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 !!

With this information I carefully re-examined the barely legible 1865 Catskill census record and convinced myself that her county of birth was indeed listed as New York confirming to me that Minnie was Joel’s granddaughter. So now I had her name. As her marriage was in October, I hoped I would find her in the June 1880 census with her parents.

And I did find the Johnston family … on East 66^th Street in Manhattan headed by Ohio born shirt manufacturer James W, age 51, with younger Massachusetts born wife Lizzie, along with 4 children, a servant and a nurse. Seems they were doing well. Yes, Minnie was with them age 20, born in New York, followed by sister Fannie 16 born in Ohio then a 10 year gap before a brother 6 and sister 3, both born in New York. It suggested that James and Mary moved to Ohio for a period in the mid-1860s and likely Mary died or left before James remarried and had 2 more children. Which was it?  Did she return to New York?

Stayed tuned for the next update on the James and Mary saga.