Saturday, July 25, 2009

Is Thomas P. Richmond's Final Resting Place In Lapeer?

Where was my Thomas P. Richmond after the 1860 census? I don't know. Wish I did.

Thomas P. Richmond was born in 1807 in New York (probably Onondaga, Onondaga County, NY, where there's an Elijah Richmond enumerated in the 1810 census; Thomas was the son of Elijah & Elizabeth (Fowler) Richmond).

The Elijah Richmond family moved to Steuben County, New York, then to Conesus, Livingston Co., NY. Elijah and many of Thomas Richmond's siblings moved to Walworth Co., Wisconsin, from Livingston County about the same time that Thomas and his family moved to Lapeer County Michigan (in the 1850's).

In 1860 Thomas Richmond was in Lapeer County, Michigan:

1860 MI Census - Lapeer Co., Dryden Twp., Thornville P.O. July 17, 1860
LANGWORTHY, Thomas, 28, m, farmer, b. NY
" , Almina, 23, female, b. NY
, Alice, 3, f, b. Wisconsin
, Eva Jane, 11/12, female, b. MI
RICHMOND, Thomas, 53, male, farmer, b. NY
" " , Laura, 50, f. b. NY
" " , Emory C., 20, m, laborer, b. NY

Head of that household in 1860 was Thomas Richmond's son-in-law, Thomas Langworthy. The Richmonds, including Thomas Richmond's wife, Laura (Backus) Richmond, and his son, Emory, were living with the Langworthy family.

Then there was a warranty deed where the grantor was Thomas Richmond and the grantee was another son-in-law, James More, which was made 2 June 1860 in Lapeer County, Michigan (recorded in 1861).

When the 1870 census was taken, Laura (Backus) Richmond was living with her daughter, Cynthia (Richmond) More and son-in-law, James More, her "More" grandchildren, in addition to James More's sister, Jane (More) Millar and her family, and also an unrelated farm laborer in Thornville, Metamora Township, Lapeer County, Michigan.

The assumption is that Thomas P. Richmond died some time between June of 1860 (or perhaps 1861 when the warranty deed was recorded) and September 1870 when the census was taken and he was not living with his wife, Laura, in Lapeer County. I've pored through the Lapeer County, Michigan, deed books, have looked at cemetery records, checked for probate records in Lapeer as well as other miscellaneous records and have come up with nothing leading me to a date of death or final resting place.

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