Rebecca Ritchie's First: Dennis Dolbow

The end of yesterday's post went something like this: 1840 reconstruction of the hypothetical William Ritchey family: 

William Richey   (8 total)   
M 10-14       1 (James, poss 5-9 or even 15-29)
M 20-29       1 (Crawford)
M 40-49       1 (William)
F under 5     1 (Mary)
F 5-10          1 (Sarah)
F 10-14        1 (Eliza)
F 20-29        1 (Rebecca)
F 30-39        1 (Sarah)

Stay tuned!-- And not a second too soon! I just posted this a couple of hours ago, and realized a fatal flaw in my reasoning. I will never, EVER find this family in Ohio in 1840. Look at daughter Mary's age-- and place of birth. That's right: Arkansas. That's the advantage of reading-- and rereading your work. That was yesterday's post. Here I am today to eat my words a second time. I found them not in Arkansas, but in Illinois!

Here is my 1840 hypothesis compared with Macoupin, IL, 1840 census:
                                                            William Ritchie (10)
William Richey   (8 total)                   Macoupin Co, Illinois
--                                                         1 M under 5    (died B4 1850?)
--                                                         1 M 5-9    (poss James)
M 10-14        1 (James, poss 15-20)  1 M 15-19     (poss Robert))
M 20-29        1 (Crawford)                  1 M 20-29     (poss Crawford)
M 40-49        1 (William)                     1 M 50-59 (William?)
F under 5      1 (Mary)                         2 F under 5    (poss Sarah)
F 5-10          1 (Sarah)                         --        (see line above)
F 10-14        1 (Eliza)                          1 F 10-14 (Eliza)
F 20-29        1 (Rebecca?)                  1 F 15-19 (Rebecca?)
F 30-39        1 (Sarah)                        1 F 40-49 (Sarah?)

This William Richey family looks like a strong contender to be Rebecca's birth family. It's in the right place at the right time, and Dennis Dolbow, though not visible by name in the census, is part of a nearby household: that of his older brother, Daniel Dolbow. He's the 20-39 year old male: too old to be a child of the 30-39 year old Daniel.

Rebecca Ritchey married Dennis Dolbow 12 January, 1843 in Macoupin County, Illinois. 1843: IL Reg No. 3, Caslinville (prob. Carlinville) Have copy of certificate.

1850 Federal Census, Beardstown, Cass Co, Illinois:

Dennis Dolbo (indexed Delbo), age 39, wagon maker, b NJ (indexed NC)
    Rebecca age 29 b OH
    Eli          age 7   b IL
    Emily    age 3    b IL
A third child, William, was born after 1850.

Despite Dennis' saying he was born ca 1815 in New Jersey, and having a fairly uncommon name AND given name (for his family), I can't find any trace of him in Penn's Neck, New Jersey records, where he should appear. I have now asked for help from the New Sweden genealogy society to see if another researcher more familiar with their records can help find Dennis and his birth family.

There is more on Rebecca, but that's it for now.

Crawford Ritchey: was he a twin?

On my visit to the College City (Colusa County) Cemetery, I found Rebecca Freeman (nee Ritchie, m1 Dolbow) buried in a family plot of seven persons named Ritchey, her maiden name.

Beside Rebecca were Silas Ritchey 1871-1949, Priscilla E. Ritchey 1834-1919, Crawford Ritchey 1819-1881, Lizzie Ritchey, born May 31, 1874 died age 4, and twin Thomas Ritchey, d Nov 1, 1874 at 5 months, and JJames Ritchey, died Oct 15, 1867, age 7.

Needless to say, I was surprised to find them, and delighted to think Rebecca did not die, as I had always supposed, widowed and penniless, far from her daughter Emily in California. They had evidently moved here together.

But who are these people Rebecca is buried with? My working hypothesis is that Crawford is a sibling, possibly even a twin, of Rebecca, due to their same birth year. So far, the census has not helped me much, even though it told me a great deal about Crawford and his immediate family. It even supplied a possible birth family-- for him!

