Rebecca Church

NOT A DIRECT ANCESTOR Rebecca Church is not in my direct ancestry. Her relationship to known members of my family is currently a matter of active research. The assertion has been made that she is a sibling of Erastus Church and a daughter of Samuel Church, but that connection has not been firmly established yet. This page was made to help collect information about this person for use in the research.

	Date	Location	Notes	Sources
Birth	~1801
Marriage	10 Nov 1836 or 1831	Henry Co., IN	George Dawson
Death	~1866
Burial

Children

(children with ?)

Name	Gender	Date of Birth	Birthplace	Spouse	Notes	Sources

Places of Residence

Location	Dates	Notes	Sources

Sources

Ref. Num.	Description	Image of original
1	Indiana Marriage Collection, 1800-1941, has an entry for Rebecca Church marrying George Dawson on 10 Nov 1836 in Henry Co., IN.
2	BLM Land Patent Certificates dated 15 Mar 1837 for Rebecca Butters Church of Fayette Co., IN. In document #23560, she has purchased 40 acres of land at the 2nd prime meridian, 015N Twp, 006E Rng, SW1/4 SE 1/4, section #1 in Hancock Co., IN. In document #23559, she has purchased 40 acroes of land at the 2nd primer meridian, 015N Twp, 006E Rng, SE 1/4 NE 1/4, section #12 in Hancock Co., IN.
3	Transcribed letter dated 13 Jul 1845 from Rebecca B. Dawson to her brother (unnamed) and sister Livinia Church regarding the death of Rebecca's husband, George. There is someone named Orinda present at the time of George's death, but it is not explicitly stated that she is Rebecca and Livinia's sister. The letter was used as part of the justification for the descendancy chain in the SAR application for Fred Dawson. Questions have been raised about the validity of that source, and the original of this letter has not been found yet, so there are lingering doubts about this letter as well.	click for full transcript and analysis
4	1850 U.S. Federal Census for Centre Township, Hancock Co., IN, dated 11 Sep 1850, page 16. Lines 23-26: Rebecca Dawson, 49, lives with her son Jesse Dawson, 13, her daughter Orinda Dawson, 10, and her son Lee Dawson, 8. Rebecca was born in NH, the children were born in IN.

Research

• There is a Rebecca B. Dawson who marries a John Vanmeter on 17 Apr 1854 in Hancock Co., IN, and then they show up in the 1860 census in Hancock with some Vanmeter kids and some Dawson kids, but not the kids from the 1850 census...