This is part of an ongoing project to bring order to family history information I've collected over the years --- and I've followed genealogical pursuits off and on since high school. So there's a lot of stuff.
The Dent family has been a challenge to track down. My great-grandfather was only 4 and a sole surviving child when his father, George Asa Dent, died in Ohio during 1860; and soon thereafter was brought by his mother and her second husband, Joseph Turner Chynoweth, to Lucas County, Iowa.
Great-grandfather spent his most productive years in far northwest Iowa, near Rock Rapids, then moved to Wyoming, where his days ended on the western slope of the Big Horns in Wyoming. So there were very few family stories to begin with.
I was very lucky back in those primitive years when genealogical research involved a great deal of correspondence. I ran into Kristina Kuhn Krumm, who had in her possession a handwritten journal maintained by Nathan J. Kinney, who had married Great-grandfather's sister, Sarah. He had recorded information about her family that was (and still is) unavailable elsewhere.
Then another kind soul, Barbara S. McFarland, shared a copy of an unpublished manuscript in her possession, given to her by a friend, that contained a wealth of other information.
The increasing number of genealogical resources now online has since made it possible to fill in other gaps --- but of course there still are mysteries. The tombstone photo here, marking the grave of Mary Ann, is taken from Find a Grave, another useful tool. And here's what I've come up with so far:
MARY ANN (DENT) CALVERT
Born 11 April 1821, Belmont County, Ohio
Married Fletcher John Calvert ca. 1840, Monroe County, Ohio
Died March 27, 1846, Monroe County, Ohio
Buried Beallsville Methodist Cemetery, Monroe County, Ohio
Nathan Kinney, recording information about his wife, Sarah's, siblings, had the following to say about John and Margaret (Snyder) Dent's eldest child, Mary Ann: "The names of the children of John Dent Jr. were as follows of Margaret Snider's person: 1st Mary Ann, born April 11, 1821; married Fletcher Calvert 1840; Died Mar. 1846. The names of her children were Margaret Jane, Joseph, Mary Ann."
Mary Ann's parents had married in Richland Township, Belmont County, Ohio, during November of 1820. It is likely that Mary Ann was born in Richland Township, or Mead Township, Belmont County, where her family was living in 1830, forming a household that included John Dent (age about 33), age 30-40; female (Margaret, age about 28), 20-30; female (Mary Ann, age about 9), 5-10; female (Verlinda, age about 7), 5-10; female (Julia Ann, age about 4), -5; and female (Sarah, age about 1), -5.
By 1840, the John Dent family and most of his Dent kin had moved to Adams Township, Monroe County, Ohio, just to the south of Belmont County; and this probably was where Mary Ann married Fletcher John Calvert during 1840. Unfortunately, Monroe County marriage records were destroyed during an 1860s courthouse fire, so it is impossible to confirm this bit of speculation.
Fletcher John was a son of Jacob and Mary "Polly" (Shepherd) Calvert and a grandson of Nathan Shepherd the elder, farmer, Methodist preacher and land speculator, who had lived in Belmont County but died during 1849 in Marshall County, (West) Virginia, just across the Ohio River. Fletcher John's sister, Sarah, had married Mary Ann's cousin, George Eli Dent, in Belmont County during 1829.
If Kinney recorded the Calvert children in order of their birth, Margaret Jane would have been born about 1841 in Monroe County, since 1850 census records indicate that her brother, Joseph, was born about 1843; and sister, Mary Ann, about 1845. Margaret apparently did not live long, however, since she does not appear in her father's household during 1850.
Joseph's age was given as 7 when the 1850 census was taken, suggesting the 1843 birth year; and Mary's age was given as 5, suggesting a birth year of approximately 1845. In seems likely both were born in Monroe County, Ohio.
MARY ANN (DENT) CALVERT died in Monroe County on March 26, 1846, just days short of her 25th birthday. Her tombstone in the Beallsville Old Methodist Cemetery, Beallsville, Monroe County, identifies her both as the wife of Fletcher Calvert and the daughter of John and Margaret Dent. We have no idea of the cause.
Fletcher John's father, Jacob, was handicapped by the late 1840s, described by his father-in-law as a "cripple" in his will dated 25 September 1847 (Marshall County, West Viginia, Will Book I, Page 122, transcription taken from the Marshall County U.S. GenWeb site). It is possible that Fletcher John and Mary Ann lived with his parents during their married life, farming to support both families. If so, this would have simplified Fletcher's life after Mary Ann's death.
Nathan Shepherd the elder made special provisions for the Calvert family when he prepared his will, probably because of the disability of his son-in-law.
That will's second provision reads as follows: "Secondly, I give and bequeath to my daughter, Polly Calvert, the interest of $500 to be paid to her by my executors at such times each year as she may require the same for the support of herself and husband, Jacob, who is a cripple, and at the death of my daughter Polly I direct my executors to pay said sum of $500 to her son Fletcher Calvert to whom I bequeath the same to be used by him in the support of his father."
