no image
Privacy Level: Open (White)

Lydia (Casad) Sexton (1799 - 1894)

Lydia Sexton formerly Casad
Born in Rockport, Sussex, New Jersey, United Statesmap
Ancestors ancestors
Wife of — married [date unknown] [location unknown]
Wife of — married 17 Mar 1820 (to 1823) in Fairfield, Greene, Ohiomap
Wife of — married 10 Aug 1824 (to 9 Aug 1825) in Montgomery, Ohio, United Statesmap
Descendants descendants
Died at age 95 in Seattle, King, Washington, United Statesmap
Problems/Questions Profile manager: Leila Schutz private message [send private message]
Profile last modified | Created 30 Dec 2014
This page has been accessed 377 times.

Biography

Lydia was born in 1799. She was the daughter of Thomas Coon Casad. She passed away in 1894.

This profile is a collaborative work-in-progress. Can you contribute information or sources?

Sources

The Autobiography of Lydia Sexton, pub. 1882. Toward the end of her life, Lydia Sexton wrote her autobiography which details family history and genealogy, her own life, her work as an evangelist, and her part in the founding of the Brethren Church.


See also:


The following information was included in a publication entitled:

A Cossart Family History, Originally Compiled And Published By The Cossart Family Association In 1939 Volume 2.

There were twenty one members of the association listed on the letterhead of the form letter used by the association to solicit information from family members all across the country. The original edition was typewritten on mimeograph stencils and printed by mimeograph on only one side of the paper. The type was pica 10 pitch (10 characters per inch) so the six volumes ran to more than 1200 pages and each volume was bound separately. They had originally been punched and inserted in three ring binders but the library had re-bound them in hard back. The current edition was printed by Landon Cozad in Century ten point proportional type and on both sides of each sheet so it came out to 800 pages and fits nicely into a single book. I am in the process of condensing the volumes using Microsoft Word and numbering the paragraphs for easier reference. Regards, Bob Harrison


“Lydia. Casad was born April 12, 1799, died December 15, 1894; married 1st time to Isaac Cox; married 2nd time to Moses Moore on April 1, 1824; married 3rd time to Joseph Sexton on September 12, 1829. Isaac Cox died in 1823. No date of death of Moses Moore. Joseph Sexton died October 23, 1879.” (Reference: James G. Casad., Urbana, Illinois).


“Lydia Casad was born in Sussex County, N.J., near Rockport, on April 12, 1799. She was married three times. Married 1st husband March 17, 1820 who was Isaac Cox and who belonged to a very large family of respectability and wealth.” Her book says: We went to the home farm, Isaac taking charge of the sawmill which was on the farm and which was propelled by the waters of Mad River. Soon after our marriage, father Cox, who owned several farms, gathered up a boat load of grain for the market in New Orleans. He hired several hands, leaving his boys to care for the large farms. He left June 1, 1820; before they reached the mouth of the Ohio river, the hired hands were taken sick and when they reached New Madrid, Missouri Territory, on the west bank of the Mississippi one died (John Tatman, a noble young man. He was buried here). Father Cox was gone nearly a year; June 1, 1821 we heard he was at Cincinnati, Ohio, and would be home on a certain day. We all went to the big brick house, in Fairfield. He had been. sick and lived only a few weeks and was buried by the Masonic Fraternity on his father’s place, the old Isaac Cox homestead. He left a will giving a few favored children most of the estate, and to the mother, the home place, mill and 600 acres of land. Isaac was not mentioned, because he disobeyed. and married while yet a minor, having yet to serve his father two years. Isaac heard of the opening of the new territory of Indiana and went to seek a home near Indianapolis. I begged him not to go, for soon I would have help from the New Jersey estate. He felt that he could not lose this opportunity, so I gave him the money from my last drawing of my father’s estate, put his clothing in order and with a heavy heart watched him go down the road toward Dayton, Ohio, until his figure faded from my sight, as it proved forever. It was generally regarded as a wild goose chase to emigrate to Indiana. February 7, 1821 my son was born. He was named John Thomas Cox in honor of his grandfathers, John Cox and Thomas Casad. In November 1822 a letter came telling us of my husband’s accidental death. I received word that my mother in Greenville, Darke County, Ohio, was danger¬ously ill and went to her. Married second time, April 1824, Moses Moore. He was reserved in his manners and showed a good degree of culture. He was engaged by the United States Government in the survey of lands in the vicinity of the Maumee River. He was a gentleman of much reading, extensive travel, and I was highly honored, for I was a widow, homeless, and without means. Mr. Moore obtained a situation as principal of a school at Middleton, Butler County, Ohio, and we moved to that place. January 28, 1825, my son Finley Moore was born. Mr. Moore died August 9, 1825. I then removed to Jacksonborough in Butler County and later met a young man by the name of Joseph Sexton whom I married September 12, 1829. He died in Wilson County, Kansas, October 23, 1873 and is buried at Fredonia. I began to preach and after a year was given my license by the United Brethren, and preached. continuously through Indiana, Illinois and back to Ohio.”

