First Sunday of November

Changing the clocks twice a year is such a nuisance. I personally wish they'd quit the practice. I usually have a few days of "feeling off" whenever it's time to mess with the clock settings.  I ran to Walmart at what my car clock said was 8:30.  Not only was the store pretty empty (which I love) but the streets were clear too.  I had forgotten about daylight savings time and just thought I was having a good morning free of crowds. I guess I needed a little more than I thought I did because my total was $63 and very little of it was food. 

I spent way too much time on the computer yesterday but once I get into searching files on ancestry.com and the Mormon website, nothing else matters but the answers I'm looking for.  Besides "Charley" who I will probably never find, I've been wanting to learn more about my great grandmother(Jane Downs) on my dad's side of the family.  I've been able to track her movements since she married Lewis M.Blankenship back in 1859 in Ramsey, IL and except for the 1890 census (which I really miss but oh well...no one gets to see it), I know about all her kids (except Charlie) and all the places they lived.  I dearly miss that 1890 census that was lost in a fire. Anybody who is into genealogy knows my frustration on that.

I'm still guessing on a lot of the info about Jane M. Downs. Sadly, the information in the early 1800 census rolls doesn't list a lot of names for the women. They're just a mark under age groups for their husband's household.  Jane's mother, whoever she was, died young, maybe even in childbirth.  Jane shows up in the 1850 census with her dad, Ben Downs, and a woman named Henrietta, who is 9 years older than Ben. I'm assuming she's his 2nd wife, but maybe not. Jane is 10 years old and for some reason, I've always thought Henrietta was her stepmom.  I found 7 references (so far) of Ben Downs marrying women but none of the dates fit for my Ben.   I'll keep looking.

At any rate, Ben died in 1852 leaving Jane an orphan at age 12, IF Henrietta was actually her stepmom.  Henrietta would have been 54 and I'm still searching to see if and who she remarried or if she died.  The 1850 census had several clues for me to follow up on as I wrote down all the neighbors of Ben and Henrietta thinking perhaps one of those families took Jane in and that's how she got from Delaware to Illinois.  One of those Delaware families was the Clarks. Zadock Clark I found in the Ramsey, Illinois census where the Blankenships lived so I'm thinking Zadock and his wife took Jane with them when they headed west.

The letter I've studied for years that Jane received from another Henrietta had me believing that the letter writer, Henrietta, was Jane's sister.  Because...she called herself Aunt Henny in regards to Charlie and she signed off on the letter saying "I am your loving sister".  So confusing.  I decided to research this Henrietta as she was definitely some kind of link to Jane Downs.  What I found was that she was NOT actually a sister and maybe referred to herself that way when she was a loving friend of many years.  This Henrietta was a Clark and they were neighbors of Ben & Henrietta & Jane in Delaware. Henrietta's brother was Zadock Clark so that's how I tied them together.  They were 11 years apart in age but they must have been close friends.  And Jane must have been close with Zadock and his wife, as well, because she ended up calling one of her sons Zadock Clark Blankenship. Or Zed.

Jane was living in Salem,OR when she got the letter from her "friend" Henrietta. In the letter, Henrietta mentioned several neighbors -- all listed in the 1850 census of people that Ben knew.  My next goal is to find out if the Henrietta listed in the 1850 census as Ben's wife, is Jane's real mom or step mom and if it's her real mom, what was her maiden name?  I'm also going to hunt for Zadock Clark and his wife, Ann, to see where he ended up.  I have a lot of names and dates in regard to Henrietta Morris (the letter writer in DE) and I'm hoping maybe one of her great great grandchildren is into genealogy and I can learn more that way.   Sure would love to see some pictures of these people.

I did find one photograph on ancestry that somebody posted of Henrietta Hilford. I'm fairly certain this is Henriettta Morris' mother. She was born in 1792 and after her husband, Zadock Clark, died, she married a George Dorman.

Well, I know this is probably boring as hell but I needed to have a place where it's written down and I can refer to as my clues start to connect.

I did find some history on Ben Downs' family. Some of the maiden names in that bunch of wives is
Moss, Owens, Nixon, and Fereday.  It just never ends. ha ha

One of the biggest obstacles for me is to get my notes in better order. Can't find anything the way I have it now but it's a learning process.  Facebook has been a lot of help too as there are groups you can join.  Random acts of Genealogy Kindness, Lost and found vintage pictures, and Ancestry Helpers for three.
Here's an early picture of Jane Downs.... my grandpa, Lew Gene's mom.

And that was my day!