March 16, 2020

Follow-Up on Mary D Comfort


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 !!