Did the Manslaughter and Bigamy Charges Leave any Court Record Behind?

Reading every newspaper article, even when they seem repetitive, can prove helpful. Sometimes one newspaper mentions a clue that another one does not.

I've gotten back on track with Rufus D. Stephens. I'm trying to connect my known Rufus D. with this Rufus D. who was involved in a manslaughter case in New York in 1805.

obtained on 

 Genealogybank.com

 Reading through all the newspaper items brought to light that he was also tried for bigamy as well.

obtained on 

 Genealogybank.com

Apparently neither charge stuck.

Even when you have one article on an event, consider searching for more. My scanning for more items on  located references which may help jumpstart my work on Rufus. My current goal is to determine if there are court records for him in Herkimer County.

Or at least explain why he left Herkimer County.

Of course, I still have to prove the Herkimer County Rufus is the same one who appears in western New York and in Michigan and Ontario.

Rufus D. Stephens and Other Early Settlers--Are There Clues Sitting There?

I'm returning to Rufus D. Stephens in hopes of making some headway on this War of 1812 veteran from Ontario County, New York.

An 1851 "History of the Pioneer Settlement of Philps and Gorham's Purchase and Morris' Reserve...," by O. Turner (published in Rochester by William Alling) mentions Rufus D. Stephens and several other early settlers in his portion of Ontario County, New York as shown below in this portion of page 525:

It has been a little while since I've mentioned Rufus D. Stephens, but I believe this one is the same Rufus D. Stephens who appears in Ontario, Canada, and Michigan through the early 1850s.

The problem is that there are two Rufus Stephens in New York in and around 1810--the 1810 census lists one in Lewis County and this one in Ontario County, New York. Newspaper accounts of a manslaughter case suggest that there was a Rufus D. Stephens in Herkimer County between 1800 and 1810.

The question is whether or not the Herkimer County Rufus D. Stephens in the one who appears in Ontario County.

Under the premise that people travel in general clusters, I am going to look for the names in this list of early settlers in the 1810 and 1800 census, hoping to see where they were from. The hope is that several of them were from Herkimer County, which would lend some credence to the theory that Rufus D. in Ontario County is the same one that was in Herkimer County.

That most certainly would not be direct evidence.

But it would help.

Proving It Was an $80 Horse in 1817

National Archives of the United States

Record Group 217

Entry #625

Volume 3

Page 205--Rufus D. Stephens

There are wonderful materials in the United States National Archives. Many of these records exist only in their original format. The record that was used to create the image that is a part of this blog post is one such example. There is more to the National Archives that military and pension records. We've discussed Rufus several times before--this link is to the initial reference to this claim.

It may seem like this claim provides little detail about Rufus--that it true.

But this is a record from a claim for a horse in the War of 1812. This is an era when there are not large amounts of detailed records and researchers often have to "take when they can get" and maximize it for what it contains.

This claim indicates that at the time Rufus D. Stephens lived in Ontario County, New York. Some of the other records during this era will not even provide a residence at all. So I know that in June of 1817, Rufus D. Stephens lived in Ontario County, New York.

The page on which Rufus' claim was located contained two additional claims from Ontario County, New York residents.  Those names may be clues.

I've decided to ask the researcher who obtained these copies for me to look at other adjacent entries in the same ledger to see how many Ontario County residents there were. The name of comrades could be clues.

The Ledger Entry for Rufus' Claim--and Clues to Comrades

In addition to the signed affidavits documenting Rufus D. Stephens' claim for his 1814 requisitioned horse, there is a ledge entry approving the claim.

"General Account of Claims for Compensation for Property Lost, Captured, or Destroyed by the Enemy, while in the Military Service of the United States during the late War with England."


Fixed number 2518, Rufus D.Stephens (attorney Claudius W. Boughton), whose claim was received on 3 June 1817 was from Ontario County, New York. Stephens claimed compensation for the loss of a horse while in the United States service. The amount of his claim was $80 and the proof was sufficient. Stephens' claim was approved on 3 June by Richard Bland Lee "C.C &C."

There is a notation that attorney Claudius W. Boughton received the $80 on 4 June.

There are two additional claims, both submitted and approved on 3 June, and paid on 4 June. Those men, James Spear and Erasmus T. Cammins, were also both from Ontario County, New York. They may have been comrades of Rufus given that the claims were filed simultaneously.


---------------
Source:
National Archives of the United States, Record Group 217, Entry 625, Volume 3, page 205.

Rufus Stephens in War of 1812 Service Records

Continuing our work on Rufus D. Stephens, I decided to obtain the compiled service record cards for him from National Archives Microfilm Publication M602. These are online at Archive.org and were discussed briefly in a blog post at "Search Tip of the Day."

There are four cards for a Rufus Stephens--two for Rufus Stephens and two cards for Rufus D. Stephens. I'm going to have to do some work on these cards as I have a few questions about them that I am hoping to get answered.

