— born in OH:
  2.  Mary STRAUB, b. 1827/8
  3.  Adam STRAUB, b. 1825-30; d. by 1840
  4.  Hester / Esther STRAUB, b. 1830/1
  5.  Benjamin STRAUB, Jr., b. 1833

— born in Hancock Co., OH:
  6.  Samuel STRAUB, b. 1836 
  7.  Aaron STRAUB, b. 1839; fought in Civil War; d. 1865

— born in Amanda Twp., Hancock Co., OH:
  8.  Hiram "Hi / High" STRAUB, b. Apr 1837 or 26 Feb 1842
  9.  Sheldon Parker "Shel" STRAUB, b. Feb 1844
10.  Thomas N. "Tom" STRAUB, b. 17 Mar 1847 or 1848

1a.  Anon.  1966.  Marriage Index:  Ohio, 1789-1850.  Liahona Research, Orem, UT (Broderbund CD-400):  not found.

1b.  Allen L. Potts.  Marion County, Ohio, Probate Court Marriage Records, Vols. I-XII, 1824-1902 (online at Heritage Pursuit):  subjects' marriage record not found, but Rev. Benjamin appears to have officiated at a double wedding:

James, William	Petterson, Amanda	7/7/1853	Rev. Benjamin Straub
Petty, John D.	Sandford, Eveline	7/7/1853	Rev. Benjamin Straub

2.  Census Index:  U.S. Selected Counties, 1820 (Broderbund CD-314):  not found, which suggests our subjects were not yet married.

3.  1830 Census Index and Digital Images (online at Ancestry.com; Image #19 of 26; extracted by Diana Gale Matthiesen):

1830

OH

Fairfield Co.

Bloom Twp.

p. 164

Ln. 13

Benjamin Stroup

100 110 - 110 010

These data indicate:

No. & Sex	Age Class	Therefore Born	Individuals Inferred
1 male	4 or under	1825-1830	= Adam
1 male	15-19	1810-1815	= ?
1 male	20-29	1800-1810	= Benjamin (b. 1802)
1 female	4 or under	1825-1830	= Mary (b. 1827/8)
1 female	5-9	1820-1825	= Susan (b. 1822)
1 female	20-29	1800-1810	= Elizabeth (b. 1802)

The older boy is much too old to be their child — a brother? nephew? hired help?  Listed 11 lines from Frederick BENNER, whose daughter, Rebecca, later married our subject's son, Benjamin. 

4.  1840 Census Index and Digital Images (online at Ancestry.com; Image #2-3 of 6; extracted by Diana Gale Matthiesen):

1840

OH

Hancock Co.

Amanda Twp.

pp. 50A-50B

Ln. 9

Benjamin Strout

210 001 - 011 101

0100000

These data indicate:

No. & Sex	Age Class	Therefore Born	Individuals Inferred
2 males	4 or under	1835-1840	= Aaron (b. 1838) = Samuel (b. 1836)
1 male	5-9	1830-1835	= Benjamin Jr. (b. 1833/4)
1 male	30-39	1800-1810	= Benjamin (b. 1802)
1 female	5-9	1830-1835	= Esther (b. 1830/1)
1 female	10-14	1825-1830	= Mary (b. 1827/8)
1 female	15-19	1820-1825	= ?
1 female	30-39	1800-1810	= Elizabeth (b. 1802)
1	person engaged in agriculture

Who is the older girl?  Hired help?  Susan has married, so she should not be at home.  Listed next to Frederick BENNER. 

5.  1850 Census Index/Images (online at Ancestry.com; Image #157 of 427 — mis-indexed "Shroup"):  Amanda Twp, Dist. 48, Hancock Co., OH, p. 467B, enumerated 9 Sep 1850 (extracted by Diana Gale Matthiesen):

1850:  for an explanation of the column headings, please see What the Numbers in the Federal Census Mean (missing columns contained no data).
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	12
107	107	Benj. Stroup	48	m	W	färmer	800	Pa	/
		Elisabeth	47	f	W				/	/
		Benj	16	m	W	färmer		O
		Saml.	13	m	W
		Aaron	10	m	W
		Hiram	8	m	W
		Shelden	6	m	W
		Thos. N.	3	m	W
		Juliann Grines	22	f	W

Column 10 means "married within the year," which would be a real bombshell if it were true.  But this census-taker must not have understood what the column meant, for he appears to have misused it throughout his enumeration.  All I can guess is that, while he was literate in German, his English was poor— and he was obviously German because he spells Elizabeth with an "s" and farmer with an umlaut-a (ä).  That he didn't understand the column is best exemplified by the census record of Benjamin and Elizabeth's daughter, Susanna (STRAUB) PLOTTS, who was enumerated ten households before them.  Susanna's name was ticked as having been married within the year, but not her husband's!  Not to mention that we know Susanna and her husband were married in 1839. 

