Tags

It’s November which means it’s also National Blog Posting Month. The last time I participated in this event was in 2014. My family research has been hit or miss lately and this is the tool I plan to use to get back on track. Researching and blogging my findings, or rather my lack of findings, will be my focus for the month of November.

My initial focus will be on William J. DeMoss, my 4th-great grandfather, and trying to document who his parents are once and for all. I want to go through everything one more time to make sure I haven’t missed anything, then move on to someone else.

So who is William and what do I actually know about him? I actually blogged about William on November 2, 2014, but a few additional details have surfaced, so I will start afresh. According to the 1850 US Census compiled in Reeve Township, Daviess County, Indiana, William was born circa 1803 in Kentucky. His wife’s name was Elizabeth, and they had eight children living with them at that time. William and Elizabeth (nee Lowe) were married in Nicholas County in January 1827, per the marriage bond signed by William and Elizabeth’s father, Isaac Lowe (FHL 000252399).

The 1830 US Census places William and Elizabeth in Fleming County, Kentucky, with two boys under the age of five. In 1840, the family of nine is found in Daviess County, Indiana. By the 1860 US Census, it appears that William is in Steen Township, Knox County, Indiana and living alone. Coincidentally, he is next door to Benjamin and Sarah Lankford. Benjamin’s granddaughter Sarah Winkler would end up marrying William’s grandson Samuel T DeMoss twenty-six years later. Elizabeth is not residing with William. A marriage record filed in Daviess County in March 1862 in Daviess County for William J DeMoss and Elizabeth Miller (FHL 001433574) would imply that William and his first wife had divorced, possibly in the late 1850s.

Soon after his marriage to Elizabeth Miller, foreclosure documents were filed in Daviess County Court on a 40 acre tract of land not far from Dogwood Lake. The small blue pin is in the vicinity of this tract of land. The case was dismissed in January 1863.

William’s whereabouts after 1863 are unknown at this time.

What do I want to know about William? Who are his parents. Most sites/researchers have William’s parents listed as William DeMoss and his wife Polly. Unfortunately, no documentation linking William to this couple has surfaced. A lot of what is out there is conjecture at this point. My next steps will look at those individuals who are believed to be William’s siblings. Tomorrow I will look at Lewis DeMoss.