Now that we have successfully traced the Stuart family line it’s time to move on. Tracing the Brittain family line was a different experience. The recent ancestors, father and grandfather, were known by living relatives so verification of information was relatively easy. Great grandfather, Elam Brittain, is well documented in public records as are the father and grandfather. For example, Elam can be found in the US Federal Census for the years 1850 – 1920.
Census records for Elam Brittain found using the free search at Ancestry.com.
We can track his movement from Missouri to north central Kansas over a period of time. We also have evidence of his marriage from different content providers.
Marriage record for Elam W. Brittain and Indiana C. Singleton. Missouri Marriages 1805 – 2002. Accessed via paid subscription at Ancestry.com
When we couldn’t find the public records for the death and burial, the local genealogical & historical society was able to resolve the issue. The county had been divided into two new counties (Did you catch the Gazetteer Tweets?). They provided us with the name of the cemetery and location along with the dates from the headstone for both Elam and Indiana. One couldn’t ask for more when using public records to verify information for an ancestor.
Correspondence from the Osborne County Genealogical & Historical Society, Osborne, Kansas.
Moving to the next ancestor, Elam’s father, finding information became a little more challenging. There are many records for John Brittain but, not in the time period or geographic location we were interested in. Applying the strategy explained in a previous post, we began using alternative surname spellings. Eventually, we did find the marriage record for John Britton and Mary Russell in Owen County, Indiana. Spelling of the last name in the official marriage record is Britton.
Online database record with variation in surname spelling. Accessed via paid subscription at Ancestry.com
Surname variations in the census and online databases include Britton, Briton and Birtton. To complicate the situation, in the 1850 US Federal Census, Mary (wife/widow of the deceased (1846) John Britton) spelled her name Brittain. All descendents from John and Mary have spelled the name as Brittain to this day.
1850 US Federal Census. Line 38 – Mary Brittain. A partial listing of the children follows. The column with the state name is the place of birth. Notice the quotation (ditto) marks to indicate the same state as the previous family until a new state is entered. Accessed via paid subscription at Ancestry.com
Database entry for Mary Brittain in the 1850 US Federal Census. Accessed via paid subscription at Ancestry.com.
One of the best descriptions of John and his family is an entry in “Genealogical and Biological Record of North-Eastern Kansas”. The entry is for Joseph Brittain, Elam’s older brother, and details the family origin, current location, marriages and names the seven sons and daughter of John and Mary.