The following is also an excerpt from the Autobiography of Lydia Casad Sexton, the story of her life through a period of over seventy-two years, from 1799 to 1872. Her early privations, and adventures, and Reminiscences. Clouds and Sunshine, as a child., wife, mother and widow; as minister of the gospel; as prison Chaplain. Her missions of help and mercy as published by the United Brethren publishing House of Dayton, Ohio, 1882, and as submitted to the compiler by Mrs. Carroll of Cleveland., Ohio~

“My grandfather, Anthony Casad (Cozart or Cozott) came to America in the early part of 1700. He had a grant of land taking in the Mississippi Valley from the Gulf of Mexico to Alaska Lake, embracing five miles on each side of the river. (See Starks History of the United States.)

“When this territory was ceded to the United States in 1803 and the question of title was so clouded that the claim has been as I understand it, abandoned.

“Grandfather and his brother Job, Samuel and Thomas and his sister Hannah settled in Somerset County, New Jersey. The two brothers Thomas and Samuel married two sisters, Caty and. Lydia Coon, (later in her book she says Anthony married Caty Coon, also says: “My grandfather was Anthony Casad and my grandmother was Katy Coon).

“My grandfather, Joseph Tingley; married Christian Manning of Rhode Island, and they had eight children, viz.: Eunice, Abigail who married Thomas Casad; Sally who married Lewis Runion, Jeremiah; Joseph, Christian, John and. Ebenezer.

“All my mothers people died in New Jersey and were buried at Mt. Bethel Chapel, in Somerset County, N.J., except uncle Jerry who is buried near Cadiz, Ohio, and Joseph who died on his farm eight miles north of Dayton, Ohio, and two miles south of Fairfield, Ohio

“In 1852, My father’s brother Samuel (648) was nearly 100 years old when I visited him. He was very wealthy and was living in luxury.

“Jacob, David and Samuel, boys of Uncle Samuel, started together for California when the gold fever was on in 1844. In crossing the plains with a large train of emigrants, Samuel and David were separated from Jacob and they never heard from him again. It is supposed he died while crossing the plains. Samuel gave out on the sandy plains, famishing for water. David started to get some water, a distance of about ten miles, but his mules sank knee deep in the hot sand beds until they finally gave out. After a short rest he drove the mules before him after tying himself to the tail of one of the animals he succeeded in getting to the spring. Drinking heartily and watering the mules and filling the kegs and canteens they went back where he had left Samuel. He had nearly perished, his tongue was badly swollen, his eyes were bloodshot. Other members of the party were in a much worse condition. When Samuel and David arrived at the diggings, Samuel was very restless and discouraged. He went to San Francisco and took a boat for New York. At the end of three years Dave returned home with $90,000.00 in gold.

“In l834 I went from Clark County, Ohio, to Jasper County, Indiana. In 1862 went back to Battle Grounds, Tippecanoe County, Missouri. Sold out here August 16, 1869 and removed to Spring Hill, Kansas, and was later appointed Chaplain to the Kansas State penitentiary,


“I was born in Sussex County, now Rockport, in the State of New Jersey. It is claimed by some of the oldest survivors of our family that our home lay upon both sides of the state line, between New York and New Jersey, and in the counties of Orange and Sussex. My home a humble log cottage upon the mountain side, with a small clearing for garden, orchard and field products.

