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My great-great-grandfather, Israel Goodman, was
born in Pennsylvania in 1822. I know this from his tombstone in Indianola,
Iowa, and from the 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 census which all give
Pennsylvania as a place of birth. Remarkably, his age is fairly consistent
throughout the census.1
Pennsylvania, however, is a very large place. How can I ever find out where
he was born in Pennsylvania or who his parents were when vital records don’t
start until 1906?
Many beginning genealogy books talk about
searching collateral lines. They tell us that collateral lines can
sometimes lead us to our ancestors. What are collateral lines? They are
our ancestors’ brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles that some of us
don’t normally research.2 I was
one of those people. I didn’t have time to do my direct ancestors, why
should I bother with people I’m not directly descended from? The search for
Israel Goodman convinced me that using collateral lines is not only
worthwhile but in some cases, the only way we’ll ever find our ancestors.
I began the search for Israel with the census,
finding him in 1860 and 1870 in Iowa.3
That gave me information on Israel, his wife and children, as well as the
dreaded Pennsylvania for place of birth. The census listed him as a mason
and the 1870 census told me his father was foreign-born. It also told me
that several of his children, including my great-grandmother, Sofia, were
born in Ohio. Again, where in Ohio? That’s a complete story in itself.4
It took me a long time, but I finally found Israel and family in Delaware,
Ohio.
Living next door to Israel on the 1850 census
for Delaware, Ohio, is Franklin Goodman, also born in Pennsylvania, also a
mason. Also in the household, are Mary C., born in Pennsylvania, Wm. Welt,
Jeremiah Markle, and Rosanna Goodman, age 64, born in Pennsylvania!
Israel’s mother perhaps? A few pages later, we find Levi Goodman, age 35,
born in Pennsylvania, also a mason, with his wife Sarah, daughter Clarrisa,
and Jacob Goodman, age 77, born in Germany.5
Was it really possible that I’d found both of Israel’s parents? More
research was needed for confirmation.
Living in Delaware, Ohio, in 1850 was also a
single Julia Goodman, age 29, born in Pennsylvania, who appeared to be
living in a boarding house.6 In
the next township, Troy, in the village of Marlboro, there is an Adam
Goodman, age 25, born in Pennsylvania, a carpenter by profession.7
To start, I decided not to use Adam as a possible sibling since his age was
the same as Israel’s on the 1850 census (they could be twins, I suppose
although Israel was actually 27 when the 1850 census was taken). So, in
searching pre-1850 census, there are three other possible siblings I can use
to pinpoint the correct family.
The 1840 Delaware County census listed two
Goodman families: one household headed by Jacob and one by Moses. Jacob’s
family consisted of three boys (Levi, Israel and Franklin) and two girls
(Julia and ?), as well as one man between 60 and 70 (agrees with Jacob’s age
of 77 in 1850) and one woman aged 50-60 (again, agrees with Rosanna’s age of
64 in 1850). The boys’ ages line up with the ages as they appear in 1850,
as does Julia’s age. The other girl is also in the 15-20 age category.
Moses’ family consisted of two boys and one man (40-50) along with three
girls and one woman (40-50). Moses doesn’t appear in Delaware County or
township in 1850. It’s possible that he is also a son of Jacob and Rosanna
and a sibling of Israel’s, but I couldn't prove this from the 1840 census.8
(See Figure 1.)
At that point, I made a list of all the Goodman
families in Pennsylvania in 1810, 1820 and 1830, now knowing that Israel and
family were in Delaware, Ohio in 1840. Using our published census books, I
copied the pages of Goodmans in Pennsylvania. I noted for each listing what
microfilm roll they appeared on and started reading. It’s easier today with
Ancestry’s all-name on-line indexes. Originally, I copied all the Goodmans,
not just the Jacobs, not being sure of what the father’s name might be.
Family tradition was that Israel’s father was named Solomon. I’d even found
two cousins who also were told growing up that Israel’s father was named
Solomon. One of my cousins thought Rosanna was a widow by 1850.
The printed census forms for each year help keep
track of who fits where. I transcribed the information from the census onto
the forms for each household and then compared them to what I knew about
Jacob and his family.
There were four Jacob Goodmans in Pennsylvania
in the 1830 census. Two are in the South Ward of Reading in Berks County,
one in Albany Township in Berks County, and the last in Londonderry in
Lebanon County. I ruled out the Jacob in Londonderry because he was still
there in 1840. In analyzing the other three families, the households in
South Reading and Albany were the closest matches to my Goodman family (see
Figure 2). None of the Jacob Goodmans in Reading in 1810 and 1820 matched
my family. I had to go back to looking at all of Pennsylvania.
Another confirmation for collateral research is
looking at migration patterns. Often, groups of families relocated
together, say from Berks County, Pennsylvania to Delaware County, Ohio. The
process is fairly easy and with today’s technology, not as time consuming as
it was even five years ago.
