Ezekiel Mott, Jr. was born about 1769 in Dutchess County, New York. In his statement regarding his father’s service in the Revolutionary War he recounts that his father took the children to the “New Jersies” where he (Ezekiel, Jr.) was bound out at Monmouth to David Cook.
Ezekiel married Mary (Polly) Unknown probably in New Jersey or Pennsylvania. Their first child, Ezekiel, was born in Pennsylvania about 1797, their second child, Sarah, was born about 1798 in Trumbull County, Ohio. Ezekiel and Polly had nine known children.
Early Ohio records trace Ezekiel Mott, Jr. to Deerfield Township, Portage County, Ohio in 1807. While living in Portage County, Ezekiel and his brother, Elijah, served as privates during the War of 1812 in the 1st Co. 2nd Battalion 2nd Regiment 4th Brigade. The company was charged with marching to Cleveland to defend the city against the British. The 1st Company served for ten days and each private was paid a prorated amount of $5.00 per month for service.
Ezekiel and Polly removed to Granger Township, Medina County, Ohio by 1816 and squatted on land owned by George M. Codding, in Lot #2, that was part of the Western Reserve. He built his cabin in the spring of 1816 (the first log cabin built in the township) and was known as “Squatter Mott.” The Mott’s were a hospitable group as mentioned in “The History of Medina County and Ohio,” on page 638, “In February, 1818, the first train of emigrants started in ox sleds from Ontario County, New York....They arrived on the new lands in the middle of March and for the first few days after their arrival they availed themselves of the proffered hospitalities of the cabin of the ‘Squatter Mott’.”
On January 9, 1819, Ezekiel purchased 60 acres of land in Lot #22, Township 3, Granger Township, Medina County, Ohio for the sum of $300.00 from Burt and Betsy Codding. It is unclear as to when Ezekiel and Polly returned to Portage County, this time living in Streetsboro Township. Ezekiel sold 60 acres in Township 3, Lot 22 to Richard Paull on April 6, 1827, but a tax record for Ezekiel continues in Medina County for a number of years past the sale of the property.
Ezekiel died in Streetsboro on September 18, 1828 leaving “70 acres and the mansion house” to his wife Polly. Mary Mott had a 1830 Ohio census enumeration in Streetsboro, but then her trail was lost.
Children of Ezekiel and Mary Mott
Family research is never done alone. Thank you to Jeanne Hough and Diane Stober who have shared their Mott information with me.
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