“My father 647 - Thomas Casad was an accredited Baptist Minister and like some of the earlier ministers of the Gospel, “labored with his own hands”, that he might not be chargeable to his congregations, which were made up of pioneers like himself.” He was the son of 609 -Anthony Casad (or Cozott) of Somerset County, New Jersey, and Katy (Caty) Coon. My mother’s maiden name was Abigail Tingley, daughter of Joseph and Christian Tingley of Somerset County, N. J., but who came from London, England, before the Revolutionary War. My grandmother on my mother’s side was also from England. Her maiden name was Christian Manning and she was a sister of James Manning, President of Brown University located at Warren and removed to Providence, Long Island.


“My great-grandfather Joseph Tingley was driven from his home by the Hessians; grandmother, the children and the servants took refuge in the Schooley’s Mountains, taking with them a few supplies to subsist on until relief could be procured from the Army. Grandfather took his eldest two boys, Ebenezer and Jeremiah and equipped themselves each with a flint-lock musket, powder-horn, homespun blankets, etc., set out for the headquarters of General Washington, not far distant. Grandfather being an Englishman but now an American peasant was very obedient in the presence of distinguished personages. Approaching General Washington, he took off his hat, putting it under his arm, addressing him said: “I believe I have the honor of being in the presence of General Washington”. The General replied, “My name is George Washington; put your hat on daddy.” Said grandfather: “I come to offer you my service and those of my sons, such as it is, to help in this struggle”. Washington said.: “Noble offering, fall in ranks there and at roll call report your names.” The Hessians had taken possession of the house and barn for headquarters, who on leaving it, left only bare walls. Cattle, hogs, sheep, geese and chickens were either destroyed or driven off. Grandfather Tingley had plenty of slave labor so his children knew little of labor.

“My mother Abigail Tingley Casad came to Greenville, Darke County, Ohio, in 1821. In 1822 she received word that our grandmother Caty Coon Casad was blind in Dundee, New York. Mother died August 26, 1825 at Greenville, and is buried on the north side of the turnpike leading from Greenville to Richmond. A stone with “A.W.” on it is erected on the grave. This was done by her husband the Rev. John Wintermoot. I later erected a slab with an open bible upon it. Upon the face of the bible are these words. “Blessed are they that die in the Lord.” “Sacred to the memory of Abigail Wintermoot, wife of Rev. John Wintermoot and daughter of Joseph Tingley and Relict of Rev. Thomas Casad, departed this life August 28, 1825 in the 60th year of her age.” Here are buried her daughter Mary Casad Bodle and husband Abram Bodle, their child Abram Bodle Jr., and Ann Bodle; also Rev. John Wintermoot and his two daughters by his first marriage.

“In 1853 I went east on business and to visit, taking my son David who was not thirteen years old with me. We stopped first at Dundee, N.Y. and found my cousin Samuel Harpending, proprietor of the Harpending Hotel, and his mother, my aunt Hannah who was bowed down with grief, because of the condition of Ashbury who was dying of heart disease and who soon passed on. I saw him when dead. On our return we made a visit with aunt Hannah Harpending and her son, Honorable Abram Harpending, July 1853. At Dundee we found relatives among the Harpendings, Comptons, Blakemans, Casads, Andrews, Husons, Maltbys and other families. Then we went to my sister’s, Catherine Elstons place. While here we went to the town of Rockville, where we spent much time in play and sport as children. Thence to the New York State place, but she refused to go to the place in Sussex County, N.J. where father died. But her son Thomas Elston went with us. The monument at Beemersville reads: “Sacred is this monument to the memory of the Rev. Thomas Casad, who departed this life November 19th 1808 in the Forty-fifth year of his age.” The funeral services were held by elder Lathrop of Goshen, State of New York.

