John Horner - Matilda Platt

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Married 03 Mar 1807 in Mansfield Twp., Burlington Co., NJ

John and Matilda are 2nd cousins (sort of double-second cousins, as both descend from the Platt brothers who married Dennis sisters).

John Horner

Born January 20, 1786, New Jersey
The 1860 census shows him living with John Platt Horner in Iowa. By 1870 he is back in Staunton, OH living with Thomas and Hannah Fox. Died January 26, 1872, Miami county, Ohio
Buried: Raper Chapel Cemetery, Troy, Ohio
Parents: Samuel Horner and Jemima Platt

Matilda Platt

Born ca. February 1, 1787, presumably in Burlington co., NJ (per sibling data)
Died August 24, 1840, Miami county, Ohio
Buried: Raper Chapel Cemetery, Troy, Ohio
Parents: Aaron PLATT - Hannah ATKINSON

John and Matilda were in Preble Co. OH by May 1817 as indicated by their being witnesses for the will of Joseph Randall (Preble county records).

That this John Horner is the father of our John Platt Horner is evidenced by:
  1. A John Horner and wife Matilda are buried within about 50 feet of their presumed daughter-in-law Frances Stillwell's parents (Joseph Stillwell and Elizabeth Sayers) in the Raper chapel cemetery. They are the only Horners in the cemetery
  2. Presuming John Platt Horner got his unusual middle name from a surname on his mother's side, researching Matilida Platt shows indeed a marriage to a John Horner and movement from NJ to OH.
  3. Their ages match the scenario, and the prior notion from family lore that John Horner was born in NJ in late 1700s. The 1860 Davis County, Iowa census shows John Horner Sr. being a 74 year old male in the household with John P. Horner, Frances and 4 children. This matches the 1786 birth date calculated from the tombstone. Seems John Sr. moved to Iowa with his son in 1858/59 and either moved back to Troy, OH to retire, or perhaps died in Iowa and was taken back to be buried with Matilda.
  4. They are second cousins
There is ample evidence of mixing between Platts and Horners who migrated from Monmouth/Burlington counties in NJ to Preble county OH or across the line in Randolph county, IN. Samuel Horner is a Nth cousin to Elizabeth Horner (and to her niece Eliza Horner) via shared ancestor Joshua Horner.
The partial lineage chart below shows four Platt-Horner marriages in NJ, with the couples then moving to Ohio and neighboring Indiana.

Below you can see the Platt-Horner cousins marriage, and yet another Horner-Stillwell relation (exactly who this Elias Stillwell is TBD). Elijah Horner shares an ancestor with Samuel and John Horner in Joshua Horner. (Source)

Elijah Horner sold land to Benjamin Horner (large, irregular rectangle oriented N-S) and Elizabeth Horner Platt (smaller, E-W rectangle) in 1820. Platt Road borders the south side of the larger property -- it could have been named after Elizabeth's husband way back in 1820, or later when Benjamin Horner's grandson Carlisle Platt was living in the area.



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From Preble county plat map of 1912, image 28 of 46, section 19 on the map, Carlisle Platt owns this land in 1912.

From Preble county map of 1897, section 19 on the map, Carlisle Platt owns this land and Barzillai (Brazillia) Horner, Carlisle's first cousin once-removed lives just south.

Matilda's nephew Samuel Platt Jr. was killed July 2nd, 1863 at the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg and is buried in the National Cemetery, Gettysburg, PA in SECTION A SITE 10. He enlisted in September 1862 and was placed in Company B of the 12th New Jersey volunteers regiment. Based on the action that the 12th was involved with on July 2nd, he was probably killed in the afternoon of July 2nd in the fight for the Bliss farm (see The Battle for the Bliss Farm at Gettysburg). Prior to being killed, he would have been involved also in the Chancellorsville Campaign April 27-May 6. Battle of Chancellorsville May 1-5.

Children:

Son John Platt Horner's obituary says he was one of 8 children, and the 1840 census of Jackson OHIO for John Horner shows maybe 9 children, but only these are known:
  1. Sarah Horner was born in 1814 in New Jersey, her father, John, was 28 and her mother, Matilda, was 27. She married Benjamin Warrington on January 16, 1834, in Preble County, Ohio. They had five children in 15 years. She died on July 18, 1895, in Davis County, Iowa, having lived a long life of 81 years, and was buried in Bloomfield, Iowa.
  2. Mary Louise "Eliza" Horner b: 2 Sept 1822 in Ohio, d: 25 Feb 1898 in Iowa. Married 5 Nov 1840 in Miami Co. OH to Samuel K. Orr. Moved to Iowa by 1855. Buried in the same cemetery as her brother in Davis County, IA
  3. John Platt Horner b: 8 Sept 1825 d: 21 Feb 1905