Revision as of 12:59, 28 March 2012

Immediate family in my direct ancestry

 Generation 6       Generation 7            Generation 8

                                     +-- (unknown)
                                     |   (????-????)
                 +-- Samuel Church --+
                 |   (1766-1844)     |
Erastus Church --+                   +-- (unknown)
(1808-1877)      |                       (????-????)
                 +-- Elizabeth Stickny
                     (~1770-1860)

Sources: ^{[2] [3] [4] [5]}

Children

(children with Elizabeth Stickny)

Places of Residence

Sources

Ref. Num.	Description	Image of original
1	1840 United States Federal Census, Centre Twp., Hancock Co., Indiana, page 5. Census is not dated. entry #18 from top: Family headed by Samuel Church: 3 males <5, 1 male 5-10, 2 males 30-40, 1 male 70-80, 1 female 5-10, 2 females 20-30, 1 female 70-80. Samuel is 74 and Elizabeth 70 in 1840. This is Samuel Church living with his wife and two families of his children and grandchildren. Erastus Church is 32 and Caroline Church 8 and the four oldest sons of Erastus and Lucy are 7, 5, 3, and 1 in 1840. These all agree with persons in the above list. Lucy Whitten should be 32 also and this is not in agreement.
2	1850 United States Federal Census, Centre Twp., Hancock Co., Indiana, page 5 and 6. Census dated 9 Sept 1850. Lines 32-42 (page 5) and 1-2 (page 6): Erastus Church, 42, farmer, $1500 real property; Lucy, 42; Warren, 17, farmer, Caroline, 19; Langdon, 15; Uzziel, 13; Oscar, 11; Melville, 9; Arminta, 7; Chester, 5; George, 3; Lucy Ann, 2; Elizabeth Church, 76. All children attended school. Erastus, Lucy,Warren and Caroline b. Vermont, Elizabeth b. New Hampshire, all others b. Indiana.
3	Church family history written by Chester R. Church on 10 Mar 1924 contains details on the families of Samuel Church, his son Erastus Church, and assorted relatives. Relevant to this page: Samuel Church was married to Elizabeth Stickny. They had 9 children, 5 daughters, 4 sons. They moved from Orange Co., VT, to Brooksville, Franklin Co., IN, in 1827. They moved again to Greenfield, Hancock Co., IN, in 1835. Samuel Church died in Aug 1844. Elizabeth moved in with her son Erastus Church until her death on 1 Jan 1860. She was buried in Bethesda Cemetery, Vigo Co., IN. Erastus and his wife Lucy Whitten moved from Orange Co., VT, to Greenfield, Hancock Co., IN, in 1834 with their two children [at the time], Caroline and Erastus Warren (age two months).	full text / analysis
4	Church family bible records contain birth, marriage, and death dates and locations for numerous members of the Church family. Relevant to this page, Erastus Church was born in Orange Co., VT, on 9 Jan 1808 and died 3? Sept 1877 at the age of 71. Lucy H. Whitten was born in Sullivan Co., NH, on 6 Oct 1807. They were married at Rochester, VT, on 4 May 1828. Samuel Church died at Greenfield, IN, on 10 Oct 1844. Elizabeth Church died at Terre Haute, IN on 30 Dec 1860.
5	Gravestone for Elizabeth Church at Bethesda Cemetery, West Terre Haute, Vigo Co., IN. It reads "ELIZABETH CHURCH DIED Dec. 30 1860 AGED 90 Y. 1 M. & 3 D." This corresponds to a calculated birthday of 27 Nov 1770.

Source Notes

• [2] Elizabeth is seen here living with her son's family, suggesting that she is now a widow.

Research

The Samuel and Elizabeth Church family that were the progenitors for our known Church line have been a true source of mystery and confusion. There seems to be a wealth of conflicting and internally-inconsistent data available for people with these names living at about the right time and place. Below, I will outline my current thought process for validating the data I can find.

First, starting with what I know: The Samuel and Elizabeth Church that I am interested in are the ones described in the Church family bible records, source [4] above, and the Church Family History written by Chester R. Church in 1924, source [3] above. I know for certain that these sources pertain to my line of Church ancestors. Given the family structure outlined in [3] and [4] for Samuel's son, Erastus, and his children, I know that the 1850 census, [2], is correct as well. The 1840 census, [1], is somewhat conjecture as all we have to go on there is the name Samuel Church and a rough count of family members which seems to fit our understanding of the family at that time but there one or two outlying points that have not been accounted for. The gravestone for Elizabeth Church in Bethesda Cemetery, [5], is also known to be relevant because its death date matches exactly with the death date given in the bible records. The death date given for Elizabeth in [3] is off by almost a year, but it was written nearly 30 years later by a man who was over 70. [3] does specify the cemetery where Elizabeth is buried, and there is only one Elizabeth Church buried in Bethesda Cemetery.

