Sorry it took so long to get back to you. My arthritis decided to put me in existance mode. Feed the cats, clean the liter and pick up carry out. Okay is said catS, but I will never tell how many. I never though about Elizabeth being a step child...hmmm. Perhaps the first children died at the same time due to the same illness. "Milk sicknes" and the like could wipe out an entire family. Also, perhaps James and Elizabeth stopped off in some other state, Ohio? Had their children before coming to Illinois in 1848. I remember reading that the first brick masons in Streator came from Ohio. Regarding Edwin Carter. There was an Edwin Carter, about the same age and born in New York in Farm Ridge Twp. He was the oldest? son of Asa and Hannah (Braymer) Carter. Maybe he was living with the Sexton's while he was learning to be a brick mason. Joanie -- Streatorland Historical Society 306 South Vermillion Street Streator, Illinois 61364 Monday - Friday 9:30 - 2:30 Sunday 1 - 4 p.m.

Hi Joanie Thanks for responding to my long convoluted message. I would like to be certain that none of the three SEXTON children, Elizabeth H. b. c 1838, Eliza b. 1843/44 and John b. 1849 are in North Emery Cemetery records because they all dropped out of sight. The appearance in James will of "my daughter Sarah F. Bardwell, Lucy Ann Hart......" and the obvious preference for Sarah is mysterious and intriguing. I have a bit of a bizarre theory about what happened. After his 1st wife's death in childbirth 1852, James was left with three children to raise and a farm to work. Any relatives were hundreds of miles away. The two year old boy may have died but I think it more likely that he was adopted out. The two little girls who were about 11 yrs and 7 yrs old grew up like Topsy with no female supervision. After five years James decided to remarry. For whatever reasons, his young teenage daughters became so upset with him that they changed their given names. Elizabeth H. chose the name Lucy Ann. Eliza became Sarah Frances. James and both daughters married in 1858. Sarah, who was only fourteen, married in Livingston Co. presumably without parental consent. The groom lived in Putnam Co. and she was in LaSalle. She did not have her first child until 1860. Years later, James' lawyer was unable to locate Sarah at the time James died. He sent a letter to Lucy in Iowa to inform her of James' bequest. Lucy never signed off on the probate. I see no way of proving the change of name theory. Bonnie -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.9.3 - Release Date: 4/5/2005