Making the Case for Peter Horr's Parents

---

Quickly after finding Jesse with his parents in a census, we also found Jesse's grandparents as the families all spent the majority of the 1800's in the same area in Illinois. We spent many years blindly searching for the paternal grandparents ancestry with no real progress. Like with Jesse, Roz Edson has had the best intuition and ideas of whom to search for. But, in general, we have still been at a roadblock of finding real documents to refine our ideas for a long time.

---

Early effort

Early, general background information used to start the search is captured on the Hoar Surname page. It represents casting out a wide net into the open sea with the hope of sifting through and finding something of possible interest. From there, possible clues specific to Peter are brought into refinement and clarity on this page.

What we know about Peter going in is from records since his marriage and family.

• Born before 1 March 1819 but after 11 Oct 1818 (State Population Census 1875; US Pop Census 1850, 1860). US Population Census of 1870 has him 2 years older on 13 July 1870 (born 1817).
• Peter born in Ohio (US Pop Census 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, State Pop Census 1875, 1865)
• Father was born in Massachusetts and mother in Connecticut (Population census 1880).
• Married Elizabeth McKee on 2 Feb 1842 in McLean County, IL (note: McLean was carved out of Tazewell and Champaign counties in December, 1830)
• Surname written as Harr in some documents (Illinois Pop Census 1865, Population Census 1850) and even Hor (Marriage Record 1842).
• 1850 Farm census in Vermilion County that lists him with 180 acre farm, horses, cows, cattle, pigs, and 120 acres farmed; in addition to the 1850 population census from Tazewell with Family.
• Peter is appointed a postmaster of Little Valley, McPherson, Kansas in 1874. Appears in 1875 McPherson County Kansas State census with family.
• Family lore from grandson Jesse and other of his cousins state some in the family were Stage Coach and Pony Express riders in the mid-late-1800's.
• Elizabeth dies in Aug 1879 after they had relocated to Kansas sometime ~1872 (1880 Fed Census Mortality Sched)
• June 1880 pop census is with new wife Sarah, sons Owen (25) and Jasper (20).
• June 1880 farm schedule shows Peter and Owen with 50 and 40 acres; respectively
• Peter dies at age 75 in Butler, Bates, Missouri while visiting his youngest son Jasper on 19 Apr 1894 and is buried there (cemetery report). Consistent with earlier birth date prediction.

---

Y-DNA (surname line) Testing

The first big break came after performing a Y-DNA test and almost immediately getting a strong match with Gordon Hoard. Gordon has done extensive work and linked himself into the Hezekiah Hoar (puritan) line from Taunton, MA. The same one Norton Horr had published about in his treatise of 1907. This greatly helped refine the search into possible family lines that seemed well researched as well as possible different surnames as maybe Peter, like Jesse, changed the name.

---

Roz's refinement

At this point we still only had basic information from Population Census declarations by Peter and later his children. That he was born in Ohio around 1819. That his father was likely born in Massachusetts and mother likely in Connecticut. And that he married in McLean County, Illinois in 1842. Based on this alone, Roz and I researched her database and felt there was one of two brothers that could likely be Peter's father. Jacob or Robert Horr, both sons of Robert Hoar (2nd) and Sarah Reed. Roz thinking Jacob and I maybe Robert. But both as probable. Below is our analysis from Summer 2011. (Updated Fall 2013.)

Jacob Horr and Hannah Pierce

• Peter could be a yet undocumented youngest child
• Most kids were born in New York though (none Ohio); two oldest in Massachusetts
• One of their sons (Josiah) was bouncing between Champaign County, Ohio and McLean County, Illinois while Peter would have been a pre-teen
• The mother (Hannah) died in McLean County Illinois while visiting from Ohio (Cheney's)
• Josiah's siblings moved to Ohio around 1820+ with Jacob remarrying there in 1843. But his son Josiah's story indicates Josiah did not move to Ohio until 1828 and then on his own; then going on to Illinois in 1836. (ref: Good Old Times in McLean County)
• Josiah's story from 1875 says Jacob had eleven children (only 9 are shown in Roz's database) of whom ten lived to be grown. So Peter could be this missing tenth surviving kid. (But also says only 3 surviving in 1875; all boys, and lists their names. Peter is not one of them.) (ref: Good Old Times in McLean County)
• Some of Josiah's kids are in Kansas; where Peter was in 1876.)
• Merged children list (done as table to indicate sources; Rootsweb for many):

Child	Norton	Roz	Joyce	Birth Date	Birth Place
Obed	X	X	X	1795	New Salem, MA
Pierce	X	X	X	1798	New Salem, MA
Sarah	X	X	X	1800	NY
Elijah	X	X	X	1804	Carthage, NY
Josiah	X	X	X	1807	Denmark, NY
Walter	X	X	X	1810	NY
William	X	X	X	1812	Denmark, NY
Ashley	X	X	X	1815	NY
Calvin	X	X	X	1818	Denmark, NY

