relation, but the man who married James and Elizabeth was Philip Fulton.

Uriah was only 23 years old when he was called as a witness. James and Cyrus Rowland were in their late 20s and early 30s. I wonder how well they would have known 16 year old Julia Ann. While it's very possible that they knew Julia, I think it more likely that they knew James Beck and were called to testify to his character with the ladies.

What relation that Samuel or Julia had with the Rowland/Fulton/Moore families is (so far) unknown. I'll be looking into it more, that's for sure, and I'll definitely keep an eye out for these names during my continuing research.

I found a few proximity connections with the Browning name -- meaning people lived close to other people who had Browning connections -- but by far the most interesting but confusing aspect so far is that both of the witnesses that actually did connect with the Browning name connected in a most unususal fashion. As I said earlier, I'd hoped to find clues that would point me toward Samuel's hidden ancestry. I'd been excited about it since my initial glance at the case when I found it in a drawer in the Harrison County Genealogical Society. A set of names had jumped out at me then and got my blood racing and my heart pounding. Imagine my confusion, then, when I realized that the only names that rang those bells of recognition in my head ended up being witnesses…..for the defense???

Next time, I'll be exploring these witnesses!

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Sources:

Historical Collections Of Harrison County, In The State of Ohio, With Lists Of The First Land-Owners, Early Marriages (to 1841), Will Records (to 1861), Burial Records Of The Early Settlements, and Numerous Genealogies. Charles A. Hanna. New York, 1900.

A Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Harrison and Carroll, Ohio, containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens, And of Many of the Early Settled Families. J.H. Beers. Chicago, 1891.