At the time of this writing, that's all the source information that I am willing to stand behind fully. This means that the sum total of the information that I am confident about with regards to Samuel and Elizabeth is as follows:

• Samuel Church died at Greenfield, Hancock Co., IN on 10 Oct 1844 [4] (or, less likely, Aug 1844 [3]).
• Elizabeth Stickny was born on ~27 Nov ~1770 and died near West Terre Haute, Vigo Co., IN on 30 Dec 1860. She was born in NH.
• Samuel and Elizabeth and most/all of their children moved from Orange Co., VT, to Brooksville, Franklin Co., IN, in 1827.
• They all moved again to Greenfield, Hancock Co., IN, in 1835.
• Erastus Church was born in Orange Co., VT, on 9 Jan 1808, and was married in Rochester, VT, on 4 May 1928. As such, he presumably did not participate in the 1827 exodus from Vermont to Indiana. He and his wife, Lucy Whitten, did move from Orange Co., VT, to Greenfield, Hancock Co., IN, in 1834 with the two children they had at the time. The following year, Samuel and Elizabeth moved to Greenfield as well.
• Elizabeth moved in with her son Erastus after Samuel died in late 1844, she stayed with Erastus until her death in 1860.

That's not a heck of a lot to go with. Now I will start accumulating sources that deal with people that could be or relate to Samuel and Elizabeth Church and see if anything starts to link back to the information given above.

Ref. Num.	Description	Image of original
R1	Personal Research of Laurence Seitz. Mr. Seitz has prepared an in-depth document describing the descendants of Samuel Church and Elizabeth Stickney. While most data in this document are thoroughly sourced, a few items--particularly those relating to Samuel and Elizabeth--are referenced to public trees found on Ancestry.com. We do not consider Ancestry.com trees to be a reliable source of good data, so anything found here that is only referenced to this source should be considered conjectural at best. Because Mr. Seitz has done such a good job of referencing his sources, we have been able to duplicate many of those sources above.	N/A
R2	Acts and Laws Passed by the Legislature of the State of Vermont on 27 Oct 1809, chapter 19, pgs. 16-17, lists a successful petition by three men of Orange, Orange Co., VT, to have their names changed from Alexander Hogg, John Hogg, and Samuel Hogg, to Alexander Church, John Church, and Samuel Church. The date of Oct 1809 is a time at which our Samuel Church was in Orange, Orange Co., VT, so it could be that our Samuel changed his name at the age of 43. Of the two family trees I can find on ancestry.com that have a similar Samuel Church with a wife Elizabeth and a son Erastus and also list parents' names, one suggests the parents are "Timothy Church" and "Abigail Church," the other indicates "Alexander Hogg" and "Abigail Atwood." Not surprisingly, there is clearly confusion amongst the ranks at ancestry.com, but at least one person believes the name change argument...
R3	Membership application for Sons of the American Revolution for applicant Fred Albert Dawson. Mr. Dawson indicates that he is a descendant of Revolutionary War veteran Timothy Church and lays out a path of descendancy to himself. According to the path given, Timothy Church was born 12 May 1736 and died 13 Nov 1823. His son was Samuel Church, born ~1765 and died after 1845. Samuel was married to Elizabeth (maiden name unknown) prior to 1821. Their daughter was Rebecca Church, born ~1801, died ~1866, married to George Dawson in 1831. The applicant follows the Dawson line down from there to himself. Timothy Church served as a Lieutenant Colonel from Brattleboro, VT, in the war. He is buried in Brattleboro, VT, and his tombstone designates him as a Colonel and that he died 13 Nov 1833 at the age of 86. The applicant indicates that other records regarding Timothy Church give a death year of 1823 and that the tombstone may be in error. In support of the claims of this application, the applicant gives the following sources as proof: Vermont Rev. Rolls., Pages 822,823,826. New York in the Revolution Vol 15, page 277. Annals of Brattleboro, Vol 1., pages 67, 68. Analysis of Vermont Rev. Rolls. and Annals of Brattleboro (both available on Google Books) revealed that they only contained data regarding Timothy Church's revolutionary war experience and not any information about descendancy. It is not clear that this is the correct Samuel Church; based on the 1820 census there are at least 4 Samuel Churches in Vermont at the right time, and it looks like there might be at least two who married Elizabeths... more work to figure out who is who is necessary here.
R3	New Hampshire Marriage Records 1637-1947, has an entry for a Samuel Hogg marrying a Betsey Stickney on 4 Jul 1791 in Jaffrey, NH.
R4	U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900, has an entry for Samuel Church, born 1767 in VT, marrying Elisebeth Stickney, born 1769. The marriage took place in Indiana.
R5	BLM Land Grant Certificate for Samuel Church of Wayne Co., IN, indicating that he now owns 70.53 acres in the "East half of the North West quarter of section seven in Township Fifteen North of Range Seven, East in the District of Lands subject to sale at Indianapolis Indiana." The certificate is dated 15 Oct 1835.