“After our mother’s marriage in 1811, Caty went to live with Uncle Jacob Casad’s. Polly went to live with Joel Crowell’s; Thomas went to live with Joseph Wilson; Christian went to live with aunt Polly Compton’s; Anthony had gone to Ohio; Abner had enlisted in the Navy before Anthony left home; Isaac went with mother. Uncle Jacob Casad was one of the executors of father’s will (estate) and he had ten years in which to settle it. In 1808 Lydia lived with Mrs. Isaac Finch, just down the road from the Ayers place. After father’s death and mother’s marriage I went to live with the family of Isaac Holly’s. While there never went to school nor was taught to sew, but did all the house work for a family of ten and was required to do the family wash and milk five cows. The neighbors complained and mother took me home. Then I went to uncle Jacob Casad’s. Aunt Hannah Casad was sick most of the time and I had to do the housework for a family of eight and had to milk five cows. Stayed here one year. Jacob Hand asked me to come and live with his family where he paid me to do the housework. They lived near Newton, and were very good to me, though I had eleven cows to milk before sunrise. He brought me a velvet bonnet with white feathers on it from New York which was wonderful during those days. They moved away and I went back to uncle Jacob Casad’s. Went to school and singing school and then went to Ohio with Anthony in 1814. Stopped with the Runions in Jefferson County; Ohio, then to learn glove making of Hetty Knox, then to Aaron Cosad’s in Fairfield, Ohio, for six months, then helped Mrs. India Rush Tatman without pay. Wages for housework was seventy-five cents per week and for tailoring it was twenty-five cents per day. Went to live with the Pattersons who were Quakers and learned tailoring, but mother did not believe as the Quakers so took me home.” (The above submitted by Mrs. Rose M. Carroll, 3301 Euclid Ave., Cleveland Heights, Ohio).

The late Oliver L. Cozad. of Marion, Ohio, stated in a letter that, ‘Mrs. Sexton’s book contains some very misleading statements concerning our ancestry in Europe.” Mr. Cozad was the author of the “Cozad Family” genealogy published in 1897. He engaged in research work on the descendants of Jacques Cossart for more than thirty years.


The following article appeared in the “Seattle Post-Intelligencer” on Thursday, December 20, 1894::


“MOTHER SEXTON DEAD

The Oldest Woman Preacher in the United States. Long Life Full of Good. Work. A pioneer of the West nearly a century old. She passes away peacefully in Seattle, Wn.

“Good Old Mother Sexton, one of the most remarkable women of the Nineteenth Century, after a pilgrimage of nearly a hundred years upon this earth, peacefully sank to rest in this city at 6:00 O’clock last evening at the home of her late son, Joseph Z. Sexton, 2122 Seventh Street. Although 95 years of age, she retained consciousness up to within three hours of the time of dissolution, and was able to call her grandchildren by name. She had no fear of death, but looked upon it simply as going to sleep and an awakening on a brighter and. happier world. Since the death of her son, November 5, 1894, she frequently expressed a desire and willingness to follow him.

“Rev. Lydia Sexton was born April 12, 1799, in Sussex County, and Rockport, New Jersey, and preached for nearly fifty years of the 95 that she lived. She was a cousin of Bishop Mathew Simpson. Her grandfather Marquis Anthony Cozot, was a prominent character in the early history of America. He came to this country early in the last century, holding in his possession a grant of land. taking in the Mississippi Valley for five miles on each side of the stream from the Gulf of Mexico to “Alaska Lake”. When the territory was ceded to the United States in 1803, the Marquis, who was then quite old, abandoned his grant because, he said, “it would cost more than it would come to, to keep it”. He died in Somerset County, New Jersey, leaving nine children.

“The descendants of these children number many hundreds, and some of these have been making efforts to gather the heirs together and make a united demand upon the Government for at least part of the value of the grant which their ancestor let go so easily. The name CAZOT has long since been changed. by popular usage to CASAD.

“Mrs. Sexton was the daughter of Rev. Thomas Casad, a Baptist Clergyman. Lydia found herself an orphan when she was nine years old, and four years later she left her home for the “far west”, the ‘tHios”, as Ohio was then called. The trip was a perilous one of 800 miles over the Allegheny Mountains and through unsettled wilder¬ness without roads or bridges and infested with bears, wolves and roving bands of Indians. She grew to womanhood in Ohio, and learned the glove making and tailoring trades. When quite a young woman she married Isaac Cox, who accidentally met his death soon after the wedding day. In April, 1824, she married Joseph Moore, but he also died within a short time. On September 12, 1829, she married Joseph Sexton, at Jacksonborough, Ohio, and with him she lived for over fifty years, until his death.

