The mystery of an old leather-bound Bible in the family may finally be solved. In light of recent discoveries, the following provides useful clues about the unidentified son of Adam & Christina Hartzell, born 1800-1804, between Leonard (1799) and David (1805). The 1810 Franklin County, VA Census shows 3 males under 10 years old. By ages of the unidentified son in the 1810, 1820 and 1830 Census, he would have been born from 1800 to 1802, in Virginia.

See genealogy chart below for names of people.

David Hartzell's granddaughter Minnie Alberta (Hartsell) Hart inherited the Bible, probably after her father James Alexander Hartsell died in 1910. She had married in 1902. In the Bible, Minnie wrote "Property of Great Grand Father Hartsell". Someone else, maybe James' wife Sophronia, wrote "From Daniel Hartsell to David Hartsell to James Hartsell to Minnie A. Hart" (after 1902). This someone else must have known who Daniel was. For many years, it was naturally assumed by some of the family that Daniel was David's father. I thought maybe a cousin, or that he wasn't a Hartsell, like his Indiana neighbor Daniel Guise. What seemed like unreliable family folklore now seems to be an incredibly important clue, both for the ancestry of David Hartsell, and for Adam Hartzell's unidentified son.

Minnie most certainly meant HER great-grandfather. She could have but didn't write "Great Grand Father Daniel Hartsell". It seems she, like everyone else, did not know his given name. So, we must assume it was Adam Hartzell. Adam died in 1833, thus David Hartzell's children, born after that, never knew their grandfather Hartsell. David's grandson William Webster Hartsell, a lawyer, surely knew about his sister's Bible, and knew that Daniel was not David's father, because of his "Ferdenand" notes told by his aunt Sarah (Hartsell) Walden, daughter of David Hartzell. Plus, David's great-grandson Donald V. Hartzell, born 1912, who researched family genealogy, did not know who Daniel was. It would make the most sense that a brother named Daniel gave David their father's Bible, and with a reason to do so. A Daniel born about 1801 in Virginia, with a reason for being hard to find. Plus, David's children were far more likely to remember talk of their Uncle Daniel.

In the 1830 Census for Jefferson Township, Montgomery County, Ohio, in the household of Adam Hartzell, it shows two males 30-39 years old. We had thought they were live-in farm hands, but Adam didn't own land, so it didn't make sense. Since David, age 24, (and Daniel?, age 28) were unmarried, it is more logical that they were still at home. After noticing many corrections on that census page (see image in "Evidence for Ancestry of David Hartzell"), it is very easy to believe the census taker should have marked 20-29 years old. If the other male was Daniel, it all falls into place. Daniel being the oldest of the two, "inherited" the Bible when their father died. Nothing was written in the Bible as customary, so it may not have been a "coveted" family heirloom. Since Daniel appears to have never married (not found in any later census), and presumably having no heirs, he gave the Bible to David.

Since this unidentified son has not been found in a Census after 1830, what if Adam and Christina both died in 1833 in the presumed cholera epidemic, and if there was a son Daniel, that he died also? Or he died before the 1840 or 1850 Census?

This was a false alarm, but documented here in case someone else comes across it. In late 2006, after searching via ancestry.com all U.S. 1850/1860 Census records for a Hartzell (Soundex spellings) born in Virginia 1799-1805, I found only one. He was D.A. Hartzell, age 58. Perfect. The census was taken June 16th, so he was born in the second half of 1801 or first half of 1802. Perfect. He was in Storrs Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, in 1860, forty miles south of Adam's 1830 Ellerton, Ohio homesite. Perfect. Storrs township is now Lower Price Hill, in southwest Cincinnati, on the Ohio River. Again, he was born in Virginia. He was unmarried, which made him hard to find, not being head of a household. He was keeper of a boarding house. 99% of Hartzells I've found with a name starting with "D" back then were either David or Daniel. If Adam's son, he would have to be Daniel. He has not been found as head of a household in the 1830, 1840, 1850 or 1870 Census. I was sure I had found "Daniel", but later found out his name was David:

At sites.rootsweb.com/~ohhamilt/dir1840cinti3.htm:
1840 Cincinnati City Directory
Comprising the names of householders, head of families, and those engaged in business, together with the state or country of their birth, etc.
Hartzell, David A - Va - r 3 b Main & Walnut
From some investigation, this means "born in Virginia, residence on 3rd between Main & Walnut".
This must be the D. A. Hartzell in the 1860 Hamilton County Ohio Census.

This D. A. Hartzell is so astonishingly close to what would be our ancestor David Hartzell's brother, I sometimes wonder if there is still hope. Why did he only give his name as "D. A. Hartzell" for the 1860 Census? Could that be what he told the Directory person, and the Directory person guessed at "David"? Why is he not in the 1840, 1850, 1870, etc. census? Was he ever head of a household? The search goes on ...

Adam Hartzell
--------------+
              .
              .
              |Leonard Hartzell
              +--------------
              |
              |Daniel Hartzell?
              +--------------
              |
              |David Hartzell
              +-------------+
              |             | James A. Hartzell
              |             +-------------+
              |             |             |
Christina Sink|             |             |Minnie A. (Hartsell) Hart
--------------+             |             +-------------+
                            |             |             |Ray Bunyard
                            |             |             +--------------
                            |             |
                            |             |William Webster Hartsell
                            |             +--------------
                            |             |
                            |             |Harrison M. Hartsell
                            |             +-------------+
                            |             |             |Donald V. Hartzell
                            |             |             +--------------
                            |  Sophronia Walker
                            |  -----------+
                            |
                            |Sarah (Hartsell) Walden
                            +--------------
                            |