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.

Finding Nancy Longstreet Part 2

Death Registration

I made the decision to gather all census data for Nancy and her husband George Fisher before branching out into marriage records or looking for Abigail Longstreet.

George and Nancy were easily found in 1861, 1871, 1881, and 1891 census records on Ancestry.com, still living in Lincoln County Ontario. In 1861 Nancy is recorded as "Elizabeth" so we should keep this in mind as we search - that this might be her middle name.

In the 1891 Census George is recorded as a widower so we have a timeframe for Nancy's death of between 1881 and 1891.

1861 Lincoln Co.
George 44
Elizabeth 39 <--This could be Nancy's middle name
David 20
George 16
Marian 14
Calvin 14
Alfred 8

1871 Gainsboro, Lincoln Co.
George 54
Nancy 50
Calvin 20
Harmy 18
Murray 16
Abigail 13 <-- the naming of a daughter Abigail makes me think that the Abigail from the 1851 census is even more likely to be a sister to Nancy

1881 Gainsboro, Lincoln Co.
George 64
Nancy E. 59 <---further support for the theory that Nancy's middle name is Ellizabeth
Murray 25
Abigail 23

1891 Gainsboro, Lincoln Co.
George is a widower, age 74, living with his married daughter "Abby" (Abigail) Pew, her husband and children. 

1842 Census of Canada West

I would have liked to search for George and Nancy in the 1842 census (which is a head of household only) but it is not available online for Gainsborough. There is no proof of course that the family wasn't living elsewhere in 1842 but a search of land records in that area could perhaps solve that question.

Niagara Fonds

The Ontario Archives holds microfilmed (but not digitized) Niagara Fonds which consist of the official records of the Niagara District, including Council Minutes, 1842-1853; Assessment and Census Rolls, 1828-1849; Commons School Accounts Ledger; 1842- 1844; Education Register, 1844-1850.

Fonds also includes assessment and other records from several lower tier municipalities including Gainsborough. It would be worthwhile to search for the family in these fonds. We might not find clues pointing to Nancy's father but we might find a great deal more information about Nancy, George, and their children. We should never overlook that as we try to flesh out a family line.

Agricultural Census & Land Records

I decided to search in the Agricultural census for 1851 and 1861 next. If I can find George I will learn his exact land location and from there I can search the Abstract Indexes to Deeds to see all records pertaining to that specific property. Often land was sold or given to relatives, so there could be more clues found there. The Agricultural census exists for Lincoln County 1861 but unfortunately George could not be found. This is another clue, and may indicate that George did not own land.

Death Records

I decided to do a quick jump to online death records to find Nancy's death. I knew there would not be much new information since parents' names were not recorded that early. It would be unusual for an exact birth location to be recorded but it is always worthwhile looking.

Nancy's death was found on Ancestry as occurring on 28 January 1890 in Gainsborough. Her place of birth was recorded as Ontario, and her age as 69. Her son Calvin E. Fisher was the informant. So nothing new to use as clues for our next step.

What Next?

Speaking of next steps, it was time for me to decide where to search next. I did want to search for the Abigail Longstreet from the 1851 census and the marriage of George and Nancy but perhaps it was time to branch out to the mention in the original query of "John Longstreet, b New Jersey in 1796 (moved to Ontario)". What would your next steps be?

 

Here are the links to all 5 parts of this series

https://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/04/finding-nancy-longstreet-part-1.html
https://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/04/finding-nancy-longstreet-part-2.html
https://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/04/finding-nancy-longstreet-part-3.html
https://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/04/finding-nancy-longstreet-part-4.html
https://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/04/finding-nancy-longstreet-part-5-end.html 

 

Finding Nancy Longstreet Part 1

Lisa B. posted on a Facebook group about her ancestor Nancy Longstreet  

"Olive Jane Fisher married Joseph Rose (also born Ontario) and they married and lived in Michigan. Olive was born in St Ann's, Ontario, 3 Apr 1858 (no birth record found) to George Fisher and his wife Nancy Longstreet (Fisher). I have verified Nancy's maiden name by the marriage and death certificates of one of their other children, son George Fisher Jr. Also Nancy Longstreet is listed on several other children's marriage records. The Brick-wall - I simply cannot find the parents of Nancy Longstreet. She appears to have been born in Ontario in 1822 (possibly St Ann's) according to census records. In 1851 she is 31 years old, married, but has 20 y.o. Abigail Longstreet living in the household. This may be a sister or cousin. I have seen references to John Longstreet, b NJ in 1796 (moved to Ontario) as Nancy's father, but I have found no proof of that. There are plenty of census records on him, but nothing that lists Nancy. Any suggestions would be welcome!" 

I was intrigued. I love a challenge! So off I went on a hunt which became more and more convoluted with each record I found. Spoiler alert: I found Nancy Longstreet's father but you'll have to wait until the end of my story to find out who he was.

My first step was to gather as many records as I could find for George Fisher and his wife Nancy Longstreet (Fisher). I needed to analyze each record carefully, one at a time as I found them. Analyzing each record usually leads to more clues and ideas for further searching.

I started on Ancestry.com with census records. Sometimes relatives lived nearby families so I wanted to know who lived near George and Nancy in 1851. And I wanted to know who was in their family group, as well as ages of each person.

In 1851 they were in Gainsboro, Lincoln County Ontario

George Fisher, 35
Nancy 31
David 12
George 7
Maria 5
Calvin 2
Abigail Longstreet, 20

This census gives us some approximate years of birth. However it is important to note that the 1851 census was taken in 1850, so this throws off the approximate birth years.

George Fisher, 1816
Nancy 1820
David 1839
George 1844
Maria 1846
Calvin 1849
Abigail Longstreet, 1831

The location of births for each individual is given as "F". That representation was unknown to me so that meant a search to find out what instructions the census takers were given in 1851 for recording place of birth.

A quick trip to AllCensusRecords soon revealed the following instructions for 1851 census takers:

Place of birth. Those born of Canadian parents were denoted with an ‘F’ 

This tells us everyone in this family was born in Ontario.

Another clue we should follow is "Who is Abigail Longstreet?" She could be Nancy's younger sister. She could be a niece, a cousin, or married to a relative of Nancy. There is also the possibility that she is not related and the surname is a co-incidence. 

We can also come up with an estimated year of marriage, based on the ages of Nancy's children. This is only a "best guess" since we don't know if Nancy had other children who may have died before this 1851 census. But based on this census alone, we might want to look for a marriage record before 1840.

Next up: It's time to decide what research route to take next - more census records? Look for Abigail Longstreet to see how/if she fits into Nancy's family? Look for a marriage record? Marriages in Ontario did not have to be registered until 1869 so we would have to look for church records if we decide to take that path next. What would you do? Keep following this series to learn what I did next. 

Here are the links to all 5 parts of this series

https://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/04/finding-nancy-longstreet-part-1.html
https://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/04/finding-nancy-longstreet-part-2.html
https://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/04/finding-nancy-longstreet-part-3.html
https://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/04/finding-nancy-longstreet-part-4.html
https://olivetreegenealogy.blogspot.com/2019/04/finding-nancy-longstreet-part-5-end.html