The following images from National Archives Microfilm Publication M602, roll 198. They were obtained digitally on Archive.org (http://www.archive.org)

Stay tuned!

Ult. Verus Inst.---At Least I Think

Organizing what I've gotten on Rufus D. Stephens reminded me of the difference between "ult" and "inst." At least I thought I knew what the difference was between the two abbreviations that one encounters in items from the 19th century and beyond.

These two clippings located on Genealogybank.com discuss a manslaughter case in which Rufus was involved. I'm trying to "fix" the date of the event and that's where I noticed a problem. Both papers were printed in February and one refers to the event as the "2d ult." and another refers to it as the "2d inst."

6 February 1805--refers to the date as "2d ult."

Date: Wednesday, February 6, 1805  

Paper: Democrat (Boston, MA) 

obtained on 

   Genealogybank.com

14 February 1805-refers to the date as "2d inst."

Date: Thursday, February 14, 1805  

Paper: Northern Post (Salem, NY)-

obtained on 

   Genealogybank.com   

One of these has to be incorrect. The question is, "which one?"

ult. stands for the Latin "ultimo" meaning the preceding month.
inst. stands for "instant" meaning the current month.

We're working on a longer post explaining what I think happened.

[link to update]
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Reminder--we don't include complete citations on blog posts--just our personal preference. Complete citations are always included in Casefile Clues or you can learn about citations in Elizabeth Shown Mills' Evidence Explained. We always do include enough background information in blog posts that readers can find our original sources.If you think we don't, please fire off an email to me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com

An 1811 Arrival for Rufus D. Stephens in Penfield, New York

There is a reference in an 1851 history to Rufus D. Stephens which indicates that he arrived in Penfield, New York in 1811. Attempts to document his movement need to use every source that can be located. This item was located by a search on Google Books.

While there is always the possibility that his year of arrival is off, it will be assumed to be correct unless information to the contrary can be located. There are other who settled in the area as well and it is possible that they shared a common "point of origin" with Rufus.

This is the only mention of him in the book:

part of page 525 discussing the town of Penfield, New York.

Those interested in the entire book can view it here--it may start with the cover--a lovely shade of gray:


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Reminder--we don't include complete citations on blog posts--just our personal preference. Complete citations are always included in Casefile Clues or you can learn about citations in Elizabeth Shown Mills' Evidence Explained. We always do include enough background information in blog posts that readers can find our original sources.If you think we don't, please fire off an email to me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com

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.

A Citation for the Rufus Stephens Horse Claim

Earlier, I posted an image of part of a claim for a War of 1812 era claim for a "drafted horse" that was made by Rufus Stephens.

There was no real citation along with the image. Since I received no email about it, I'm concluding that either the citation police do not exist or no one really reads my blog.

The document image is reproduced here again:

The researcher who usually obtains NARA documents for me always includes a citation as a part of the file of copies or images. This is greatly appreciated. It's excellent to share NARA documents so that researchers and the general public can be aware of them, but images sans citations is not the way to go. And, in case anyone wonders, I've used the citation (written by her) with her permission.

Is this in "proper form?" No--for reasons that I have discussed before and are included at the end of this post.

I was negligent in the original post on this image. Shouldn't let my excitement cause me to neglect citations.

------------------------------
Reminder--we don't include complete citations on blog posts--just our personal preference. Complete citations are always included in Casefile Clues or you can learn about citations in Elizabeth Shown Mills' Evidence Explained. We always do include enough background information in blog posts that readers can find our original sources.If you think we don't, please fire off an email to me at mjnrootdig@gmail.com

Who Was this Justice of the Peace in Ontario County, New York?

For an upcoming Casefile Clues article and my own research, I'm transcribing this document and analyzing it as much as possible. We've mentioned this claim of Rufus D. Stephens before.

There is one problem: I am having difficulty reading the name of the justice of the peace and his signature. The document comes from the reimbursement claim for Rufus D. Stephens who served in a War of 1812 unit from Ontario County, New York. The original documents are only in paper format at the National Archives.

Any thoughts?

Stone Takes His Case to the Paper

Apparently Isaac Stone wrote a letter to the Ontario [New York] Republican to make his case that he was not at fault in the burning of St. Davids, Ontario, on 18 July 1814. This letter was dated 10 days later and was copied by other newspapers in the area, including the one where this image was located on  Genealogybank.com. 

According to Stone's letter (reproduced below) he was given orders to retire the day after the incident--19 July 1814. None of the volunteers are listed, but it is reasonable to conclude that Rufus D. Stephens was one of them as he was in Stone's unit. 

Date: Saturday, August 20, 1814  

Paper: New Hampshire Sentinel (Keene, NH)  obtained on  Genealogybank.com. 

