September, 2000 Colliers of Massachusetts Letter 9-3-2000 Unlike the research results of a year ago, when we found a certain connection between the Colliers of the South Shore, and Boston, with the Colliers of Chesterfield, Hampshire County, my recent finds have been more in the nature of refinements. Subject to finding an actual Boston birth record of Gershom (6), son of Bosworth and Ann/Anna House Collier, which would neatly eliminate the 1 % doubt I have about that particular connection, I will have to be satisfied with incremental steps. (If this had been easy, someone would have done it before!! Right??) I would first like to express my thanks to my Aunt Elva Collier Cahill, and our cousin, Virgil Collier, of Burton, Ohio, for taking us on a tour of "Collier" sites in Geauga and Portage County, Ohio a few weeks ago. Also, my thanks to Ware and Alice Williams, of Hingham, Mass., for allowing me to join in some of the activities of their Collier - Lincoln Reunion on the weekend of August 18 - 20. I was usually introduced as the representative of the Collier family "from before" the marriage to the Lincolns. I believe I was one of only two people there on Friday who still have the "Collier" surname -- the other being Sargent Collier, son of Sergeant F., the author and photographer of travel books on Bar Harbor and environs. Mrs. Williams had a list of a couple of other "Colliers" who were expected to attend -- perhaps they were there on Saturday. As a group, we toured some of the Hingham and Cohasset sites connected with the Colliers, and the Lincolns, and I met some very nice people in the process. How could it be otherwise, with all of them being Colliers and/or Lincolns?? I made a brief tour of Hull on my own on the 18th, but was not able to squeeze in a visit to Scituate, the next town south and east of Cohasset, where the children (save one) of Thomas (4) and Bridget Southworth Collier were born, and where William (4) and Judith Briggs Collier, founders of the "Cohasset" line, lived as well. I took several photographs, which I will eventually scan and send along.. The Briggs-Collier House in Scituate, where several generations of the William Collier - Judith Briggs family lived, was accidentally burned down sometime after 1949, and I do not know of any specific locations connected with Thomas Collier - Bridget Southworth during their time there, so I would have only had a general tour of the area. I am told that there are some Colliers in the cemetery that is now connected with the Baptist Church, so I will make it a point to visit Scituate at some point. I note that the next volume of the Great Migration Project from the NEHGS, The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634-1635, Volume II, written by Robert Charles Anderson, and others, will be published about the end of this year. This should contain an entry for Thomas and Susannah Collier. I do not anticipate anything startlingly new in the book, but perhaps we will be surprised. I sent a letter to Mr. Anderson a few months ago, pointing out a few minor corrections to the article on the family in the NEHGR article of October, 1988 on "Seventeenth Century Hull, Massachusetts and Her People." I also indicated that we were preparing a genealogy of the family. I do not know whether any notice was taken of my letter. For those who actively use the computer and the Internet in their genealogy work, I will note that Ancestry.com in the near future expects to present images of nearly all the U. S. Census pages from 1790 - 1910, for all states. This should be most useful, particularly for those who do not have easy access to a good library, provided that a good index accompanies the images, and you are using a fast computer. I'm afraid that I may fall asleep while my old Pentium 150 is downloading a page. Genealogy Library.com already has available images of some 1850 Census pages. In the overall picture of "our" work on the Thomas and Susannah Collier line, since March of this year we have added : 1) Several generations of the descendants of Bridget Collier (5) - 5th American generation, from Thomas (1) - and Aaron Pratt, of Cohasset, Mass., courtesy of Joel Pratt. 