Tombstone Tuesday–Nicholas Headington

This is the tombstone of Nicholas Headington, located in Liber Cemetery, Wayne Township, Jay County, Indiana. The marker is inscribed Nicholas Headington Died Feb. 6, 1856, Aged 65 ys, 9 mos, 8 ds.

Nicholas Headington, Liber Cemetery, Jay County, Indiana.

At the foot of the grave is a second marker, a military marker inscribed N. Headington, Gorsuch’s Co, 2 MD. Mil.,War 1812. What great information! Gorsuch’s Company, 2nd Maryland Militia, War of 1812. This gives us a starting point to look for more information.

Nicholas Headington, War 1812 marker at foot.

“N Headington, Gorsuch’s Co, 2 MD. Mil., War 1812”

Liber Cemetery is located south of Portland, east of route 27 on E 200 S and east of College Corner. We visited this cemetery last fall and it appeared that the Headington tombstones and several others had recently been repaired. A big thank you to those volunteers who made the repairs on these monuments.

There are three Headington gravestones in a row along the left (east) side of the cemetery driveway as you drive into the cemetery. Unfortunately these tombstones were shaded by several trees and it was difficult to get a good photo of them.

Ruth, Nicholas and Washington Headington tombstones, Liber Cemetery.

The three family stones are Ruth [Nicholas’ wife], Nicholas and Washington Headington [their son]. The next marker is a large Whipple monument. The Headington markers all face west.

Headington tombstones next to Whipple monument, Liber Cemetery, Jay County, Indiana.

As calculated from his tombstone, Nicholas Headington was born 29 April 1790. Some sources say he was born in 1789. Nicholas Headington and Ruth Phillips were married about 22 September 1813 in Baltimore, Maryland. [1]

Nicholas and Ruth had twelve children. Two of them died in infancy. The children that lived to maturity were William, James, Nimrod, Washington, John W., Eli, Silas, Catherine, Mary and Rebecca. [2] I descend from William, who married Mary Ann Cottrell.

Look for more information about Nicholas Headington in this Friday’s blog post.

[1] Transcription of Baltimore County Marriages Licenses, January 1800-December 1816, on-line database, US GenWeb Baltimore County Site, Rootsweb/Ancestry.com, (http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~mdbaltim/marlic/groom_h.htm : accessed 23 September 2012).

[2] Biographical Memoirs of Jay County, Indiana (Chicago: B.F. Bowen Co., Publishers, 1901), 304-5.

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