Emeline (Maple) Ramsey (1844 - 1884)

For the record, I have found Emeline in the 1860 and 1870 census. There is an Emelime Stark age 14 in Cross Creek in the house of Simon Warren whose mother was Lady Rebecca Hamilton. His neighbor is John Stark and Simon has taken in his mother Elizabeth age 70. Emeline does not have a last name in the census, Stark is assigned because she follows Elizabeth Stark and is followed by another child named Banks. John's brother Robert Stark is Elias's neighbor and Simon's son in-law William Roberts is the nephew of James who was the neighbor of the Ramsey. None of the Stark's nor Warren's have a daughter Emeline recorded and I'm speculating she is Emeline Maple. If so she could be Elias's daughter employed by the Warren the way his daughter Mary Jane was employed by the Roberts but she is only 14 (and if this is Emeline Maple she was b.1846). Moreover Mary Jane was also recorded in the household of Elias in 1860 which Emeline is not. George's family was in Iowa by then, the Warren may have taken Emeline in as a favor to the Ramsey to whom she was a future daughter in-law. In 1870 again in Cross Creek, she is Emma wife of William Ramsey whose name is reversed causing confusion. She is 24, again she was born 1846, her daughter Eugenia is 3. With them is Elias's son Robert Maple age 23 and Elizabeth same age, who would be his wife. They were married June 8, 1870, just a few days before the census. Robert was born Nov. 1846, since Emeline appears in three census as b.1846 they cannot be brother and sister unless they were twins. 1846 also raises the possibility she was the 1st child of George's son Elias who is traditionally her father. He was married Sept.1845 and his 1st known daughter Sarah was b.Feb.15, 1847 according to her death certificate. He had a daughter Kesiah b.1849 according to his 1850 census, the Keisah b.1844 (or earlier since she was married 1861) is probably not his daughter. Emeline would be born before May 15, 1846, since this Elias appears in two places in the 1850 census, not always with his family and not at all in 1860 it's possible Emeline was placed with other families in those years, same as for George if her father. However Emeline said her parents were born in Pa. which points to George. There is some onomastic support for George who had a half-sister Emeles b.1847/8 just north of where he was living (a year or more after Emeline was born). She is mentioned only in his father's 1850 census. She could be named after Emeline (if Emeles=Emeline). this is the only other time the name appears. I realize you don't like this kind of speculation but when you hit a brick wall you have to think outside the box. It's your tree but my great grandmother, I would move her to George as his daughter b.1846 but in either family and for either birth year, I would mark as uncertain.

OK Bruce here is everything that survives for Elias or George as Emeline's father. She is in Elias's 1850 census. He is in Cross Creek where the Ramsey's lived in the 1860 census but without 15 year old Emeline, his daughter Mary Jane is a servant in the house of James Roberts who was the Ramsey's neighbor. Elias's son Albert is living with Emeline and her husband in the 1880 census. Sounds like Elias is my gg grandaddy. Then again in the 1880 she says her parents were born in Pa. as George and his wife state at least in their 1850 census (not certain where they were born). All of Elias's other children state their parents were born in Ohio in their own census, which they were, including Albert who is saying Ohio for his parents while Emeline, who is right there with him, is saying Pa. for her's. That is a red flag. In the 1850 census she is said to be four which she was not and Elias states a son is also four (which he was and they weren't twins) and another son was six (uncertain). Why two children of the same age? William Ramsey was the 2nd cousin of both George and Elias so his children were going to be inbred but Elias's parents were 1st half cousins if his grandfather was Thomas Maple and he had a son Thomas but still 2nd cousins even if not Thomas. William's children would be very inbred, another red flag. William's cousin married George's niece and the 1st cousin in-law of George's sister Keziah is living in between the Roberts and the Ramsey. I would be cautious about her placement in the 1850 census, Mary Jane is in the household of James Roberts (as well as in her father's household). If her name weren't Maple and not listed as a servant she would be mistaken for his daughter and most of George's children weren't with him in 1850, they were living in the household of his adult daughter Rhoda. If she weren't as young and unmarried they would be mistaken for her children. I think the evidence leans toward George, especially saying her parents were from Pa. while Albert says Ohio and also being a consanguineous marriage but barring the torn up family tree, uncertain I agree.

Try again, William Ramsey's cousin William Henry Ramsey b.1826 married Jane, daughter of William Rich Maple who was George's brother on April 4, 1851, in Jefferson co. Since Emeline was almost certainly born in 1844 (can't find an another source for Oct.30) and George's son Elias had a daughter Keizah b.Dec.15,1846 anyway, that leaves him out. Elias b.1812 had a son Erza variously said to be born 1842-1845 (age 6 in the 1850 census), too bad the date can't be pinned down. Since William's cousin William Henry married George's niece Jane that might point to George as her father but hardly proof. In the 1860 census Elias is in Cross Creek house #1320, visitation #1309 and William Ramsey is house #1259, visitation #1241. Not far apart but where's Emeline? In the house of James Robert #1254, visitation #1236 (the Ramsey's neighbors) was a servant named Jane Maple b.1842. She is probably Erza's daughter Mary J. (usually stated to be Jane) who is in his 1850 census, age 8. She is also in his 1860 census as age 17 but it is possible she was recorded twice which also means Erza was probably not born before 1843, still could leave room for Emeline. In-between the Roberts and the Ramsey was Daniel Jefferson Saltzman who was the 1st cousin in-law of Keziah Maple, George and William's sister.

