An Odd Fellow from New Hampshire

The three chain links carved on the gravestone for Oliver E. Ticknor (d. 1853) tell us that he was an Odd Fellow. Capital O, capital F.

The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) is also known as “The Three Link Fraternity” for that group’s emblem, the three links of which represent Friendship, Love, and Truth.

OLIVER E. TICKNOR
DIED
SEPT. 16, 1853
AGED
40 Y’RS. 9 MO’S.
& 11 D’S.
An O. E. Ticknor who is the right age appears in the 1850 Federal Census for Lebanon, New Hampshire. Could this be our Oliver, who is buried in Sunbury, Ohio?

Perhaps. According to the published genealogy The Ticknor Family in America by James Melville Hunnewell (1919), Oliver Ellis Ticknor, born December 5, 1812 in Lebanon, N. H. to William and Betsey (Ellis) Ticknor, was a dry goods merchant at Lebanon, “later removing to Sunbury, O., where he d. Sept. 2, 1854.” The same volume tells us that Oliver married Susan Parkhusrt Low in 1836.

Not perfect. Machinist or merchant? Death in December 1853 or December 1854?

Postscript. If our Oliver is indeed the Oliver Ellis Ticknor born in Lebanon, N.H. to William and Betsey Ticknor, then he is the younger brother of William Davis Ticknor (b. 1810, d. 1864), founder of the publishing house Ticknor and Fields.

Sunbury Memorial Park, Delaware County, Ohio