Guest Post for Family History Press: "Cracking a 38-Year Brick Wall: Reconstructing the Life of James Richman / Richmond (1821-1912) Through Unindexed Probate Books, Agricultural Schedules, and Parish Registers"

I received this guest post frrom Antoine Berton of Famly History Press this week:

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Cracking a 38-Year Brick Wall: Reconstructing the Life of James Richman / Richmond (1821-1912) Through Unindexed Probate Books, Agricultural Schedules, and Parish Registers

By Antoine Berton, Founder of Family History Press (https://familyhistorypress.com)

Every genealogist knows the feeling of staring at a 19th-century county biographical sketch or obituary that is rich in family lore but short on citations.

In Randy Seaver's case, two published texts framed the life of his second great-grandfather, James Richman / Richmond (1821-1912) of Hilperton, Wiltshire, and Putnam, Connecticut: pages 1150-1151 of J. H. Beers & Co.'s Commemorative Biographical Record of Tolland and Windham Counties, Connecticut (1903), and the 9 August 1911 obituary of his wife, Hannah (Rich) Richmond (1824-1911).

Together with the records Randy gathered over 38 years, they told a vivid story: born in Hilperton; married to Hannah Rich in 1845; emigrant to New York aboard the Calhoun in October 1855 while Hannah and five children followed on the Osprey in November 1856; textile worker in Burrillville, Putnam, and Windsor; and buyer of an 80-acre Putnam Heights farm from Nathaniel Battey.

Yet five questions remained:

1. Why did Hannah's 1911 obituary say she lived in Putnam "over forty years," yet on the farm for "the past 36 years" (1875), and why did James's 1913 probate distribution cite an 1875 quitclaim deed to "Adah Battey" alongside two 1869 deeds from Waterman Grant and Henry R. Dexter?

2. Who held the two mortgages on James's 80-acre farm in 1913?

3. What did his Putnam Heights farm produce?

4. Why did online parish indexes scramble his English-born daughters' birth order (1851-1856)?

5. What became of Hannah's brother Samuel Rich (1833-1897) after sailing with James on the Calhoun in 1855?

At Family History Press (https://familyhistorypress.com) (which I founded to turn archival investigations into cited hardcover books for families), we found that all five questions could be answered within 48 hours by browsing four record groups page by page.

1. Using Unlocked Probate Volumes When Town Deeds Are Restricted

Many researchers stop when they see a "camera-with-key" icon on FamilySearch's town land records (such as Putnam's Land Records in Catalog 661324, which require a FamilySearch Center or Affiliate Library).

Putnam's Probate Records (Catalog 345283), however, are unlocked from home with a free account. Browsing Putnam Probate Volumes 2, 6, 11, and 12 (DGS 7627435, 7627438, and 7627440) unlocked the farm's history:

• - Nathaniel Battey's 1874-1875 Probate File (Vol. 2, pp. 22-23, 33-34, 91): Nathaniel Battey died 28 April 1874 leaving an 80-acre Putnam farm appraised at $2,200.00. Because his 1869 will left his property to his widow, Adah (Hopkins) Battey, only while she remained unmarried, their seven surviving children (including sons-in-law Waterman D. Grant and Henry Ray Dexter, the 1869 grantors) signed a quitclaim deed to their mother on 29 March 1875 to clear the title. On 27 May 1875 (Vol. 2, p. 91), administrator Asahel Battey recorded a $240.00 "loss on Real Estate sold at Auction" - proving James Richmond bought the $2,200.00 farm at auction in spring 1875 for $1,960.00, 36 years before Hannah's 1911 death.
• The Two Family Mortgages in 1913 (Vol. 11, pp. 568-569 & Vol. 12, p. 35): When James's seven surviving children (Thomas Richmond [1848-1917], Randy's great-grandfather, plus Louisa, Charles E., James [Jr.], Emma Fitts, Elizabeth A. Prentice, and John H. Richmond) signed the October 1913 Mutual Distribution assigning the farm to John H. Richmond, page 569 noted it was "subject to two mortgages one for $1000. to Wm. Rich and one for $300. to Elizabeth A. Prentice." The 1914 probate inventory of Hannah's brother William Rich (1830-1914) (Vol. 12, p. 35) confirmed the matching note: "James Richmond Est. Note - $1000."

