A Wilson Family Tree
Notes for Onesimus Titus Curtis
From "4. Onesimus and Mary.doc" by cptkurk (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/101589659/person/150029378679/facts):
Onesimus (Pronounced o-NEHS-i-məs in English) was a latinized form of the Greek name Ὀνήσιμος (Onesimos), which meant "beneficial, profitable". Saint Onesimus was an escaped slave of Philemon who met Saint Paul while in prison and was converted by him. Paul sent him back to Philemon carrying the epistle that appears in the New Testament.
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Onesimus and Mary were married in about 1808.
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By 1814, their family was living in Pennsylvania, and by 1820, they were living in Jefferson, Richland County, Ohio.
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They stayed in Jefferson until about 1836, and then migrated to Dryden, Lapeer County, Michigan. On April 1, 1837, Onesimus was issued a land grant for 80 acres.
...Beginning in the 1830s, many people were going to Michigan from the eastern part of the United States. The eastern United States was a crowded place. One reason people started leaving was there wasn’t any land to buy. One big reason people chose Michigan was that there was a lot of cheap land. Michigan was much bigger than states on the east coast. In addition to size, the United States government took a lot of land from Michigan’s Tribal Nations during the entire Statehood Era and after. The United States then made this land available to settlers for a cheap price.
In 1830, a person could buy good farmland for about $1.50 an acre, and small farms were 40 acres. In states like New York, farms for sale were much smaller and cost much more. By 1840, prices were between $2.00-$6.00 per acre for land in western Michigan. Most importantly just about anyone could own land in Michigan. That wasn’t true of other states. In some states, if you were a woman or if you weren’t white, you couldn’t own land.
It is not known if Onesimus passed away in Dryden, or Daviess County Missouri (or anywhere in between), but Mary and their identified children were living in Daviess County by the late 1840s. They may have even been there as early as 1844, for their son, John, was married in March of 1845 in Daviess County.
Note: Some of the information in these pages is uncertain. Please let me know of errors or omissions using the email link above. ...Mike Wilson
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