Hi, I literally started this email last night. Each time I thought about sending it I questioned my premise and started digging again. A paragraph and table at the bottom may have been in the middle and vice versa. The epiphany two paragraphs down may have been an hour ago. Please bear with me. I usually don't share my craziness, but since I went outside the parameters of my family I thought I'd let anyone who wanted it have to results of my research, for what it's worth. Oh, please, please correct any missteps I may have taken in my assumptions as it relates to the Blooms. I want this family set up right and with documentation. Unfortunately, I didn't have the docs when I started so now I'm trying to catch up. ============================================================================ ==================== I'm a Bloom descendent who has gotten carried away. I'm trying to identify every one of them- call me crazy since there are literally thousands. Anyway, I was questioning the marriage(s) of Jane Bloom daughter of William Bloom Jr. son of William Bloom Sr. son of John Peter Blum and Eve Ann Wagner based on some confusion with a couple of entries by Albert Y. Straw in his book "Some Genealogies and Family Records". I only have copies of the Bloom section and wasn't aware of the confusion until I was enlightened last night by Jacquelyn Bean. Mr. Straw has references to Jane marrying both Joseph Hunter (pg 151) and Joseph Caldwell (pg 269). I just had an epiphany!!! I don't know how much you all know about Ancestry.com and it's various databases, but one of its features is the family tree pages. Someone has entered Peter Caldwell into this area with Joseph Caldwell and Mary Jane Bloom as his parent. Regardless of whether Mary Jane was a Bloom, Joseph's great-grandparent's were Thomas Price and Anne Bloom. Anne was Jane Bloom's aunt or in other words, Jane's father's sister. It is highly unlikely that Jane would have married her first cousin! Thank you Jacquelyn for helping me correct my info on Jane, although there is still a bit of a mystery since I can't seem to find any of them after 1850, and now I find that I have the wrong info on Leah Bloom. Are there any descendents out there of the George Apgar Bloom family who can clear this up for me? Also, the William Bloom Jr. family? I'd appreciate all the help I can get. In the meantime, I don't want to waste the research so I am sharing what I've found in the hopes that it will help some of you who may be researching these families. I think I'm also being redundant. 1850 Census, Pike Twp, Clearfield, PA, Family #155, Image 22 (Ancestry.com) 7/29/1850 - Joseph Caldwell is just below his parents and his wife is Mary J. We could assume the "J" stands for Jane and that she may have gone by Jane. Is there anyone in the Caldwell clan who can clear this up? 154 154 Samuel Caldwell 56 M Farmer 1200 Martha (Price) 52 F James B. jr. 31 M Farmer 1000 Rebecca J. 25 F Isaiah F. 19 M Farmer Elizabeth M. 17 F Nancy A. 14 F Hannah M. 11 F Martha C.F. 9 F Lafayett 3 M 155 155 Joseph Caldwell 27 M 1500 Mary J. 24 F Martha A. 2 F Peter A. 7/12 M 1850 Census, Pike Twp, Clearfield, PA, Image 23&24 (Ancestry.com) 7/29/1850 - David E. Bloom is the son of John R. Bloom and Jane's 1st cousin, James Bloom is the brother of Jane's father. 