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Biographical Sketch submitted to Perry County Chapter of the OGS Bicentennial Pioneer Book. August 2002
Polly Burket/Burkhead was born 30 August 1802 --- in Pennsylvania according to census information ---- but by 1819 she�d found her way to Perry County and became the bride of Leonard Notestine. That marriage is recorded in the early records of Perry County (marriage book 1 page 7.) Polly has been proven for OGS�s First Families of Ohio based on this record. (She is member number 10311.) Polly and Leonard were living in Reading Township in 1820 --- recorded in the census as Lenard Natusto, but living nearly adjacent to Burkhart�s and a Notestine. Leonard is listed as being between 26 and 45 years of age....Polly was about 18. They had four children: William Henry, Amos, Catherine (Katie) Ann, and Elizabeth. It is possible that Polly and Leonard spent some of their married life in Pickaway County as the obituary of Katie Ann says she was born 14 June 1822 in Rickaway (sic) County, OH. In Deed Book O, pages 67-68 at the Perry County Recorder�s office it says the heirs at law of Leonard Nothstine Deceased in the County of Pickaway.
It is not clear to this author what happened to Leonard, but apparently Polly was a widow by about 1827. She, herself, is listed in the 1830 census as a head of family in Reading Township, Perry County. With her are her four small children. By the end of 1830, however, her life changed again when she married John Jacob Storts, a widower since the death of his first wife, Christena Keller Storts in 1823. Family tradition says that Christena told John Jacob where she wanted to be buried at a certain place on the homestead and about two weeks later she died. This marked the beginning of the cemetery known as Bear Run in Bearfield Township. John Jacob and Christena had a family of at least seven (and possibly more) children.
John Jacob and Polly�s marriage on 17 October 1830 is recorded in book 1, page 120 as Jacob Stolts and Polly Nodestone. Polly at this time is 28 years old, and John Jacob, born in 1763, is 67! Yet, he and Polly over the next 12 years have 5 more children: Mary Ann (also called Polly), Susan, Elisa Ann, Abraham, and Mariah Jane (born 04 Aug 1842.) John Jacob was in failing health and trying to provide for his still young family when he attempted in 1850 to apply for a pension for his service during the Revolutionary War. It was denied, and Polly reapplied (again unsuccessfully) after John Jacob�s death on 12 January 1852. John Jacob was buried in the Bear Run Cemetery with his first wife. Polly lived out her years in Perry County, and upon her death on 14 Aug 1883 she, too, was buried at Bear Run. The last time we find her in the Perry County census (1880), she was living with daughter Mariah and her family in Pike Township.
Polly and John Jacob�s youngest child Mariah Jane had married John Wesley Allen on 30 November 1862. Mariah lived until 02 May 1933, and was the last first generation descendent, or Real Daughter, of a Revolutionary War soldier in the state of Ohio. At the time of Mariah�s death apparently there were only five Real Daughters still alive in the US.
Polly�s nine children and their spouses were:
William Henry Notestine Amos Notestine married Malissa Stires 01 July 1852 in Perry County Catherine (Katie) Ann Notestine had three husbands... John Green, Benjamin Hall, and George Taggart. Elizabeth Notestine married John Jacob�s son by his first marriage Abraham Stotts in 1841.
Mary Ann (Polly) Storts married Harrison Drewry/Drury in 1848 Susan Storts married John Drake in 1850 Elisa Ann Storts married Benjamin Mowery in 1852 Abraham Storts married Mary Notestine Mariah Jane Storts married John Wesley Allen in 1862.
Submitted by:
June (Allen) Gladney
Descendent of Polly Storts through her daughter Mariah Jane
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