Surname Saturday - John C. Ozias

John C. Ozias was my 3rd great grandfather on paternal side. He was born October 22, 1824 in Ohio, the eighth of ten known children of Jacob and Susanna (Christman) Ozias.

There are many online trees for John Jacob (often just called Jacob), however, I have yet to learn very much about him. I do know that he died in 1848 in Preble County, Ohio. Susanna Ozias lived until 1867 and also died in Preble County, Ohio. They are both buried in Roselawn Cemetery, Lewisburg, Ohio.

John married Christine Potterf March 6, 1851 in Preble County, Ohio.

The couple had ten children.

Sometime around 1855 the couple moved from Ohio to Byron, Buchanan County, Iowa. John was a farmer and Christine was a housewife. The family lived in Iowa for nearly 20 years. John registered for the Civil War draft in Byron County, Iowa in June 1863, but there is no record of him actually having served in the war.

By 1875 the Ozias family were in Nemaha County, Kansas, after having made a long enough stop in Missouri to have their last child.

1875 Kansas State census, Nemaha County.

I am not sure why the Ozias family traveled from Ohio to Iowa to Missouri and finally to Kansas. I have two lines that made about the same journey (the other being my Kuhn line) and I have not been able to determine why they migrated. I'm assuming it has something to do with the eternal quest to find the right land. Or perhaps a need to outrun their debts. Either way, John Ozias arrives in Kansas sometime around 1875. He dies only a year later on September 16, 1876 leaving his wife with a houseful of children. He is buried in Centralia Cemetery, Centralia, Kansas.

John C. Ozias headstone in Centralia Cemetery, Centralia, Kansas. Courtesy L. Hinrichsen

Based on all of his census entries, John was a farmer. I have been unable to find any plat maps from Iowa during his stay in that state, so I do not know if he owned land or just worked it. However, the value of his estate on the 1870 census is high and leads me to believe that he may have owned his own land. Here are my due-outs on John:

1. Find John's obituary
2. Look for land documents in Ohio, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas
3. Look for his father's probate records to determine if John was left anything.

Sources:

• Jordan Dodd, Liahona Research. Ohio, Marriages, 1803-1900 [database on-line]. John C. Ozias and Christine Potterf marriage. March 6, 1851, Preble County, Ohio. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2001.
• Ancestry.com. U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865 [database on-line]. John C. Ozias, Buchanan County, Iowa. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: Consolidated Lists of Civil War Draft Registrations, 1863-1865. NM-65, entry 172, 620 volumes. ARC ID: 4213514. Records of the Provost Marshal General’s Bureau (Civil War), Record Group 110. National Archives, Washington D.C.
• Ancestry.com.. Kansas State Census Collection, 1855-1925 [database on-line]. John C. Ozias, Illinois Township, Nemaha County, pg. 2. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2009.

This post is part of my on-going goal of 2013 to research each of my 32 3rd great-grandparents more in-depth. John is #3 on my list.