When the Quiver is Full: A Note on the John Townsend Family of the Black River Region in Jefferson County from Bucks, PA

 Joseph Martinedale, History of Byberry and Mooreland Townships has long been considered authoritative on the genealogies of families from the Bucks County region. From time to time it has inconsistencies, and omissions. As we noted previously, the section on the maiden name of  the wife of John Townsend of Philadelphia Village, who I have called "Old Quaker John" is given as Strickland in the Townsend section but Carver in the Carver section. She is a Carver, there can be no doubt. Her name, Asenath Carver can be found among the women descendants in the family.  Neither family provide a complete listing of the children of John Townsend (p. 350, Evan 8, John 17 below) and Asenath Carver Townsend ( p. 267, John Carver 10, Ascenath 23). Other omissions have included Rachael Townsend Strickland's children. While they were born in Burlington, NJ, other children born out of the Byberry and Mooreland Township are included, and it seems a bit of a snub to exclude them.

Nevertheless, my focus here is to tidy up the Townsend men in Jefferson County to find my own people. In the process, that means sorting through them and assigning them their group. In the process of doing so, I am leaving this record in case it is ever useful to anyone. There are several of us out there with unknown progenitors in Jefferson County, so having part of the work done may be helpful to a future researcher.

For clarity,  I have underlined the couple I am referencing below.

 

If you don't understand how this group relates to Oneida, Jefferson, Lewis, and St. Lawrence Counties, I refer you to the first blog.


Based on Court Documents that recently came to my attention through Pete Townsend, I now realize that I may have understated the size of the household of John and Asenath Townsend. I had  assumed that Asenath's  "quiver was full" as is often stated when a woman is done bearing children and thought the "extra male" was at the top of the family. However, it seems that the extra male is at the bottom.

It seems that Asenath's quiver held more arrows than was previously believed. In my earlier posting, Parsing John Townsend's Sons, I had stopped in 1820 for two reasons: 1) my progenitor James was born 1816, so children born after 1820 were  not of interest and 2) the Byberry and Mooreland narrative stops with Evan.

Well,  it would appear that John and Asenath didn't consult with Byberry and Mooreland continued with Genesis 1:28.

Find a grave website http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=83793059&PIpi=62018969

There is a minor chance that this son could really be their  son of Ezra, who died in 1835 at the age of 26 (below). I had rather hoped he would have been a brother or cousin to my ancestor, but it turns out not to be the case. Documents presented in court in the case of Burton Townsend's estate clearly state from the words of Old Quaker John that Burton is his son, not his grandson.

nnygenealogy.com

When a Quaker goes to court on a matter, it is a rare event and he says that Burton Townsend is his son. Burton was a school teacher, who was teaching the classical subjects. His teaching was controversial because he was teaching Greek, Latin, and Architecture along with other subjects. He died at the age of 30 under some mysterious circumstances. Now, he had no children, so he hasn't received a lot of attention in the genealogy community, but he should, because it opens up a possibility that had not been previously explored. That possibility is that John Townsend and Asenath had more children, and a lack of completeness of the Byberry and Mooreland records once families leave Pennsylvania is at issue.

Carefully note is that Burton dies at age 30 in 1853. That places his birth at 1823. In the 1820 Census, Asenath reports that she is still under 45, which means that it is not all that unlikely that she had more children. Mahlon Carver was the informant on the Byberry and Mooreland records, and I suppose it is possible he could have fallen out of touch with the family at this point.

We also know there is a variance with the Calendar used by the Quaker families and by the government. The Quaker calendar, as I recall is a numbering system that begins with March. So, suppose the Census takers come in January and a family has a baby in February. February would be recorded for the previous year. So, while the Census taker arrives in 1820, it is still 1819 on the Quaker Calendar. 1820 begins in March.

However, there is a biological possibility that Ezra is Burton's father, but I regard it as unlikely. If the age for Ezra is correct on the headstone, Ezra's birth year would be 1809, the same year I deduced in the Parsing John piece. That would have made Ezra 14 at the time of fatherhood. Now, I suppose it could happen in theory, but I find it doubtful. Even so, John Townsend would have raised him as his own anyway because Ezra dies in 1835. The point here is that Burton is squarely of the John and Asenath line, and not of the Abraham and Alce line or the other Townsend lines (Martin or the  Horace group) in the area.

It is rather disappointing in some respects. Some of us had hoped he was a grandchild of Abraham and Alce, who donated the land to build a school in Jefferson County. The notion that one of their children would carry it forward was a big romantic and rather tantalizing. Sadly, it is not the truth in this case.  His age at the time of his death, and his year of birth would make him the child of a dead couple. Thus, it doesn't seem likely he could be the child of Abraham and Alce. The impression some of us had was that he was a slightly older gent.

In the probate of Burton Townsend's estate, John Townsend "of full age" steps forward to be the administer of the estate. I have underlined in red the section of interest. I don't know why Harriet doesn't just give Old John back the gold watch and the books, but apparently, this becomes a contested estate. It isn't the finest hour in this community and by the end of the probate, Harriet has a new last name.

The estate is rather fascinating. Beyond the gold watch and the 3 pairs of woolen underwear, the library of books looks like my own shelves. It was actually kind of strange for me to read, because I have modern versions of these same books on my shelves. I have Wheelock and Cannon for Latin Grammar and Machen for Greek Grammar, and I can go down the list. However, the list of books in the estate file (link above) provides an insight into the sort of education that Burton had, and the sort of education he was providing.

Whoever has been teaching the families, they had a classical education.

Now, Burton dies without issue, so no direct genealogy hangs on the inclusion or omission of Burton. There are no descendants to stand forward and complain. However, to have the history correct, he should be included in the family genealogy. He was dearly loved by his father and mother, and that alone should be basis enough for his inclusion. Further his contributions to pedagogy and the institutional development of the educational system of the region is noteworthy, so it is historically important.

