Researching Tax Records

I'm doing a little research on my RICH roots, specifically my 4th great grandfather John Wesley RICH. He is one of those lovely ancestors who 1) has a common first name 2) often went by his middle name, occasionally his first name followed by his middle initial, and possibly (according to these records) just his first name and 3) has a son by the same name. These factors can make it a little difficult when using alternate records in placing him. I'm using some alternate records for this post so I can fill in the gaps in my timeline between the 1860 and 1880 census. John Wesley RICH is nowhere to be found for the 1870 census and several of his children are MIA as well.

Since I no longer subscribe to any of my old genealogy subscriptions (Ancestry, Newspapers.com, or Fold3) I'm going back to old faithful Family Search where you can research for free.

Various records I'm looking at are tax records, voter registration, and marriage records indicating the location of children just to name a few. Census records help because being surrounded by wife, parents, children etc we can feel certain we are indeed looking at a record pertaining to our ancestor. The other records, on the other hand, especially when you have a common name, aren't always as reassuring. *I will try to use his name how it is spelled and given with each record.*

I've blogged about John Wesley RICH before. You can find those blogs here and here. 

I want to lay this post out in a timeline:

• circa 1815 birth of John Wesley RICH. Census records indicate the following years: 1812, 1813 and 1815. They all sate he was born in Kentucky.
• 1834 Marriage of Westley Rich to Nancy CREEK in White County, IL (see previous posts for image of record).
• 1838-39 in Arkansas (?) daughter Sarah gives Arkansas as her birth state in two census records. There is an 1837 tax record for a John Rich in Benton County, AR. Unsure if that's him.
• 1840 census record Hamilton County, IL enumerated a Wesley Rich. (one male 5-10, one male 15-20 (this would not be a child), then himself age 20-30 -- two females under 5, and his wife age 20-30)
• 1844 birth of son, Robert Robin in Missouri
• 1846 birth of son, William in Missouri
• 1848 birth of son, Orville Sexton in Illinois/Missouri (most likely Missouri)
• 1850 census places this John W RICH family in Lawrence County, Missouri
• 1852 birth of son, Jeremiah in Missouri
• 1853 Texas, County Tax Rolls, 1837-1910 finds a John W RICH in Grayson County, TX
• 1856 Texas, County Tax Rolls, 1837-1910 finds a John W RICH in Grayson County, TX alongside an E RICH (a connection to the Ephraim L Rich from this post perhaps?) This particular tax record led me to find a land record for 360 acres along Spring Creek, belonging to a John W RICH 
• 1857 Texas, County Tax Rolls, 1837-1910, provides the same information with the exception that now a Nancy A RICH is listed with them as owning 430 acres. Her land record can be found here.  Her land record tells me that John and Elijah RICH (the E. RICH from above) were the chain carriers for the survey of her property.
  
  Before moving on, I decided to look for John W RICH in Grayson County census records and found disappointing results. This is a different John W RICH, who was born in NC around the year 1825. Now to research Elijah and Nancy. I'm having difficulty finding Elijah and Nancy in census records. It's my theory that they are brother and mother to the Grayson County John W RICH.

• 1860 My Wesley RICH and family are found enumerated in Burnet County, Texas. Killian is married and living with his wife on the same page.

We know from census records that the following children belong to John Wesley RICH and from one of my previous posts we know that some of these names or ages aren't always consistent between census years, but we're going to do our best. I feel that Selina and Archilles of the 1850 census were actually Sidney and Arville.

1. Killian 
2. Sarah
3. Sidney 
4. Robert aka Robin
5. William
6. Arville/Orville Sexton
7. John Wesley Jr.
8. Jerremiah
9. Caroline
10. George W.

• 1865 One single solitary military record shows Killian in Colorado County, TX
• 1867 Voter registration shows a J W and Robt RICH in Milam County. Registered to have been in the state for 7 years (1860) and in county/precinct for 2 years. Both names are marked through. Killian is registered in nearby Falls County just (")marks down both columns all the way down. sigh There is also a Robt Rich listed in Collin County that year. His registration states he'd been in the state 9 years (1858) and in the county/precinct for 1 year.
• 1868 marriage record for Arville Sexton RICH to Sarah Jane WILLHITE from Collin County.
• 1870 census I can only find Robert and William married and living with their families and their siblings George and Sidney living together in the same household in Van Zandt County. Arville is enumerated in Collin County.
• 1872 there's a marriage record for Wesly RITCH to Tennie LOVETT from Cooke County
• 1873 there's a marriage record for Sidney RICH to J W SIMONS also from Cooke County
• 1878 there's a marriage record for Caroline RICH to R O HUGES from Johnson County
• 1880 census shows John W RICHE in Lamar County. In his household is his unmarried son George and his widowed/divorced/single daughter Sarah J CARTRIGHT with her children. On the same page is his married daugther Caroline, and his married son William. Killian is enumerate in Collin County, Sidney in Hill County, Robert in Comanche, Arville in Wise and John Wesley Jr. in Collin.
  
  I'm including an image so you can see just how much ground this family covered through these 20 years in Texas.
  
  

I have still been unable to place John Wesley and his wife Nancy, or the following children for the year 1870: Killian, Sarah, John Wesley Jr. or Caroline. But just in writing this post I found Caroline's marriage to Richard O HUGHES so it wasn't all for naught. It's just so frustrating that even after the 1880 census so much of this family just falls off the radar. My ancestor Killion died in 1881 but what about his parents and siblings: Sarah, Arville, John W Jr., Caroline and George, where and when did they die?

Until next time,
Becky.