Hi Kelly: My name is Mike Donohue, formally Michael Hills Donohue. The formal reference has only to do with the surname I search, that is "Hills". My great grandfather, Joseph Reuben Hills is noted as having been born in Jefferson County on April 10, 1835. On search of the 1850 census I have found him living in Adams Township with what appears to be his mother, Elizabeth Hills, age 40 and with his half brother William H. McCauley, a farmer, age 23. They are noted as all living in the 972nd dwelling unit in the order of visitation of the census worker. They are also the 982nd family united visited by the census taker. Joseph is noted as 13 at the time. I believe his birthdate is 1937, in that his civil war discharge records state him as age 26 in 1893, the year he was discharged. I have nothing before this date. Joseph's attachment to Jefferson County together with a reference in the Civil War Records to Adams suggests Adams Township and Jefferson County were of importance to him. I know I have the man from the census records by way of his age and his living with William H. McCauley by reason of the fact that William McAuley appears as an Affiant in the Civil War records attesting among other things that he is a half brother of Joseph R. Hills and has known and lived by him all his life. McAuley attested to being 74 when he made the affidavit in 1899. That would give him 1825 as his birth date. McCauley was 23 at the time of the 1850 census which would have him born in 1827. Of interest there is an Elizabeth McAuley shown at Home 786 Family 793. This appears to be the home of MM Wright, a 35 year old Male Tailor, with real estate valued at $1500.00. In the same dwelling are: his wife and 11 year old female child, Elizabeth McCauley, age 19, no trade shown, (not required for omen???), and, Nells B Smith, age 21, Dewitt Hauley, age 18, both male, both noted as tailors. Conclusion seems safe that this was a tailor shop, Elizabeth was likely employed as a tailor/seamstress, and not a member of the family. Query: is she the daughter of Elizabeth Hills, who formerly (?) was Elizabeth McCauley. At 19 Elizabeth would have been born around 1831. There hopefully might be a death or marriage certificate that would bridge the gap. I have looked at the earlier census in Adams Township and find a Reuben Hill_ in Adams in 1840. There is one Reuben in Adams and one in Sacket Harbor. I took a look at Reuben because of JR Hills second name Reuben. There are other Reuben Hills in NY, in CN and in NH. Until I look at Birth Certificates, Marriage Certificates, Death Certificates, Church Entries, Obituaries, Headstones, Cemetery Registration, if any, in Jefferson County for 1840 and years before, I will not do the laborious time of checking out Reuben Hill_ or Reuben Hills. I cite all this information that has nothing to do with the lookup offer you have made Kelly. I am also sending this note to NYJEFFER-L@rootsweb.com with the hope that someone else might pick up something from this request. I would appreciate your looking up Hills and Hill_ in "Links in the Chain", and letting me know if any of the above is included in the book. I would also like to know where you got the book. Is it an antique or is it a re-publication. I would be interested in finding the book too. Kelly Hokkanen wrote: > I have just purchased the book "Links in the Chain", a collection of > articles written by Solon Massey between 1850-1859 about the early history > of Jefferson County. The collection was published in 1981 by Junia Fitch > Stanton in Watertown. The book contains lots of stories of early life and > settlement in the county, as well as quite a few biographical sketches of > settlers. I would be happy to do lookups. Note that the book only covers the > earliest settlers, from about 1797-1820 or so. The book is copyrighted so I > can't post responses to the list, beyond extracted names and dates. I will > e-mail you privately if you want more information. > > There are biographies of the following: > Alvin HUNT > James PARKER > Jonathan E. MILES > Abel SCOTT, Sr. > Major George WHITE > Hart MASSEY, Sr. > William SMITH > Jonathan COWAN > Moses BACON > Daniel EAMES > Seth BAILEY > Daniel TALCOTT > Doctor Amasa TROWBRIDGE > James BRINTNALL > Nehemiah VAN NESS > Deacon Oliver BARTHOLOMEW > Jarius RICH > Nathan STRONG > Abraham GRAVES > Col. Amariah TUCKER > John PARKER > Joseph GOODALE > Hon. Noadiah HUBBARD > Deacon Asher WILMOT > Mrs. Benjamin SKINNER (Hannah BROWN) > Aaron BLODGETT > Deacon Sylvester BODMAN > Major Thomas DELAND > Deacon Thomas SAWYER > > There are many other names mentioned within the biographies and in the > stories, too. > > I hope this helps someone! > Kelly kehokkanen@ucdavis.edu > > ============================== > Free Web space. ANY amount. ANY subject. > RootsWeb's Freepages put you in touch with millions. > http://cgi.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/acctform.cgi