The Black Sheep of the Family?

            Stonewall Jackson Arthur                                    Thomas Champlin Arthur

Once in a while a less direct relation looks interesting so I do a little research on them.  Sometimes it is even more interesting than I expected.

My 3XG Grandmother is Mary Arthur Runyon.  She was the eldest in the family.  The next child, and eldest son was Thomas Arthur.  I was interested in him early on because of his father Ambrose's will.  Usually the eldest son gains most of the $$/land in a will.  In this case all that went to the youngest son. Thomas was left $10 "which is to be paid by my executor when called for."  Meaning should Thomas ever seek to claim it.  For comparison sake Ambrose Arthur left Mary $500.

So the question was...why that wording?  A little research showed that Thomas Arthur vanished from Kentucky in the 1850's  Since his wife also vanishes I assume she died, he abandoned his three young children with relatives and headed west.  The Gold Rush was a few years earlier and since he headed for northern California that might be his reason.  He turns up in 1863 at 49 years old marrying a 23 year old Indian woman named Susan "Debaugh" in Nevada.  They had a son Stonewall Jackson Arthur around 1866.  I guess that shows where his Civil War sympathy lay.  Not surprising given that his father was a slave owner.  It is perhaps more surprising that my ancestor Mary married a Shaker and her sons fought for the Union. 

The Indian wife died in 1870 probably soon after the birth of their second son Thomas Champlin Arthur.  As is the common practice for a widower with young children, he soon married again to Susan Orr, a 14 year old half Indian...he was 58...ick.  They had a large family including one daughter who died young.  Here is a description of her death I found but need to verify.

(Thomas) was target practicing with rifle and used old watering trough, his daughter, Linney, was asleep or playing in it, killed her. Reported that it broke his spirit. After that he tried to rob a stage coach between Burney and Redding, was captured by several ranchers, tried and sent to San Quentin for eight years. Rpt: some thought he was the "Black Bart" who successfully robbed several stages, but Black Bart was hung with two others in Shasta.  Belle Boyd (his daughter) said she only remembered as "An old white haired man who was very gruff".

The two sons by the First Susan also vanished.  I discovered why when I found the younger one in San Quentin Prison in the 1900 census.  A little research showed that I could get copies of San Quentin's records from the California Archives.  They arrived today.  What I didn't expect was they would include pictures.  They are both attached.  They would be my First Cousins 4X removed.  Both served two terms in prison all for Robbery related reasons.  Thomas got the longest sentence.  For his second conviction for 2 counts of Robbery he got 20 years in 1888.  He was released in 1902.

It appears that Thomas was briefly removed from prison to serve as a witness in a trial against his brother Stonewall.  I can't imagine that was good for filial relations.

I still need to figure out what happened to them after release and find out if their father was also in San Quentin.  I assume there is also information about the trials out there.  I just need to figure out where.

Joseph Orris - Perhaps a Clue

The never ending search for Joseph Orris in Pennsylvania continues.  Over the last few months I have ordered Cumberland County records through my local Family History Center.  These include tax records, Election Records and also some probate records from Perry County.

I found A Joseph Orris in the Tax Records for Cumberland County in the early 1840s, but there is no way to verify just from these records that he is THE Joseph Orris we have all been searching for for 20 years now.  Sadly, the records only list head of Household.  There are other Orris' in the vicinity that may provide clues or further avenues for Research.  Personally, I strongly believe it is him, but I need more proof beyond a gut feeling.

The Tax Rolls for the the mid 1840s have no Joseph in them. 

The Election Records were a hopeless mess that I could not make any sense out of so they will need more time.

I found the will of Henry Orris of Perry County.  He seems to be the favored father among those on Ancestry who don't do their own research to verify the work of others.  The will makes no mention of a son Joseph.  There are certainly many reasons someone is left out of a will, and there are clues to connect Henry to our Joseph such as a prevalence of common family names.  But No concrete evidence that will lead me to add him as a father to Joseph.

I will transcribe the Henry Orris will and scan and post the Tax Records as soon as I can.  Though that may be 4 weeks or so.

I also want to add individual entries for each Orris and Runyon Sibling.  A summer Project.  I also want to get out on the road to Kentucky and Iowa, maybe in August.

Locating Joseph Orris

Joseph Orris and his family arrived in Johnson County Iowa 1849-1850 and settled on land outside of North Liberty.  He was born in Pennsylvania.  But where?

The Clues:

1.       Other settlers in the area were also from Pennsylvania.  It appears that most of those whose Pennsylvania origins are known were from Cumberland County.  That includes some of the men named as guardians of Joseph's minor children after his early death in 1855.  Did he settle among friends he moved to Iowa to live near?  Did he move to Iowa with them?  Did he entrust these friends from home with the care of his children?

2.       A newspaper funeral notice mentions that his son Union was born in Mifflin Pennsylvania.  At first I assumed that must mean Mifflin County, but I have since discovered there is also a portion of Cumberland County known as Upper and Lower Mifflin.

3.       It appears that his wife was born in York County.  It makes sense that he was from a county somewhere near York.

