Susan (Trewhella?) Hurlburt Census entries

[Zenobia]

Susan, wife of Thomas Hurlburt of Connecticut was allegedly a Trewhella. She appears to be the daughter of a Henry Trewhella, and born in CT, but was taken to California as a young child and believed she was born there.

Here are the 1900-1920 census entreis for her:

U.S. Census 1900, Seymourtown, New Haven Co., CT, ED 411, Sh. 5B:

Thomas Hurlburt, head, hammerer, age 58, m. 18 yrs, b. Feb. 1842, CT, both par. b. CT
Susan Hurlburt, wife, age 42, m. 18 yrs, 2 children b., 1 living, b. Aug 1857, CA, father b. ENG, m. b. CT
Edward H. Hurlburt, son, age 8, b. Sep 1891, CT, f. b. CA, m. b. CT (sic)
Harold Hurlburt, son, age 4, b. Apr 1896, CT, f.b. CA, m. b. CT (sic)

U.S. Census 1910, Seymour, New Haven Co., CT, ED. 454, Sh. 15:

Thomas E. Hurlburt, head, hammerer, bit factory, age 68, M once, 27 yrs, b. CT, both par. b. CT
Susan Hurlburt, wife, age 52, M twice, 27 yrs, 2 ch. born, 1 liv., b. CA, f. b. ENG, m. b. CT


U.S. Census 1920, Orange, New Haven Co., CT, ED 415, Sh. 35B:

Susan F. Hurlburt, head, age 62, widow, b. CA, f. b. ENG, m. b. CT
Edward N. Hurlburt, son, electrician, age 28, b. CT, f. b. CT, m. b. CA


Note in 1910 she says she was twice married. She would appear to be the Susie Keam in this 1880 entry:

U.S. Census 1880, Cheshire, New Haven Co., CT, ED 50, Sh. 39:

Maggie Williams, age 21, married, b. CA, f. b. ENG, m. b. CT
Susie Keam, sister, age 22, married, b. CA, f. b. ENG, m. b. CT
Mabel Keam, niece, age 3, b. CT, f. b. CAN, m. b. CA

This family was sharing a house with Matthew Trewhella, age 50, his wife Victoria, age 39 and his two children. Matthew was not Susan's father, nor would he appear to be her uncle, but there must have been some connection.

Note... in 1900 and 1910 Susan says she is the mother of TWO children, but only one living....

Is Mabel the living child and were the two Hurlburt children perhaps adopted?

Curiouser and curiouser...

[Cornish Terrier]

G'day,
I need some clarification here!
When I checked the 1880 US Census for CT back in 1994 at the Washington Archives the only person I found living with Matthew Trewhella (wife Victoria and children Theodore and Lillian) was a 29 year old servant named John Burk who had been born in Ireland.
Next point is the age of Susan which appears to constantly reflect a birth about 1858.
This certainly, should she be a Trewhella (var.), indicates she is probably daughter of Henry Trewella and Martha (nee Richards).
According to the 1860 Census of Grass Valley, Nevada Co., California Susan was born in CT and her sister Mary born in NH.
However, in the 1870 Census for Virginia City, Storey Co., Nevada the birthplaces of these two girls were reversed.
Also of interest is that the ages of Susan and Mary are reversed.
In 1860 'S J' (Susan) is aged 5 and born CT whilst her sister M C (Mary) is aged 3 and born NH.
In 1870 we have Mary aged 14 (bn. CT) and Susan aged 12 (bn. NH).
In 1880 Henry and Martha are enumerated on their own with no children.
Mary and Josie (bn. after 1860) were both married at Virginia City in 1879 and Susan was gone (but where?).

I would like some confirmation on the 1880 Census which you say shows Susie Keams etc. living with Matthew Trewhella in CT.

To my knowledge there is only one way that Susan could have been living with Matthew Trewhella and his wife (one way??) and that would be because she was his sister.

