Samuel Church

	Date	Location	Notes	Sources
Birth	12 Dec 1766	Orange, Orange Co., VT
Marriage	1788	IN	to Elizabeth Stickney
Death	10 Oct 1844	Greenfield, Hancock Co., IN
Burial

Immediate family in my direct ancestry

 Generation 6       Generation 7            Generation 8

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

Sources:

Children

(children with Elizabeth Stickney)

Name	Gender	Date of Birth	Birthplace	Spouse	Notes	Sources
Orinda Church	F	1804	Orange Co., VT	never married	d. 30 Aug 1884
Erastus Church	M	9 Jan 1808	Orange Co., VT	Lucy H. Whitten	direct line

Places of Residence

Location	Dates	Notes	Sources
Orange, Orange Co., VT	birth-?
Wayne Co., IN	15 Oct 1835
Greenfield, Hancock Co., IN	10 Oct 1844

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	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.
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. 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.
6	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.

Source Notes

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

Research

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	New Hampshire Marriage Records 1637-1947, has an entry for a Samuel Hogg marrying a Betsey Stickney on 4 Jul 1791 in Jaffrey, NH.