Person:Israel Wirt (1)

Birth: May 12, 1797 Virginia, USA Death: Aug. 9, 1880 Randolph County Indiana, USA

Israel Folsom Wirt is the son of Conrad Wirt & Rachel Folsom. He married Elizabeth Sprinkle 11 Sept 1820, Highland Co., OH.

Israel & Elizabeth had 12 children: James, Eliza (Windowmaker), John, Nancy (Boots), William, Mary (Wood), George, Sarah (Willey),Israel, Henry, Noah & Ellen (Ingle). The family moved from Highland Co., OH to Randolph Co., IN about 1836.

After Elizabeth's death, Israel married Catharine Metzker.

Census records show that Israel was a farmer. He is also said to have been a shop keeper and a Church of Christ minister.

According to information at the Randolph Co. Historical Society, an old transcription of Israel's tombstone indicates that the tombstone shows that Israel died Aug 9, 1880, 72Y-2M-27D and that Israel's information is on the south side of the tombstone and Elizabeth's on the north side; the west side shows "Farewell Mother & Father."

Note that calculating Israel's date of birth from the tombstone transcription information suggests a birth of 13 May 1808, different from the 12 May 1797 date of birth in family records.

Family links:

Spouse:
 Elizabeth Sprinkle Wirt (1804 - 1874)*

Children:
 Eliza Wirt Windowmaker (1824 - 1904)*
 Nancy Wirt Evans (1827 - 1893)*
 Mary Wirt Wood (1831 - 1902)*
 Henry Wirt (1840 - 1904)*
 Malitany Ellen Wirt Ingle (1846 - 1935)*

• Calculated relationship

Burial: Steubenville Cemetery Randolph County Indiana, USA

1.   www.waymarking.com.

   What there is of Steubenville, Indiana today is in Steuben County (north east Indiana). The town is comprised of 8 homes in an unincorporated area - pretty close to qualifying as a ghost town itself. Its full fledged ghost town brother, Steubenville, Indiana in Randolph
   County is comprised of 0 homes. Was the town just moved?
   
   Oddly enough evidence seems to indicate both towns existed in the same time period. In 1841 the Steubenville in Steuben County was being
   considered for the county seat. It was at the intersection of two railroad lines; it even had its own railroad stop. Meanwhile one year earlier in 1840, the other Steubenville was recorded in Randolph county and some think a post office was even opened.
   
   Steubenville, Indiana of Randolph County was officially plated on the day before Christmas in 1839. It only had three or four homes even in
   its heyday. One of them was a general store run by Israel Wirt. Israel just happened to be one of the two men who designed the town and sold lots. He also still resides in Steubenville, by the way! He hasn't been much of a local power broker or mover and shaker though since
   about August 9, 1880. You can find him just east of his old store down in the cemetery. He's been waiting for you for the last 100 or so years.
   
   When you visit the site you will see there was also a church. Well what isn't mentioned on the sign is it was never used for religious activities--and by some accounts never even finished. Finished or not, what there was of it was moved south to the corner of what is now the memorial woods. ( The idea of a building that was possibly never finished, never used for religious purposes and then moved away is kind of stretching the idea of being a church in my mind.) In any case, don't get the idea folks were showing up here on a regular basis on Sundays or the cemetery was an outgrowth of the church. The earliest burial in the cemetery was 9 months before the town was even formed.
   
   The last mention of Steubenville as an active town that I could find was in a publication dated 1882, two years after Israel's death. It seems likely that the demise of Israel and his store/post office was the death blow to Steubenville as well. Even in an 1854 gazetteer it was described then as a small village so there couldn't have been too much activity to carry on. Then 8 years later, in 1862, the main cross road in town leading to the ford on the Mississinewa was abandoned in favor of the "new" bridge about half a mile away. Things just didn't go well for Israel and his town.