Ezra Townsend son of Which John Townsend? Another Lost Townsend Line

In parsing out the sons of Thomas and John Townsend, I checked the cemetery data to make certain of my information. In looking at the information for Ezra of John and Asenath, I made a brief incursion into what turned out to be another Townsend line on a message board. I am posting what I found because it may be helpful to someone. I imagine everyone else in the world knows this except me, but one never knows.  It was a good exercise in reading an obituary, using the census and a map along with looking at the history of a region. It didn't help me find my people, but I did learn something.

Townsend families are all over Jefferson County. This one is a lost line, but they are geographically lost, not genealogically lost. Once the geography gets straightened out, the genealogy works out enviably well for the family.

A Brief Excursion At the Cemetery

 When a child comes up missing in the census, often grave yards turn up clues. This time I found another mystery.  There is a "Find a Grave" entry on the Jefferson County, Philadelphia graves for an Ezra Townsend died in 1835. Along with that grave, there is a comment about an Ezra up in Michigan and they believe that the Ezra buried there is the Ezra from Canton, MI, and they believe that John and Elizabeth Townsend in Philadelphia Village to be the parents. I thought the comment interesting, and thought I would check it out, particularly since John was not married to Elizabeth and Thomas was.   Erza is the subject of the next blog post, so checking the data was part of the process of elimination for my own progenitor. 

Now, the Ezra that is buried in Philadelphia between John and Asenath (not Elizabeth) is most likely John and Asenath's child. Someone made a notation that doesn't really match the grave. It is user submitted and it relates to an Ezra Townsend in Canton, MI who died after that Ezra in Philadelphia Village. So I thought I would check it out and find the the fellow in the 1840 census. He has a wife, no children. He is next door to a Lewis Townsend who younger and has a wife and it appears at least one child.

 This Ezra in Michigan seems  to be connected to Lewis Townsend. If a person ever searches Ezra Townsend during the time frame in question, one will quickly discover that there is no shortage of them, and having just parsed out a few, I have the utmost sympathy for anyone parsing Ezras, Elijahs, and Evan Townsends between 1750 and 1850. It is just as bad as parsing Johns.  However, Lewis is a bit unique and a name famous among the Dutchess County Townsends. Thus,  I took a look at Lewis to see if more information on this Ezra by looking at Lewis Townsend in Michigan.

After an internet search,  I found an obituary for a  Lewis Cowan Townsend in Michigan. He was born in  Tompkins County, NY, in 1803 but it mentions Orleans, NY (Senaca County). Since Tompkins County was formed from Senaca County in 1817, it was all Senaca back then. So knowing the Obituary mentions Tompkins County when there was no Tompkins County suggests that the writer of the Obituary had recent contact with the people back there. In other words,  they knew their people and kept in touch with them.

Now in Enfield, Tompkins County, there is a farmer named Lewis Cowan. My guess, is that he had a daughter Elizabeth who married that John Townsend that fathered Lewis Cowan Townsend and Ezra Townsend that is listed in the user submitted section of the Jefferson County Village of Philadelphia grave is of this family in Tompkins, not the Philadelphia group.

I think the people researching the Michigan Ezra might want to look at a map as they go through the obituary.  Here is the obituary... and it is very detailed, as if the man wrote it while he was still alive.

Mr. Lewis Cowan Townsend was born in Tompkins County, N.Y. March 10, 1803, and died at Olivet, Eaton County Michigan., April 9, 1891, aged 88 years and 30 days.  He had been a resident of Michigan 48 years.  In 1830, he married Miss Mariah Griffin of Rochester, Monroe county, N.Y. where he resided three years, then removed to Orleans county, in that state, and from there to Metamora, Michigah, in September 1843, and settled upon a farm four and a half miles south-easth of the village, where he lived until 1882, when he moved to the village and resided here until the destruction of his dwelling by fire on April 2, 1885, in which Mrs. Townsend perished, which sad event will be remembered by many in this vicinity.  They had lived happily together amid all the trials incident to frontier and pioneer life for 55 years.  Mr. Townsend was the father of eleven children, seven of whom survive him, and with many friends mourn his death.  Deceased was the son of John and Elizabeth Townsend, who lived together 71 years, and who died within 5 days of each other, aged 91 and 98  years respectively.  Mr. Townsend was an affectionate husband and father, a good neighbor and respected citizen, having held the different offices of his township with acceptability and credit.  Thus we chronicle the death of another of Michigan's pioneers, men whose foresight and self-sacrifice has made possible the beautiful, social, and civilized country we now enjoy.

