Mary married James W Johnstone in Greene County, NY in 1856
and was never thereafter found in an official record – not a census, a death, a
burial. Their marriage record listed James’ residence as Dubuque, Iowa but I
could find no record of him there. Nothing was known of his birth date or
place, his parents or his occupation. The only tidbit I had on this couple after
1856 was the appearance of a young Johnston granddaughter listed in the 1865 Catskill,
NY census with Mary’s parents, Joel and Emeline. The record was almost impossible to read
& only the child’s surname had been transcribed making it hard to identify
and track her later; she was 6 years old and NOT with her grandparents in 1870.
I searched the 1870 census in multiple states and locales, unable
to find any members of the Johnston family.
I then turned to family search where I entered a query using only the
surname, a birth date 1859-1860 with location New York, plus the full names of
parents James and Mary. To my surprise, a NYC marriage record popped up for Minnie
Johnston with a matching father and mother (listed as Comfork). It stated that
Minnie had been born in NYC, in 1860 and, better yet, her marriage was in
October 1880 AFTER the census !!
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