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Descendants of Mercy Unknown Searles




Generation No. 1


1. MERCY UNKNOWN1 SEARLES was born 21 Sep 1772 in Saratoga County, New York, and died 12 Jul 1856 in Delaware County, Ohio. She married (1) PETER (SARLES) SEARLES Abt. 1790, son of JAMES SARLES and NAOMI MOSEMAN. He was born Abt. 1754 in Bedford, Westchester Co., NY, and died Dec 1819 in Ellery, Chautauqua Co., NY. She married (2) ADAM ( MCKNIGHT) MCNITT Nov 1821 in Ellery, Chautauqua Co., New York, son of DAVID MCNITT and MARTHA PATRICK. He was born 15 Sep 1763 in Rutland, Worchester Co., Mass., and died 25 Jun 1848 in Berkshire, Delaware County, Ohio.

Notes for M
ERCY UNKNOWN SEARLES:
Mercy was married to Peter Searles prior to being married to Adam McNitt . They are listed in Baskins' 1880 History of Delaware County as being originally from Saratoga County, New York. Their son, Peter V. Searles and his wife, Jane Searles are buried close to Adam and Mercy in the Sunbury Cemetery. Mercy is listed in the 1820 census of Chautauqua County, New York in the same vicinity as the McNitt, Hitchcock, and Totman families. According to the census there were six dependents living with her ranging from under ten years of age to twenty six. Adam, living nearby had seven dependents living with him. So after their marriage they had 13 young people who were depending on them for their lively hood. It appears that Mercy and Adam were living in the home of James and Olive (Searles) Mallory in Licking County at the time of the 1830 census. Mercy's name is on her tombstone as McNett, her husband Adam is McNitt. So in Adam's lifetime, the name changed from McKnight to McNitt to McNett.
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Delaware County Probate Records # 712 DCHS/DCGS :

Article of Agreement entered into between Mercy McNitt and Asahel B. Searles
Witness that whereas said Mercy McNitt as widow of the late Adam McNitt was by his last will and testament entitled to one half of said Adam McNitt estate after paying all legal claims against the same; and whereas said property was sold by Henry Hodgden, Administrator of said Adam McNitt's estate and after deducting all legal claims the one half due and owing to said Mercy McNitt was five hundred and sixty five dollars and sixty nine cents, and said A.B. Searles the purchaser of said real estate was to paid said amount for the benefit of said Mercy McNitt. She agreed and did receipt to the administrator for said amount and said A.B. Searles was to settle and pay the said Mercy McNitt the same and whereas said Mercy McNitt was desirous to live with said A.B. Searles during her natural life, Therefore it is mutually agreed between the contracting parties that said A.B. Searles agrees to board, wash for & furnish said Mercy Mcnitt with all the necessary clothing, this to include all that is usually worn by a female of her age and condition in life; when sick to employ for her a skillful physician of her choice, to furnish suitable nurses & all necessaries for the convenience and comfort of said Mercy McNitt to be furnished by said Searles when called for; and to the decease of said Mercy McNitt, said A.B. Searles to defray all funeral expenses and cause to be erected over her grave a suitable and appropriate tombstone.
To the faithful fulfillment of said contract, said A.B. Searles not only binds himself but in case of his death, his heirs and executors and administrators to pay this as a preferred claim before all others.
Said Mercy McNitt in consideration of the above agreed to relinquish all claims and demands that she may have upon said A.B. Searles for the aforesaid sum. advanced to him. It is mutually agreed by the contracting parties that of said Mercy McNitt shall of her own free will, do any labor or work for said Searles; that she nor her heirs shall have any legal claim for any pay for the same and that all furniture and clothing that said Mercy shall have she shall dispose of as she shall prefer, to whom she may chose to give the same.
In testimony whereof the aforesaid Mercy McNitt and Asahel B. Searles have hereunto set their hands and seals, and have exchanged duplicate copies of the same this 28th day of July A.D. 1851.

