#52Ancestors-Week 5 In the Census

For Week 5 of #52Ancestors the prompt is "In the Census".  This could apply to many things, but what came to mind first was the 1850 Census for Allen Adamson and his family that remained elusive to me for a long time.

Allen Adamson was my third great-uncle, brother to my great-great grandfather, Aaron Adamson.  Allen and Aaron had both married in Edwards County, Illinois in 1835. Allen and his family were still listed in Edwards County, Illinois in the 1840 Census, but were not found in the 1850 Census.  I found him in the 1860 Census in Crittenden County, Kentucky living with his father.

As I continued to research his family, I learned that from 1842 through 1857 his children were born in Missouri.  His wife's parents had moved from Edwards County, Illinois to Texas County, Missouri sometime between 1840 and 1850. Allen's wife, Elizabeth, died around 1857 in Missouri. Estate records for Elizabeth's death and Guardian records for her children were located in Texas County, Missouri, and were recorded in 1858.

But I could not find the family in the 1850 Census records.  I searched manually, page by page through the 1850 Texas County Missouri Census records.  Nothing.  Eventually, I learned that one of Allen and Elizabeth's daughters was born in 1852 in Crawford County, Missouri.

I searched and searched the 1850 Census in Crawford County and couldn't find the family.  Eventually, I again did a page by page search and finally found the following:

Name: A Adsun
Age: 45
Birth Year: abt 1805
Birthplace: Tennessee
Home in 1850: District 24, Crawford, Missouri, USA
Gender: Male
Family Number: 765
Household Members

Name	Age
A Adsun	45
E Adsun	36
T Adsun	14
N J Adsun	12
William Adsun	10
S A Adsun	8
A Adsun	6
J W Adsun	5
J Adsun	4
R Adsun	3

So, "Adsun" was the name listed for "Adamson".  Close enough, huh? Believe me, it was a matter of high celebration in this household when I finally located this family in their 1850 household! I wish that I could learn more about why they were in Crawford County, and when they made the move to Texas County!

#52Ancestors-Week 4 Invite to Dinner

Week 4's challenge is to write about who you would "Invite to Dinner". It's a difficult choice to consider.  There are my beloved grandparents, my parents,  and my two brothers to consider. How wonderful it would be to sit down with any of them for a meal again.  And then there are those ancestors who I never knew that I have some brick walls that would be wonderful to solve.  But the one person who keeps coming to mind for me that I would like to invite to dinner is my Aunt Gen.

Genevieve Elizabeth Murphy was my great-aunt, sister to my grandfather.  And

keeper of the family secrets.  As I got to be an adult, we often had long phone conversations late at night, when my baby was sleeping and my husband was working second shift.  She shared many, many family stories.  Of course, at the time, while I found them interesting, I didn't record them.

Aunt Gen was born in 1903 in Peoria, Illinois.  She lived with her parents until she married in 1952 at the age of 48.  So living with her parents all those years meant that Genevieve knew well all the Murphy history.  And she was a great (interesting) gossip who always seemed to know everything about everyone. That's why I would chose to invite Aunt Gen to dinner one more time.  I have to admit, I would also love to see her and spend an evening with her.

We would have a grand time going over all the old Murphy stories and she could answer so many questions about the family that I can't seem to solve.  Why, why didn't I ask the questions?

#52Ancestors-Week 3 Longevity

Longevity is defined as "long life".  My great-grandmother, Ingrid "Ida" Olauson Seeber, lived to one hundred and one years old.  I am awarding the title of "Longevity" to her! 

I don't know for certain where her longevity came from.  Her parents died at ages fifty-four (her mother) and seventy-five (her father). Although, I guess for the time (1925) after living in North Dakota for years perhaps seventy-five was considered a life of longevity.  And as I look at Ingrid's grandparents, Ingrid's paternal grandfather lived until age seventy-six (died in 1900).  So I am going to make a reasonable guess that Ingrid's longevity came from her father's side of the family.

Ingrid's sister, Elise, lived to age ninety-four. None of her other four siblings lived past age seventy-three.

