131/131  DeMoss, Zeno



John DeMoss that is listed as his father, was reported incorrectly. Per 

John's Bible, he was born 1778. (however every copy of the census I have 

seen, I've also read it read as 1787... think the census taker got confused 

there)



Catherine is believed to be Sarah Catherine, youngest daughter of John & 

Sarah Barker DeMoss.  (the mother, Sarah Barker DeMoss died 1844). So 

Catherine would be a sister to Zeno.



Wife Pauline was expecting daughter Sarah Frances in this census, daughter 

was born 25 Sept 1850, she had 8 known children in all.





(From JoAnn Hornby's book, "John DeMoss and his descendants, published Aug. 

1, 1991)



John DeMoss was born in Berkley Co., VA (now W. VA). He was the eldest of 

Peter & Catherine (Houseman) DeMoss. In 1794, John's family moved to Mason 

Co., KY and four years later, when John was 20 years old, they moved across 

the Ohio River to Clermont Co., OH.



It is not known if John moved to Ohio at that time. He married Jewley 

"Julia" Fowler. One source said they were married in Bracken Co, KY but a 

search found no record of their marriage at the courthouse there. According 

to census records, their first child was born in OH. John's parents 

remained there until 1805 when they moved back across the river and settled 

in northern Pendleton Co., KY.



John and Jewley had four children, one son living only a little over a 

year. Jewley died June 8, 1809, leaving John a widower with three young 

children, age 5 years, 3 years, and 7 months.



On Dec. 7, 1809 John married Sarah "Sally" Barker in Pendleton Co., 

KY.  They had at least eight children.



In deed book G, pg. 254, we find that on Feb. 28, 1825, John DeMoss & 

Sally, his wife, of the county of Bracken and State of KY, mortgaged 

property to William Currens, consisting of  "two horses, there yoke of 

oxen, one wagon, fourteen head of cattle, thirty head of sheep, forty head 

of hogs, one bureau, one cupboard, four tables, four beds & bedding, two 

plows, and four sets of gears, one set of sawmill irons, one whip saw, one 

wood boat, one cross cut saw & one set of carpenters tools-also a tract or 

parcel of land lying and being in the said county of Bracken on Holt's 

Creek..Also assigned to the said William Currens a bond given by George M. 

Beall to him the said DeMoss for the conveyance of two hundred acres of land."



Three equal payments of two hundred fifty five dollars, seventy two and 1/3 

cents were to be made on Dec. 25 in 1825, 1826, and 1827 to satisfy this 

mortgage. It was specified in writing that "John DeMoss is to use and 

occupy and enjoy the said estate hereby conveyed, but is not permitted to 

commit waste upon the said property by felling or cutting more timber than 

will be absolutely necessary for the support of the farms thereon, except 

so far as he clears the land and from that he is at liberty to take off all 

the timber,--and should the said DeMoss commit other waster that is here 

permitted then and in that case the said William Currens is authorized to 

enter upon the mortgaged property and take possession thereof."



John apparently paid all installments as specified, evidenced by Bracken Co 

land records deed book KY, pg. 103. On Aug. 28, 1834, John DeMoss & Sarah, 

his wife, sold a tract of land to Daniel Pottle of Pendleton Co for $45 

dollars. This land lay on the water of Holt's Creek and was a part of two 

hundred acres of land which had been purchased from George M. Beall.



On Oct. 22, 1836, John purchase 200 acres of land on Clear Creek in Hopkins 

County. The land was purchased for $800. Oct. 5, 1838, Cornelius Darnaby 

paid John $300 due to interference of the survey of this land with 

neighbors, James Nisbet and William Wards.



Other land records seem to prove that John and the three sons who moved 

with him from Bracken County to Hopkins County in 1836 farmed together 

which was essential in that time frame before mechanized equipment.  John 

was 58, Samuel was 22, Zeno was 19 and George was 15 when they came to 

Hopkins Co., KY. All three sons were single.





Maria Troutman