Parsing the Sons of John Townsend

Quaker naming conventions may be something of a by-gone era, but to sort through the period of the American Revolution, it is a very helpful tool. One must keep in mind that the two gentleman of interest that essentially started the Friends Settlement are John Townsend and Thomas Townsend. There is also a Rachel Strickland who is their sister, Rachel Townsend by birth. They have children they brought with them from Bucks County and they have children born in the settlement.

Our goal is to discern the sons of these two Townsend men and figure out where their kids went so they can be ruled out as a progenitor or accepted as a progenitor to my own line. The first census where they household members are delineated for my family is the Philadelphia Village, the "capital" of sorts for the Friends Settlement. Maybe my guy is connected and maybe he is not.  For those who have a copy of the G.W. Jacobs, History of Townships of Byberry and Mooreland in PDF format, this is the John Townsend who appears on page 351, mentioned as John #17.

For my own line, the family appears as the first family in the Philadelphia settlement in the 1850 census record. James  Townsend, born about 1817 m Phebe with children.  I don't know why they are there, but they are. My cousins seem to believe the family is from the area. I have no idea if they are or not, but to find out means getting into the weeds of the Townsend men in the region.

Thus into the weeds of Jefferson-Lewis-County Townsend men we go.  Lewis County was formed from Jefferson County and Oneida Counties. So, many of our early Jefferson County people were "lost" because this writer didn't know this little tidbit. LeRay Jefferson County of 1810 was a much larger nebulous place that previously believed, and when the county of Lewis was formed, it split the brothers.

 I thought I would look at the distance between Lowville and Philadelphia to get a sense of the distances involved and the basic geography. As it turns out, it is less than a one hour drive from Lowville to Philadelphia Village, and by 1800s standards, it might have been a 3 hour horseback ride and certainly for a tall man a one day's hike, and maybe a two day hike for a Lilliputian like myself.

Now with two Townsend brothers in such close proximity with large families, the number of children will proliferate rather quickly. The problem is that we lack knowledge of the names of the children that arrived with the family in the 1810 census. We don't know if any children stayed behind in Bucks County PA or Burlington, NJ but it seems unlikely.  Here is what we do know:

1) We know that some children arrived with Thomas and John and they are in the 1810 census. We know their ages and genders. A few are identified by either later census records or from Haddock.

2)We know that John Strickland and his wife Rachel Townsend Strickland arrived with 11 children and that they had a much larger family. We know this because John Strickland bought one of the Townsend homes and based on  Haddock's book we know that Strickland had to add onto the home because he had a substantially larger family. So, we know that Thomas and John did not have families as large as the Strickland family. Thus we have an upward limit on family size as less than 11 children.

3) We know the names of the parents from the records in Bucks PA and Burlington, NJ. We have genealogies in the History of Byberry and Mooreland, and genealogy tidbits in Haddock gleaned in a prior blog post. 

4) The other tidbit with Thomas and Elizabeth is we know they were married in the 4th month of 1800 in on the Quaker Calendar in Middletown, PA.This means AT MOST they had 3 children before they arrived in 1805. We don't have a marriage date for John and Asenath.

The tidbit known about John and Asenath is from the Carver Family section maintained by Mahon Carver in Byberry Township and contributed in 1867 to the History of the Township on page 267 (above number 23) is what we have. No year is given for their marriage and John Jr is given as the oldest. Now, we know this cannot be correct because the date of John's birth is quite well known and he was the first born in the county and from Haddock that was 1807. They arrived with children, that is clear from the 1810 Census, and yet Robert's age in the subsequent census shows he is one of the 2 boys under 10 in the 1810 Census.

Here is what we left the John family at the last time:

 John b 1779 Bucks County, PA

     married Asenath Carver of Bucks County PA in Bucks County

      Robert  b. 1805, Bucks County  m Hannah [per census]

     (Ezra, Eliza Ann, and Abi and others) [per census]

      Abi b 1818-1820  m. George Williams

      (Elizabeth, Mary, other sons and daughters?) [Per census]

      John, Jr marries and goes to Farmington, WI [per Haddock and Census]

     Two boys born between 1800-1810

     One girl born between 1800-1803
     One girl born between 1804-1820

     Other children?

