Looking into the Newton Family

In searching for Desire Newton, wife of Luther Taylor and mother of his four daughters, I decided to try Google as my last resort for leads. And as usual, Google did not disappoint me.

I simply typed in “‘Luther Taylor’ Desire Newton” and hit go… and one of the first results was a individual’s profile on RootsWeb’s WorldConnect. The individual was William Newton, born about 1780 in Voluntown, New London, Connecticut, USA and who died 30 NOV 1856 in New Albion, Cattaraugus, New York, USA.

The profile for him included part of his will: PROBATE RECORD dated September 28, 1857. Mentions widow Lois; son Isaac Spencer Newton; daughters Anna Newton wife of Stephen Newton, Melinda Whitney wife of Aaron Whitney, Dolly Perry wife of Asa Perry, children of Elizabeth widow of Henry Lawton now deceased, children of Desire Taylor widow of Luther Taylor, children of Lucinda widow of Phineas Hotchkin.

Census records from 1830 and 1840, placed him in Fowler, St. Lawrence, NY where Luther and Desire lived along with three of their girls in 1840. But, I was confused because the excerpt from the will of Newton called Desire the widow of Luther, when it was she who made him a widower after she died circa 1846-1855.

A few months later, I decided to take another look at the family of William Newton and his wife Lois Butter. The first daughter I looked into was Elizabeth Newton Lawton, and what I found helped me decide that this was a viable clue to Desire after all… Elizabeth Newton Lawton died February 9, 1853 in Coopersville, Ottawa, Michigan (which is 30 miles away from where I live!) where she and Henry moved in about 1850. So, if Elizabeth died prior to her father’s death in 1856 and was still listed as the widow of Henry Lawton (he died in 1896), perhaps it was just an error in the language used to describe the family relations?

I will continue to look into this branch of Newtons, now that it does show some promise!

 

 

Luther Taylor and his Girls

My 5x great grandfather Luther Taylor was born about 1805 in Connecticut according to US Census records. He married Desire Norton/Newton prior to 1831. Desire died prior to 1860 (probably even before 1850). Sometime before 1860, Luther had relocated along with his three youngest daughters to Kalamazoo, Michigan. He died September 11, 1895 in Watson, Allegan, Michigan.

The Taylors had five known children, all daughters:

• Cynthia Marie Taylor (my 4x great-grandmother) was born May 6, 1831 in New York. She married Levi Decker, the son of Wilhelmus and Mary Decker of Wayne Co, NY in 1850. Cynthia and Levi moved to Michigan in about 1858, settling in Allegan County. She died on the Decker family farm on Big Lake in Watson, Allegan, Michigan of Jaundice coupled with Senility on March 4, 1907. She rests in Hicks Cemetery in Watson.
• Melissa Surviah Taylor was born May 3, 1833 in Fowler, St. Lawrence, New York. She married Eli Charles Spencer in Kalamazoo County, Michigan on June 24, 1855. Together they had three known children and she helped raise his older children from his previous marriage. They moved to Kansas where he passed away around 1877. She eventually moved with her son Allison to Delta County, Colorado where she passed away on April 27, 1919.
• Caroline E. Taylor was born in 1836, also in New York. In 1850, a sixteen year old Caroline was living with her newlywed sister Cynthia in Ontario, Wayne, New York. She married a soldier with the Michigan 1st Regiment of Mechanics and Engineers named William Bates May 1, 1861 in Kalamazoo County, Michigan. They had one daughter; Edith Bates. William died in 1863 in Tennessee. Caroline married James M. Flanagan of the same company and regiment as Bates on December 4, 1865 in Kalamazoo County. James and Caroline moved from Michigan to Kansas where she died sometime before 1902.
• Emaline Louisa Taylor was born February 21, 1842 in NY. She married Irish immigrant John Shaw in Kalamazoo on April 1, 1862. They settled in Texas Township, Kalamazoo, Michigan and had many children. She passed away there on June 1, 1921 of Dropsy and is buried in the Hope Cemetery in Texas Corners.
• Mary Taylor was born November 3, 1845 in NY. She married Charles Campbell in Kalamazoo on May 9, 1863. They lived in Cooper, Kalamazoo, MI with her father Luther in 1870, at that time their family also included their 10 month old son, Charles Jr. and Adeline Fuller and her husband farmhand Jonathan Fuller. Mary died of dropsy of the heart August 30, 1873 and was buried in the West Cooper Cemetery. Campbell then went on to marry Adeline Fuller, who was by then 21 and had been divorced from Jonathan prior to 1872. In 1880, Luther Taylor was still living with the Campbell family, his grandson was by then 11 years old.

Quick Brick Wall Update: Levi Decker’s Parentage

Levi and Cynthia Decker are my 4x great grandparents on my maternal grandmother’s side of the family. According to a family bible (not in my possession) they were married on July 1, 1847 in Puttneyville, Wayne, NY.

Based on their graves located in the Hicks Cemetery, Watson, Allegan, Michigan I knew that Levi was born on February 22, 1818 and died August 27, 1891. Cynthia was born May 6, 1831 and passed away on March 4, 1907.

On the 1850 Census the couple was living in Ontario, Wayne, New York along with a sixteen year old named Caroline Taylor,her closeness in age to Cynthia makes me think that they could be sisters. The couple’s first child, Mary, would be born in October of that year.

By 1860, the family had relocated to Watson, Allegan, Michigan and had grown to include Mary, Francis, Levi Luther (my 3x great grandfather and the first to be born in Michigan), and George. Caroline Taylor is no longer listed as living with the family. The Decker family operated an 80 acre farm on Big Lake in Watson, and grew to include five more children by 1873.

Doing various Google searches on Levi, I found an article ordering all the children of Wilhelmus Decker to see the county judge on March 20, 1854 at 10 o’clock to prove their age and claim their inheritance.

This notice indefinitely ties Levi Decker of Watson, Allegany (Allegan), Michigan to to the late Wilhelmus Decker formerly of Ontario, Wayne, New York – where the couple lived while still newlyweds.

An interesting note is that George W. Cowles of Gallen, Wayne, NY, “special guardian of Nancy Decker”, was a republican member of the New York Congress from March 4, 1869 – March 3, 1871 and wrote a book on the history of Wayne County, New York. Why he was the “special guardian” of Nancy I do not know… yet!