General John Buford jr. Genealogy Rock Island/Galena IL 1848-1853

This Flora seems to be a New Yorker. On the 1880 census for St. Charles (IL), she is a dressmaker who is boarding with a family named Roche. In 1900+ Michigan censuses (with husband Thompson), she is always stated as having been born in NY although she isn't consistent about the birthplace of her father (sometimes she says Canada and sometimes France). She narrows in her own birthplace on the 1903 death certificate of her son in Michigan: her maident name as "Bauford" (?) and her birthplace is Rochester, NY.
 
This Flora seems to be a New Yorker. On the 1880 census for St. Charles (IL), she is a dressmaker who is boarding with a family named Roche. In 1900+ Michigan censuses (with husband Thompson), she is always stated as having been born in NY although she isn't consistent about the birthplace of her father (sometimes she says Canada and sometimes France). She narrows in her own birthplace on the 1903 death certificate of her son in Michigan: her maident name as "Bauford" (?) and her birthplace is Rochester, NY.
We are crossing paths @Fairfield !
 
I did a search on all the records I could find for Flora. She first shows up in St Charles in the 1880 Census - a boarder who works as a dressmaker, age 20. She states she was born in New York, her father in Canada, her mother in New York. This information is pretty consistent throughout her life - born in New York. Her father's birthplace is sometimes given as Canada but most often as France. Her mother's birthplace is usually given as Canada. In one record (the death of 3-year-old Thompson W Adams in 1903 she states Rochester, NY as her birthplace. I'd bet that she was born there and that her parents were French Canadian - that would not be uncommon for Rochester.

Flora has three daughters who marry in Michigan, where the mother's maiden name is required in the record book. In each instance it is spelled "Beauford." The common French spelling is Beaufort but Beauford is not a stretch. I tried every variable I could but no luck finding the family before 1880 - even when I added in her sister Clara.

I think the uncle who wrote the letter had too much bourbon that night :wink:
Or Uncle Fred just liked a good story! I guessed French-Canadian also.

Beaufort is also an English name.
 
Or Uncle Fred just liked a good story! I guessed French-Canadian also.

Beaufort is also an English name.
I tried to look at Canadian records - we currently have the international subscription - but had no luck. I've seen other families where they came to the US for a few years then went back.
 
I tried to look at Canadian records - we currently have the international subscription - but had no luck. I've seen other families where they came to the US for a few years then went back.
During the pandemic, we Mainers also have that access. 😊. But, you're right about their going back. My F-C friends here in Maine tell me that when a new baby was born, they wanted him/her to be baptized back in the home parish. I have a several books of Canadian records but, unfortunately, they are mostly for Beauce in PQ. But I'll check--after I feed Maximus the dog who is practically standing on his head!
 
Abraham Buford's brother Simeon Buford was John Buford, Jr.'s grandfather, meaning that John and Pattie were second cousins, which may play some role in explaining why neither of their children reached adulthood.
More trivia than a correction - the chances of birth defects in the offspring of second cousins is something like 3.5% - only slightly higher than 3% in non-relative parents.
 
More trivia than a correction - the chances of birth defects in the offspring of second cousins is something like 3.5% - only slightly higher than 3% in non-relative parents.
My high school science teacher told us that the reason for a problem with cousin marriage is that the gene pool is (partly) repeated, rather than a new pool being introduced. Northern Scotland has an enormous number of cousin marriages with no discernible problem. (no body ever talks about the "John O' Groats Lip"). 😂
 
Or Uncle Fred just liked a good story! I guessed French-Canadian also.

Beaufort is also an English name.
yes! Lol! my great uncle Fred loves a good story. :wink:
he wrote a few books as well. Mostly about trains, lumber, horses etc.



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yes! Lol! my great uncle Fred loves a good story. :wink:
he wrote a few books as well. Mostly about trains, lumber, horses etc.

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All topics our historical society is interested in. Your great uncle would have been a welcome member! The picture taken in the logging camp reminds me of the story about the creation of the Lombard Tractor (ancestor to Caterpillar). It seems that EJ Lawrence and Alvin Lombard happened to be on the same trolley; Lawrence complained that too many horses were injured at his logging camps (often necessitating their destruction) so he wondered if there wasn't some way to come up with a mechanized way to haul the logs. The two men became so engrossed in sketches and plans that they missed their stop and rode all the way into the other side of the county! Mr. Lombard continued with the project--after returning home--with the result being the Lombard Tractor.

I think that your uncle would have been interested.
 
@Jnobuford there is a book about the Buford family online - you may can find information there that fits the facts your uncle passed on to you -

This is the published family genealogy that I mentioned in one of my prior posts. There's a more recent edition of it that's not available on line, which is the version that I own. I checked it again last night, and remain convinced that Great Uncle Fred badly conflated family legend with shreds of the truth.
 
This is the published family genealogy that I mentioned in one of my prior posts. There's a more recent edition of it that's not available on line, which is the version that I own. I checked it again last night, and remain convinced that Great Uncle Fred badly conflated family legend with shreds of the truth.
He may not have made anything up with malice-aforethought but simply made a very, very common mistake: the assumption that two contemporary people with the same name were one-and-the-same.
 
This is the published family genealogy that I mentioned in one of my prior posts. There's a more recent edition of it that's not available on line, which is the version that I own. I checked it again last night, and remain convinced that Great Uncle Fred badly conflated family legend with shreds of the truth.
I don't at all disagree with you. But I've yet to find a family legend that didn't have some basis in fact at the bottom - the "shreds of truth" you mention. If nothing else, consulting this might make it possible for @Jnobuford to rule out the Kentucky Bufords and focus on another branch.
 
I don't at all disagree with you. But I've yet to find a family legend that didn't have some basis in fact at the bottom - the "shreds of truth" you mention. If nothing else, consulting this might make it possible for @Jnobuford to rule out the Kentucky Bufords and focus on another branch.
No argument here. If this helps to resolve these questions once and for all, then we've accomplished something productive here.
 
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