Saturday Challenge- Ancestors Giving Researchers Grief

Randy Seaver's GeneaMusing's Saturday Fun Challenge for this week:

1)    The Family History Hound listed 20 Questions about your Ancestor, and I'm going to use some of them in the next few months.  

2)  Please answer the question - "Which ancestor gives you the most researching grief?"

Who is that person that gives me the most grief? Is it Leverett Lyman Wooster? Is it Lyman Leverett Wooster? Is it Lemuel Wooster? Is it L. L. Wooster? As you might surmise, these names apparently belong to one person born about 1786. He disappears again between 1855 and 1869. Yes, we don’t even know the years of his life.

We know he married a woman the name of Jerusha. Her family is completely unknown. They settled in Lysander, Onondaga County, New York in 1832 coming from Columbia County, New York. Well, actually I’m making a guess about that. According to a history of Onondaga County, Barclay Wooster did that. This is their son and I assume he brought his parents along when he did that. Why would I make this assumption? The census records for Leverett Lyman show a shift from Columbia County to Onondaga County between 1830 and 1840. Besides, it’s safe to assume Barclay did not come alone. At the time of his trip and settling in Lysander he was all of three years old! I believe we can be sure that the 1832 date is also that of his parents.

These are the vague facts that we gather about Leverett Lyman Wooster. He left very few records himself and we can better surmise where and when from records of others. The 1850 federal census for him indicates he was born in Connecticut; while the 1855 New York state census indicates Columbia Co, New York. Census and death records of his sons, Barclay and Dennis, show that their father was born in Connecticut.

We know that Jerusha died in 1841 from cemetery records. She was buried in the old Presbyterian Church Cemetery about a mile south of the four corners of Lysander. No marker remains. In fact, only a few broken fragments of markers remain for this cemetery. There are no records existing today for this cemetery other than readings of the cemetery from the early 1900s. Leverett Lyman likely was buried beside her. But the marker, if any existed, disappeared before an inventory was made.

The cemetery today

The 1855 census entry where he is living in his son, Dennis’ household, gives us an idea of his death date. This is the last time we find him in any records. In 1869, Barclay and Dennis are selling property as the heirs of Leverett L. Wooster. He must have died before then. The description of the property places it very near that of the above mentioned cemetery. It perhaps even included the cemetery at one time. Thus, we are even more confident that the guess he is buried next to Jerusha is true.

Yes, he’s the one that gives me a lot of researching grief. Little is known and few records remain about him. But, did I tell you about the marriage record we found? The only names for the bride and groom are: a daughter of David Munson married a stranger to town. I pity the poor researchers that are looking for these people. Oh, wait, I know who they are… Sarah, daughter of David Munson, married Ebenezer Wooster about then. We can't find a record of their marriage. This must be it! They are likely the parents of Leverett Lyman! Maybe it’s actually his parents who give me the most researching grief…