Clarissa Trumbull (1794-1820) and her Descendants
By Freda Trumbull (1894-1990)
(4th Child of Robert)
born September 26, 1794, Craftsubury, VT
married Jason White
died December 5, 1820
Children of Clarissa and Jason White: Nancy in 1814; Royal October 31, 1815
Clarissa, the third daughter in the Trumbull family was born September 26, 1784. She grew to adulthood in her father’s house and married while still in her teens.
In 1796, James White moved into the colony and was granted farmland. He married Lucinda Weeks whose name does not appear among those who had settled in Craftsbury. She may have been engaged to James before he came into the new colony. They became the parents of nine children.
Their first child, named Jason by his parents, was born on December 14, 1789, grew to manhood in the colony, and became the husband of Clarissa Trumbull, five years his junior. To this union two children were born – Nancy in 1814 and a son, Royal, on October 31, 1815.
Clarissa died in 1820, the first member of the family, as we know, to be claimed by death.
After a reasonable period of mourning, Jason married Betsy Bell. To this union, a daughter, whom they named Mary French, was born on September 25, 1823. Betsy, too, died early in life and Jason was left with three young children.
For his third wife, Jason chose an Indian maiden named Roxy Ensign. During the ensuing years, Roxy gave birth to five children, all of whom, with the exception of one, lived into the first quarter of the twentieth century. The youngest of the five died in 1927.
Mary Trumbull Milligan and her husband took Clarissa’s daughter Nancy White into their home when she was twelve years of age. This event could have occurred prior to Jason’s marriage to the Indian. Because the Milligan children were quite young when their cousin came to live in their home, they were taught to call her “Aunt Nancy” since it was considered more respectful to one several years their senior to address her thus.
As a member of the Trumbull family, Nancy met a nephew of Aunt Laura Dunbar Trumbull. The young man’s name was Alonzo Dunbar. They fell in love and were married. This couple had six children, one of whom was the son of James Trumbull, after the family had moved into the Northwood community. It is possible that Nancy White Dunbar and her husband had moved from Vermont into Michigan since a number of the later generation lived in that state.
Nancy died in 1905 at the age of ninety-one.
Nancy’s brother Royal White, at the age of nineteen, married an eighteen-year old Scotch lassie named Mary Patterson, on November 4, 1834. To this union fourteen children were born, nearly all of them living through the first quarter of the twentieth century.
The fifth child, a daughter, was named Clarissa for her grandmother. While visiting her Milligan relatives living in the parsonage in Southfield, Michigan, she met a young man from Ohio who had gone to Michigan to escape being conscripted into the army, thus remaining faithful to the teaching of his church which forbade the settling of differences by warfare.
The young man, Matthew Mitchell, had been aided in securing a job as a farmhand in the local area by the minister in whose home Clara was a guest. The two young people met, fell in love, and were married on December 11, 1865, and moved back to the Mitchell farm in Ohio. At that time a Reformed Presbytery Church was located in Rushsylvania, a village only a mile distant from the farm. This was Matthew’s home church and he was proud to introduce his bride to his church friends, especially since she was related to some of the most respected ministers in the denomination.
To this union were born four children, namely David Armour, Mary Etta, Royal McCleod, and Charles Erskine.
When Clara came into the new community, she found that members of the Trumbull clan had preceded her and were already established in the area, having arrived some fifteen years previously.
Clarissa, or Clara, as she was most generally known, died in 1920, and her husband died in 1930. Both graves are located in the Fairview Cemetery, not far from Belle Center, Ohio. Clara’s children all married. David Armour was the only one who reared a family.
None of Clara’s children are living at the time this history is being written, although some of her grandchildren might be living.