4.       The 1840 Census shows a Joseph Orris living in Cumberland County in Allen Township.  He is the right age and has a wife who is also the right age to be Susan Densel.  The problem there is the first known child of the couple was born in 1844.  Did they not have children for the first 4-5 years of marriage, did they lose a child or two early on or is this perhaps a first wife and not Susan Densel?

The available records for Pennsylvania before 1900 are spotty to say the least.  There are a lot of church records available through the local FHC, but I imagine there are many more churches out there.  It may require a visit to the area in person to really discover any leads.

A 20 Year Search

Some mysteries endure. The life of Sarah May Orris includes a seemingly unending series of Brickwalls with the largest still standing at the end. Once one is broken down another arises. I have long since learned to not get my hopes up whenever a new clue emerges, yet in struggling to piece her life together I have become a better Genealogist. The appeal of Genealogy to me has always mirrored my interest in reading mystery novels. A genealogist, like a detective, is always searching for clues, making deductions, playing hunches and hoping to solve a mystery. The most important thing is to not get discouraged and let the Brickwall defeat you. If you are stuck, set it aside and do something else. I am always amazed at the new ideas that occur to me with a fresh eye. "Why didn't I think of that before?" is a constant question.

Sarah was born into difficult circumstances in North Liberty in Johnson County Iowa. At just over a year old she lost her father leaving her mother with a large, young family to raise on her own. Her mother remarried within two years to Cornelius Toohey and started a second family. In the 1860s another family settled in the area. Mary Runyon and several of her children left Kentucky behind and moved to Iowa.

The search for Sarah Orris began with a search for the Runyon's. Initially all I knew of her was her name. I also knew my Great Grandfather was born in Dubuque, but there were no signs of Orris families there.

The Runyon's were from Kentucky but searches of the census lead me to Johnson County, Iowa. In the days before the internet all searches were done by scrolling through microfilms. I was searching a film of Johnson County marriages for the Runyon siblings when I stumbled upon the one marriage I didn't expect to find...Sarah May Orris of Johnson County marrying Gilford Runyon of the same. The location lead to more census searches and I slowly pieced together the family.

City Directories and the 1880 Census allowed me to place her in Ames in 1880 and 1881. City Directories and the Iowa State census placed her in Dubuque from 1886-1897. The 1900 census places her in Charleston WV and the 1910 in Palestine TX. I obtained a picture of her son James and it was taken in Lexington KY and City Directories and James' obit confirmed their presence there from 1904-1905. That amounted to about 18 years of searching for her. One obvious problem is the frequency with which they moved great distances. Her husband was a salesman. It seems he would move to a small town, open a store and after a few years move on and start over again.

For a long time the brickwall stood just beyond the 1910 census. I had evidence of Gilford being in Illinois in 1924 and then in CT by the late 1920's when he moved to CT to live with his son, my great grandfather. My Aunt Rita thought that in his old age he was sent to live with my Great Grandfather and that Sarah went to live with one of the daughters. I now know that is almost certainly wrong, and one of the rare stories Aunt Rita got wrong.

For over a decade the brickwall proved impenetrable. Then I became aware of City Directories for Palestine Texas and there they were in the 1914 edition. So her known life had been extended by 4 years. Again a Brickwall stood at 1914 for several years.

(From the 1914 City Directory for Palestine, Anderson, TX)

Sometimes inspiration comes from the most unusual of circumstances. In a chance conversation with the Director of my local FHC the subject of divorce came up in regards to difficulty she had in tracing a female ancestor. If you had no knowledge of the divorce, you would have no reason to search marriage records for an already married ancestor. Thus a quick remarriage means finding her anytime after that event is very difficult. The more I thought about that scenario, the more I wondered if it applied to me. If Sarah and Gilford had divorced and she remarried it would explain why I had so much trouble finding her and why he ended up living alone. Luckily divorce records existed on Microfilm for Palestine Texas and I ordered the index ASAP. Success!! There was an entry in the index for GH Runyon and Ida M Annis. The obvious problem is her name. I hoped that perhaps Ida was a nickname, the M is right, and Annis isn't too far off Orris so perhaps a misspelling. I ordered the actual divorce record. The first surprise was that Gilford was listed as living in Lonoke Arkansas and not Palestine. A new location added to his travels. My first interpretation of the record was that it didn't paint a pretty picture of Gilford. A wife of 40 years making such claims against him would carry a great deal of weight in my mind. Then, on a second reading of the account, it became clear to me that this wasn't Sarah he was divorcing, but a second wife. Gilford still doesn't come off well, but Sarah stuck with him for 40 years and I later discovered that this was Ida Annis' second divorce, and thought, perhaps she was the difficult one. I have since found their 1917 marriage record in Little Rock, Arkansas, another new location in the travels.

The latest brickwall is much narrower than ever before, but it still stands. Sarah was alive in 1914 and her husband married a second time in 1917. In those three years she either died or divorced him. I am inclined towards the former. The records for Little Rock and Lonoke are sparse for the time around 1915-1917 but I am hoping something new will turn up to break another brickwall, but I fully expect there to be a new one just behind it.