Cayuga County Research Report

I received the Cayuga County, NY Murray line research results last week and I’ve been analyzing the information and organizing my thoughts about the next steps to take.  (You can follow the path of my research on the Murrays:          #1       #2     #3       #4       #5       #6       #7       #8 )

Overall, I’m both thrilled and disappointed with the information.  Thrilled because 1) there was confirmation of one of my hypotheses, 2) there was invalidation of another hypothesis, 3) there were some solid leads for future research, and 4) now I no longer wonder “what if I could do local research?”.  The disappointment comes not from any realistic expectation that wasn’t met….I just couldn’t help but dream of more complete answers (I know..hahahahaha).

Here are the challenges I presented to the researcher and the outcomes:

• Copies of two newspaper obituaries:  James Murray in the June 12, 1822 issue of the Cayuga Republican and Ruth Murray in the March 24, 1857 Auburn Daily Advertiser  

Received copies of both and the previous information I had was an exact transcription.

• Documentation of Erastus' parentage, especially any information that supports, or contradicts, that the James Murray in the 1822 obit was Erastus' father

One hypothesis confirmed:  Ruth Murray and her three daughters seemed probable mother & sisters of Erastus—In an 1876 probate record summary for one of Ruth’s daughters, Erastus was listed as one of the next of kin, along with the sisters and a half-brother.

• Documentation, other than censuses, that Erastus & Christina were Albert's parents

Alas, nothing.

• Any marriage or birth records for the James/Ruth, Erastus/Christina (would especially like maiden name), Erastus/Loretta

Sigh,  Nothing

• General information about Erastus (especially the period of about 1860-1862, because that is when the family disintegrated and the Murray history, as I originally knew it, was fabricated)

In the same probate record mentioned above, it said Erastus hadn’t been seen in 16 years and was presumed dead.  Well, Erastus didn’t die until 1895, so this hints at him deserting his family around 1860, at about the same time his children were taken to the orphanage.

• Information concerning James and Ruth's parentage/birthplace

Nothing new.

At this point, it probably seems like I didn’t get much, but I had a budget and I placed a cap on the number of hours for this project.  There were lots of leads uncovered that the researcher simply didn’t have time to pursue:  the probate record was only a summary, there wear a Surrogate Court listing for a Lucetta Murray (along with several other Murrays), some land records that might be relevant, along with some other bits and pieces.  She also presented the sources she reviewed but where she found nothing—valuable information too.  That will save me wasted effort.

But one of the best things uncovered helped solve a puzzle I hadn’t directly presented to the researcher and, at the same time, it presented me with an entirely new lead to follow.  It involved the relationship between the Murrays and the Stanfords.  In the information I provided to the researcher were these Stanford tidbits: 

• Erastus had a son named Stanford.
• In 1850 Ruth had a grandson named Edward Stanford enumerated with her.  By chance, that same year, I believed he was enumerated with his father, David Stanford.
• An assumption that David was Ruth’s son-in-law (I didn’t mention the nagging concern I had because David was listed as Ruth’s son in her obituary)

So, what was uncovered—in the same probate record—was that David was a half-brother, meaning that Ruth actually was his mother, not his mother-in-law.  So Ruth Snow had married Unknown Stanford first, then James Murray.  The researcher also spotted a Ruth Stanford in the 1810 census (the year David was born and two years before Erastus was born).  What the researcher didn’t know was that three names above Ruth Stanford in 1810 was the David Murray I had been tracking as possibly the father or brother of her future husband, James.  And it was in Erastus’ birthplace, Brutus, NY.

A few days after I received the report, I had an email exchange with the researcher that sparked some lateral searching.  In her personal research, she had come across Murrays in Seneca County that might be related.  From the summary she presented, I knew there was a connection.  It sent me down the path of researching extended family connections.  I found that the family of Erastus’ brother Richard had lived in the same area for many years.  That made me wonder if his line might have a more knowledge of the family history.  In turn, I began to wonder how I could find anyone from this line.  I found an obituary from 2010 that indicated three of Richard’s granddaughters were still alive at that time.  So, I’m thinking about placing a query in that paper to see if a connection can be made.

Mayflower connection? A Gossamer Thread

My mom told me she had always heard that one of her family lines goes back to the Mayflower.  I haven’t found it yet, but maybe someday I’ll will.  On the other hand, my paternal line involved expectations of a much more recent immigration.  But, it turns out that I may have stumbled onto a Mayflower connection there.  I’ve been unraveling the mysteries of the Murray line, originally thought to be Irish, but now looking more and more like Scotch Irish or even just Scottish.  I’ve kept at my effort in spite of the fact that I’ve uncovered only tiny tidbits here and there over the last few months.  I even hired a researcher to do some local research for me (I’m waiting for the report now). 

While waiting for the results from the researcher, I didn’t want to spend any significant amount of time on the Murray line in order to avoid duplicating efforts.  I decided I’d take a shot at the Snow line (My ggg grandmother, Ruth Snow, married James Murray).

I started with some broad searches and something caught my eye.  Nicholas Snow who married Constance Hopkins, daughter of Stephen Hopkins, original Mayflower passenger, kept popping up in the search results.  My ggg grandmother named one of her sons Hopkins, and she was born in Massachusetts, according to census records.  I had no reason to believe this was anything other than a coincidence, yet my intuition was telling me otherwise.  So I ramped up my Snow research.

I began narrow, specific searches and actually found a Ruth Snow born in the right year (1784) and in Rochester, MA.  I hoped this was the right person, but as my searches had shown, there are a lot of Ruth Snows out there.  This Ruth’s parents were David Snow and Phebe Stetson.  I was a little skeptical that she would be so easily found.

So how and why did my Ruth end up in the Finger Lakes area of New York if she was the daughter of David and Phebe?  I spent a lot of time searching for any kind of death record for either David or Phebe, hoping to find something from New York, especially from Cayuga County.  Nothing.  Finally, I decided to search the words “david snow” phebe and Cayuga.  I found a reference to a David Snow as an early settler in Cayuga County in the second page of search results.  On the fourth page of results, the summary included “David Snow and Phebe, his wife, of Onondaga”—Onondaga County is a neighboring county to Cayuga.  It linked to a PDF of genealogical notes for other families, but a page on land transactions in the Military Tract of Cayuga County had David and Phebe listed as landowners in Cayuga County!  I quickly added this to my research request and hopefully I’ll learn more when I get the report on the Murray line.

I think it’s likely I’ve got the right family, so I couldn’t resist researching more about David.  In the NEHGS online databases, I found a David, born in 1752 in Rochester, MA to Isaac and Thankfull.  I then found and Isaac Snow, born in 1719 in Rochester, MA to Jonathan.  Then thanks to the NEHGS Register being online, I found Isaac Snow, born 1719-20 who married Thankful King.  This Isaac was the son of Jonathan.  Looks like a match.  Again from the Register--Jonathan was the son of Nicholas, who was the son of Mark, who was the son of the Nicholas Snow and Constance Hopkins.

The evidence certainly isn’t sufficient to apply to the Mayflower Society, but if I had the inclination to do the work, I think Ruth Snow would get me there.