FInding Nancy Longstreet Part 4

My decision as to what to look for next was made. I wanted to try to piece together the family group(s) for John Longstreet born circa 1796 in New Jersey.

The Known

First I listed what was known:

Source: 1861 census

John married Sarah

Children by unknown wife:

• Matilda born ca 1843
• Francis born ca 1845

Who was Erastus? When was he born?

Was Henry, born ca 1823 another son?

Source: Online Family Tree

by wife #1 Ann Page:

• Samuel b 1814 New York
• John S. b 1815 New Jersey <--I am troubled by the placement of this individual as a son there is another John born ca 1836 who I am able to trace. It also seems odd that the family would be in NY, then NJ briefly then NY
• Richard b 1816 New York
• Henry A. b 1822 New York <--agrees with 1861 census
• Elizabeth Ann b 1825 Ontario

Note that all later children show as born Ontario (Canada West aka Upper Canada) on the online Family tree

by wife #2 Phoebe Baer

• Sarah Catherine b 1828
• Abigail b 1833
• John b 1836 (see FN1)
• Nancy Ann b unknown

by wife #3 Sarah Lawrence

• Mary b 1840 (see FN2)
• Matilda b 1843 <--agrees with 1861 census
• Francis/John b 1845 <--agrees with 1861 census. Also see FN3

Finding Birth, Marriage or Death Records to confirm children

My next step was challenging. There would not be birth records unless I could find a family bible or church records, as the births were too early for registration in Ontario. So I turned to marriage and death records. Here is what I found:

FN1. John Longstreet, 24, born Caledon, married Jane Eagles on 26 Oct 1859. He gaves his parents' names as John and Mary. He fits the John born 1836 to John and Phoebe (I noted the discrepancy in first names for further research)

FN2. Mary Longstreet, 21, married William Lang on 10 Aug 1859. She gave her parents' names as John and Sarah. She fits the Mary born 1840 above.

FN3. Francis Longstreet, 89, died 13 September 1934. His parents' names were given as John Longstreet and Sarah Lawrence.

Many of the deaths of these individuals from the family tree were too early for parents' names to be recorded. So we may want to check other resources such as land records to see if the father left land to son, or sold land to son.

What do the Census Records Tell us?

• The 1861 census for Windham, Norfolk, Ontario shows Samuel Longstreet born ca 1814 in USA. This agrees with the online tree.  
• The 1861 census for Oxford, Ontario shows Richard Longstreet born ca 1816 in USA. This agrees with the online tree.  

Summary

As readers can see, this family is very large and complex. It took me quite awhile to researcj each individual listed as a child in the online tree. Rather than go into the details of what I found for each and how I found the information, I'm going to jump to a summary instead. Remember that an online tree is only good for clues to further research.

I invite my readers to use the brief summary below to do their own research. In my next article I'll share the proof I found which verifies some of John's children. This summary below is my theory/suggestion of John's children.

Samuel Longstreet
Born ca 1814 USA (some records indicate he was born 27 Feb. 1814)
Died 6 April 1878 in Princeton, Brant County Ontario
Married Sophronia Lorinda Robinson. He may have had more than one wife

Richard Longstreet
born ca 1816 USA (New York?)
died 18 Feb 1872

Sarah Catherine Longstreet
I suggest she may be the Sarah born ca 1818 USA who married Robert Markle. This does not agree with the online family tree

Henry Longstreet
born ca 1823 (29 March 1823?)
died 13 June 1894 Michigan. Death cert provides father's name only
married Elizabeth Laurence

Nancy Ann/Elizabeth Longstreet
born ca 1823
died 29 January 1890
married George Fisher

Betsy (Elizabeth) Ann Longstreet
born ca 1825
died 1881
married William Lawrence

Abigail Longstreet
born ca 1835
died 1894
married Calvin Murray Snyder

John Longstreet s/o John & Mary (Phoebe?)
born ca 1836 (25 October 1835?)
died 1913
married Mary Eagles

Mary Longstreet d/o John & Sarah
born 1839
died 14 Sept 1907
Married William Long

Matilda Longstreet probably d/o John & Sarah
born 11 May 1843
died 23 April 1938 in Manitoba (her death record could be obtained)
married Jacob Smith
Francis Longstreet s/o John & Sarah
born 22 May 1845
died 13 Sept 1934
Married Janet McDonald

Stay Tuned!

I'll leave my readers to do some research on their own if they are interested, and also to think about what proof I finally found to verify many of John's children. That will be my last blog post about my process in finding Nancy Longstreet Fisher.