How Do You Find People That Leave No Trace
I am looking for my husbands greatgrandfather, his siblings and parents. I have names, some dates, but they dissappear from the Marshalltown area in Iowa around 1890. Family legend is that some of his grandfathers halfbrothers worked for the railroad around 1900, but I cannot find any of their names, anywhere after the 1880 census. Greatgrandfathers name is Timothy James Kelley, born 1856 in Illinois or Pennsylvania. He married Sarah Jane Hughes and they had 4 boys, 3 alive in the 1880 census. I have walked almost every cemetery in Marshall County, Story County, and have not found any markers with familiar names, except Sarah's familie, buried in Rhodes. Greatgreatgrandparents came from New York, some kids born there, some in PA, some in Illinois and 2 girls were named Roxana, one of whom was a twin. (Not sure which of the 2 grew up) So there's information, but nothing concrete from before they came to Iowa, and nothing at al after they left.
Try looking at SIBLINGS, and COUSINS that may have shown up in US Federal Censuses, and also look at STATE Censuses and City Directories..
Do you know the name of the gggrandparents that came from New York? Also the names of all of the children? Any dates of when the children were born? Do you know the names of the 4 boys or 3 children? It is possible that they did leave Iowa, and my guess they probably went looking for work . But don't know for sure. It would help if I had names of the children and dates. I will see what I can find and I will get back to you. But if you do have any other information then please let me know. Thanks smith41
Hi Sent You A PM have A Timothy On 1920 Census Living With Wife Rachael In Barry, Douglas, Washington, USA, He Was 61 & Rachael 65 Yrs. It Was Rachael's 3rd Marriage in 1899.Let Me Know If It Was of Any Use.
Harry.
Thank you all for helping me. I have received several pieces of information and would like to "fill in the gaps" where possible.
There were several pieces of information pointing to a Timothy Joshua Kelley from Snohomish County Washinton. There were things that matched, and some descrepancies that made me think about what I knew.....
Per Find-A-Grave, a Timothy Joshua Kelley is buried in a GAR cemetery in Snohomish. "Our" Tim would have been 10 years old when the Civil War ended, so he might have been a drummerboy or servant.
T. Josua's father was G.W. married to Mary Conklin. Tims father was George W, but he was married to Roxanna (no last name known to me) Unless the person that reported T.Joshua's death was not aware of his real mother's name and gave George's second wife as T.Joshua's mother, this is not "our" Tim. I have Roxanna Kelley remarrying in 1881, and no mention of George anywhere after a landtransaction in the beginning of that year, so I assumed he had died and had not considered a divorce/relocation......... (that'll teach me to assume anything. LOL)
The trippy part in information received was that in the Snohomish area, I found a Paul V, Gerald Page and a Clarence Kelley. This could be the family, because the fourth son Harry, supposedly came back to/never left Marshalltown, and became a barber. (this is family story, but I have not been able to find him after the 1890 census.
I have not been able to locate any of Timothy James' siblings in the Marshalltown area after the 1870 census, when they no longer were in the "family census", so maybe Timothy followed his brothers west.... (something to figure out) Somehow I assumed he went to either Illinois (last place the family lived before Iowa) Pennsylvania (place of his birth) or New York (Birthplace of his parents) but I never considered he moved west.
I hope you keep looking/giving me ideas of where to go next:-) and thank you very much for the information and time you have spent on my behalf.
Pauli