Hi -
I can understand your frustration completely - I have a similar situation -
no parents names, and until recently, no siblings names.
My John Cobb was born 1814 in KY, lived in Madison, Jefferson County, IND,
moved a lot, then to Muscatine County, IA, then Quincy, Adams County, ILL
where he married twice and took his young family across the prairie in 1850
for California. His biography is written in the 1881 Lake County
(California) History book. Nowhere does the biography (on the Jefferson
County webpage) does it mention names.
It has taken persistence (read YEARS) and lots of emailing people with
similar names in KY, IND, IA and ILL until I found a descendant of Mary Cobb
Lathrop (married to Isaac Lathrop) who happens to be one of John's sisters.
Then I found Hester Cobb Marble who married William Perrry in 1835 and as he
must have died, she married John Marble in 1837 in Jefferson County, IND.
They moved to Oregon in 1845, to California prior to 1860 where they are in
Lake County, CA in that census. I have yet to locate the brother -- OR the
parents names. Nowhere are the parents names recorded which I also find
highly incredible!
I have found that placing your family on all the mail lists, county web
pages, writing and answering every piece of information that even remotely
looks like a possibility will eventually strike gold. I have John's sisters
names and their descendant families - I and other descendants are continuing
to research the web, the archives and whereever we can to find the names of
the Cobb parents and the unknown brother.
Unfortunately, many of us were not lucky enough to be handed down a
concisely written family history will all our information neatly presented
to us - I certainly did not have that luxury.
KEEP LOOKING, DON'T DISPARE, YOU WILL FIND YOUR PEOPLE ONE DAY! That is
what I have to remember every time I go looking for my Cobb family.
Margie Hinton, gr gr granddaughter of John Cobb.
----- Original Message -----
From: <Bitbybug(a)aol.com>
To: <INJEFFER-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Friday, September 19, 2003 6:42 AM
Subject: [INJEFFER] Captain John ARMSTRONG and Axia CARSON
Recently, I made a trip to Madison, IND (Jefferson Co. IND) looking for the
names of the mother and father of Capt. John ARMSTRONG.
I found a county history written in 1889, three newspaper articles, and
obituaries for him and his wife. None of them listed his parents.
How can it be that nobody knew the names of the parents of this rich and
famous man who lived as late as 1880 and who had numerous descendants?
Here's the pertinent genealogical info:
He was born ca. 1786-1790 in Havre de Grace Maryland (Harford Co. MD). His
father died when he was young. His mother moved to Montgomery Co. KY. She
remarried to a man named CARSON (it is not known if she remarried before or
after
she moved to KY). John had a half sister named Axia CARSON. His mother
died
ca. 1806. His guardian bound him out to a cabinetmaker (another story says
it was a farmer), but John ran away, living with a Mrs. SCOTT, and working
for
MOORE and MARSHALL families in Hamilton Co. OH. He worked on the Ohio River,
eventually owning several steamboats. He bought a farm in Jefferson Co. IND
ca. 1834, and retired there ca 1846 near Brooksburg, about 9 miles upriver
from
Madison, IND.
His was married 1826 to Sarah MARSHALL, daughter of Thomas MARSHALL and
Nancy
POSY. They had seven children: James, John, Thomas, George, Eliza Ann,
Henrietta and Charles. His first wife, Sarah, died in 1836. In 1838 he
married her
sister, Harriet MARSHALL and had ten more children: Alfred, Sarah,
Margaret,
Orin, Frank, Florence, Nancy, Ida, Florida and Harriet, At least one of
these
children was born in Hamilton Co. OH (Thomas was born in Cincinnati,
Hamilton Co. OH in 1826 or 1827.) Some of the ARMSTRONG children moved to
Memphis,
TN.
I realize John's father died when John was a child, and his mother died when
he was a teenager, but he must have known their names! There should be many
of
his descendants living in the Jefferson Co. IND area. Does anybody know his
parents' names?
Also, a Dr. M. BROOKS interviewed Captain ARMSTRONG and wrote a story about
him that was published in the Madison Courier 07 FEB 1877. Perhaps a
descendant of Dr. BROOKS still has his ancestor's notes about John
ARMSTRONG?
I am interested in this line because of the CARSON connection. What was the
name of CARSON man who was John's stepfather? Could half sister Axia
CARSON's
name have been Achsah CARSON? What happened to her?