20 November 2012

Dots for Time and Places for Rufus

It is easy to get excited when searching for a "new" potential ancestor. It is also easy to get confused as well.

I've been working on Rufus D. Stephens and I've located several different references to him in several different records which I've mentioned here before.

It is now time to stop.

At this point, I am going to get myself some maps and put "dots" and "years" of where and when Rufus appears in different records. I need to make certain that I have the same Rufus in all these records (or be as certain as I can be) and also make certain that I'm not overlooking specific clues.

And, I need to remind myself that my real person of interest is the Rufus D. Stephens shown in this 1850 census enumeration in St. Clair County, Michigan. Benjamin Butler is the known ancestor and Margaret his wife was a Stephens before her marriage and it is believed that Rufus is her father. Research on Rufus is being conducted to determine if he is connected to the Butler family. The proximity of the Butler and Stephens families in the 1850 census is the motivation for the search.

1850 US Census, St. Clair County, Port Huron, page 201. from Ancestry.com 
Have to keep that in mind while researching Rufus.