The Kiles Find a Horse in 1810

Genealogists often use estray books as evidence that a person had lived in a certain place for at least a bare minimum amount of time. Notices of strays were also published in the newspaper as well.

This 1810 notice from the Chillicothe, Ohio, newspaper (obtained on GenealogyBank.com) does more than document the existence of a lost horse. It also suggests that John Kile and James Kile were living in or near Truro Township in Franklin County, Ohio, in the late 1809-early 1810 time period.

Digital image obtained on GenealogyBank.com

James Kile found the horse and John Kile was one of the appraisers. There is nothing in the notice to indicate the men were biologically related, but the reference does suggest they were relatively near neighbors of each other in 1810.

And in some cases, a newspaper mention be the only record that a person was in a specific place at a specific point in time.

Even if the owner of the horse cannot be found.

Seven Head of Horse Creatures

We've slightly modified this image for the purposes of this blog post. Using only the portion relevant to the Kile family would have required the removal of some context, particularly the fact that this was a Sheriff's Sale in Franklin County, Ohio.

[portion omitted] was used to indicate where some of the original image was cut away and the resulting image was made.

Digital image obtained on GenealogyBank.com

Apparently John Kile owed money to the estate of M. Fisher and apparently there was some sort of legal action brought to the Franklin County Court in 1828. The specifics of the debt are not mentioned in this newspaper notice. This legal notice is only announcing the sale. It is possible that there were other legal notices in the newspaper mentioning this case, but given that this is probably a chattle debt of some type it likely didn't make the local news.

There should be some type of local court record regarding this case against Kile in the county court records of Franklin County. Chances are it's not very detailed, but I won't know until I look. I might never have uncovered the case if I had not chanced upon it on GenealogyBank.com.

Seven head of horse creatures....now there's an interesting phrases. Why they just didn't say seven head of horses is beyond me.