More Unsolved Mysteries

 In My Odell/O'Dell family line:

Joseph Odell -- No death date for Joseph Odell, Sr.  who appeared on the 1870 census, in Rockland/Morsston P.O., age 60.  Nobody in the family appeared on the 1875 NYS census in that area.  The 1880 census in Rockland, shows Katie Odell, Joseph's wife, in the home of their son, Reuben, and widowed.  

So, Joseph died between Sept. 5, 1870 and the 1880 census.  Official birth, marriage and death certificates were filed as of 1880, so he, undoubtedly, died before it was "required" to file a death certificate.  I've found no newspaper notice.

I have no parentage for Joseph.

Birthplace - 1850 census says PA.  1855 NYS census says Delaware Co. (NY or PA?)  1880 census says NYS as well as his parents.

I have no documentation for Joseph other than the censuses.

=================

Catherine M. Odell -- Joseph's wife.  Several family trees on Ancestry have maiden names for her.  One of them, Catherine Lawrence, is definitely incorrect.  Dates don't match.  Children don't match, etc.  Another is Agner.  Nobody, so far can tell me where that surname came from but in each of those trees, with that maiden name, her death date is incorrect.  She died in the poor house in Delhi, Delaware County, NY in 1892.

I have no parentage for Catherine.  

I do have her death certificate and a list of internments in the county cemetery (paupers field) from Delaware County.

=================

Joseph and Catherine had 5 children, that I know of:  Reuben, William, Hannah, Anna and Charity.  I have family information from most of them.  

=================

William Odell, born about 1832 in, possibly PA, according the 1850 census.  He was 18 in 1850.  

He is not with his parents on the 1855 NYS census.  He would have been about 23 then.  The only William Odell, nearby, that I've been able to find in 1855 was a William Odell, age 21, in Monroe, Orange Co., NY.  I don't know if it's the same William Odell.  

The best way to find out if it is the same William is to follow him forward, with his family, through the censuses, until his death and hopefully find his death certificate which might give his parents names.  

He would have been married too early for there to have been an "official" marriage certificate which might have had his parents names.

So, work to do to try to find if this is the correct William.

================

Charity Odell, born approximately 1843, again in PA as shown on the 1850 census.  The 1855 NYS census says she was born in Greene Co., NY.  She was 12 in 1855.  The family was living in Liberty, Sullivan Co., NY.

The 1860 census has a Charity Odell, 16, working as a domestic in the home of Darius Oliver and Hannah Odell Oliver, in Liberty, who was her sister.  I'm assuming this is the correct Charity.

There is no Charity Odell found in NYS on the 1870 census.  She would have been about 26 yrs old.

One of the things I learned to do in the case of women is to calculate their age on the next census and search in the general area for all the women about that age (give or take a couple of years) with that given name.  Sometimes, you'll find the correct person married but it requires further research to verify that it's the correct person.  I do find several Charitys in the area but I haven't verified, yet, that any of them are the Charity Odell I'm looking for.  

Back then, Charity, last found at age 16, could easily have died from all kinds of diseases but I also have found no death documentation for her.

===============

That's it for now.

If you know anything about any of the  people mentioned in any of my posts, I would very much appreciate whatever you know.

Thank you for visiting my blog.