Ancestor Archaeology: Martha McBride

Showing posts with label Martha McBride. Show all posts

Monday, March 5, 2018

Brick Wall Ancestor | #9 Martha McBride {Genealogy}

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Read part one and part two for the details of this genealogy

Monday, February 5, 2018

Brick Wall Ancestor | #9 Martha McBride {part 2}

We all have them! Those stubborn ancestors that refuse to come out of hiding. No matter how much coaxing we do! Well, I think it's time to bring them out of the shadows - put their redacted story out there - another piece of the puzzle could be lurking just around the (cyber) corner, in someone's basement, or closet, or sitting in a box on a bookshelf ...... You never, ever know where that loose chink will manifest, the one that allows you to push out one brick, then the next. Food for thought. So without further ado....

Brick Wall Ancestor | #9 Martha McBride part 2

In Part 1 I gave you some background on Martha and proposed Wild Theory #1, the Theory of James, that she is the daughter of James McBride Jr and Martha Hill.

Here I will offer Wild Theory #2 and propose she is the daughter of Archibald McBride Jr and (maybe) Jane Newkirk. Thus the Theory of Archibald. Even less evidence exists to support this theory! And, I'm taking the long way around. Bear with me.

Let's look at Archibald. We know there was one Archibald living in Mamakating, Ulster Co, New York in 1790 (3 males under 16, 2 males 16 and over, 4 females any age). Digging deeper unearthed the discovery of a will of one Jane McBride of the town of Montgomery, dated June 26th 1795. The will lists four children. Sons James (wild theory #1! - put a pin in that!) of Wallkill and Archibald of Mamakating, a daughter (deceased) Mary, wife of Francis Burns and another daughter Mrs William Douglas (hey, thanks for that!) The will names grandsons Archibald and William (sons of James) and John Douglas (son of unnamed daughter) and "the grandchildren of my son Archibald" (again, thanks for that!) and the "five grandchildren of my daughter Mary Burns, deceased", also granddaughter Elizabeth Burns.

Lots of grandchildren. (FAN research anyone?)

What struck me as curious was that the boys, for the most part were listed by name but the "grandchildren" of son Archibald could possibly mean his children were very young at the time of the writing of the will and that there were perhaps sons and daughters. Still, not much help.

The will also made mention of a note that Jane had in her possession that was outstanding against Archibald dated July 19th 1786. Curious.

Digging into land records uncovered a land sale between Jane McBride of Montgomery and her son Archibald, of Mamakating, dated July 20th 1786. Huh. Must be what the note was for! Further land record digging unearthed this land purchase made "the 30th day of June in the first year of the reign of our sovereign Lord George the Third by the grace of God of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King defender of the faith and the year of our Lord Christ one thousand seven hundred sixty one" Between Samuel White and Jane McBride, relict and widow of Archibald McBride .... two thousand two hundred and nine acres of land ..... seven hundred and thirty six acres of land .... one thousand and fifty five acres of land! A total of four thousand acres of land in Ulster County, Province of New York.

The widow Jane purchased a great deal of land in 1761!

What I found interesting, the land was adjacent to land owned by Jane and Alice Colden and by Thomas Noxon and by George Murry. All players in another story, one that might intertwine with this one yet.(*)

Connecting the dots from these documents it appears that Jane McBride and Archibald McBride were the parents of Archibald, James, Mary and Mrs Wm Douglas. Disproving the common assumption that James was the son of a James. Maybe there never was a James Sr? Maybe James was Archibald's middle name? If there is proof, I have yet to find it.

So how does Martha fit into all of this?

Not sure. Yet. (I think we need a diagram for this!)

There are a great number of 'coincidences' because of a very limited population at this time in history.

Let's go back to that 4000 acre land purchase.

Martha married James Faulkner. James Faulkner's father was Samuel Faulkner. (*)Samuel Faulkner owned land adjacent to Jane and Alice Colden, Thomas Noxon and George Murry. It is suspected that George Murry was James Faulkner's grandfather. The land straddled the border of modern day Orange and Sullivan Counties, sitting in both Mamakating and Wallkill. In fact Samuel and his wife are buried in unincorporated Mamakating. IF Martha was the daughter of Archibald McBride she would have grown up on the farm next to Samuel Faulkner and his son (her future husband) James.

A stretch, I agree. A good example of those coincidences. (You might want to take notes)

And there is NO census evidence for Martha anywhere in 1800.

Then there's the DNA.