2. The Forgotten 1880 Agricultural Schedule

While the 1880 Population Schedule simply called James a "Farmer," Page 2, Line 9 of Putnam's 1880 U.S. Census Agricultural Schedule (ED 139, NARA M1808) gave a 100-column inventory of his 80-acre farm: 40 acres tilled, 29 acres meadow/pasture/orchard, 3 acres woodland, and 8 acres unimproved; a $1,900 farm valuation (matching his $1,960 auction price); 20 tons hay; 2 horses; 4 milch cows producing 200 lbs. butter; 3 calves; 3 swine; 16 poultry laying 50 dozen eggs; 17 bushels buckwheat, 60 bushels corn, 120 bushels oats, 50 bushels potatoes, 35 apple trees, and 6 cords wood.

3. Reading Original Wiltshire Parish Registers vs. Online Indexes

Inspecting the original registers of Hilperton, Trowbridge, and Staverton (WSHC) resolved the English birth order:

• Randy's great-grandfather Thomas Richman (born 10 June 1848 at Hilperton, civil birth No. 347) was baptized 13 July 1848 at the Wesleyan-Methodist Chapel in Trowbridge (p. 34, No. 119) - explaining the family's Methodist affiliation in Putnam.
• Living at Hilperton Marsh, they baptized their next three daughters at Staverton: Ann Richman (16 November 1851, p. 25, No. 198; buried 27 April 1853, p. 19, No. 150, age 2), Louisa Richman (5 December 1853, p. 26, No. 202, "Born Octr. 10th 1852"), and Elizabeth Ann Richman (1 October 1854, p. 26, No. 207), while Emma Richman was baptized at Hilperton on 6 July 1856 (p. 42, No. 332) before sailing on the Osprey.

4. Tracing Collateral Kin Across the Looms

Spotting 22-year-old Samuel Rich under a ditto mark (Saml. " [Richman] | 22 | Engineer) below James Richman on the 22 October 1855 Calhoun manifest let us trace him from his 19 February 1837 Hilperton baptism (pp. 88-89, Nos. 703-705) through his 1859 Burrillville marriage to Emily Cogswell, his 1867 Putnam marriage to Annie D. Thornton, and his sudden death on 7 January 1897 leaving a $20,455.21 Putnam estate (Putnam Probate Vol. 6, pp. 238-239, 360-361).

About Family History Press

At Family History Press (https://familyhistorypress.com), we turn family lore into archival-grade hardcover books anchored to primary documents. Every project begins with a free 48-hour archival feasibility study at https://familyhistorypress.com, followed by two fixed-price, all-inclusive hardcover editions: 

• The Ancestor Portrait ($590) for a single ancestor or couple, 
• The Lineage Edition ($1,690) for a multi-generation family chronicle.

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NOTE:  I was contacted by Antoine Berton recently and he described his website and services. I immediately asked Family History Press to perform the free 48 hour evaluation of one of my ancestors -- I chose James Richman/Richmond (1821-1912) because of his interesting and long life and the fact that there are records for him in England and America.  

I thought that I had performed extensive research for his life and had found all of the important records except for the Connecticut land records, which are on my FamilySearch Center research list. I had not even considered looking for the 1880 Connecticut Agricultural Census because Ancestry didn't have them, and I never looked on the FamilySearch Catalog for them.  Lastly, I had not followed up on the James Richmond family mortgages.

I received the Archival Feasibility Study within two days, and was very impressed by the quality of the work, although I found one minor error which Antoine corrected in the above text.  

It is humbling to have someone else review your work and find what you missed or misinterpreted.  In 48 hours.

If you are "stuck" on a genealogy challenge, I encourage you to take the freely available opportunity to do the Archival Feasibility Study. And if you need an ancestor biographical book, consider The Ancestor Portrait or the Lineage Edition.  

Thank you to Antoine Berton for the work and the guest post.  

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