I spend a lot of time googling. More times than not - I end up right where I've been before. I guess you'd would call it "spinning my wheels." That is, until something like this happens.
Thomas Wright McNeff and William McNeff were Polly's sons. They were both born in Kentucky - and moved to Indiana sometime before their marriages - both in 1824. William married Mary Chamberlain. Now usually, I'd stare at them on the "M" page of the index, but last week, I ended up on the "C" page. And there, just two entries under William and Mary was Samuel Chamberlain, who married Nancy McMiff.
McMiff?
Now I've seen records of my McNeffs spelled McNiff, McNaff, M'Neff ... and I know there are other variants out there. But apparently, McMiff is actually a name. But that close to my McNeff?
I corresponded with the webmaster Barbara Ziegenmeyer, who researches McNeffs too. She found it as odd as I did. So, I headed down to the LDS Genealogy Library armed with a call number Barbara gave me.
And there it said Nancy ... McNipp!?
Frustrated, I pulled every film relevant to Harrison County, Indiana marriages. I stuck the first one of the 5 on the reader, and it was the original hand-written ledger.
Yes my friends, it said Nancy McNiff. She married Samuel Chamberlain on Feb 1, 1821, 3 years before William married a Chamberlain.
So who is she? I have no idea. Could she be a sister? John T and Polly married in 1798 and Thomas wasn't born until 1800 ... William 1805.
Polly's usually a nickname ... could I finally have found a trace of her after the divorce?
More questions than answers. More questions than answers.
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Fascinating! Maybe the Chamberlain family history has some answers?
ReplyDeleteI haven't been able to find anything yet about this Samuel Chamberlain. There's a large Chamberlain family in the county - but I can't fit Samuel into it. I also can't find Samuel and Nancy in later census records. Does that mean they died between 1821 and 1830? Does it mean they simply moved on and the trail went cold?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.archive.org/details/nancememorialhis00lcnanc
ReplyDeleteElaine, I found this old book online about the Nance family, which married into the Chamberlain family back & forth, and it shows Polly McNeff. I downloaded a pdf file, which didn't take too long. see if you think it helps. cindi
Thanks for the link Cindi. Unfortunately, there are a couple of Polly's who married into the McNeff clan that will take you off track if you aren't careful. This one is Polly Nance, who married Samuel McNeff. This Polly was born in 1812. I don't have my data base with me (I should be working instead of checking my blog!). As I recall, Samuel was the son of William McNeff, 2nd son of Polly - the focus of my interest. I'm glad for the link though - and even more glad for another set of eyes paying attention to all of this. :)
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