Noting that we left old Quaker John with an unaccounted for male born between between 1794-1800, I am willing to go back to the census and who else is available as a local progenitor, assuming there is one.
Something here is not quite right. There are too many Townsend men claiming to be from the area relative to the number of Townsend men in the Census. Hum....
Harrison Townsend listed here seems out of place. So I paged through the actual census the old fashioned way with the newer technology.
Haris is very interesting, but seems to leave the region quickly, more quickly than modes of travel of the era suggest. His mother Polly is the stuff of legends, but he is not this man. I looked at the Census. There is no Harrison Townsend. There is a William Harrison and his data matches Harrison Townsend. However, I am fairly confident he is not my ancestor. He appears in Putnam by 1840 well established in the community of Phillipstown. He is a worthy man in his own right, but he does not appear in the Census of Jefferson County in 1810 or 1820. If he is there, it is so brief, that it isn't genealogically relevant.
But I found a few others that are not in the index.
But before I leave this chart, I want to mention the other families.
There is Joseph there with 5 little boys and two teen age boys and a 16-26 year old male, a 26-45 year old male, and a 45+ male. There is one female to match all the other categories. One gets the sense that a young couple is living with the family. There is a 45+ female and male; there is a female 16-26 and a male. In looking at the 1820 census, it is clear that is exactly the case. I've been informed by cousins that DNA tests in that line do not match the DNA in my line, and they belong to the Martin Townsend line. However, I may come back to this group, because I believe it to an interesting example of the drift of population. Notice, they list below in the census as Champion. But they appear in later census in Philadelphia Village.
But onto what I can figure out about my own group. Now, we've looked at the Quaker group, and the Johnathan/Josiah/Timothy group has been excluded on YDNA testing. Horace doesn't stick around long, and he goes back to Townsendville, the hub of the Dutchess Townsend family. For those unfamiliar with Horace, his line is delineated in the Townsend genealogy in the clip below.
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| Cleveland Abbe, The Townsend Genealogy (1909) |
Missing Townsend from the 1820 NNY Genealogy Website Census Index
In looking at the 1820 Census I also found something else interesting. There is a guy who didn't make the abstract of the census published on the internet for Jefferson County. He is there, he just isn't in the abstract produced by the NY genealogy website. His name is Charles Townsend. He also has quite a large group of males. He is there in 1830 as well. He is right by "Old James" as I called him in the first blog post.
That leaves this other group of Alan, Baxter, and Henry. There is also, of course, Charles, who ends up moving up St. Lawrence way with Allan. "Old James" states in the 1855 state census that he is from Herkimer, and while he doesn't have any children of the right age to be "my" progenitor, he may yet turn up of interest in other matters.
The Genealogy of Violin Manufacturer, Ship's Captain, and a Jewelers In Ashtebula, Ohio.
Now the "Henry-Allen-Baxter" group has been the subject of some inquiry. The family has played an important role in several communities, but the information on the genealogies has been couched in those regions and not Jefferson County. For example, in the Biographical Sketches of Northeaster Ohio Embracing the Counties of Ashtebula,Geauga, and Lake published by Lewis Publishing in 1893, the genealogy of one of their prominent local residents, Perry Townsend, is given as follows:
Henry K Townsend was born in Fairfield, New York April 13, 1798. His wife, Laura Graves was born in Rupert, Vermont, 1799. They got married in Champion, New York on July 21, 1817.
Their children were
Allen G Townsend,
Baxter Townsend,
Henry Townsend Henry was born in Grovenor, St. Lawrence County, 1824. He married Ursala Higgly (born 1824) of Ohio. He served in Company C of the 177 Regiment of the Ohio Volunteers and discharged in 1865. He was wounded and spent 4 months in a southern hospital.
Children Perry (married Ida Bell 1891), Freeland (b 1850), Henry B (1867). Henry B produced violins.
Eliza G Townsend,
Simeon Townsend (a resident of Chicago)
Now, it is a very nice genealogy of a family of very accomplished men and gives a few more details, but for our purposes, this will send us on our way researching. What we quickly realize is that the genealogy doesn't quite bear the weight of the data. The people are "right" and the locations are "right," but it is as if they have confused a generation, or left it out, or smushed things a bit. It is a corporate genealogy, thus it is written to convey a corporate image and to market the region as a land of opportunity more than it is aimed at preserving historical information. Thus, unfortunate information isn't likely to emerge. But, it is better than nothing.