2) 300 +- individuals in the line of Susannah Collier ((4) and Thomas Copeland, courtesy of William C. Copeland, and earlier workers on this line 3) Probably 100+ individuals among the descendants of the various Collier ladies who married into the Loring families of South Shore Massachusetts in the late 17th and early 18th Centuries. These Loring connections should be considerably expanded on my next trip to the NEHGS, later this fall, as there is a Loring genealogy of 1917, written by the well known genealogist Charles H. Pope, and members of the Loring family. 4) A few dozen scattered individuals from various Internet sources, e-mail contributions, and library research. As of today, September 1, 2000, with more individuals potentially to be located from the Moses Collier/New Jersey line, certainly more of the Collier/Loring descendants, the Spear/Speare descendants of Mary Collier (4), and possibly more from the lines of Jane Collier (4), Moses Collier (4), Jonathan Collier (4), etc., my "Master File" has 2,796 individuals in what I am proposing to call "The Colliers of Massachusetts, Descended from Thomas and Susannah, Hingham, 1635." I am not yet prepared to count each name, but, after deducting the spouses of descendants, I estimate the total at 2,000 - 2,200, with 337 being of the Collier or Collyer surname. Note that William Collier of Plymouth Colony, and his children, are NOT included in this number. Over the winter, if not before, I will be posting inquiries on the various Internet genealogical forums, asking for information on various "lost" individuals. I am not very optimistic that we will receive much information in this way, but we might get lucky. Please let me know if you would like an updated file, either in a computerized format (FTW 7.0, or GEDCOM) or on paper. The FTW file on the Thomas Collier Descendants alone is nearly 5 MB, although the GEDCOM or compressed version would be much smaller. I am nearing the point of beginning work on the final family history project, and won't send an update to everyone for some months. Following my usual scheme of "Chronological - (mostly)," I offer these recent observations: 1) At the Hingham reunion, Alice Williams and Frances Maroni graciously allowed me to make a copy of Gilbert S. Tower's 1949 work, Genealogy of the Collier Family of Cohasset, Massachusetts. ( Mrs. Maroni, with whom I had a very brief chat, is the daughter of Mr. Tower.) This was a neatly hand - printed manuscript of about 28 pages (I am not certain I have the complete document), which I believe was mimeographed and distributed to family members at about the time it was written. There are several instances where Mr. Tower obviously intended to later fill in names, dates, or places, but did not return to do so. Overall, Mr. Tower confirms the picture of the early Collier generations in Hingham and Hull as we had them. He devotes about two pages to William Collier, of Plymouth Colony, and gives the descent of Bridget Southworth from Constant, the Pilgrim. He also gives a few paragraphs to Bridget Collier, daughter of Bridget Southworth and Thomas Collier, who married Aaron Pratt, of Cohasset. Mr. Tower does show a few minor inaccuracies, and expresses a few reservations about some of the raw data he presents. I will do a little further study on these inconsistencies, which are not numerous, and send a report on them at a later date. In general, his report on the early generations is in agreement with what we had before, and he adds a few biographical details that I had not seen. He then devotes 2/3 or more of his work to a recording of Collier data from the Hull and Scituate Vital Records and a family-by-family recording of the "Cohasset" line, through the 1940's. Much of the later information was new to me, as I had seen little printed information dated later than 1909. 2) As I knew would be the case, I can report that Hull, Hingham, and Cohasset are lovely seaside towns. August 18 was my first visit to any of them, and an enjoyable day it was. You would not want to know the cost of an oceanfront home in any of these towns today. I suppose that 200 years ago the prospect of free or inexpensive farmland in Maine, western Massachusetts, or Ohio, as opposed to living in the somewhat crowded "older" towns on the South Shore, looked enticing. It is nevertheless a sobering thought that at about the time (ca. 1850 - 1855) that the seafaring brothers Captains Christopher and James Collier were building their lovely homes on Beach Street and Highland Avenue in Cohasset, my great-grandfather Christopher Collier, at the age of 9, had been hired out to a farmer in Mantua, Ohio because his widower father was unable to feed all his children. 