Relay – A Family History Blog

Anna Rebecca Jacobs, daughter of a settled and prominent family in early Clark County, Indiana, married Joseph Wayman in 1855¹.  Joseph’s family was considered “unknown” by researchers in the early 20th century.  And they puzzled about that.  The social dynamic of the region insisted that daughters and sons marry within “their circle.”  (A lovely phrase that – such a great round about way of saying “their class” – which phrase was so completely anti- frontier American values.)

The family clearly approved of the marriage – they were married by Anna’s uncle Rev. George Swartz and shortly after their marriage they moved to Monroe County, Iowa with 2 of her sibling’s families².

Joseph and Anna hadreturned to Indiana by 1860 and were living just over the Floyd County line, in New Albany³.  According to the census, Joseph owned $2,000 worth of real estate in 1860 and $1,000 in personal property.  However, Anna was working as a seamstress and they are living in an area with many listed seamstress or tailor which implies they are living in a built up area not on a farm.  There are no land records in Floyd or Clark counties that could account for Joseph’s land holdings.

In 1960, Joseph and Anna had 1 known child, 3 year old Charles E.  Joseph, apparently, died in December 1860⁴.  Although there is a memorial for Joseph on Find a Grave, it is based on cemetery records and there is no stone. When Elizabeth Swartz Jacob’s estate was settled, in January of 1862, Anna R. Wayman was listed as a femme sole, without her husband’s name⁵ According to her Find a Grave memorial Anna died 25 December 1861⁶, which seems unlikely given that she is listed among the heirs of her mother in January 1862 and that she had at least two living children in January 1862.  But it is theoretically possible she had already received her portion between the death of her mother in 1860 and December 1861 and therefore she is listed on the distribution list.  In 1870 Charles E.⁷ Wayman age 12 born Iowa.] is living with Swartz cousins and apparently remained engaged with the Swartz family for the rest of his life⁸. There is a second child that is most likely part of this small family.  Nelson “Wagman” age 19, nephew, is living in the household of Anna Rebecca’s sister Sophia Jacobs Harold in Clark County in 1880.⁹ Nothing further has been found for this Nelson in Clark or surrounding counties in Indiana.

There are many questions coming from this brief list of facts.

Who were Joseph’s parents?  There are Weyman, Waimann, Wainman and Waymann families in various Clark and Floyd County records but none of them appear to be connected to Joseph and his sons in any known records. Joseph doesn’t appear in records with his surname spelled in any of these ways.  Is he a member of one of these families or does he come from a different line? If so was he a newcomer to Southern Indiana?

Where was Joseph born and where did he died?

Did he and Anna really own $2,000 worth of real estate in 1860?  If so where did it go?  Why wasn’t it part of a probate action when Joseph and then Anna died? If their sons inherited property, who managed that property until they were of age?

Who was named guardian of Charles Edgar and Nelson when Anna died?  There doesn’t appear to be a record of an guardianship but the boys were true orphans so even a family member’s appointment should be recorded.  Where is this record?

Did the boys inherit anything from their grandmother’s estate?  Anna inherited $123.23 from her mother’s estate – likely shortly before Anna’s death.  So where did this inheritance go?  The boys were still alive and living with family in the immediate vicinity.

Charles Edgar Wayman married and had a large family that lived in Clark County, Indiana for many years (and may still live there since I haven’t traced all descendants into the present day.)  But Nelson Wayman disappears after his single census listing in 1880.  What happened to Nelson?

These questions don’t seem to be answerable at this time.  I have done thorough research in the records available in microfilm, published and digital formats but the probate packets for Clark and Floyd Counties Indiana are not available in any of those formats.  I have attempted to discover if these loose papers still exist at the courthouse in Jeffersonville or New Market, knowing that the records have been subjected to several floods and may not exist anymore. But so far I have had no response to my inquiries.  I guess I will have to make a trip to southern Indiana once the pandemic has loosened up to a greater extent.  Maybe next year.