Search the census for the place your ancestor
migrated to and write down all the surnames of others born in the same state
as your ancestor. It’s also a good idea to copy the first name and age. I
started with 1850 for Delaware, Ohio. Then, in Ancestry.com, I checked all
those surnames in the 1840 Delaware, Ohio, index to see how many of them
were there at the same time as Jacob Goodman. There were 47 surnames of men
in the 1850 census who were born in Pennsylvania, living in Delaware City,
Ohio. Twenty-four of those names, or just about half, were also there in
1840, 19 exact matches to full names but since I didn’t write down ages,
some could have been there, like my Israel and Levi, but just not noted
because they were still in their father’s households.
Again, using the Ancestry.com database, I
checked the surnames in the 1830 index for Pennsylvania. Nine of the
surnames appeared in the census in the South Ward of Reading, just like one
of my possible Jacob Goodmans, with four exact matches of surname and given
name. Not proof, but good confirmation that my Goodman family was one of
the Jacobs listed in 1830 in South Reading. The next highest appearance of
names from Delaware, Ohio, was from Maxatany, Berks County, but no Goodmans
were listed in 1830 in Maxatany. (See Figure 3.)
I also visited the Berks County Historical
Society’s website to see if they had anything that could help my research.
The Society has church, tax, and cemetery records for the county including
an on-line database index to the church records. Searching that database, I
found nineteen Jacob Goodmans, six Israel Goodmans, and twenty-five John
Goodmans (Franklin’s name was actually John Franklin) but no Levis, Julias,
or Rosannas.9 This was another
indication to me that while Jacob and family lived in Reading in 1830, they
weren’t there in 1820. Further searching also revealed that most of those
citations were from the Trinity Lutheran Church in Reading but they also
mainly pre-dated 1800.
The Delaware Ohio Historical Society also has a
website and searchable database of cemetery records. That search found
Jacob Goodman’s tombstone listing his birth as 1773, his death as April 26,
1852, and his burial in Oak Grove Cemetery. The database also listed John
Franklin’s birth date of 23 January 1825 and death date of 6 August 1896,
and he was also buried in Oak Grove Cemetery.10
One of the easiest research projects is finding
sources through www.familysearch.org. The Genealogical Society of Utah has
microfilmed probate, marriage, early death, guardianship (chancery), wills,
and tax records for Delaware, Ohio. Having found Jacob’s death date on the
cemetery database, I ordered what I thought were the appropriate rolls of
film for all the above records. I found Finleys (Israel’s wife was
Elizabeth Finley) on the tax rolls but no Goodmans, so apparently Jacob
didn’t own any land. I also didn’t find any probate or will for Jacob so I
can’t prove parentage using a will. I did find, in the Probate Court index,
an index to marriages and lots of Goodmans were listed: Adam, John Franklin,
Israel, and Levi, as well as Mary C., which was a nice surprise.11
The only one I didn’t find was Julia.
I also ordered a roll of microfilm on Reading
naturalization records. The 1830 census asked about foreigners not
naturalized, and there was no mark in that column for any of the Jacobs.
There was no Jacob Goodman listed in the naturalization records so he must
have lived somewhere else in Pennsylvania before he went to Reading. Either
that or he arrived with his parents prior to 1789 when the Constitution was
passed and everyone who resided in the United States automatically became a
citizen.
So while I can almost prove that Israel’s father
was Jacob, his mother was Rosanna, and his siblings were Levi, John
Franklin, Julia and Mary C., I can’t definitively prove it because none of
the church records, wills, and tax records that I searched had listings for
Jacob Goodman. So the search continues. But the technique of finding
siblings and then parents living with siblings can work for you as it did
for me. The trick is finding out the siblings’ names if you don’t know
them. To be honest, I thought my finding Israel’s family was just a fluke
so I decided to try it again on another brick wall.
Thaddeus Pollard Atherton was one of my thickest
brick walls. While there is not an overabundance of Athertons in New
England, there’s also not a lot of work done on the Atherton families; no
published genealogies and not much on the Internet.
My paternal grandmother, Florence Louise Hill,
was the child of Joseph Algernon Hill and Mary Louise Jones. Mary Louise
was born to Franklin Jones and Lorinda M. Atherton. Lorinda Murdock
Atherton’s father was Thaddeus Pollard Atherton.12
I found, at the New Hampshire Vital Records Office, all of the birth
certificates for Thaddeus’ children along with his marriage license.13
I’ve also found him on the 1850, 1860 and 1870 census in New Hampshire.
They all give his place of birth as Vermont, the birth certificates list it
as Newfane, Vermont. I’ve floundered around for years looking for Thaddeus,
almost drowning after my visit to Newfane, Vermont, was a total washout.
