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Author: cisrose
Surnames: Chane, Bowers, Flaugher
Classification: queries
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.chain/174.1/mb.ashx
Message Board Post:
Hello, The following info might relate to your James William Chain. It was contributed by
Shirley Glorius and published in the book "History and Families 1818-1993 Brown
County, Ohio"
James Chain, eldest of 11 children of John and Isabella Chain of Fayette County, PA. was
born in Kentucky ca 1791, where his parents appear to have lived 1788-1806. He died April
1854; his will was filed in Adams County, OH.
He served as a private during the War of 1812 as part of the regular Pennsylvania Militia
commanded by Colonel Rees Hill and was honorably discharged October 1813. For his
military service he received an 80 acre land warrant for land located in Danville, IL
which he sold to William Rickards April 29, 1852.
James lived in Fayette County, PA about four years after the War of 1812. According to
family legend, James plied the Ohio River on a flatboat ca 1818 when his eldest child
Robert was four years old. Census records indicate that three of his children , Jane,
John, and Sarah, were born in Kentucky. By 1830 the family was living in Union Township,
Brown County, Ohio.
James appears to have been married twice, his first wife unknown, whom he seems to have
married ca 1813. His second marriage, ca 1830, was to Margery Nicholson, born ca 1796
Pennsylvania, daughter of Andrew Nicholson of Westmoreland County, PA. James and Margery
had five known children: James Nicholson, Josepph, Carolyn, William H. and Margery A.
Chain.
Margery Nicholson Chain sister, Sara "Sally" Nicholson, born May 8, 1809 in
Pennsylvania, became the housekeeper for James Chain's son, John, with whom she lived
until her death of heart disease on April 25, 1882 in Huntington Township, Brown county,
Ohio. Sarah is buried in the older section of Sardinia Cemetery.
James Chain first appears on the tax rolls of Brown county in 1835 when he was taxed on
12 acres valued at $228 on Brushy Fork on Waters of Eagle Creek, Huntington Township.
Among James Chain's land transactions in Brown County was 60 acres of land which James
bought for $400 from Hiram and and Catherine Snider, of Highland County, March 10, 1847.
This land was sold to John McFadden June 6, 1854, by James Nicholson Chain, James's
son and admisistrator of his will, because James Chain, in his lifetime, had executed his
title bond to John McFadden, but died before making conveyance of the land.
James Chain's will was one of the few which survived the Adams County Court House
fire of 1910. In it he left a 25 acre farm in Brown County, which he had bought from
Nathan Willis, to sons James Nicholson Chain and Joseph Chain who were to maintain him his
natural life.
In addition to the above, a James W. Chain was mentioned in a petition charging my Chain
ancestor, Andrew Jackson Chain, and his brother Robert with wrongfully altering the
signature on a deed from John Chain to James W. Chain.
Shirley Chain Glorius also gave me this information. She has done a lot of research on
this family. She might have posted to this website, and if so you may be able to contact
her through ancestry.
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