Chapter 3: Remember Ann and Mildred Sears?

Did you look all the way to the bottom of the table at the end of last week's post ("No Marriage License was Required," 24 April 2015)?  Did you wonder about Ann B. and Mildred Sears? They will become critical evidence for placing James C. Fawkner in a birth family.

As you may recall, the James and Julia Falkner/Faulkner family was enumerated in Boone County, Missouri, in 1870, and in Coles County, Illinois, in 1880. Family lore rumored James to have been an Illinois volunteer in the Civil War. Censuses pointed to a birth about 1829 in Kentucky. Where was he for the 30 years before he married in 1862?

Boone County searches for him in the 1860 U.S. Census failed. By now, his surname had appeared  three different ways. A James Fawkner/Falkner/Falker would be difficult to find elsewhere without some clue to his location. A Soundex search for a James Faulkner born about 1829 in Kentucky yielded three hits.  One, in Pettis County, Missouri, could be easily dismissed because this James Faulkner family appeared intact in Saline County, Missouri, in 1870. A second seemed unlikely, but could not be immediately dismissed. In Saline County, Missouri, was James Faulkner, 32, and a possible wife, Malinda, 22. Plausibly, if the couple separated or Malinda died, this could be the James who married Julia Ann in Boone County in 1862 or 1863. This couple was not found in 1870, so necessarily remained a candidate. Another James Faulkner, 31, appeared as a farmhand in the John Hand household in Pendleton County, Kentucky. Possibly our man, but he might have been the 21 year-old James Faulkner in the Daves household in Henderson County, Kentucky, in 1850.

I now extended the search to 1850. A 50-state index search produced a James C. Faulkner, age 31 and born in Kentucky, living in Hendricks County, Indiana. His age, birthplace, and middle initial were spot-on. The best clue, however, came from the family living next door. In the William Sears household was a possible step-son, Cyrus Faulkner, age 13. Apparent siblings John and George were also at home. William Sears apparent wife (the 1850 census did not report family relationships) was Ann B. Sears, 42. If next-door neighbor James C. Faulkner was our man, it appeared he had named his son after a possible brother Cyrus.

This brings us back to Ann and Mildred Sears who were present in the "Falker" family in Missouri in 1870. The 1860 Hendricks County census listed Ann B. Sears (head of household) and an apparent daughter, Mildred E, 10. Although the relationships were not yet completely clear, it was obvious that the 1850 Indiana James Faulkner was the James Falkner in Missouri in 1870. Ann and Mildred were visiting, likely in anticipation of Elizabeth Ann Fawkner's 25 July birth.

Two new questions now arose:

• Who were the parents of James C. Fawkner?
• What was the relationship between James C. Fawkner and George, Cyrus and John next door?

The answers to these questions will emerge as we go along. Once they are answered, we will be able to follow the Fawkner family along many paths, some touching, some tragic, and some just plain interesting.

LESSON: Pay attention to every person in a census household, as well as immediate neighbors.

chapter 2: No Marriage License was Required

The funeral memorial booklet for Elizabeth Ann (Fawkner) Ehlenbach stated that her parents, James Coleman Fawkner and Julia Ann Angell, were married 10 November 1862 near Sturgeon, Missouri. A marriage license or registration might confirm the date and possibly identify their parents, but none was found.

Still, a little census sleuthing reveals the likely parents of Julia Ann. She would be expected to be found with her birth family somewhere near Sturgeon in the 1860 U.S. Census. She was 38 in 1880 and 28 in 1870, so we are looking for a Julia Angell about 18 years-old in 1860. In 1860, a Julia A. Angell, 18, and a possible father, Robert Angell, 62, were enumerated in the household of John and Tabitha Dunbar in Rocky Fork Township of Boone County. Working back 10 years, Tabitha, 14, and Julia A., 8, were apparent daughters of Robert Angell, 51, and his apparent wife, Martha, 47, in Boone County District 8.  This evidence suggests that Julia Ann Angell was the daughter of Robert and Martha Angell. Martha died in November 1857 and was buried at the Mt. Zion Cemetery in Hallsville (see photo at left).