DNA points to Archibald McBride as the prime candidate based on the research tree of our DNA match. However the newfound information that Archibald and Jane McBride are the parents of BOTH Archibald Jr and James is a greater cause of confusion! (That would suggest our MRCA is Archibald Sr, still not proving which son is Martha's father.) The author of the Bull book, who posed the 'James Sr', theory did not back his statement up with evidence or any type of citation. In fact, the book that was referenced as the source does not contain any sources or citations either, kinda like a Public Ancestry Tree!

Perplexed? Me too! (Where is that diagram?! The one that explains everything?)

Martha could be in the Archibald McBride household in 1790 - the census reports 4 females (of any age) and we know three of them (from church records): Jane, his wife; Jane, his daughter; and Agnes, his daughter. That leaves one daughter unaccounted for. (And no, it would not be the mother Jane, she was residing in Montgomery not Mamakating, per all of her legal documents)

So my second (wild) theory, the Theory of Archibald posits Martha belongs in the Archibald McBride household. The DNA evidences leads to this conclusion, but remains fuzzy if James and Archibald are brothers. Martha could fit into the 1790 census of Archibald's household. Again, the question is where is the family in 1800? Did both Archibald and Jane die? Are the children living in a relative's home, or with an older sibling?

More fuzzy information. More possibility of errors. No real conclusions, just two theories, similar and frustrating. Time to back-burner this project and let it simmer, perhaps more evidence will turn up?

Oh, Martha; Martha, Martha, Martha .....

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Then this happened .....

Well, hold your horses! Look what the gods of land records presented me with today!

A glorious land division document dated 1799, the year after James McBride died, dividing his land among his four minor children ...... Archibald I McBride, William McBride (both of the Jane McBride Will from the top of this post!) Jane McBride and John McBride (born after the will was written). No Martha! NO MARTHA!!! Martha would have been about 10 in 1799, a minor child. Martha was not the daughter of James. Wild Theory #1 is incorrect.

That leaves Archibald.

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up next ..... charts and graphs!!! (Or at least a genealogy, stay tuned)

©2018 Anne Faulkner - AncestorArchaeology.net, All Rights Reserved

Monday, January 8, 2018

Brick Wall Ancestor | #9 Martha McBride {part 1}

We all have them! Those stubborn ancestors that refuse to come out of hiding. No matter how much coaxing we do! Well, I think it's time to bring them out of the shadows - put their redacted story out there - another piece of the puzzle could be lurking just around the (cyber) corner, in someone's basement, or closet, or sitting in a box on a bookshelf ...... You never, ever know where that loose chink will manifest, the one that allows you to push out one brick, then the next. Food for thought. So without further ado....

Brick Wall Ancestor | #9 Martha McBride part 1

Martha is my 3rd great grandmother. I've written about her before. I presented a sketch of her life, as I could suss out, for my 52 Ancestors project. You can read it here. I called it "Invisible Wife" and she still is! I have not learned more about Martha since that time. But I have a (wild) theory or two ......

The portion of New York state that Martha and family resided in began as Ulster County, was annexed to Orange County in 1798 and further added to the new Sullivan County in 1809. The land and the town names remained the same, only the county changed. Because, fun!

Martha was born about 1789/90, deduced from the recording of her death as "taking place about Christmas time, 1845, when she was probably fifty six years old" (from FindAGrave and other histories) Martha married her husband James Faulkner near Wallkill, Orange Co (previously Ulster Co), New York most likely, as James and family are documented in Wallkill, Ulster/Orange/Sullivan Co, New York as land owners and residents; James being a prominent citizen within the community. The Faulkners were long-standing Presbyterians and many held positions within the church. Other Faulkner men and women married other McBride men and women around the same time as James Faulkner married Martha McBride.

In 1790 there were only three male heads of household in all of Ulster Co, New York, where Martha was presumed to have been born. Archibald McBride (resides: Mamakating: 3 males under 16, 2 males 16 and over, 4 females any age), James McBride (resides: Montgomery: 3 males under 16, 1 male 16 and over, 3 females any age, 3 slaves) and John McBride (resides: Montgomery: 1 male under 16, 1 male 16 and over, 2 females any age) The 1790 census is really disappointing as it lists only the total number of females in the household, these records reflect the possibility of Martha being in the household of any of these men. So lots of speculation there!

