Tag: Ohio

Temperance Gilson (1823–1851)

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A life in Marion and Morrow Counties, Ohio

Temperance Gilson was born 29 July 1823 in Ohio, the daughter of Samuel Gilson and Dolly Clark.¹ Her early years were spent in a family that was part of the movement from New York into central Ohio, a migration reflected in the birthplace of her sister Sally Jane about 1828.²

Marriage to James Lawhead

On 20 January 1840, Temperance Gilson married James Lawhead in Marion County, Ohio.³ The original marriage entry records that the couple was legally married on 28 January 1840 by Michael Hedges, J.P.⁴

Marriage record of James Lawhead and Temperance Gilson as seen on ancestry.com

A family register page preserves their birth dates and repeats the marriage date, providing an important piece of corroborating evidence.⁵

Five children were born to James and Temperance:

  • Cynthia Alice Lawhead, born 2 September 1840, Marion County, Ohio⁵
  • Margaret Ann Lawhead, born 13 May 1842, Pennsylvania⁵
  • Susannah Gilson Lawhead, born 8 September 1843, Morrow County, Ohio⁵
  • George Washington Lawhead, born 10 February 1845, Westfield Township, Morrow County, Ohio⁵
  • James Lawhead, born 26 October 1846, Morrow County, Ohio⁵

The change in the recorded birthplace of the children from Marion County to Morrow County does not represent a move. In 1848, Morrow County was created from portions of Marion, Richland, Delaware, and Knox Counties. The Lawhead family remained in the same locality — the jurisdiction changed when the new county was formed.

James Lawhead died 19 July 1846 in Morrow County, leaving Temperance a widow with five young children, the youngest born just three months after his death.¹

Marriage to Charles Conlon

Temperance married again on 7 May 1849 at Cardington, Morrow County, Ohio, to Charles Conlon.¹

The 1850 census shows the blended household in Cardington:

  • Charles Conlon
  • Temperance Conlon
  • Her Lawhead children
  • Their infant son, Charles G. Conlin⁶

Two children were born to Charles and Temperance:

  • Charles G. Conlin, born March 1850⁵
  • Robert Conlon, born 8 May 1851⁵

Death

Temperance (Gilson) (Lawhead) Conlon died 20 May 1851 in Morrow County, Ohio, at only twenty-seven years of age.¹ She was buried at Cardington.¹

Her death came less than two weeks after the birth of her youngest child.

The Conlon Will: Proof of the Lawhead Children

The 1871 probate of Charles Conlon’s will provides explicit, primary-source evidence naming Temperance’s children from her first marriage:

“the children of my late wife Temperance, children of James Lawhead — Cynthia A. Lawhead, George W., Margaret, Susannah and James Lawhead …”⁷

Part of page 1 of Charles Conlon’s will where he names the Lawhead family.

This document firmly ties the Lawhead children to Temperance and James and confirms that she had died prior to the writing of the will.

After Temperance’s Death

Following her death, her widower Charles Conlon later married Hannah Frost in 1853, a fact also recorded on the family register page.⁵

Her children grew to adulthood in Morrow County and beyond, carrying the Lawhead and Conlon lines forward.

Sources

  1. Ancestry, Family Tree profile for Temperance Gilson, with attached Ohio death and burial data.
  2. Ancestry, Family Tree profile for Sally Jane Gilson.
  3. Ohio, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1774–1993, Marion County, James Lawhead–Temperance Gilson.
  4. Marion County, Ohio, marriage record, 1840, original entry for James Lawhead and Temperance Gilson.
  5. Lawhead–Conlon family register (manuscript), privately held.
  6. 1850 U.S. census, Morrow County, Ohio, Cardington Township, Charles Conlon household.
  7. Morrow County, Ohio, Probate Court, will of Charles Conlon, proved 24 June 1871.