According to the 1820 Census in Jefferson County, Allanton is between 26-45 years of age. Baxter's household has two males between 26- 45 and a matching female. My guess is that Baxter, Eliza, and Simeon are living together in the middle household. We just don't know. Then we have Henry and his wife both between 16- 26, and a male child under 10. That would work for a son Allen, but not the Allen who is listed as his own household. However, there is no biological way that Henry K Townsend born Fairfield in 1798 and married in Champion in 1817 is the father of the households listed in the 1820 Census. This seems to be a man naming his sons for his brothers.
Let's check some basics. First, is there even a Graves family with an eligible daughter in Champion, Jefferson County? It appears there is one with a female who is in the 10-15 year old age slot. If Laura Graves exists in Champion, Jefferson County, NY, she should be 11-12 years old. So, there is an eligible female. There is also a Robert Graves in LeRay with an eligible daughter, so there is at least two girls surnamed Graves between 11-12 in the county that are eligible to be her. There is also a Josiah Graves in Vermont that has a daughter named Lara, but the year is a tad bit earlier than the Ohio genealogy suggests, and is claimed by the Pettigrews as a female progenitor. Thus, I suspect the Rupert, Vermont might be where Lara's parents were from, but Lara may have been born in Champion. If this was my family, I would be consulting the Pettigrew genealogy. It might be helpful for a descendant researching Lara's parents.
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Another Townsend researcher informs me that when Henry went to Ohio, he bought the land from a Josiah Graves. Thus, it could well be that Henry married Laura in Champion, and her father could have gone to Ohio, and Henry to St. Lawrence. Maybe the fellow above indexed as James is really Josiah? Who knows... Maybe they really married in Ohio and the genealogy has it wrong? That I leave for another to determine.
For my purposes, I can safely exclude Henry K as a progenitor. He is clearly a younger brother of Allen and Baxter. He is too young to be the progenitor of my line, and his bio doesn't match my James Townsend's bio.
It would make more sense with the data if Henry K was a brother to Allen and Baxter who had sons Allen and Baxter! I suspect that might be the case.There are a couple of Allen Townsend entries in 1850 Census of Ohio. There is a Freeland in the 1850 Ohio Census in Milon, Erie. I don't know if it is the same Freeland or not, but I can't imagine there are many men named Freeland Townsend in Northeast Ohio. So maybe the Allan, Baxter bunch in Ohio are sons of Henry K, and perhaps Henry K named his sons for his brothers?
That is speculative, but one never knows.
Back to New York....
Tis a strange thing. There is also the missing Charles who has a herd of young males. The easy way out for me is to glom onto Charles who has a James and Paulina born in LeRay. But at the end of this inquiry, you'll see why I am still messing with this group of Henry, Allen, Baxter, and I suspect Charles. Charles, like my guy, reports he is from Canada.
While St. Lawrence is "practically" Canada, it is not Canada at that time in history. Canada did not exist as a nation during this time, and Americans would have referred to it as Great Britain. Even in 1957, when my father is naturalized, it is referenced as Great Britain, not Canada.
Now the records show that Allenton went to Gouverneur in St. Lawrence and then later went to Herkimer where he became the first postmaster. That is in the first blog under "Other Townsend Groups." Baxter heads to Oswego and while he lists as a Carpenter, one gets the idea that he might have worked in the shipyard. He seems to have Boatmen living with him and his sons grow up to work in the shipping industry.
The reference in the Ohio Genealogy to Gouverneur is curious, since a Townsend was instrumental in starting the town, along with a Mr. Gouverneur Morris. Morris is credited with word-smithing the preamble to the U.S. Constitution and being the youngest member of the Continental Congress, so he is well documented in history. He bought the land and set out to establish a settlement. The history of the community states,
"In the summer of 1805, Dr. Richard Townsend was hired by landowner Morris to lead a team of men into the survey-town of Cambray for the purpose of establishing settlements. In the fall, they returned up the Oswegatchie River to the small island at the site of the present village of Gouverneur. In April of 1810, the name was changed from Cambray and the town of Gouverneur was formally created by an act of the New York State Legislature and named for its landowner. Dr. Townsend was elected the town’s first supervisor."
So it seems, these guys head toward the lakes There is even a port of Townsend. There is even a James up there who has a James, and there seems to be some people who might still be related to the original group.
Richard's line ends up in a little town in Illinois not far from where I grew up. Strange how that works out.
Well, my guy, James is not at all like these guys. He appears to stay in LeRay, and later takes a job building churches when he moves. That is ultimately how the Townsend and Jacocks families meet. They are church people and glass blowers, not sailors. But that is not so with these guys. Apparently, these guys can navigate a ship without barfing their guts out and the Gospel is not on their radar, except for an occasional holiday or burial at sea.
That doesn't make them bad; they are just very different. Anyone would be proud to have these guys as their ancestors. They just are not mine. They might be cousins, but they are very different people.