 The funeral booklet also stated that James Fawkner served as a volunteer from Illinois in the Union Army. This will turn out to be only partly true.  While not discovered until much later in the research process, a Civil War pension file for James C. Fawkner provided the only documentation of the Fawkner-Angell marriage. In an affidavit dated 12 October 1891, George W. Angell stated that "James C. Fawkner & Julia A. Angell...were married at his house in Randolph County [Missouri] some time in the fall of 1862 or 1863, the chaplain of Merell's [Merrill's] horse officiating." Merrill's Horse was the 2nd Missouri Cavalry. Angell went on to say that he was Julia's brother, and explained that, at the time of the marriage nearly 30 years earlier, Missouri law did not require a marriage license and and officiating clergy were not required to file a marriage return. This is true; licenses were not required before 1881. Some marriage returns were recorded in Boone and Randolph counties in the 1850s and 1860s, but that of James and Julia was not -- perhaps because of unsettled war times

Boone and Randolph counties are the heart of an area once known as Little Dixie, settled by families from the hemp and tobacco growing areas of Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Slavery was relatively common in Little Dixie. Family lore states that Angell family loyalties were divided between the Union and Confederacy. The fact that a Union chaplain officiated at the marriage of James and Julia Ann in George Angell's home suggests that this part of the family leaned toward the North.

Finding the Fawkner family in Illinois (see 24 April 2015 post) was just a matter of following some rather large bread-crumbs. Locating the family in Missouri in 1870 was also not hard, but was a good example of a basic research strategy: matching individuals and families across censuses. Julia has been identified as the daughter of Robert Angell, but nothing is known yet about James C. Fawkner's background, except that he was born in Kentucky about 1829. In the next post, I will explain how James was found in the 1850 census.

LESSON: Match up households across censuses. Note birth dates and places as clues to migration.

Angell and Fawkner Census Enumerations
1850 District 8 Boone County, MO Angell household	1860 Rocky Fork Township Boone County, MO Dunbar household	1870 Township 51 Boone County, MO Falker household	1880 North Okaw Township Coles County, IL Falkner household
	John W. Dunbar, 21, b. MO
Robert Angell, 51, b. KY	Robert Angell, 62, b. KY
Martha, 47, b. KY
Martha J. L., 23, b. KY
Mary E., 21, b. MO
Catherine, 19, b. MO
James M., 17, b. MO
Tabitha C., 14, b. MO	Tabitha C. Dunbar, 23. b. MO
Robert, 11, b. MO
		James C. Falker, 41, b. KY	James Falkner, 51, b. KY
Julia A., 8, b. MO	Julia A. Angell, 18, b. MO	Julia, 28, b. MO	Julia, 38, b. MO
Henry G., 6, b. MO	Henry G., 17, b. MO
Joseph E., 4, b. MO	Joseph, 14, b. MO
		Robert G., 7, b. MO	Grant, 16, b. MO
		Julia K., 3, b. MO	Julia K., 13, b. MO
		Cyrus G., 1, b. MO	Cyrus, 1, b. MO
			Elizabeth, 9, b. IL
			Mattie, 6, b. IL
			Attie, 6, b. IL
			Henry, 3, b. IL
		Ann B. Sears, 62, b. VA
		Mildred Sears, 20, b. IN

Chapter 1: The Girl at the Top of the Stairway

A single cardstock photo and a cryptic set of family history notes launched a family history adventure several years ago. Jim Fawkner, with a bayoneted rifle, stovepipe hat, and G.A.R. ceremonial uniform faced the photographer sometime about 1870. The notes named James Coleman Fawkner and Julia Ann Angell, describing Julia as a southern girl standing at the top of a stairway. James apparently saw her standing there and declared, "I'll be back to marry you."

He kept his promise. This and several blog posts to follow will, in fits and starts, tell the story of the Fawkner family. Family history is rarely as linear as a time-line might suggest. Instead, the path of discovery zigs and zags, and the evidence does not arrive in chronological order.

