This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Surnames: Canby
Classification: Query
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/EYH.2ACIB/16.1
Message Board Post:
John, I think your post [copied below] makes a lot of sense. I was curious as to who
Frances Canby was and your conclusion would certainly be a possibility. I didn't find
the 1880 Marion County Missouri census on Heritage Quest - guess they don't have a
complete listing or something - or perhaps the name 'Waters' looked like some
other name. My Susanna was born between 1842-1849 depending which record you are looking
at. Will include the following article:
Who Were the Parents of Susanna Canby?
Susanna CANBY was born circa 1842 in Missouri [supposedly Wright county]. She is found as
an eight-year-old, on the 1850 Pulaski County, Missouri census in the home of William and
Nancy MALONE. In 1860, we find Susanna enumerated in the home of John and Nancy ELLIOT,
in Belton, Bell County, Texas as an eighteen-year-old. In 1862, Susanna married John White
SMART in Burnet, Burnet County, Texas. John White SMART and Susanna CANBY SMART are my
great-grandparents.
A newspaper article about the marriage states that Susanna’s father was Dr. _____ CANBY
and her uncle was Brigadier General Edward Richard Sprigg CANBY.
Another CANBY researcher told me that Susanna was the daughter of Charles Gustavis
Claggette CANBY. This does not fit with the facts that I have. Charles CANBY was born 19
March 1823. He married Susan BRECKENRIDGE 25 October 1850, at the First Presbyterian
Church in Augusta, Hancock County, Georgia. There is no other record of a previous
marriage for Charles, which might have produced Susanna. Since Charles and Susan were
married years after Susanna was born, I think the report that he is her father is faulty.
Now, the mystery I am working on. Israel T. Canby [born ca. 1784] and Elizabeth PIATT
[born ca. 1784] were married in Boone County, KY on 12 Jan 1817.
Israel was said to have been a doctor and in the mercantile business. Israel and Elizabeth
were the parents of Charles Gustavis Claggette CANBY and Edward Richard Sprigg CANBY.
Elizabeth died 4 May 1840 in Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, Indiana.
Israel remarried Ann CARTER on 29 January 1841, in Crawfordsville, Montgomery County,
Indiana. Ann was much younger than Israel, being born ca. 1802. My thinking is that she
and Israel would more than likely have had a child rather soon. Since Susanna was born in
1842 [if the census age is correct] it follows that she could have been a daughter of
Israel and Ann CARTER CANBY and a half sister to Charles and Edward. Israel CANBY died 14
April 1846 and Ann CARTER CANBY died 7 December 1850, making Susanna an orphan, thus
finding Susanna in the home of the MALONEs on the 1850 census.
None of the other CANBY researchers mention anything about Israel and Ann having children,
but then their line doesn’t continue on through Susanna – only mine- so there may have
been no interest for them in pursuing that line.
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I have been researching Israel T Canby's (b. 1779) family. In the 1850 Boone County,
Kentucky, there is a Frances Canby, born about 1849, listed in the Charles Canby
household. Charles was the brother of General Edward Canby. There is no relationship
listed of Frances Canby to any of the members of the family. I have seen is supposed that
Frances Canby was Israel Canby's daughter.
However, in the 1880 Marion County, Missouri census there is a Fannie Waters listed is
listed as Mary P (Canby) Waters' daughter. She is listed as 31 years old. I believe
that Frances Canby is Mary P Canby's illegitimate daughter. I believe that Mary P
later married a Mr. Finley and Frances (Fannie) took his last name.
Anyone care to comment on these conclusions?
Sidney Swinney Polley