Who were the outcasts here? Would their different points of view and political leanings cast them out of the circle? In black and white, it declared which side of the line drawn in the sand a man stood on.

At the beginning of the American Revolution, male citizens were asked to sign an association test: would they side with the Patriots and welcome freedom from George III and Great Britain? Their decisions to sign would lead them down a path of freedom fighting. Also, it was recorded who refused to sign which meant they would remain faithful to George III and his government. Their decisions to not sign would lead them down a path of battle.

My fifth great-grandfather was Benjamin Soule (1728-1779). He signed the association test. He was pledging his life and honor for the American cause. He would not live to see the outcome of the war. He would not live to see how the new nation would rise out of the ashes of that war. An outcast of British citizenry or an outcast of a freedom fighter…

How could an ancestor leave a trail, but yet leave no name? Oops! How could a wife give birth to six children, but yet leave no name? Oops! Yet no marriage records, no recorded place of burial…oops, how could this be?

What it known and what is unknown: Daniel Boultinghouse was born in western Pennsylvania in about 1775. In 1790 as based on the Federal Census, he most likely living with his father in Fayette County. Is he that tick mark for “Males under 16”? Daniel appears in the Scioto County, Ohio, in 1798 along with his wife and four children. His father Joseph has moved there also. His wife’s name is unknown, but the names and birth years of these four children have been recorded. A marriage in either Pennsylvania or Ohio had not been recorded or can be located. By 1802, Daniel and his wife have a total of six children, five boys and a girl. Mrs. Boultinghouse dies in 1802. A son was born that year. Was her death the result of childbirth complications?

Daniel marries two more times. His second wife is Susannah Graves with a recorded marriage on 7 March 1805 in Scioto County, Ohio. She gave birth to five children. She died in 1812. Daniel’s third and final marriage was to Rhoda Howell on 31 January 1813 in Gallatin County, Illinois. She gave birth to two children. Daniel dies in May, 1823, leaving Rhoda with children of the blended family to raise. Her name last appears in the Probate Records of White County, Illinois where she appeared at the courthouse to settle Daniel’s debts. After that date, no records are found of her. Oops! Another of Daniel’s wives disappears.

Daniel and wife Rhoda are my third great grandparents. Military records can be found that Daniel was a Captain of his own regiment during the War of 1812. His mission was to keep the Native Americans from attacking the settlers of Illinois. (That story can be found in an earlier post.)

Unfortunately, the “Oops! factor” played a huge role in keeping these ancestors from being able to come alive to their descendants.