Ordered that John and Joseph Starn guardians of the orphans of Jacob Starn dec'd be authorized to bind Elizabeth Starnes one of the orphans to Eleanor Baker. Also Frederick Starnes another to Nicholas Baker. Also Anne Starn to Joshua Colvin and Joshua Starn to Jacob Starn according to law. Page 158.

The following is taken from The Calvin Families, pp. 58-74.

Joshua Calvin and family reached their destination at a time when Hampshire County was about to benefit from a momentous change. The enormous land holdings of Lord Fairfax, based upon a grant by King Charles II of England and amounting over six million acres, comprised all the territory between the Potomac and Rappahannok Rivers to their sources and included all of what is now Hampshire County. It had not been Lord Fairfax's policy to give settlers in this region full titles to their lands, but after a small down payment to require them to pay him an annual fee or rental. Now, with the close of the Revolution, the Virginia Legislature nullified the old English grant, gave fee simple titles to those occupants who had previously made contracts with Lord Fairfax, and declared the remainder of the lands to be public domain open to settlement. In may have been news of this reaching New Jersey which had impelled Joshua to move there with his family at this time. At any rate in Maxwell and Swisher's History of Hampshire County the name of Joshua Calvin appears in a list of the first 200 settlers to file on the newly-opened lands. His entry was made in the year 1788 and conveyed "400 acres on the waters of the Little Capon," a small tributary of the Potomac River. [Note: The compiler of this genealogy, Walter Gilbert, also owns land on the same river, now called the Cacapon, at a place between Joshua's site and the confluence with the Potomac. It is a favorite place for resting and escaping from the stress of city living.] Here in a lovely valley between the first ridges of the Alleghenys not far from the town of Romney, Joshua was to make his home for 28 years; here his sons grew to manhood; and here or in the vicinity all of them except Mahlon and Robert were married. But the tillable land in this mountainous region was limited, and as the sons were married and wanted homes of their own the need for more good farming land was felt. David Calvin, after his marriage, is said to have gone to Loudoun County, Virginia, and to have lived there for a few years, but in 1804 David and his family, together with two of his brothers, Mahlon and probably Robert, made a trip westward over the Alleghenys to what is now Portage County, Ohio. Finding the county attractive, with plenty of fertle land, David settled near Palmyra with his family, while Mahlon and Robert, both then unmarried, after locating desirable land, returned to Virginia. In 1808, Mahlon and Robert returned to Ohio, and were accompanied by their brother, Benjamin, and family, all of them locating in Palmyra Township of the present Portage County, Ohio.

A description of one of these trips from Virginia, evidently this second one, was given the writer [Calvin] some years ago by one of the old timers as it was told to him by a member of the pioneer party who made the journey as a boy of nine in one of the wagons. As the tale went, it took them a long time to get ready in Virginia for the great move. Wagons were prepared, good oxen teams obtained, meats cured, fruits dried or put up, and other supplies made ready. Finally, their movable effects were loaded, and, driving their cattle with them, they set out on the difficult journey over the Alleghenys and the country west of them. They traveled for weeks, sometimes stopping for rests. They would come to rivers which they crossed by cutting logs and constructing rafts large enough to ferry over the loaded wagons, after which they would let the rafts float off and would proceed on their way, only to come soon to another river when the same procedure had to be repeated. At last they came to an enormous river (evidently the Ohio), which they had much difficulty in crossing, one of the wagons and some of the oxen and cattle having been lost, with several members of the party having a narrow escape from drowning. But at last safe on the other side, damages were repaired and the party continued onward for many more days, until one day the leader stopped, examined marks on some trees at one side of the road, and exclaimed: "This is the place; unyoke the oxen." They had arrived at the located lands in what is now Portage County, Ohio. Such were the journeys of the early Calvin pioneers.

Favorable reports were evidently sent back to Virginia regarding the Ohio country, but Joshua Calvin and his wife, Sarah, were both now getting old and probably hesitated about leaving the Virginia farm which had been their home for so long. The two older sons, Samuel and Luther, who were also still in Virginia, may have felt the same way about it. However, finally in 1816, when old Joshua was 74 years old, all of them decided to make the move. After selling their lands in Virginia, the trip to Ohio was made in safety that year, this last party having consisted of Joshua and wife, their daughter in law, Sarah (Tate) Calvin and young son, John Tate Calvin, (the latter being widow and son of Joshua Calvin, Jr., who had died in Virginia), and the two remaining sons in Virginia, Samuel and Luther, with their families. On arrival in Ohio all of this last party located in Green Township of Mahoning County, adjoining Portage County where the other sons had settled. The date of arrival of this last group of the family was April 27, 1816. Here Joshua and his sons Samuel and Luther all purchased land around a locality which became known later as Locust Grove, which is situated a mile and a quarter east of the small town of Greenford and about six miles northeast of the city of Salem, Ohio.

It is interesting to note that Joshua Calvin here bought 428 acres of land or just 28 acres more than he had made on in Hampshire County, Virginia, 28 years before. Here he built a large log house near the center of the tract, and settled down to spend the rest of his days. Part of the land thus acquired, 132 acres, is now [1943] owned by John Elmer Calvin, a great great grandson of Joshua, and has therefore been in the family 127 years (1916-1943).

The story has come down that when Joshua and party left Virginia early in 1816, the spring there was well advanced, but that when they arrived at their destination in Ohio on April 27th they found the weather still cold and snowy. Joshua's good wife, Sarah, is said to have wanted to turn right around and go back to Virginia without unloading, but Joshua, a man of few words, proceeded to unload the wagons and make camp without more ado. In fact, the family had unfortunately chosen an extremely bad year to make a start in the new country, as the year 1816 was long noted in Ohio as the year without a summer, ice forming every month in the year and measuring one eighth inch thick on July 5th. Happily, however, the following summer of 1817 was an unusually nice one, so that the good Sarah became quite contented with the new country and never again wanted to return to Virginia.

Thus Joshua Calvin and his clan finally settled down in Mahoning and Portage Counties, Ohio, where many of their descendants still reside today. Here the Calvins prospered and multiplied. Particularly the Locust Grove neighborhood of Green Township in Mahoning County became a Calvin center. Samuel Calvin donated two acres to land for the Locust Grove School in 1834. David Calvin, son of Luther, gave two acres for church and cemetery purposes, and the Locust Grove Cemetery became the Calvin burial ground.