The Underwood Sisters?

I would also to prove the relationship of two women who I suspect are sisters in my family tree.  I have an ancestor - Rebecca Underwood - who appears in the
census suddenly in 1860 in Clarke County, Iowa.  The Census states she was from Indiana.

You have to admit that the household she is in in 1860 in Clarke County is an interesting one. I think you need to look at why she is in the Hunt household. I would not consider Iowa to necessarily be a safe place for an unemployed 18 year old woman. It looks like she marries prior to the 1870 census. When does she marry, to whom, where, when?


  I am pretty sure she is my ancestor based on her location in the Iowa census.

How are you sure? Not from what is in the 1860 census. Must be something else.

 I checked Indiana for census records on Rebecca and there is a Rebecca Underwood in the 1850 – 1870 Censuses in Hendricks, Indiana that has a similar birth year but I have ruled her out as a match because I have the 1870 census for my Rebecca Underwood (now Proctor) in the same place in Clarke County, Iowa.

If you found Rebecca in 1850 in Indiana, did you also find the person you suspect of being her sister in the same household? 

I believe I have found Rebecca’s sister based on the fact that the 1880 Census for Rebecca states that she has her niece and nephew living with her and her husband.  The census gave the niece and nephew’s name as Mary and William Lafollette, who were born in Indiana.

Could you send me the citiation. I don't see the census record you are refering to.

  I was able to find a marriage record for a Susanna Underwood who married a Joshua LaFollette in Clarke Co Iowa in Jul 1859. 

Yet I don't see a Joshua LaFollette in the 1860 census.

 

From the location and the names I am pretty sure that Rebecca and Susanna are sisters. 

Why is that?

 

However I cannot find other Underwoods in Clarke Co – there is a group of Underwoods who lived in Mahaska County, Iowa but the census records seem spotty for them and I do not find any Underwood Iowa family trees on ancestry.com that have sisters named Susanna and Rebecca.

Probably because you are not looking for an Iowa family with a Susanna and Rebecca but an Indiana one.

Where would you suggest I look next?

I suggest that you focus on finding Rebecca in Indiana (or elsewhere) in 1850 and also the person you believe to be her sister. There is also the possibility that the residents of the Hunt household in 1850 believed that she was born in Indiana, whereas she might have just been from Indiana but born in another state. Regardless, given their ages and the issue that you believe them to be in the same county in 1860, they should be together in 1850 somewhere.

I also continue to wonder who this Garner Hunt might be and what his family looks like. Why would Rebecca end up in this household. Is there a relationship between her and any of the other people in this household.

In the 1880 census do both sisters have parents born in the same states.

I would not rule out the Rebecca Underwood of Hendricks just yet.

Hope this helps.

C.