After They Married

This is the only photograph my family has of Sarah Davis Holman

1880 Census

On June 4, 1880, Price, Sarah and their children, Theodore and Elmer, lived in Jefferson, Kanawha, West Virginia. Curiously, the fifth member of their household, Nancy Richards, appears to be the daughter of Aaron and Sarah Ann Richards, who are listed on the 1870 census record with Sarah Davis (please seethe Dec 22, 2011 post for more details on this). Nancy Richards is 13 years old and recorded as a servant. I don’t know much about Price and Sarah, but they do not appear to have had much money, so it’s unlikely they would have had a servant. Were Sarah Davis Holman and Nancy Richards related? What happened to Nancy? I have not been able to find her on later census records. It’s possible she married, and the new last name will make her difficult to find.

As for the individuals Price was living with in 1870 — Margareth, William, Sally and Benjamin – two of the four appear on the 1880 Census. William and Sally (or Sallie), along with a Millie Holman (age 9), are living with a family called Moseley. The birthplace, county of residence and age match William and Sally of the 1870 Census, so I am reasonably sure they are the same people. What’s odd is that by now William is 17 and Sally is 12, yet the head of the household and his wife, Bibb and Charlotte Moseley, both 24 years old, are listed as the Holman children’s grandparents. It’s true, back then people often had children earlier than they do today, but the math on that just doesn’t work out no matter how you add or subtract. In addition, Margareth and Benjamin seem to have disappeared. I haven’t been able to find any other records on them, not in 1880 or beyond.

More mysteries to add to my growing list.

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