Executed in presence of                   her           
                              Mercy X McNitt
Henry Hodgden                        mark
     
Henry Styer                        A. B. Searles

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More About M
ERCY UNKNOWN SEARLES:
Burial: Jul 1856, Sunbury, Ohio Cemetery

Notes for P
ETER (SARLES) SEARLES:
     

More About P
ETER (SARLES) SEARLES:
Burial: Dec 1819

Notes for A
DAM ( MCKNIGHT) MCNITT:
                                                      Adam was a private in the Revolutionary War. He enlisted January 31, 1781 in Shelburne, Mass., and served in Colonel Benjamin Tupper's 10th Mass. Regiment for a term of twenty three months, three days and was pensioned May 21, 1818 in Chautauqua County New York. (Chautauqua is situated on Lake Erie, in the south west corner of the state.) He is noted in his enlistment as being 5 ft. 7 in. light complexion and light color hair. He married Margaret Clark of Ashfield, then only fourteen. They remained in Massachusetts until 1812, when they moved to Stockton in Chautauqua County, New York. Some of their children followed them there. (Adam is listed as making one of the earliest purchases of land in Stockton. In 1816 Calvin Hitchcock, Edward Ellis, and Adam McNitt are listed as purchasing land in Township 4, Range 12). Margaret died there at the age of fifty, the mother and grandmother of nearly eighty persons. Three years later, Adam married his second wife, a widow, Mercy Searles of Ellery, New York. They moved to Granville, Licking County, Ohio by 1830; by 1834, according to land deed records, to Bennington Township in Licking County, and then to Genoa Township, Delaware County by 1838 with several of their children. Some of them moved on to Cumberland and Cole counties in Illinois, and beyond. David and James remained in New York. Adam and Mercy are buried in Sunbury, Ohio. His tombstone reads, "Adam McNitt, Patriot of the Revolution". His wife's tombstone reads Mercy McNett, wife of Adam. The 1840 census lists him as McKnight, living in Genoa Twp. His Revolutionary War Pension application names him as McKnight and McNitt in later pension record. So, the spelling of the name changed from McKnight to McNitt to McNett during their lifetime. Peter V. Searles and his wife Jane are buried near Adam and Mercy in the Sunbury Cemetery.       ______________________________________________________________________

REVOLUTIONARY WAR PENSION

Adam's application for his Revolutionary War pension benefits filed June 30, 1820 says that he was almost destitute and listed his real & personal property.....He says ".......my son who lives with me & myself have partly cleared about 20 acres.....we have built a log house .... in which we reside, also a small log barn. I am infirm and unable to labor.....My son Ezra who is about 18 years old lives with me, and is the whole support of the family........My daughter Molly is 12 years old and attends to the domestic affairs of the house......her mother being dead...........We are poor and were it not for the exertions and industry of my son Ezra we could not get a subsistence. We subsist principally on bread and the milk we get from two cows that feed on the herbage that grows in the surrounding woods".
He further said "...we sleep on straw beds.....and we have no chairs nor tables we sit and eat on stools made with planks which we have split out of logs ourselves."
He listed personal property including 1 yoke of oxen, 2 yearling heifers, 1 calf.......also 5 small hogs which run in the woods, 10 fowls.......also listed meager personal tools, cooking items, etc. Ezra 18, Prudence 14, Molly 12, Harriet 8, Alvina 7 lived with Adam, now a widower in that small log house. Adam married Mercy Searles a year later, in November 1821. She, a widow with young children as well. Combining their meager resources, they remained in New York for another nine years before moving to Ohio. By the time they were in Ohio, they had somehow overcome their poverty and were able to make significant land purchases. Adam bought land in Licking County , Ohio as early as 1830.
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WESTERN NEW YORK LAND TRANSACTIONS 1825-1835 (from Ancestry.com):

Oct.18, 1813... Lot 13 Section 4 Township 1 Range 2 Ref. 494 page 63
Oct. 8, 1816... Lot 13 Section 4 Township 1 Range 2 Ref. 506 page 184
Nov. 1, 1828....Lot 12 Section 4 Township 1 Range 2 Ref. 506 Page 166
June 2, 1828.... Lot 12 " 4 " 1 " 2 " 506 " 152
Feb. 23, 1829...Lot 12 "      4 " 1 " 2 " 507 "      143
Mar. 21, 1829..Lot 12 " 4 " 1 " 2 " 507 " 128
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LICKING COUNTY
REAL ESTATE RECORDS

Licking County Deed Book N, page 370....June 24,1830 Aurelius and Catherine Thrall sold 96 and three fourths acres to Adam McNitt and James Mallory (his son-in-law, husband of Olive Searles) formerly of New York, Lot number five in the first division in the fifth range of lots in Range 13, Township 2, Section 2 (96 acres in Granville Township) for the sum of $1000.

