Titus Canfield (1784 - abt. 1832)

Born 28 Aug 1784 in New York, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Phoebe (Gravatt) Canfield — married about 1815 in Pennsylvania, United States

Descendants

Died about 1832 at about age 47 in Ohio, United States

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Biography

Titus was born in 1784, the son of Daniel Canfield and Elizabeth Nettleton^[1]. He was possibly born in Orange County, where his father showed up in the 1790 census^[2]. About 1797, the family moved to Randolph County, Virginia (now West Virginia), where Daniel and family appear in the 1810 census^[3].

Titus married Phoebe Gravatt about 1815^[4]. It is believed that he met her through her brother who he may have met during service in the War of 1812. They married in Pennsylvania, where their two oldest children were born, then by 1820 moved back to Beverly, Randolph County, Virginia/West Virginia^[5].

Titus's wife Phoebe died before 1830, possibly in childbirth with the couple's youngest child. After her death, Titus moved to Ohio, probably to live near relatives but by 1832, Titus also died. The orphans were spread out with relatives, some of the girls ending up with their grandmother Elizabeth Nettleton Canfield in Jennings County, Indiana, where they married men in the area.

This family's story is told in a few places:

• Biographical sketch of one of Titus's sons, Robert, in "Portrait and biographical album of Henry County, Iowa". Chicago: Acme Publishing Company, 1888. Page link at the Library of Congress: https://archive.org/details/portraitbiographhci00acme/page/246/mode/2up

"ROBERT T. CANFIELD, a prominent farmer of Jackson Township [Iowa], was born in Randolph County, Va., in 1826, and is the son of Titus and Phoebe Canfield, who died when our subject was a mere lad. They were the parents of seven children — Elizabeth, Johnson, Sarah, Mary, Nancy, Robert T. and Keturah. All were left orphans while yet children, and as the parents were poor they became scattered and their later history is not fully known. Some went West, part became residents of Kansas and some of Wisconsin. [then more about Robert's life]"

• Canfield Family History by Hallie Canfield Kyle. Parsons, WV: McClain Printing Company, 1979. The author lived in Elkins, West Virginia, near where these Canfields settled. She documents the families of Daniel (Titus's father) and Daniel's brother Josiah, who moved there at the same time in the late 1790s.

Sources

1. ↑ Listed as a child in his mother's Revolutionary War widow's application: U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900. Link at Ancestry, Daniel's application (frames 265–271), then Elizabeth's widow's application (frames 272–282) with all the family details: https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1995/images/MIUSA1775D_135029-00267
2. ↑ The National Archives in Washington, DC; Washington, DC; First Census of the United States, 1790.; Census Place: Minisink, Orange, New York; Series: M637; Roll: 6; Page: 365; Family History Library Film: 0568146
3. ↑ Year: 1810; Census Place: Randolph, Virginia; Roll: 70; Page: 332; Image: Vam252_70-0626; FHL Roll: 0181430
4. ↑ based on age of oldest known child
5. ↑ 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Beverly, Randolph, Virginia; Page: 273A; NARA Roll: M33_130; Image: 498

Research Notes

• There is another, different Titus Canfield born the same year (1784) and at one point also married to a different Phebe. This Titus was born in Connecticut, living most of his life in western New York. There is much confusion between the two Tituses.