The author of the Bull Family genealogy book theorized that these three men were brothers, their father being James McBride Sr, who came to the area from Ireland about 1728; so which James is on the census? Both James Sr and James Jr were alive in 1790 and residing in Ulster Co. according to this author. I have not found any further documentation to prove/disprove this and surmise there was some confusion interpreting the death records (fodder for a future post)

More digging revealed that James McBride Jr had been married twice. First, to Martha Hill in 1778, who died in 1790 one month prior to the census being taken. The couple could have had at least 5 children together. James remarried in 1792 to Sarah Eager and had at least 3 children with her before he died in 1798. He is buried in Goodwill Cemetery in Montgomery, Orange Co, New York. He will not appear on any future census.

The 1800 census is a little better, but just as speculative. This census again lists three McBride heads of household but this time Sarah (resides: Montgomery: 1 male under 10, 1 female under 10, 1 females 26 thru 44), James (resides: Montgomery: 2 males under 10, 1 male 16 thru 25, 1 female 16 thru 25, 1 female 26 thru 44) and Archibald (resides: Wallkill: 1 male under 10, 1 male 26 thru 44, 1 female 26 thru 44) appear. Well we know James Jr died in 1798 and the age of the household members does not line up for James Sr, so there might be a son we don't know of yet. Same for Sarah. Sarah McBride was James Jr's second wife and was certainly alive in 1800, but her household only lists two young children, one male and one female. Sarah and James had one daughter and two sons who grew to adulthood, so either one son was not counted or this is not the correct Sarah. That leaves John. The John McBride household could have contained the two children, based on the tally from the 1790 census. Could John have married a Sarah? Could John have died prior to 1800? As for Archibald, the only female listed in 1800 was 26 to 44 years old. Is this the correct Archibald or could this be a son? In that case, where is Archibald from 1790? (put a pin in that)

Other tidbits.

Only James McBride Jr is known to be the son of James Sr. Interestingly, James Jr named his first born son Archibald. Archibald I, James' son (and possibly Martha's brother) married Susan Faulkner, a first cousin of Martha's husband James Faulkner.

It is known that James McBride Jr was a member of the First Presbyterian Church at Goshen. His marriage records can be found on Ancestry dot com. Martha McBride and her husband James Faulkner were Presbyterians.

Oddly, a descendant of Archibald McBride (possible brother of James and John) is a 5th to 8th cousin DNA match with myself and one of my siblings. That would work out to James McBride Sr being our MRCA. (put a pin in that)

Are you taking notes? It gets mighty confusing! Perhaps a flow-chart might help?

A Venn diagram?

A giant detective board with pushpins and string?

So here's my first (wild) theory. I call it the Theory of James. Looking at the paltry information available, and this in NO WAY concludes anything, this theory postulates that Martha belongs in the James McBride Jr household. Her mother would then have been Martha Hill. Martha Hill died in 1790. Martha McBride was born in 1789 or 1790. Could Martha Hill have died in childbirth? Could James McBride have named his newborn daughter after her deceased mother?

This theory asks the additional questions: where is 10 year old Martha in 1800? Could she be living with other relatives? Grandparents? Aunt or Uncle? In this theory her father died in 1798, leaving her with a step-mother who had three small children of her own to deal with.

So much fuzzy information. Just enough to get one in trouble should one choose to take a hunch and run with it. (don't) Kind of like playing a 230 year old game of 'telephone', the whispers of hazy evidence floating up to confound and confuse.

So, just who WAS Martha McBride's father? And where was she born? And when?

Stay tuned for wild theory #2 ......

©2018 Anne Faulkner - AncestorArchaeology.net, All Rights Reserved

Saturday, November 5, 2016

Martha McBride Faulkner: Invisible Wife (52 Ancestors #2)

It irks me so that the women of former generations were, for all intents and purposes invisible. They
might well have been strong, opinionated, highly regarded citizens, but the history books record, for the most part, only the accomplishments of their husbands, fathers and brothers.

Such is the case of Martha McBride. Martha is my 3rd great grandmother on my paternal line. She was born about 1789 probably Ulster Co (now Orange Co), New York.

Martha first materialized to me when I was researching my 3rd great grandfather. Colonel James Faulkner. Originally I did not know her name. She was mentioned as "the wife and mother" in a biographical sketch on James. The obituary of my 2nd great grandfather listed her name as "Jane McBride", which was my first clue as to her surname. Another biographical sketch on James listed his wife as "Caroline".

It wasn't until I began to build James' family and research sideways that I discovered Martha. I was able to obtain death certificates on three of the children. Therein was listed the name of the mother: Martha McBride. Happy dance ensued. I had a name! A real name!

That euphoria was to be short lived.

Even with a name and a host of other information I still could not, can not, discover who Martha McBride really was.