However, Ingrid's children lived to ages ninety-seven, eighty, eighty-one, eighty, ninety-four, and fifty-three.

An interesting pattern for the family is that it seems to always be the oldest child that lives the longest.  Ingrid's father was the eldest, Ingrid was the eldest and Ingrid's child who lived longest was also the eldest.

Below is a picture of Ingrid and her sister Elise taken on Ingrid's one hundredth birthday! Ingrid is on the left.

#52Ancestors-Favorite Photo-Week2

This was both an easy and a hard choice.  With all my ancestors, my siblings, my children and my grandchildren, I have many special photos.  But the one photo that stands out for me is an interesting choice.  It's a photo of myself at the age of one year old.  That seems rather self-centered, I know, but the reason it is my favorite photo is because it is a photo that my grandmother displayed prominently all of my life, right up to her death in 1986.  When she died, my mom let me have the photo and so I have it in its' original frame on my desk in my bedroom.  Every morning when I see it, I think of how much I was loved.  What a gift a grandmother's love is. 

#52Ancestors: Rosa Kerrott Smyth-the Starter

For Starters I decided to write about my 3rd great-grandmother, Rosa Kerrott Smyth.  Rosa was the first of my grandmothers from this line to come to the United States, thus she was the "starter".

Rosa was born on the 14th of October in 1814 in County Down, Ireland to John Carrott and Catherine Fegan.  John Carrott was a farmer.  At this time, I have identified two siblings for Rosa: William Kerrott, born in 1810, and Edward Kerrott, born about 1813.  In 1833, Rosa married Patrick Smyth, the son of a neighboring farmer.  At the time of their marriage, Rosa was 18 years old, and Patrick was 23 years old.

It appears that Rosa was the first of her family to leave Ireland.  Patrick and Rosa left for the United States the day after their wedding!  They landed in Albany, New York.  Rosa's brother William emigrated to Canada in 1835 and her other brother, Edward, emigrated to Canada around 1845.  After about 20 years in Canada, William moved to Minnesota and lived there until his death in 1897.  Edward remained in Canada and died in 1888.  It is interesting to wonder if Rosa ever saw her brothers after she left Ireland.

Patrick and Rosa stayed in Albany for 13 months, and then went to Trumansburg in Tompkins County, New York.  There Patrick worked as a laborer.  Their first son, Francis, was born in New York in 1835 and the following year, their daughter Mary was born.  Sadly, little Francis died in 1837. The next year Patrick, Rosa, and Mary left New York and came to Kickapoo, Illinois, and in the fall of 1838, they purchased their first home. Their daughter Catherine was born that year.  Another daughter, Anna, was born in 1839.  Again, sadness struck when little Catherine died in the fall of 1839. Following the death of Catherine, Patrick and Rosa went on to have 11 more children, for a total of 15 children born to them.

Rosa and Patrick's last child was born in 1858 and three years later, Patrick died.  When he died, he and Rosa owned about 284 acres.  Rosa was 46 years old when Patrick died.  The 1860 Census shows that 12 of their children were living with Rosa and Patrick.  When Patrick died the following year, his sons Frank and Jack were ages 21 and 19, so they probably managed/ran the farm for Rosa.  Patrick did not live to see any of his children married.

In 1870, seven of Rosa's children were living with her on the farm.  And by 1880, 4 of their children were listed in the census with her, along with 1 grandson.

Rosa Kerrott Smyth died on the 14th of April in 1882 and is buried at St. Patrick's Cemetery in Kickapoo.  She was 67 years old when she died.  She had lived 21 years past her husband's death.  She must have been a force to reckon with to have raised all those children and managed the farm!  She had 66 grandchildren.  She saw 3 children of her own die before her (Mary died in 1879).

I consider Rosa a starter because she was the mother of my great-great-grandmother, Elizabeth Smyth.  Elizabeth married William H. Murphy, which was the start of my direct line to the Murphy family!

Tombstone of Patrick and Rosa Kerrott Smyth in Kickapoo, Illinois.