For now, we'll put the research on Stone on hold as it does not appear that it will yield any information on Rufus D. Stephens. But it certainly has been interesting and I'll be certain to search for commanding officers of other family members in the future.

Note--a careful reading of the claim Rufus D. Stephens submitted for his horse mentions that the horse was taken by order of the assistant adjutant general on 19 July 1814. Interesting date, given the incident in St. Davids the day before.

We'll have an update on the horse claim in a future post.

Commander Stone Censured for Burning Entire Village

It is not often when you find a potential relative involved in the burning of an entire town.

Searches on Genealogybank.com for Isaac W. Stone, the commander of the unit in which Rufus D. Stephens served, resulted in several hits--more than I could practically go through. It was necessary for me to remember the reason for searching for Stone in the first place: to learn more about Stephens and potentially Stephens' family or areas where he might have lived in New York in order to connect him to the correct Stephens family. It could be very easy to get distracted by Stone's military career and lose sight of my focus.

One entry from 1814 made it clear just how easily that distraction could happen. Apparently Stone was involved in the burning of the Ontario town of St. Davids in July of 1814 according to this news clipping from Boston.

Date: Friday, August 5, 1814  

Paper: New-England Palladium (Boston, MA)

 obtained on Genealogybank.com

There were several mentions of the incident in newspaper images on Genealogybank.com, including this one:

Date: Monday, August 8, 1814  

Paper: Gazette (Portland, ME)  

 

Volume: XVII  

 

Issue: 18 obtained on Genealogybank.com 

Apparently Stone was censured by the military for his actions as the account from the Portland Gazette indicated he was suspended from the cavalry.

There is a plaque in St. Davids, Ontario, which reads:

"On July 18th, 1814, during the final American campaign on the Niagara frontier, Major-General Peter B. Porter sent a detachment of militia from the United States encampment at Queenston to attack St. Davids. This force, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Isaac W. Stone, was joined later by a small group of American regulars. Despite opposition from the 1st Lincoln Militia, the enemy captured the village, looted it and burned most of the buildings. Stone was severely censured for this destruction of private property and summarily dismissed from the United States army"

Source: http://www.niagarafallsheritage.ca/heritage/show.asp?id=252851&b=1

The Commander Died--Looking for Your Relative's Commanding Officer

I'm still not certain whether or not Rufus D. Stephens is my ancestor, but in an initial read of the claim he filed for his horse that was "drafted" into the War of 1812, it mentions that Stephens was enlisted in a company of New York volunteers command by Capt. Isaac W. Stone.

Date: Thursday, September 22, 1814  

Paper: Albany Gazette (Albany, NY) obtained on Genealogybank.com 

Apparently Stone died in August or September of 1814 in Genesee County, New York, but was from Boyle, Ontario County.

This time period and location presents certain research challenges in trying to document everything I can about Rufus D. Stephens. I'm not usually in the habit of searching for the names of military officers associated with the people for whom I am searching. I'll have to try this approach with a few others who were in various wars. It might be a good way to find references to battles in which the unit fought.

Rufus D Stephens Horse Claim from War of 1812

The researcher at the National Archives found some partial information on the Rufus D Stephens War of 1812 horse claim. 

Details are minimal, but the claim indicates he was living in Ontario County, New York, at the time of the claim. The name of the lawyer is also given.

Not a huge clue, but time may prove me wrong on just how helpful this might be.

One should never overlook any record--no matter how slight. This horse claim helps me tie a location to Rufus D. Stephens and in this time period that can sometimes be difficult to do.

What Proof Did Rufus Need for that War of 1812 Horse?

Regular blog readers know that I'm working on Rufus D. Stephens/Stevens who was in the War of 1812 from New York State. One problem with Rufus is that I'm not exactly certain where in New York State he was from or much about him during his early life.

Rufus received a claim for a horse which is referenced in an 1817 federal accounting of expenses of the United States government. 

I'm hoping that there might be additional documentation on this claim at the National Archives. I've got a researcher working on it and when there's an update we'll have a blog post.

Stay tuned. 

The Earliest Rufus Stephens Murder News Item

Date: Thursday, January 17, 1805  

Paper: Daily Advertiser (New York, NY)  

   

obtained on 

  Genealogybank.com

Lesson: Keep a research log.

I overlooked this entry from January of 1805 because in my initial attempts to locate items on Rufus Stephens, I neglected to search for Stevens. My research notes did indicate that only searches for Stephens were conducted, but this variant should have been included.

A search for Stevens located several references--this from 17 January 1805 is the earliest one and apparently the one from which several other newspaper accounts were copied. This account provides more details about the incident than the account of the trial does, but the account of the trial does mention that Rufus was a bigamist as well.

