Henrietta A.F.L. Fluxton Goas

We have a lot of information handed down through the family concerning Henrietta Fluxton Goas.

Family tradition states that she was from "Huddleberg" where she lived with her wealthy grandparents. Her mother had married her father against her family's will, and when her husband died, they took in Henrietta but not her mother. When Henrietta was 14, her mother came for a final visit with her second husband before they were to come to the U.S. and Henrietta decided to go with them. So Henrietta came to the United States in 1852 with her mother and stepfather Weber on the ship Tennessee and landed in New Orleans before coming up the Mississippi to St. Louis.

Various maiden names have been given for her. It has been stated that her grandparents adopted her and their name was Boskey. Her husband gave her maiden name as "Puxton" on the death record of their daughter Mary Goas Hargett. Henrietta gave it as Fluxton for her marriage certificate, so that is what I use. That I have never heard of nor seen any name quite like Fluxton is a puzzler, but not one I can see how to resolve.

It is said that she was working as an interpreter at a hotel in St. Louis and met Lewis Goas there, who was working on the steamboats.

They were married on July 19, 1857 in Jefferson County, Missouri, just south of St. Louis. Since it is most usual for a young woman to get married in her own neighborhood, when I decided to try to find her family, Jefferson County is where I started.

There are several Weber/Webber/Weaver families in Jefferson County in 1860. One family is even in Meramec township with Henrietta and Lewis, but they were suspect because the census said they had had children born in Missouri before 1850. A check of the 1850 census confirmed they were there before 1852.

Another family had a wife old enough to be Henrietta's mother, and the birthplaces of the children generally fit the 1852 immigration.

Page No. 25/541
Central Township, County of Jefferson, State of Missouri
5th Sept 1860 by Albert G. Haile
P.O. Hillsboro
line 30, 183/184 Fr. A. WEBER 43 M Do[Farmer] 800/100 Prussia
Amelia 38 F "[Prussia]
Agnes 17 F "[Prussia]
August 15 M "[Prussia]
Alwena 11 F "[Prussia]
Adolp 8 M "[Prussia]
William 5 M Mo
Christoph 2 M "[Mo]

They stated they were from Prussia, which did not appear to meet our criteria, but the complicated politics in Germany/Prussia at the time were a leading reason for Germans to come to the United States at that time. This didn't rule them out. I decided to investigate this family further.

In 1870 they stayed put:

Page No. 32
Central Township, County of Jefferson, State of Missouri
16 July 1870 by Sam A. Reppy
P.O. Hillsboro
line 6, 225/237 WEBBER Augustus 53 "[M]"[W] Farmer 1500/658 Prussia
Amelia 45 F"[W] Keeps House do[Prussia]
Augustus 23 M"[W] Works on farm do[Prussia]
Elvina 20 F"[W] No Ocupation do[Prussia]
Adolph 18 M"[W] Works on farm do[Prussia]
Wilhelm 14"[M]"[W] do[Works on farm] Missouri attended school
Christopher 12"[M]"[W] do[Works on farm] do[Missouri] attended school
Sarah 9 F"[W] At home do[Missouri] attended school
Emma 6"[F]"[W] do[At home] do[Missouri]

Agnes had married Charles Heller in Jefferson County in 1866. By 1868 he has remarried Johanna Kasten. We can assume Agnes passed away before December 1868.

In 1880 this Weber family moves to St. Louis:

Page No. 44
S.D. 1
E.D. 165
St Louis, St Louis, State of Missouri
23rd June 1880 by GH. Wesseling
Watson Road
line 23, 316/344 WEBER August WM 63 M Farmer Prusia Prusia Prusia
Mollie WF 57 Wife M Keeping House Prusia Prusia Prusia
August WM 35 Son S Farm laborer Paralized Missouri Prusia Prusia
William WM 25 Son S Farm Laborer Missouri Prusia Prusia
Gustave WM 23 Son S At Home Missouri Prusia Prusia
Sarah WF 19 Daughter S At Home Missouri Prusia Prusia
Emma WF 17 Daughter S At Home Missouri Prusia Prusia

Here, things get complicated. The missing 1890 census being one problem, and everyone running off and getting married another. I managed to track them all down except for August. Since he was noted as paralyzed in the 1880 census, I imagine he didn't live very much longer.