Back when I started looking, Ancestry.com
didn’t have its on-line databases for the census with all-name versus just
head of household searches. I’d checked the published indexes and had lists
of all the Athertons in Windham County, Vermont; Cheshire County, New
Hampshire; and northern Worcester County, Massachusetts.
Friends also offered to help. A genealogist in
Bennington, Vermont, did some looking for me and found a Zilpah Pollard who
married a Peter Atherton. That looked like a good possibility.
Unfortunately, Thaddeus Pollard wasn’t born until 1814 and Zilpah would have
been 47 years old when he was born. It was possible but unlikely that
Zilpah was his mother.14
I even indexed a two-volume genealogy of the
Pollard family thinking that Thaddeus’ middle name must be somehow related
to the Pollards, especially with the above lead. No luck, except there was
Zilpah Pollard, born 1767, daughter of Thaddeus Pollard, who married Peter
Atherton in 1786. Unfortunately, the Pollard genealogy doesn’t follow up on
Zilpah or tell me where they were married. Thaddeus Pollard died in
Harvard, Massachusetts, so that’s where I started looking.15
The Harvard, Massachusetts, vital records books
didn’t record any Atherton births to Peter and Zilpah.16
The lead on Zilpah told me that she and Peter settled in Vermont. But
where?
Following the methodology I used to find Israel,
I searched Ancestry.com’s on-line, all-name index for 1850 for New
Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts. The list for 1850 in New Hampshire
had a Lorinda M. Atherton, age 27, living in Claremont, New Hampshire. What
a funny coincidence, it was not all that common a name, and it seemed that
somehow she had to be related. So I pulled up the census for Lorinda M. in
Claremont and to my delight found an entire family! Lorinda was living with
Levi, age 62, Sophie, age 63, and Fanny, age 38. They sound like a family,
parents with two daughters. A few pages from them was Frederick, age 34,
with Lavina.17 I couldn’t
believe that finding possible siblings for Thaddeus might be this easy. But
could I prove they are family and the right family?
Checking www.rootsweb.com’s WorldConnect, I
found several people also looking for Levi Atherton in New Hampshire, one
with a list of possible children on the family tree. It listed six
siblings: Fanny, born 1812; Frederick, born 1815 or 1816; Dan, no date of
birth; Albert, no date of birth; Laurinda (or Lorinda) M., born 1822; and
Archibald, born 1828 in Claremont.18
On the 1870 census, I found Dan listed at age 52 making his year of birth
about 1818.19
There was a Levi living in Claremont in 1840 and
1830. The family as shown by Laurie Clifford on Rootsweb’s WorldConnect
lines up very well in 1830 but the daughters are missing from the household
in 1840.20
(See Figure 4.) I
searched every index I could find for the 1800, 1810 and 1820 census, but I
couldn’t find any listing for Levi. And none of the information I found on
the Internet gave any information on Levi’s parents so I can’t search for a
father’s name in the earlier census. Was it possible Peter and Zilpah were
Levi’s parents?
When I don’t know anything about a family, I
tend to copy everything I do find on that surname. One of the books I’d
looked at during my Atherton research, was
Vermont Warnings Out, Volume 3, Southern Vermont. I hadn’t looked at
the copies I’d made from the book in years since they didn’t list any
Thaddeus Atherton. Reviewing them during this research, I was delighted to
find a Peter Atherton, listed in Brookline, Windham County, Vermont, 19
March 1806, with Zilpah, Levy, Sibor, Charles, Cephas and Luke.21
And on the next copy, in Newfane, 19 December 1809 is Levi Atherton, with
his wife Sophia and their daughters, Sophia and Faney!22
Every document I found for Thaddeus listed
Newfane, Vermont, as his place of birth. When I checked the Brookline,
Vermont, census for 1810, there was Peter. Looking at the numbers, I
wondered if Levi left Newfane in 1809 when he was warned out and moved to
the next town (Brookline) with his father. There are two females under ten
in the household (possibly Fanny and Sophia, see Figure 5), and two males
16-26. Could Levi be one of them?23
If the family was transient as indicated by the
“warnings out,” it’s possible their children’s births weren’t recorded
anywhere, and they probably didn’t own land. So the next steps in verifying
this family will be to check out deeds, town, tax and probate records at
www.familysearch.org for records available from these small towns in Windham
County, Vermont, as well as possible visits to the Bennington Museum in
Bennington, Vermont and the New England Historic Genealogical Society in
Boston. I hope I’ll have more luck finding local records to support this
family connection than I had with Israel Goodman.
_________
1. Warren Co. Genealogical Society,
Cemetery and Death Records of Warren
County, Iowa. (Marceline, MO: Walsworth Publishing Co., 1980), 171.
Israel’s tombstone gives his date of birth as 13 October 1822.
