Hugh Ellis Roberts (1884-1908), The 1900 Census, & Family Search Duplicate Merging

Family Search Duplicate Merging

I like to control and manage my family tree information. As such, I’ve never been a fan of systems where family trees are managed by many individuals. I tend to be concerned that other individuals aren’t quite as thorough as I like to think that I am. I also like to work from sources and not rely on other individual’s family trees for anything other than “hints,” so I don’t really use other people’s family trees much.

Family Search – Family Tree – Find

I was researching Hugh Ellis Roberts and couldn’t find much information. I was having such a bad time that I decided to use Family Search Family Trees to see if I could gain any leads there. After selecting [Family Tree} [Find], entering my subject’s name and year of birth the system returned 50 different entries. Four of the first five entries were my particular Hugh Ellis Roberts. They all had the same birth year, all had the same death year and they all had the same spouse. None of the entries had any sources for their information at all. Sigh…. I decided I couldn’t let four entries for the same individual stand so I selected the one that had the most information, parents and children names, and began merging the other entries into that one. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. I also corrected the marriage date from “Oct 1900” to “7 Oct 1900” and associated my source to that fact. There is still a problem with his being married to three different people, Clara, Clora, and Cora Dell Scott. I’ll merge those identities up when I work on Clara’s biography and decide on what I really think her name was. (Different records all are interpreted differently.) There are still other issues with the family unit on Family Search Family Trees, such as one of his sisters being duplicated, but I’ll fix it as I work on the family unit.

Because Hugh Ellis Roberts was born after the 1880 Census and he died in 1908 finding him in the 1900 Census was a must. I knew that his father died in 1887, so using his name wouldn’t help. I searched and searched and never found him. I also knew that he was married in 1900 in Illinois, so I figured he had to be in Illinois somewhere, probably in either Jefferson or Franklin County. Still no luck. Then I decided to search Illinois for people born in Illinois in 1884 with the surname “Roberts” and nothing else. I then looked closely at any individuals born in July. I found a “Heine” Roberts, living with his mother Anna and a sister Talaramer. His mother’s name was Patience Anna. Could it be? Looking closer at the entry,

I saw that Talaramer was a transcriber’s attempt to read a nearly illegible Florence. The birth year and place for Anna matched Patience Anna, the birth date matched the month, year, and place for Florence, and the birth month, year, and place all matched Hugh. Last, but not least, it was in Franklin County (which borders Jefferson County), Finally, I had found Hugh Ellis Roberts in the 1900 Census.

Hint: When looking for someone in a census, try ignoring the first names of individuals and just search for a surname with other identifying criteria.

RB-08 – Hugh Ellis Roberts

Hugh Ellis Roberts[i] was born in July 1884 in Illinois. His marriage license indicated that he was 18 when he was married in 1900; however, I think it is more likely that the 16-year-old Hugh lied about his age in order to marry without parental permissions. One on-line source indicates that he was born in Jefferson County, Illinois, however, the marriage license of his son, Bert Allen Roberts indicate that he was born in Benton (Franklin County, Illinois.[ii] According to other researchers, Hugh died on 30 August 1908.,[iii] Several of his children’s marriage licenses identify their father was deceased when they married in the 1920s, thus confirming the early death. Additionally, Hugh’s wife remarried in 1909.

He is the fourth known child of Asa Ellis Roberts (1835-1887), aged 49, and Patience Anna Marshall (1845-1919), aged 39. Asa and Patience had three other known children together, Charles Wilson, Rosa Della, and Florence Elizabeth Roberts. Asa was married previously to Cynthia Minerva Toney and that had six children so Hugh was the youngest of ten children of Asa. His six half-siblings were William, George, Margaret, Calvin, Sarah, and Monroe.

When Hugh was only three, his father, Asa Ellis Roberts, died (8 October 1887 – Spring Garden, Jefferson County, Illinois).

The 1900 census indicates that Hugh may have had a nickname of “Heine.” The 15-year-old was living with his mother, Anna, older sister Florence, and a niece, Nellie Roberts. It is unclear whose child Nellie was. The 1900 census indicates that only five of Anna’s six children were living, so it is possible that Nellie was the child of her dead child. Mother and son were farming in Barren Township.[iv]

On 7 October 1900, Hugh married Clara Dell Scott (1884-1945), daughter of Samuel Vaden Scott (1863-1931) and Amanda Jane Hale (?-1889) in Ina, Jefferson County, Illinois)[v]. They were both 16-years-old, however, they both indicated that they were 18 on the marriage registration.[vi]

A quick seven months later, Hugh and Clara had their first child.[vii]

The Children of Hugh and Clara included:

Harry Ray Roberts, born on 22 May 1900 in Franklin Co. (Franklin Co., Illinois). He married Lillie Vernea Higgins in 1922.
Carrie Mae Roberts, born in 1901. (I have not researched her further, yet.)
Bert Allen Roberts, born on 20 September 1903 in Sesser (Franklin, Illinois), died on 1st May 1949 in Elwood (Madison County, Indiana), aged 45. He married Essie Pansy Barnes on 13 May 1922. They had 5 children: Pansy, Bert, Hugh, Helen and John.
Mabel Ilean Roberts, born on 2 June 1908 in Lena (Stephenson County, Illinois, United States), USA. She married Olan B Hart on 3 January 1925.

It appears that the Roberts family moved from Franklin County to Stephenson County between 1903 and 1908.

Several researchers indicate that Hugh died on 30 August 1908 at the age of 24. I have been unable to confirm that; however, his wife, Clara, is reported as remarried in 1909 per the 1910 Census.[viii]

Continued Research

Confirm death date.
Determine cause of death.
Confirm day of birth.

[Note: I ordered a death certificate from Stephenson County Clerk & Recorder on 19 Feb 2016, which should answer all the above questions. If unsuccessful, will try again with Franklin County.]

Find Property Record for Anna’s farm ownership.

ENDNOTE

[i] Note: Family Search ID: LR7R-9J1
[ii] Source: Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007 – Family Search (Other)
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] Source: 1900 Census; Anna Roberts, Barren Township, Franklin, Illinois, United States; citing sheet 10A, family 182.
[v] Source: Family Search (Other) – Illinois, County Marriages, 1810-1934 / Ellis Roberts & Clara Dell Scott, 1900 – Family Search (Internet)
[vi] Source: Illinois, County Marriages, 1810-1934; Ellis Roberts & Clara Dell Scott, 1900
[vii] Note: They say the first child can come anytime, the rest take nine months.
[viii] Source: 1910 Census; Indiana, Sullivan, Turman, District 0178, Hosea Adams