160 160 David E Bloom 27 M Farmer 500 Mary (Sloss) Bloom 21 F Harbet 2 M Reuben 1 M 161 161 Joseph Hunter 29 M Farmer 500 William S. Hunter 11 M Jane (Bloom) Hunter 29 F Nepoleon B. Hunter 7 M Eli B. Hunter 1 M 162 162 James Bloom 52 M Farmer 3000 Mary (Passmore) Bloom 48 F Lewis I. Bloom 21 M Farmer Gainor P. Bloom 16 M Farmer Mary A Bloom 14 F Jemima D Bloom 11 F Martha C, Bloom 9 F 1860 Census, Pike Twp, Clearfield, PA, Lines 13-17, pg 278, Image 11 (Ancestry.com) 9/3/1860. The dwelling and family numbers of this census are just two up from the William Lynn Bloom Family and David Bloom, brother of Jane, family. They are only separated by the families of Tuttle and Robt Ross. 1879 1847 Joseph Caldwell 35 M Farmer 4000 891 Mary 35 F Martha 12 F Peter 10 M Nancy 8 F After the 1860 census I have lost Joseph, Mary and Nancy Caldwell. It's a very good possibility that Nancy married as she would have been 18 by the 1870 census. The part of the family I found stuck around Pike Twp (Peter and Martha) so I would have expected Joseph and Mary J. to also have been in the neighborhood since they were only around 45. I checked a few different sites to see what epidemics were hanging around between 1860-1870. 1860-61 saw influenza in Pennsylvania. 1865 -1873 there was typhoid, smallpox, cholera, scarlet and yellow fever. So, it's possible they were deceased by the 1870 census. It may remain a mystery unless someone else knows what's happened to them. The site I found on Ancestry.com confirms that Joseph Caldwell died in 1866 but there's no date for Mary J. I use the word confirms lightly because as we all know, we need at least 3 confirmations to be able to state a fact as true. 1870 Census, Pike Twp, Clearfield, PA Lines 8-10, Pg 2, Image 2 (Ancestry.com) June 4, 1870. Uh Oh. I had Peter marrying LEAH BLOOM, daughter of George Apgar Bloom. Who is Sarah? I couldn't find any of them on the 1880 census. 11 11 Caldwell, Peter 21 M W Farmer 1000 800 PA Caldwell, Sarah 19 F W Keeps House Caldwell, Maggie Feb 1870 F W 1870 Census, Pike Twp, Clearfield, PA, Lines 21-24, Pg 17, Image 17 (Ancestry.com) June 9, 1870 118 116 Caldwell, James 34 M W Farmer 5000 2000 PA Caldwell, Hanna 27 F W Keeps House Caldwell, Meret A 10/12 M W Caldwell, Mary 77 F W Wise, Edward 18 M W Works on Farm PA 119 117 Norris, James 28 M W Farmer 3333 600 PA Norris, Martha (Caldwell) 21 F W Keeps House Norris, Anna 3 F W Norris, Lucy 1 F W Note: James Norris' parents were John and Priscilla Evans (Bloom) Norris, dau of Isaac & Sarah Apgar Bloom. Isaac was the son of William Bloom, Sr. This makes James and the infamous Jane 1st cousins. So, Martha is Jane's 1st cousin by marriage and 2d cousin by birth. Now, if we just figure out who Mary Jane is? 1880 Census, District 165, Milton, Northumberland, PA, Image 5 (Ancestry.com), Sup 3, pg 5 I may have discovered the confusion. Here is another Joseph and Mary J. with similarly named children all about the same age. 39 39 Caldwell, Joseph W M 51 M Lumber Trade PA PA PA Caldwell, Mary J. W F 52 Wife M Keeps House Caldwell, Clara J. W F 25 Dau S At Home Caldwell, Martha A W F 22 Dau S At Home Caldwell, Maggie L W F 17 Dau S At School Caldwell, Dan C. W M 15 Son S At School Caldwell, John M. W M 14 Son S At School Caldwell, Mary L. W F 11 Dau S At School 1880 Census, Pike Twp, Clearfield, PA, ED 261, Pg 18, Lines 27-35, Image 18 (Ancestry.com) June 11, 1880 154 160 Norris, James W M 58 M Farmer PA PA PA Norris, Martha A. (Caldwell) W F 51 Wife M Norris, Annie P. W F 13 Dau S At Home Norris, Lucy M. W F 11 Dau S At Home Norris, Mary J. W F 8 Dau S Norris, Cora O. W F 6 Dau S Norris, Clyde O. W M 4 Son S Norris, Lovinia W. W F 2 Dau S Bright, Richard W M 17 Servant S Servant Can Can Can Then I found Peter A. Caldwell in Nebraska in 1900 and it still says he married Sarah A. ???. So I'm leaving him there. For those interested the site address is District 28, Edgar Precinct, Clay, NE, Lines 41-47, Sht 16, June 23, 1900. Peggy