Robert Benedict Alderson

I am working on the Descendancy research of James Cole Alderson, my 3rd great grandfather through William Wesley Alderson.  I am stuck on William Wesley's brother Robert Benedict Alderson. 

What I do have:
The Alderson Cousins site gives his birthdate as 16 November 1848 in Maury, Tennessee.  Robert is with the family in the 1850 census in Maury, TN and in the 1860 census in Marion, Illinois.  After that I can not pin down a record for him. 

Possibility:
There is an interesting possibility that he enlisted in the Civil War.  There is an enlistment for February 1865 for a Robert B Alderson from Arrowsmith, Illinois (McLean County) that joined the K 155th Illinois Infantry.  It seems that same Robert died in Nashville, Illinois on 6 April 1864(5).  Oddly though, I can't find the cemetery record on the Nationwide Gravesite Locator even though I have two separate records that suggest it should exist.

United States Civil War Soldiers Index, 1861-1865: Robert B Alderson

155th Regiment, Illinois Infantry

Familysearch # LCT2-CZL


Robert would have been 16/17 years old in 1865.  Young but I guess not unheard of. 

There are only two other Robert Alderson's that show up in Illinois in the 1860 census.  (My Robert B acutally shows up as Bennedic).  A father and a son living in Macoupin, Illinois ages 50 and 10.  The same Robert Alderson seems to show up in the 1865 Illinois State Census also in Macoupin, Illinois.  The census was supposedly taken on 3rd July 1865, suggesting he is not the Robert Alderson that died in April.  I guess there is still the possibility that the 10 year old, now 15, could be the one who enlisted.


I feel like I'm just dancing around it... There just isn't quite enough information to pin the two together.  ARG!

MRN (more research needed)

Alderson Cousins

I have been working on the Descendancy of James Cole Alderson, my great great grandfather, and came across an old goldmine today. 

There is a book available on familysearch.org called Alderson: Alderson families living in North America thru 1920 by Cross, James Allison, 1928-.

Turns out there is also a webpage called Alderson Cousins that is dedicated to the three main Alderson lines that first immigrated to the United States.  One of which I am descended from: Richard Alderson Richmond, VA mid-1600s.

There is also an old newsletter available on the website that was published for multiple years.  I have only skimmed through the first four issues but found information relating to my family.

Volume 1, Number 4  includes marriage records from the early 19th century in Maury, TN, including some of my relatives.


There is also a website dedicated exclusively to the descendants of Richard Alderson.  My great grandmother is even included!

I'm excited to go through and verify as much as the information I can and make sure it is included in my family tree.  Seems like there is always more work to do!

Alderson Family Photo

Three Generations

Photo taken end of 1902/beginning of 1903

Standing Left: Elva Alderson (Adams)- she married Ernie Adams son of Emma Daniels (sister of Arthur Daniels) i.e. she married the nephew of Ellen's husband
Standing Right: Estne Alderson (never married)

Seated Left to Right:
William Wesley Alderson
Lora Blanch Daniels (Barksdale) daughter of Ellen and Arthur Daniels
Ellen Otilla Alderson Daniels (My Great-Grandmother)-wife of Arthur Thomas Daniels
Frankie Helen Daniels (Monical) daughter of Ellen and Arthur Daniels
Isadora Winders Alderson

*original photo in posession of my grandma*

Tangent continued...

I was going through my comments again tonight and completing links in my summary posts when I came across the surname Mulvany.  Turns out Harriet Alice Daniels (eldest sister of Arthur Daniels and how Gladys connects into my line) married a George W. Mulvany Jr. and is located 10 pages down from Nancy L Alderson living with her sister Matilda Mulvaney in the 1880 Marion County census.  There is another Mulvaney family living a few doors up from them.  I imagine they are all related. 

It's pretty crazy how all the lines interconnect.

Tangent from the Daniels Line

This evening I was going through some of the comments that Gladys has added to my blog with specific information about individuals and putting the information into the summary post and ended up on a major tangent that resulted in me finding more information on a completely different line.  [Happy Dance!]

I started looking at Edith L Daniels, sister to my great grandfather Arthur Daniels.  Gladys had posted some information about her spouse and children.  As a side note she included the information that Edith's husband was a widower with four children.  In the process of looking up the informaiton on Edith and her husband Henry I also looked in the marriage index for Henry's first wife.  Her name was Nancy L Alderson.  Ding ding... Red Flag!  Alderson is one of my family lines also in Marion county, Illinois.  Arthur actually married an Alderson.  Now my curiousity was peaked.  There aren't many Alderson's in Marion County, Illinois and most are somehow related.  The 1880 census finds Nancy Alderson living with her sister Matilda Mulvaney (another surname that rings a bell but I haven't pulled out of my memory were exactly it comes up yet) in Omega Twp, Marion County.  The 1870 census is Nancy L. Alderson living with her mother also name Nancy and brothers Samuel M, William W, and Elijah E. DING there it is!  William W. Alderson is the father of Ellen Otilla who married Arthur Daniels. 

