New Wild Goose Chase Part II

A Mysterious Birth and a Mysterious Death
The aforementioned foray into logic is the tool that will be used in what may ultimately prove a wild goose chase.  Its value, however, lies in the fact that such arguments eliminate possibilities and whittle the field of possible answers down to more manageable quantities.  Whittling possibilities down is important in situations such as these, when the possible places of an ancestor's birth (or death) encompass an entire country or, perhaps, the much larger geographic areas of several countries and even continents.

Such problems, when confronted by amateur genealogists, are unfortunate indeed when we are confronted with the necessity of "saturation research."  Unfortunately, saturation research (and prosopography) is what we are faced with if we have only an inkling of what state an ancestor was born in and we have no death data to point us in the right direction.  More information is needed before tackling such an impossibly enormous project, a project that would likely take several lifetimes to complete and may lead in the end to having no more answers than when we started the research.

The most troubling aspect in the case of Wilson Parker Sr. is that he last shows up in the 1849 Minnesota State Census living next door to W.C.D. Harrington, his son-in-law.  He is nowhere to be found in the 1850 U.S. Federal Census.  Do we then assume he died?

No.  If he were dead, we might be able to find probate or other death records that would help us in our search, but there are none in the case of Wilson Parker Sr.  So we cannot assume he died in Minnesota before the 1850 census was taken.  We would need further proof.

There is another problem with assuming Wilson Parker Sr. died before the census date in 1850:  the state of Iowa took censuses in 1852 and 1854.  We know that a couple of W.C.D.'s and Mary Ann Belle's children were born in Iowa.  In fact, in 1852, the Harringtons are found in the Iowa Census living in Clinton County.  Then, in 1854, Wilson Parker shows up living next door to John Terrell.  However, it is unknown if this "Wilson Parker" is Wilson Jesse Parker, son of Wilson Parker Sr. and brother-in-law of John Terrell or Wilson Parker Sr. himself.  Perhaps it is a third "Wilson Parker" altogether and merely a coincidence.  In any case, the net result is that we do not know when or where the elder Wilson Parker died.  So we cannot yet look for headstones and cemetery information, which might tell us where Wilson Parker Sr. was born and when.  Furthermore, there may be no record of his death and burial if he was laid to rest on his own land.  Not everyone was buried in an official cemetery and, depending upon the circumstances of his death, Wilson Parker Sr. may not have been laid to rest at all.  What if our ancestor went out hunting one day, got lost in the woods, was mauled to death by a bear and his body never found?  He would have "gone missing" and may have, eventually, been "presumed dead."

Basically, in the case of Wilson Parker Sr., we know neither where he was born nor where he died and that is the crux of the matter.  Nor does Wilson Parker Sr. show up in any census following the 1854 Iowa Census.  Nor is there a valid reason to assume he died in Iowa.  The Wilson Parker enumerated in the 1854 census may have been Wilson Parker Sr.'s son or a third, unrelated, man.  The Harringtons were in 1850 enumerated in Washington County, Minnesota living near the same neighbors as in the 1849 state census - the only neighbor missing is Wilson Parker.  We know the Wilson Parker that had been living in Minnesota in 1849 is not Wilson Jesse Parker because census data show Wilson Jesse Parker to be living in Hancock County in the state of Illinois with brothers-in-law John, Josiah and William Terrell.  In 1849, Wilson Jesse Parker married Rebecca Terrell in Hancock County, Illinois, placing Wilson Jesse in Illinois in 1849 and 1850.

Of course, it is possible that Wilson Jesse Parker married Rebecca Terrell in 1849 in Hancock, Illinois, then moved to Washington County, Minnesota in the same year and then returned to Hancock, Illinois in time to be enumerated in the 1850 U.S. census.  It is also possible that Rebecca (Terrell) Parker managed to give birth to their daughter, Mary Ann Parker, in Illinois in 1854 and the family later in that same year moved to Lee County, Iowa in time to be enumerated in the 1854 Iowa Census (there are two males and two females and one man of voting age and one male in or a veteran of the military) and then return to Hancock, Illinois just in the nick of time to be enumerated yet again in the 1855 Illinois State Census.  Then, in 1856, son, David Parker, is born in Hancock County, Illinois.  By 1858, Wilson Jesse Parker had died in Hancock County, Illinois.  If the Wilson Parker enumerated in Minnesota and Iowa are both Wilson Jesse Parker, Wilson Jesse Parker certainly had a strange penchant for moving around the country and returning to live in Hancock, Illinois every year!

On the other hand, Wilson Parker Sr. was a veteran of the Black Hawk War, having served in McHenry's Brigade of Spies, an argument in favor of his having moved to Iowa.  There were two females and one male in the Wilson Parker household in 1849, an argument in favor of Wilson Parker Sr., since Wilson Jesse Parker had just married Rebecca Terrell and had no children at that point.  Suppose the two females in the 1849 household were not children, but related to each other in some other way?

