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...

Where are you, Thaddeus?

One of the great mysteries of my ancestry is that of my 4x great grandfather, Thaddeus Martin.  One researcher I have contacted has been researching him for over 30 years.  And in a lovely coincidence, the Martin family eventually married into my equally hard to track Acker line.

Here is a time line of what I know about Thaddeus, with thanks to Martin researcher and distant cousin Daryl Althaver who has generously shared a lot of this information with me.  The questions are where was he born, on what date, and who he and his wife's parents were.  Also, where is he buried and were there more children?  And what happened to his wife after his death?

1789 - Approximate year that Thaddeus was born in New York. Other birth locations from childrens' census and death certificates include Connecticut, Vermont, and Scotland.  He may have been born later in that year judging by the years given on the 1830 and 1840 census, which seem younger than a 1789 birth we see after 1850, or he was born in 1790.

1813 Dec 25 - Drafted into New York Militia at Livonia, Livingston County, NY for the War of 1812. Unit was led first by Capt. Stone and later Capt. Hull.

1814 May 1 - Discharged at Canandaigua, NY.  Discharge papers state he fought on the Niagara Frontier.

1817 Aug 27 - Marriage to Lucy (Marsh) Butterworth at the Peterboro Presbyterian Church in Smithfield, NY. Jonathon Kitchel presided.  There is no record of them as members of this church.

between 1815 and 1820 - Unknown daughter born.

1820 - Census listing for Thaddeus at Barre, Orleans County, NY.  In the household, there was 1 male 26-45, 1 female 26-45, and 4 females under 10.  Given the quality of the scan and other info about the family, it is very likely that this is actually 1 female under 10 and the rest of the strokes in the 4 were artifacts from other pages or the scan itself.

1825 June - Son Charles Martin born in NY (likely Barre).

between 1826 and 1829 - Son William Martin born in NY.

1830 - Daughter Mary Jane born in MI.

1830 - Census listing for Thaddeus at Oakland Co., Michigan. In the household, there was 1 male under 5 years (William), 1 male 5-10 (Charles), 1 male 30-40 (Thaddeus), 1 female under 5 (Mary Jane), 1 female 10-15 (unknown daughter), 1 female 40-50 (Lucy, likely age 40).

1832 - Son Marshall Martin born in Michigan

1833 Apr 9 - Thaddeus bought 40 acres of land in Macon township, Lenawee Co., Michigan.

1833 Apr 19 -  In the diary of Nathan Powers of Farmington, he writes “ I stuck up beams in the mill yard with Thaddeus Martin, the sixth day of the week.”

1833 - James Hunt declared in the widow's application for bounty land in 1860 that he was Thaddeus Martin's family's nearest neighbor since this date.

1834 May - Daughter Caroline born in Michigan

1840 - Census listing for Thaddeus at Macon, Lenawee County, MI.  In the household, there was 1 male 5-10 (Marshall), 2 males 10-15 (Charles and William), 1 male 40-50 (Thaddeus), 1 female 5-10 (Caroline), 1 female 10-15 (Mary Jane), 1 female 40-50 (Lucy), 3 persons employed in agriculture (Thaddeus, Charles, and William?). Eldest daughter is out of the household and I have no info on her whereabouts.

1845 - Thaddeus living in Macon in Lenawee census.

1850 - Census listing for Thaddeus at Macon.  In the household, there was Thaddeus Martin, age 61, male, farmer, real estate valued at $800, born New York.  Lucy Martin, age 61, female, born Massachusetts.  Marshall Martin, age 18, male, farmer, born Michigan.  Caroline Martin, age 16, female, born Michigan, attended school within the year.  His son Charles was living with the Obediah Deland family in Bedford, Monroe County, MI age 24, working as a laborer, real estate valued at $100, born NY.  Charles's wife Rebecca Carter was living at home with her family, the Eli and Sarah (Elberson) Carter family, in Macon.  Mary Jane, her husband George Cole, and their young son Charles were living with Obediah's brother Hall Deland in Bedford.

1850 Dec 18 - Thaddeus states on his land warrant application that he is 61 years old and appoints Obediah Deland as his legal agent.  Obediah died in 1856, before Thaddeus received his land warrant.

1854 Sept - Notice in Tecumseh Herald that the Probate Court will be selling Thaddeus' farm at public auction on 16 Nov 1854.  Notice states that Thaddeus was an idiot.

1854-1855 - Thaddeus was sent to the county poor farm, Maple Lane Manor in Adrian, Lenawee County, MI.

1857 Jun 1 - Thaddeus dies at the county poor farm.  There are no death records for the county poor farm before 1890, so it is unknown if Thaddeus is buried at the poor farm's cemetery.  From the notice in the Tecumseh Herald and the widow's declaration for Thaddeus's land, he may have had dementia or Alzheimers.

1860 Nov - Lucy had filed a widow's declaration for Thaddeus's land warrant.  She states they were married and had 4 living children.  Charles, Marshall, Mary Jane, and Caroline were all alive at this time.  If true, the eldest daughter and William would have died by this time.  Son Charles Martin and William H. Merritt declared that they knew Thaddeus and Lucy to be married, that she was a widow, and four children were alive, and that they weren't at the funeral of Thaddeus and he was insane.  One of Thaddeus's daughters had visited his grave.

1861 May 18 - Lucy received Land Warrant #49091 for land in Huron County, MI.  She transferred the land to Thomas McKean.