The story of Martha can, sadly, really only be told through her husband.

Martha McBride was born about 1789, probably in Wallkill, then Ulster Co, New York. She met and married James Faulkner, son of an early pioneer family in the area, somewhere between 1811 and 1813. (James' uncle and father were well known military men and a couple of 'larger than life' characters in early Wallkill history.) Martha's family is unknown. Martha's new father-in-law owned 1000 acres of farm land, several hundred having been sold to her husband James just prior to the marriage.

Her early married life may have been busy and perhaps worrisome. Her new husband was the Justice of the Peace in Wallkill at the time of their marriage. When the War of 1812 broke out he was put in command of a regiment stationed on Staten Island. Meanwhile Martha was home caring for one or perhaps two babies, and running a farm. After the War, Martha's husband remained an officer of the State Militia.

The years of 1816 and 1817 found Martha's husband elected to the State Legislature, spending time in Albany NY. Meanwhile Martha was home, pregnant with twins, while caring for her two toddlers; and running a farm. (It is said Martha's husband was not reelected due to his siding with Gov. Clinton on the construction of the Erie Canal.)

The years between 1818 and 1826 found Martha pregnant three more times, the third pregnancy being another set of twins. Martha's husband began work as a county land surveyor and was "enjoying in a marked degree the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens", meanwhile Martha was home caring for 8 children; and running a farm.

By 1826 the Faulkners had begun to sell off their farmland, and by 1832 they began to plan a move to the wilderness of Michigan; and Martha had her ninth child.

bit of 1826 land sale record - note Martha only 'made her mark' - she probably could not read or write

Martha's husband purchased 600 acre of Michigan wilderness in 1833 in the area of Grass Lake, Jackson Co, Michigan. The move was soon to follow. The trip took 4 to 5 weeks, traveling by wagon with all they possessed. The Faulkner's were among the first to settle the area. By the fall of 1834 James had erected the first hotel in the new town, having cut the timber himself from the heavily forested wild land which, "he had improved from wilderness to fruitful fields". Martha had her tenth child.

In 1835 Martha had her eleventh, and final, child.

In April 1845 Martha lost her third daughter to complications of childbirth. Amazingly, all of Martha's children thrived and grew to adulthood. Only four of her children married, three daughters and one son, whom I descend from.

At Christmastime 1845 Martha departed the earth, she was only 56. I can find no obituary or death record. Her final resting place remains a mystery, but it is speculated she is probably buried near her daughter, most likely in the old Maple Grove cemetery.

In 1929 the courthouse containing all the early town records burned to the ground.

Thursday, October 13, 2016

Samuel Faulkner: Hiding In Plain Sight (52 Ancestors #7)

Samuel Faulkner is my favorite. I think because he was so hard to find. A multi-year brick wall that I just kept butting my head into until it finally cracked. One day a chink fell out and I quickly was able to tear the wall down.

Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

My introduction into the seductive world of genealogy came with a box of stuff from my grandmother, interesting family lore and Ancestry.com.

On my maternal side were Patriots, Pilgrims, Pioneers and suggestions at Royalty. Talk about Bright Shiny Objects! I quickly entered all my grandmother's research into my new Ancestry.com account and ... Oh My Gosh!! ... Well, I never! What?? By the end of an afternoon I had added centuries to my family tree! Centuries!

Well, that was easy. Mom's side - DONE.

I know, you are either laughing hysterically or totally aghast at this point. Wait. Things were soon to take a turn. I was about to get schooled.

So on to my dad's side. The Faulkner side. No one had ever done any research on my dad's side, that I was aware of. I actually had to build it from scratch. And, to make it even more interesting my dad was an only child. And had recently died. My mom had a few notes from a second cousin who could not be less interested in genealogy - so the quest began. With no one to consult on this family I set out to forge a new trail into the wilderness.

Samuel Faulkner is my 4th great grandfather on my paternal side, but I did not know this for a very long time. The oldest piece of information I had at the beginning of my quest was the name of my 2nd great grandfather. My father has started a file labeled "Operation Grandpa" which I did not find until after he had died, and it made me laugh. He had been searching for the mythical Faulkners too!

Using Ancestry, I plugged in all the information my dad had gathered. I immediately found some good census, birth and death records. I found marriage and divorce records. I found obituaries. I found children. And blessedly I did not find one single Family Tree to mess me up!

I contacted Historical Societies, wrote to cemeteries, joined Yahoo groups, posted to message boards. I posted public trees on every site I could think of hoping to lure a cousin or two. I ordered genealogy and history books through the library that I couldn't view online.