Since Cranford was still alive in 1880, that's the first record I sought:

1880 Federal Census: Spring Valley, Colusa Co, California

Richey Crawford W M 62   Farmer     b OH; Fb US; Mb US
   Prescilla    W     F     55 keep house  b KY; Fb MD; Mb KY
   Erastus   W  M 16 son Farm Laborer b OR; Fb OH, Mb KY
   James   W    M 10 son                        b CA; Fb OH; Mb KY
   Viola     W    F    3 daughter               b CA; Fb OH; Mb KY
   James    W    M 57 brother                 b OH; Fb OH; Mb KY
I was glad his brother James was included- this will be helpful to know. I got all excited when I saw that James, if not Crawford, had parent's birth states recorded. Then I realized they were the same states recorded as for the children above him, so that may or may not mean James' and Crawford's mother was born in Kentucky!

1870 Federal Census: Spring Valley, Colusa Co, California
James Richie          38    M    Farmer    b OH (single line)-- lives alone
Thomas Chambers 72    M    Farmer    b PA   (Single line)--lives alone
Crawford Richie     49    M    Farmer    b OH
Percilla    "             36    F keep house   b KY
James       "       10/12    M                     b CA
Lewis, Mary           13    F                      b IA
  "        Rastus          6    M                      b OR
Graham, Walter      80    M    Laborer    b Scotland
McGonigle, William 40 M    Laborer    b TN

1860 Federal Census: Twnshp 3 (Auburn), Placer Co, California
Crawford Ritchey    43    M (Drayman?) b OH
    Manerva     "         37    F                      b IN
    Crawford "             6    M                      b UT
    Jas        "               33    M (Drayman?) b OH
Thos Chambers        67    M    Miner        b PA

Was I ever glad James was with Crawford in 1860. Note Thomas Chambers, too: he and James are living separately from Crawford and each other in 1870. But the important part, here, is that Crawford's wife's name is different-- and sure enough, one of Priscilla's descendents tells me she married Crawford Ritchey in 1869. No idea what happened to the child named Crawford, but I suspect he will be found in the Auburn Cemetery with Minerva.

But here is the exciting find: three families right next to one another:

1850 Federal Census: Jasper, Crawford Co, Arkansas
William Richie    56    M Farmer  b OH
    Sarah    "          41    F                b TN
    Mary    "           11    F                b AR
    Catharine "        4    F                 b AR
Eliza Waldroup    21    F                b IN
James Richie        21    M Laborer b OH
------------------------
Robert Richie    23    M Laborer b OH
    Anna    "        25    F                    b Indian Nation not known
    James    "    6/12   M                    b AR
------------------------
Crawford Richie    30    M Farmer b OH
    Minerva    "        26    F               b IN
    Sarah         "       15    F                b OH

Note James' location: in the family of William Richie. He's about ten years younger than Crawford, as before. New working hypothesis is that William Richie is their father. Robert, next door with his young family, is a probable brother. Sarah in the household of Crawford and Minerva appears to be too old to be a child of theirs and is probably Crawford's younger sister.

The names listed in the 1850 census gave me the idea of reconstructing what this family would look like in the 1840 census. If this snapshot is correct, it might be possible to identify which of the William Ritchey families in Ohio in 1840 was the birth family of Crawford (and hopefully, of Rebecca as well). James is the problem here: according to his age stated in the four censuses above he was born in (pick one!) 1823, 1832, 1827, or 1829! So in 1840 James might be either 8, 11, 13, or 17, falling into one of three categories for children: 5-9, 10-14, or 15-19.

1840 reconstruction of the hypothetical William Ritchey family:
William Richey   (8 total)   
M 10-14       1 (James, poss 5-9 or even 15-29)
M 20-29       1 (Crawford)
M 40-49       1 (William)
F under 5     1 (Mary)
F 5-10          1 (Sarah)
F 10-14        1 (Eliza)
F 20-29        1 (Rebecca)
F 30-39        1 (Sarah)

James is the problem here: according to his age stated in the four censuses here he was born in (pick one!) 1823, 1832, 1827, or 1829! So in 1840 James might be either 8, 11, 13, or 17, falling into one of three categories for children: 5-9, 10-14, or 15-19.

Stay tuned!-- And not a second too soon! I just posted this a couple of hours ago, and realized a fatal flaw in my reasoning. I will never, EVER find this family in Ohio in 1840. Look at daughter Mary's age-- and place of birth. That's right: Arkansas. That's the advantage of reading-- and rereading your work.

Name Changes: Finally Knit Together

I intended this blog to be only about my knitting and needlework (crochet, tatting), but I don't seem to make new entries. At the same time I realize I should be blogging about genealogy.

