Origin Story: Jehial Stanton, Part II

Never published but written in September, 2016.

This is the post about census data. Sometimes census data frustrates me because it is just the bare bones of a person, but in this case I have other information to fill in the gaps. As of right now I have four federal censuses that include Jehial (1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880) and two state censuses (IA 1895 and 1905). This post is about the Federal Censuses (it’s a lot of info for one post)

Lets start with the 1850 Federal Census:

  • Taken in November 1850 in Whiteside, Illinois
  • Name (looks like) Jehial Stanton
  • 27 years old, probably born 1823
  • Occupation: Laborer
  • Born in NY
  • Wife Rebecca, age 31, probably born 1819 in NY
  • Daughter Lydia E., age 4, probably born 1846 in NY
  • Daughter Sarah J., age 2, probably born 1848 in NY
  • In the same family Dwelling there is also the family of William D. Mecker, age 42, born 1808, a farmer who owns $600 worth of land.
  • Perhaps the Stantons were staying with the Mecker family

Next is the 1860 census:

  • Taken July 3rd in the 2nd Ward of Rock Island, Illinois
  • Name appears Jehial Stanton
  • Age 36, if his birthday is July 4th then he was born in 1823
  • Occupation: White Washer
  • No real estate
  • At the end under the “Condition” column it reads (this is the best I can figure) “Help (as or at) Poor Person”
  • Wife is Rebecca Stanton age 42 (b. 1818) born before Nov. in NY
  • Step-Daughter, Henrietta McBride, age 17 (b. 1843) in NY, says “By 1st Husband”
  • Step-Son, Wilson McBride, age 16 (b. 1844) in NY, says “By 1st Husband”
  • Daughter Lydia E. Stanton, age 14 (b. 1846) in NY
  • Daughter Sarah Jane Stanton, age 12 (b. 1848) in NY
  • Daughter Caroline E. Stanton, age 10 (b. 1850) in NY (possibly born on the way to Iowa)
  • Son Francis A. Stanton, age 5 (b. 1855) in IL
  • Daughter Lucinda A. Stanton, age 2 (b. 1858) in IL
  • Son James M. Stanton, age 8 mo. (b. 1859) in IL

Then the 1870 census:

  • Taken the 10th of August in Olive Township, Iowa
  • Name appears Jehial Stanton
  • Age 46 (b. 1823) in NY
  • Occupation is farmer, owns $200 dollars of real estate
  • Blind
  • Wife Rebecca Staton, age 52 (b. 1818) in NY, father or foreign birth
  • Daughter Sarah Stanton, age 22, (b. 1848) in NY, domestic servant
  • Daughter Carrie Stanton, age 20, (b. 1850) in NY
  • Son Franklin Stanton, age 15, (b. 1855) in IL, farm laborer
  • Daughter Lucinda Stanton, age 12, (b. 1858) in IL, at school
  • Unknown Charles Blair, age 2, (b. 1868) in IL, at home

Lastly the 1880 Census:

  • Take 12th of June in Olive, Iowa
  • Name appears Jehial Stanton
  • Age 55 (b. 1825?) in NY
  • Blind
  • Father and mother are born in NY
  • Wife Rebecca Stanton, age 61, (b. 1818) in NY, Father from Ireland, Mother from Massachusetts, keeping house

That is all of the federal census data that I have for Jehial. Most of the 1890 census was was lost in a fire and I haven’t found Jehial in other the 1900 census,  that will be in another post.

What I Know: Jehial Stanton, Post I

First published on September 17, 2016.

To research Jehial Stanton, I started with the documents and information I already had about him. Amazingly, I have two news clippings that mention him. The first is a small clipping about his birthday:

image

From this clipping I jotted down the following information with the hopes of cross referencing it to other information from other sources as well as finding new avenues of research:

  • Name is only written as J. Stanton (his name varies wildly from source to source)
  • Lived on 917 LeClaire St, Davenport (IA) with his daughter Sarah Jane Husted
  • Born on the 4th of July
  • Been in Iowa/Illinois since 1850
  • “Well known…” may mean that he shows up in biographies, histories and diaries of people in the area.
  • Blind

The second clipping that mentions Jehial is from Sarah Jane Husted’s Obituary.

image

Here’s the information I wrote down from this obituary:

  • Daughter Sarah J. was born in Loville, Louis County, NY Aug 7, 1848
  • Moved to Rock Island (IL) in 1850
  • Name is listed as Jehral Stanton
  • Wife’s name is Rebecca Stanton
  • Stayed in Rock Island at least until Sarah was out of school
  • Sarah is a member of the Old Settlers Association of Rock Island County so he might be too
  • Has a son Frank A. Stanton who at the time live in Kansas City
  • Possibly has a nephew Edward Remer in Davenport, IA
  • Rev. H.B. Cox presided over Sarah’s funeral, might have information on the family in his diary

Again this is just the tip of the ice berg of information I have about Jehial. I know that some of this information might not be correct but hopefully I can corroborate these articles with census information.

Game Plan: Jehial Stanton

First published on September 14, 2016.

Here is my game plan for Jehial Stanton. He definitely need[s] some work, I had his birthday wrong on ancestry. Here is what I’m almost positive is a picture of him (taken from a group shot):

image

I though[t] he would be a good candidate for research, I have pictures and new clippings related to him, census data on him would be more substantial (mid 1800s to early 1900s) and I had no idea who his parents where. There is a lot more information to find. Without further ado, here is the list I created to help focus my research on Jehial:

  • Compile all the information I currently have, especially about his first and last name (find Jehial in 1900 census)
  • Find other Stantons who moved at the same time
  • Look at information from his children
  • Find more information about his wife (Rebecca Wright Stanton)
  • Look at Stanton Genealogies
  • Find books about the area of NY where he was born
  • Find books about the are[a] of IA/IL that he lived
  • Find out what information I can get from libraries if I go in person
  • Look at wills of family members
  • Look for diaries, church records in Scott (IA), Clinton (IA), Rock Island (IL)
  • Death date and place?
  • Look up nephew Edward Remer
  • Look up Old Settler’s Association of Rock Island County
  • Look up Rev. H.B. Cox

This is my list so far. I will try to follow this list as I research. The next few posts will be about the information that I have now. Hopefully I can get closer to Jehial’s origin story.

I’m Back And I Have Some Plans

First published on September 10, 2016.

I’m back to posting, hopefully regularly. This seems kind of counterintuitive but recently I’ve taken on a lot more responsibilities outside of work. Self care is really important to me, especially with the work that I do, and working on my ancestry is part of my self care. So I’m going to try to keep doing work on my trees and posting as regular as possible. To help with this, I’ve decided to focus my research and thus my posts on one person for now. This is Jehial Stanton. I’ve mentioned him in other posts, and I have a picture of him but I don’t know who his parents are. I’ll post my check list for my research soon and then my research as a get into it.

I’m also going to research how he got from New York to Iowa/Illinois, I have other ancestors who went from Connecticut to Iowa at the same time as well. I was talking about his story to a friend recently and she asked how he got to Iowa and I didn’t have that answer. I don’t know what I assumed. I think I was always imagining a Grapes of Wrath sort of scenario with all of the furniture plus grandma on top in the back of an old truck, but obviously in 1850 that would not be possible. She wondered if they had gone in a covered wagon akin to the Oregon Trail and that was something I never considered. So I’m also going to look into what that journey would have been like.

Like I said, I am going to try to keep up and keep researching.