The IGI record indicates that Susan Hurlbut was born about 1846 at Canaan, Litchfield, CT which is why I have, for the time being, placed her in the family of Matthew Trewhella and Julia (nee Lanyon).

But your information, as just supplied, suggests a birth around 1858 and indicates her father was HENRY.

I really need more information here and would appreciate doing some of this via private email until we get things sorted.

'You know my number!'

Cornish Terrier

[Zenobia]

On the later US Censuses, including 1880, the census taker was required to put two numbers next to each family enumerated - the first being the number of the dwelling house and the second being the number of the family. By number of dwelling house, this does not mean the street address (those show up in later census), but simply was a count of each house visited. If more than one family shared a house, they would each have a separate family number, but the dwelling number would be the same. This was the case with Matthew Trewhella and the family consisting of Margaret, Susan and Mabel.

Mathew was family 421, the girls were family 420, and both were dwelling number 380. You are also correct that there was a servant John Burd enumerated with Mathew.

I know that Henry and Mathew were not brothers, but perhaps they were cousins? Or maybe Margaret and Susan just struck up a friendship with the Mathew Trewhellas, figuring they must be related, without knowing just how, and roomed with them.

Unfortunately, the 1880 census gives no indication of whether a house was owned or rented, or what anyone's real estate (if any) was worth. Later censuses did the former and earlier censuses the latter - the 1880 was deficient on both.

Who were the parents of Henry Trewhella? I could only find one of the right age on the Cornish census, born in Illogan, with parents from Redruth...

[Cornish Terrier]

Okay - let's try and sort this out!
First - I would still like to know the origins of the information that Susan HURLBURT was daughter of Henry TREWHELLA. (If already sent to me I have missed it but ...)
I agree to the possibility/probability that she was daughter of Henry and I suspect the IGI information may have been a typo.
Anyway, here is the brief information you requested:-

We are dealing with two families that, so far, I have not been able to connect directly.

Henry TREWELLA, now apparently father of Susan HURLBURT, married Martha Richards at Illogan in 1854.
He was the 4th of 14 children born to William Trewella and Mary (nee Roberts).
This family can be traced back to the 1686 marriage of Charles TREWHEELAH to Margery LUKE.
I now suspect this Charles may be son of Christopher Trewhella of the Helston area who had dealings at Towednack which means there may be some connection to that area.

Matthew TREWHELLA was, I believe, son of Matthew and Juliana (nee LANYON) and the elder Matthew was son of William TREWHELLA and Ann (nee GLASSON).

Hope that helps and will be looking forward to any further info you can find and provide.

Cornish Terrier

[Zenobia]

Hmmm....

Well, at this point I think making Susan Henry's daughter is assumption. It looked good to me when I found the 1860 and 1870 entries myself also, because of the closeness of age, the Connecticut origen, and the California connection. However, those two censuses do not account for daughter Maggie (Margaret) who is Susan's sister in 1880.

You say in your first post above that Henry's daughter Mary was married in Virginia City and another daughter Josie, b. after 1860 (why was she not on the 1870 census?) was also married there. Who did Mary marry and when? I thought she might be the same person as Maggie, but it looks like that may not be so.

Perhaps we are chasing a red herring, and Susan and Maggie are daughters of Matthew and Julia after all. But where are Matthew and Julia on the early US censuses? I just cannot seem to locate them anywhere...

Can you give me a list of the known children of Matthew and Julia and the source for each?

[Zenobia]

Ah hah!

I checked some of your earlier emails and you had provided the following:

I have records that I personally saw and copied at Virginia City, NV
of 1. the burial of Martha Trewella at Virginia City 2. the marriage of
daughter Mary to Alexander Pearce at Virginia City June 10th, 1879 (wit. Mrs
William Penaluna and Henry Trewella) 3. the marriage of daughter Josie to
William Penaluna March 23rd, 1879 at Virginia City (wit. Henry Trewella and
Mrs Henry Trewella).
(Josie obviously came along after 1860 and was married yount.)

