Much info has been confused between this John and his father John.
Toby Williams at GenForum said:
"John Van Buskirk, born about 1755 in New Jersey, moved with hisparent s to what is now Brooke County, WV in 1780, where he wasmarried by the R everend Doddridge, and then moved to Licking County,Ohio in late March 1 800, where he had received 3100 acres. He was thefifth settler in what i s now Licking County, and died on December 31,1840."
From Historical Collections of Ohio, Licking Co:
"This county contains a mixed population; its inhabitants originatedfr om Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey, New England, Wales, andGermany. A mong the early settlers were John CHANNEL, Isaac STADDEN,John VAN BUSK IRK, Benjamin GREEN, Samuel PARR, Samuel ELLIOTT, Johnand Washington E VANS, Geo. ARCHER, John JONES, and many Welsh."
And from Newark Ohio Tourist Information:
"In 1801-02 William Schenck was hired by his uncle, John N Cummingsand G W B urnet to survey the land they had purchased. Schenckarrived in Lickin g county and began surveying the area. Hediscovered that John Van Bus kirk was the only settler in the countythat was living on his own land . All other settlers were squatters."
"Mr. (David) Van B.'s grandfather, Isaac Van Buskirk, was a soldier int he Revolution, and his uncle, John Van Buskirk, served in the war of18 12, having been wounded at the battle of Tippecanoe."
From Licking County Ohio History:
"By diligent inquiry and the aid of family records, the names ofnearly a ll the early settlers have been ascertained, and are placedin the foll owing order:
In 1800 John VanBuskirk and Benjamin Murphy, the last week in March,an d J. Wayman the same season....
John Van Buskirk was the first person to settle in Union township, onl and owned by himself. A biographical sketch of this pioneer will befo und in another chapter.....
In the fall of 1801, he (John Edwards) moved into Union township, onth e land of John Van Buskirk, with whom he had previously beenacquainted .
(Rev Benedict Belt), by the aid of his mother's money, in the fall of1 802, erected a small log mill about one hundred fet from where theVan B uskirk or Montgomery mill now stands.....
Soon after Benedict left his mill, perhaps in the spring of 1804, itwa s swept away by a flood, and the site was bought by John VanBuskirk, w ho built a better mill, and there has been a mill on thatsite ever sin ce."
And again:
"In the spring of 1800, probably not a week after the advent of Greena nd Pitzer at Shawnee run, John Van Buskirk arrived and entered upona t ract of land of thirty-one hundred acres, on the South fork, inwhat is n ow Union township, He had previously purchased it, and atonce began er ecting buildings, clearing land and raising crops. Mr.Van Buskirk was b orn in New Jersey, and came with his father's familyin 1780 to Brooke c ounty, Virginia, where he grey to manhood, andwhere, also, he married a nd lived until his removal to the Southfork, as above stated. He was a m an o liberal means, beingpecuniarily in more independent circumstances t han most of thepioneers.
He came to his new home in the wilderness by way of "Zane's trail," asf ar as Brush creek, in Fairfield county; bringing with him a fullsupply o f wagons and domestic animals, and made the sixth settlerwithin the pr esent limits of the county.
Mr. Van Buskirk was a stout, active, resolute man, a woodsman of thefi rst order, frequently accompanying such chieftains as CaptainSamuel Br ady and John McCulloch in their expeditions against theIndians. He act ed well his part as a faithful, ever ready, efficientpioneer on the fr ontier of Virginia, in giving protection to thesettlers that were ende avoring to establish . themselves in permanenthomes on both sides of t he Ohio, during the twenty years of Indianwarfare ; his residence bein g at, or near, the mouth of Buffalocreek, in Brooke county, Virginia. T hose were years of fierceconflict, murderous warfare, barbarity, blood a nd carnage.
He remained on his farm at the South fork until 1804, when he removedt o Newark and rebuilt the Petticord and Belt mills, which he runpersist ently, much more to the benefit of the public"than himself,until near h is death.
He died on the last day of December, 1840, at the age of almosteight-f ive years. He was, in the early part of his eventful life, aman of gre at enterprise and force of character, and while living onthe frontier, i n common with his fellow frontiersmen, endured manyhardships, and had m any hair-breadth escapes from marauding Indiansin his conflicts with t hem. As a spy, he was invaluable, and scoutedextensively between the O hio and Tuscarawas rivers. Courage andpatriotism were his distinguishi ng characteristics. His family werethe first to enter the territory of t his county- from the southeastin a wagon. He left the "Zane trail," ea st of Lancaster, cutting aroad from there to his land on the South for k, in the spring of1800."
"And it was during this year (1800) also that John Van Buskirk leftBro oke county, Virginia, and settled upon a thirty-one hundred acretract o f land he had purchased, situated in the valley of the Southfork (now i n Union township), some eight miles or more above themouth of the Sout h fork."
"The year 1802 brought many immigrants. Alexander Holmes and JamesHend ricks came from Brooke county, Virginia, and settled in the SouthFork v alley near the residence of their brother-in-law, John VanBuskirk...."
Residences & events of this John:
1830 Newark Twp, Licking Co, OH. At census time that year John VanBu skirk was 60-70 years old with a family consisting of 2 males age15-20 , 1 female age 10-15. and 1 at 50-60.
1840 Same place. There were 2 John Van Buskirks in that place butbot h were too young to be this man, both were 30-40. However one wasmost l ikely a son living in a row with other possible children,Catharine and W illiam V Buskirk, same ages.
From Rev War Veterans of Licking Co, OH:
Van Buskirk John 1755 1840 6th Street Cemetery, Newark, LickingCou nty. D, F2
Revolutionary War Soldiers Buried in Sixth Street Cemetery Marker
Dedicated to the memory of these Revolutionary War soldiers known tobe b uried in Sixth Street Cemetery
Azariah Davis
Joseph Jackson
Lt. Alexander McClellend
Walter Newman
Eldad Steele
John Vanbuskirk
