Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Notes from Tim Jessen


When Elma (Frank's daughter) and I moved to Indiana 8 years ago, we tried to find out information about (great-great-...) grandmother Jean Horne, who according to our family records was raised in Scotland, Indiana, where her father, William, was a minister (about 1840).
We went to the little town of Scotland (still exists) found the Presbyterian Church (now closed) and the cemetery, but no record of any Hornes! Checked with the county seat Church at Bloomfield (Greene County), and they could find nothing. We gave up our search.
Then last fall I was called to "pulpit supply" a Presbyterian Church in Hanover, Indiana where there is a Presbyterian College and several "Covenanter" congegations nearby.
Inlaws of our son Paul had done some geneology research and found the Hornes had located in Switzerland County, close to Hanover and the larger town of Madison, Indiana.(in the southeast corner of the state, close to the Ohio River).
Then we discovered there is a small "Caledonia" Presbyterian Church (Caledonia being another name for Scotland) which still exists! It was originally Covenanter, but is mainline Presbyterian now. Sure enough, looking at those records in the Hanover College archives, we found all about the Hornes, William and his daughter Jean.
So that's why the records we had said they lived in "Scotland" -- because "Caledonia" equals Scotland! Perhaps the Scotland post office name was already taken, and they therefore chose Caledonia. Haven't researched that, but it solved a mystery that we had been unable to solve in all our years in Indiana.
Tim (and Elma Turnbull) Jessen, Bloomington, IN

Thanks for the info Tim!

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