Nancy J. Whitney (March 1843 – 27 October 1906)

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Nancy J. Whitney was born in March 1843 in Ohio, the daughter of John P. Whitney and a mother whose identity remains unresolved in the surviving records and has been discussed in earlier research.¹ She spent her early childhood in Clinton Township, Wayne County, Ohio, where she appeared in the 1850 census with her father and her younger sisters Mary Belle and Lucretia.²

By the end of the 1850s the family had moved to Saginaw County, Michigan. Nancy’s mother died about 1859, and the 1860 census captures the family in a changed arrangement. Seventeen-year-old Nancy was living in East Saginaw in the household of Loton Eastman, where she was employed as a servant, while her father and youngest sister were enumerated elsewhere.³

Marriage and the Early Years

On 25 March 1866 Nancy married Martin V. Lacy in Taymouth Township, Saginaw County.⁴ Their first child, Emma, was born later that year, followed by Alice in 1869 at Montrose in neighboring Genesee County.⁵ The 1870 census shows the young family there, part of the movement of Saginaw Valley residents between the river towns and the farming communities that supplied them.⁶

By the mid-1870s they had returned to the Saginaw Valley for good. Their younger children, Mary Belle and William Henry, were born in Michigan, and by 1880 the family was established in Kawkawlin Township, Bay County.⁷

A Long Residence in Kawkawlin

From 1880 through 1900 the censuses place Nancy and Martin in the same township, reflecting decades of continuity in one community.⁸ The 1900 census records Nancy as the mother of five children, three of whom were living, and gives her birth as March 1843 in Ohio.¹

Land and Legal Standing

Bay County land records show Nancy as more than a farmer’s wife in the census columns. A deed transferred property from Martin V. Lacy to Nancy in her own name, and she later appears as the mortgagor on a mortgage of that land. Other mortgages were executed jointly by Martin and Nancy as husband and wife.⁹ These entries place her directly in the legal and financial record of the township and demonstrate her recognized interest in the family’s property.

Losses

In 1897 Nancy’s eldest daughter, Emma, died in Bay County.¹⁰ Seven years later, on 8 August 1904, Martin died in Garfield Township.¹¹ After nearly four decades of marriage, Nancy entered widowhood in the community where she had spent most of her adult life.

Death in Virginia

Nancy died on 27 October 1906 in Charles City, Virginia.¹² The record gives the date and place but does not explain her presence there. Her life had been centered for many years in the Saginaw Valley, where she had worked, married, raised her children, and held property in her own name.

Sources

  1. 1900 U.S. census, Bay County, Michigan, Kawkawlin Township, Martin V. Lacy household; Nancy J. Lacy, birth March 1843, Ohio.
  2. 1850 U.S. census, Wayne County, Ohio, Clinton Township, John P. Whitney household.
  3. 1860 U.S. census, Saginaw County, Michigan, East Saginaw, Loton Eastman household, Nancy Whitney, servant; John P. Whitney in a separate household with daughter Sabria.
  4. Saginaw County, Michigan, marriage records, Martin V. Lacy and Nancy J. Whitney, 25 March 1866.
  5. Michigan birth records, Emma Lacy (1866); Alice Lacy, 1 June 1869, Montrose, Genesee County.
  6. 1870 U.S. census, Genesee County, Michigan, Montrose, Martin V. Lacy household.
  7. Michigan birth records, Mary Belle Lacy (1875) and William Henry Lacy (1878); 1880 U.S. census, Bay County, Michigan, Kawkawlin Township.
  8. Michigan state census, 1884 and 1894, Bay County, Kawkawlin Township; 1900 U.S. census, Bay County, Michigan, Kawkawlin Township.
  9. Bay County, Michigan, Register of Deeds, index to deeds (Martin V. Lacy to Nancy J. Lacy) and index to mortgages (Nancy J. Lacy; Martin V. Lacy and wife). mgt Martin to Nancy Nancy lacy mortgage 2 Nancy Lacy Mortgage2 Martin Lacy & wife mortgage Nancy Lacy Mortgager
  10. Michigan death records, Emma Lacy, 1897, Bay County.
  11. Michigan death records, Martin V. Lacy, 8 August 1904, Garfield Township, Bay County.
  12. Virginia death record, Nancy J. Lacy, 27 October 1906, Charles City.

The Case of John Whitney’s Wife

On By NancyIn Brick Wall, DNA, Land recordsLeave a comment

Back in 2018 I wrote about finding my second great-grandmother, Nancy J. Whitney, in the 1850 census and the immediate question that followed:

Who was her mother?

At the time, the census seemed to offer a straightforward answer. With the addition of DNA and Ancestry’s ThruLines®, I expected that question to finally be settled.

It wasn’t.

Instead, the combination of census records, a single marriage record, and a series of land transactions has created one of the most instructive conflicts in my research—and a perfect example of why no single source should ever stand alone.

What ThruLines Does — and Does Not — Tell Me

ThruLines confirms my descent from John Whitney.

It does not identify a wife for him.
It does not suggest a mother for Nancy.
It does not offer a second pathway through another marriage or through a different set of descendants.