Now, there was no daughter Josie on the 1870 census...

But....

In 1860, Susan was "S.J. Trewella"

Susan Josephine.

Looks like we are dealing with two different Susans here after all!

I think we can with some confidence look back to Mathew and Julia Trewhella as possible parents of Susan Keam Hurlburt and Maggie Williams.

I will keep trying to find them on the census, but am having no luck so far at all...

[Zenobia]

Eureka!

U.S. Census 1880, Virgina City, Storey Co., Nevada, E.D. 47, Sh. 7:

63,65 William Penaluna, age 29, miner, b. ENG, both par. b. ENG
Susie Penaluna, wife, age 22, b. N.H., both par. b. ENG

(living with the family of James and Philippa Rowe)

And next door:

64,66 Alexander Pearce, age 27, miner, b. ENG, both par. b. ENG
Mary E. Pearce, wife, age 24, b. CT, both par. b. ENG
George E. Pearce, son, age 3, b. NV, f. b. ENG, m. b. CT
Alexander Pearce, son, age 1/12, b. May, NV, f. b. ENG, m. b. CT

So we were chasing our tails.... but one problem solved at least, now back to Susan Hurlburt...

[Zenobia]

More, more, more...

Looks like Mathew Trewhella and Julia Lanyou were married 19 Aug 1827 in Ludgvan.

Susan Hurlburt was born in 1858 and Maggie about one year later. This was 30 years after the marriage took place, so looks pretty nigh impossible that the girls can be sisters of Matthew Jr., unless Mathew Sr. married twice.

So now a couple of possibilities need to be explored:

Did Matthew Jr. have a previous wife and is HE the father of the girls?

Are the girls daughters of one of Mathew Jr's siblings?

[Cornish Terrier]

Well dear 'cloaked-person-who-goes-gy-many-names' ;D I think I may have solved a large part of the problem!

I just looked back over your information regarding Susan Hurlburt in Census entries and happened to notice that the 1920 Census shows her as SUSAN F HURLBURT!

That could well be the clincher:-

Mathew TREWHELLA (bn. 6 Oct 1829 Ludgvan and d. 27 Feb 1909 Cheshire, CT)
m1. Margaret Dianthe HOTCHKISS (bn. 16 Jun 1830 Bethany, CT and d. 14 Feb 1872)
Marriage - 30 Aug 1856 Grass Valley, CA

Children:-
SUSAN F - 8 Aug 1857 Grass Valley, CA
MARGARET JANE - 8 Mar 1859 Grass Valley, CA
Mathew H - 9 Feb 1861 Grass Valley, CA
James Argle - 3 May 1863 Grass Valley, CA
Lucretia A - 3 May 1863 Grass Valley, CA
Alfred James - 23 May 1866 Grass Valley, CA
THEODORE NELSON - 2 May 1868 Grass Valley, CA
Leonora - 20 Aug 1870
unnamed - 14 Feb 1872 Grass Valley, CA
(It would appear from this last that Margaret died in childbirth)

Mathew Trewhella (contd.)

m2. Victoria TRUAN - 28 Nov 1872

Children:-
Lillian TRUHELLA - 13 Jan 1874
Alfred E TRUHELLA - 29 Jan 1875
MABLE TRUHELLA - 1876
unnamed son - 28 Jun 1876
Unnamed daughter - 21 Nov 1878
Rose Mary TRUHELLA - 14 Jun 1884

So the KEAM and WILLIAMS story now appears more likely to look like this:-

Maggie WILLIAMS is MARGARET JANE (Bn. 1859 Grass Valley, CA)
Susie KEAMS is SUSAN F (bn. 1857 Grass Valley, CA)

These would be both daughters from the first marriage.

MABEL KEAMS, I think, has to be MABLE TRUHELLA (bn. 1876) and was daughter of Victoria.

