16 January 2013

Why Samuel Poor DID NOT Die in the War of 1812

I have a love hate relationship with ancestry.com.  I love when I find good sources and I hate when members publish erroneous information in their family tree and then it gets added to lots of other trees.

The death of Samuel Poor is one such source of misinformation.  Many public trees have Samuel Poor dying in the War of 1812.  Of course, these trees are unsourced, but that doesn't stop people from adding the information to their tree.  There may be a Samuel Poor who died in the War of 1812, but not my Samuel Poor.

Samuel Poor, the son of Moses A. Poor and Elizabeth Barber Poor DID NOT die in the War of 1812 and here are a couple of reason why:
  • First, he had children from 1826-1845. (Elizabeth, Jane, George, Hannah, Samuel, William, David, Evan, and Harlan.) 
  • He received a land grant in 1837.
  • He can be found in the 1830, 1840. 1850 and 1860 Census. 
I am still researching Samuel Poor, but my advice for all genealogists is to take the time to see if the records you are adding to your tree make sense.  If you have fathered children, bought land, and can be found in four census's- you have to be alive to do this.

If you would like sources for the above information, please contact me and I will be happy to provide them for you.

2 comments:

  1. Brenda, I'm curious about the 1812 death. Were you able to contact any of the people who prepared their trees (or copied them, is more like it) to ask them? Regarding a later date, after 1860, as you know Michigan has excellent records, and I bet it will show up soon. I assume you have the birth records for the children to prove he is their father. Anyway, good luck with this.

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  2. Hi, Barbara. After I read this post this morning, I thought I should have provided more sources for it. I guess I will have to edit it. I contacted a couple of people, who were closer to me in ancestry and they replied but didn't know where they had gotten the information. I tried to get his death record, but vital records in Lansing wasn't able to find it; same as with my Daniel Fenn. I don't know if it is because it was a rural area. I guess church records will have to be looked into. Yes, I have most of the birth records, especially his oldest and youngest and a few in between.

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