Week 19 - A Question the Records Can't Answer

They say that every story has a shred of truth to it and you should never completely dismiss it.

I have a Thomas Henry Sheridan born Oct 15, 1843, in Wheatland, Monroe County, New York.  He would have been my half 3x great Uncle. His mother, Mary, died in August 1849 and then his father Michael Sheridan died sixteen months later in December 1850. Suddenly, this small six-year-old boy lost everything dear to him.

I next find Thomas in the 1855 Wheatland, Monroe County, New York census living in the Harris Rogers household. He is 11 years old and is listed as a laborer. The enumeration date is June 5, 1855.  

A hand-written missive by a contributor on FamilySearch states "that young Thomas was placed in a Catholic home/orphanage and attended school there. At 14 years, he ran away from the home and started to walk to New Orleans to see his uncle (no name) who ran a lighthouse there. When Thomas was 17, he was drafted into the Rebel Army. When camped near the Union Army he slipped away and joined up in a Maine regiment in a light artillery unit. He rode a horse which was shot out from under him and his leg was broken. He refused to stay in the hospital and rejoined the unit. After the war he came to Michigan and lived with Patrick in Gratiot County. He came to Sandstone, Michigan in Jackson County and met Esther Tinkler and they married in 1868".

That is a lot of happenings for a young man in a span of 25 years. 

In 1850 he is age 6, listed with his parents in Wheatland, Monroe County, New York.

In 1855 he is 11 years old and listed as a laborer in the Harris Rogers household.

In 1860 he is 17 years old and living with his older half-brothers Patrick and Michael in Brooklyn, Jackson County, Michigan and is listed as a blacksmith apprentice.

1868 he is married to Esther Tinkler, and their first child is born in 1870 in Jackson County, Michigan.

I have researched lighthouses in the New Orleans area and have not found any names that might match. The only Thomas in New Orleans in 1860 is age 6 and born in Louisiana. I have not found young Thomas in any Civil War records. 

What the true story was, I will probably never know. The records help to put together a great accounting of Thomas's life up to a point. There may be a bit of truth in the telling, but definitely not all the answers.

Barbie







Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 11 2026 - A Turning Point - Sam Dillingham

Image
Sometimes life gives you a chance to make amends. My great-uncle Samuel Dillingham was handed such a possibility.  Sam was the second oldest son of Nathaniel G and Ellen (Berry) Dillingham. He was one of 14 children. He had a couple of siblings who were notorious for fighting and scrapping and getting into trouble with the law. So was Sam. Family stories (from the wife of Sam's grandson and also from his younger brother Bill/Willard Dillingham) state that Sam had a falling out with his family and ran away from home at the young age of 12. He is listed with his parents and siblings in the 1880 census (age 11) and in the 1885 state census (age 16). So maybe he came back home?  Sam was born 8 Dec 1869 in Cerro Gordo, Iowa. In 1894 in Manning, Iowa when he was age 24 he and another man named O. W. 'Hock' Hunter got into a fight and Sam was underneath when he pulled a knife and attempted to kill Hunter. A Grand Jury sentenced him to two years at the state penitentiary for assaul...
Read more

Week 42 - Fire - Conner/Graham

Image
Isaac Graham was around 19 years old when he immigrated from Canada into Marion township, Michigan to join his older brother John in 1862. The two brothers had purchased land using funds that their father had supplied. Land was becoming too expensive in Canada, so he had sent them to Michigan to settle. Isaac's twin brother Charles had come with them, but after a bad winter and getting sickly from working in the woods, he decided to go back to Canada. Isaac purchased 80 acres in what became the town of Deckerville in Sanilac County, located in the thumb of Michigan. He cleared some acres, planted an orchard and built a small wood frame home. In 1871 Isaac returned home to Taylor's Corner in Victoria county, Ontario, Canada and there he married Charlotte Harmon on July 17th.  During the year of 1871, there was a severe drought that ran from the Dakotas, across Minnesota and into Wisconsin and also included the state of Michigan. Following lightning strikes in the Dakotas, fires ...
Read more

Week 43 - Urban - Lorraine Sheridan

Image
In 1942, a 19-year-old woman left her small rural hometown of less than 400 people and boarded a train bound for Detroit, one of the busiest urban centers in America. The city was alive around the clock, its streets glowing with factory lights and the constant hum of war production. Her name was Lorraine Sheridan, and she was the youngest of six children of John and Pauline (Prince) Sheridan. And my mom.  A recent graduate of Fulton schools in Perrinton, Michigan she decided to head to the big city. She found work at the Lyon Manufacturing Company located at 151 South Waterman St along the waterfront. It had turned from making farm equipment to producing 40 mm cartridge cases. It was her first time in a big city — and her first time working the midnight shift. Inside the vast plant, the air smelled of oil and hot metal, and the noise of machines filled every corner. Mom worked six days a week in a relief position and would take over for other workers that were going on breaks. She ...
Read more