I discovered some second cousins I did not know I had, and managed to track them down via long evenings Googling. That hard work proved unfruitful for family info, but I gained brand new kin.

None of this was easy. There were a lot of misses. A lot of dead ends. A lot of "I'm sorry, we are unable to help you with your request". A lot of years searching in vain for a man with no name.

I can't even describe the twists and turns my research took. The one step forward two steps back. The high hopes dashed in an instant. And all the quitting. Throwing my hands up in disgust and walking away - muttering "it's impossible!" "it can't be done!".

But something kept pulling me back. I was a mad woman on a mission. Why was no one else researching this family? No one! I became very protective of MY Faulkners. Yes, My Faulkners. I had gone there. At this point I had invested 4 years of solely researching this particular family. Investing my own blood, sweat and tears. I lived and breathed Faulkner history. I was pretty annoying to be around.

With all the information I was able to gather I had been able to prove my way back to my 3rd great grandfather - a regionally famous man named James Faulkner - I wrote about his wife here. Of course, in all the biographies and histories done on him there was never a mention of his father.

And I had a very strong candidate for my 5th great grandfather, William Faulkner. Very strong.
Early on in my research I was given a transcript of his will. By all indications this was my 5th great grandfather. And it listed 4 sons. Hallelujah!

Maybe.

So, how to get from James to William? Another year or so passed as I worked the four sons lines. I ruled out one right away as he was deceased and there was no mention of any offspring. Another was a Patriot and there had been some lineage work done on him. The third son married into the Bull family of New York, and traceable through extensive histories. That left Samuel. Invisible Samuel.

Plugging Samuel in to my database brought me nothing. I started my writing, searching, posting campaign yet again, to no avail. This man was invisible! This man who, at one time owned 1000 acres of land in Wallkill, New York was invisible! Another year passed and I sadly put my quest for Samuel away. Vowing to travel to New York one day to pick up the search in person. Time to get on with life. Time to rejoin the living.

Then it happened.

A week after Christmas.

2012.

A casual mention in a chat room about newly added unindexed records on FamilySearch.

Oh. Hell. Yes.

Locked in my Genealogy Cave - fueled on nothing but raw tenacity and coffee - eyes bleary and red from hours of scrutinizing the computer screen ....... there it was!

No. What? Did I do it? Did I just find Samuel?

Staring in shocked disbelief. Frozen in the moment. The quest was over. OVER.

Stumbling out of the Cave I began my happy dance. I did a little Church Lady, and cried tears of joy.

It was a wonderful, frustrating, magical 5 years. I learned a lot. Not only about my Faulkner family, but about researching from scratch and doing it right. Best lesson ever. This is why Samuel Faulkner is my favorite. I worked hard for him and was rewarded magnificently.

Samuel Faulkner was never really lost. Just hiding, in plain sight.

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Finding Faulkner: Part Six | New York Confusion

It started, as good quests always do, with a family tale.

In the spirit of full disclosure I must confess that the timeline in this retelling is askew. I decided it would be easier to follow if the retelling progressed in a chronological order. Truthfully, the order was more chaotic, something like: sideways, back-the-way-you-came, chase a rolling ball (in the wrong direction), screech to a halt, push a boulder up a hill, and leap over a canyon. My Orange County feelers had been out since 2008, but the information I was getting led me on goose chase after wild goose chase. Add my myopic searching technique and the fact that I was missing a big piece of the puzzle (the whole Michigan interlude), most of what I learned early on did me no good. I attempted to go from point B to point E directly.

~ I would not recommend trying this at home! ~

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New York bound, I started to really dig into anything I could land my hands on. Full immersion seemed to be the order of the day. My first query was to the OCGSNY Yahoo group. That lead to a big discussion on the Sarah Wells/William Bull family and one of their famous "sons", James Faulkner, who married Catherine Bull. Not much else was know of him, but I did learn of the "Bull Family Genealogy" book, or the "Blue Book" as it is sometimes referred to. And a section on Faulkner genealogy. What?!? A Faulkner genealogy??? This seemed too good to be true.

And, it was. Sort of.

But before I learned that I, without hesitation, placed my request for the book through the interlibrary loan program.

The day it arrived was better than Christmas! The book was a good 5 inches thick and read like stale toast. But there were Faulkners in it!! Lots of them! And McBrides too! Surely I was going to find my answers here.

I toted that book to work for well over three weeks, sneaking copies of the relevant pages.

