Monday, May 20, 2013

Mystery Monday - Which William is Which?

I've been trying to find information on each of the children for Patrick Creedan and Hannah Hoover of Clinton County, Ohio. I believe Patrick is my 3x great-grandfather and he had several children by his second wife, Hannah. Their son John Creedan was born in 1853 and died in 1923 in Mercer County, Ohio. John's brother Patrick William was born in 1864 and is more of a mystery.

John married Minerva McFarland in 1875 in Clinton County, Ohio and they had 3 children: Hiram H., Flora, and Estelle/Stella. John married a second time to Ida Phillips in Darke County, Ohio in 1896.

The following census record is from Darke County, Ohio and looks like a definite match for John. He is listed with his wife Ida and daughters Flora and Stella. Right next to him is William Creedan with his wife Mary and several children. William is the same age as my Patrick William and living next to my John Creedan, but is this the same person? It's possible that Patrick William used his middle name since his father's name was also Patrick. For both John and William, their father is listed as being born in Ireland, while their mother was born in Ohio. This would be correct for my family.

John Creedan and William Creedan in Darke County, Ohio - 1900

I looked through the family trees on Ancestry.com and found that several list William Creedan as the son of Timothy and Ellen Creeden. However, they reference the same 1900 census record shown above as one of their sources. None of the trees mention a John Creedan, but I decided to do a little investigating on Timothy and Ellen Creeden.  Here they are in the 1870 census for Hamilton County, Ohio:

Timothy and Eleanor Creden in Hamilton County, Ohio - 1870
Surprise, they also have a son John born around 1854! His brother William is 7, so these ages are close to the ones in Darke County in 1900. Below is the same family in the 1880 census for Hamilton County, Ohio. They also have a son named Laurence in this census.

Timothy and Eleanor Creeden in Hamilton County, Ohio - 1880
The Ancestry trees indicate that William and his family moved to Kansas where William died in 1909. Here is the family in Sedgwick, Kansas in the 1905 Kansas Census:

W.P. Creeden in Sedgwick, Kansas census in 1905
I also found an entry in the 1900 census for a William Creeden that looks suspiciously like the son of Timothy and Ellen from Hamilton County. Notice that he is the correct age and has a son named Laurence. Both of his parents are listed as being born in Ireland.

William Creeden in 1900 census in Hamilton County, Ohio
I found the above William's marriage record on FamilySearch. William and Margaret were married in 1883 in Hamilton County and by a stroke of luck William's father Timothy gave consent on the marriage form. So, this William is the son of a Timothy. I went back to the family trees on Ancestry and there are a number of them with this William as the son of the same Timothy and Ellen.

So, which trees have the correct William? My suspicions are that the William that stayed in Hamilton County is the son of Timothy and Ellen and the William that moved to Kansas is a different William. The information I've found so far seems to suggest that he may be my Patrick William, but more investigation is definitely needed.

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