Do I really want four blogs? No. I choose sanity over blog proliferation.

So Knitted Together will include both knitting and genealogy. Not much of a stretch. Both are my hobbies, and I usually knit up a storm when I'm on a genealogy trip. I can only face the screens of Ancestry.com every so often (what a search engine. not).

My female ancestors, and at least one of the men, knitted. Benjamin Schell told his grandson that he and his family "wove" stockings in the winter time when he was a youth. 2Great-Grandma Tryphena Northway Reasoner knitted socks for sale in Oregon. I'm happy to follow in their stocking footsteps! I love knitting socks and wearing interesting colors and styles on my feet. So I will have occasional knitting entries here, too. But the focus is now officially changed to genealogy.

I am taking steps to have Rebecca's stone repaired.

This week, I have found a family member who may or may not have knitted. I suspect she did: most women born in 1819 learned as a matter of course. Her name was Rebecca Ritchie (but her spellings may vary!); possibly Richey, Ritchey, Richy, or any other variant of the name. I've been trying to find her for 15 years or more. She had a difficult life.

She first came to my attention on her marriage certificate. When she married Dennis Dolbow in Macoupin County, Illinois, in 1843, her maiden name was listed as Rebecca Ritchie. Of course, with her marriage she became Rebecca Ritchie Dolbow. Unfortunately, sometime between the 1850 and 1860 censuses, it appears that Dennis died. There was no divorce record, and likewise no death notice, will, grave marker, or property transfer. Rebecca was counted twice: once in Beardstown, Cass County, Illinois, as a widow with children, and once with her new husband in Meredosia, Morgan County, Illinois (just south of Beardstown. With this new marriage she became Rebecca Ritchie/Dolbow/Freeman.

The next in a series of tragedies struck when her oldest son, Eli Dolbow, signed up with the cavalry to fight in the Civil War. He died of illness in a hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, and his effects were sent home to his grieving mother and stepfather in 1861. His sister, Emma Dolbow, and youngest brother, William Dolbow, stayed with their mother and stepfather. Emma married a Civil War veteran, Elijah Hickman, in 1865 and gave Rebecca three grandchildren. But Elijah had been injured, and he and Emma probably had money problems.

When Rebecca's second husband, Reeve Freeman, died in 1872, all his property was sold to satisfy the family debts, leaving Rebecca virtually penniless. Only six months later, Emma was left widowed with three small children. She applied for a widow's pension on the basis of Elijah's disability pension, but was denied. Why? It took me years to find out.

When I finally received a copy of Emma's pension application, it answered the question of why she'd been denied, and told me what happened to Rebecca, too! She did not die, widowed, pennilless and alone, in Illinois-- she and William came to California with Emma and the children! Rebecca and William signed Emma's pension application in January, 1875, in Colusa County, California.

I have a photo of a family Bible page written by Emma, showing Rebecca (Ritchie/Dolbow) Freeman's death date as 22 November 1878, but it does not list a location.  So this week, Robert and I drove to Colusa County. Sure enough! Not only did Emma marry my great-grandfather there, her mother and brother were with her: he registered to vote as William James Dolbow.

Rebecca Freeman died 22 Nov 1878 in Spring Valley, Colusa County, California-- laid to rest by her family, and, I discovered, with other family members too. For in a family plot in the College City Cemetery with Rebecca are six Ritchie burials! The oldest family member buried there is Crawford Ritchey, and it appears that Crawford might be Rebecca's brother. In fact, given that her birth year and his are the same (at least on their grave markers), they may even have been twins.

I have many unanswered questions, but my Ritchie brick wall is beginning to crumble. If Crawford is indeed Rebecca's brother, she not only had the support of her children and son-in-law, but her brother and his family as well. What a happy ending for Rebecca's difficult life!

Manly Lace

Is there such a thing? I think so. This scarf is patterned and textured, looking both complex and simple at the same time. But I wish the colors in the photo had turned out more true-- this looks very, very brown. Actual colors are deep gray, forest green, and a soft dark brown. Really nice.

Pattern is called the "Best Friend Scarf" by Cindy Bajema, in Chrystal Palace Mini Mochi color 307. Lovely yarn and a fairly fast knit. Pattern was free on Ravelry. I plan to buy more Mini Mochi next time it's on sale-- I really like its feel and definition.