Now, the problem with the St. Lawrence region for a farming generation is that the land wasn't suitable for farming because of all the rock. If one has ever tried to farm rocky land, one will appreciate this statement. It is hard to till bedrock. I spent a few summers of my life "rock farming" with my father on a southern Missouri hill-top, so I am quite confident that farming in this region is similar, and not what it is in Jefferson County. The soil layer is too thin for corn, and everyone grows wheat, lettuce, Belgian endive, or cabbage family plants or some other shallow root commodity. It has to be combined with dairy farming, sheep herding, chickens, or some other kind of farming that will build up the soil. For a crop farmer, this is not a good place, but for someone willing to acquire new skills, or who can stand being on a boat without barfing, there are opportunities.
There is excellent stone in the region. The region became known for its stone, and for Lifesavers (the candy). The stone slabs were polished and cut and shipped to Chicago, New York, and everywhere for buildings. Chicago had a particularly high demand. In 1930 when the depression hit, building came to a screeching halt as did shipments of stone. Many of the buildings in Chicago were build from the stone from this region of New York.
That must be how Captain Simeon Townsend, listed above, ends up in Chicago. I suspect, given that the younger Henry is born in St. Lawrence County (in the Ohio genealogy above) that this is also where Simeon was born.
And who is Richard who appears to have dragged the family to the region, and what about the men missing from the census abstracts? How does he play into this whole affair? Is Richard the progenitor of that group? Is he a kinsman of Abraham/Absolum/ or whoever?
I suspect this is a point where the Oyster bay records should be consulted.
My guy apparently stayed in LeRay. I'm not sure that this group is mine, but they are certainly interesting, but this is getting to be a bit like herding cats. I suspect the answer may lie one more census period back.
The Man The 1810 Census Abstract Missed
Now, these men are not really missing in the sense they are lost. They ARE missing from the index and the history books, but they know where they are from and where they are at and where they are going. They are on the census form, which is why when in doubt, one goes to the actual page. So, the term "lost" here is tongue and cheek. They are not lost in geography and purpose, but have been lost in time from the index and the histories. Our job is to extract them and discover the story they leave behind.
My own line begins in 1850 on the first line of the first page of the Philadelphia Settlement and so there I will return.
On the first line, of the first page of LeRay's Philadephia Settlement in 1810, there is a curious entry. He is with the same group as John Townsend and Thomas Townsend. And just like the song says, Father Abraham has many sons.....they guy appears to have 8 of them in LeRay.
He has more sons that anyone in the settlement! How is it that Haddock does not mention him?
I was told the guy wasn't in the census. Yet, there he is with a fine herd of young males, a baby girl, an older teen female, and a wife. How does this guy escape all the existing narratives of the region?
Is he a Quaker? Haddock notes that everyone there was a Quaker except Jason Merrick. Yes Haddock misses this guy, as does the New York Genealogy Website.
The History of Byberry and Mooreland is silent on the matter. If he is a Quaker, he is not from those townships. That isn't too troubling. The Stricklands were from Burlington, NJ, and they get only a tiny mention in the book because Rachel Townsend marries John Strickland Jr. So the silence of the Byberry and Mooreland book simply means the man isn't from there.
But what is very strange is that John Haddock doesn't mention Abraham at all. Haddock mentions details that suggest he is consulting original records and even discusses the names of obscure survey assistants, trail markers, and minutia of all sorts, and yet nothing on Abraham. Nothing. He lists all the original settlers (no Abraham Townsend on the list) but then he states that they are all Quakers from Bucks, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties in Pennsylvania, except Merrick.
He doesn't mention Abraham. Why? If he is a guide, why is his family with him, indeed why would he still be sticking around after 1808? No, he settles there. He lives there. There are land records.
Is he from another Townsend group like the Josiah bunch? The Townsend Genealogy by Cleveland Abbe has no entry for an Abraham Townsend, Absolum Townsend, or an Abner.
As I looked at this Abraham, I started thinking about the number of people searching in Jefferson County with "dead ends" and ancestors reporting to be from Canada, and thinking how odd this situation really seems to be. This is just after the American Revolution and before the War of 1812 and it seems an unlikely place for a British subject to head. I started to contemplate the whole notion of what they meant by being "from Canada."
Geographical Musings on Canada
These men are out there where there is no government, and everything is referenced by geographical markers. I also noticed that in the genealogies of Quaker John Townsend and the other Quakers, they do NOT say "died in the Philadelphia Village Settlement of Jefferson County, NY." They say he died in the Black River region. They don't even state the name of the state. It is quite peculiar.
I toyed with the idea that perhaps Cambray (bought by Mr Morris above and renamed Gouverneur) was a disputed territory. But I don't think that is the Canada my ancestors are referencing.
