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.