Listers,
Could anyone offer some advice on how to proceed with research on an
ancestor of mine who was in Genesee County in the early 1800s?
Ultimately, I am trying to determine my gr3grandfather Ira MUNSELL's
township of birth in Vermont and his parents.
I am working backwards from known life events in Southern Illinois. (There
is a lot of info on Ira MUNSELL after he moved to Hamilton County Illinois
in 1830 through his death there in 1857, as he had 14 children and was a
land-owner and well-known member of the community).
Here's what I have on Ira MUNSELL's early life:
1790 Vermont DOB (township and parents unknown; this date & place is
known from census info and tombstone)
1820 Genesee County NY census, Middlesbury (sic) township
Name of Head of Family: Ira MUNSELL
Males Under 10: 1 *this child was born somewhere in NY*
Males of 16 and under 26: 1 *could be son or UNK brother of Ira*
Males of 26 and under 45: 1
Females of 26 and under 45: 1
People in Agriculture: 2
1830 and later bought land in Hamilton County IL
Can anyone help me know how the 1820 NY census information can help me
discover where he might have come from before that date and how he might
have come to that place in western NY? How would he have had the money to
buy land (there is no evidence of military service that might have
resulted in a land grant).
I just don't know what to look for in order to continue my research. I
have done extensive research online and at the local LDS FHC on known
Munsells from Vermont, Connecticut and New York, and none seems
to have a son born in VT in 1790 named Ira. I am hoping some information
through this Middlebury, Genesee County, NY reference might prove useful.
Ira's death information does not provide any additional info.
I would happily take a trip to NY from Indiana to look in the courthouse
or at the Middlebury NY town clerk or historian's office if I had any clue
whatsoever of what to look for, but would hate to go without a plan of
what to investigate. (BTW, if I had even one clue as to the place in NY of
the birth of the young son mentioned in the census above, I could
investigate there, but have no idea where this birth took place, except
that Ira's oldest sons report they were born in NY.)
Thanks in advance for any help you all might provide.
Cordah Robinson