Nancy Wright New

Nancy Wright was born on 22 Sept 1853. (Just over 100 years before my mom was born.) Her parents are John Wright (19 May 1810-31 May 1872) and Catharine Galer (1813-1881). She was born in Illinois. The 1860 Census lists her family as living in Princeton Township, Bureau County, Illinois. In 1870, the family is still listed as living in Princeton. I have her marriage to Benjamin New as being the year of 1873. (1900 Census lists Ben and Nancy as being married 27 years.) In April of 1874, their first son was born, Jacob H. New. (This child is listed on the Kansas 1875 Census as being 10 months old. He isn't listed on any following censuses, so I conclude he died between 1875 and 1880.) Sometime between 1873 and 1875, Benjamin and Nancy moved to Union Center Township, Elk County, Kansas. On 22 October, 1879 Hattie Ethel New was born. Interestingly, the 1880 Federal Census lists her birth as being in Illinois. So that would mean between 1875 and 1879 Nancy was back in Illinois. Sometime between October 1879 and June 1880 Nancy and Ben were back in Union Center. Ora I. New was born May 1882 and Anna May New was born 23 January 1884. The family lived in Union Center for awhile and moved to Howard, Elk, Kansas sometime prior to 1885. Between 1885 and 1895 the family moved back to Union Center. During these years Nancy gave birth to John Frederick, (27 November 1885) Samuel Franklin (27 April 1888) and Robert Wiley (20 February 1890). In 1900 the family is listed as living in Cross, Kay County, Oklahoma. At that point in her life Nancy had given birth to 10 children, with six of them still living. That means there are three children of which I do not have any record. From 1910 until her death in 1929, Nancy lived in Dexter, Cowley County, Kansas. Her husband of 44 years passed away in 1917. To provide a living for their family he was a farmer.

Benjamin New Census Update

Here is the update for the following census records:
1850 - Unable to find, possibly because he wasn't born until Oct. of that year.
1870 - Unable to find. He would have been about 20, possibly living in Illinois.
1885 - Found, living in Howard, Elk, Kansas, working as a farmer.
1890 - Unable to find, probably because this census was mostly destroyed in a fire.
1905 - Unable to find, probably because his family was still living in OK at this time and this is the Kansas State Census.
I'm currently working to find a source for his marriage date to Nancy. I have the year as 1873, but that is all. I would like to find a source that confirms this along with the day, month and location.

The Benjamin New Family

My current task in my family history efforts is collecting as many census records as I can for each family in the tree. This helps me to map out where they lived throughout their lives, and what kinds of jobs they had, etc. As I've mapped out their homesites, I've researched some of the townships. I'm working on collecting the census records for Benjamin New, father of Samuel Franklin New. The following is a picture of his family. I'm guessing this picture was taken about 1895. From left to right, starting on the bottom we have Samuel, Robert, Frederick. Middle row, Nancy, Benjamin. Top (left to right) Ora, Anna, and Ethel.


Benjamin and Nancy had a son named Jacob. He was their firstborn, but died. He is listed on the 1875 Kansas Census as being 10 months old, born in Illinois. But he isn't listed on any census records after that. I've checked Find a Grave.com for a gravesite, but I don't see anything listed. It could very well be that such a young couple didn't have any money to provide a headstone at that point in their lives.
The census records I'm looking for (for Benjamin) include 1850, 1870, 1885 Kansas, 1890, and the 1905 Kansas. In 1905 he could possibly still be living in Oklahoma.