Which birth mother should I use?

Question

My third great grandmother is turning out to be a real mystery when it comes to her heritage.

According to her husband’s civil war pension record,

“ She has always understood that she was born Sept 25, 1860 in Jackson county, Ohio and lived in a small place called Jackson Furnace in 1870. “

“Her parents names were Richard Taylor and Mary Ann. Brothers names were Newton H, David, Edward, John and sister Amanda P.”

The problem I am facing is that Emily is listed under the household of Ann Dempsey, wife number three in 1870 and not under the household of Richard and his wife Mary Ann.

To make things more problematic, Richard is suspected of having 17 children with Mary Ann, Jane Dempsey and Ann Dempsey. He only legally married Mary Ann Henson in Amherst, Virginia. I have not found marriage records for a legal marriage to Jane Dempsey and Ann Dempsey either in Virginia or Ohio.

In 1870, it shows Richard with his wife Mary Ann and their children. Next door is Jane Dempsey with her children and living next door to Jane is Ann Dempsey and her children.

How should I proceed in listing her birth record and parents.

Emily’s heritage comes from FPOC and possibly slavery in Amherst, Virginia.

Answer 1

It sounds like he was having children with Dempseys (Mary Ann, Jane, and Ann) who he may not have been married to? If they were FPOC, it would have been illegal for him to marry them in the state of Virginia at the time.

Edited to add, I see the children were born in Ohio though and it was legal in Ohio by 1887.

Comments

You are correct Emma and I have edited my original post to add that they were all living next door to each other in the 1870 census.

 I have found three people on 23andme that come from two children from Richard between 14 and 41cm. One is from Mary Ann and the second is from Ann Dempsey. Both on the same chromosome line.

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Oh wow. This wouldn't be the first time I've seen where a man was having children with multiple women at the same time while either married to another or not married to anyone. And since they may have been sisters, that complicates the usefulness of DNA.

My biggest recommendation is to make sure to add lots and lots of research notes about what you know and what you suspect, but can't yet prove.

Answer 2

If you can figure out who Richard was married to when Emily was born, that might resolve the issue.

I suggest working on the profiiles of the women to sort this out, if you can find any records.

I had an instance similar to yours where a man married, his wife died shortly afterward, he married a second woman, she died shortly afterward, and he married her sister, who survived him. Determing when the women died helped resolve maternity issues.

It's entirely possible that Emily was Mary Ann's daugther, then she died, Richard remarried, and his second wife died, all before she was ten years of aga and lliving in Jackson Furnace. Early deaths were not uncommon in those days.

Comments

Thank you Paul, 

I'll start with the women and see what I can figure out. I have edited my original post to add that they were all living next door to each other in the 1870 census. All women were alive when my third great grandmother was born. Which complicates who is the birth mother.

I'll be adding more sources to the children to see who was born where, when they might have moved to Ohio. 

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Oh wow. That's a whole 'nother kettle of fish. ANd, as Emma points out, DNA might not be quite as useful as one would hope since they were sisters. Yikes. You've got quite a conundrum on your hands.

If you have a subscription to newspapers.com, you MIGHT find something useful there. If not, I'd be happy to do the searches fro you.

Answer 3

You've gotten some good advice about how to sort out the factual question. I wanted to offer as an example, a profile I worked on recently where both parents are in question, just so you can see the use of the "uncertain" flag combined with research notes: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Griffith-6855

Comments

Ambar,

This helps so much! I will be editing her profile more after looking at the profile you provided.

Looking at cousin comments I have found about this family that I am finding,  I don’t think any of them know which kid goes to wife 1, 2, or 3.