I originally wrote this entry in May of 2023 for a 52 Ancestors weekly writing prompt regarding brick wall ancestors. I am rewriting this entry as of February 2025 and including my new findings from my research in the last year and a half.

I have gone deep down the rabbit hole of looking at others with the surname Price living in the same Ohio counties at the same time as my ancestors. I have spent hours, probably days, doing this, but to no avail. It led me to various Price families from Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New York, and elsewhere. Some obviously had no connection to my Price family, others were plausible, maybe, but no solid connections were made or provable.

Prior to this new research the furthest I could take my Price line back was to my 3rd great-grandfather John Price. We knew that he was most likely the son of John Price. He was born 7 April 1783 in Maryland, and died 1857 in Hocking County, Ohio. He married 2 May 1810 in Washington County, Maryland to Nancy Anna Albert. She was the daughter of Johann Peter Albert and Anna Walpurgis Hoerner. Her parents were from Niklashausen, Main-Tauber-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. I wrote about them a few weeks ago. You may read about them here: Walpurgisnacht (Saint Walpurgis Night), Saint Walpurga, My Ancestors Named Walpurgis from Tauber Franconia (Germany).

Even though his parentage was unproven for many years, many linked him to various Maryland families with Welsh and English roots, and in the end, DNA did show that he was part of some of these same families they linked him up with. By studying not only my DNA matches but those of my maternal half-sister, my maternal half-niece (my half-brother’s daughter), my Kennedy/Price 2nd cousin, and other related DNA matches, I was able to figure his ancestry out and break through the brick wall.

I discovered that part of the reason I had such a confusing experience with my own DNA matches was because I share certain ancestors on both sides of my tree. This confusion is not something I found when looking at the DNA matches of my close maternal DNA family that do not share my paternal side with me.

I discovered that my 7th (and 8th) great-grandparents Thomas Parsons and Isabella ____ are my ancestors on both sides of my tree, which caused me to have DNA matches to this couple on both paternal and maternal lines. I descend from two of their children.

My closer connection is via their daughter Elizabeth Eliza Parsons and her husband John Norris; they are my paternal 6th great-grandparents.

My second connection is via their daughter Mary Parsons and her husband Mordecai Price; they are my maternal 7th great-grandparents. Also, I descend twice from this couple.

Mordecai Price was the son of Thomas Price, Jr. and Elizabeth Johnson, and the grandson of Thomas Price and Elizabeth Phillips.

Mary Parsons and Mordecai Price had the following children:

1. John Price, Sr., married Rebecca Merryman.
2. Thomas Price, Sr., married Keturah Merryman.
3. Rachel Price, married Dennis Garrett Cole.
4. Hannah Price, married William Tipton and John Bosley.
5. Benjamin Price, married Elizabeth Hewett. 
6. Stephen Price, married Constant Wheeler.
7. Mordecai Price II, married Elizabeth White.
8. Leah Price, married Thomas Ford
9. Elizabeth married Thomas Carr
10. Mary Price, married Jonathan Hanson and George Walker.
11. Sarah Price, married Thomas Taylor.

My maternal 6th great-grandparents are Rachel Price / Dennis Garrett Cole and John Price, Sr. / Rebecca Merryman.

Dennis Garrett Cole was the son of John Cole and Johanna Garrett.

Rebecca Merryman was the daughter of Samuel Merryman, Sr. and Mary Boone. Side note, I also share Boone ancestors on both sides of my tree.

The next generation down, my 5th great-grandparents are John Price, and his 2nd wife Urith Cole. They were first cousins. John Price was the son of John Price, Sr. and Rebecca Merryman, and Urith Cole was the daughter of Dennis Garrett Cole and Rachel Price.

John Price married 1st to Mary Parrish on 26 June 1748. She died in 1752, and he married 2nd to Urith Cole on 26 January 1753.

John Price and Mary Parrish had one child:

1. Leah Price, born 1 September 1749 in Baltimore County, Maryland, she died in the same place about 1785. She married Edward Gill.

