Lineage dispute regarding daughter Harriet

Question

Hello there!  I am a genealogist and within my own tree, it appears there is a lineage dispute regarding Harriet Johnson, the daughter of this individual. My records, including newspaper announcements and church records, indicate that she stayed nearby and married a Lewis Bunce. However, it appears some records (including a validated DAR lineage) show this individual as someone who moved to Ohio and married Charles Caldwell in Ohio.

I have been unable to find any sources that support this lineage other than the DAR text (which lack sources themselves). I re-added her back on the true (the profile manager removed her, Harriet Johnson Bunce).

Advice on how to clarify this on the profiles for the future?

Comments

The best place to start would be to identify the “local records” and “the Ohio records.” The DAR records should also be identified, and any records in the DAR papers as well. And then discuss them.

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I was going to suggest you look for probate documents for her parents Elihu and his wife. I didn't find any indexed at Ancestry and it appears they died when she was still underage so probably would not have helped anyway.

Harriet and Johnson are pretty common names. There could easily be two. I would check that DAR lineage, because your suggested lineage seems so much more logical.

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DAR is known to be wrong upon occasion and I've seen some withdrawn and a note that lineage has to be proven before they will be added back. I've added to the bio with sources and the later census records show her, Lewis and 3 children by name. They settled in Manchester, where Lewis was from and where her grave is.

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In this case, the parish that she was born in and married in was quite small, and there was in fact no other Harriet Johnson by that name.  When I reviewed the parish records, it appears it is the same individual. Unfortunately, they aren't digitized.  Tolland is one of the towns extremely close to Manchester (both within five minutes of me) .   Sadly, as her father passed away before she married his probate record isn't super helpful

Answer 1

Thank you for raising this question.  It would be very interesting to see what if any source is cited in that DAR application file for the connection between Harriet (Johnson) Caldwell and Elihu Johnson.  The 1850 census record for Harriet Caldwell does indicate that she came from Connecticut, but other than that I have not been able to find any record that connects her specifically to Tolland County or to those parents.  Yet, this is a common claim and many descendants of Harriet Caldwell are quite vested in their connection to this lineage, including the profile manager you mentioned.  So far I have not seen any source which clearly refutes either claim, and people seem to have differing opinions on which theory is more likely, so we may have trouble reaching a consensus on how to apply the guidance on handling "Uncertain Parents" (https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Uncertain_Parents) in this case.

Comments

Hello - I just started reading this run of comments regarding the Harriett Johnson and the DAR Lineage.  (I am a DAR registrar - I could look at the supporting documents if you would like)  just an FYI the earlier DAR applications were approved on family genealogy books, since then the DAR does not allow genealogy family books as proof of lineage.  Which is why you would find some errors. I agree, the name Harriett and Johnson are common.  I would need to know who the DAR Patriot is to look this info up.

Erica

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Thank you!  The DAR Patriot is Elihu Johnson (A063163), and the connection of interest is the link between his son Elihu Johnson and granddaughter Harriet Johnson -- who is either the Harriet Johnson who married Lewis Bunce in Tolland County, Connecticut, or the Harriet Johnson who married Charles Caldwell in Trumbull County, Ohio, in the 1820s.

Any info you can provide on what the source for this claimed connection was will be very helpful in sorting this out.

Answer 2

Erica Milano has very helpfully checked the DAR file for us, and provided the following feedback to me via private message:

In the DAR database the 1st application proving Elihu Johnson as a patriot was from 1907 & 1937 which the proven child was Oran.  (There were no supporting documents with these applications). The DAR application (from 1991) that proved Elihu Johnson (child) and sp Alice Bump  (which on the DAR application list Alice Bump as his 2nd marriage).  The document tying to Harriet Johnson & Charles Caldwell is using a bible record listing Charles & Harriet’s marriage and then ties Harriet’ to parent referencing Conn Barbour Collection, reel 43. (I do not see this image in the documentation it is just listed in the supporting lineage reference)  Interesting enough in the supporting documents of this application, there is a letter from the Tolland Genealogical Library referencing Elihu Johnson as the (patriot) - child Elihu and Alice Bump which also list their 8 children.  The  letter also states that Harriet married Lewis Bunce in 1827.  

The reference to Conn Barbour Collection reel 3 to be a citation to the Barbour Collection index of Connecticut Vital Records for Tolland County, which includes several entries which cite to Volume 3, p. 18 of the original vital records.  They include two entries for Harriet Johnson:

• birth of Harriet Johnson, daughter of Elihu Johnson & Allice on 25 March 1805
• marriage of Harriet Johnson to Lewis Bunce of Manchester on 26 Dec 1827 

The link to this index on FamilySearch is here: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSKW-V3NL-J

SO - there does not appear to be any clear evidence resolving the question in the DAR file.  Given the strong feelings on both sides of the argument among WikiTree members who have an interest in this family, I think this is probably a situation where the WikiTree guidance on "Uncertain Parents" applies, since it seems possible at this point that either Harriet Bunce or Harriet Caldwell could possibly be the Harriet who was the daughter of Elihu Johnson and Alice Bump.

Comments

Thank you - I had the same findings upon review of the documentation on file in Tolland.  The Barbour Collection for Tolland in this instance is a copy of the town transcripts, and is thus not a source of any additional information.