Locke Family

This narrative has been passed down through the generations.  The first segment about John Lock (father of Capt. John Lock) is not verified in writing other than in this account that was read at the Locke family reunion and recorded in a Kokomo newspaper in 1924.  I have inserted more certain information or clarification in [brackets].  

Madeleine Holt, cousin to the Touby sisters, did extensive research on the Locke family history and found a few inconsistencies in this account.  She questioned the statement that John Lock was Aide de Camp to Washington and stated, "He could not have been an Aide because he was not a commissioned officer in the Revolutionary War."  I have added two documents regarding his military service within the narrative below.  One is his proof of service in the Revolutionary War, showing on a muster roll for Capt. Peter Mantz dated July 13, 1776.  The second shows proof of his rank of captain; his appointment was dated June 18, 1794.  If I am interpreting the record correctly, he resigned as captain on September 17, 1811 and Philip Smith was promoted from Lieutenant to Captain in his place.  He did not serve in the War of 1812.  The narrative also mentions "one or two of his sons and sons-in-law" served in the War of 1812, which could be correct.  Records of military service for both a John and Abraham exist, but to prove that these are the very two sons of Capt. John Lock is another matter.  That will require more research.

LOCKE FAMILY REUNION REVEALS INTERESTING BITS OF HISTORY

written by J. A. Locke and J. T. Etzler 

The annual reunion of the Locke family was held Sunday at the home of William Norton, three miles northeast of the city, with an attendance of sixty-five of its members, the largest in several years.  Mrs. Amanda Locke, of this city, was the oldest member present, and little Margaret Anne Morgan, daughter of John Morgan, residing north of the city, was the youngest.  Among those present were the four Locke brothers, Daniel Locke of Sharpsville, Ind. , George Locke of Greentown, Ed. Locke of the city [newspaper error: this was surely Abe Locke] and William Locke of Fulton, Ind.  Dr. Edgar Locke of Crystal City, Mo., was also a guest of the day.  Dinner was served at noon, following which a short business session was called, and officers elected.  John Locke was elected president, and Milton Fry was elected to serve as secretary.  A short program concluded the afternoon.  Jacob Locke, of this city, was to have been present to read the history of the family, but on account of illness was unable to attend.  Following is the biography of Captain John Locke, really a story of the Locke family in this community, written by J. A. Locke and J. T. Etzler.

JOHN LOCK

John Locke was born near Sheffield, England.  He stole his way on a boat to the United States and was sold for his passage to a locksmith in West Virginia.  He afterwards married the locksmith’s daughter, and moved to Frederick, Md., which at that time known as the ‘Colony of Maryland,’ had been granted to Lord Baltimore by the British crown.  Lord Baltimore brought over people from England in the seventeenth century, and established the colony of Maryland.

[Since we know that Capt. John Lock was born in Frederick Co., Maryland, this paragraph must be referring to his father, John Lock.  That this John Lock was born in England has not been verified.  Other records show the father of Capt. John to be Johannes, and his grandfather, also Johannes.]


A MEAGRE EDUCATION
John Locke was born on the fourth day of July, 1755, and died October 4, 1818, in Preble county, Ohio.  Like the majority of the people of America, his father was a planter or farmer.  He did not have the advantage in the way of education, that have most of the boys and girls of today.  His schooling consisted of what his parents were able to teach him, with perhaps a short time in the schools of that day.  But he received the more practical education which was to fit him for the part he was to play on the stage of life, by assisting his father to clear the land of the heavy forests that encumbered the land at that time, in cultivating and harvesting the crops which they produced.  He also spent considerable time in the forest in pursuit of game, which was abundant, and constituted one of the main articles of food for the people of that early date.

Then, when that famous shot was fired at Lexington on the morning of April 19, 1775, and which was heard around the world, reached his ears, it aroused all the patriotism and love of country in his young heart.  We do not know at what time he entered the Continental Army, but we do know that when he did enter, he was appointed Aid de Camp to General Washington, and as such, rode from Valley Forge to Yorktown with Washington and Lafayette.  He was present at Yorktown when the proud British marched out and laid down their arms, and surrendered to the Continental Army.  Capt. Locke was wounded at the Battle of Brandywine and helped to write, with his blood, the grandest page in American history, the right of English colonies in America to join together and establish the greatest nation that the world has ever known.

[Records dated July 13, 1776 show JOHN LOCK on the muster roll of Capt. Peter Mantz, number 76 of 88 men.

 At the request of Captain Peter Mantz, and his subaltern officers, I hereby certify, that in pursuance of a Resolve of the late Convention, I have carefully examined the several men whose names are mentioned in this enrolement and find them able bodied, effective and as such do pass them.

C. Beatty   July 13th 1776   - From the John Lock Bounty Land Record

Captain commission noted 6/18/1794, Militia Apt. Militia Records Index, 1794-1824.]

TAKES UP FARMING
We do not know at what time in life he was married, nor do we know her name before marriage.  All we know is that after the War of Independence was won, that he had a companion of his choice and settled upon a farm near where the city of Frederick, MD now stands and did all in his power to help develop the country; and as time went on, there came to bless this union, four sons and two daughters.  At least, that is all of whom the writer has any knowledge.  These sons were Henry, Abraham, John and George.  I never learned the Christian names of the two daughters.  All I know is that one daughter was married to a Mr. Ott, the head of the Ott family in Preble county, O., and the other married John Etzler.

[Captain John Lock married Salome Bastian on 3/22/1780.  They had five sons: Henry, who married Susanna Snyder Nussbaum; John, who married Elizabeth Stimmell; Abraham, who married Rebecca Ott; George, who married Mary Fogle; and Philip, who married Elizabeth Wolfe.  Their two daughters were Mary Magdalene, who married Unknown Darr, then John Ott; and Susanna Catherin, who married John Etzler, then John Vantz.]