Robert Horr and Lavina Hamm

• Most kids born in Ohio (they moved there around 1808 it appears)
• Like with Jacob, Peter could be youngest, not yet documented, child
• Robert died in Vermilion County, Illinois in 1834; two years before Jacob would come there. At that time, Vermilion included what is now Champagne and even McLean county
• Kids moved out to Missouri and then Kansas; similar to Peter and his family later
• Father Robert owned land in Vermilion before dying there. Peter is shown in 1850 Agricultural census as owning farmland in Vermilion even though he lived in Tazewell County mid-state at the time.
• Online land records are spotty for the time period but show ...
• Merged list of children:

Child	Norton	Roz	Joyce	Birth Date	Birth Place
Isaac		X	X	1806	Denmark, NY
Lavina		X	X	1808	Denmark, NY
James J		X	X	22 Jun 1808 13 Jun 1812	OH
Matilda		X	X	18 Apr 1810	OH
Warren		X	X	1811	OH
Nancy A		X	X	20 Jan 1815	OH
Mercy Mary		X	X	1816	OH
Orwell		X	X	18 Feb 1816	Denmark, NY?

Peter Horr and Matilda Graves

(earlier consideration added back in to list in Fall 2013)

• Oldest son is Peter born in 1817
• In Lewis County, NY same time as Robert and Jacob above
• Not much known of their kids except many died around 1826-28 (TB?)
• Was Peter sent to distant cousins in Ohio as a result?
• BUT Records indicate all/most kids born in Lewis, NY through 1830's
• Matilda listed as born NY but both parents born Connecticut
• BUT most kids changed the name to Hoard
• Merged list of children:

Child	Norton	Roz	Joyce	Birth Date	Birth Place	Death Date
Peter		X	X	26 Oct 1817	Denmark, NY
Obed		X	X	18 Nov 1819	Denmark, NY	21 Jul 1826
Laura		X	X	6 Jun 1821	Denmark, NY
Ann		X	X	1 Apr 1823	Denmark, NY
Ruth		X	X	2 Apr 1825	Denmark, NY	26 Jun 1826
Elizabeth Betsey		X	X	10 Aug 1827	Denmark, NY	12 Sep 1828
Luther Obed		X	X	21 Dec 1835	Denmark, NY	12 Sep 1838
Elkanah Dewey		X	X	12 Oct 1828	Denmark, NY	5 May 1848

Isaac Horr and Nancy Smith

(added by Randy in Summer 2014 mostly because they are in Franklin, Ohio at the time Robert and Lavina are purported to be. Maybe confusion as to which brother is there? Most research on Robert 2nd, kids and grandkids done by Joyce Selix. Have to reconfirm / find sources and info.)

• Kids born in Franklin Ohio starting around 1815
• Kids born in and around time of Peter
• Some kids later in Illinois and Iowa
• But Nancy from Massachusetts and not Connecticut
• Merged list of children
• Merged list of children from Rootsweb:

Child	Norton	Roz	Joyce	Birth Date	Birth Place
Isaac Smith		X	X	19 Mar 1808	Carthage, NY
Nancy Smith		X	X	19 Nov 1809	Carthage, NY
Orilla Judith		X	X	10 Dec 1812	Denmark, NY
Leonard Captain		X	X	26 Jul 1815	Worthington, OH
Asa		X	X	2 Sep 1817	Worthington, OH
Cynthia		X	X	21 Nov 1819	Worthington, OH
William Shakespeare		X	X	22 Nov 1821	Worthington, OH
Stoughton Mcclure		X	X	1823	Worthington, OH
Charles Mills		X	X	Dec 1825	Springfield, OH
Emily Louisa		X	X	25 Dec 1827	Carthage, NY?

Much of Roz's Rootsweb database on these families is just a copy of Joyce Selix's work.

---

Norton Horr's Book

Norton Horr's book on Hezekiah Hoar and his descendants lists the family on page 14 (19. Robert Hoar and Sarah Reed) but does not really give any detail on son Robert's family. He does have more on son Jacob. Most others still continued with Norton's data that Robert died in 1829 in New York.Unfortunately most of Norton's book is not sourced or sources are hinted at such as "witness on land deed document".

Norton states most of his children use the name Hor. In fact, the land and marriage records are where we see this tendency. So often it is better to search for Hor than Hoar or Horr when looking for documents.

---

Refining Norton Horr's work

Norton's work should be a starting point or initial hint and framework. Documents to support or refute the information need to be found.

Robert and Lavina

The next big break comes from finding a few online genealogical database, much like Roz's, by a Donna Jaster and Joyce Selix, that list Robert Hoar dying in Illinois in 1834. In their database, they break from Norton Horr's book that Robert Hoar died in New York in 1828 and instead, at that time, moved with his family and father Robert to the new Illinois territory. Specifically the Vermilion County area just across the boarder from Indiana.