One thing I noticed was that starting in 1880, several of their children noted that they and their parents were born in "Saxony" or "Sachsen". Prussia was dropped entirely and Germany substituted in all other cases. We can assume this was because of the political changes wrought throughout this period in Prussia and Germany. For obvious reasons, I found the "Saxony" reference heartening. Henrietta put her birthplace as "Saxony", "Baden" and "Germany" in various censuses. The whole issue is complicated by the fact that there are multiple Sachsen provinces, principalities and regions in Prussia and Germany. Heidelberg is found in Baden.

In 1900, I found August widowed and living with his daughter Alvina "Lena" Weber Horschmann in St. Louis:

State Missouri
City of St. Louis, 2nd Ward
s.d. 11, e.d. 20, Sheet No. 3B
Fourth June 1900 by Geo H. Marquard
1812 North Ninth Street
line 74, 44/60 HORSCHMANN John Head WM June 1848 51 M 28 Illinois Germany Germany Cooper yes/yes/yes Owns House Free of mortgage
Lena Wife WF Oct 1848 51 M 28 5/5 Germany Germany Germany unknown immigration no/no/yes
CURRAN Mamie A Daughter WF Aug 1873 26 Wd 4 0/0 Missouri Illinois Germany yes/yes/yes
HORSCHMANN Edward Son WM Sept 1875 24 S Missouri Illinois Germany Machinist yes/yes/yes
Mathilda Daughter WF Dec 1878 21 S Missouri Illinois Germany Envelope Maker yes/yes/yes
William Son WM Oct 1880 19 S Missouri Illinois Germany Stove Mounter yes/yes/yes
Theresa D. Daughter WF Jan 1887 13 S Missouri Illinois Germany at School 9 months yes/yes/yes
WEBER August Father in Law WM Oct 1817 82 Wd Germany Germany Germany 1852/47/Na yes/yes/no
line 82, /61 TOWNSEND Arthur Head WM Mch 1879 21 M Missouri Ohio Missouri Clerk (Comm) Rents House
Mamie Wife WF Mch 1881 19 M 0/0 Missouri Germany Illinois

Notice August's immigration imformation: arrived in 1852. The coincidences are now mounting.

Ancestry.com has recently augmented its immigration records, so I thought I would try to find them. I've tried to find our 14 year old Henrietta and the Tennessee many, many times, but with no luck. This time, I was looking for this Weber family and hoping Henrietta would be tucked in with them.

I tried several combination of searches before I tried: New Orleans / Weber / 1852. Simple, to the point, and effective:

List of all Passengers taken on board the Ship Elizabeth Dennison where of Carpenter is Master, at the Port of Antwerp + Bremen and bound for New-Orleans
Printed and Sold by J.B. Steel, No. 60 Camp Street, New-Orleans

32. F. Aug. WEBER 35 1*** Heidg ----- [farmer] 4
33. Amel. "[WEBER] 30 *1** do[Heidg]
34. Emil. "[WEBER] 14 **1* do[Heidg]
35. Agns. "[WEBER] 8 **1* do[Heidg]
36. August. "[WEBER] 7 **1* do[Heidg]
37. Ang. "[WEBER] 6 **1* do[Heidg]
38. Albert "[WEBER] 3 **1* do[Heidg]
39. Edwina "[WEBER] 1/4 ***1 do[Heidg]

Ship Elizabeth Dennison
Carpenter
Antwep, Brement
23d October 1852
pg. 404

AND THEY HAVE A 14 YEAR OLD.

For comparison, this is the family as they would have appeared in 1852:

F. August 35
Amelia 30
Henrietta A.F.L. 14
Agnes 9
August 7

Alvina 3
Adolph 3/12

No genders are noted on the manifest for children, but an adult "Emil." was noted as a female. On their daughter's death certificate, Henrietta's husband noted her name as "Henrietta E. Puxton". The "E." still fits if her second name were Amelia, which can also be spelled Emilia, which I believe they did for the manifest.

There are now simply too many coincidences to ignore. The final one being that the family's residence was listed as "Heidg". Clearly this means "Heidelberg".

I believe this is our Henrietta, whose second name must be Amelia.

The ship is not the Tennessee, but there was also a steamboat on the Mississippi that was launched in the 1840s called the Tennessee. It's entirely possible that there was confusion as to which ship she was talking about - the one on which they crossed the ocean, or the one on which they arrived in St. Louis.  Or, more simply, "Dennison" sounds a lot like "Tennessee".

