Charity Holt, a “wife of”

Not far from the graves of Evan and Charity Holt, featured on Gravestoned yesterday, is the grave of one of their daughters, Charity Holt McClain (d. 1835).

The algae and lichen that grow on on the gravestone add to its aged beauty—and this is a beautiful stone—but make it challenging to read.

IN
Memory of
CHARITY HOLT,
Wife of
JAMES MCLAIN,
Who departes th[is life]
may 22, AD 1835 aged 34
years, [9?] months, & [4? days]

Whenever I find a “wife of” stone, I check whether her husband’s grave is nearby. So I looked around for James.

There is no James beside Charity. I found no James nearby.

(I did find James McClain later on FindAGrave.com, buried in Michigan with his second wife.)

John McClain and Charity Holt were married March 9, 1820 by Baptist minister Henry George. Not surprisingly, Rev. George is buried in Chester Baptist Cemetery not far from Charity and her parents.

Marriage record image from FamilySearch.org

By the way, the marriage record states that the McClains (McCleans) were married in Knox County, Ohio. True—at the time. In 1848, more than a decade after Charity’s death, this part of Morrow County was carved out of Knox County.

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Chester Baptist Cemetery, Morrow County, Ohio