Where is Zaccheus Test Buried?:
The Search for 'ZT' in the Quaker Encyclopedia
by Robert Test
10/17/2003
The puzzle
In the old section of the cemetery behind the meeting house At Winona Friends Cemetery in Butler Township, Ohio there are fourteen rows of gravestones. Most of these stones protrude above the ground by less than a foot. Many are blank with no writing on them. Some have intials and some have names carved into them.
Among these stones in the first row (the fifth stone to be precise) is one with the initials 'ZT' on it. Fourteen stones constitute this row with six of them showing initials--no names. These simple stones, in the old section of the cemetery, conform to the early practice of the Friends or Quakers to avoid ostentation in all things--including grave markers.
Who is ZT? Is this where Zaccheus Test -- our earliest Ohio Test ancestor is buried? Book A of the Salem MM Record of Births (1729-1827) and Deaths (1788-1842) [Ohio Historical Society Library Microfilm -- MIC 170, Box 5, Folder 6] records the following for Zaccheus Test: born day 23 Mo 9 Year 1762 Resident of Salem Metting Co. Cty [County] Ohio Deceased day 2 Mo 2 Year 1820 Where Buried Salem Late Residence Salem Meeting Ohio Ocassional Notes Appointed Minister.
The Salem MM record clearly indicates Zaccheus Test was buried in Salem. Moreover, we should observe that the Quaker Records are amazingly accurate. The accuracy of these records is determined less by comparing the records with corresponding reality than by comparing them with other records and noting the coherence and consistency they exhibit.
My point is that the Salem MM record of Zaccheus Test should be taken seriously. But, If Zaccheus Test is buried in Salem, who is this ZT buried in Winona? A seach of the Hinshaw records fails to show anyone with initials ZT coming into Ohio and dying at the appropriate time to be buried at Winona Friends Cemetery. So if we take the records serously with respect to the burial of Zaccheus Test how do explain the absence of anyone else with the initials ZT in those same Ohio records? Why would we want to know who this ZT is buried in this cemetery? Because I suggest that in this instance the Salem Record is wrong and that this is Zaccheus Test's grave site.
The issue is worth investigating only because ZT is an unusual pair of initials there being less than 30 different persons with those initials listed in the Quaker Records. One might counter that ZT may be an unusual set of initials but to show that this is Zaccheus Test's grave site we would have to show that no other ZT in the world is buried here. That is an impossible task.
But this is a Quaker cemetery and only Quakers would be buried here. This fact narrows the task considerably, especially since we have an alphabetized computerized index of most of the Quakers in America in the 19th century in William Wade Hinshaw's Six Volume Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy available now on CD-rom.
The Volumes of the Hinshaw Encyclopedia are as follows:
Vol. I
North Carolina and Tennessee
Vol. II
Eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey
Vol. III
New York
Vol. IV
Western Pennsylvania and Eastern Ohio
Vol. V
Southwestern Ohio
Vol. VI
Virginia
At the bottom of the page is a list of all Friends in the indices of the Hinshaw volumes with initials 'ZT'. The name is followed by the volume number in which the name appears. The date is crucial in that beginning about 1870 full names appear on the grave markers. We may safely infer that any ZT who died after 1870 would not be the ZT indicated on the stone.
The search for a ZT in the Hinshaw volumes indicates (1) there is no evidence of any ZT living or passing through Ohio prior to 1870 and (2) who died in Ohio prior to 1870. Given this, I suggest that the ZT buried at Winona is probably Zaccheus Test.
There are a couple of problems with this conclusion. (1) The Quaker records do not include everyone that was a Quaker. (2) If the New Garden MM Records were carefully compiled, there should be a mention of this ZT who is buried at one of the cemeteries included under its jurisdiction. There is no record of any ZT being buried at Winona. There is no certainty in genealogical matters and no certainty that there is no Quaker ZT that came into Ohio without being recorded and no certainty that the ZT buried in the Winona Friends Cemetery was a Friend.
There is another factor that might lend credence to ZT being Zaccheus Test. The following is from "Pap Hise's Diary: Salem 1846-1878":
"May 12 ...Elizabeth Fawcett, wife of William, deceased some 15 years ago, also died today; she was the daughter of Zacheus Test who died in the winter of 1819 and whose lifeless body I saw passing our door on a sled when I was but 6 years old; but it made such an impression on my mind at the time that it can never while life lasts be effaced."Pap Hise is Daniel Howell Hise who later became one of the leading abolitionists of the area. If we can find where his family's house was located and show that it was on the path towards Winona rather than towards Salem we have pretty solid evidence where Zaccheus Test is buried.
Columbiana County Cemetery Inscriptions, p. 414
Name
Vol. and Page
Date
Event
Zeno Taber IV p. 1225 1856, 11,25 gct to Iowa from Giliad MM
Z.E. Talbert V p. 869
1899, 9,21 rocf North Denver MM at Elk MM Zell E. Talbert V p. 869
1922
relrq Zimri Talbert V p. 868 1831, 2, 10 b. Prebble Co., Oh Zimre Talbert V p. 869 1884, 5, 22 gctg to Fruitland Kansas From Elk
Zachariah Tate
VI p.1001
Zacharia G. Tate VI p. 969
Zachariah Taylor I North Carolina
Zana Taylor VI Virginia
Zimri Taylor V p. 870 1857, 1,22 b Zeri Teas V p. 361
Susan 1876 adopted daughter of zeri
and Miriam rocf from New Garden, Ind.Zelah Terry III New York
Zachariah Thomas
I North Carolina
Zadok Willis Thomas IV
1856, 5, 18 b. Zadok Willis Thomas IV p. 1008 1865, 4,22 family gct to Spring Creek MM, Iowa Zebulon Thomas II Pa and NJ
Zella Thomas
IV p. 1340
1931, 3,25 Chas and w Zella & dt Virginia
rocf from Kokomo MM, IndZilla Thomas
II Pa and NJ
Zilpah Thomas V p. 769 1863, 8,16
West Branch MM, Oh gct Mississiniwa MM, Ind.
Zilpah Thompson IV p.864
1843, 6,17 Zilpah Barnaby formerly Thompson
con mcd.Zolda Thompson
IV p. 864
1831, 2, 19 Pleasy and ch Hannah, Zilpha [sic]
Amsy, Zolda, John and Annis recrqZilpha Thornlow I North Carolina
Zarinda Thorp
VI Virginia
Zachariah Tinsley VI Virginia
Zilpha Titus III New York
Z. Toms I North Carolina
Zelpa Toney
VI Virginia
Zalinda Townsend IV p. 230 1863, 3,22 Short Creek MM dis jG (W) Zerviah Townsend
III New York
Z. Trent
VI Virginia
Zachariah Trent VI Virginia
Zillah Trout V p. 363 1832, 7, 24 Clear Creek M dis mcd