For my own genealogy, it isn't relevant. Burton is younger than my progenitor by roughly 5 years, but provides an important clue for my ancestor's background and provides an insight on the sort of training he would have had in if he grew up in the Philadelphia settlement.

 Revisiting that 1830 Census record of Old Quaker John now provides an insight. There is one male 15-19 and that must be Burton? That still does not seem right.  The two males between 20 and 29 are Ezra and Evan. There is one male between 40 and 49, and that is the father, Quaker John.   There is 1 female between 5-9, that is Abi from the 1855 Census record (John is living with her). Odd, Burton is younger than her yet she is coded correctly and he is not?  She is born 1821, so that must be her. There is one female 15-19, that is Martha, one female 40-49 and that is the Mother, Asenath Carver Townsend. 

Now, there are differences in the Quaker Calendar and the traditional Calendar being used, so that might still account for some problems in parsing children. I think that was the problem with parsing Robert, the eldest. I have decided for now to assign him that slot that we thought was a "mystery person;" since we now have Ezra's birth year we can be more confident that Robert is the male in that slot. However, there still seems to be something peculiar about Burton's birth year. He is noted in the census as older than Abi, yet we know Abi's age from the Census. Strange. Perhaps the Census taker made an error, or perhaps there is more to Burton that we know. That being said, the people in this family seem accounted for at the moment.

I am still not quite satisfied with the alignment of dates. There still seems to be something a bit out of kilter.

John Sr. Townsend (b. 1779) and Asenath Carver Townsend
   Of Bucks County, PA moved to the Black River regions with the Friends Settlement in 1806. 

   The purchase was originally part of Oneida County but later became Jefferson County. 

    He arrived with brother Thomas Townsend (married Elizabeth Strickland in 1800). 

    Sister Rachel Townsend Strickland, wife of Robert Strickland Jr arrived the following year

    from Burlington, N.J. The prior generation of the family had been hard hit by the pox 

    epidemic in 1769. Naming patterns appear to fit the relatives lost rather than the traditional

    naming conventions found among Quaker families particularly in the Thomas line.  By 1820,

    the Thomas line gravitates toward Lowville, Lewis County, NY, the John line in Philadelphia 

    Village, Jefferson County, NY.
Mary born between b. 1801, died March 11, 1889 married in 1825 Alfred Coolidge

           Family originally settled in the Philadelphia region.
           In 1853 the family located at 38 Clinton street,  Watertown, NY.  

           They had five sons and one daughter, Asenith Carver Coolidge. 

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

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

          Lives next door to his father during several census periods. 

 John, Jr born 1807 Jeff Co, NY marries Huldah. Family moves to Fowler in St. Lawrence County, NY

            then goes to Farmington, WI [per Haddock and Census]

           (Ezra [marries Katie from the Isle of Wight, daughter Minnie], Lydia, Laura, and likely others)

 Martha born 1812 dies 1890 marries Nathan Coolidge, settles in Antwerp, Jefferson County, NY
          (Clinton, Cassius, Abi, Ella, J. Emmet, and likely others)

 Ezra born 1809-10 dies 1835 descendants unknown, presumed none. 

 Evan born 1815 moves to Waupaca, County, WI [per census],  buys land and starts 
          the Evanwoods Settlement with Evan Coolidge (Two Evans, get it?). Land records 
          signed by President Andrew Jackson at the National Archive, some on this 
          blog. Descendants unknown but they are not in Jefferson County. 

 Abi b 1818-1820  m. George Williams
           (Elizabeth, Mary, other sons and daughters?) [Per census]
            Lives in the region through the relevant period of inquiry.
            After John Sr passes, the family moves to Waupaca, WI. 

Burton b 1823 dies 1853 married Harriet. School teacher, founded the first academy in the area.
           Dies at age 30 of unknown natural causes; contested estate,  no children.



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As a last minute addition, I want to include a write up of a descendant of John Jr. It may be those reading this blog from that family might enjoy. It seems that John Jr. had one son, Ezra. Ezra grew up to have a good size family of his own. This write up was put together for the town's anniversary. A branch of the family also went to Minnesota.

From what I can tell on the above, the history of the family in the piece probably came from Haddock. He did not know that Burton was John's son, or was not certain because it is not in the Byberry records. However, anyone who reads that probate file quickly realizes that he really is John Townsend's son and was known as such at the time. 

I am happy to include any additional information that anyone would want to include on the family. We might as well update Byberry and Haddock as long as we are sorting through the main Townsend lines. 

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While it may seem obsessive to button down the family group, it is important in searching for our own progenitor. Recall he first appears in 1840 and 1850 with a sister in the Philadelphia settlement, wife, and a couple of children. They are the first family in the 1850 Census. With YDNA results not matching the Martin Townsend group (Josiah, Johnathan, Timothy, Lyman, etc) and a tie to the Quaker group with a similar YDNA profile seemed logical. While I understand that Townsend men are quite prodigious, there still needs to be some degree of geographic proximity for issue to occur.  The only prospect seems to be to buckle down on Abraham and Alce as grandparent progenitors, and work down to see what can be determined, or expand the ring of origin. We know that at least one descendant of that line is a partial YDNA match and they have recently connected to the Abraham/Absolum Alce family.

While I appreciate the multiple suggestions that Old James married to Fanny Ensign is a likely father, he doesn't have son born between 1810 and 1820. It would seem that the first condition of a potential progenitor is that he has a son born in the relevant time frame.

For our line, it seems that building churches, roads, and bridges and a predilection for classical knowledge came from the Philadelphia Settlement.  I can't imagine why James is there if he isn't born there, but he is there and so we begin again.