In parsing out the children, it because apparent that there may be an extra male. Using an old fashioned method of lining up the Census we can assign them slots based on known information.  For our purposes, we are seeking a male born between 1816 and 1819, so any unaccounted for male children with a surname of Townsend that lived to adulthood in the Village of Philadelphia would be of clear interest.  

It is possible that this is the case. If you read the previous blog on Lewis Townsend and the notation on Ezra you will see why I bothered checking on Erza. According to the records on the New York Jefferson County Website, Ezra died in 1835. The proximity of his burial suggests that he is their child. We know Ezra died, and we know he was born before we could observe him in the census.

The only information we have on Ezra is that he died in 1835 and he is buried in Philadelphia. We need to find his birth year to parse him out and decide if there is an extra Townsend male. If he ends up being one of the 2 males in the 1820 census, then we can exclude John as a progenitor for our line, but it still means that the family records for the couple need revision, because there would be an extra male child.

In the chart below, the green information comes from the Bucks County Records. the blue information comes from Haddock and the Census. If Ezra is the older child, then there is a chance that one of the lost lines could come from this family. If Ezra is the younger child, then there is still the mystery of the extra male. 

That is why the year of birth of  John and Asenath's son Ezra is of such intense interest.

Now, maybe Ezra is the younger son with Evan in the 1820 Census, and maybe Ezra is the older son in the 1810 census, but he cannot be both. Maybe it is some unrelated male with John Townsend in the 1810 census, like a brother? Yet we know know that only on brother is mentioned by Haddock that came up to the region, and he has his own household listed. A sister, Rachael Townsend Strickland, wife of John Strickland Jr arrived a year after everyone else. If there was another brother who arrived, surely he would be mentioned by Haddock? He gives a very complete list of those present.

 What we do know is that Ezra dies in 1835, so the 1830 census should shed some light.

There is one male 15-19, two male between 20 and 29, one male between 40 and 49
There is 1 female between 5-9, one female 15-19, one female 40-49.

Robert is his own household.  John Jr. would be 23 years old and could be one of the two males between 20 and 29. Evan was born between 1810 and 1820.  Even if we find him in the 1840 Census, we still won't know his age. He has to be found in the 1850 Census.

Now, there is an E. Townsend in the Agricultural Census for the newly formed town of Teresa. Prior entries would show as simply LeRay or Philadelphia. But he is in the Non-population portion of the census, which means he may own the land but not live there. If someone was buying the land from him on a "Contract for Deed basis," or it might be rented out, and  it might show as an E Townsend by the person living there. There could be a family member there in Teresa, and one would have to look at the quit claim deed of the lot to be certain.

So, no help there. There are other Evans in the settlement, but the age is all wrong and they present at best grandchildren or unrelated individuals. Maybe Evan went to Wisconsin with his brother John, Jr? If John and Thomas went together, one might expect their sons to go in "twos" as well.

The Evan that is in Wisconsin seems to be living in a Hotel, or a Boarding House. He is the County Treasurer and is living next door to the Sheriff. He isn't farming. He seems like a good match and makes sense. There is probably a local historian who has more information on him in the region, it seems that this is him.  He presents with a birth date in 1815, and born in New York. In 1870, he is still living with a Coolidge family. He reports Pennsylvania, but it is pretty clear that is where his father was born, not him.

Just to get a reading on this guy, I took a look at the map to see how far he would be from John Jr. The distance between the two reminded me of the distance between Thomas and John. It looks like a full day hike, about 3 hours on horseback, and about an hour and a half drive by today's travel.

One can't help but think about the distance between Evan and John Jr and reflect on the distance between their father John and Uncle Thomas in the map at the beginning of the blog.