2. There are many beginning genealogy books
available as well as free lessons on several Internet sites. Check the
Internet or visit the Friends’ bookstore. Also,
www.cyndislist.com has a
listing under “Hit a Brick Wall” that discusses using collateral lines in
genealogy.
3. Israel Goodman household, 1860 U.S. Census,
Mahaska County, Iowa, population schedule, Richland Township, page 53,
dwelling 382, family 373, National Archives micropublication M653, roll 334;
Israel Godman household, 1870 U.S. Census, Warren County, Iowa, population
schedule, Indianola Township, page 32, dwelling 250, family 259, National
Archives micropublication M593, roll 423.
4. See “That One
Line,” Archival
Anecdotes, 6 (June 2001): 17.
5. Franklin Goodman
household, 1850 U.S. Census, Delaware County, Ohio, population schedule,
Delaware Township, page 182, dwelling 1212, family 1216 and Levi Goodman
household, 1850 U.S. Census, Delaware County, Ohio, population schedule,
Delaware Township, page 197, dwelling 1387, family 1387, National Archives
micropublication M432, roll 675.
6. Alvin F. Belt
household, 1850 U.S. Census, Delaware County, Ohio, population schedule,
Delaware Township, page 200, dwelling 1426, family 1441, National Archives
micropublication M432, roll 675.
7. Adam Goodman
household, 1850 U.S. Census, Delaware County, Ohio, population schedule,
Troy Township, village of Marlboro, page 357, dwelling 70, family 71,
National Archives micropublication M432, roll 675.
8. Jacob Goodman
household and Moses Goodman household, 1840 U.S. Census, Delaware County,
Iowa, population schedule, Delaware Township, page 231, National Archives
micropublication M704, roll 391.
9.
http://www.berkshistory.org/library/churches.html;
http://www.nktelco.net/buzmeyer/berks_co_-goodman.htm, accessed 1 Sep 2004.
10.
http://www.interment.net/data/us/oh/delaware/-oakgrove, accessed 23 Nov
2004.
11. The Early
Marriage Bonds of Delaware County, Ohio, 1832-1865,
Vol. I, A to K (DAR Delaware City Chapter,
Delaware, Ohio), FHL US/CAN Film 317362.
12.
Mary Louise Jones birth registration, Office of the City Clerk, Rockingham,
Vermont, Book A, page 17 (1877); Florence Louise Hill birth registration,
Office of the City Clerk, Rockingham, Vermont, Book D, page 3 (1896).
13.
Lorinda Murdock Atherton birth registration (1848), Annie Hale Atherton
birth registration (1857), Mary Smith Atherton birth registration (1850),
Office of the City Clerk, Franklin, New Hampshire, 1832-1873, page 60.
14. Ibid. On his
children’s birth certificates, Thaddeus’ age in 1848 was given as 34; in
1850 as 36; and in 1857 as 43; Maurice J. Pollard,
The History of the Pollard
Family of America. (Dover, NH: Maurice J.
Pollard, 1964), 212.
15. Ibid.,
Pollard.
16. Henry S. Nourse,
History of the Town of
Harvard, Massachusetts, 1732-1893 (Harvard,
MA: W. Hapgood, 1894), 505-507, 510, 515, 533, 537-538.
17. Levi Atherton
household, 1850 U.S. Census, Sullivan County, New Hampshire, population
schedule, Claremont city, page 153, dwelling 121, family 125, and Frederick
Atherton household, 1850 U.S. Census, Sullivan County, New Hampshire,
population schedule, Claremont city, page 180, dwelling 492, family 563,
National Archives Micropublication M432, roll 441.
18.
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=leppard5&id=I46,
Laurie Clifford’s Family Tree, Levi Atherton family, ID 146, accessed 7 Jan
2005.
19. Dan Atherton
household, 1870 U.S. Census, Washington County, Vermont, population
schedule, Waterbury town, page 308, dwelling 275, family 301, National
Archives micropublication M593, roll 1626. I found it interesting that a
few lines above Dan on the same page is Lucius Pollard!
20. Levi Atherton
household, 1830 U.S. Census, Sullivan County, New Hampshire, population
schedule, Claremont city, page 249, National Archives micropublication M19,
roll 74; Levi Atherton household, 1840 U.S. Census, Sullivan County, New
Hampshire, population schedule, Claremont city, page 47, National Archives
Micropublication M704, roll 244.
21. Alden M. Rollins,
Vermont
Warnings Out: Southern Vermont,
Volume 2 (Camden, ME: Picton Press,
1997), Brookline, 171.
22. Ibid.; Newfane, 230.
23. Peter Atherton household, 1810 U.S. Census,
Windham County, Vermont, population schedule, Brookline town, page 245,
National Archives micropublication M252, roll 65.
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