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Schamerhorn Family
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Alternate Spellings - In Mercer County: Schamerhorn, Scharmehorn, Schamahorn, and Scammahorn, Scamerhorn (more below). Other: Schermerhorn, Schemerhorn, Scamehorn, Scermehorn, Schermerham, and Schermorhorne. Links - Noble, Bates Contacts - None Yet |
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Each record found in Mercer County is spelled differently. We have titled our page with the spelling in the marriage record. In Surnames Listed in the 1790 United States Census there were additional spellings of Schermerhorn, Scamehorn, Scermehorn, Schermerham, and Schermerhorne. There were 62 heads of families with these names with all but two being in the state of New York. With this many families in 1790, locating William's ancestors will be a difficult task (to say nothing of the added difficulty of spelling variations!). Mercer County marriage records show William C. Schamerhorn marrying Mrs. Charity Clark on 5/1/1850. Mrs. Clark was Charity S. Hudson who married Cyrus C. Clark on 7/19/1840. Charity S. Hudson was daughter of John and Sarah Noble Hudson and grandaughter of Lewis Noble, early settler in Mercer County. The 1850 Census, town of New Boston, shows William C. Scharmehorn, age 35, blacksmith, born New York, wife Charlotte (Charity), age 28, born Indiana. Charity's children Rachel A. Clark, age 8, and John W. Clark, age 5, both born Illinois, are living with them. John W.'s name may be John Wesley Clark, named for Charity's brother, John Wesley Hudson. Rachel was Rachel Abiah Clark who married John Kiddoo on 12/1/1859 in Mercer County. John and Rachel Clark Kiddoo are living in Millersburg Township in 1860: John Kiddoo, 22, farmer, born Pa; Abiah, 18, born Illinois. We do not find them in Mercer Township in the 1870 census. In the 1860 census, William C. Schamahorn is living in New Boston Township and is a farmer, age 50, born New York. Wife Charity, age 38, born Indiana; children, John Clark, 14, Ida Scammahorn, age 8, O.K. Scammahorn, age 6, Gertrude Scammahorn, age 3, James Scammahorn, age 1, all born Illinois. They are living next door to Charity's sister and brother-in-law: Jeremiah and Mary Noble Fall. There are no marriage records for any of the Schamerhorn children, indicating the family probably left Mercer County before they were of marriagable age. We do not find the family in the 1870 census for Mercer County. Son James is found in Center Township, Pottawatamie County, Iowa, in the 1880 census as a farmer with his uncle and aunt John and Elizabeth Noble Bates: John Bates, farmer, 80, born Va; Elisabeth Bates, 76, Tn; James Schermerhorn, nephew, 19, born Il, father born New York, mother born Indiana. We haven't had the courage yet to try to find William in the 1880 census - we found James only by accident while looking for Nobles. Curiously, despite his age, William Scamerhorn served in the Civil War in Company G, 27th Illinois Infantry. He is listed on the Muster Roll of Captain H. B. Southward's Company in the Aledo Weekly Record dated October 8, 1861 as William O. Scamerhorn. He enlisted on August 20, 1861 from Mercer County, mustered in on August 24, 1861, and was mustered out on September 20, 1864. He is listed in the Company records as William C. Scamerhorn. If there were pension records it will tell more of the family. The Illinois Adjutant General's Report has the spelling as given in this paragraph but that is no guarantee that the NARA records will have the same spelling! William probably took advantage of special land offers in the West for Civil War veterans and left Mercer County. See more on land and the Civil War and also a description of the trip of Company G to Camp Butler on our Civil War page. There are no public land records for William in Mercer County and he is not mentioned in the History of Mercer County 1882. We have a copy of Cory Tarrant's book The Children of David and Sarah Fry Noble and Their Descendants 1998 and there is more in that book about the descendants of William and Charity Noble Hudson Scamerhorn. |
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