September 30, 2018

What happened to Mary D Comfort, daughter of Joel ?

Mary, the oldest child of Joel Dubois Comfort and his wife Emeline Ludington, was born 1829 in Catskill, NY. According to church records she married James W Johnston 'of Dubuque, Iowa' in September 1856 at the Leeds RDC.  I have found no subsequent record for either of them. I had expected that James would be in the Greene County 1855 census, but he was not found. Nor have I located him in 1850 in Iowa or elsewhere.

Interestingly, Mary's parents are listed in the Catskill 1865 census with their youngest daughter Josephine and with a 6 year old granddaughter with the surname Johnston. Sadly, this record is almost impossibly hard to read. I cannot decipher the girl's first name nor did I find her with her grandparents in the 1870 census.

Who is she and where are her parents?  I cannot find James and Mary in 1860, when their daughter would have been an infant. I have found no 11 year old female Johnston in Greene County in 1870.
This family group remains a mystery.