“In 1834:, after a life of doubt upon religious matters, she Joined the United Brethren Church and was baptised in the Great Miami river at Dayton, Ohio. A few days after Joining the church she went to a


dance, being very fond of the amusement. When she entered the hall she was suddenly stricken with a deep sense of disapproval of her own past conduct, and then felt the call to teach the word. She left the hall deeply moved, with the determination to become a minister. The opposition of her family, however, deterred her from carrying out her plans for several years, and it was not until, eight Years later that she commenced to exhort in public.

“From the first her success was notable. In 1851, Josiah Turrell, presiding elder at the quarterly Illinois Conference of the United Brethren, gave her a license to preach. Her forte was in revival work, and her converts during the twenty or thirty years following her regular initiation into the ministry numbered many thousands.


“In 1870 Mrs. Sexton, with her husband, moved to Kansas. She was no sooner there than she was importuned to preach. It seemed that half the people of the state knew good old mother Sexton, for many of the citizens of the new state had emigrated from Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. Before she had fairly gotten to work, how¬ever, Governor Harvey appointed her Chaplain at the State penitentiary. She took the position with some reluctance, for she was afraid she would not be able to successfully carry on the difficulties connected with the duties. She was over 70 years old, .and her kind, motherly and sympathetic tenderness awoke in many a poor man’s breast the love he had bore for his own mother years before. When her labors there were finished she counted 95 converts among the prisoners, who had embraced the Christian faith. She was a delegate in 1870 to the National prison congress at Cincinnati, and was the only woman who addressed that distinguished body.

“A year or two later, when people of Kansas were in distress, owing to several successive crop failures, she started out to solicit aid. Her appeals through the eastern states were rewarded by beautiful gifts of food and clothing, and at one time she sent back a whole carload of flour. Her good work was cut short by the receipt, while in Washington City, of a dispatch from Governor St. John, telling her not to send any further supplies, as the distress had been relieved.

“About five years ago Mrs. Sexton moved to Seattle from Kansas, and she still frequently preached and made trips where she held revival services up to 1892. About that time her eyesight began to fail and deterred her from doing more active work in the way of preaching. A year ago it failed completely, and she was in physical darkness until called into the unseen world.

“Mrs. Sexton remembered the war of 1812 distinctly. Her brother Abner was in the war, and her grandfather on her mother’s side, Joseph Tingley, and his two sons, were soldiers under Wash¬ington in the Revolution. She remembered of hearing her grandfather tell of his first meeting with General Washington. The old man, with his two sons, approached the general with some trepidation; taking off his hat and putting it under his arm, he said.: “I believe I have the honor of being in the presence of General Washington?”. “My name is George Washington”, replied, the great man. “Put on your hat, daddy”. “I come to offer you my services”, said the old man, “and. that of my sons, such as it is, to help in this struggle.” “Noble offering”, said Washington. “Fall in ranks there and at roll call report your names.”

“Mrs. Sexton leaves one son, David Sexton, of Snohomish, and five grandchildren, Clarence, J.H., Lydia, Florence and Joseph Z. Sexton Jr. A peculiar thing about Mrs. Sexton’s family is that its members all lived. to a ripe old age. Lydia Sexton’s two sisters each lived to be over 90 years old, and died in almost the same manner as she did. No arrangements have yet been made for the funeral.”





Is Lydia your ancestor? Please don't go away!
 star icon Login to collaborate or comment, or
 star icon contact private message the profile manager, or
 star icon ask our community of genealogists a question.
Sponsored Search by Ancestry.com

DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Lydia by comparing test results with other carriers of her mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondrial DNA test-takers in the direct maternal line: It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Lydia:

Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.



Comments

Leave a message for others who see this profile.
There are no comments yet.
Login to post a comment.

C  >  Casad  |  S  >  Sexton  >  Lydia (Casad) Sexton