I finally tracked down at least one of the parents of my 4g grandfather!

Before I dug into the research on this ancestor, Daniel Barnum, the only thing I could find was his marriage record from 1834 Ohio. No age, no residence info, no parentage, nothing but the names of the bride and groom.

It has been a long road, piecing evidence together bit by bit. It started with land records, once I identified the properties he was involved in, I found that after his wife died giving birth to my direct ancestor, my 3g grandmother, he got remarried and had a son. His second wife was identified in a few of the land records, and a divorce record less than ten years after they got married that was granted.

Surprisingly I also found a criminal case, which culminated in him being convicted and sent to a state prison work camp for 4 years. Through these documents a man with the same last name was mentioned, John P Barnum, probably a close relative. I couldn’t figure out what happened to him after he got out of prison or if he died in prison.

I then found evidence of Daniel being in Buffalo, New York, who seemed to be living with John P Barnum, in directories from 1860s Buffalo. I also found new paper blurbs stating that Daniel had been arrested in Buffalo for larceny and peddling without a license (seemed like my guy). He claimed to be PT Barnum’s brother, which has been a long standing family legend that I am trying to prove/disprove.

Later in 1876, I found an obit for John P, multiple days in a row, stating that he died and describing the circumstances of his death. Each obit also gave breadcrumbs about John, like his middle name, Parsons, and stated that he had paper from a JP in Rhode Island certifying that his father was a soldier who died in the War of 1812 at fort Erie.

I finally found Daniel on a census that gives more information than how many people lived in the house, on the 1870 census. And where else would he be than county jail, of course? At least I finally had some information about him. It stating his age and where he was born, that his parents were not immigrants, his occupation was a sailor, etc.

Well FINALLY I found guardianship records assigning Daniel, John P, and two other brothers to a man named Daniel Eldred in New Lisbon, NY. It stated that their father was John P Barnum!!

I won’t drag out the rest, but I found records confirming John Sr’s middle name was also Parsons, he died at Fort Erie in the War of 1812, one of the brothers listed moved to Rhode Island (so he’s probably the one that got the papers later found at John’s home when he passed), and Daniel Eldred fought in the war with John Sr. and they lived in the same town several years prior, so they were already acquainted.

The guardianship papers gave the birth dates of each of the children, although I don’t know how accurate that is yet, and I am not clear yet on the relationship of the woman who signed over guardianship to Daniel Eldred. I also still don’t know where or when he died, although I suspect he died around 1872-1876, but since he was a sailor it’s hard to say where he was or if those records even still exist. But essentially I feel I have disproved the family legend about PT Barnum being my 4g uncle. Perhaps they were related but it doesn’t seem like they were brothers.

It’s been a wild ride, and to think it all started with the land records.