Except for the fact 'THE SURNAME is KEAMS!'

BUT - what if this is a scenario you and I have both seen before?
The age would be about right - so 'what if' Mable TRUHELLA was actually the daughter of SUSAN F and born out of wedlock???

There is still work to be done on this as the above information came via Ancestry.com.
It does, however, show the link to Matthew and Julia and then to William Trewhella and Ann Glasson.
It also shows what I believe to be the correct parents for Julia Lanyon.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Cornish Terrier

[Zenobia]

You found all this just on Ancestry?

Wow!

But I still want to know where Matthew was on the 1860 census...

[Cornish Terrier]

And so do I!!!!
However, we must remember that not all Census Records have survived and there may also be some out there that have either not been transcribed or, possibly, not yet found.

Also remember that it was not until 1900+/- that the last 'Territory' became a State.

And it was also quite late before any sort of 'enforced' Registration of BDM's came into place in much of the US which is why it is often quite difficult to gather information about people.

It smacks of similar problems we have encountered with information in Cornwall - documents destroyed due to dampness, entries incorrectly recorded, entries not recorded at all because the official was inept - or entries not recorded because there was no information forthcoming to be recorded!

We have to try and work our way around these things.

Cornish Terrier

[Zenobia]

ianjtrewhella said:

And so do I!!!!
However, we must remember that not all Census Records have survived and there may also be some out there that have either not been transcribed or, possibly, not yet found.

With the exception of the lost 1890 I think most missing American census would be too early to pertain to many Trewhellas (Mariner Malachi perhaps being an exception).

Off the top of my head, I know that New Jersey is missing 1790, 1800 and 1810; and I think Ohio's first census (1810) is non-extant. But there is really not a huge list of missing items. I can find and post a list if anyone is interested....?

And it was also quite late before any sort of 'enforced' Registration of BDM's came into place in much of the US which is why it is often quite difficult to gather information about people.

Very true there. Most states did not have vital registration until close to the beginning of this last century. Penna. did not begin until 1906 and Ohio in 1913 for instance. On the other hand, some states had county vital registration earlier; Ohio's goes back to 1867. And a large amount of New England towns have vital records going back to the founding of the town. So it just depends on which state you are searching in. Overall however, England did a much better job, and Europe (because of state sponsored churches) often did even better.

In the US, one finds oneself turning more and more to church records. Although sometimes hard to find, they can be a goldmine of information. I had a German ancestress whom I knew almost nothing about (and to make things worse, her surname was the popular "Miller"), but a stray church record compilation that I had never before bothered to check yielded up not only her exact death date (I previously only had the year), but also her parents names and the name of the Bavarian town she was born in. I now have her back 4-5 more generations! Wonderful thing, church records, if you can find the ones you need....

[Cornish Terrier]

Yep - but it's off to eat, watch Cricket, get some sleep and then get back to work!
Be in touch later.

[Cornish Terrier]

This note resurrected especially for my dear Cousin Kathie.

.S. Census 1880, Cheshire, New Haven Co., CT, ED 50, Sh. 39:

Maggie Williams, age 21, married, b. CA, f. b. ENG, m. b. CT
Susie Keam, sister, age 22, married, b. CA, f. b. ENG, m. b. CT
Mabel Keam, niece, age 3, b. CT, f. b. CAN, m. b. CA

This family was sharing a house with Matthew Trewhella, age 50, his wife Victoria, age 39 and his two children. Matthew was not Susan's father, nor would he appear to be her uncle, but there must have been some connection.

Turns out to be an incorrect statement my dear cousin!

From information recently found I can tell you that Susan was most certainly a daughter of Matthew - as was Maggie WILLIAMS.

But they were not daughters of Victoria.