3) On the line of Thomas (4), Bosworth (5), and Gershom (6) I have some added information. As this is the critical sequence of descent for the South Shore-Boston-Chesterfield movement, I would be happy to send along more detail, with sources, to anyone who wishes to have it: a) As previously reported, Thomas (4) and Bridget Southworth were married, in Hull, April 20, 1734. Their first child was no doubt the Jane Collier who was born in Hull Nov. 27, 1734, to "Thomas and Brigget". She probably died young, as the couple had another "Jane", born in Scituate, April 9. 1744. Their last child was Ephraim "Bosworth," born in Scituate, June 13, 1748. Gilbert Tower speculates that Thomas and Bridget moved to Scituate because there was more open land available for settlement there than in Hull. Hull is a very narrow peninsula, with a small land area. The Scituate of the 1730's was larger than it is today, but I have not made a thorough study of boundary changes. Between 1748 and 1771, Thomas and Bridget returned to Hull, as in the Massachusetts Tax Valuation List of 1771 "William, Bosworth, Southworth... Thomas. [and] Thomas Collier, Jr.." are listed there. ("Southworth" may be identical with Thomas and Bridget's son, Gershom, born in Scituate, April 30, 1736, as the other male children are already in this 1771 list.. Thomas "Jr." may be the individual who moved to Dorchester, where his wife was from, about 1784 or 1785, after Thomas "Sr." had died. Further information is need on both these individuals.) In 1782, Mrs. Bridget Collier requested that the Hull selectmen "...give their opinion in regard to her husband Mr. Thomas Collier." He was judged "Non Compos" - short for Non compos mentos, meaning "Not of sound mind." Three men were appointed guardians, one of them being the son, Bosworth Collier, housewright. (Bosworth Genealogy, Vol. III, Mary Bosworth Clarke, San Francisco, 1928 -- Internet version, page 311-312) There is no indication of the exact malady, or the seriousness of it. I can only speculate that this "madness," whatever it was, was considered so much of an embarrassment that no further mention of Thomas is found in the records, save for the bare record of his death in Chesterfield, Hampshire County, on March 5, 1784, "in the 78th year of his age." (Thomas had been born in Hull, January 27, 1705/06.) My assumption is that after the "Non Compos" declaration, Thomas and Bridget either moved to Chesterfield with their daughter and son-in-law, John and Jane Collier House -- they removed from Hanover between October, 1781 and May, 1785 -- or joined them there. The stay in Chesterfield must have been quite brief before Thomas's death, for he is referred to as "...Thomas Collier, late of Hull...yeoman deceased intestate..." when Bosworth Collier and Aaron Pratt were appointed administrators on April 18, 1786. I note that John and Jane House, of Chesterfield, later had in their household an elderly relative of the Southworth family, and Bridget Collier may well have been living with them when she died in Chesterfield on May 12, 1798. We can only hope that more details on the final years of Thomas and Bridget come to light in the future. b) On Ephraim "Bosworth" Collier (5), the hard facts remain very sparse. Bosworth Genealogy, Vol. III, cited above, does confirm that he married Anna House of Hanover, [Mass.], although Mrs. Clarke gives the marriage date as June 13, 1771, while I have records indicating that it was January 31, 1771. Bosworth is listed as a resident of Hull in the 1771 Massachusetts Tax Valuation List. I do not have the date of that census. [See notes above, with Thomas (4).] At this time I have no record of when he moved to Boston, nor of how long the family lived there. We know that many people removed from Boston at the beginning of the Revolutionary