FAMILY NOTES
General: Her father lived at Red Mills, Dutchess Co.
FATHER NOTES: Joseph TOWNSEND
General: 1774 Joseph first appears on Dutchess Co. tax lists. Probably the Townsend who was taxed and living on the Smith farm in 1777. Samuel Smith had property next to Jean LeClear.
NYGBR, July 1990, p. 155 says JOSEPH TOWNSEND enl 1 Aug 1776, age 21, was in Col. Jacob Swartwout's Regt. He was b. Dutchess Co., was a blacksmith, in Heacock's Company, 5' 7" fresh complexion, grey eyes and light brown hair. Joseph Townsend/nend (sic) listed in Swartwout's Dutchess Co. Militia, same regiment.
Probably the man in the 1790 census in Warwick, Orange Co., NY with 1 adult male, 4 females. Age at death in family Bible [a transcription] calculates to 1747. All birthdates for this family group from the transcription, whereabout of the Bible is unknown.
1799 Cheesecocks, Orange Co. tax assessment for 1799: house and lot, 90/25/-/11.
Location of death unknown but there was a Joseph Townsend who witnessed the will of Ebenezer Owen, Sr. of Vernon township, Sussex Co., NJ 25 Aug 1800. Other witnesses were father and son Nathaniel and Halstead Townsend. No known Joseph in their family group. All men missing from 1800 NY census. All connected to Dutchess Co. Other Dutchess Townsends lived in Vernon Twp including those connected to Matt Townsend's family group.
There is no 1800 or 1810 census for NJ, Joseph is not in the 1810 NY census.
MOTHER NOTES: Margaret LECLEAR
General: Margaret was born in Dutchess Co., NY (her father in tax lists there). She was the daughter of Jean LeClear who lived near Carmel, Dutchess Co. (1780's), Half Moon, Albany Co. (1790), and Western, Oneida Co. (after 1800), NY. Family legend said that Lewis had a French grandmother. That is no doubt true since his grandfather Jean LeClear had a French name and Margaret was born to his first and unknown wife.
Margaret and second husband James Smith conveyed land to his son Samuel Smith in 1827, Orange Co., NY Deed book FF, p. 196.
CHILD NOTES: Leonard TOWNSEND
Birth (23 September 1785): The place of birth is a best guess.
General: Nothing further is known about Leonard. He is not in the 1790 census with family nor in the 1850 or any other census.
CHILD NOTES: Jane TOWNSEND
General: LF note: I cannot prove that sisters Jane and Phebe married Burghdurf and Smith but their proximity to Lewis Townsend in Butler cannot be coincidental; Butler was a very small place. Both women were the right age and both said they were born in Dutchess Co. which is where their parents Margaret and Joseph lived although they were in Orange Co. by 1790. As Joseph was a blacksmith, he had some flexibility to move about. The family knew that Lewis had three sisters but brothers were never mentioned. His brothers all seemed to have died young, thus having sisters who lived to marry and who lived nearby is probably why they knew about the 3 women. The oldest children would have known their aunts in Butler.
1865 New York census:
BURGHDURF Jesse 43 male farmer b. Cayuga
Hannah 47 female wife b. Wayne
Anna 17 female child b. Wayne
Willie 7 male child b. Wayne
Jacob 77 male father farmer b. Dutchess
Jane 77 female mother b. Dutchess
THOMPSON George (widower) servant farmer unknown birthplace
DOB varies 1788-1797.
Jane is in the 1880 mortality schedule as dying in Feb, res. of county 70 years, 88 years old. Cemetery record 87 years old. [LF note, it is almost as if Jane and Phebe's dates are mixed up. The burial ages would make Phebe b 1789 and Jane b 1792.]
CHILD NOTES: Phebe TOWNSEND
General: There is a Phebe Smith in Wayne Co., NY, Butler 1850 with daughters: Lovina 18, Melissa 20, Harriet 22. Next door is John N. Smith 33 & family. Also Burghdorff. 1865 census Butler says she was born Dutchess County.
There are Burghdurfs and Smiths who are neighbors 1820 Cato, Cayuga Co.
Buried aged 86 y and 10 mon. Cemetery records have a bur of Martha Smith d/o Phebe and Eleazer Smith but born 1784 and d 1857, wife of Rufus Bacon, 1771-1849. Perhaps a sister of Eleazer but can't be a daughter if the dates are correct. Rufus lived near Phebe and Eleazer in 1840.
CHILD NOTES: Jesse TOWNSEND
Death (before 1830): He is never found as an adult on the census. In 1800 and 1810 Lewis was likely in NJ where there is no early census.
General: Nothing further known. Jesse Townsend born in 1797 was the s/o John Townsend and Jemima Travis.
CHILD NOTES: Lewis TOWNSEND
Property (21 February 1845): Their land was ordered sold at auction according to an indenture of this date. It was to be sold at Henry Woods house in Savannah, John Woods was a neighbor, along with Samuel Miller. They were indebted or mortgaged to Adam Miller and he bought it for $100. Two months later he sold it to Samuel for $800. The property was in the old town of Sterling "now Butler." 40 acres, lot 87.
Two years earlier they had bought 28 acres 33/303/28 Oct 1843.
Death (25 October 1874): Date is given on his probate record on Ancestry. https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/9070/records/2425931
Jared was appointed administrator while Nick and Lewis, Jr. were appraisers.
General: On the 1850, 1860 and 1870 censuses Lewis says he was born New York. On 2 May 1827 James and Lois Marvin [land inherited from Jesse Marvin in 1818] sold a piece of land in Monroe, Orange, NY to Lewis Townsend of New Windsor, Orange County. For $600. FHL film 0828562, Orange Co. Deeds, 'M.' This same land was sold a year later to Stephen Hallock.
In the 1870 census the value of his real estate was $1000 and his personal estate about $150.
His death date is confusing: my cemetery photograph indicates 1871 death date, the transcription done (MN Cemetery Index) says 74y, 5m, 2d & 1874. 1874 is death date in death registration, 7[6] years and 13 days (in 1874), birthplace as New York, and cause of death as typhoid fever. He was a farmer. We know from the Townsend Bible that he was born 23 May 1800 and this is consistent with the census, so I am using the death registration. Old typescript says he had 4 sisters - we know he had 3. It also says he had a French grandmother which would be correct.
On 1905 state census Lewis, Jr. says his father was born in Canada but in 1880 he says both parents born NY.
CHILD NOTES: Mary Ann TOWNSEND
General: She married into the Heustis family. Information from Pat Chefalo.
http://www.three-systems.com/gen/heustis/d0001/g0000145.html#I2465