In this case, ThruLines is doing exactly what it is designed to do—it is confirming a line. It is not resolving a documentary conflict.

And that silence is important.

The 1850 Census: A Household with Two Adult Women

The 1850 census for Wayne County, Ohio, shows the household of John Whitney as:

  • John Whitney, 28
  • Hannah, 24
  • Nancy, 7
  • Mary Belle, 5
  • Lucretia, 3
  • Susannah Robison, 26¹

The census does not state relationships in 1850. Any identification of a spouse is based on the common pattern of enumeration, not on an explicit statement.

What is clear is that Hannah and Susannah are two separate individuals. They have different given names, different ages, and Susannah is listed with the surname Robison rather than Whitney.

Whatever their roles in the household, they are not the same person.

The Marriage Record That Complicates Everything

There is one—and only one—marriage record for John Whitney in Wayne County:

John Whitney to Susannah Robison, 18 August 1842.²

Nancy’s 1843 birth fits this marriage perfectly.

If this were the only record, the conclusion would be simple.

But it isn’t.

The Deeds: A Legally Identified Wife Named Hannah

In a deed, a wife is not named casually. She appears because she must relinquish her right of dower, and she is often examined separately to confirm that she is acting of her own free will.

John appears with Hannah as his wife in multiple land transactions:

On 4 September 1844 (recorded 13 June 1845), John Whitney and Hannah his wife sold land in Wayne County.³

On 13 September 1853, John P. Whitney and Hannah his wife conveyed land to Cornelius Paugh.⁴

On 18 February 1854, John P. Whitney and Hannah his wife conveyed land to Israel Layton.⁵

These are not isolated references. They establish a legally recognized wife named Hannah over a period of at least ten years.

By 17 December 1862, when John sold land again in Wayne County, no wife was named.⁶

Hannah was no longer living—or no longer his legal spouse—by that date.

Establishing That This Is the Correct John Whitney

John’s father, Charles Whitney, died in 1836. His mother, Tamer (Pierce) Whitney, remarried Phillip Yarnell on 31 March 1840 in Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio.⁷

So when John P. Whitney appears in the June Term 1851 partition case with the Yarnell heirs, it confirms that these land and court records belong to the correct man.⁸

In the October Term 1851 case of Rinear Beall vs. John Whitney, the summons was served by leaving a copy at John’s residence “with his wife,” again placing him in a marital relationship at that time.⁹

The Negative Search

If the answer were in the usual places, this would not be a problem.

I have searched for:

  • a divorce record for John Whitney
  • a death record for Hannah Whitney
  • a death record for Susannah Robison or Susannah Whitney
  • any additional marriage for John Whitney

I have also looked for records that might name Nancy’s mother:

  • guardianships for John’s children
  • deeds involving his children
  • death records for Nancy and her sisters

None of them identify a mother.

Could the Marriage Record Be Wrong?

One possible explanation is that the 1842 marriage record misidentifies the bride as Susannah rather than Hannah.

However, the record clearly names Susannah, there is a separate woman of that name in the 1850 household, and there is currently no record connecting Hannah to the Robison family.

That makes this a hypothesis—not a conclusion.

One Conflict, One Conclusion

Taken together, the records establish five things:

John Whitney is Nancy’s father.
He married Susannah Robison in 1842.
He had a legally identified wife named Hannah from at least 1844 to 1854.
Hannah and Susannah were two different women in the 1850 household.
The land and court records all belong to the same John Whitney.

What they do not establish is which woman was the mother of Nancy, Mary Belle, and Lucretia.

ThruLines does not resolve that conflict. The census does not resolve that conflict. The marriage record does not resolve that conflict.

So the only evidence-based conclusion is the same one I reached years ago—now with far better documentation:

The identity of Nancy J. Whitney’s mother remains unproven.

Footnotes

  1. 1850 U.S. census, Wayne County, Ohio, population schedule, John Whitney household.
  2. Wayne County, Ohio, marriage record, John Whitney and Susannah Robison, 18 August 1842.
  3. Wayne County, Ohio, Deed Book, John Whitney and Hannah his wife to Youngs & Augustus Case, 4 September 1844 (recorded 13 June 1845).
  4. Wayne County, Ohio, Deed Book, John P. Whitney and Hannah his wife to Cornelius Paugh, 13 September 1853.
  5. Wayne County, Ohio, Deed Book, John P. Whitney and Hannah his wife to Israel Layton, 18 February 1854.
  6. Wayne County, Ohio, Deed Book, John P. Whitney to Jonathan Potts, 17 December 1862.
  7. Wayne County, Ohio, marriage record, Phillip Yarnell and Tamer Whitney, 31 March 1840.
  8. Wayne County, Ohio, Court of Common Pleas, partition case, June Term 1851, naming John P. Whitney and Yarnell heirs.
  9. Wayne County, Ohio, Court of Common Pleas, Rinear Beall vs. John Whitney, October Term 1851.