Deed Book P, page 511........October, 1831 James B. Mallory sold to Adam McNitt of Licking County for $500., one equal undivided half of parcel lying in Range 13, Twp.2, Sec. 2, U.S.M. Lands being lot # 5 of lots surveyed by the Licking Land Company. Estimated to contain 96 and three fourth acres.

Deed Book Q, page 348........November 30, 1832 Jacob Cook sold to Adam McNitt _____ acres for $1000 in Range 14, Twp. 4, Sec. 3 (Bennington Twp.)

Deed Book __, page__.........Thomas Fry sold to Adam McNitt 31 acres in Range 14, Twp. 4, Sec. 3

One of particular interest is the sale of a parcel of land "on the road between Granville and Hartford in consideration of the sum of one dollar, sold to the Trustees of the Christian Church of Bennington Township to build a meeting house for the worship of God". This is also mentioned in the History of Licking County. It says "....they were enabled to erect a frame church building; this church was dedicated August 16, 1835, Rev. I.N. Walters preaching the dedicatory sermon."
This transaction is recorded in Licking County Deed Book W, pgs 528-8................... November 10, 1835, a part of lot no. 2, sec. 3, township 4, range 14. Abram C. Been, Jesse Vanfossen, & Elijah Lake were listed as Trustees of the Church.

Deed Book W, pages 688-9.........December 3, 1835, Adam McNitt sold 12 acres being part of lot 2, sec. 3, twp. 4, range 14 for $142.

Deed Book CC, pages 422-23, May 9, 1836, Benjamin G. Carroll and Hannah his wife sold Adam McNitt of Licking County, for $331., land in Licking Co. lying in the south half of lot 25, in section 4 of the 4th township, 14th range U.S.M. containing 75 and one half acres.

Deed Book CC, pages 423-424............July 6, 1836, Adam McNitt and Mercy his wife sold the above to Lewis Searls for $302. This same lot was afterwards sold by Lewis Searles, October 11, 1837, to Martin Light of Licking County for $900. This is recorded in Deed Book CC, page 425. Witnessed by P. Searles & Abram McNitt

Deed Book CC, pages 363-4..........October 9, 1837 Adam McNitt sold to Jeremiah Shumway for $2000. Lot no. 2. Sec. 3, Twp.4, Range 14. Witnessed by Lewis Searles & B.G. Carroll.

There are other transactions, mostly in Bennington Township, involving James and Olive Searles Mallory; Abraham and Louisa McNitt; Peter Searles, Asahel Searles; and Lewis and Lucy Searles all giving proof of the family in Licking County prior to moving to Delaware County sometime before 1839.

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DELAWARE COUNTY
REAL ESTATE RECORDS
                                                      Delaware County Deed Book Vol. 19, page 70.......May 15, 1839 Adam bought 190 acres extending from the Genoa/Harlem Twp. line west to Big Walnut Creek from David C. Carpenter and Sarah Carpenter, Alvah Smith and Katherine Smith for $2000.
being the north part of section four, township three, range seventeen and designated on the plat made by James Eaton as the east part of lot one. Witnessed by Peter V. Searles & H. Scovell.
Ira W. and Phebe (Sebring) Searles were living in adjacent property in the 1840 census.

Deed Book Vol. 27, page 664...............This property was sold to John Roberts in June 1842. William Sebring had property just north of this location, and Josiah Sebring had property just south. Witnessed by Alexander Smith & Asahel Searles.

Deed Book Vol. 26 page 476.....September 4, 1841 Adam McNitt sold 43 acres in Genoa Twp. to John Vantassel for $430. Witnessed by Lewis Searles & Evy Adams

Deed Book Vol. 26, page 631.........October 8, 1845 Adam bought 95 acres in the Sunbury area from Stephen Bennet for $2200. "part of lot no. eight in the east tier of lots in section one, in township four, and range seventeen." That is apparently where he resided until his death in 1848. Deed witnessed by Caleb Roberts & Lenora S. Brown.

