Sheriff William Preston's identity crisis (2.07 of 3)

Mistaken identities and relationships often lead to improper genealogy links and brick walls. The series, "Sheriff William Preston's identity crisis," explains how a group of researchers ultimately collaborated to better identify William Preston, and how that reformed identification led to discovery of the ancestral family.


Part 1-No shortage of inconsistencies, 10 June 2011
A collection of inconsistent information written about about William Preston, the first sheriff of Williams County, Ohio.

Part 2-Driven to a more historical account (8 10 postings), 16 June 2011
Genealogy is a journey. The second article in this series presents particular information we used to break down our brick wall. The various postings mention how the records were discovered, questioned and evaluated to better identify Sheriff William Preston.
2.01 William and his Miss Butler (marriage)
2.02 He survives (census)
2.03 The Butler did it! (identifying our Butler family)
2.04 I do declare, and he did! (declaration)
2.05 Death plus 30 (probate)
2.06 Of brothers and soldiers (about John Preston at Ohio)
2.07 You do the math (about William C. Preston and the King)
2.08 One good deed (and the long road home)
2.09 Through the peep hole (the larger family)
2.10 Rummaging about Rumney 

Part 3-Putting it all together - Part 3A

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PART 2-Driven to a more historical account

2.07 You do the math

I've heard folks compare genealogy to working on a jigsaw puzzle--but what do you do when you have just too many pieces in the same puzzle box?

Readers will recall evidence of a sixth child in the early census tallies of Sheriff William Preston's household (2.5 Death pus 30). Also, from the same blog article, two heirs named William Preston seem present at the 1868 court hearing about the estate of our good sheriff.

How about one more William? Just about the time you think we have a handle on the good sheriff, we find another William Preston in the records about Williams County, Ohio. William C. Preston, "the other," was enumerated at St. Joseph township, Edgerton post office, in the census of 1860. (We believe he was enumerated there at 1850, but that census entry has eluded researchers.)

Many maybes. Was he a son of Sheriff William? Perhaps the other heir at court in 1868? Maybe he was of no relation--sent by a ghost of genealogists past, reminding us to be diligent!

For the purpose of this article (2.7), William Smith was successful early on in identifying key dates and locations about William C. Preston, the other. The information from his obituary led us to vital records about him; the will helped us identify his children.

Obituary of William C. Preston (1797-1869).
From his obituary, we learn this man was born in Strafford, Vermont, 16 July 1797. He had migrated to Ohio via New York, where he married his wife, Nancy W. Claire. William first traveled to Wayne County, Ohio, but settled finally at St. Joseph, Williams County, in 1842.

William C. Preston (1797-1869) was a Mason and served as a Justice of the Peace at William County for 15 years.




(Psst-A man born in 1797 could not have been the extra child--under age of 5--in Sheriff William's household in the 1830 U.S. census.)

Ohio vital record (death) about William C. Preston, d. 1869.  The good news is William died after Williams County had begun recording births and deaths. The bad news is--the earliest of those records did not include inquiries about the parents' names.








Vermont vital record (birth) about William C. Preston, b. 1797.  A quick check of extracted Vermont vital records reported one William C. Preston, born Strafford, Orange County, Vermont, with a birth date given 16 November 1797; parents Joseph Preston and Lydia. Which led to a recently published genealogy referring to "William Chase" Preston, who seemed likely our man. 

Vermont Families. The family of Joseph and Lydia (Dow) Preston was included in a submittal by Barbara Sprague to Vermont Families in 1791.  This sketch called out William Chase [Preston], born 16 November 1797 at Strafford.

Sprague's published submittal was among the documents researchers used to confirm William C. Preston (1797-1869) was not a son of Sheriff William and was most likely the first born son of Joseph and Lydia. 

Hint: Make sure you catch the brother's name, David Dow "King" Preston, and the sister named Julia.



(Psst-A William C. Preston, the son of Joseph and Lydia, could not be Sheriff William's son by a former marriage.)

Will of William C. Preston (1797-1869). 
William C. Preston's will was dated 10 May 1869; his son-in-law, D. H. Strickling, was appointed administrator. Children named in the will were Julia A. Preston, King H. C. Preston, Marion N. Stickling, and Abigail M. Geauque.







Further research into son King Hiram C. Preston was also conducted--no trace of a relationship to Sheriff William Preston could be found. King H. C. Preston resided Manlius, Onondaga County, New York. King married Louisa Phillips. We also researched the seven children believed born to King and Louisa and found no connection with Sheriff William's family.

So, we have this one in the bag, right?
Humm... maybe not so fast. Lookie, lookie at the graphic below. We find the record of Sheriff William's daughter, Alice Preston, marrying husband, Lucious D. VanWormer in 1847--and the marriage is performed by William C. Preston, J.P.

More to write, can't spoil all the fun now. --

<<< 2.06 Brothers and Soldiers <<< *** >>> 2.08 One good deed >>>