This is becoming more confusing. Emeline would not be the only child of George not living with her parents in 1850, most weren't although they were not far. George is household #1827 and visitation #1880, his daughter Rhoda is 1836 and 1889. Emeline is also nearby at #1798 and #1850. All census information taken in Knox on June 1, 1850. The only children with George is an adult daughter Mary while his son Elias, also there with two sons, is in two 1850 census. George apparently had at least 9 children, most are with his daughter Rhoda in the 1850 census and most do not appear in the 1860 census. She was age 20 (actually 22), living in her own household (M.1856) with brothers Gideon 18 (with his parents in the 1860 census) and William 16, sisters Keziah 12, Christina 8 and Maria 5 (doesn't appear again but Maria is the name of Elias's wife in the 1860 census, some of them may not be George's children). More likely Rhoda couldn't take care of another sister than Emeline's father being Elias. Rhoda's mother is living with her in the 1880 census. Since Elias b.1812, George and Rhoda are in the 1860 census and the 15 year old Emeline isn't (not with the Ramsey's either) the only logical person she could be with Is George's son Elias who isn't in the census. More likely looking after his sister than his cousin as Elias b.1812 was still in Ohio with his children. There was a 2nd Emeline Maple b.1849, the g granddaughter of William born circa 1751 by his 2nd (or 3rd) wife Eleanor White. Both George and Elias were grandsons of William so no onomastics however her father David was born in Franklin, Greene Pa. where George lived and was possibly born.

Something else to consider is Emeline's husband was the 2nd cousin of both George and Elias, all were great grandsons of George Larrison. In addition Elias and his wife were 1st half cousins, if he was Emeline's father her children would be very inbred (assuming Robert was the son of Thomas Maple although there you add uncertain). It's dangerous enough marrying a 2nd cousin once removed . If you take the 1850 census at face value Elias is her father but if you read between the lines of the various census IMHO they point to George. It's one or the other, neither are certain but I don't think my grandmother was that inbred although the way her family acted who knows. They all had their thumbs.

There's one more reason why I don't think Elias is her father. I remember two stories my grandmother told. One was that only a tower remained at her family's estate in England. Lee Hall in the Rochester Hundred was raised by Cromwell's troops, it drove William Lee to America. In 1465 the family built a tower and two naves at st. Margaret's parish in Rochester, only the tower remains. That's what she was talking about. The other story is even more horrific, her parents died in 1883 and 84 in typhoid epidemics when she was six. One sister took her in, she was married to a doctor. Their child died in another epidemic, grief stricken they became morphine addicts. They spent all their money and stole my grandmother's inheritance for drugs. When she was twelve she went to the police, they were arrested and divorced. Her other sister and the rest of the Ramsey's (and Maple's) blamed her and wouldn't take her in so she went to an orphanage. She said the same thing happened to her mother at the same age but Elias and his wife didn't die. Neither did George but he may have given a daughter up. When my grandmother died my father got the family bible, in it was a tree of her family going back to Sam Ramsey (who has a DAR chapter named after him) and his wife Mary Black. Those are the only names I remember. My father hated his mother's family and destroyed the tree, it may have been the only record of Emeline's parents. I don't remember the names Elias or Barbara or anything like that although they are unusual (or George and Sarah either). Maybe the names weren't there.

Looking a little further Emelime says on her 1880 census she was 36 and Find a Grave has her birthday as Oct. 30, 1844. On the 1850 census her brother Robert is also 4 and on his 1900 census said he was born Nov, 1846 so it appears she was born in 1844, before the 2nd Elias was married but the 1850 census has another brother born 1844. George Maple would have been 48 and his wife 45 in Oct. 1844.

I saw that on her headstone, if the date is correct her parents didn't know how old she was as they said four in the 1850 census. It's another discrepancy.

According to her gravestone, Emily was born in 1844, about a year before the other Elias (born 1823, son of George Rich Maple) married his only known wife.

It is true Emeline is included in the 1850 census for Elias Maple b.1812 but she is not included in the 1860 census. The only other child excluded is an older daughter married by then. It is possible she was the 1st child of Elias Maple b.1822 who was married in 1845, a year before she was born. The two Elias were cousins with the 2nd one appearing twice in the 1850 census. !st in the household of his father George without any family and 2nd in the household of Mary Craw with his wife and four children not including Emeline who he could have left with his cousin. In the 1880 census Emeline says her parents were born in Pa. but both Elias and their wives were born in Jefferson co. Ohio. and Albert Maple the son of Elias b.1811 is living with her. He describes himself as a border not brother in-law and says his parents were born in Ohio as do all of Elias's children. At the same time Emeline says her parents were born in Pa., THEY CANNOT BE BROTHER AND SISTER IF THEY SAY THEIR PARENTS WERE BORN IN DIFFERENT STATES. Was he her brother or their cousin whom she was repaying for his family taking her in, at least for a while? In the 1850 census George and his wife are in Jefferson and say they were born in Pa. and are 49 and 46 years old. In the 1860 census they are in Iowa and say they were born in N.J. and R.I. If Emeline is correct about her parents birthplace and they gave the correct answer in 1850 (big if's) she could be their daughter who they gave to relatives to raise perhaps thinking they were too old, especially going to Iowa. Emeline married at 19 to a man 14 years older, perhaps she needed a family. George's father in law was Charles Peckham who married Rhoda Barker (not Baker) of R.I.. He was the 1st cousin and his wife the 2nd of James Barker whose wife Rhoda Mason was a descendant of George Allen. Emeline was also his (step) descendant (yes Benjamin's wife Elizabeth's, the "Widow Lee", name was Allen. We don't have to rehash that). I agree it's not enough evidence to change her parents but given the discrepancies they probably should be marked as uncertain.