So far, unfortunately, of the 3/6 available death records of Amelia's children that I have seen not one has even noted her first name, let alone her maiden name. Especially disappointing was that Lena Weber Horschmann's husband didn't know Amelia's name even though August came to live with them following Amelia's death. If John Horschmann didn't know it, I feel it's unlikely anyone else who would be reporting information for these death certificates would either.

I have also seen a tradition noted by other descendants of Henrietta Fluxton Goas that she traveled with "half-siblings Lena and August". That, too, fits this family. Alvina's name is given alternately as "Alvina/Alwina" and "Lena" on census records. There is obviously some confusion on the manifest with the youngest children. The ages are correct, but the names are wrong and imply the wrong gender. Mistakes of this nature are very common on census and other similar records. That the names of the parents and the eldest two Weber children are correct, as are the ages, strongly suggests that this is the same family.

To find Amelia's maiden name and have it match one of the names in the family tradition would be ideal, but I don't think we're going to get that lucky. And, frankly, even if it didn't match I'd probably still be convinced that Amelia Weber is Henrietta's mother. Henrietta's own death certificate was filled out by the local minister, C.E. Welch, and not a family member. He did not know her parent's names.

For me, it rests with that Ship Elizabeth Dennison manifest. August and Amelia Weber and family were in Jefferson Co., MO in 1860, as was Henrietta. They arrived in the U.S. in 1852 via the port at New Orleans, as did Henrietta. That they had with them the 14 year old child I had hoped for, and by the time I got to the record expected, was the final necessary coincidence to convince me this is the Weber family with which our Henrietta traveled and are her mother and step family.

1850 Jackson Co., MO Census transcription

Since we moved into our new life I have been too busy to do much genealogy, and since things look to get busier I decided I had to buckle down and get the 1850 Jackson Co., MO Census transcription done. I had already done the overwhelming part (Blue Twp.) and it was really the easy bit left to go, the small townships of Ft. Osage, Sni-A-Bar (or Sni Bar as the enumerator wrote) and Van Buren.

So I did. And I'm done. What a relief. It's kind of cool, seeing it all online. And such interesting people.

Probably the most interesting recently was also sad:

Crawford Jeptha 39 M Farmer 1,200 Ky
Crawford Eliz 36 F V'a
Crawford Laura 17 F Mo
Crawford Susan 15 F Mo attended school
Crawford Ann E 14 F Mo attended school
Crawford Armena 12 F Mo attended school
Crawford W'm 11 M Mo attended school
Crawford Mary E 9 F Mo attended school
Crawford Marshal 7 M Mo attended school
Crawford Marion 5 M Mo attended school
Crawford Riley 3 M Mo
Crawford Lurana 2 F Mo

In 1862, Jeptha Crawford was taken from his home and shot by Jayhawkers. Elizabeth took her 14 year old son Riley to William Quantrill and asked him to make him a guerilla. He did, and Riley was eventually killed in Cooper County, Missouri in 1864.

I got pretty good at guessing which families stayed in Missouri and which moved on to Oregon or California. Quite an interesting project, Kansas City being such a crossroads at the time.

Newton family, Pittsford, Monroe County, New York

Amasa D. Newton and his family are a particularly difficult one to trace. They were from Pittsford, Monroe County, New York (right along the Eric Canal) and his parents were apparently both dead by 1860 as the children are scattered.

The original family in 1850:

Pittsford, County of Monroe, State of Newyork
7th August 1850 by J. K. Buell
pg. 204A/407
line 32, 518/518 Alva NEWTON 32 M Laborer " [Newyork]
Sarah NEWTON 29 F England
Fanny E NEWTON 9 F Newyork
Nathan NEWTON 8 M " [Newyork]
Amasa NEWTON 4 M " [Newyork]
Sarat NEWTON 2 F " [Newyork]
Charles NEWTON 6/12 M " [Newyork]

In 1860:

1860 Monroe Co., NY Census, the town of Pittsford, Page No. 45/225
27th Nov 1860 by Levi L. Fulton
P.O. North Chili NY
line 17, 1702/1781 William A. RAY 33 M Farmer 7000/6750 New York
Miranda 31 F " [New York]
Florence 2 F " [New York]
Betsey LAKE 54 F Vermont
Byron 28 M Farm Laborer " [New York]
Murray 24 M Teach Com. School " [New York]
/1782 Ann MILES 64 F Housekeeper " [New York]
Sarah NEWTON 12 F " [New York]
Nathan 17 M Farm Laborer " [New York]

Interestingly, next door to the Newtons in 1850 is the John S. Agate family, including his sister Ann Agate, who is the Ann Miles listed above who apparently has my Sarah and Nathan living with her.

