Robert & Linda Malseed
Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
George Shubert
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Introduction
George Shubert of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania lived the final years of his life in Portsmouth, Ohio. He died and was buried there in 1840. This is attested to in the biography of Garrett Shubert which was published in Missouri in 1889. The biography states that George and Eliza Shubert moved to Ohio in 1833. We know from the records of Trinity Episcopal Church of Philadelphia that this is not entirely true. The church records reveal that George and Eliza had their children Henry and Eliza baptized on 5 July 1835 and Georgianna baptized on 1 May 1836 in the church. It is possible that George (or George and Eliza both) traveled between Philadelphia and Portsmouth in the 1830s. Background - Families George Shubert was a carpenter and ship joiner who lived most of his life in
Philadelphia. His parents are as yet unknown. Eliza is known to be the daughter
of Garrett Beckhorn and Sarah Eastburn. Sarah owned two taverns in Philadelphia
- The Red Lion and the Green Tree. Sarah died in 1835. In 1839 Garrett Beckhorn
purchased a lot in the city of Portsmouth for his daughter and son-in-law.
George began to build a house on the lot. In 1840, the family was recorded on
the US census. However, George died in 1840 before the house was completed.
Garrett’s biography says, “He was delegate to the convention that nominated
William H. Harrison to the presidency of the United States, and died before he
got to vote.” (I have found nothing to substantiate that claim.) It is not known
if George and Eliza ever lived in the house. George was buried in Portsmouth,
and Eliza and the 4 children moved back to Philadelphia. The Property The property that Garrett Beckhorn purchased in Portsmouth was subdivisional lot 5 on the north side of Seventh Street. It was purchased from William V. Peck on 19 Feb 1839. From the property description on the deed we know that the lot to the west was owned by David Gharky Junior. After Eliza and her children moved back to Philadelphia, her father (on 16 Dec 1842) appointed William G. Vogelsong as his agent with power of attorney to rent the property and the “house built by Shubert”. The property was rented to Mr. Jordan Vigus on 2 May 1843 with the stipulation that he finish the house within 2 years. Garrett Beckhorn died on 2 Mar 1848. Eliza inherited the property and sold it to Jordan Vigus for $450 on 24 Jul 1849 with a 4-year mortgage. The mortgage was paid off in July 1853. I have copies of: Our visit to Portsmouth Linda and I visited Portsmouth in our motor home on 12-14 August, 2003. I wanted to see if I could find:
Records Much of our time in Portsmouth was spent in the library. I found no record of George Shubert. However, I did find some supporting documents of interest. This is a list of documents searched: Probate Court Death Certificates only go back to 1856. George Shubert’s Grave We do not know where George was buried. I could not find his name in any of
the records cited above. The most likely burial location would be Greenlawn
Cemetery. It is the main cemetery in Portsmouth, and is very old. It contains
burials from before 1840. The gravestone inscriptions have all been transcribed
and published. There is no transcribed inscription for George. However, many of
the stones from the oldest section of the cemetery are missing or unreadable.
Unfortunately, the cemetery records were destroyed in a fire in 1872, so there
is no proof of burials before 1872.
I discovered the grave of Jordan and Hannah Vigus who purchased the Beckhorn property from Eliza Shubert.
The Property Since I have copies of the deeds for the Beckhorn property with its detailed
description, we went to the county court house. We were shown the current plat
map of the west end of Seventh Street where the property is located. They also
had a 1910 map of the same area.
By 1910, the Vigus family had sold the property bought from Eliza Shubert.
That tract of land is the one owned by Cynthia Stephens. It is 30 feet wide and
439 feet deep. By the late 1800s, the B&O Railroad had obtained a right of way
and laid tracks diagonally across the properties on the North side of Seventh
Street. Note that the 70-foot-wide property immediately to the east is still
shown as owned by Hannah Vigus. Apparently Jordan Vigus had purchased that
property as well as the Beckhorn property. Jordan died in 1881 and Hannah died
in 1901.
Currently, Joseph McNeil is shown as the owner of the property. Since the mid
1800s, the Scioto River has meandered and has cut into the area behind Seventh
Street. For that reason, Ninth Street does not exist as shown on the maps. The
B&O Railroad tracks have been removed and a levee bas been built just north of
the railroad right of way. There is a wooded area north of the levee. Note that
the 70-foot-wide property formerly owned by Hannah Vigus has been subdivided
into two 35-foot lots, although there is a house on only one of them.
Two other views of the house:
Note the map still shows the railroad behind Seventh Street even though the tracks are no longer there. Other Information The library had biographical sketches of William Peck and Jordan Vigus, and I have photo copies of those biographies. Robert A. Malseed Page last updated: 14 March 2007 |
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