RICH Clues And Puzzle Pieces

Some time ago, I blogged about my RICH roots. When writing and researching about any particular ancestor, I always like to do due diligence, by not only researching them, but their siblings as well. With this particular branch, that proved quite difficult. First, the surname RICH, is a terrible name for search engines when looking for a person. Most often the results are of the adjective and if I'm lucky enough to get a name, its usually RICHARDSON or RICHARD, or RICHARDS. Second the records involving many of the presumably siblings of my 3rd great grandfather, Killion, were very inconsistent. One of them being a Sidney Rich who showed up as a male in the 1860 census and by a different name and female in the 1850 census leaving me unsure of who I was actually researching.

In the earlier mentioned blog, towards the end, I mentioned two boys/men (brothers), Ephraim L. and John W. RICH who end up living in Mendocino County, California, and how I believe them to be Killion's nephews by his brother John W. Rich and Tennessee Lovett. Keep the brothers John and Ephraim in your mind while I share what I have found today....

Today I ended back up on Sidney Rich. Sidney (male) and with the father and family were in Burnett County, TX in 1860. The father shows up in a voter registration in Milam County in 1867, and then in Lamar County for the 1870 census and I feel like the Sidney Rich (female) living with George in Van Zandt County in 1870 is very likely her living with her brother.

Below is a map that I have placed push pins on in the counties where records for this family are found --  this family was on the move a lot and traveled great distances. The pins below are only for a 20 year time period.





There is a marriage record for a Sidney Rich to a J W Simons in Cooke County, TX -- I believe this to be her, despite being jotted down as male in the 1860 census. This marriage took place Nov 1873. Remember the brothers from above, Ephraim and John W Rich? Their parents, John Wesley Rich and Tennessee Lovett where also married in Cooke County, one year earlier, Nov 1872.





In 1880 Sidney, her husband, and a 5 year old son, Benjamin can be found living in Hill County, TX. Further evidence shows up that this is indeed my Sidney when I find her son Benjamin listed as a boarder with his cousin John W. Rich,  in Round Valley, Mendocino, California, working as farm laborers on the John Q. ROHRBOUGH farm.

One more piece of evidence that places Sidney's son with the Rich brothers, is this article from the Ukiah Daily Journal from 1954:

I have no idea what happened to Sidney and her brother John Wesley or their spouses, but it would seem they all died young leaving their young boys to fend for themselves. The last record I find any of them is 1880.... unless the 64 year old, single, Sidney SMITH, listed with Ephraim in 1900 Round Valley, Mendocino, California, both living with an "Uncle" James Rich, her, alive and well? There is a Sidney Simons in the Calfironia Death Index having died in Mendocino, 18 Dec 1914. Maybe the SMITH surname was one more error with this woman's name, like in 1850 when she was listed as Selina.

Is this James Rich the brother of John Wesley Rich Sr.??? I think it is.

Until next time,
Becky