My ancestor, Amasa, is in Indiana:

1860 St. Joseph Co., IN Census, Clay Tp., Page No. 55,
18 June 1860 by John Gallagher,
P.O. So. Bend,
line 13, 392/392 J FARRAN 30 M " [Farmer] /250 Mich,
Henry 32 "[M] " [Farmer] 1800/ Ohio,
WH SMITH 47 "[M] " [Ohio],
Catharine FARREN? 61 F Conn,
Amsey NEWTON 13 M NY.

These Farrens and Amasa are in Berrien Co., MI in 1870. The Farrens, in fact, were in Berrien Co., MI in 1850. No idea how he ends up with them. They were in Ohio, then Berrien Co., MI, then St. Joseph Co., IN and then back to Berrien Co., MI. Some of them end up in Iowa, as does Amasa, though not in the same area.

In 1870, there is no sign of Nathan Newton, but Ann Agate Miles's household looks like this:

Page No. 20
Pittsford, County of Monroe, State of New York
22 June 1870 by Daniel Kingsley
P.O. Pittsford NY
line 28, 175/175 MILES Ann 70 FW Farmer 5000/300 New York
WILDER William 23 MW Farm laborer New York
Sarah 21 FW Domestic serv't New York

Of course, I think that this Sarah is my Sarah, but I couldn't pin her down until browsing the cemeteries at the Monroe Co., NY genealogy site, where I found this:

Anah B. Yates from the Honeoye Falls Times 24 March 1921
Monroe Co., NY, East Street Cemetery
WILDER Sarah A. Newton, wife of W. W.; d May 29, 1871 æ 23.

I can't believe they put her maiden name. So, my guess was correct! But unfortunately, she died quite young.

But this reinforces my idea that Sarah and Ann Agate Miles were related: why would Sarah live with a stranger for that long? And in 1880 Ann has another relative, Miranda Lake Ray, her nephew's widow, and their children living with her. She seems to like taking people in.

So far there has been no trace of Nathan or Charles Newton (after the 1850 census record), and Fanny could easily be disguised by marriage.

I feel very lucky to have traced Sarah. I just hope I'm on the right track about their relationship with Ann Agate Miles.

And I've had no luck trying to trace backward from Alva Newton.

It's all very interesting

A Maiden Name Puzzler: Too Much Evidence

I started with this:

1870 Saline Co., MO Census, Saline County, MO
Grand Pass Township, Page No. 40, 26th Aug 1870 by G.W. Gilmore, P.O. Brownsville,
line 26, 291/306 EDWARDS M. 55 MW Farmer 4800/960 N Carolina,
M. 57 FW Keep House Tennessee,
H.R. 19 MW Farm work Missouri attended school,
R.B. 18 MW " " [Farm work] " [Missouri] attended school,
A.A. 16 MW " " [Farm work] " [Missouri] attended school,
L.M. 14 FW " [Missouri] attended school,
KESTERSON Wm 29 MW Farm Laborer " [Missouri],
line 33? 292/307 EDWARDS E.F. 35 MW Farmer 1000/493 " [Missouri],
M.M. 25 FW Keeps House " [Missouri],
G.A. 7 FW " [Missouri] attended school,
M.E. 2 FW " [Missouri]

I thought the "R.B." - who frustratingly appeared as "R.B" in the 1860 Johnson Co., MO Census as well - must be this fella:

Missouri Marriages, 1851-1900, ancestry.com, Name: Richard B. Edwards
Spouse: Matilda Jane Weddell
Marriage Date: 17 Jan 1878
Performed By: W. Purcell
Title: J. P.
Comment: Page 231
Marriage Records of Saline County, Missouri Volume IV Book D 1874-1881.

And the same guy here:

Grand Pass Township, S.D. 6, E.D. 59, Page No. 19/366A
tenth June 1880 by WL Purcell
line 11, 143/145 EDWARDS Richard B WM 28 M Laborer Mo N.C. Tenn
Angeline M WF 20 Wife M Keeping House Va Va Va

But the "Matilda Jane" and the "Angeline" didn't seem to match...