Then I started to recreate the family as laid out in the Blue Book. Only I was focused on the Faulkners and not the Bulls. A story for another time, let me just say it was very interesting to see an entirely new book emerge from the information contained within the Blue Book's pages.

Now that I had enough information to progress, I pulled out all the bits I had been compiling. I worked that big tree, I had email conversations with other researchers, including the Bull Family genealogist. (Surely SHE would have the answers!) Seems no one could identify James, my James. As it turned out, I was the one to introduce James to the genealogy world. Until I brought his existence to light he was on no one's radar. Least-wise not that I have been able to find, even to this day. Poor James.

My introduction of this new James Faulkner, married to Martha McBride, started a maelstrom of speculation on his parentage. The known Faulkner's of Wallkill were all Presbyterian (promising!) most were members of the Goodwill Presbyterian Church. I borrowed all the books I could find pertaining to these church records. There were a number of them, it turned out. Surely there would be a mention of a marriage or baptism. I soon began to see James turn up on Ancestry as a son of either James (who married Catherine Bull) or His brother Colonel William Faulkner. These were my top choices too, but the documentation was just not there. Why were other researchers including him in their families?

I needed to dig deeper. In one of the many Orange County history books I borrowed (before they were digitized!), the History of Orange Co , page 431 had this sentence: "Still further east the Faulkner family made an early settlement." I found several other references to the family, all rather elusive, they were clearly not as prominent as some of the other early players in Wallkill. Seems their roll was more supporting than starring.

Frustrated. A bit dismayed, I soldiered on.

I found James on the Political Graveyard website. I found him in the Military Minutes of the Council of Appointment of the state of NY, three separate years. I could not find anything about his time on Staten Island or any real records from his actual war service, other than the War of 1812 Service Record Index. He was also listed in the Bounty Land Warrant Applications Index. INDEX-schmindex! Looked like I would have to order some records, and perhaps some films. Or take a trip to the National Archives. Truthfully, my mind was boggled at the thought, and I set that avenue of research aside. (Happily, this retelling has fanned those flames anew and I have put the record search back on my docket.)

My best source was the now defunct Scotchtown Highlander. Sal, the site's curator sent me lots and lots of information. (I recently found an archived version of the site at the Middletown Thrall Library.) It contained nothing more on James, however. And absolutely no hint as to his actual parentage. How could a man who was seemingly as involved, militarily and politically, as James not make the history books? I was spinning in circles and getting nowhere. The bits and pieces of Faulkner information I was able to acquire were not adding up. This was one tough nut!

I turned once again to Ancestry, and the trees to which James had been added. Contacting the tree owners, posting to message boards. The return? Zero. Zip. Nada. The tree owners had merely copied James from other trees (my tree unfortunately, before I took it private), no one had a source, a fact, that I did not have. It all pointed back to me.

Confusing the issue (because, why not!) Sal from Scotchtown Highlander sent me an abstract of a will of one William Faulkender of Wallkill, who died in 1784. He believed this was the original Faulkner, but could find no proof, other than this typed abstract. The name was not quite right. I had seen this floating around Ancestry, mostly tied to a Faulkender family in Pennsylvania. (There was no end to the confusion that was occurring at this time!) The will listed a wife named Mary (no last name), and four sons, Joseph (deceased), James, Samuel and William. This will did line up with what the author of the Blue Book had concluded; That a William Faulkner was the father of four sons with the same names as these Faulkender boys. But little more was written, as the subject was about the Bull family, not the Faulkner family.

This gave me four possibilities for James' father. There was nothing more written of Joseph, and all that was said about Samuel was that he had married Elizabeth Wilkin. I already had explored James and William, and although both were good candidates, the research had been done rather well for the Blue Book, there was not a James listed as a son of either of them.

Increasingly frustrated, and now confused I set out to begin research on Joseph and Samuel. "The quiet boys". The two who did not leave any noticeable mark on the record of time. Not an easy feat, it turned out. Hitting dead end after dead end, these men really did not leave any breadcrumbs! I found a mention, once, of a Samuel, nothing that would illuminate the search of course, and nothing on Joseph. Nothing. Posting to message boards proved fruitless. Even OCGSNY had no suggestions. Joseph and Samuel lived so quietly they became invisible.

Bear in mind I was searching for pre-1780 documents. And at a time when less was digitized. I had been digging in New York for well over a year with not much to show for it. Short of a trip to the Hudson Valley, which was not an option, I resigned to put the quest to find Faulkner on the back burner for a while.

to be continued .........

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