In the Company of Family

 

When it comes to following the route of our migrating ancestors, the concept of the "F.A.N. Club" becomes a useful reminder that pioneer journeys likely occurred in the company of family, associates, and neighbors from the place they left behind. The same was apparently the case for the First Families cluster I've been following, the families of John Hutchins and his eventual bride, Anna Nevin.

Although John Hutchins didn't marry Anna Nevin until after both had arrived in California, it is possible that the families knew of each other before their California arrival, as John, traveling with his family from his native Canada, had stopped in Iowa at the time of the 1850 census. In his brief biographical sketch in George Tinkham's 1923 tome, History of San Joaquin County, California, the author had mentioned that the Nevin party crossed the Great Plains ten years later than the Hutchins family, and in half the time—only three months.

Having the Tinkham volume available to me digitally enabled a quick search through its 1,600 pages to see whether there were any biographical sketches in the book on the Nevin side of the family. Unfortunately, that was not the case for Anna's father Alexander Nevin, nor for any of her other relatives. However, the full-text search capability pointed me to a few other residents' entries which included brief mentions of the Nevin name.

From that search, I spotted an entry for a farmer turned county official by the name of John Perrott. Though not a relative of either the Hutchins family or the Nevin family, his entry included the mention that he had served as "assistant to County Treasurer Nate Nevin."

County Treasurer? Nate Nevin? Could that "Nate" be Anna Nevin Hutchins' brother Nathan Nevin?

I followed the genealogical trail for Nathan Nevin, in hopes of finding any documentation to share his position in life. Finding him as a fifteen year old, back in Linn County, Iowa, in his father's household for the 1850 census didn't tell me much. Seeing him still in Iowa for the 1860 census wasn't much of an encouragement, either—although I did see he was now married and father of two year old son Alexander, named after Nathan's own father. But since he was still in Iowa, I fretted that maybe he'd never make the move to California.

How about the 1870 census? After all, Nathan's father Alexander was eventually living in California, judging by his 1878 appearance in a Stockton directory. But in 1870, with a growing family, Nathan Nevin was still in Linn County, Iowa.

It wasn't until the 1880 census when Nathan Nevin and his family appeared in the record for San Joaquin County, California. By then, Nathan was forty five years of age, and his occupation was listed merely as farmer. No county office mentioned.

Even the 1892 Great Register entered his occupation simply as farmer, though the 1900 census provided the enigmatic occupational label as "capitalist." And the obituary I was pointed to by Ancestry.com hints mentioned nothing about the man except a string of initials for the names of his sons—while incorrectly listing three of his sisters as if they were his daughters.

What next? Take this search directly to the newspapers, myself. If Nathan Nevin were the same as Nate Nevin the county treasurer, surely he would have been mentioned in the local news. And he was.

The first entry I found, searching directly through Newspapers.com, was for the very man whose biographical entry in Tinkham's book had mentioned Nate Nevin, the treasurer. This time, the wording was in the 1928 obituary for John Perrott.

There was far more to explore. Apparently, in the election of November 1890, Nathan Nevin had indeed run for the office of treasurer in San Joaquin County—and won, 3027 votes to 3013.

His opponent promptly took him to court, along with the county Board of Elections, for alleged misconduct. Though Nevin emerged the victor, plans were in the offing to appeal the decision to the Supreme Court. Whether that actually happened or not, no matter, for at the end of Nevin's two year term, his opponent won the subsequent election.

Fortunately, doing a thorough and independent search through the local newspapers available on Newspapers.com and at the California Digital Newspaper Collection pointed out several additional mentions of Nathan Nevin. Besides the brief obituary—with the errant listing of his sisters as daughters—I was able to find another obituary which spelled out the man's personal history, including dates of migration between Iowa and California, and a funeral notice which pointed out his political endeavors (albeit with the incorrect relationship given for his sisters) and other relatives mentioned from his extended family.

All told, the search through several newspaper entries bearing Nathan Nevin's name helped paint a clearer picture of his family. At the same time, though, learning about his extended family members through these additional news reports pointed out one hazard: Nathan Nevin had a name twin—someone we'll need to learn more about, to help avoid any possible confusion between the two men possessed of the same name.