I wanted to spend some time tracing my Grandmother Gertrude’s roots in Ohio because we have so little information about her early life there. And so, we visited the south-central area of the state to do some research.
To get me started, Marcy provided me with a list of Burton family burials in Buena Vista, Ohio. I also used Adelaide’s research and various census reports to build a list of the Burton and Pitzer families, and found that the majority of them resided in two counties in Ohio: Clinton County and Fayette County. These two counties adjoin each other and, according to census records, the families seem to have moved between them quite frequently.
I visited the Fayette County Archive Center first, because that is where the town of Washington Courthouse is located and that is where my Grandmother was reportedly born. I found the record for the marriage of her parents, Vallandigham and Mary Elizabeth (Pitzer) in 1888:
I also found birth records for their first 3 children: Eva, Ballard and Irvin – but nothing for Grandma.
The old tax records listed a personal property tax record from 1889, the year after Vallandigham and Mary Elizabeth were married. 
For personal property valued at $3.15 the tax was $1.95! I was hoping to have an indication of where they lived, but there are no addresses on any of the records, other than the township and county.
Next stop was the Fayette County Historical society, but they had no information for me.
The Clinton County Historical Society in Wilmington was next – this area is where census records show the Pitzer family (my Grandmother’s mother’s family) was living in the late 1800s. I walked into the genealogy department and said I was looking for information about the Pitzer family and one of the ladies volunteering there said that she was a Pitzer descendant! Two Pitzer brothers from Germany settled in that area and there are many descendants that still remain there.
There are lots of books and folders to review; most did not help in my research. The most information that I found about the Burton family was several booklets about Mabel Burton, who married into the Ringling family. She is the ‘claim to fame’ for Clinton County.
One of the Pitzer family descendants, not my direct line unfortunately, did extensive research and wrote a huge book, ‘The Descendants of Andrew Jackson Pittser’, by B. W. Thompson, Sr., about the family. It has some interesting information about the origins of the name and the area from which the family emigrated.
My final research stop was the Clinton County Archive Department, but they had no tax-related records for Pitzer names.
I did not find out any more information about my Grandmother’s early life in Ohio, which was disappointing. There is no record of her birth in the County records and the 1900 Census records were destroyed by a fire. Her time in Ohio is still a mystery.
Our final stop in Central Ohio was in Buena Vista, at the White Oak Grove Church Cemetery, where my Great-Great-Grandparents and quite a few of their children and their children’s families are buried. I contacted the cemetery manager and met her at the cemetery to find as many grave sites as we could, and we were pretty successful.
The cemetery was started as part of the White Oak Grove Methodist Church.
I don’t know what happened to the church attendance, but it stopped holding services in 1955. The property went through several owners over the years and the final owner stripped everything of value, including the stained glass windows, from it and then left it to the forces of nature. The building quickly became a hazard and the property was purchased by the Township, which now manages the still-active cemetery.
The building was razed several years ago. The area is a farming community and Buena Vista used to be a thriving town, but is now mostly ramshackle houses.
The earliest cemetery records were destroyed in a fire, so some family members grave sites that have no headstones could not be located.
The majority of the Burton family grave sites are quite close together and each family had their own plot. Quite a few of the headstones were all rather similar and most were in very good shape.
Bruce and I brought some cleaning supplies and were able to clean up some of the oldest headstones to a certain degree, but some of them were quite stained and worn.
The gravesites we found were:
My Great-Great-Grandparents, James & Elizabeth Burton:
(Before and after cleaning)
The inscription reads:
Farewell my wife and children all From you a father Christ doth call
Mourn not for me it is in vain To call me to your sight again
The inscription on the bible pages is too worn to read.
Their children:
George and Mary Elizabeth Burton Family
George and Mary’s children:
Clara (Burton) and Walter Wark and son Alec
Mary Amanda (Burton) and Bert Wortman
There is some inc0nsistency in the details of Mary Amanda/Amanda M. This headstone is Amanda M. I found 3 census records where her name is Mary Amanda, then Manda, then Amanda M. Find-a-Grave lists her as being buried in Washington Courthouse, and perhaps she is, but her headstone is here, next to her husband.
William Earl Benton
Alma Burton
Judson Burton
James and Laura Burton
Cary and Etta Burton Family
Cary and Etta’s Children:
Otis and Belle Burton
Norman Burton
Ray Burton
Cleo Burton
Herbert and Nellie Burton
Their daughter Ruth, who is living in Florida
The lady who manages the cemetery knew both Herbert and Nellie and knows their daughter Ruth, who sends flowers to decorate the graves each Memorial Day.
Pauline Burton Sanders
My Great-Grandfather, Vallandigham, is not buried here with the rest of the family because he disappeared while on a trip shortly after my Grandmother was born. Another family mystery!
Vallandigham is such an unusual name and I have wondered where it came from. When I was visiting the Clinton County Historical Society, I mentioned my Great-Grandfather’s name and the ladies there told me that Vallandigham was a name that was not much liked in that area. That prompted me to do some research on the name and found a Clement Vallandigham, who was very opposed to the Civil War and Lincoln’s war powers. I found this: “Vallandigham was arrested on May 5, 1863, and charged with “publicly expressing…his sympathies with those in arms against the Government of the United States.” Upon his conviction, the Lincoln administration banished him to the Confederacy.” He was also a supporter of slavery.
My Great-Grandfather was born in 1865 and it certainly seems possible that he is named in honor of Clement. It is too bad there is no one alive who knows the full story.
While I did not find any new information about my Grandmother, I feel like I kind of got to know her aunts, uncles and cousins a bit.