War, and did not return for many years. Bosworth had several periods of service in the Army during the Revolution, in companies from Cohasset and Hull, during at least one of which he served in the same company as his brother-in-law, Aaron Pratt. His last discharge from service was on Nov. 23, 1779. I have found no record of the death of Anna House Collier, but I suspect it was prior to Feb. 6, 1785, when Bosworth probably married, in Boston, as his 2d (?) wife, Mary Rumrell. The name of the groom in the records is "Boswell" Collier. I have no other information on this possible marriage. In April 1786, Bosworth was a Boston "housewright, " when he was appointed one of the administrators of Thomas Collier's will -- see above. He died in Boston prior to Jan. 18, 1788, when the guardianship of his daughters Anna and Rebecca was given to Thomas James, of Chesterfield, whose wife was Susannah Collier. c) On Gershom Collier (6), I will not add much at this time. I have sent odd bits of information on him over the months, and will be preparing a final biographical note fairly soon. Although he probably was born about 1771, in Boston, I have found no birth record, and we may never find one. The Vital Records are very sparse for this period in the city. The earliest mention of him in the records is the marriage to Mary Kittle (various spellings), June 16, 1793, in Boston. Although probably 7 of their 9 children were born in Boston, circa 1795 - 1805, I haven't found Boston records for any. In the 1796 Boston City Directory, Gershom is listed as living in Sheaf's Lane, near the southeast corner of Boston Common, while the business of "Collier and Jacobs, housewrights," was about 3/4 of a mile away, in George Street (now Hancock St.), on the north side of Beacon Hill. (In an earlier report, I had confused this Sheaf's Lane with what is now Sheafe Street, in the North End. My apologies for the error.) In the 1798, 1800, and 1803 directories, Gershom resided in Belknap Street (now Joy Street), one block west of where the business of "Collier and Jacobs..." was located in 1796. There is no separate business address in those years. His abutting neighbors were named Gardner, Jacobs, and Carver -- no street numbers listed. (In another earlier error, I thought that these were names of streets on which Gershom's property bounded.) I have not identified a Mr. Carver in the directories, and cannot be certain of Mr. Jacobs, although he could very well be business partner of 1796. "Gardner" is undoubtedly Jeremiah Gardner, of Belknap Street, originally of Hingham, who from 1796 to 1810 was one of the most active "speculative" housewrights on Beacon Hill. Although he was not a professional architect, he built several notable houses on Chestnut, Mount Vernon, Pinckney, Belknap/Joy, and Beacon Streets, some of which survived into the 20th century. (Several references in Beacon Hill, Allen Chamberlain, Houghton Mifflin, Boston and New York, 1925.) We may never know for certain, but we can speculate that our ancestor, Gershom Collier, was involved in some of these projects with his neighbor before moving to Chesterfield about 1805. Bulfinch's New State House, on the pasture of John Hancock, was built near Gershom's Home 1795-1798, and several other Bulfinch buildings were built in the period. See Bulfinch's Boston, 1787-1817, Harold and James Kirker, Oxford Univ. Press, 1964, and Boston, a Topographical History, Walter Muir Whitehill, Belknap Press (Harvard), Cambridge, 1968. Enough on Gershom (6) at this time. I will be happy to send a finalized biographical note to anyone who desires it. 4) On Rev. William Collier (6) (Isaac 5, William 4, Gershom 3, Thomas 2, 1), sometime of Charlestown, Mass., I have been given some additional information by a researcher from Maine, who has a Collier family Bible in his possession. He would like to return the Bible to a descendant, if any can be found. His note to me: The Bible in my possession adds considerably to the information you gave me. Here is the abstract, as I copied it from the Bible: "William, the eldest son of Isaac (and Tamsen - added above the margin) Collier of Scituate, Plymouth Co., Mass., born Oct. 11, 1771 --- Abigail, the fourth daughter of