About Eliza

 

It may seem an unnecessary roundabout effort to trace the step-children from a second marriage, but in the case of Nancy—daughter of Simon Rinehart and his second wife, Anna—the goal of locating any records from her first marriage was proving to be elusive. It wasn't until after the death of her second husband that we finally see any signs of a possible descendant—but whether that married woman named Eliza was actually Nancy's daughter or step-daughter needed verification.

To recap, we've already seen Simon's daughter listed as Nancy Ankrom in the family fallout following the reading of her father's will, and as Nancy Colborn in the court case following her mother's death. Just to be sure, in finding Nancy in the household of David Hull, listed as her "son-in-law," I needed to ensure that there were no daughters of Nancy's second husband, John Colborn, who were named Eliza. Reviewing the court records yesterday resolved that issue.

Having done that, you know I flew to the marriage records for Perry County, Ohio, in hopes that the young couple might have married there, rather than back in Greene County, Pennsylvania, where so many of the Rineharts had once lived. Fortunately, on August 21, 1849, there was such a document in Perry County. David Hull had married Eliza Ann Ankrom, not Colborn.

I followed Eliza from the 1870 census—where she had appeared with her husband David and five children, along with her mother—through all the other enumerations she was listed in, up to the 1880 census, her last appearance before her death in 1891. Because the later census records had shown Eliza's birth place as Illinois, now that I knew her married name, I also checked for her entry in earlier enumerations, where fortunately, her birthplace was listed correctly as Pennsylvania.

From that point, I've begun tracing Eliza's descendants. The main reason for this has more to do with the hunt for DNA matches. If Eliza was indeed Nancy Rinehart's child, that would mean she was also related to my mother-in-law's own family, thus the possibility of finding DNA matches among her descendants. But the other reason for tracing Eliza's line is that ever-present question: did Eliza have any siblings? And did any of those possible siblings mention their father's name in any records?

So far, I've not found any possible siblings for Eliza. I haven't yet located any obituary for her, which would hopefully provide a listing of surviving relatives. Nor have I found any obituary for Eliza's mother, Nancy, who died in 1874. No other documents have surfaced to provide any inkling of possible siblings for Eliza—or the name of Nancy's first husband.

Looking at the dates extrapolated from what I can find, though, shows that Nancy was born in 1803 while Eliza was born in Pennsylvania at the end of February, 1830. At the latest, Nancy could have been married to the elusive Mr. Ankrom in 1829, but based on her age, she could have been married as early as 1821, leaving plenty of time for the arrival of other siblings before Eliza was born.

A corollary question would be when Mr. Ankrom died—and where. Obviously, his daughter Eliza was in Ohio, not Pennsylvania, when she married David Hull in 1849. Could her father have died in Ohio? Or did Nancy and Eliza make the trek to Ohio with extended family after his death in Pennsylvania?

Though there are still many questions left to answer, that number is slowly decreasing as we find additional information to resolve our dilemma. And each additional identifying name will help when we return to examine the documents in Greene County, Pennsylvania, for additional information.