Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Filling in the Missing Gaps

Tonight I decided to begin the process of reviewing some of my data on lines going to New England to fill in any missing holes. I discovered that while I had most of the censuses for Stephen Taylor (1814-1881) and his wife Betsey Dearborn (1818-1899) that I was missing the 1840 one, at least out of my database. It is probably sitting in a file in a drawer that I haven't sorted through yet! However, I decided to make a quick check and discovered that while the couple had wed in Morgan County, Ohio on 8 Mar 1837 that they had already moved to McLean County, Illinois by the time of the 1840 census. Stephen is head of a household of three. One male, age 20-30 (obviously Stephen); one female, age 20-30 (obviously Betsey); and one male under 5 (Isaac, their son who was born in 1839 and who died in Memphis during the Civil War). It is interesting to note that Stephen's brothers Daniel and Sylvanus are both on this page as is Elisha Dixon who married a sister of Betsey. I also noted some of the Carlocks for whom the town of Carlock was later named on the page as well as the Denmans, namesakes of the Denman Cemetery where some of the Taylor family is buried.

UPDATE (9/21): I realize that I should specify that Elisha was not married to Betsey's sister in this census. She was married to her first husband Otis Lawrence at the time of the 1850 census. The marriage to Dixon took place in 1864.

Sources: Marriages in Morgan County, Ohio. Vol. A. April 1, 1819-February 4, 1841. s.l.: Morgan County Historical Society, 1983.

1840 U.S. census, McLean County, Illinois, p. 282, line 25, Stephen Taylor; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com/; accessed 18 September 2007); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm M704, roll 65.

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