Princess Part Two

     OK, after I made that second pot of coffee yesterday morning, I got down to brass tacks.  First I gathered every pertinent census I could find, mindful that Native Americans were not enumerated. Then I did a basic Google search for Wordens and Carters in Ontario County, NY and next checked Google books for local histories--nothing there.  Did some searches on Ancestry, Find-a-Grave, Old Fulton Postcards, and Family Search--nothing new there either, so back to the census records.  I keep having this nagging feeling that I once saw a Cater Family near Seneca Point which is where George says he was born, but now I can't find them.  I am a walking example of how not to be organized.

     I'm still analyzing the pre-1840 censuses, but there were some surprises in the 1860.  All the online sources like posted  family trees and the censuses done in his adult years, put George's birth in 1857 or 58, the online sources are wrong.  I looked for him in the 1860 census.  He wasn't there with Silvester and Mary unless he had changed his name to Richard, and where was his older sister Matilda?  She had morphed into a Laura and was 2 years younger.  Looking ahead to 1865, George was thankfully with his family, but he was 5 indicating he was born closer to 1860 than 1858.

      I was beginning to doubt myself.  Where did I get the composition of this family from, there were no children named Matilda or George?  Perhaps my old notes would give me a clue.  Thumbing through them, I found the 1860 census I had copied at the Ontario County Archives and guess what, Laura had vanished and in her place was none other than Matilda.  How could this be you may be wondering?  It could be because there were 3 copies made of the census, a local copy, one for the state and one for the Feds, and sometimes those copies are not identical.  They were done by hand back in 1860, and with 2 extra copies being transcribed there were bound to be errors.  It makes perfect sense that the original copy the census taker compiled as he went his appointed rounds,which is the one that was kept locally, would be the most accurate.  

     The 1865 and 1870 censuses show Matilda and George with their proper family, which put my mind at ease as to George's parentage.  So, about all I accomplished yesterday was proving George was indeed the son of Silvester Worden and Mary Culver, but that proves that Silvester and Pelina are his grandparents, and since his obit says the Indian blood came from his father's side it must be one of them--almost definitely Pelina since she is the one I have no further information on.