Mr. Ephraim, Mrs. Abigail Robins (sic), born in Mansfield, Connecticut, August 10, 1778 --- Wm Collier and Abigail Robins were Married in Hartford, Conn; August 10, 1799, by our brother in law, Rev. Stephen S. Nelson. There (sic) eldest child was born in Hartford, Conn: the thirtieth day of November in the year of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ eighteen hundred. And named Abigail. And died at New York the twenty forth (sic) day of April following. Their second Child was born in New York, Jan'ry 20, 1802. And named Abby Eliza. She died in Charlestown, April 11, 1810. Ae eight years, --- months and twenty two days. Their third Child Clarissa Emilia was born in New York, Feb. 22, 1804 --- Their fourth Child Harriet Tamsen was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, Feb. 19, 1806. Their fifth Child William Robins was born in Charlestown, Jan'y 27, 1809. Their sixth Child Mary Ann was born in Charlestown, December 23, 1810. Their seventh Child Ephraim Robins was born in Charlestown April 9th 1813. September 19, 1813, Mrs. Abigail Collier departed this life in hope of a blissful immortality, aged 35. Sept. 28, 1840. Ephraim Robins, seventh child of William and Abigail departed this life. March 19, 1843, William Collier, father of the above seven children died this day. Clarissa Emilia Collier was married to Mr. Benj. Osgood, Sept. 15, 1831. Harriet Tamsen Collier was married to Mr. Southworth Bryant, Dec. 21, 1844." The Bible, by the way, though in excellent condition and bound in leather, has considerable underlining and some writing in the margins. This Bible was used! My outline family tree, as revised: Descendants of William Collier, Rev. 1 William Collier, Rev. 1771 - 1843 b: October 11, 1771 in Scituate, Mass d: March 19, 1843 .. +Abigail Robins 1778 - 1813 b: August 10, 1778 in Mansfield, Tolland County, Connecticut m: August 10, 1799 in Hartford, Connecticut d: September 19, 1813 in Charlestown, Suffolk County, Massachusetts ..... 2 Abigail Collier 1800 - 1801 b: November 13, 1800 in Hartford, Connecticut d: April 24, 1801 in New York City, New York ..... 2 Abby Eliza Collier 1802 - 1810 b: January 20, 1802 in New York City, New York d: April 11, 1810 in Charlestown, Suffolk County, Massachusetts ..... 2 Clarissa Emilia Collier 1804 - b: February 22, 1804 in New York City, New York .......... +Benjamin Osgood, Colonel 1796 - b: 1796 in Methuen, Essex County, Massachusetts ?? m: September 15, 1831 in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts ............. 3 Abby Hannah Osgood 1833 - 1833 b: March 11, 1833 in Methuen, Essex County, Massachusetts d: September 19, 1833 in Methuen, Essex County, Massachusetts ............. 3 Mary Ann Osgood 1835 - b: June 24, 1835 in Methuen, Essex County, Massachusetts ............. 3 Susan Amelia Osgood 1838 - b: July 17, 1838 in Methuen, Essex County, Massachusetts ............. 3 James Collier Osgood 1840 - b: November 17, 1840 in Lowell, Middlesex County, Massachusetts ..... 2 Harriet Tamsen Collier 1806 - b: February 19, 1806 in Charlestown, Suffolk County, Massachusetts .......... +Southworth Bryant, Deacon 1809 - b: March 03, 1809 in Chelsea, Suffolk County, Massachusetts m: December 21, 1844 ..... 2 William Robins Collier 1809 - b: January 27, 1809 in Charlestown, Suffolk County, Massachusetts ..... 2 Mary Ann Collier 1810 - b: December 23, 1810 in Charlestown, Suffolk County, Massachusetts ..... 2 Ephraim Robins Collier 1813 - 1840 b: April 09, 1813 in Charlestown, Suffolk County, Massachusetts d: September 28, 1840 I have been surprised that I haven't located any later descendants of Rev. Collier. He was a well known figure in Boston, Charlestown, and Chelsea., at least. He was of the William Collier - Judith Briggs line, but Mr. Tower's work simply says that he was "sometime of Charlestown." I suspect that the most likely child of Rev. William to have traceable descendants will be William Robins Collier, b. Jan 27, 1809 in Charlestown. He seems to have been alive in 1844, when the Bible notations end, and so could be expected to have children. There are records of William Colliers in Boston after that date, but I cannot yet identify the correct one. Harriet Tamsen Collier, who married Southworth Bryant