Hi Listers, Someone has helped me find my William Dafford after a 25-year search. He knew his name was "not exactly right" but there is enough evidence to connect him to Joel Daffron. Joel "Dauphin" is found on the 1850 census of Hamilton county, Tennessee; Joel "Doffin" in 1860 (I've added the variations on the indexes at Ancestry.) Joel had a wife Mary 18, born Tennessee, literate, in 1850. William was 8 in 1860, and Joel now had a non-literate wife Nancy, 25, born Tennessee. 1860, Hamilton County, Tennessee Joel 35 born Tennessee Nancy 25 born Tennessee William 8 born Illinois (mine--we knew he was born in Illinois) Isaac 5 born Georgia Elizabeth 4 born Tennessee Amanda 6/12 born Tennessee Elizabeth Denton 67 born Tennessee The Hamilton county courthouse burned and there are no marriage records available, nor probate etc. There are deeds and I'm going to order them tomorrow. How will I decide which children belong to Mary and which to Nancy? Nothing in the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index works. Naturally I'd like Nancy to be William's mother because, with the Denton lady in the house, it's a clue that Nancy *may* have been a Denton. I'd really like to enter William's siblings (and/or half-siblings) into PAF, but I don't know which wife to give them to. Lila

Lila Garner wrote: > > Hi Listers, > > Someone has helped me find my William Dafford after a 25-year search. He knew his name was "not exactly right" but there is enough evidence to connect him to Joel Daffron. Joel "Dauphin" is found on the 1850 census of Hamilton county, Tennessee; Joel "Doffin" in 1860 (I've added the variations on the indexes at Ancestry.) > > Joel had a wife Mary 18, born Tennessee, literate, in 1850. > > William was 8 in 1860, and Joel now had a non-literate wife Nancy, 25, born Tennessee. > > 1860, Hamilton County, Tennessee > Joel 35 born Tennessee > Nancy 25 born Tennessee > William 8 born Illinois (mine--we knew he was born in Illinois) > Isaac 5 born Georgia > Elizabeth 4 born Tennessee > Amanda 6/12 born Tennessee > Elizabeth Denton 67 born Tennessee > > The Hamilton county courthouse burned and there are no marriage records available, nor probate etc. There are deeds and I'm going to order them tomorrow. > > How will I decide which children belong to Mary and which to Nancy? Nothing in the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index works. Naturally I'd like Nancy to be William's mother because, with the Denton lady in the house, it's a clue that Nancy *may* have been a Denton. > > I'd really like to enter William's siblings (and/or half-siblings) into PAF, but I don't know which wife to give them to. > > Lila So, like what you are going to DO with the data once it's in PAF? That affects whether what I'm about to say will work for you or not. IF the only thing you're putting into the database is what you intend to take to Temple (if you're LDS) or what you've proven with an affadavit from St. Peter (if you're not LDS), just click NEXT or DELE now. If you're using your database as I do for a filing system (g), this will at least get everyone in there: Attach all children to the first wife (because she's the one who will appear first all the time in PAF), then the ones you have some serious questions about, mark the parent link as CHALLENGED. On Daddy, each wife, and each child, put into the NOTES the following statement : "Until it can be determined which wife bore which child, for the convenience of the genealogist, all children are listed with the first marriage. As the parents are proven, the correction will be made." Then, for giggles, check the 1870 and 1880 census for everyone. I gotta tell you Tennessee to Illinois to Georgia to Tennessee is a bit peculiar. Ms. Denton could as easily be Dad's maiden aunt or a 3rd cousin twice removed as his mother-in-law. FWIW Cheryl

I forgot about "challenged" and can take that route. I regularly upload my database to Rootsweb, both as a way to get info out and as a backup. But "challenged will take care of it. I think Amanda, the baby, is Nancy's child. The Tennessee to Illinois to Georgia to Tennessee is not surprising for this family: lore says that William was born in Illinois, Georgia, Kentucky and Tennessee! Next door in 1860 is a Denton family, and their children, approximately the same ages, are born in Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee, both parents born Tennessee. Young Mrs. Denton was probably a Daffron. We find that Joel died in Kentucky so that's what brought Kentucky into the lore. William died in 1902 when his children weren't very old, so the lore was stale and third-hand by the time it got to me. William age 18 is in Floyd County, Georgia, living with the William Terry family (no known relationship) in 1870. By 1876, he marries in Clark county, Arkansas and remains there until his death. Amanda is a 10-year-old servant to a physician in 1870 and is a niece to William Denton in 1880. She married George Frazier in 1881 but I can't find them by 1900. The other children cannot be found in 1870 and 1880. Lore says William was orphaned by the CW. I suspect that Nancy and the other children died, but there doesn't seem to be a way to find that out. The fact that Amanda is not living with family at age 10 indicates that the family is not intact even without the father, who died in 1861. Thanks -- I needed a sounding board. Lila > Date: Mon, 6 Dec 2010 19:25:38 -0500 > From: singhals@erols.com > To: paf-5-users@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [PAF-5] Inderminate mother > > Lila Garner wrote: > > > > Hi Listers, > > > > Someone has helped me find my William Dafford after a 25-year search. He knew his name was "not exactly right" but there is enough evidence to connect him to Joel Daffron. Joel "Dauphin" is found on the 1850 census of Hamilton county, Tennessee; Joel "Doffin" in 1860 (I've added the variations on the indexes at Ancestry.) > > > > Joel had a wife Mary 18, born Tennessee, literate, in 1850. > > > > William was 8 in 1860, and Joel now had a non-literate wife Nancy, 25, born Tennessee. > > > > 1860, Hamilton County, Tennessee > > Joel 35 born Tennessee > > Nancy 25 born Tennessee > > William 8 born Illinois (mine--we knew he was born in Illinois) > > Isaac 5 born Georgia > > Elizabeth 4 born Tennessee > > Amanda 6/12 born Tennessee > > Elizabeth Denton 67 born Tennessee > > > > The Hamilton county courthouse burned and there are no marriage records available, nor probate etc. There are deeds and I'm going to order them tomorrow. > > > > How will I decide which children belong to Mary and which to Nancy? Nothing in the Illinois Statewide Marriage Index works. Naturally I'd like Nancy to be William's mother because, with the Denton lady in the house, it's a clue that Nancy *may* have been a Denton. > > > > I'd really like to enter William's siblings (and/or half-siblings) into PAF, but I don't know which wife to give them to. > > > > Lila > > So, like what you are going to DO with the data once it's in > PAF? That affects whether what I'm about to say will work > for you or not. > > IF the only thing you're putting into the database is what > you intend to take to Temple (if you're LDS) or what you've > proven with an affadavit from St. Peter (if you're not LDS), > just click NEXT or DELE now. > > If you're using your database as I do for a filing system > (g), this will at least get everyone in there: > > Attach all children to the first wife (because she's the one > who will appear first all the time in PAF), then the ones > you have some serious questions about, mark the parent link > as CHALLENGED. On Daddy, each wife, and each child, put > into the NOTES the following statement : "Until it can be > determined which wife bore which child, for the convenience > of the genealogist, all children are listed with the first > marriage. As the parents are proven, the correction will be > made." > > Then, for giggles, check the 1870 and 1880 census for > everyone. I gotta tell you Tennessee to Illinois to Georgia > to Tennessee is a bit peculiar. Ms. Denton could as easily > be Dad's maiden aunt or a 3rd cousin twice removed as his > mother-in-law. > > FWIW > > Cheryl