"Thirdly," the will continues, "I give and bequeath to my said grandson Fletcher Calvert the sum of two hundred dollars." Nathan also remembered Fletcher's sister, Sarah, allocating $100 "to my granddaughter Sarah Dent of Monroe County, Ohio." Sarah may have been singled out for a bequest because George Eli Dent's 1847 death left her a young widow with several children to support.
On the 13th of July 1849, just four months before his death, Nathan added a codicil to his will, possibly reflecting changes in his family's circumstances. Son-in-law Jacob Calvert was to receive "$100 which is to be deducted from the sum of $500 directed to be appropriated by his wife for their support." And granddaughter Sarah Dent was to receive "the sum of $100 in addition to the legacy before paid."
IT'S NOT CLEAR WHEN the Calvert family moved from Ohio to Marshall County, (West) Virginia. The widowed Fletcher John Calvert married Eliza J. Gosney in Marshall County on 1 January 1850 (Marshall County Marriage Book 1, Page 56).
And on the 26th of August 1850, the extended Calvert family was enumerated as follows in the 33rd District of Marshall County:
1850 Census, 33rd District, Marshall County, (West) Virginia, Page 284B
Nos. 621/623, Enumerated 26 August
Fletcher Calvert, 35, M, Farmer, born Ohio
Eliza J. Calvert, 23, F, born Virginia
Joseph Calvert, 7, M, born Ohio
Mary Calvert, 5, F, born Ohio
Jacob Calvert, 70, M, born Pennsylvania
Mary Calvert, 65, F, born North Carolina
Fletcher and Eliza J. Calvert became the parents of seven children, two of who died young, between 1850 and 1870 . The survivors were John, born about 1851; Isabelle, born about 1854; Martha E., born about 1859; Jacob, born about 1862; and Ira, born about 1868. Census records state that John was born in Virginia; the remainder of the children, in Ohio.
By 1860, the Fletcher Calvert family was living in Marion Township, Morgan County, Ohio; and it seems likely that they had lived there for a number of years. Both Joseph and Mary Ann were enumerated as residents of the household of their father and stepmother.
Five years later, however, Mary Ann died at the age of 20, c.a. 1865, according to a brief biographical sketch of her father which appears as follows on Page 439 of Charles Robertson's 1886 History of Morgan County, Ohio (Chicago: L.H. Watkins & Co.):
"John Fletcher Calvert, deceased, was a prominent and worthy citizen. He was a well-known farmer. For his first wife he married Mary Dent. Their children were Mary Ann, who died at the age of twenty, and Joseph, living. He (Joseph) was married in 1870 to Maggie Walker, and they have four children living. In 1849 John Fletcher Calvert married Eliza J. Gosney, who is still living. Their children are John, Isabel, Martha Ellen, Jacob and Ira, living; Sarah J. and Tabitha, deceased. The sons are prominent young farmers."
Fletcher John reportedly had died a year before the Morgan County history was published --- on 8 July 1885, but I have found no source to confirm that nor does he seem to have a marked grave in Morgan County.
JOSEPH CALVERT, sole surviving child of Fletcher John and Mary Ann, was born in Monroe County, Ohio, during April of 1844, according to information provided to the 1900 census enumerator of Wirt County, West Virginia, where much of his adult life was spent.
As noted earlier, he was living with his father, stepmother and siblings in Marshall County, (West) Virginia, during 1850, and in Morgan County, Ohio, during 1860 and 1870, working as a farm hand and farmer.
On March 16, 1871, in Morgan County, he married Margaret Jane Walker and they moved soon after across the Ohio River into Wirt County, West Virginia, where the remainder of their lives were spent. It would appear from census records and the tombstones they left behind that the family prospered there.
There were five children, four still living when the 1900 census was taken. They were Mary Jane, 1873-1901, married Franklin Earl Nuzum; Della, born 6 December 1875, died 1900, married Charles E. Mason; Wesley F., 1880-1915; and Joseph Milton, 1881-1900.
A CAUTIONARY NOTE: There were two Joseph Calverts --- first-cousins --- in Morgan County, Ohio, during their formative years in the 1850s and 1860s. Researchers who have not attended to detail have confused the two with some frequency. Both married Margarets, something that has confused researchers further. Ours was Joseph S. Calvert, who married Maggie Walker and removed to Wirt County, West Virginia. The other was Joseph C. Calvert, some three years his senior, son of William Shepherd Calvert and his second wife, Amanda Hopkins. William Shepherd Calvert was John Fletcher Calvert's elder brother and Joseph S. Calvert's uncle.
This alternate Joseph Calvert served in an Ohio unit during the Civil War and then on March 20, 1865, married Margaret Gomez in Morgan County. Very soon thereafter, the couple removed to Andrew County, Missouri, just north of St. Joseph, where the William S. Calvert family also resettled. This couple, Joseph and Margaret, too, produced a large family. He died during 1927 in St. Joseph and is buried in Andrew County.
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