I did manage to find this:

Saline Co., MO Cemetery Records, ancestry.com, (Cemetery Records of Saline County, Missouri Volume II), Name: R. B. Edwards
Birth Date: 11 Dec 1851
Death Date: 07 Dec 1889
Cemetery: Grand Pass.

and in the same cemetery record this:

Name: Julina M. Edwards
Birth Date: 21 May 1860
Death Date: 02 Feb 1940
Cemetery: Grand Pass

And I wasn't having any luck finding "Matilda Jane Weddell" anywhere, so I tried to find this Julina M. [Edwards].

Found her in 1900:

State Missouri
County Saline
Grand Pass Township
s.d. 7, e.d. 127, Sheet No. 2B
4 June 1900 by John H. Hughes
line 62, 35/35 EDWARDS Julina Head WF May 1860 40 Wd 12/7 Virginia Virginia Virginia Owns Mortgaged Farm
Rosie P Daughter WF Oct 1886 13 S Missouri Missouri Virginia attended school 7 months
Myrtle? L Daughter WF Mar 1888 12 S Missouri Missouri Virginia attended school 9 months
Goldie A Daughter WF Mar 1890 10 S Missouri Missouri Virginia attended school 9 months
Addie C Daughter WF Feb 1892 8 S Missouri Missouri Virginia attended school 9 months
Gracie D Daughter WF Jan 1894 6 S Missouri Missouri Virginia attended school 9 months
James F Son WM Mar? 1896 4 S Missouri Missouri Virginia
Oscar T Son WM Dec 1897 2 S Missouri Missouri Virginia
EDWARDS Charles Brother WM Mar 1874 S Missouri Virginia Virginia R R Laborer unemployed 6 months

And why oh why couldn't they have gotten her brother's last name right?! It would have saved steps...but there still seemed to be a problem: Richard B. Edwards was dead by 1889.

But throwing in Julina b. Virginia brought up this:

Page No. 48
Jacksonville Township, County of Floyd, State of Virginia
6 July 1870 by BP Elliott
P.O. Floyd CH Va
line 32, 363/345 WEDDLE Elijah 33 MW Farmer 200/180 Va
Mary J 28 FW House Keeping "[Va]
Julina M 10 FW "[Va]
Almodoris 5 FW "[Va]
Leveretta 3 FW "[Va]
Fulks 1 MW "[Va]
DICKERSON Amanda C 16 FW Domestic "[Va]
[next door Andrew and Barbara Weddle]

and tracing Elijah brought up this:

www.familysearch.org, 1880 United States Census
Elijah WEDDELL Self M MW 43 VA Farmer VA VA
Mary J. WEDDELL Wife M FW 38 VA Keeping House VA VA
Amanda WEDDELL Dau S FW 15 VA No Occupation VA VA
Feagan WEDDELL Son S MW 9 MO At Home VA VA
Charles WEDDELL Son S MW 7 MO At Home VA VA
Lula W. WEDDELL Dau S FW 3 MO At Home VA VA
Source Information: Census Place: Grand Pass, Saline, Missouri, Family History Library Film: 1254716, NA Film Number: T9-0716, Page Number: 368D

Bingo, it had to be our girl.

Julina Matilda Weddle Edwards.

And I believe the tombstone record is mistaken. Richard B. Edwards would have died in 1899.

No longer blue about Blue

It's finally done! My transcription of Blue Twp., Jackson Co., MO 1850 Census, it's been proofread and is online.

For "Blue" you can read Kansas City/Westport and environs. Quite populated. Quite interesting.

It dragged on and on and on...it took me over a year. I got busy, and it was so long I couldn't get motivated. Once I got past the halfway mark it was much easier.

Probably the most interesting household in this township was the Tubee family:

1850 Jackson Co., MO Census
Blue Township
Page 290A

line 37, 833/833 Tubee Okah 39 M Physician Al'a
Tubee Lucele 32 F NY
Tubee Seraphine 13 F Mo
Tubee Celestine 12 F Mo
Tubee Mashola 1 M Mo

Who I thought Okah might be French (looking at his daughters' names, thinking perhaps it was a mis-heard 'Duby') but it turns out he was Choctaw (though you will notice no race is mentioned here).

I've finished Kaw, Washington and Blue, and have only three rather small townships left to go: Sni Bar, Van Buren and Ft. Osage.

Won't it feel good to be done!