It appears this man had quite a life. There are several land records at the National Archives; it seems he bought a lot of land from the Federal Government during the Reconstruction Era. Most of the land records are signed by President Andrew Johnson. The government would have been selling land to pay off War Debts, so those who had a bit of coin could buy land. There are several like the deed above. He bought the land, named the place Evanwood, and became his own postmaster. 

He appears to have died in 1905 and his burial data list 1814 as his year of birth. Given the differences between the Quaker Calendar and the regular calender, this is close enough to be him.

Now that we have Evan's birth of 1815, we can parse things out with slightly more detail. Going back to the 1830 census, we know that the youngest male is Evan. We know that one male in the 20-29 category is John Jr born in 1807. That leaves a male who is born between the two men. The missing male is between 1807 and 1815. He is old enough to be 20-29 in 1830 placing a minimum birth date at 1810 and a maximum birth year of 1801. He has to be older than Evan because Evan is the youngest male and we know know he is 15 in the 1830 Census and 5 in the 1820 Census.  Robert is on his own and reports in the 20-29 age group. So, three of the boys report born between 1800-1810.

Can Ezra have a birth year before John Jr? Perhaps...but then where is he in the 1820 Census? He doesn't report as his own household, and he dies in 1835, so there is no use finding him in the later census.

Perhaps the family has additional information, or perhaps a historical book has additional insight, but it seems there is an extra male. There is a male child between John Jr and Evan. That male child seems to be born about 1808-09. He lives long enough to present in the 1820 and 1830 census. My suspicion is that this is Ezra.

Here is how I tentatively see the family group based on parsing out the males. There is 15-21 years between the unknown male in the 1810 Census and John Sr. This male could be Ezra, and then the younger male would be the unknown. I have tentatively placed Ezra as the unknown youngest child because he never appears as his own household. The reality is there is a male who has not been accounted for in the genealogy.

John Sr. Townsend (b. 1779) and Asenath Carver Townsend
Unknown Male in the 1810 Census born  between 1794-1800
*Mary born between 1800-1810 married Alfred Coolidge
 Robert  b. 1805, Bucks County  m Hannah [per census]

          (Ezra, Eliza Ann, and Abi and others) [per census] 

 John, Jr born 1807 Jeff Co, NY marries and goes to Farmington, WI [per Haddock and Census]

 Martha born between 1810-1820
 Ezra born 1809-10 dies 1835 descendants unknown
 Evan born 1815 moves to Waupaca, WI [per census]
 Abi b 1818-1820  m. George Williams
           (Elizabeth, Mary, other sons and daughters?) [Per census]

Who is the extra male?

It seems that the genealogy doesn't hold any clues. John #17 in the Byberry and Mooreland history is who we have been parsing, and there isn't a good clue here. Thomas #15 is his own household in Lowville, Lewis county, although in 1810 it presents as LeRay, Jefferson County because there is no Lewis County, just the LeRay purchase. It was all LeRay.

The other option is an older Evan? That Evan did marry Asenath's sister but he doesn't appear to have gone to Jefferson County to live during the 1810 Census; at least it is not mentioned in Byberry or in Haddock. Further, if he is the extra male living with the family, wouldn't his wife and children also be present in the 1810 census? Wouldn't Haddock mention him being at one of the town meetings? He mentions everyone else, even details about Strickland's financial dealings, minor payments to other members for various and sundry items,  so certainly the Carver family living with John Asenath the first winter would have been mentioned. Yet, there is nothing written to provide any solid clues.

To double check, I even looked at the prior generation to see if anyone turned up that went to the Black River region. It is interesting that Rachael #8 below is mentioned by Haddock as being the spouse of John Strickland Jr, (not to be confused with Rachel #5 who died in the pox epidemic of 1769) but is not mentioned in the above in Byberry and Mooreland. Yet she has more Townsend children than anyone, 11 before moving to the Black River Region and perhaps more after that. They would all be Strickland by surname, but Townsend by blood. If all the Gangon and Smiths are listed, all the Strickland children should be too. Yet, they are not listed.

