Sturdevant-Hoy

This writer is familiar with only two family histories of people in Harrison Twp., the Hoys and Sturdavants.

The Hoy family originated on the Hoy Islands off the coast of Scotland. Coming to America they settled in Buffalo Valley, Pennsylvania. They intermarried with the Pennsylvania Dutch and took on the language. From there they emigrated to Franklin County and eventually David and his family settled in Harrison Twp., Henry Co., Ohio.

The Sturdavant family lived in Holland where they were known as the Stuyvesants. They emigrated to England, where the name was anglicized to Sturdevant. In 1630, Daniel Sturdevant came to Massachusetts. He married a local girl and his family increased and spread first to Canada, then to Vermont and then to Orleans County, New York. At some time in the past the ancestor of the Ohio Sturdevants was married to an Indian maiden. In 1829 Philo Sturdevant came from Orleans County, N.Y., to Ashtebula County, Ohio. He grew up there and married a girl named Mary Withim. To this union were born Lewis, William, and Jane.

Philo was a man of many skills. He was a carpenter, hunter and trapper, boot maker and the trainer of oxen. When his wife died, he walked from Ashtebula County to Harrison Twp. in Henry County and purchased a tract of land in Section 22 of Harrison Twp., across the road from the Calvary Church and Cemetery.

He went back to Ashtebula County and loaded his possessions and children on an ox drawn wagon and came to his new home. While building the log house and barn the family lived with his brother who had come before and located in Liberty Twp. While there he met a widow and her small daughter. The lady was Leucretia Shaw whose husband died of cholera in Chicago where they had stopped over on the way to the gold fields of California. Mrs. Shaw was a guest in his brother's home. There was a mutual need there. She needed a home and Philo Sturdevant needed a mother for his children. They were married without delay. To this union were born Eunice, Lavina, Martha, and Warren. The only male descendants of Philo Sturdevant in 1975 are Orley, his son Neal and grandson Joseph, all living in Shunk. When Lewis grew up and married Martha Hoy, he began spelling his name Sturdavant and so it remains.

Life in the Sturdevant household was like almost every other family of the day. Land was cleared for small patches of corn, flax, wheat and garden vegetables. Apple trees and berry bushes were planted. A few sheep for wool were kept. A few cattle and hogs were kept for milk, butter and meat. The male cattle were used as oxen for work and for sale. Philo had the skills to tan hides for leather from which all the shoes for the family were made. Flax was soaked, broke and spun into linen thread. Wool from the sheep was washed, carded and spun into thread. Leucretia had the skills necessary to spin the thread, weave the cloth and hand stitch all the clothing for the family. The cloth thus created was a mixture of linen and wool called "hickory." Overshoes were unknown so the shoes and boots were kept greased with tallow for waterproofing. Apples were dried in the sun and strung on threads and hung from the rafters. Berries and corn were dried and kept in cloth sacks. Meat was dried or salt cured and smoked and it too hung from the rafters. Deer and other game were plentiful so Father Philo and his trusty rifle kept the family well fed. Deerskins furnished some of the fancier articles of clothing, all home tanned and cut and stitched by hand. The worst thing to be contended with in the days of the Black Swamp was "swamp fever or ague." Quinine was the only known remedy and was kept handy by every family. The Indians were gone by the time Philo arrived so that was one worry less.

Now Philo Sturdavant's family has scattered to the four winds. They married Hills, Babcocks, Wards, Hefflingers, Wiles, Leists, Garvericks, and others and I suppose his descendants number in the thousands. Only a few remain in the vicinity. So it has ever been with all Pioneer Families.

Submitted by Orly Sturdevant