New York area Merritt brickwall

Question

Truman was born circa 1800 somewhere in New York, believed to be Rensselaer County or Yates. I've been looking for his parents for a while, and my great uncle as been looking for years. Anyone know of good sources to search for these areas that I may be missing? 

Answer 1

That's a difficult time in New York. You might find something by looking at probate and land records -- perhaps to chase your theory about Ebenezer. See https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/951078/how-to-find-new-york-state-wills

The thing I found with my ancestors is that whole families and/or related families migrated from New York to a place further west (in my case Illinois/Ohio). You might find clues by looking at other families who were early Iowa settlers.

Comments

Thank you Kay I will check this page out. Ebenezer is kind of a shot in the dark theory thus far, I keep hoping a probate record will materialize eventually that will tie them together, so far nothing.

Answer 2

Christina: On the familysearch.org profile for Truman (but not the Wikitree profile) you have also already linked his 1840 census record from Potter Township in Yates County, NY. If you in addition want to link the NY state census records, here (12th from bottom) he is in 1845 in Potter Township, and here (2nd from top) he is in 1835. Before 1832 this area was still part of Middlesex Township, but there is no record of a Merritt in Middlesex Township in either the 1830 federal or the 1825 NY census.

I have checked both the grantor and the grantee indexes for Yates County deeds; there is no evidence that Truman ever bought or sold land there (he did farm, as evidenced by the 1835 census, but must have been a tenant farmer).

Comments

Thank you !