The simple explanation is oftentimes the correct explanation.  In our case, the simple explanation is Wilson Jesse Parker never left Hancock, Illinois and the Wilson Parker enumerated in the 1849 and 1854 censuses in Wilson Parker Sr. or another man or men entirely.  What does this mean for our brick wall?  What this means is that Wilson Parker Sr. either died in Illinois or died in Minnesota or died in Iowa or died in an unknown territory we have yet to discover.  A much simpler explanation would be that Wilson Parker Sr. never left the state of Illinois and died either in White or Madison counties.

Two Brick Walls or the Forgotten Post

Image via Wikipedia

I read a post by another blogger recently, who was frustrated by the lack of sources quoted by others posting family trees online and was reminded of my two brick walls, Patience Watson and Wilson Parker. When I first joined Ancestry and found them listed as the parents of Mary Ann Belle Parker, in others’ family trees, I wondered how these people knew this. There were no records posted proving the relationship. I remember thinking the difficulty in researching this particular couple might lie in the possibility that these were not, in truth, the parents of Mary Ann Belle Parker. Or, perhaps, the names and birth dates were a little off?

Fast forward a few months. I made a connection on Ancestry with one of the descendants of Wilson Jesse Parker, Mary Ann Belle’s brother. My new connection sent a lot of information my way, including the death certificate of Mary Ann Belle Parker. Hers was the first death certificate I had ever seen. Listed on that death certificate were the names of her parents -- Wilson Parker and Patience Watson. So now there was a source document for Mary Ann Belle’s parents. However, the problems with Mary Ann Belle’s parents do not end here. Birth years for Wilson Parker and Patience Watson are listed in these trees as 1792 and 1796 respectively. Where did this information come from? I have yet to find a source. In fact, lacking actual dates for their births, it is my opinion these birth years are estimates at best and wild guesses at worst.

Not being one to give up, I recently went over my research on Wilson Parker. I have since listed his birth place as Pennsylvania. My source is the 1880 U.S. Federal Census, not for Wilson Parker himself, but for his daughter, Mary Ann Belle, whose father is listed as having been born in Pennsylvania. The problem is, this is a secondary source and may be inaccurate. I myself take it with a grain of salt and recommend others do as well. Pennsylvania makes an excellent starting point for research, but if and only if Wilson Parker was actually born in Pennsylvania. The problem is not knowing which area of Pennsylvania to look in for evidence. Further aggravating the problem is the lack of knowledge regarding which religion Wilson Parker was born into. (Which church records do we search? All of them!? I don’t think so! None of us live long enough to do that, and I would prefer a more efficient method.) Better would be to search probate records. I would love to find Wilson Parker’s “death records.” However, I do not know when or where he died, so I do not know which state to begin in. The last census I have been able to find Wilson Parker in is the 1849 Minnesota Territory Census. He is living next door to son-in-law, W.C.D. Harrington, in Marine Mills, Washington County, Minnesota. In the 1850 U.S. Federal Census, W.C.D. Harrington and family are still living in Marine Mills, but Wilson Parker is gone. Nor have I been able to find Wilson Parker in any other part of the 1850 U.S. Federal Census... or any subsequent U.S. Federal Census for that matter. Yes, there are other Wilson Parkers in these censuses, but further research proves they are not my Wilson Parker - they are all different individuals with the same name. At least one was even born the same year as Mary Ann Belle’s father, but if you look at earlier censuses, that same man is listed in the federal census in the Carolinas in years when he would have been in Illinois or Minnesota if he were the right Wilson Parker. He was also married to a woman named Margaret. The Wilson Parker I am looking for was married to Patience Watson and, later, possibly, Sarah Nesler. No Margaret there. I believe Carolinas Wilson Parker can be eliminated as a possibility.

There is a Wilson Parker that shows up in the 1854 Iowa State Census living next door to Wilson Jesse Parker’s brother-in-law, John Terrell. The problem is, the Wilson Parker listed is more likely to be Wilson Jesse Parker himself rather than Wilson Parker Sr. Why? The town and county of Iowa “Wilson Parker” is enumerated in border the town in Hancock Illinois, where Wilson Jesse Parker is enumerated in in the 1850 census and to which he subsequently returned and died. Both of Wilson Jesse Parker’s children were born in Illinois. In fact, Wilson Jesse Parker is listed in the 1855 Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois Census. There are three people in the household - himself, a female child under 10 years of age, and a female between 20 and 30 years of age. Wilson Parker himself is listed as being between 20 and 30 years of age. So this is Wilson Parker Jr. Furthermore, LDS records list Wilson Parker marrying Rebecca Terrell on 29 March 1849 in Hancock County, Illinois -- Hancock County Marriage Register, License number 1396.

In truth, Wilson Parker Sr. only shows up in two censuses -- the 1830 U.S. Federal Census and the 1849 Minnesota Territorial Census. We know he was living in White County, Illinois in 1820 because this is the year he married Patience Watson -- source, marriage record. He may also be the Wilson Parker listed as being from Carmi, White, Illinois in McHenry’s Company of Spies in the Black Hawk War, 1832. By 1841, a Wilson Parker had married Sarah Nesler in White County, Illinois. Which Wilson was it? This particular marriage record has been sworn to secrecy.

Related articles by Zemanta

• How Will the 2010 Census Affect the Economy? (businesspundit.com)