John Whitney Through Land and Court Records

On By NancyIn Ancestor ProfileLeave a comment

Vital records are wonderful when they exist, but for many people in the early and mid-nineteenth century they are missing or were never created. In those cases, we are left to reconstruct a life from the records that document a person’s economic activity, legal standing, and family connections.

John Whitney of Wayne County, Ohio, and later Saginaw County, Michigan, is one of those men.

He was the son of Charles Whitney, who died in Wayne County in 1836. A few years later his mother, Tamer (Pierce) Whitney, remarried Phillip Yarnell on 31 March 1840 in Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio.¹ That remarriage becomes critical in identifying John in later records, because when John P. Whitney appears in the June Term 1851 partition case with the Yarnell heirs, it ties the adult man directly to his mother’s second marriage and distinguishes him from any other contemporary John Whitney in the county.²

Early Land Transactions

By the late 1840s John was participating in land transactions in his own name. On 19 August 1848 he purchased land in Wayne County, indicating that he had reached adulthood and was established enough in the community to engage in real property transactions.³

There is one—and only one—marriage record for a John Whitney in Wayne County during this period: John Whitney to Susannah Robison on 18 August 1842.⁴ That record fits the birth of his oldest known child the following year. As discussed in a separate post, later records consistently name a wife called Hannah, creating a conflict that remains unresolved. For the purpose of following John’s life, what matters here is that by mid-century he was a married man and the head of a household.

A Wife Named Hannah

The land records provide the clearest view of John’s economic life and identify the woman who was legally his wife for at least a decade.

On 4 September 1844, recorded 13 June 1845, John Whitney and Hannah his wife sold land in Wayne County.⁵ On 13 September 1853, John P. Whitney and Hannah his wife conveyed land to Cornelius Paugh.⁶ On 18 February 1854, John P. Whitney and Hannah his wife conveyed land to Israel Layton.⁷ In each case Hannah was required to relinquish her right of dower and was examined separately, confirming her legal identity as John’s spouse.

By 17 December 1862, when John sold land again in Wayne County, no wife was named, indicating that by that date he was either widowed or no longer legally married.⁸

The 1850 Household and the 1851 Lawsuit

In 1850 John’s household included three daughters—Nancy, Mary Belle, and Lucretia—all under the age of ten.⁹ This places him firmly in the role of a young father in mid-century Ohio.

A small but vivid glimpse of his daily life appears in the October Term 1851 case of Rinear Beall vs. John Whitney. The summons was served by leaving a copy at John’s residence “with his wife,” confirming that he maintained a fixed home and was still living in Wayne County at that time.¹⁰

Migration to Michigan

By 1860 John had left Ohio and was living in Saginaw County, Michigan, in the household of his siblings. This is a classic example of cluster migration, in which family members move together and re-establish themselves in a new location.

Even after relocating, he retained legal ties to Wayne County until the 1862 sale of his remaining land.⁸ That transaction marks the end of his economic presence in the place where he had grown up.

Following the Records

There is still no located death record for John. No probate file has yet been found for him. The identity of the mother of his children remains unresolved, and the absence of a divorce record or death record for either Susannah or Hannah leaves that question open.

What the surviving records do provide is a way to follow him through his life: a boy in a widowed household after 1836, a young man buying and selling land, a husband whose wife repeatedly appeared beside him in legal transactions, a father of three small daughters, a defendant in a county lawsuit, a migrant moving west with his siblings, and finally a man closing out his last piece of property in the county where he came of age.

The story is not finished, but the outline of his life is now visible.