I continued down the line of census' and looked at the 1860 for the Alderson family and find James C Alderson and his wife Nancy in Marion County with 5 children (I'll post the census images here eventually!) but there was still no mention of a Matilda Alderson (I looked up the marriage record for Matilda Mulvaney and her maiden name was indeed Alderson and she was married in 1857).  I went another census earlier and looked at the 1850, this time in Tennessee because many of the children listed their parents or themselves as born in TN (though the mother Nancy also had SC and Miss listed as birthplaces).  I easily found them in Maury County, Tennessee and there was Matilda the eldest daughter.  Interestingly there is only a 15 year age difference between the mother Nancy (23) and Matilda (8).  Nancy's age is fairly consistent throughout the census records.  James C Alderson is 32 years old in 1850.  Makes me wonder if Nancy could be a second wife??  Something to look into.  

Anyway thanks to the census and the fact that Nancy was living with her sister in the 1880 census I was able to pull the entire family together through FOUR census years.  Another line of research totally seperate from the Daniel/Daniels line though suprisingly more connected than I thought.

Elva B. Alderson: Summary

b. 1888 -Census
d.

Parents:
William Wesley Alderson
Isadora Winders

Ethel L Alderson: Summary

b. 14 June 1883 -Cemetery Record
d. 1 Jul 18?? (~1893) -Cemetery Record, (Memory of living person)
Buried in Parker Cemetery, Songer Twp, Clay, Illinois

Parents:
William Wesley Alderson
Isadora Winders

Estna M Alderson: Summary

b. 5 Apr 1885 Illinois -Cemetery Record, Census
m. (not married, maiden name in cemetery record)
d. 14 Oct 1958 (Salem, Marion, Illinois) -Cemetery Record
Buried in Parker Cemetry Songer twp, Clay, Illinois

Parents:
William Wesley Alderson
Isadora Winders



Sources: Census, Cemetery Record

Isadora Winders Alderson: Summary

b. 7 Jun 1859 (Harrison Co, Indiana) -Cemetery Record
m. to William Wesley Alderson on 5 Sept 1878 Marion, Illinois -Illinois Statewide Marriage Index 1763-1900
d. 3 Nov 1926 Omega, Marion, Illinois -Illinois Statewide Death Index 1916-1950 and Cemetery Record.
Buried in Parker Cemetery, Songer Twp, Clay, Illinois

Parents:
William W. Winders
Sarah Mosier

Children:
Ellen Otilla Alderson Daniels
Ethel L. Alderson b 1883
Estna M. Alderson b 1885
Elva B. Alderson b 1888

Source Records: Census, Marriage Record, Death Record, Cemetery

William Wesley Alderson: Summary

b. 10 Apr 1858 Illinois -Cemetery Record
m. to Isadora Winders on 5 Sept 1878 Marion County, Illinois -Illinois Statewide Marriage Index 1763-1900
d. 16 Dec 1943 Marion, Illinois -Illinois Statewide Death Index 1916-1950
Buried in Parker Cemetery, Songer Twp, Clay, Illinois

Parents:
James Alderson
Nancy --- (Hoag or Bundy)

Children:
Ellen Otilla Alderson Daniels
Ethel L. Alderson b 1883
Estna M. Alderson b 1885
Elva B. Alderson b 1888

Source Records: 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930 Census, Marriage, Cemetery

Ellen Otilla Alderson Daniels: Summary

b. (27 Nov 1879 Omega Twp, Marion, Illinois) 1878 -Cemetery Record
m. to Arthur Thomas Daniels on 14 Aug 1900 Marion County, Illinois -Illinois Statewide Marriage index 1763-1900
d. (3 Nov 1957 Salem, Marion, Illinois) 1857 -Cemetery Record
Buried in Parker Cemetery, Songer Twp, Clay, Illinois

Parents:
William Wesley Alderson
Isadora Winders


Children:
Lora Blanch Daniels
Frank Helen Daniels Monical
John Dennis Daniels
Robert Daniels

Had an 8th grade education (memory of daughter-in-law)

Source Records: 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930 Census, Marriage, Cemetery

*Photo taken 1943 in Salem, Illinois