Captain Locke and his sturdy sons devoted their time to clearing the land and farming, while his wife and daughters took care of the house.  They not only kept the house, in the sense we know of today, but assisted in the fields as well as to manufacture all the linen and clothing in the house for the entire family.  They helped to gather the flax and manufacture it into linen, to shear the sheep, spin and weave the wool into blankets and cloth for clothing as well as make the clothes for both men and women.   

SERVES IN THE WAR OF 1812

Everything ran smoothly for him and his family until the year of 1812, when the independence of our land was swept again by the Indians and war was declared again between the two nations.  Captain Locke offered his services to his country.  He was given a captain’s commission and entrusted to raise a company of soldiers, which he did.  One or two of his sons and sons-in-law were in the same war, all serving until peace was declared.

On the night when Frances S. Keys, prisoner on board a British man-of-war in the harbor of Baltimore, was composing “the Star Spangled Banner”, Capt. Locke and his company were behind the walls of Fort McHenry helping to save the city of Baltimore.  We want to say right here that the son-in-law of Mr. Locke was a member of Gen. Wayne’s army which was sent to western Ohio to subdue the Indians after they declared the peace near Fort Recovery, Darke county, O.  Mr. Ott was present when the Treaty of Greenville was signed.  After the war of 1812, the federal government gave to all soldiers of that war, land in Ohio, providing they would settle upon and develop it.  Capt. Locke accepted the offer.  He and the entire family and their families, with the exception of one son, George, who remained upon the farm in Frederick county, Md., immigrated to Ohio, in either 1815 or 1816.  They landed in Harrison township, Preble county.  When we think what it meant to them to core [sic] at that date, remembering the trip had to be made by wagons through the wilderness where the roads were nothing but paths, and that they had to bring all their household effects with them in their wagons, taking their cattle and sheep with them, we cannot but feel just pride in their undertaking.  My father said that they would milk in a vessel and pour what they did not at once use in pails which they hung on the back end of the wagon.  When we think of their journey through the wilderness where there were no roads or bridges over the rivers and creeks, and that they must camp out in the wilderness every night, we know there must have been brave hearts in that company.

COMPELLED TO CLEAR LAND

When at last they reached their destination they found no houses ready to receive them, and were forced to camp in the woods until they could erect cabins in which to live, being first compelled to clear the land of timber.  It was several years before they had sufficient land cleared to raise enough to support the family.  And they were compelled to depend upon the wild game, of which there was an abundance, for a part of their food.

When we hear people complaining of the privation of which they are suffering today, we cannot help but wonder what we would have done had we lived here in that day when the people were compelled to live on corn bread almost entirely.  It was years before they could raise sufficient wheat to supply all with bread.  For fruits, they lived upon the wild fruits.  There were no orchards or vineyards.  They had no groceries to go to such as we have today.  Coffee and tea were almost unheard of luxuries.  For coffee they used parched corn or rye, and for tea they used the tender shoots of the spice bush or the bark of the sassafras.  For sugar they had us beat to a frazzle.  Instead of the sugar we get today, they went into the woods in early spring, tapped the sugar maple, caught the sap and boiled it down in the finest sweets that mortal ever tasted.

But, oh, the long dready [sic] nights in winter.  The men and larger boys would get strong all right; for they were always busy either threshing the grain or working in the deadenings, [sic] or, for recreation, they would hunt or trap.  But the women and little children, how the winter must have dragged for them!  For the neighbors were few and far between, and schools were scarce and of short duration.  How the women and children must have shuddered of a winter night when they listened to the howl of the wolf, the screech of the panther, or the hooting of the owl.  They knew if they were out in the open, unprotected, that they would not have lived long.  In the summer, the fields were infested with poisonous rattle snakes and disease lurked in every pool, malaria in the swamp.  And the dreaded milk sickness was apt to be contracted from using milk from cows that ran in the woods.  Thus, we see that they were subjected to all kinds of danger and privation.  Yet, they never faltered.  They had come to change the wilderness from a wild and desolate spot to the fertile field and beautiful home.

You need not go far to see whether they and their descendants accomplished their object.  They exterminated the dangerous animals and reptiles.  They changed the swamps to fertile fields, and have made safe a desirable spot in which to live.  We can see that Capt. Locke and his descendants have played well their parts in helping to subdue the wilderness and to build up one of the grandest and wealthiest estate [states?] of our old United States. 

The Locke family seems to have been born farmers, as a great majority of them live on the farm as yet.  Of the third and fourth generation, we will not attempt to say much, only that they were men and women anyone would be proud to claim as parents or relation.  But of the young men of the fifth generation, we wish to say a word.  Whenever our national government has had need of men to defend the flag, the men of this blood have responded, and the call of the flag has been defended from Bunker Hill to Appomattox.  When our government entered the great World conflict, many young men in whose veins flows the blood of John Locke answered the call; and many more of the same blood were willing over there in the home land of Lafayette, offering their blood with which to write the greatest and grandest age of history the world has ever known.

Elias Locke (1821) grandson of Capt. John Locke

Elias and Sarah Locke are the parents of George Luther Locke.  Elias is the son of Abraham Locke, who is the son of John Locke.

Sarah Locke (1824) wife of Elias

George Luther Locke (1856)

George and Settie Locke are the parents of Elsie and the grandparents of the five Touby sisters, Louise, Dorothy, Frances, Virginia and Joan.

 

Settie Locke (1868)

Elsie Locke

Elsie Locke is the mother of the Touby sisters.

Philip Roscoe (Ross) Locke

Ross Locke is the brother of Elsie, and uncle to the five Touby sisters. 

See this site for more complete information on Capt. John Lock(e): Capt John Lock