Project Protection for Ohio profile

Question

Someone has been repeatedly attaching an unsourced son to the profile of Tilton-1347, which I manage. There is no evidence in the profile of this alleged son, Tilton-2279, to connect him with T-1347. I think the profile of Tilton-1347 could use project protection.

Comments

I added the United States Project Account as a profile manager (on behalf of Ohio) and I protected the profile.

This does not mean that there has been a firm decision never to connect son Samuel. Rather, project protection is intended to encourage interested members to discuss the evidence and reach some sort of mutual understanding before connecting Samuel or any other additional children.

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Thank you, Ellen

Answer 1

Lois, I'm not affiliated with the Ohio Project and have no authority to issue protection to a page. However, I took a look at the issue. I have added some references to the page for Ira's wife Jane.

In short -- I haven't yet been able to find direct primary source evidence that Samuel is her child. However, I have found a secondary source which was already referred to with some inaccurate statements in the source list on her page. History of Cass County by Thomas B. Helm includes a list of siblings of Mrs. Maria Van Eman. That list includes Samuel Tilton.

WikiTree profile: Jane (McClaine) Tilton

Comments

Thanks for looking into the matter, Matt.  The Samuel Tilton who is repeatedly attached to Ira Stout Tilton with no evidence was born about 1834. The 1840 census taken before Ira Stout's death in 1842 shows no male children under age 15 in the household. The son aged 15-20 years would have been Ira (no Stout) b. 1823.

Ira Stout's wife Jane would have been 45 years old in 1834 - beyond childbearing age. The Ira b. 1823 would undoubtedly have been her last.

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This even earlier seventeenth- and eighteenth-century study found that

The French Canadian sample showed 50% of women ending childbearing around the age of 40 years and 70% of women doing so in the 37-44 age span.

Doesn't that imply that 30% of this sample of women had their last child at 45 or older?

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Adding Research Notes on Ira and his wife’s profile, as Matt did, as well as Samuel’s profile is what is needed, indicating the book is unsourced, so primary sources are needed, but noting where the discrepancy is, with census and age. At age 15, he could be included in a different family working,  but since we have no names, it is undetermined.

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This Samuel, if born in 1834, would have been age 6 at the 1840 census, not 15 - that would have likely been his brother Ira, whose birth is attested on his death certificate.

The sources attached to the Samuel profile were a marriage record and a later census - neither of which named parents. There was no justification stated for the attachment.

I will point out that there were 3 dozen Samuel Tiltons known in the 18th US century alone. A name is not sufficient for a connection.

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OK - the 1900 census [https://www.ancestry.co.uk/discoveryui-content/view/53128424:7602]  does in fact show a probable connection between the Samuel shown in the 1870 census with a wife Elizabeth, and the profiles of Ira Stout Tilton - born in New Jersey - and his wife Jane - born in PA.

This does not explain his absence from the 1840 census or from Ira Stout's 1842 Will

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Samuel could be Ira's son, even though he doesn't appear with the family in the 1840 census.  The information could have come from a neighbor who forgot young Samuel, as others mentioned he could have been living with a relative (maybe his mother was sick?), or the census taker could have just made a mistake.

Also, his mother could have had a child at 45.  Unlikely, but possible.

But, Samuel's obituary on his profile says he had two brothers and two sisters, and Ira's profile shows he had 4 sons who lived to adulthood (not including Samuel) and 2 daughters.  Of course the obituary could have been wrong, but it does seem pretty unlikely that Samuel was Ira's son when all is considered.

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I wondered if Samuel could have been a son of one of Ira Stout's older sons, or living with him - most likely John, who was listed in the 1840 census on the same page as Ira, in his own household. But I could not find him living with this brother.