Now, someone may have John and Elizabeth Townsend in the obituary confused with the Townsend men of the Philadelphia Village settlement.  (Thomas married Elizabeth, not John). Sometimes Obituaries mislead, but this one is good and it checks out.

He appears to be from Tompkins County before there was a Tompkins County.  Other than that, the census matches that obituary.

Tompkins County is NO WHERE NEAR Jefferson County and is clear on the other side of the state what is called the Finger Lakes Region or the Pen-Yan Region.

 Is there a John married to an Elizabeth that matches this obituary?  Well, there is one in Orleans, New York which is mentioned in the obituary.

 It looks like they have been there 17 years, and they have a grown son Andrew married to Rebecca. I suspect her name is Rebecca Ann Malcolm, and I suspect she is Andrew's second wife. (p. 88 of the Townsend Genealogy).



In the 1855 New York State Census this John Townsend says he is from Dutchess County. He  married Elizabeth Cowan, daughter of Lewis Cowan who was a farmer (below). There are still Cowans in the area, and when Geneva NY had their 150 celebration in 1957, there was an Arthur Cowan who was part of the planning committee.

1820 Census is 2nd from the bottom on the fragment

But, it is likely that Cowan and Townsend knew each other in Duchess, which is how the kids met. That they both end up in the same region of New York may be with the thought that they would be closer to the grandkids. Enfield, Tompkins County isn't that far away from Orleans, Senaca County. One has to remember,  Tompkins County was formed in 1817 from Cayuga and Seneca (http://www.nytompki.org/ ) where Orleans is located. So, it may be the two men actually traveled together out to the Finger Lakes region. The formation of a new county later would separate the data, but the people are still there.

True to the obituary, Lewis is in the 1830 Census in Orleans (see below).  The Obituary doesn't seem to mention his brother Andrew. This is probably the same Andrew that John and Elizabeth are living with in 1855. My guess is that Andrew and Lewis went to Orleans when Lewis Cowan came out and John and Elizabeth came a few years later from the Dutchess County because they missed the kids. They seem like very nice people to have as ancestors. I imagine anyone researching them will find tons on them in the Townsend Genealogy.

So that should help one of the lines that was sort of "stuck" and attached themselves to the Philadelphia Village Way up North in Jefferson County when they should be looking in the region of New York commonly referred to as the "Finger Lakes." In modern times, Enfield and Orleans are roughly a 1 hour drive around the lakes and it looks like it is quite beautiful.  I suspect it was a good place for John and Elizabeth to finish out there years. Back in the 1830s when Lewis Cowan and John and Andrew Townsend were there, it was probably three hours on horseback at most to go from Enfield to Orleans. 

That should help with the clean up the issue with the entry on Ezra Townsend listed on the "Find a Grave" site. They are from Dutchess County. Page 86 of the Townsend Genealogy might be helpful.


Too bad they all aren't that easy.

If this one doesn't work out for the family of Ezra in Michigan, they could check the records for the children of John P Townsend in Middletown, PA. He does have a son named Ezra. However, I feel certain that the Ezra from Canton MI is an  Ezra is part of this group. As a side note, in the Townsend Genealogy, there is a notation (Jeremiah, Ezra?) as if they were not certain of the name. I've seen another line of the family where Evan turned into Timothy. I'm not sure why this is, but it may be one of those deals where they use the middle name.