1853 Relatives on the Oregon Trail

Yesterday I wrote about my 3rd gt-grandfather, Seth Hayes, who traveled the Oregon Trail in 1853. In March I wrote about his daughter, Huldah (Hayes) Bond, my 2nd gt-grandmother who was in that same wagon train. It was in February when I wrote about Seth's wife, Lydia (Jewett) Hayes, who naturally was also on that wagon train.

I feel very fortunate to have had access to a printed transcription of a diary kept by my 2nd gt-granduncle, George W. Bond from that trip from Iowa to Oregon in 1853. I made a digital transcription of the diary and posted it on my genealogy website: http://www.joanneskelton.com/e198.htm He used an account book and wrote one line per day. It mentioned only a few people, but many geographical features. I took his diary and maps of the known Oregon Trail and created my own 1853 Trail Map on a modern day map. I added quotes from the diary on the map also. I was also fortunate in that an agent along the trail at the Umatilla Agency made a listing of the people on the wagon trains who passed that way in 1853. Then it was printed in the Oregonian newspaper from Portland Oregon in October of 1853. The list has not been found, but the newspaper article is still available and an Oregon Trail researcher has published that list in a more easily read format. It gives the name of the head of household, if there was a wife and how many sons and how many daughters. The date showing my family's train, August 28, matched the entry in the diary. I was glad to find that the names also matched the family research I had done.

Here is a listing of the family members who traveled in that wagon train showing their name, year and state of birth and relationship.

Name	Born	Relationship
John Bond	1797 - Kentucky	3rd gt-grandfather
Sarah (Chastain) Bond	1797 - Virginia	3rd gt-grandmother
William Bond	1816 - Kentucky	2nd gt-granduncle
Hannah (Hayes) Bond	1821 - Ohio	2nd gt-grandaunt
Seth Hayes Bond	1845 - Iowa	1st cousin 3 times removed
James Monroe Bond	1847 - Iowa	1st cousin 3 times removed
Ebenezer Bond	1850 - Iowa	1st cousin 3 times removed
Emma Augusta Bond	1853 - Oregon Trail	1st cousin 3 times removed
George W. Bond	1818 - Kentucky	2nd gt-granduncle
Elizabeth (Stillwell) Bond	1821 - Kentucky	1st cousin 4 times removed
William Harrison Bond	1841 - Iowa	1st cousin 3 times removed
Benjamin Franklin Bond	1842 - Iowa	1st cousin 3 times removed
Sarah A. Bond	1845 - Iowa	1st cousin 3 times removed
Amanda J. Bond	1847 - Iowa	1st cousin 3 times removed
James Madison Bond	1849 - Iowa	1st cousin 3 times removed
Solomon Bond	1819 - Kentucky	2nd gt-grandfather
Huldah (Hayes) Bond	1827 - Ohio	2nd gt-grandmother
Lydia Ann Bond	1843 - Iowa	gt-grandaunt
William Henry Bond	1847 - Iowa	gt-granduncle
Mary Louisa Bond	1849 - Iowa	gt-grandaunt
Susan Augusta Bond	1852 - Iowa	gt-grandaunt
Isaac Silas Davis	1827 - Tennessee
Rebecca (Bond) Davis	1823 - Indiana	2nd gt-grandaunt
James Nelson Davis	1849 - Iowa	1st cousin 3 times removed
Laura Ann Davis	1850 - Iowa	1st cousin 3 times removed
Martha Luella Davis	1852 - Iowa	1st cousin 3 times removed
Nelson Davis	1826 - Tennessee
Elizabeth (Bond) Davis	1830 - Illinois	2nd gt-grandaunt
Rebecca Ann Davis	1847 - Iowa	1st cousin 3 times removed
William A Davis	1849 - Iowa	1st cousin 3 times removed
Albert Daniel Davis	1851 - Iowa	1st cousin 3 times removed
Susan Olive Davis	1853 - Iowa	1st cousin 3 times removed
Seth Hayes	c1785 - New York	3rd gt-grandfather
Lydia (Jewett) Hayes	1793 - New Hampshire	3rd gt-grandmother
Ebenezer Hayes	1829 - Ohio	2nd gt-granduncle
Sybil Ann Hayes	1831 - Ohio	2nd gt-grandaunt
Priscilla Hayes	1837 - Indiana	2nd gt-grandaunt
Reuben Jewett	1824 - Ohio
Lydia L (Hayes) Jewett	1824 - Ohio	2nd gt-grandaunt
Fernando Jewett	1852 - Iowa	1st cousin 3 times removed
Seth Whipple Hayes	1825 - Ohio	2nd gt-granduncle
Polly (Stillwell) Hayes	1832 - Indiana	1st cousin 4 times removed
Daniel James Hayes	1850 - Iowa	1st cousin 3 times removed
Seth Stephen Hayes	1852 - Iowa	1st cousin 3 times removed
Peter Wycoff	1831 - Ohio
Jane (Stillwell) Wycoff	c1830 - Indiana	1st cousin 4 times removed

Researching Elizabeth as a Cousin

This is the second part of this article that I am repeating. I posted the first part yesterday, 9 Jun 2017.

