Parentage of Anson Green

Background:

I believe that Philip Green of Shaftsbury, Bennington County, Vermont was the father of Anson Green. Philip was the youngest son of Asa Green and his wife Sarah Olin who emigrated from Rhode Island to Vermont. The Greens and Olins were Seventh Day Baptists, a strict sect who believed that Saturday was the Sabbath, and who migrated to spread the word in a typical Yankee migration pattern.

Family legend 1 and census records 2 gave us Anson's birthplace as Vermont. Another item from family stories was that after Anson and Mag's untimely deaths they got help from an aunt who had married a man named Henry Newcomb. 1 This uncle had helped Fred get a job working at the roundhouse in Kansas City, Missouri.

Tracing Anson:

We know from school records that Philip Green of Shaftsbury, Bennington County, Vermont had at least four children: Aleista, Jane, Anson, and Sarahett. 3 According to these records, in 1848 Anson lived with Asa Green, in 1849 he (along with Philip's other children Jane, Aleista, and Sarahett) lived with Philip, in 1850-52 he lived with Charles Newcomb and his new wife Jane Green, and in 1853 he was back with Philip again.

In the 1850 census of Shaftsbury, Bennington Co, Vermont 4 Philip and Diana had living with them Eleista, Charlotte (Sarahett?), and Mary.

Five pages previously Anson was enumerated with Jane Newcomb and her new husband Charles. (My belief is that Jane is Anson's sister and Philip's daughter, referenced in the earlier school records.) 5

In 1860 in Geauga Co, Ohio we find Elesta and her husband sharing a house with Philip, wife Diana, and children Sarah E. (perhaps Sarah Etta?), Mary A., and Russell (aged 7, b. Vt). Next door is Charles Newcomb, wife Jane, and children Harriet (8, b. Vt) and George (2, b. Ohio). (Lucima Newcomb is listed as 12, but I in fact believe her to be 72-year-old Lucima Newcomb, mother of Charles who was incorrectly listed as "Rosina" in 1850...) 6

In this same county Anson Green (no birthplace listed) was living in 1860, with his wife Margaret and two small children Nellie and Asa. The name Asa is circumstantial evidence, since Asa was the father of Philip Green of Bennington Co., VT. 7

I believe Philip and his children (Anson, Elesta, Jane, Sarah, Mary, and Russell) migrated together sometime after Russell's birth in 1852 but before Jane's son George was born in 1857. Elesta may have come separately since she and her husband were apparently living in New Hampshire before coming to Ohio (their daughter Lizzie was born in New Hampshire around 1855).

By 1870 both Anson and his brother-in-law Charles Newcomb had moved to Missouri. They settled two counties apart; Anson living in Caldwell County 8, and Charles settling in Harrison County9. Of course, I believe that Charles Newcomb is "Henry Newcomb" mentioned in family legend.

Philip remained in Geauga Co, OH in 1870 10 and 1880. 11 He and his wife Diana are buried in Munson, Geauga County, Ohio at Maple Hill Cemetery. 12

Sources:

  1. "Letter from Cleo Draper Howard to Barbara S. Green regarding her memories of Fred Green's family," 1978, in 2004 in the possession of Cleo's granddaughter, Mel Green, Durham, North Carolina.

  2. "1900 U.S. census, population schedule," Woodland Twp, Logan County, Oklahoma Territory, National Archives microfilm T623, roll 1339; ED 140, Sheet 10, dwelling 188, family 190.

  3. "Shaftsbury (Vt.), Town Clerk, Town and vital records, 1766-1906," film # 0028924, Salt Lake City: filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1952.

  4. "1850 U.S. census, population schedule," Shaftsbury, Bennington County, Vermont, National Archives microfilm M432, roll 921, page 6, dwelling 92, family 92

  5. ibid; page 1, dwelling 1, family 1

  6. "1860 U.S. census, population schedule," Geauga County, Ohio, National Archives microfilm M653, roll 967, page 133, dwellings 1124 and 1125

  7. ibid; page 909, dwelling 92, family 88

  8. "1870 U.S. census, population schedule," Mirabile Twp, Caldwell County, Missouri, National Archives microfilm M593, roll 763; page 11, dwelling 78, family 78; (microfilm page 191). This census confirms Anson's birthplace as Vermont.

  9. "1870 U.S. census, population schedule," Bethany, Harrison County, Missouri, National Archives microfilm M593, roll 778, page 38, dwelling 246, family 246

  10. "1870 U.S. census, population schedule," Munson, Geauga County, Ohio, National Archives microfilm M593, roll 1204, page 229, dwelling 104, family 94

  11. "1880 U.S. census, population schedule," Munson, Geauga County, Ohio, National Archives microfilm T9, roll 1019, ED 75, SD 8, page 4, dwelling 37, family 38.

  12. Geauga County Genealogical Society, "Geauga County, Ohio Munson Township Cemetery Files," http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/oh/geauga/cemeteries/munson/graves.txt, 3 June 1999.