Doreen
Dolleman’s Research
How
the time seems to have flown by since the last newsletter! Bill and I were away
from home for several months this spring doing volunteer work in Lancaster
County, PA and then gallivanting around the countryside having some great
genealogy adventures. We found lots of exciting new Olmstead information in
N.Y. and Ontario. I’ll have to save that for a later date as I promised to tell
you first about our trips to Berkshire County, MA.
In
the last issue I “lectured” you on the importance of backing up your family
history information with recorded proof. Although this is so important, I hope
I didn’t discourage you from investigating your unconfirmed hunches and clues,
even though some of them may be totally contrary to the opinions of others.
Through the years I have often had a hunch that motivated me to dig deeper in
an area that already seemed to be established fact. This is exactly what I was
hoping to accomplish in Berkshire County. My hunch, that had been bothering me
for ages, was the possibility that Jabez Olmstead Sr., the son of Jeremiah and
Elizabeth (Litten), had not died in the Revolutionary War as stated in the
Olmsted “Red Book”. In 1987 we had visited the U.S. Archives in Washington D.C.
where we unearthed the Revolutionary War records of all soldiers by the name of
Jabez Olmstead. The only death reported was that of a Jabez who served in Col.
Joseph Vose’s 1st Massachusetts’ Regiment, Jeremiah Miller’s
Company. He was “reduced” July 30, 1777 and died April 26, 1778. There was no
way to tell which Jabez this was. In my opinion there were a number of reasons
to think that it might not have been Jabez Sr. (son of Jeremiah). My doubts
were based on the following clues: Jabez Sr. was older than the typical age of
a Revolutionary soldier, plus he had a large family of minor children still
living at home; his wife Miriam never applied for a widow’s pension; and there
was evidence that he had children born after 1778. Also as I mentioned in the
last newsletter a Jabez Olmstead held elected positions in Alford, MA from 1773
to 1783. This Olmstead family lived in the “Gore” which was situated mainly in
Alford with a portion of their land in Stockbridge. I suspected that Jabez Sr.
left that area around 1785 and relocated his family in Hebron, Washington
County, N.Y. where he probably died after the 1800 census.
I
was determined to find a record that would prove Jabez Sr. to be alive and well
after 1778. On our second trip to Berkshire County we searched the civil court
records in Pittsfield. The index was loaded with Olmstead’s and although many
had unfamiliar first names I wanted to check them all. The clerk soon tired of
hauling the heavy, dusty volumes from a far back corner and decided to let us
go search ourselves. This was great as we were able to look up every single
Olmstead reference without alienating or wearing out the clerk. My big moment
came when I found a lawsuit that confirmed Jabez Sr. of Alford was still alive
in 1785. Because the complaint, which was filed in 1785, was actually about an
unfulfilled promissory note dated Feb. 8, 1773, it could not have been Jabez
Jr. who would still have been a minor child, but had to be the father, Jabez
Sr. What an exciting discovery!
Of
course, this raises the question of just who was the dead Jabez of the
Revolutionary War. There are two possibilities that occur to me. He could have
been a Jabez in no way connected to our particular family, as there were also
Connecticut Olmstead’s in Berkshire County. Or he could have been Jabez Jr.
(son of Jabez Sr. and Miriam Husse) who would have been about 16 years old at
enlistment and 19 or so if he died in 1778. This is certainly within the realm
of possibility. I have no concrete proof, but have come across some interesting
clues to justify pursuing this idea. There was a Josiah Brown who was a nearby
neighbor of Jabez Sr. according to the 1771 Stockbridge tax valuation list. A
Josiah Brown (born 1756) enlisted in Williamstown, MA on the same date as Jabez
Olmstead. Their war records were identical, serving in the same regiments and
companies until Jabez was reported ill. After the war Josiah Brown married the
widow, Mrs. Elizabeth Dodge Olmstead (born 1760). Their first son was named
Josiah Olmstead Brown. Could Elizabeth possibly have been the widow of young
Jabez Jr.? This fascinating idea has led me to accumulate a mass of information
on the Brown family from Revolutionary War records, the DAR Library,
correspondence with descendants, and a personal visit with Earle Olmstead Brown
Sr. of Williamstown who began compiling his family history as a child. The
Olmstead middle name has amazingly continued in every single generation from
Josiah Olmstead Brown to the present! Still I don’t have all the answers and my
imagination never seems to run out of interesting ideas.
If
any of you have any other thoughts to add to my confusion I would really enjoy
hearing from you. Maybe together we’ll get this puzzle solved yet!
Doreen
Dolleman