John Lovell (1788-1845)

John Lovell was born in Monongalia County, Virginia (now West Virginia) about 1778. He was the son of another John Lovell who, during the revolutionary war was part of the contingent of men who camped at Valley Forge with General George Washington in the spring of 1778, and who is called sick at Brunswick in July of that year, and was discharged in October for wounds received.

John Lovell, our subject, along with his younger brother George Lovell moved from Virginia to Campbell County, Kentucky sometime between 1800 and 1804, and then across the state line to Ohio Township in Clermont County, Ohio in 1805. On February 13, 1806, he returned to Monongalia county, Virginia to marry Catherine John, a native of that county. George Lovell married Elizabeth Hennis in Campbell County, Kentucky on March 3, 1806. About 1807, John and Catherine Lovell's eldest son, and my ancestor, David Lovell was born. They had three more children we can be certain of, Susan Lovell who was born about 1808, Lemuel J. Lovell who was born on December 14, 1821, and William D. Lovell who was born in 1825. Due to the large gap in birth years, we can be certain that there were more children. George Lovell moved to other parts of Kentucky and disappears after 1830.

John Lovell's family was still in Ohio township in 1820 when the federal census was taken, but by the 1830 census, they were living in Anderson, Hamilton County, Ohio. David had married Susan Sarver while still in Clermont County on December 11, 1826 and had a daughter, Elizabeth, my ancestor, on March 4, 1827. Susan Lovell married Jacob Sarver around 1827 as well. David Lovell and Jacob Sarver remained in Anderson through 1840, but John Lovell is found in Crawford County, Indiana on April 8, 1834 [1], when he married his second wife, Sarah (Prather) Chandley, the widow of a revolutionary war veteran, William Chandley [2]. In the 1840 census, John and Sarah were living in Perry County, Indiana. About 1842, David Lovell married his second wife, Nancy, presumably in Ohio, but he does not appear next until the 1850 census in Fulton County, Illinois.  On June 5, 1843, Lemuel J. Lovell married Catherine Murphy in Paris, Edgar County, Illinois, and on September 14, 1844, in Crawford County, Indiana, William D. Lovell married his step sister, Diana Chandley, the daughter of Sarah (Prather) Lovell.

So by 1845, Jacob and Susan (Lovell) Sarver were living in Anderson, Hamilton County, Ohio, not far from Cincinatti, Lemuel J. and Catherine (Murphy) Lovell were probably still living in Paris, Edgar County, Illinois, and William D. and Diana (Chandley) Lovell were living in Crawford County, Indiana along with their parents, John and Sarah (Prather) Lovell.

In the autumn of 1845, Jacob Sarver and his wife traveled to Indiana to visit her parents, returning at midnight on November 28, 1845. Their return journey was by steamboat along the Ohio river via Louisville, Kentucky and Cincinatti, Ohio. They brought home with them John Lovell, perhaps for a visit. On December 2, 1845, Jacob Sarver and Lemuel Lovell co-penned the following letter to William Lovell and his wife:

Dear Brother and Sister, I take my pen in ha[nd] to inform you of the Death of your Father he departed this life on sunday, 30th of November 1845 we got aboard of the boat on friday night at 12 [am?] after we left you and on friday evening Fathe[r] had Something similar to a fit but recovered in a few minutes and the[n] he observed that he was afraid that _____ it fits a working on him and he had no more of them until Saturday evening about 5 o'clock in louisvill he had another spell of the same kind also on Sunday morning he had another on the boat before we Landed at cincinnati we landed about 10 o'clock am I left Susan and Father at [Corwinders/Connors?] boarding house until I cam[e] home after the wagon and when I returned I found him as a corpse. He was taken as before and Died instantly and we brought him home that night all the way after night with nobody our two selves and we had a very Serious time and he was buried in the Methodist grave yard on five mile on Monday at four o'clock. the balance of us is as well as usual and we want you to be certain and come up in the spring if you don't before and we will have the business all straightened and if you want to move up write to me and you shall have what ground you want So nothing more at present but we remain your affectionate brothers and sisters until Death.

[Ja]cob Sarver and Susan Sarve[r]
[Le]muel J Lovel and Cather[ine] Lovell

The above letter was found in the Revolutionary War pension files for William Chandley [3].

On September 11, 1854, William Lovell signed an affidavit declaring that the letter was true and addressed to him.

State of Indiana
Crawford County SS

This day personally came before me Wm. H. Conrad a Justice of the Peace for said county William Lovell who being duly sworn according to law deposeth and says that John Lovell of who was the husband of Sarah Lovell late Sarah Chandley died in cincinnati ohio on or about the 30th day of november in the year 1845 as he has good reason to believe and that he the said William Lovill did Receve the letter when with sent from ohio and that the deceased was his farther and on the receipt of this letter all the conserns of the said John Lovell was settled and that he verily believes that the said John Lovell did die as stated in said letter having date December the 2nd 1845

William D. Lovell

If you go to the Cincinnati Panorama of 1848 website you can see a panoramic view of Cincinnati, taken from across the river 3 years after that fateful event.  In the images you can see what the city wharf must have looked like when they arrived by steamboat back home the day John Lovell died. You can zoom in on the images, and see various steamboats parked along the shores. I was not able to find the boarding house where John Lovell died in any of the images. Unfortunately, the name of the boarding house is not clearly written. I searched through the Morgan Index of Ohio People, Businesses and Institutions, 1796-1850, but was able to locate either of the names I've transcribed above. If anyone has another suggestion for the name of the boarding house, please leave a comment suggesting it.

David Lovell remained in Illinois through 1865.  The last known record for him is the 1870 census where he appears, aged 63, along with his wife and three children in Harrison, Nevada Township, Vernon County, Missouri. Elizabeth Lovell, David's daughter from his first wife, married Hugh Humphrey in Cincinnati, Ohio on May 30, 1843. Hugh and Elizabeth moved to Illinois not long after 1850. Their son David Henry Humphrey was born March 16, 1856 in Vermont, McDonough County, Illinois. Hugh Humphrey died in Prairie City, McDonough County, Illinois on February 26, 1890. Elizabeth died there 4 months later on June 26, 1890. David Humphrey married Phoebe Jane Compton on February 21, 1878 in Avon, Fulton County, Illinois. They moved to Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois not long before 1893, and their daughter Minnie Elizabeth Humphrey was born their on December 26, 1894.