I have been trying to discover the parents of my gg grandmother since 1999.
Her name is Margaret Isabelle Ferris, born June 6, 1840 (or 1842) in
Indiana. Her obituary and tombstone say 1840, but her death record says
1842.
She married Isaac Roush on March 21, 1858 in Sandusky County, Ohio. I have
done a lot of research on these two including going to Sandusky County, Ohio
(where they married and lived for a while), and Lake County Michigan where
she died Dec. 20, 1909.
I have not found any clues anywhere about her parents or where she was born
in Indiana - until now. She and Isaac had separated and he had moved to
Linn County, Oregon where he homesteaded. After he died on July 18, 1898,
she pursued the homestead claim. I recently found the information about the
homestead and requested the records from the National Archives. I received
them yesterday.
There were no hints as to the names of her parents, but in the application
she said she was born in LaGrange County, Indiana. My only chance of
finding her with her parents is the 1850 census. (By 1860, she is married
and should be listed with her husband - although I have never found the 1860
census for them). So after I got this information, I searched the 1850
census for "Ferris" in specifically "La Grange County, Indiana". The
only
one that came up was in Milford, LaGrange, Indiana: David Phares (age 35),
Mary Phares (age 31), Sarah Phares (age 13), Benjamin Phares (age 11),
MARGARET PHARES (AGE 10), James Phares (age 7), Worden Phares (age 3) and
Rhoda Phares (age 0).
This Margaret Phares is the right age to be my gg grandmother and she is in
the county where she stated that she was born. It seems to be a good fit.
I have continued to look for this family on the internet and it appears that
it might be David Farris and Mary Wallin.
It appears that David Farris died in 1855 and Mary Farris remarried to James
Falkner/Faulkner. I found James and Mary on the 1860 census. All of the
children listed with them have the surname of Falkner, but the first names
match the names of the "Phares" children (from the 1850 census). So they
are probably the children of Mary and David. But I have a slight problem
with this: Margaret Falkner, age 20 is listed with them. If I have the
right family, then Margaret should not be listed with them. She should be
with her husband, Isaac Roush - although I have never been able to find them
on the 1860 census. - So maybe she was home for some reason, and they just
listed them all as Falkner. - Certainly not impossible, but it has me
wondering.
Does anyone know anything about this particular family?
Thank you so much for looking at this.
Elaine Johnson
Bossier City, LA