08 November 2017

I Found You, Thaddeus!

I've decided to revive the genealogy blog with some exciting news - I found my Thaddeus!

I my previous post about Thaddeus, I gave an outline based mostly on work by fellow researcher and distant cousin Daryl Althaver. In the time since, I hadn't really gotten anywhere. At all. I revisited it often, but only really found a few new pieces of information:
  1. In Obediah Deland's probate papers, Thaddeus and wife Lucy were mentioned. Daniel T. Lewis, who lived next to the Martins in the 1850 census, was petitioning as he bought the land they resided on from Deland, and a share of the purchase price was to go to the Martins. As mentioned before, Obediah was made legal agent in Thaddeus' bounty land papers, and his children at various times lived with either Obediah or his brother Hall.
  2. Obediah's wife was Ruby Butterworth. One of the possible surnames for Lucy is Butterworth, based on the widow's declaration for bounty land.
  3. Hall's wife was Laura Goodrich. One of the possible surnames for Lucy is Goodridge.
To anyone suffering with such a brick wall - don't despair! It may take four (or forty!) years, but something may come along. For me - it was in the form of an Ancestry hint.

Maybe a month or so ago, I received a hint on Thaddeus in U.S., Presbyterian Church Records, 1701-1970. I'm not sure exactly when the collection was added or exactly when I received the hint, but it was for a Thaddeus Martin born in New York in 1789. Diving in, he was specifically born 25 January 1789 and baptized in 1798 along with two siblings in Augusta, New York. An additional three siblings came along to the family in following years.

Where is Augusta? It is a town in Oneida County and, as it happens, only 12 miles east of Smithfield where Thaddeus and Lucy wed. They also married in a Presbyterian Church.



Looking further, I saw some mentions of Augusta parishioners transferring to the Smithfield congregation, which was new. 

I couldn't find what happened to his parents, but I followed all but one of his siblings along (Gilbert eluded me).
  • Sylvia married David W. Smith and died in 1838. She is buried near Augusta.
  • Aurelia married Eliot Hurd of Augusta and died in 1844. She is buried in Augusta.
  • Marinda married Elias Peabody in Huron Co., Ohio (now Lorain Co.). I'm not sure how she ended up in Ohio. She died in 1877 and is buried there.
  • Minerva married Robert C. Durkee of Augusta and died in 1858. She lived in Augusta in the 1850 and 1855 censuses and is buried there.
Except for Minerva, I had no indication that the Martin family ever left Augusta, but I found no real records of Thaddeus, Gilbert, or the parents after their early 1800s entry in the church book. The membership list indicated William and Experience were removed by letter (i.e., transferred to another church) in 1809, but by all accounts the family seemed to stay in Augusta.

Until I decided to reread Thaddeus' bounty land application materials, which indicate he was drafted into the military at Livonia, NY.

Livonia is over in the Finger Lakes region in Livingston County (then Ontario Co.). Looking at the 1810 census, there was indeed a William Martin living in Livonia. However, there was no child Gilbert's age nor a wife-aged woman.


But, we see his neighbor is David W. Smith, which is the name of Sylvia's husband. Based on ages, it could be Experience and Gilbert had died, and Sylvia was living next door with her husband while Thaddeus, Aurelia, Marinda, and Minerva lived with their father William.

Enter the Livingston County Historian's indexed records. Here, I find a William and Experience joined the Presbyterian Church in Livonia on 4 Jun 1809 (a few months after they removed from Augusta) and Mrs. Martin (wife of William) died on 28 July 1810. The 1810 census was taken on 6 August.

The consistent locations of this family along with a birth date of 1789 for Thaddeus have both myself and Daryl thinking we have a strong case that we finally found our Thaddeus (Daryl had separately been exploring William Martin of Livonia, but hadn't gotten the Augusta church records yet).

As important as finding the right family is, it's equally important to make sure we did not find the wrong families. There are two other contemporary Thaddeus Martins that I've seen in other family trees that I have eliminated.
  1. A Thaddeus Martin born 1779 in Woodbury, CT. He is especially confusing because he lives in Avon, which is down the road from Livonia. I also suspect William and Experience are originally from CT. However, this Thaddeus married Mehetable Throop, whose family is well known and documented. This Thaddeus died in 1826. It is critical not to link Avon records (such as land records) with my Thaddeus, as the Thaddeus of Throop fame is more likely the one referred to there.
  2. A Thaddeus Martin is listed as a son in the will of Ebenezer Gould Martin in 1828 in Sidney, NY (Delaware Co.). This is about 50 miles or so south of Augusta/Smithfield areas. While not close, because it was not too far away from Smithfield where Thaddeus married I did follow up. In his will, Ebenezer left his sons Sheldon and Samuel land, 20 dollars to his daughter Polly, and property divided between daughters Polly and Genett after his wife passed. To his son Thaddeus, he leaves one dollar and Thaddeus is the only child not preceded by "well-beloved" in the will. In keeping with a black sheep theme, there is a Thaddeus S. Martin in Delhi, Delaware Co in the county poor house, where he is listed as a pauper. This Thaddeus in the poor house always gave me pause to accept that Gould Martin could be my Thaddeus' father, plus the case for William and Experience is stronger in terms of the connections to Smithfield and Livonia.
Now to find Lucy...


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