In this case, there at least was a simple starting point. Elizabeth Ann Ehlenbach died 3 February 1952 in Superior, Wisconsin. Her obituary said she was born in Missouri and came to Duluth, Minnesota, in 1893. Her death certificate named her parents: James and Julia Ann Fawkner. A third document filled in some of the blanks. A handwritten funeral memorial booklet stated "Mrs. Ehlenbach was born in Sturgeon, Mo., July 25, 1870. Her father James Coleman Fawkner, and mother Julia Ann Angell, both born in the U.S., were married near Sturgeon, Mo., Nov. 10, 1862. Her father, a Volunteer from Illinois, served four years in the Union army.

The memorial booklet placed the family in Arcola, Illinois, prior to the move to Duluth. The first order of business was to find the family there. The Fawkner name is not common, but many variants of the name, including Faulkner and Faulconer, are. The 1880 U.S. Census enumerated the family of James and Julia "Falkner" in Coles County, Illinois, just a few miles across the county line from Arcola, which lies near the southern border of Douglas County. The family consisted of:

- James Falkner, 51, born Kentucky,
- Julia, 38, born Missouri,
- Grant, 16, born Missouri,
- Cyrus, 10, born Missouri,
- Elizabeth, 9, born Missouri,
- Mattie, 6, born Illinois,
- Attie, 6, born Illinois, and
- Henry, 3, born Illinois.

The family had apparently moved to Illinois between about 1871 and 1874.  Finding the family in Missouri was not quite as easy because Soundex searches for Fawkner (F236) or Faulkner/Faulconer (F425) do not turn up the family. Instead, a page-by-page search found the family of James C. and Julia A. "Falker" in Township 51 North of Boone County; the post office was at Sturgeon.

I was a beginner at the time, so I was quite pleased with my census sleuthing. I had no clue toward finding James Fawkner ("Falkner?") prior to 1870, so the next step required a little luck. The next installment of this blog will take James Fawkner back to 1850 -- although his whereabouts in 1860 will remain unknown through several more installments.

LESSON:  Start with a certainly known ancestor. Work back a generation at a time.

A New Blog Beginning

I just returned from the 54th Annual Ohio Genealogical Society Conference in Columbus all fired up to tackle new projects.  That is what spending a few days with family history enthusiasts can do. One of those "new" projects is  is actually an old project that has lain dormant for a couple of years. That would be this blog.

On my flight home, I ruminated (sounds like something a cow would do) about blogging topics. I realized that I have more stories to share than you would ever want to sit through at the same time. But, you might be able to tolerate one per week.  So, this is my plan: I will blog the first four Fridays of each month; on Fifth Friday, I will rest (probably).

That means 48 postings per year.  I already have a list of topics that should get us through the first year. The hard part will be disciplining myself to stay on schedule. I have in mind fairly short posts -- perhaps only three or four paragraphs -- just long enough to share a research or family history story that might enlighten, or even entertain.

Most of my posts will draw from my research into some 200 years of the Fawkner family of Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Minnesota, and points west. Many people have thought that, perhaps, Fawkner is an odd variant of Fonkert. Not true. The Fawkner characters come from my wife's family tree.  I have a drawer-full of sometimes amazing, other times amusing, and sometimes sad, stories about the Fawkners.  I am inclined to categorize these posts under "Fawkner Follies," although that is perhaps a tad irreverent for a family that suffered many tragedies.

There are just too many good research and human interest stories hanging from the Fawkner tree to put too much time between Fawkner posts, but I will from time to time intersperse other subjects so that neither readers nor author suffer Fawkner Fatigue.

I also will draw from three smaller drawers of material, including.

• Methods for Our Madness -- research vignettes featuring matching and separating identities and, corroborating evidence, and correlating evidence to draw a  conclusion.
• Geo-Genealogy -- birds-eye looks at the spatial dimension of family history, including interesting maps and tips on how to make sense of your family's migrations.
• Potpourri -- Odds and ends, including some favorite Tidball Tidbits, Morstad Moments, and Fonkert Features.

I realize that some of the best genealogy blogs provide source citations meeting the highest standards. I do not intend these blog posts as research reports, and readers should not treat them as such. I will generally identify sources in the narratives, only using footnotes in critical moments. Parts of many of the stories I will share in this blog have been published in articles genealogy magazines and journals. When that is the case, I will point readers to the appropriate publication should they want to read more.

Am I ready?  Am I set?  Dare I say "go?"  Be watching for my first installment in a few days.