Baxter Townsends Across the Great Lakes

The Baxters Abound

Certainly the Townsend men who arrived in Jefferson County made their mark on the shipping industry on the Great Lakes region. Actually, there was a period in the 1800s where one could set sail on Lake Ontario and wave farewell to a Baxter Townsend in Oswego.

 Then arrive at the other end of the Great Lakes and be greeted by a Baxter Townsend in Danby, Ohio. No kidding. The sons of Henry K Townsend of Jefferson County headed off to Ohio, and strangely, they seemed to gravitate toward Lake Erie. Now, the Baxter in Danby, Ohio is the nephew of the Baxter in Oswego. Baxter in Oswego has a brother Henry K Townsend who married Lara Graves and had a herd of children. Among them is a young man named Baxter. You can look at the states in which the children are born and see the family's pattern of movement.

Beyond the far more readable penmanship of Ohio group's census taker, the other thing that is interesting is to notice the naming patterns, and particularly Clarissa. One can't help but think about the names of the women in the line of James and see the same names, except of course, Gertrude. Clarissa seems very popular in our family in the mid to late 1800s.


Now are these guys part of the Henry K line of the family? I don't think so, but I am not certain. They are in the Northeastern part of Ohio, where most of the Henry K line gravitated, but I simply do not know. It could be another leg of the family drifted into Erie County. It is interesting to see another Absolum alive and well farming, with a Dr. Charles Townsend, a physician. They seem like brothers.

 Well, enough of the Ohio group for the moment. Let's see what we can learn from Old Uncle Baxter's family in New York.

Baxter Townsend from Lyme to Oswego

Baxter appears as an independent household in 1820. It could be that one of the older kids is living with him. I don't know if he is married at this point or if this is one of the sisters living with him. He has a resident alien living with him...

By 1830, the family has left Lyme, Jefferson County, and is living in the Village of Oswego. The family presents as a Mom and Dad and a boy between 5-9 and a little girl under 5. Any siblings that might have been living with him are on their own. Even the babies that barely knew their father, Black River Absolum, would be 30 at this point, and should be having their own families.

In 1840, the family is still in Oswego. The kids are are becoming teenagers.

This is a bit of a repeat with the 1850 Census, but it provides the only opportunity to see the Baxter Townsend household with Baxter. There is a William Lingl living with the family, from New Jersey. I've no idea if they are related. We learn the name of Baxter's wife, Jemima, from Maryland. Gerrit Smith, a boatman, is also living with the family.

The 1860 Census is virtually unreadable for the family, so the index will have to do.  However, it appears that Baxter is no longer with the family. Jemima now says she is from Rhode Island. It appears that Gerrit is still with the family. I suspect that Jemima is taking in boarders to make ends meet.

I would not venture to guess the relationship between these folks and the family. They may simply be boarders. E Townsend could be a son, but I simply do not know. For me, this is a line lost in time, unless there is a family member who can discern the information.  However, I think it speaks to the difficulty of parsing the census. One simply doesn't know the relationships between all the people in a household unless one has family information.  I guess that is why keeping family information has historically been so important.

But back to Baxter Townsend, the man. He was far more than simply a carpenter, although that itself is a noble thing. He was one of the trustees that started the Village of Oswego. He is one of the original Trustees chosen at the first meeting.

This was the sign one saw when they entered the Village Building in 1839-1840s. Notice the name of the 4th Trustee is Baxter Townsend.

Here is the record that he was sworn into office.

In 1844, it seems that a Charles Parker wanted the Village to build a sidewalk to Baxter Townsend's property. One gets the impression that there was a lot of traffic to Baxter's property (4th paragraph, left column). We know that Baxter was on 7th Street. 

It seems by 1845, Baxter was operating in the role of Fire Warden for the community.

In 1846, Baxter Townsend was appointed to a committee to report on graveling sidewalks, perhaps because people wanted the sidewalk to go to his house.

The Village meeting notes show he was still acting as the Fire Warden in 1847.

Baxter appears to have been active in local government. His name is all over the records of the early founders of the community. 

So, what happens to Baxter? Well, I imagine by 2014, it is safe to say he is dead. However, it appears he is no longer in Oswego by 1860. Does he die? Does he leave?

