Randy has come up with a pretty creative challenge for tonight’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun. I haven’t done one of these in awhile, so I thought I’d try my hand at it.
I used the Random Name Generator to get a name to research. The first name to come up was Benjamin Sosa.
I started my search and found several different Benjamin Sosa’s in records, but none in the census. It took me four more names before I found a match: Young Richmond.
Young Richmond first appears in the 1880 US Census for Durham Township, Orange County, North Carolina. He is 20 years old, born in North Carolina, and is listed as Black. There is an Emma Cameron also Black listed under Young.
He lives in the household of a J.C. Wilkerson who is White. Young’s occupation is difficult to read. It looks like “works as Facting”. J.C. Wilkerson is a tobacco dealer. I wonder if “facting” has anything to do with that business (or I am reading it wrong, which is highly likely!)
An 1870 census search was not conclusive but turned up some interesting results. In this case, the head of family is Young Richmond, who is also Black. What caught my eye is the family listed next door. They are Richmonds and also have a child listed with them named Young.
In the first entry in Leasburg Township, Caswell County, North Carolina, we have Young Richmond. He is aged 44, born in North Carolina, and the head of the family. Young is a farmer.
Next is a female (his wife?) named Pathenia who is 43 years old. She was also born in North Carolina. There are three children listed: John (15), Emma (13), and what looks like Burry (Barry?) (11). In the next house is another Richmond family:
Mason Richmond, 67, with what looks like Jardy (female), 74, Young, 15, Paulina 12, and Mason 8.
It looks like I might have a couple generations of one family. And, look down the list of children. There is a Young Richmond age 15. I suspect Young is the one in the 1880 census. But, who does he belong to? Reading this it appears that he is Mason’s child, but since relationships are not given, it’s just as likely he belongs to Young Richmond, the head of the previous household.
I decided to take another route to putting these leaves back on the tree. Mason Richmond seems like a name to work with, so I went back to ancestry.com and typed that in.
In the 1880 Census, I found a Mason Richmond, 15 years old, living with his mother and stepfather in Leasburg. His mother’s name is Theny who is 52 and remarried to Alexander Currie. Theny sure sounds like a shortened form of Parthenia! The other children in the household have the Currie surname, so that’s not helpful. If this is Partheny and Mason is her son, then it appears that the children in the two households in 1870 may be siblings despite being in separate households.
I did a few more searches at both familysearch.org, ancestry.com, and google.com but couldn’t find any more conclusive information. I found a Young Richmond in the North Carolina death certificates, but his parent’s names were unknown. So, I think at this point I’ll have to leave this challenge. Thanks for an interesting evening, Randy!