There is much about this that just makes sense. So if this break from tradition can be proved with documentary evidence, then more than likely Peter is the last son of Robert that has never been documented yet. Key are two documents found, the History of Vermilion County being found by Roz.

• History of Vermilion County has 4 pages on Alvon Gilbert and wives Matilda and Nancy Horr. Gives description of how father Robert Horr was in Ohio and then moved to Illinois in 1828. He bought a large plot of land after selling his Ohio plot off to the State of Ohio to build the Ohio Penitentiary (what is now Columbus, Ohio). (pages 670-674)
• In 1850, Peter appears in two census. The Population Census in Tazewell County with wife Elizabeth and three young kids. And Production of Agriculture Non-Population Census in Vermilion County with 180 acres of a farm with horses, milk cows, cattle, pigs and many acres of produce.

Could Peter be the listed owner of his father Robert's old farm and managing it from afar? Makes more sense than if the nephew. But why would the youngest son have the property? Or was it so large as it was divided up among them all?

Additional items found also are:

• An 1833 land record shows Robert Hor selling off some/all? land to Warren Hor. Warren is a son of the Robert and Lavina we are looking at.
• Ms. Jasters work lists Robert and Lavina dying in Vermilion in 1834 and being buried in White Hope Cemetery there. No record of this is found.
• The commonly accepted 1820 Population Census for Robert Horr is from Goshen, Champaign, Ohio. But this is the location of his brother Jacob's kids later and not him and Columbus. A Jan 21, 1821 newspaper ad on page 3 of the Ohio Monitor Newspaper in Columbus, Ohio from the Postmaster lists Robert Horr as having a letter awaiting pick-up.

Jacob and Hannah

As for Jacob, Norton had much more detail about his family and his children's families and such. Page 18-19 lists Jacobs family with first Hannah Pierce and then Ruth Culver. More information about Josiah and some of his siblings can be found in a History of McLean County (pages 750-751) describing Josiah there.

There is extensive detailing of Jacobs kids in Norton's book on pages 28-30 and then further back in pages 39-43 and then even later generations further on. Key is the siblings tended to center around Urbana in Champaign County, Ohio mostly with only son Josiah seeming to make the trip to Illinois and some even staying back in New York. We leave it to the reader to go through all these pages of Norton's book or others online databases as the Jacob branch is well covered. Thus maybe pointing to the fact that a "later, unlisted" son by the name Peter could not exist because much is known about this branch scarcely 100 years later.

To understand some of this further, one must understand the dynamic nature of county lines at the time. The Illinois territory was being carved up and quickly populated from 1810 onwards with counties being formed every few months. See the Illinois County Boundary Changes and how Vermilion was carved out in 1826. And then Champaign from Vermilion in 1833. It is said Champaign County, Illinois was named after Champaign County, Ohio and the county seat of Urbana after Urbana, Ohio. Josiah, one of Jacob's sons, is seen bouncing back and forth from this area in Illinois and Ohio.

Opening up Robert 3rd and Lavina Hamm's family

One of the strikes against it being Robert and Lavina as the parents of Peter is that other researchers had accounted for all the children in the earlier census (that did not include names; just ages and biological sex of house members). A break through occured both with DNA testing and records work by co-admin Tim Peterman. Tim had found a letter ten years earlier between Norton Horr and another that indicated the James Horr attributed to Robert and Lavina was in fact a son of Isaac Horr in the Charles Hoare line. yDNA testing on two descendants of this James confirms they are part of the Charles Hoare line. Thus opening a spot in the family and its early census records. And the spot opened is correct for a Peter if born before the 1820 census.

Autosomal DNA Study

So Randy proceeded to do a fringe (extreme) Autosomal DNA study looking for matches to one of the three families; concentrating on the Robert and Lavina one. But this is extreme matching. Not only are the chances of a DNA match small (even if really a relative based on a common ancestor in Robert and Lavina), but the likelihood of any DNA surviving in tact with a large enough segment is small. Luckily, enough descendants from Robert 3rd and Lavina, and even Robert 2nd and Sarah (parents of Robert 3rd) existed with matching DNA to either Randy's father or Judy Wuodcock that Randy found and had tested. Judy is a 2nd cousin of Randy's grandfather and thus more likely to match and match stronger. The conclusion of the study showed that Robert 3rd and Lavina are the likely parents for Peter.

Finally, a genealogical record

One of those distant matches happened to find a new record added to Newspapers.com recently (in 2018). Robert and Lavina's son Owen C Horr (known as O.C.) was prominent in the Kansas area. His line was well documented with many researchers descended from him. In a 30 March 1880 issue on page 2 of the Marshall County News (Marysville, Kansas) was the small "society news" blurb about O.C. Horr. That his brother Peter was visiting. There is no other mention of a Peter as the son of Robert and Lavina anywhere else. This, along with his farm holdings in Danville, Illinois in the 1850 Farm census, pretty much concludes that Peter must be the youngest son not yet found of Robert 3rd and Lavina Hamm.