The 1860 Census is practically unreadable. But in St. Lawrence County, there is an entry.

County:	St. Lawrence County
Township:	3 W Ogdenburgh
Year:	1860
Record Type:	Federal Population Schedule
Page:	148
Database:	NY 1860 Federal Census Index

Is this him? Is this another nephew from another brother? A son? If Henry K (who had children born in St. Lawrence) names his sons after his brothers, then I would imagine the other sons might do the same.


Allenson Townsend of New York, Which One?

I mentioned in a prior entry that there were a few Allensons/Allenton, and after this, I think the reader will understand why I am shy on delineating them. I notice not far from where the  Baxter lived, there are the little villages of Schroeppel and Phoenix. In the picture above you can see that they are not far from Lake Ontario.  That would be near Baxter. Constantia is not far from view and my James b. 1819 in Jefferson County is also settled somewhere in view, in the 1870s.

 One might expect  the descendants of orphans to hang tough together in one region.

In 1870, somewhere between Schroeppel and Phoenix, in Oswego County not far from Baxter and James, there lived a very old man named Allenson Townsend. He lived with William Townsend and his wife Lucy. At first, the geography seems right.

Then one does the follow up work on the gent and realizes that this may yet another family group. While I have no doubt that it is a cousin line, the question is which cousin. Is this the Allenton son of Absolum and Alce? Son of Isreal? Son of another?

This guys says in 1855 that he is from Putnam. Since Putnam was created in 1812, this gent likely left  after the creation of Putnam, or else he would have reported Dutchess. Now, it could be this actually is our guy giving us a new clue on Absolum's path into New York, so we don't want to shut the door entirely. We need a fellow from Herkimer, or "Canada" for the Creek at Fairfield, not a gent from Putnam as far as I know. So while the name is right, and the geography is right, and related names convenient, this gent  may not be the Allenton we are seeking, unless we find that  Absolum who settles in the Black River region came to Herkimer through Dutchess (Putnam would have been in Dutchess County during the life of Absolum of the Black River Settlement).  However, I've no reason to believe that Black River Absolum came that route at the present time.

There appears to be some evidence to suggest that this particular Allenson is the son of  Israel and  Keziah Paddock Townsend. A message left on a "Find A Grave" website for Israel and Keziah in New Jerusalem in Herkimer County suggests he belongs to that group and not ours. Of course, messages left on "Find A Grave" are not proof, only a claim of proof. Claims require substantiation and I have found more than one error on Find a Grave messages. (See my blog on Ezra Townsend).

It seems that this farmer is a long way off from that family group. A claim of "from" Putnam County is strange for our group, but it is also strange for their group too. Their group all claims Litchfield in Herkimer, but since our Allenton went back to Herkimer for a time, it is hard to say. I would have thought this one was their guy.

 So it may be that this Allenson in the Schroeppel, Oswego region belongs to neither group and could easily belong to Harrison Townsend. We simply do not know from a census page. 

What I can say is that it does not appear that Alce's children were raised by this gent if he is really from Putnam. He isn't even in the correct part of the state at the time in question.

But before we leave Oswego, there are some gentleman that seem worthwhile to point out. They are in the New Haven area of Oswego. They seems like brothers.  They are a year apart in age, and appear to have been born about the time of our missing guys. Are they them? I've no idea. But they should be researched so that we don't confuse them with ours since they are contemporaneous and in the same region of New York.  If they are NOT ours, then we need to consider them so as to keep the records straight for future researchers; if they are ours, they could be given their due in the family history.

It may be more productive to return to Jefferson County and begin filling in the blanks. Sometimes following a co-line opens a door, and sometimes it creates confusion. I think this is one of those times where it causes confusion. At least we know that most of Henry K's people busy populating the state of Ohio, Quaker John's people are populating Wisconsin, and Horace group has left the region. Baxter and Allenton have left the region too.  That means the residuals who are not of the Martin line have an good probability of being the remnant of the Absolum group.


Thus, we trudge back to Jefferson County, where our family line was lost, to see what can be reclaimed from errant historical writings of a past generation, poorly transcribed census indices, missing wills, intentionally destroyed church records, and the silent unmarked graves that remain as an obstacles to our heritage.