Sources

  1. Wayne County, Ohio, Marriage Record, Phillip Yarnell and Tamer Whitney, 31 March 1840.
  2. Wayne County, Ohio, Court of Common Pleas, Partition Record, June Term 1851.
  3. Wayne County, Ohio, Deed, John Whitney purchase, 19 August 1848.
  4. Wayne County, Ohio, Marriage Record, John Whitney and Susannah Robison, 18 August 1842.
  5. Wayne County, Ohio, Deed Book, John Whitney and Hannah his wife to Youngs and Augustus Case, 4 September 1844, recorded 13 June 1845.
  6. Wayne County, Ohio, Deed Book, John P. Whitney and Hannah his wife to Cornelius Paugh, 13 September 1853.
  7. Wayne County, Ohio, Deed Book, John P. Whitney and Hannah his wife to Israel Layton, 18 February 1854.
  8. Wayne County, Ohio, Deed Book, John P. Whitney to Jonathan Potts, 17 December 1862.
  9. 1850 U.S. Census, Wayne County, Ohio, population schedule, John Whitney household.
  10. Wayne County, Ohio, Court of Common Pleas, Rinear Beall vs. John Whitney, October Term 1851.

George Washington Lawhead (1845–1905): A Life Reconstructed from Records

On By NancyIn Ancestor Profile, Civil WarLeave a comment

George Washington Lawhead was born on 10 February 1845 in Westfield Township, in what later became Morrow County, Ohio.¹ He was the son of James Lawhead and Temperance Gilson. His childhood was brief and unsettled. James died in 1846, when George was just over a year old, and Temperance followed in 1851, leaving her children orphaned while still young.²

By 1860, George was living in Michigan, a move that placed him among relatives and, eventually, on the path to military service.³ The details of his early years survive only in fragments, but later records suggest a childhood shaped by loss, movement, and dependency on extended family.

George Lawhead tin-type portrait found in his Civil War pension file.

Civil War Service

George enlisted in the Union Army on 9 September 1861 at Charlotte, Michigan.⁴ He served as a private in Company B of the 2nd Michigan Volunteer Cavalry, a regiment that spent much of the war in the Western Theater.

Partial page of re-enlistment of George Lawhead. He re-enlisted in 1864 for another 3 years.

His service records document extended periods of duty and movement, including assignments associated with the regimental train and service in Tennessee.⁵ Like many cavalrymen, George endured long rides, exposure, and physical strain—conditions that would later be reflected in repeated pension medical examinations.

A photograph taken in Jackson, Michigan at the time of his discharge from service would later become one of the most important documents connected to his life, though its significance would not be fully realized until many years later.

Marriage to Mary King and Early Family Life

After the war, George married Mary King on 16 October 1865 in Eaton County, Michigan.⁶ They had two children together:

  • James Loyd Lawhead, born 28 February 1867
  • Charles Loyd Lawhead, born 4 April 1869

The marriage did not endure. George left Mary while she was pregnant with their second child and moved east into Saginaw County. No divorce was ever obtained. Mary would spend much of her adult life raising their children under difficult circumstances, a situation later documented extensively in federal pension records.

Marriage to Emma Mae Stiles and Children

On 31 January 1869, George married Emma Mae Stiles in Albee Township, Saginaw County, Michigan.⁷ This marriage produced three children:

  • Margaret Jane Lawhead, born 2 July 1872
  • Renaldo Lawhead, born 16 August 1877, who died in infancy on 14 October 1877
  • Effie M. Lawhead, born 26 July 1879

Emma Mae Stiles died in April 1886. Her death marked the only point at which George Washington Lawhead was legally widowed. His earlier marriage to Mary King had ended through abandonment rather than death or divorce, a distinction that would later carry significant legal consequences.

Later Marriages and Life in Michigan

George married Helen Vorhees on 17 August 1884 in Saginaw County, Michigan.⁸ The surviving record of this marriage is brief, and little documentation remains regarding their life together.

By the early 1890s, George was living with Henrietta Savage. Census records, land transactions, and newspaper notices place him in Eaton, Iosco, Saginaw, Crawford, and Charlevoix counties over the course of his adult life.⁹ Real estate notices published in Saginaw County newspapers show both purchases and sales, suggesting frequent movement rather than long-term stability.¹⁰

Henrietta Savage and Children

Henrietta Savage was legally married to another man when she became involved with George Lawhead. In January 1892, a local newspaper reported that she had left her husband and children to go with George.¹¹ The matter was public and later became part of the documentary record surrounding George’s pension.

The Saginaw News, January 1892

George and Henrietta had two daughters together:

  • Ethel Mildred Lawhead, born 24 October 1892 in Frederic, Crawford County, Michigan
  • Jessie Leuella Lawhead, born 22 April 1896 in East Jordan, Charlevoix County, Michigan

George lived with and supported Henrietta and their children for several years, forming the final family unit of his life.

