If This, Then That

 

When it comes to sorting out research challenges like connecting John Jay Jackson's descendants with his Patriot father, Lyman Jackson, we can try to deconstruct the documentation tangle using one simple device: the concept, "If this, then that."

If, for instance, John Jay Jackson's future wife—William and Elizabeth Howard Ijams' daughter Sarah—were living with her parents in Fairfield County, Ohio, then one would think that her wedding would be held somewhere near her Ohio home.

If, on the other hand, John Jay Jackson were still serving in the military subsequent to his enlistment during the War of 1812, we might assume he wouldn't be free to travel long distances from the post to which he had been assigned. If that post were not in Ohio, then we can assume there would be some challenges to getting bride and groom in the same place at the same time.

If, however, that potential groom happened to be stationed at the same fort as the bride's brother, then we could perhaps expect some match-making action taking place.

And yet, if the bride's father died unexpectedly in the midst of that same time period, then there might be some change in plans.

All those details may have fallen into place to create the unlikely scenario that seems to have happened: that bride and her mother traveled through the wilderness—perhaps down the Ohio River, then up the Mississippi—for over five hundred miles. And upon their arrival at Fort Belle Fontaine, both widowed mother and daughter were married to military men stationed there.

If that is the supposed story, then even after all these years, I still have not found documentation to support that. Somehow, before I connect our family's current generation of DAR hopefuls to their Patriot ancestor, an explanation will have to be reconstructed with solid documentation.