6.  1860 Census Images (online at Ancestry.com; Image #70 of 85):  Findlay Twp., Hancock Co., OH, p. 79A, 1117/1083, enumerated 13 Jul 1860 (extracted by Diana Gale Matthiesen):

Benjamin Stroub	58	M	United Br. Minister		1600	Pa
Elizabeth	57	F				"
Aaron	21	M	Laborer			O
Hiram	18	M	"			"
Sheldon	15	M	"			"
Thomas	13	M				"
Elizabeth Shoemaker	15	F				"

Elizabeth SHOEMAKER is their granddaughter, whose parents appear to have died.

7.  1870 Census Index/Images (online at Genealogy.com, Image #9 of 30):  Burnips Corners P.O., Salem Township, Allegan Co., MI, p. 330A, enumerated 13 Jul 1870 (extracted by Diana Gale Matthiesen):¤

1870:  for an explanation of the column headings, please see What the Numbers in the Federal Census Mean (missing columns contained no data).
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	15	17	19
59	59	Stroub Benjamin	68	M	W	United Breth. Clerg.	1800	900	Pennsylvania			/
		______ Elizabeth	68	F	W	Keeping House			do		/
		Morehart Lucinda	19	F	W				Ohio
		Plotts Margaret	10	F	W				Michigan	/	/

Listed next to married son, Thomas N. STROUB.

8.  1880 United States Census and National Index (LDS Family History Resource File: CD-ROM Library):  not found.

9.  Text from the Minutes of the 1873 Michigan Conference (courtesy of Randy Neuman, United Brethren Historical Center, Huntington, IN; via Nancy Holben):

Rev. B. Stroub fell asleep in death in January 1873.  He was about 70 years of age and for more than 40 years a minister in this church the greater part of itinerant life having been spent in the Sandusky conference.  The last few years of his life he sustained a local relation to this Conference but in the years of his itinerancy was a faithful laborer.  He possessed a good mind and was a fair preacher.  He was not without his faults and yet he sought to be a Christian.  He died in peace.

10.  Ruth Robbins Monteith.  1956.  Abstracts of Wills and Estates, Allegan County, Michigan, 1835-1872.  NSDAR.

File No. 967 BENJAMIN STRAUB, Salem, d. Wed, Jan 1, 1873 Salem Heirs at law: ELISABETH STRAUB, widow, Salem SUSANNA PLOTTS, dau, Monterey HESTER MOREHART, dau, Van loo, Hancock Co, Ohio MARY SHOEMAKER, dau, Geneva, Ottawa Co, Ohio BENJAMIN STRAUB, Jr., son, Hancock Co, Ohio SAMUEL STRAUB, son, Hancock Co, Ohio HIRAM STRAUB, son, near Lansing, Michigan SHELDON P. STRAUB, son, Salem THOMAS N. STRAUB, son, Salem ELISABETH STRAUB petitioned Mar 12, 1873 that HIRAM PLOTTS be appointed administrator which he was on May 5, 1873 with JOHN GOODELL, surety.

11.  Jane Peppler.  1999.  Marion County, Ohio, Deed Book, Volume I, 1821-1825 (online at Heritage Pursuit):

Page	Grantor	Grantee	Date Signed	Neighbors/Witnesses
171	Andrew Stroub	Benjamin Stroub	03/04/1824	Paul Crawford; Jacob Crawford
172	Benjamin Stroub and Elizabeth Stroub	James H. Holmes	10/22/1821	Benjamin Hillman; William Hoddy

The 1821 date has to be wrong because Benjamin was still in PA in 1822.  These deeds are being entered in chronological order by recording date in a bound book.  Page 172 is among the pages of deeds recorded in 1824, and while occasionally a deed gets recorded at a much later date than it was originally signed, three years is unusual.  I believe this out-of-sequence date has to be a case of misreading the record.  Also, Benjamin had to get land in order to have it to sell, and there is no record of Benjamin having earlier patented land in the county, at least not in the online BLM database (see next source).  It makes more sense that Benjamin got the land from Andrew (his presumed brother) in March of 1824 and sold it in October of 1824.

12.  U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management. The Official Land Patent Records Office.

Date	Certificate No.	Land Office	Patented By	Acres	Aliquot  Sec.Twp.Rng	State	County*
21 MAY 1835	10881	BUCYRUS	Benjamin Stroub of Fairfield County Ohio	80	W½ NW¼ S27.T1S.R11E	OH	HANCOCK
20 Apr 1837	15208	BUCYRUS	Benjamin Stroub of Hancock County Ohio	40	NE¼ SE¼ S23.T1S.R11E	OH	HANCOCK
*The county is not given on the original certificate, which describes the location of the land solely in terms of Aliquot, Section, Township, and Range.  The county names must have been added to the database at some later time, probably when the certificate data were computerized.

13.  Letter from Kate (MOREHART) THOMPSON, granddaughter of our subjects, to her brother, Lindsey T. MOREHART, dated Jan 1925, in the possession of  Nancy Straub Holben, who kindly shared digital images of the pages (9 Jul 2001).  Among other things, Kate's letter names Benjamin's wife, Elizabeth HOSS, and their ten children:  Mary, Susan, Esther/Hester, Adam, Hiram, Aaron, Benjamin, Samuel, Sheldon, and Thomas. 

14.  Nancy Straub Holben.  My Straub Family of Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.  FamilyTreeMaker User Home Page.