When beginning my research in the 1980's, a cousin shared information that Elizabeth Stillwell was the daughter of William Stillwell and Martha ?. One of the members of the Cottage Grove Genealogical Society, Frances Quinn, a Stillwell descendant, was researching that family. She was willing to share some of her files with me. Among those papers was one which stated: Estate of William Stillwell, settled Apr 6, 1852, Jeff. Co. Heirs: John; James; Elizabeth, wife of George Bond; Jane, wife of Peter Wycoff; Polly, wife of Seth Whipple Hayes; Nancy; William; Joseph; Marian (Maria?). Petition asking for appointment of referees to set apart dower etc. Martha Stillwell vs heirs of William Stillwell June 19 & 25, 1851, first admitted. Apparently this paper had been supplied to the Stillwell Family Organization by a descendant of Polly and Seth Whipple Hayes, (Seth is also my 2^nd great-granduncle.)

Since Elizabeth was said to be born in Kentucky I did a search on Ancestry's Kentucky Marriages 1802-1850 database for William Stil*, which found a William Stilwell who married Lelia Bond on 19 Sep 1820 in Henry County, Kentucky and a William Stillwell who married Selia Bond on 21 Sep 1820 in Shelby County, Kentucky. A cousin sent a copy of the marriage bond from Henry County and it stated that Lelia Bond was the daughter of Solomon Bond. Solomon Bond was also the father of John Bond, George's father. Was this William Stillwell the father of Elizabeth? Were George and Elizabeth cousins? Checking the Kentucky Marriages database again I discovered that there was only one marriage for a Stil*well in Henry County, but there were 17 in Shelby County between 1798 and 1825.

I chose to do some census research. Since William, Elizabeth's father, died in Jefferson County, Iowa in about 1851, I checked the 1850 census. The index done by Ancestry has many errors (for which I have now submitted some corrections.) There was only one Stillwell family in Jefferson County, Iowa in the 1850 census. William was shown as age 56 (birthdate about 1794) born in Kentucky. Also in the household were Martha age 48, born in Pennsylvania; Stephen age 22, born in Kentucky; Jane age 20, born in Indiana; Nancy age 16, born in Indiana; Wm age 13, born in Illinois; Joseph age 11, born in Illinois; Maria age 8, born in Iowa. Peter Wykoff, the future husband of Jane, was also living in their household.

Since John, James, Elizabeth and Polly who were listed on the estate paper were not in this household, I then checked for a marriage previous to 1850. Also, since the birthplaces of the children in 1850 census were Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa, the family apparently lived in all those places. It would appear they moved to Indiana between 1828 and 1830, then to Illinois between 1834 and 1837, and on to Iowa before 1842. The Iowa Marriages to 1850 database showed a marriage between Seth W. Hays and Polly Bond Stillwell in 1849 in Jefferson County, Iowa. The Illinois Marriages to 1850 database showed marriages in Edgar County for the following Stil(l)wells: George W. Bond to Elizabeth Stilwell in February 1838, William Stillwell to Martha Kirkpatrick in September 1841, Levi Houston to Ann B. Stilwell in September 1841 and John Stilwell to Mary Mathews in November 1844.

Since the son William was only 13 in 1850 the William who was married in 1841 seems to have been the father. Martha was the name of his wife in 1850, so this makes sense. Family researchers have posted the following information about Martha. Her maiden name was Hays and she was born in Pennsylvania. She married William Kirkpatrick about 1816. They moved to Edgar County, Illinois about 1828 and William Kirkpatrick died there in 1838 and she married William Stillwell in 1841. As the daughter Maria was born about 1842, she appears to be the only child from this marriage. Therefore all the other children would be from William's first marriage.

I believe that the William who is in Jefferson County, Iowa in 1850 is the same William who married the daughter of Solomon Bond in Henry/Shelby County, Kentucky in 1820. There is a William Stillwell in the 1840 census of Edgar County, Illinois and also one in the 1830 census of Montgomery County, Indiana. Debbie Monsive helped me with research in Montgomery County, Indiana, with a biographical sketch of a Stillwell living there whose father, Jeremiah Stillwell, had come from Shelby County, Kentucky, in 1826. It is my belief that Jeremiah and William are brothers, both sons of a John Stillwell who was living in Shelby County in 1820.

Another reason for this belief is that Polly Stillwell, the wife of Seth Whipple Hayes, had the middle name Bond, as shown on their marriage record.

But finally in October of 2010, I found another document. Ancestry had posted the U.S. Special Census on Deaf Family Marriages and Hearing Relatives, 1888-1895. Since Elizabeth's daughter, Sarah, was deaf and had married a deaf man, she was included on this Special Census. One of the questions to be answered by the wife was: Were your parents related before marriage? Sarah answered Yes. Then the form continued: If so, what relationship? Sarah answered 1^st cousins.

Aunt Elizabeth was a 1^st cousin to her husband, so also a 1^st cousin to his brother, my 2^nd great-grandfather, therefore she was my 1^st cousin four times removed.