Delaware County Deed Book, Vol.28, page 643.........May 16, 1846 Adam sold a small portion of this property to Phebe Stanton for five dollars, being one quarter of an acre of land along the road from Sunbury to Berkshire. Witnessed by Caleb & Eliza Roberts.

Deed Book Vol. 32, page 638...This land was bought by Asahel B. Searles in June 1849, from Adam's estate for $1500 exception of one quarter of an acre situated in the south east corner between the road leading from Sunbury to Berkshire and the south line of said lot which reserved piece was deeded away by McNitt in his lifetime."
And sold by Searles in April 1853. (Deed Book Vol. 35, pages 149-50)
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CENSUS RECORDS

1790 census.....In Buckland, Hampshire County, Massachusetts. In his household were 1 free white male over age 16, 2 under age 16, 2 free white females. This would have been Adam, Margaret, James, and David.

1800 census.....same location with one male under ten, two 10-15, one 27-45, one female under 10, one 10-15, and one 27-45.

1810 census....same location. one male under ten, two 10-16, two 16-25, and one over 45, four females under ten, one 10-16, two 16-25, & one 26-45. Listed next is James McNitt with one male 16-25, two females under ten, & one 16-25.

1820 census.....In Chautauqua, Chautauqua County, New York....two males 16-26, one 26-45, one over 45, two females under 10, & two 10-16.

In Chautauqua, Chautauqua, New York is widow Mercy Sarles...two males under ten, one 16-26, one female under ten, one 10-16, one 16-26, & one over 45.
Also in Chautauqua County were the families of David McNitt, Reuben Bates, Calvin Hitchcock, Edward Ellis.

1830 census....I believe Mercy & Adam were in the home of James & Olive Searles Mallary in Granville, Licking County, Ohio. In that household were two males 15-20, one 30-40, one 60-70 (Adam), one female 5-10, one 20-30, & one 50-60 (Mercy).

1840 census....In Genoa Twp. Delaware County, one male 20-30 (Ezra), one male 70-80, and one female 60-70.
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More About A
DAM ( MCKNIGHT) MCNITT:
Burial: Jun 1848, Sunbury, Ohio Cemetery
     
Children of M
ERCY SEARLES and PETER SEARLES are:
2. i.   JOHN (SEARLES)2 SERLES, b. 1793, New York; d. 1868, Oregon Twp, Dane Co.,Wisc..
  ii.   IRA SEARLES, b. Abt. 1794, Bedford, Westchester Co., N.Y.; d. Unknown.
  Notes for IRA SEARLES:
Probably the father of Ira Washington Searles and grandfather of Rosella Searles who married Edgar McNett.

  iii.   HANNAH SEARLES, b. 20 Apr 1794, New York; d. 21 Jan 1851, Ellery, New York; m. IRA HASKINS; b. 19 Apr 1792, Sheldon, Franklin Co., Vermont; d. 20 Jul 1873, Ellery, New York.
3. iv.   MILAN SEARLES, b. 1797, New York; d. 1880, Knox County, Illinois.
4. v.   LEWIS T. SEARLES, b. 22 Feb 1800, Bedford, Westchester Co., N.Y.; d. 06 Mar 1869, Delaware County, Ohio.
5. vi.   OLIVE SEARLES, b. Abt. 1802, New York; d. 25 Nov 1884, Bennington, Licking County, Ohio.
6. vii.   LUCINDA ELVIRA SEARLES, b. Abt. 1805, New York; d. Unknown.
7. viii.   NAOMI SEARLES, b. Abt. 1805, New York; d. 22 Apr 1845, Ashtabula Co., Ohio.
8. ix.   MARY SEARLES, b. Abt. 1806, New York; d. Unknown.
9. x.   PETER V. SEARLES, b. 11 Sep 1810, Saratoga County, New York; d. 23 Mar 1880, Trenton Twp., Delaware County, Ohio.
10. xi.   ASAHEL B. SEARLES, b. 02 Nov 1815, New York; d. 19 Jan 1897, Delaware County, Ohio.


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