Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Share Something Unexpected That You've Found While Researching An Ancestor

  Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: 

 It's Saturday Night again - 

Time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision. 

1)   Share something unexpected that you've found while researching an ancestor. 

2)  Share about your unexpected something in your own blog post or on your Facebook page.  Be sure to leave a link to your report in a comment on this post.

 [thank you to Linda Stufflebean for suggesting this topic!] 

Here's mine:

The most unexpected surprise I experienced while researching an ancestor was doing a Google Search in December 2007 with the name of my second great-grandfather, Devier Smith (1839-1894).  I had just been to a society meeting where the seaker suggested using wild cards for a name, doing last name first, putting names in quotes, etc.  When I did a Last name first search, I found a Name Change record in the search results!  

I was surprised to see the following on the   http://www.rootsweb.com/~wiwaupac/Misc/M1.htm web site.

NAME = SMITH, Devier J. [changed from] LAMPHIER, Devier
COUNTY = Dodge
SOURCE = Priv
DATE = 1866/Mar/21

This is a list of name changes that were recorded in Wisconsin county courts. The database descriptino is:

" The name changes transcribed here were found in the following resource books: Laws of Wisconsin Territory, General Acts Passed by the Legislature of Wisconsin, Private & Local Laws Passed by the Legislature of Wisconsin and Acts & Resolves Passed by the Legislature of Wisconsin. It is best to check the source given, as some of the records indicate the place of residence, the parent's name and why there was a name change."

After finding this record, some time later I searched for and found Ranslow Smith's (1805-1873) probate records in Andrew County, Missouri uaing FamilySearch Catalog microfilm records, and the will, written in 1866 in Dodge County, Wisconsin, also names "... Devere J. Lamphear, Commonly called Devere J. Smith, my adopted son ...".  

You can read Ranslow Smith's will in 

The Last Will and Testament of Ranslow Smith (1805-1873) (posted 18 January 2009) and the genealogical sketch for Devier J. Lamphier Smith in 52 Ancestors Week 19: #26 Devier James Lamphier Smith (1839-1894) (posted 9 May 2014).

Unfortunately, I haven't had the ultimate surprise in this research - the names of the parents of Devier James Lamphier.  

Ranslow Smith lived in Henderson, Jefferson County, New York until about 1843.  Henderson was west of Adams town, which was northwest of Lorraine town in Jefferson County.  There was a large Lanfear family, headed by Isaac Lanfear (1777-1851), with 10 children born between 1807 and 1828 in Lorraine town.  My hypothesis is that one of the unmarried Lanfear daughters had Devier out of wedlock and someone found a couple to adopt Devier.  I have found several DNA matches (in the range of 15-30 cM) on AncestryDNA and MyHeritageDNA who are descendants of Isaac and Rosina (Lown) Lanfear of Lorraine.   My hypothesis is that Isaac and Rosina (Lown) Lanfear are Devier's grandparents, and therefore my 4th great-grandparents.  

Ranslow Smith took his family to Dodge County, Wisconsin in about 1843, and then to Taylor County, Iowa in 1867, and Andrew County, Missouri in the early 1870s.  Devier J. Smith married in 1861 in Dodge County, Wisconsin, went with his father in 1867 to Taylor County, Iowa, and then to Cloud County, Kansas in the early 1870s, and finally to Red Willow County, Nebraska in 1885.

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