Dec 21, 1844, may not have had children. Published VRs end with 1850, and there are no children of the couple listed in Chelsea, where Southworth was listed in the 1840 and 1850 Census, and where a son by his first marriage (also Southworth Bryant) lived as late as 1892. The other marriage listed in the Bible records is that of Clarissa Emilia Collier to [Col.] Benjamin Osgood, who was from Methuen, Mass. He was a mill owner there, and may have been descended from an early North Shore family, but I haven't pursued that too far back. His father, also Benjamin, is also listed in Methuen histories. Clarissa and Benjamin had 4 children listed in the Methuen VRs, one of whom was actually born in Lowell, in 1840. There is no record of any of the family in Methuen records after 1840, but a daughter of "Ben's" first marriage died in Methuen in 1846, aged 19, which may or may not mean that the family was then living in Methuen again. I would welcome any leads on descendants of the Rev. William Collier. 5) On my Ohio branch, descended from John (7) (Gershom 6, Bosworth 5, Thomas 4, Gershom 3, Thomas 2, 1) and Mary Samson Collier, I was able to fill in several pieces of the puzzle on our trip to Ohio a few weeks ago. The Warren-Trumbull County Library has a very good genealogy collection, including a lot of microfilm records, and I can now say with some confidence that: a) John and Mary did live in Vermont for some unknown period after marrying on December 5, 1822 in Chesterfield, Hampshire County, Mass. Intention of marriage was recorded there on October 10, 1822. (Microfiche of Chesterfield VRs.) In the 1850 Census for Mantua, Portage County, Ohio (Reel 722, Page 115), Adaline Collier (8) Allen, the 2d child of John and Mary, born April 18, 1825, according to family records, is listed as having been born in "Vt." I do not yet have the birth locations for Lyman (8) (b. Oct. 3, 1823), Electa (8) (b. March 6, 1827), or Madison (8) (b. January 13, 1830), but the 5th child, Janette (8), was born January 25, 1833, in Ohio (location unknown), according to the 1860 Hiram, Portage County, Ohio Census. Therefore, the move from Vermont to Ohio took place between the spring of 1825 and early winter 1832 - 33. b) "Our" John Collier is probably the individual who on 15 March, 1837 received title to 152 1/4 acres in "Township 6, Range 7" of the Ohio Western Reserve, which would be in what is now Troy, Geauga County, of which Welshfield is the principal village. I cannot confirm the identity at present. In the 1840 U. S. Census Index for Auburn, the next township to the west of Auburn, is supposed to be either a John Collier, or ...Collin, on page 143, but I could not locate the name. This microfilm is of very poor quality In the 1850 Census for Mantua, Portage County, the township south of Auburn, or south west of Troy, are listed John Collier, "farmer,' born in "Mass.," and his children Hamilton (8) and Norman (8), both born in Ohio. Listed in the same household are Washington Allen, "age 33," "cabinetmaker," and Washington's wife, Adaline [Collier] Allen. The latter two had been married within the year -- August 29, 1849, according to an Internet record. I have no later record of Washington and Adaline Collier Allen. The names are in other Ohio Census records, and in other Internet records, but I cannot positively identify them. c) Mary Samson Collier died in Mantua, Ohio on April 30, 1850, and John Collier married, as his second wife, in Burton, Geauga County, Ohio, on November 20, 1851, Sarah A. Dayton, born about 1809, in Ohio. At the 1860 Burton Census, John and "Sarah A. Collier" were listed, in the same household with "Geo. R. Dayton," aged 22, probably Sarah's son by a first marriage. I have nothing further on John or Sarah at this time. d) In the 1860 Census for Batavia, Branch County, Michigan, I find the name of Madison Collier. Batavia is a small town, five miles from Coldwater, where my great-grandfather Christopher C. Collier, enlisted in Co. A, 11th Michigan Infantry, probably in late 1861. This Madison Collier will probably prove to be Christopher's brother, born January 13, 1830, location unknown, died June 6, 1900, location unknown (family Bible record). Microfilm of the Michigan Census for 