#52 Ancestors: Surprise!

This week's #52Ancestors prompt encouraged us to delve into a surprise encounter in our genealogy research. I have had many surprises across the years I have been researching my family, some welcome and others not so much! I'm still reveling in one of the most recent discoveries.

Researching my maternal grandmother's ancestry was where I began my genealogy journey many years ago. One of the first dates I remember discovering on my very first trip to the Family History Library was a marriage date for my great-great-great grandparents, Abraham Greenwalt and Louisa Billig. Both natives of Pennsylvania, they met and married in Adams County, Illinois, on August 14, 1856.¹

From the federal census, I knew their oldest child was David Benton Greenwalt, born in adjacent Pike County, Illinois, in 1860, followed by my great-great-grandmother, Mary Rosalie Greenwalt in 1863. Abraham Greenwalt must have had a major case of wanderlust as the Greenwalt family moved from Illinois to Missouri to California, Oregon and finally Washington's Yakima Valley. Their next two children, Josiah Lincoln Green and Harriet "Hattie" Greenwalt were born in Andrews County, Missouri; son Walter was born near present-day Santa Clara, California, and daughter Zelma in Jackson County, Oregon.

For years I researched this family and its collateral lines. There are not any surviving bible records, but the timing of the Greenwalt children's births suggested there might have been other children who died young or other circumstances leading to gaps. I have always been fascinated by cemeteries and try to visit the final resting places of my ancestors as possible. Find a Grave has enabled me to do that virtually when the opportunity to visit in person has not yet presented itself.

In particular, I have enjoyed using the Find a Grave featuring allowing you to connect memorials and recreate families virtually for my ancestors. It's a great opportunity for me to work through my research and search for family members not buried near other family members. I was recently set about linking Abraham and Louisa's children to them when I was stunned to discover two children already linked to Abraham Greenwalt.

SURPRISE! 

It's a boy! It's a girl! 

WHAAAAT? My first thought someone had made a mistake, but as I looked further I was both excited and saddened to realize that their first two children had both died young.

In the 1860 federal census, Abraham and Louisa are childless.² It's not unheard of that a couple could be married four years and not have any children, but I guessed there had possibly been a miscarriage, or two. David wouldn't arrive until after the census has been enumerated in December of 1860. Now armed with more concrete evidence that a son and a daughter had both been born to the couple before 1860 I set about trying to learn more. According to his headstone, Stephen D. Greenwalt died on September 22, 1858, at the age of 1 year, 2 months and 16 days.³ Using a genealogy date calculator a birthdate of July 6, 1857, is likely.

Daughter Susan's headstone has been badly damaged over the years, but her death date of January 6, 1860, is still readable.⁴ With that date in mind, I turned my attention back to the 1860 census, this time to the mortality schedule. There was little "Susannah" listed as having died of "inflammation on lungs" at the age of two months in January of 1860, which she had been suffering from for seven days.⁵ I always advise people to take advantage of any surviving mortality schedules, but this time I failed to heed my own advice!

So, the moral of this story is to check the cemeteries in the community where your ancestors lived for not only the people you know of but also leave yourself open-minded enough for ancestral SURPRISES, as well!

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References

1. "Illinois, County Marriages, 1810-1940," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939Z-YTX7-K?cc=1803970&wc=326D-YWL%3A146384001 : 3 March 2016), 1870158 (004539871) > image 246 of 735; county offices, Illinois.
2. Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 04 February 2019), memorial page for Stephen D. Greenawalt (6 Jul 1857–22 Sep 1858), Find A Grave Memorial no. 46273259, citing Akers Chapel Cemetery, Hull, Pike County, Illinois, USA.
3. Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 9 February 2019), memorial page for Susan L. Greenawalt (Nov 1859–7 Jan 1860), Find A Grave Memorial no. 46273260, citing Akers Chapel Cemetery, Hull, Pike County, Illinois, USA.
4. "United States Census, 1860", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MXC7-5ND : 13 December 2017), Abram Greenwalt in entry for Henry Wedington, 1860.
5. "Illinois Mortality Schedules, 1850-1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QL91-D4WS : 16 March 2018), Susanah Grendott, death Jan 1860, Illinois, United States; citing Pub. T1133 Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Illinois, 1850-1880., Film 59, NARA microfilm publications T1133 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).; FamilySearch digital folder 007283673.