Illness and Decline

By 1890, George’s health had begun to fail. Pension records and medical examinations document chronic sciatica, lumbago, rheumatism, kidney disease, impaired eyesight, and increasing difficulty with mobility.¹² Over the next fifteen years, he filed repeated requests for increases to his invalid pension as his condition worsened.

These medical records provide a rare longitudinal view of a Civil War veteran’s decline, tracing the progression from working laborer to physical dependency.

Death and Burial

George Washington Lawhead died on 20 January 1905 in East Jordan, Charlevoix County, Michigan, from heart disease.¹³ He was buried two days later in East Jordan Cemetery. Contemporary newspaper accounts note the participation of members of the Grand Army of the Republic in his funeral.¹⁴

Even after his burial, questions surrounding his marriages, identity, and family obligations remained unresolved, setting the stage for years of investigation and competing pension claims.

Conclusion

George Washington Lawhead’s life cannot be understood through a single record or a simple narrative. It survives instead through census entries, military documents, marriage records, newspaper notices, and—most notably—a Civil War pension file of extraordinary size.

This post traces the outline of his life: orphaned child, young soldier, husband, father, and aging veteran. The deeper questions—of identity, legality, and how the federal government ultimately judged his family—are stories of their own, explored in later posts.

Sources

  1. Family and census records indicating birth in Westfield Township, Ohio.
  2. Probate and death records for James Lawhead and Temperance Gilson.
  3. 1860 U.S. Federal Census, Roxand Township, Eaton County, Michigan.
  4. Compiled Service Records, Company B, 2nd Michigan Cavalry.
  5. Ibid.
  6. Eaton County, Michigan, marriage records, 16 October 1865.
  7. Saginaw County, Michigan, marriage records, 31 January 1869.
  8. Saginaw County marriage records, 17 August 1884.
  9. U.S. Federal Census records, 1870–1900.
  10. Saginaw Herald, real estate notices, 1878 and 1881.
  11. Grand Rapids Herald, January 1892.
  12. Invalid pension medical examinations, 1890–1904.
  13. Michigan death record, East Jordan, 1905.
  14. Charlevoix County Herald, January 1905.

Nancy J Whitney’s mother?

On By NancyIn Ancestor ProfileLeave a comment

Researching family history can be challenging. Records were destroyed in various natural disasters, records were not kept at all, people changed their names, etc. One source that genealogists tend to like is the census. Why? Because starting in 1850, everyone in the household was enumerated – not just the head of the household. Generally, the enumeration went like this: name of head of household (usually this is the male), then the head of household’s spouse (usually his wife), then their children in descent from oldest to youngest then typically anyone else living in the household (borders, parents, in-laws, etc). Now it’s true, that this wasn’t always the case, but in general, that’s the principle. It’s also true that for the 1850, 1860 and 1870 census you can’t say for any certainty about the relationships of the people in the household because it’s not spelled out that way. Starting in 1880, the relationships were added to the census.

So, imagine for a moment my excitement to find my 2nd great-grandmother Nancy J. Whitney in the 1850 census.

Screen Shot 2018-10-02 at 8.14.27 AM

There she is, age 7 years old (which corresponds with other census records for her age) – the oldest of 3 children. It would appear from this enumeration that she is living with her parents – John Whitney (which is also independently confirmed) and probably Hannah. Hannah is 4 years younger than John – which isn’t unheard of for a husband and wife. Hannah would have been 17 when Nancy was born – again, not unheard of – it’s certainly possible. The last person in the household is Susan Robinson – age 26. This would seem to indicate that Susan is a border – even possibly a sibling to either John or Hannah.

Here’s the rub – neither Hannah nor Susan appear in later censuses with John and Nancy. In fact, this is the only instance that I have of Hannah. I do find a marriage record for John and Susannah Robinson in 1842 (hmmm… Nancy is born in 1843 – coincidence?).

Screen Shot 2018-10-02 at 8.18.51 AM

Since the 1850 census is for Wayne County and this marriage record is also for Wayne County – it stands to reason that these are the same people. So why 8 years after John and Susannah get married, they are enumerated in the same household – but she is listed with her maiden name and appears to not be married to him and John appears to be married to a Hannah?

I have not been able to find a divorce for John and Susannah. I have not found a marriage for John and Hannah. I have not been able to find a death for John, Susannah or Hannah.

So, who is Nancy’s mother?