Anyone up for a census challenge? 1850?

Question

I have a gentleman that I have been able to trace through every census from 1840-1900----except one- the 1850 census. Here is some information on him.

His name is Gilkey Morton. He was born in Maine on May 8, 1814 and died on October 27, 1900 in Gentry County, Missouri. He moved with his parents from Maine to the Muskingum County, Ohio area about the age of three and appears in Muskingum county in the 1840 census. He spent some years blacksmithing in Huron County, Ohio in the mid to late 1840's and then I lose track of him until 1860. In 1860, he appears in Lewis County, Missouri and is enumerated as "Gela Morton" .

I don't think he was in Missouri in 1850 because according to his obituary "Gilkey came to Missouri in 1856 and located at Monticello, Lewis County." With this, I think that it is likely that he was in Ohio.

He would likely appear in the 1850 census with wife Sarah and children Theodore born abt 1837, Louisa Anna born abt 1838, and Lucy born abt 1842.

Answer 1

Here's one clue. On the 1870 census, it lists a couple of other kids. Helen, age 20 (hence b. ca 1850) was born in Ohio.

William, age 14, was born in Missouri and Frank, age 11 was also born in Missouri.

There are three possibilities for the year 1850. The father could have been up in Michigan working on the Sault locks project or in one of the logging camps. It was a great way to earn fast money and they only worked April-October (nobody fought the elements back to Cleveland after October), so he could have gone up there for the year and made his mini-fortune, then come home. It would have given them the seed money for their trip.

They may have already started their trek towards Missouri. The major route was the Ohio river, so they could have been down in the southern counties for the census, or maybe even on a camp along the river in Kentucky or Indiana when the census was taken. No one says they had to make the trek all in one season. In fact, if Sarah was either pregnant or had a brand new baby, there was no way they were floating down the Ohio all the way to the Mississippi all at once. They probably took a couple of years and stopped in Hoosierland or southern Illinois for a while.

Lastly, he could very well be listed by those dreaded initials. If the transcriber got the writing wrong, he could be C. Norton or E. Horton. I searched under all the normal criteria and they didn't show up. So I think the transcriber goofed the last name.

I followed the Helen timeline a little more. She was born in early 1849...early enough not to have a birthday in 1850, but by the time of 1860 census, she was 11. So her birthday was between April and June.

I think her mother was very possibly staying in someone else's home and her husband was  away. That's so common during the era because they could go out for the season and make big money, then come home for the winter and go back to their trade. I found a few possibilities of her living with families in western NY and eastern Ohio. I didn't hav eher maiden name or enough other info to make an educated guess on which is whick.

Answer 2

http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/pa...

If it is any consolation, this lady seems to have the same problem, concerning 1850.

My challenge button is screaming "out of order" this evening.

Answer 3

Knight is right! Wow...  I completely agree 100%. That is funny, I thought that I was the only one they were rude to.

Oh yeah, the question is "Anyone up for a census challenge?"  I, myself, am not.

Answer 4

Been at it an hour now.......no results, yet.

Answer 5

Although I could not find Gilkey Morton on the census of 1850 anywhere, I did find out the following information:

Gilkey Morton, b. 5/8/1814 in Maine and died sometime after the census of June 4, 1900 in Missouri while living with his son Frank.

Gilkey married Sarah Slafter (b. 1817 and died bet. 1880 and 1900)  Married 4/30/1836 in Ohio.

They had the following children:

Theodore, b. 5/5/1837 in Ohio

Louisa Anna, b. 8/27/1838 and d. Abt. Sept. 1839  in Ohio

Lucy Adeline, b. 12/31/1842  in Ohio

Helen Maria, b. 2/11/1850 in Ohio  (she married John Walker on 12/18/1870)

Cora Minera, b. 7/11/1854 in Ohio

William H., b. 10/27/1856 in Missouri

Franklin, b. 12/17/1859 in Missouri.

Since Helen Maria Morton and Cora Minerva Morton were both born in Ohio it's safe to assume that Gilkey & Sarah were living there until after July 1854 but they moved to Missouri sometime before October 1856.

Answer 6

Not particularly interested.  Odd how Violet, who is just as hostile as you are is answering the same question as with other questions... hmmm.

No need to respond.