1860 and later years may prove this hypothesis. e) From various sources, I have assembled a fairly complete biographical note on Janette Collier (8), which includes connections to both Michigan and Iowa. (These traditions have always been in our Ohio family oral tradition, but I haven't located a written record before now.) I have prepared a biographical note for Janette, which will be typical for individuals in the final genealogy. She is atypical only in that there is a more complete set of records available for her than for many of the earlier generations. Please see her record below. Well, that is probably enough for a holiday weekend !! As always, please send me any additional information, comments, or criticism. Feel particularly free to point out any errors of fact, or lapses of judgment, as we want to make the final family history as error-free as possible. Wade Collier (11) (Reid 10, Randolph 9, Christopher 8, John 7, Gershom 6, Bosworth 5, Thomas 4, Gershom 3, Thomas 2, 1) 218 Leominster Road Lunenburg, Mass. 01462 (978) 582-4323 wcollier@massed.net < http://www.familytreemaker.com/users/c/o/l/Wade-Collier-MA/index.html > Sample Biographical Entry for final genealogy: [Ref. # _____] JANETTE (8 ) COLLIER (John 7, Gershom 6, Bosworth 5, Thomas 4, Gershom 3, Thomas 2, 1), born in Ohio (location not known), January 25, 1833, died in West Liberty, Muscatine County, Iowa on September 10, 1884. She married in Portage County, Ohio (location not known), March 27, 1851, WILLIAM C. WESTLAND, born in Connecticut, May 5, 1823, and probably in Ohio before the date of the 1830 Census. (I am using the spelling "Janette," which is that used in the 1899 obituary of her husband, William C. Westland, probably prepared by the couple's son, Walter C. Westland. A Collier family bible in the author's possession uses "Gennett." The 1850 Census for Aurora, Portage County, Ohio has the spelling "Janette," and the 1860 Hiram, Ohio Census has "Jenette.") At the date of the 1850 Census (October 16, in the Portage County records), about 6 months after the death of her mother, Mary Samson Collier, in Mantua, Portage County, Janette was listed as a "Domestic" in the household of Samuel Elder, Jr., in Aurora, the township west of Mantua. The following spring, at the age of 18, she married William C. Westland. The wedding was no doubt in the area of Aurora, Mantua or Hiram (adjoining townships, west to east), but I have not located the record. In 1860, William, "farmer," and Janette were living in Hiram, with children Walter C., aged 9 [born about 1851] and Arthur, aged 7 [born about 1853]. A third son, William Eugene, must have been born after the date of the 1860 Census, and had died before January , 1899. Also in Hiram in 1860 was William's presumed father - also William - and a possible brother, Gilbert, was in Hiram in 1870. William's obituary, with date and source not noted, but probably from the Grand Ledge, Michigan, THE INDEPENDENT shortly after his death there on January 19, 1899, indicates that the Westlands moved to Eaton County, Michigan about 1864-65, first to Kalamo Township, then to Charlotte. William was probably following the tailor trade by that time, which employment he continued for the rest of his working life. The family removed to Iowa City, Iowa before 1870, then to West Liberty, Muscatine County, Iowa, where they lived until Janette died on September 10, 1884, at age 51. (See notes for William C. Westland, and the sons of the couple.) Sources: Obituary of William C. Westland (? THE INDEPENDENT, Grand Ledge, MI, January, 1899 ?), Family Bible records, 1850 Census for Aurora, Ohio, 1860 Census for Hiram, Ohio.) Children, at least the first two probably born in Portage County, Ohio: [Poss. Ref. # ___] i. WALTER C. WESTLAND, b. about 1851. Was the editor of the Grand Ledge (Michigan) THE INDEPENDENT in January, 1899. No further information known. [Poss. Ref. # ___] ii. ARTHUR J. WESTLAND, b. about 1853. Living in West Liberty, Muscatine County, Iowa in January, 1899. No further information known. [Poss. Ref. # ___] iii. WILLIAM EUGENE WESTLAND, b. after the date of the 1860 Portage County Census, d. "many years" before January, 1899, probably in West Liberty, Iowa, where he was buried.