One challenge with early newspapers (and not so early ones) is that sometimes they "copy and paste" information from each other. One temptation can be to simply look at the earliest article and not reference later ones. In this case, the articles in January and February of 1805 generally have the same details as this item. The ones about the trial are later (July of 1805) and have slightly differing information.

Henderson was "stabbed" not "ftabbed" in the heart--the type of 1805 was used and one needs to interpret what often looks like an "f" as an "s."

This doesn't change my list of goals, but does indicate that there's hopefully more information at the local level.

Thanks to a Facebook Genealogy Tip of the Day fan for pointing out this newspaper item to me on our fan page.

The newspaper account was obtained on Genealogybank.

Moving Forward on Rufus D. Stephens

We've been blogging about Rufus D. Stephens today and his possible involvement in an 1805 era murder, but before I do too much work on him, it's time to stop and think a little.

There are a few things I need to do many of which revolve around making certain how many Rufus D. Stephens there are. I also need to keep in mind that Rufus might not always use his middle initial and that his middle initial could be read incorrectly in some cases.

Here are some things I need to do:

• Search 1800-1850 census indexes and create a chart that includes each Rufus. Pay attention to the age of each Rufus. This will be done as part of an attempt to establish how many Rufus (D.) Stephens are around.
• Stay focused on New York and surrounding areas. While it's possible that Rufus moved to South Carolina for a while, searches should stay focused on the northern part of the United States--and Canada.
• Get maps of the areas where these individuals lived in order to prevent myself from making silly mistakes in regards to geography.
• Review information on the known Rufus D.--including his 1850 census enumeration and his War of 1812 bounty land application. 

Should I use the online trees to get some clues? 

That's a loaded question. There are plusses and minuses to using the online trees to get information or ideas. At this point, I'm inclined to not really utilize the trees. This is largely because there can be so much "gunk" to sift through and I've already have enough "gunk" to sift through as it is.

Instead of the trees, I'm going to utilize Google Books in a hope to find additional items that may be on Rufus in addition to using the materials above. At some point, I'll need local records in those locations where the various Rufuses lived. I'll also search on Fold3,   Ancestry.com, and FamilySearch, in addition to   Genealogybank.com . I'll avoid any online trees or user-submitted files for now. 

Paying Rufus for a Horse in 1816

A Rufus D. Stephens was paid $90 for a horse in 1817. One might almost wonder why anyone cares, but establishing identity is important and any reference to a person in this time period is one worth checking into.  Is this Rufus D. the same Rufus D. for whom I am looking? "My" Rufus is apparently in New York State, Canada, Michigan, and possibly Illinois. 

The 1817 reference.

This payment reference comes from an accounting of United States "Receipts and Expenditures" for the year 1817 with a title page as referenced below: 

Pages 99 and 100 (shown below) indicate the heading under which the payment to Rufus D. Stephens appears. One has to always avoid the temptation to simply copy the page with  name on it and nothing else. Everything must be taken into context. 

 Page 137 (shown below) contains the actual reference to Rufus D. Stephens who was paid in June of 1817 a total of $80 for a horse.

The problem is that this reference contains no additional information on Rufus--where he lived, where he filed the claim, etc. This book was obtained in digital format on Google Books and can be referenced here.

Going Forward

While the name of Rufus D. Stephens is not all that common, there could easily have been more than one person with that combination of first and last names. At this point, I'm trying to determine if this Rufus is the same one who was referenced in an earlier blog post. I'm also glad his name is not John Smith. We're working on a brief blog post about our methodology on trying to determine if these men are one and the same (and on establishing their connection to the actual person of interest).

There may be more information on this claim than appears here--maybe. On our short list of things to do is determining if there is additional documentation for Rufus' $80 claim.

Stay tuned.

Am I Looking for A Murdering Bigamist?

According to newspaper accounts, Rufus D. Stephens was a murdering bigamist in Herkimer County, New York. He may be the same Rufus D. Stevens for whom I am looking in 1850.

Date: Wednesday, July 10, 1805  

Paper: Mirror of the Times, and General Advertiser (Wilmington, DE) 

-obtained on 

 Genealogybank.com

The Rufus D. Stevens I am interested in lived in St. Clair County, Michigan in 1850. The family living next door to Rufus D. Stevens was that of Benjamin and Margaret (Stephens) Butler.The proximity of the Butlers to a household headed by a man with Margaret's maiden name as his last name makes me think there could be a connection.

Benjamin Butler and Aaron Stevens were born in New York State in this enumeration. Margaret and several of the older Butler children were born in Canada.

1850 Census St. Clair County, Michigan, Port Huron Township, p. 201.

I still need to do some work, but there is a reasonable chance I have the same Rufus in both records. The Rufus from the census would have been old enough to have been the one in the 1805 article. Stay tuned.

The newspaper account was obtained on Genealogybank.
The 1850 census was obtained on Ancestry.com.

This may get interesting.