Children of John Price and Urith Cole:

1. Rebecca Price, born 25 November 1753 in Baltimore County, Maryland, and died before May 1789. She married Lewis Pitts, Jr.
2. Sarah Price, born about 1754 in Baltimore, Maryland, and died 1822 in Tyler, Charles City, Virginia. She married 1st to ___ Cole and married 2nd to Lewis Pitts, Jr (the widow of her sister Rebecca Price).
3. Amon Price, born 3 January 1756 in Maryland, and died 21 September 1843 in Price Edward County, Virginia. He married Rachel Tracy.
4. John Price, born about 1757 in Baltimore County, Maryland, and died before 1830 in Ohio. He married 1st to unknown (the mother of his children) and married 2nd to Ann Price.
5. Rachel Price, born 13 June 1758 in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland, and died 21 April 1761 in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland.
6. Mary Price, born about 1760 in Baltimore, Maryland, and died 1845 in Washington County, Tennessee. She married Mordecai Ford.

My 4th great-grandfather is John Price, the son of John Price and Urith Cole.

This John Price is found in the 1790 and 1810 censuses for Washington County, Maryland.

By 1820, he is found in the Richland, Fairfield County, Ohio census. It appears that his wife died prior to 1820, for he marries on 7 March 1820 in Fairfield County, Ohio to Ann Price. Nothing more is known about Ann Price. It appears that John Price died prior to the 1830 census.

I have been unable to locate the 1st marriage record for my 4th great-grandfather John Price, so the name of his 1st wife, the mother of his children, is unknown.

Children of John Price:

1. John Price born 7 April 1783 in Maryland, and died 1857 in Hocking County, Ohio. He married 2 May 1810 in Washington County, Maryland to Nancy Anna Albert. She was the daughter of Johann Peter Albert and Anna Walpurgis Hoerner.
2. James Price born about 1785 in Maryland, and died before 1850 in Muskingum County, Ohio. The name of his wife is unknown, but he had at least nine children.
3. Margaret Price born about 1790 in Washington County, Maryland. Nothing more is known about her. She may have died before adulthood.
4. (Son) Price born about 1801 in Maryland.
5. (Daughter) Price.

The next generation down is my 3rd great-grandparents John Price and Nancy Anna Albert. They married 2 May 1810 in Washington County, Maryland.

Washington County, Maryland was a hub, and many came from neighboring areas and states to marry there. It is bordered on the NW by Fulton County, Pennsylvania, to the west is Allegany County, Maryland, to the SW is Morgan County, West Virginia, to the south is Berkeley County, West Virginia, to the south is also Jefferson County, West Virginia, to the SW is Loudoun County, Virginia, to the east is Frederick County, Maryland, and to the NE is Franklin County, Pennsylvania.

My ancestors John Price and Nancy Anna Albert named their children: John F., Sarah Ann “Sally”, James, Mary Ann, and Nancy Jane Price.

Their first two children were born in Washington County, Maryland. He is found in the 1820 and 1830 US Federal Censuses for Richland, Fairfield County, Ohio. His next four children were born in Richland, Fairfield County, Ohio. By 1840 he is living in Monday Creek Township, Perry County, Ohio. The distance between Richland Township in Fairfield County and Monday Creek Township in Perry County is 14.3 miles. Fairfield and Perry Counties are next to each other and have some shared history. By 1850 he is living in Green, Hocking County, Ohio. Hocking County is next to Perry County. The distance between Monday Creek Township in Perry County and Green Township in Hocking County is 13.1 miles. He dies in 1857 in Hocking County, Ohio. His wife Nancy Albert Price is found in the 1860 census living in Green, Hocking County, Ohio, in the household of her daughter Nancy Jane Price and her husband Richard Henry Taylor and their children. Nancy dies in 1862 in Hocking County, Ohio. John and Nancy (Albert) Price are buried in Webbs Chapel Cemetery.

My line continues with the son James Price who married Julia Ann Mateer/Meteer, the daughter of Robert Meteer and Esther Chambers. They lived most of their lives in Monday Creek (Maxville), Perry County, Ohio but did live in Falls, Hocking County, Ohio during one census.

You may learn more about my Mateer/Meteer ancestors, and about my connection to my Mateer cousin actress Carole Lombard.

Famous kin of Mordecai Price and Mary Parsons:

Richard Nixon’s line is via their son Mordecai Price II and his wife Elizabeth White.

If you’d like to learn more about the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks project, please visit here:

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.

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