Susan F TREWHELLA b. 8th August 1857 Grass Valley, Nevada Co., CA

Margaret Jane TREWHELLA b. 8th March 1859 Grass Valley, Nevado Co., CA

Daughters of:-

Matthew TREWHELLA m. Margaret Dianthe HOTCHKISS 30th August 1856 Grass Valley, Nevada Co., CA

Margaret died in 1872 and then Matthew remarried to Victoria TRUAN (TRURAN) 28th November 1872.

I presume this marriage took place in CT where daughter Lillian was born.

And I have traced Victoria TRURAN back to Kea in Cornwall. ;D

CT

OOPS - just realised we had already covered this!

But never mind - it brings it to the forefront again at a time when I am gathering more information on the American and Russian families!

[thatsmejennig]

Apr 2, 2007 13:34:32 GMT -5 Cornish Terrier said:

Well dear 'cloaked-person-who-goes-gy-many-names' ;D I think I may have solved a large part of the problem!

I just looked back over your information regarding Susan Hurlburt in Census entries and happened to notice that the 1920 Census shows her as SUSAN F HURLBURT!

That could well be the clincher:-

Mathew TREWHELLA (bn. 6 Oct 1829 Ludgvan and d. 27 Feb 1909 Cheshire, CT)
m1. Margaret Dianthe HOTCHKISS (bn. 16 Jun 1830 Bethany, CT and d. 14 Feb 1872)
Marriage - 30 Aug 1856 Grass Valley, CA

Children:-
SUSAN F - 8 Aug 1857 Grass Valley, CA
MARGARET JANE - 8 Mar 1859 Grass Valley, CA
Mathew H - 9 Feb 1861 Grass Valley, CA
James Argle - 3 May 1863 Grass Valley, CA
Lucretia A - 3 May 1863 Grass Valley, CA
Alfred James - 23 May 1866 Grass Valley, CA
THEODORE NELSON - 2 May 1868 Grass Valley, CA
Leonora - 20 Aug 1870
unnamed - 14 Feb 1872 Grass Valley, CA
(It would appear from this last that Margaret died in childbirth)

Mathew Trewhella (contd.)

m2. Victoria TRUAN - 28 Nov 1872

Children:-
Lillian TRUHELLA - 13 Jan 1874
Alfred E TRUHELLA - 29 Jan 1875
MABLE TRUHELLA - 1876
unnamed son - 28 Jun 1876
Unnamed daughter - 21 Nov 1878
Rose Mary TRUHELLA - 14 Jun 1884

So the KEAM and WILLIAMS story now appears more likely to look like this:-

Maggie WILLIAMS is MARGARET JANE (Bn. 1859 Grass Valley, CA)
Susie KEAMS is SUSAN F (bn. 1857 Grass Valley, CA)

These would be both daughters from the first marriage.

MABEL KEAMS, I think, has to be MABLE TRUHELLA (bn. 1876) and was daughter of Victoria.

Except for the fact 'THE SURNAME is KEAMS!'

BUT - what if this is a scenario you and I have both seen before?
The age would be about right - so 'what if' Mable TRUHELLA was actually the daughter of SUSAN F and born out of wedlock???

There is still work to be done on this as the above information came via Ancestry.com.
It does, however, show the link to Matthew and Julia and then to William Trewhella and Ann Glasson.
It also shows what I believe to be the correct parents for Julia Lanyon.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

Cornish Terrier

I'm trying to find any supporting documentation for the Grass Valley marriage and births of Matthew Trewhella and Margaret Diantha Hotchkiss.  I have them back in Chesire, CT by 1861 and Susan and Margaret Jane were the only ones born in CA.  It doesn't make sense that Matthew and Margaret would have gotten married in CA when they were both living in CT and her family didn't go west.  Here's the link to the birth of Matthew H. Trewhella 2/9/1861 familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9BY-QPGN

Of a little more interest Margaret Jane married Benjamin Williams, also of Ludgvan, Cornwall and also a miner

I know this is a VERY old post, but if you've found anything that would support the findings, I'd appreciate it.