Strange that Mahlon Carver, the source of the Jefferson County group for the Byberry and Middleton history knew these kids, but not the Strickland kids.

Looking at the brothers and sister of Thomas and John's father Evan is revealing. The older Aunt to Thomas and John, Rachael (#5), age 27, who was married to Joseph Knight, (the Aunt of the Rachel who married John Strickland Jr).  Thomas who was age 13, and Jesse age 11 all died in 1769. While Thomas and John's father was 21 and likely had his own household, he would have had many years as a young teen having fun with his little brothers. One can be certain that he told the sons of the experience. 

Historical notes for Bucks County for 1769 show that in that year, there was a very bad snow storm that and an intense outbreak of small pox. (A mention of the out break is in Elizabeth Fenn, 

Pox Americana: The Great Smallpox Epidemic of 1775-82  p 299 has an brief bibliography of the 1769 plague from Dr. Benjamin Rush for those interest). Thus, it would seem that the the pox outbreak only increased the interest in spreading the population out beyond the mountains, something precluded by the Treaty of 1763.

My suspicion is that toll of this pox outbreak is what prompted the families to consider moving away from the Bucks settlement and into remote areas. That is why the Knights were helping organize the settlements. He lost his first wife in the pox epidemic. Putting distance between the families reduced the prospect of an epidemic imposing such a toll again. 

Thus there is an extra male in the John and Asenath Carver household to figure out, but it seems the males born between 1810 and 1820 may be parsed out. It could be that one of the males is really one the younger one and not the older one, but time will tell.

As a final note, I will leave mention of the old Uncle Ezra for whom the Ezra we were searching above is named. He stays in Bucks County. He doesn't settle in Michigan. He doesn't settle in Jefferson County. This is quite certain. While the Byberry and Mooreland History may confuse those who left, it is fairly solid on those who stayed. People have used his information to put him on all sort of places on the map. He stayed. He isn't in Jefferson and he isn't in Michigan. He lived in PA and died there and is buried there and is well remembered.

As for the family group's connection to my ancestors, they seem like nice people that anyone might care to have as an ancestor, but it does not appear that there is a connection to my line. There are plenty of Johns, Thomas, Evans and Ezras, and even a Uranus or two, but there are no James, no Henrys, and no connections that work out between 1810-1820 time frame in the Philadelphia .

Onto another family group. My advise to these guys... find your missing male in the 1810 census. For me, the work here is done.

Headstone of Asenath Carver Townsend
Courtesy of the NNYGenealogy.com 

Headstone of Asenath Carver Townsend
Courtesy of the NNYGenealogy.com

_____________________
*Mary is noted under http://jefferson.nygenweb.net/childwac.htm

Alfred Coolidge was born in Nelson, Madison County, March 7, 1800. February 27. 1819, he removed to Philadelphia, and for two years worked upon a farm. In the fall of 1820 he bought his time of his father, for which he paid $100, and took up 50 acres of wilderness land, upon which he cut the first tree, and made a clearing the same year, and the next year built a log house in which he lived alone for three years, during that time working out among the farmers clearing land. He bought a farm of Joseph Bonaparte, and drove to Bordentown, N. J., with a pair of horses, which he sold to obtain money to pay for the farm. He owned at one time 500 acres of choice land. He served as assessor and overseer of the poor in Philadelphia, and in 1853 located in Watertown, where he now resides, at 38 Clinton street. His sons, Thomas J. and Charles E., carry on the old farm. In 1825 he married Mary, daughter of John Townsend, a Quaker, and they had five sons and one daughter. His wife died March 11, 1889. His daughter, Asenith Carver Coolidge, resides with her father. She has written interesting articles for the newspapers, and in 1888, while in California, contributed to the Pacific Rural Press and other periodicals.