I think when my guy says he is from Canada in 1850, I don't think he meant the nation north of the 49th parallel and the St. Lawrence River. Canada wasn't a county until 1867. These guys are not from the nation of Canada but "Canada Country," the land by a creek named Canada near Fairfield in Herkimer County.
Fairfield is also listed in the Ohio genealogy as the birthplace for Henry K. Townsend. Is this Abraham/Absolum guy there? It does appear that there is some one there who might be the guy, and he has 7 or 8 males who may be children or son-in-laws in the 1810 census. In the 1800 Census, he has 4 sons under 10, so any one of them, probably one of the younger ones, could be Henry K born 1799.
Now, I don't know if this is my ancestor. I honestly don't. Since they sold the land, there is no reason to believe that any ancestor of mine would be connected to a prior owner or occupant unless the deed conferred or implied such a relationship. Furthermore, it is unclear that Abraham and Absolum are even the same person. It is a bit of a leap of faith to suppose they are, but they could be different guys.It is just a strange coincidence that my guy shows up in 1850 in the first slot of the Philadelphia Village where Abraham showed up in the 1810 Census years earlier, I suppose. But maybe it is worth looking into.
I think these "Canadian" Townsend men in Jefferson County might belong to this guy. It think they were born on the banks of the Canada Creek in Fairfield, Herkimer County.
Then there is the strange entry in the 1790 Census. Is this Abraham, Absolum of Jefferson County or his son? How does a single guy living in a gandaouage wind up living in a Quaker settlement way up north? This wasn't just an Iroquois Village, but a gandaouage, an Indian version of Masada, a place where one could "hidy-hole" for years. Another line of my family owned land near this place, so the area is not unknown to me (they were on the other side of the war). This place has a view of the Hudson Valley that would be of utmost value in a war time situation, and just plain gorgeous in all situations.
It is a gathering place for Iroquois, their Kahn-a-dah.
For a private in the New York Militia during the American Revolution, I guess that is as good a place as any to find him, if it is him. I wonder if it is his son? Maybe he is just "some guy" with the same name?
It certainly gives the term "Canada" a new meaning. The French Jesuits had a school there, and it was a place the French held dear in the French and Indian War.
James LeRay was French.
Back to "Father Abraham"
It seems from land records gleaned by a cousin, Absolum who is in Jefferson County, NY does not live much past the 1810 Census. He has a wife in the land records referenced as Alce' who appears to sell some land after he dies. After she dies, there is a will probated around 1827. They may be more than one tract of land. There is a probate file, but no will appears to be on the microfilm, just a statement from an S Kanady that there was one, which is a big disappointment. The other item is that the land sales are in Champion, but in the Census, the family appears in LeRay.
Back to the original couple, Abraham/Absolum,and Alce', Elsie, or whatever her name is
She should be in the 1820 Census somewhere.... Her will is probated in 1827, but the microfilm my cousin found shows no will, just a statement by S. Kanady that he witnessed it.
An interesting statement in one of the land transactions is that she is "the relic" of Absolum Townsend. I think I'd have to be pretty old to view myself as a relic. When I think of a relic, I think of this guy below. His name is Absolum Townend. He is in the 1850 Census as an 81 year old man. In 1850? That is a relic!
According to find a grave (Find a Grave Memorial# 46894069), his name is Absolum Townsend, son of Absolum Townsend and his wife was Mary McNutt. He says he is from Delaware, at least what his son Charles to put that on the headstone. Kent seems quite far south for anyone in my family, but one never knows. Kent isn't that far from Burlington, NJ and Byberry and Mooreland, at least not far from my perspective. I suspect it could be traveled in one's days ride in the 1790, and perhaps faster in the 1850s, if one traveled by Steamer. It would not be out of line for someone who traveled with a bunch from Byberry & Moorland PA and Burlington, NJ to be found in Kent, Delaware years later.
Or maybe they are unrelated and just have similar names and it is all a coincidence. Maybe he is part of the group in Cape May?
The take away for me today is
1) don't trust the Census index, look at the actual forms
2) the existing narratives of the region have some big omissions.
3) Canada is a creek, and to be from "Canada" in Jefferson County probably means one is from Fairfield, NY in Herkimer County or a Mohawk Village in Montgomery County.
4) Henry Townsend might be a cousin line, but he is not my direct progenitor.5) I think some cousins will hate me tonight.
But there are lot of Townsend guys from this Abraham that need to be parsed. I suspect that the sons of this Abraham are the ones who really built Jefferson County. This one is going to be some work.
First it has to be established whether or not Abraham and Absolum are the same men or different men. That is the next task. Gathering up the Canadian Townsends in Jefferson County could be another matter.
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