Can anyone help?

[Jackie K Marler]

1 minute ago, Robert Anderson said:

So, son sold to father?? But hadn’t Henry already bought through a US government land sale? So confused. Lol

Yes, the best way to understand all the transactions will be to arrange them chronologically.  Go back to some of the earlier index posts, they occured earlier in time and they might explain themselves better with a look.  I'm surprized that they are actually expending large $$ amounts for the land.  Usually, between family it'll be a nominal fee of $1 or some such, so it's weird.

[Robert Anderson]

The cost shocked me as well. That was a good chunk of change back then. I’ve been going through in detail the family tree on family search and wow have I found some discrepancies. It goes down as far as my dad and it has several siblings and such just completely wrong. I guess that proves why you need multiple sources. 

[Jackie K Marler]

11 minutes ago, Robert Anderson said:

The cost shocked me as well. That was a good chunk of change back then. I’ve been going through in detail the family tree on family search and wow have I found some discrepancies. It goes down as far as my dad and it has several siblings and such just completely wrong. I guess that proves why you need multiple sources. 

A man with more than one watch is never really sure what time it is.  But you can never have too many documents.

[Jackie K Marler]

These are volume 19 of the Deed records, missing are the lower half of the page wherein the witnesses sign and the examination of the wives are discussed and that the wives entered into the agreement freely:

[Anton Hagelee]

6 hours ago, Robert Anderson said:

Anton, all that is great but I have no way of honestly knowing with any certainty that these names correspond with the names that I know. I was hoping to maybe find something that tied the Norwegian names to the English names they took if that’s the case. 

 

I think that Jostein gave a good explanation of the name changes that likely occurred to give the names we find in America. I copied the post from Jostein since I could not manage to get two quotes on one page. One thing I noticed is that in all the name changes the first letter of the new name is the same as the first letter of the old name.. That is  common when Norwegian emigrants change their names upon arrival in America.

 

From Jostein's earlier  post. 

 

"It is indeed quite common to change their names. These emigrated to Amerika in 1853

Hans Arneson   born 1814        Hans / Henry why not     Arneson / Anderson  why not

Eli Syversdatter   born 1817     Eli / Ellen  why not

Andreas Hanson   born 1842   - the children would use the same last name as their parents in USA    Andreas / Andrew most common change

Syver Hanson    born 1845  - Seymore is not used in Norway - Syver/Seymore plausible

Martin Hanson   born 1852     no need to change that name

Maren - Hansdatter    born 1838

We find all these - except Maren - in the 1860 census provided by Jackie. She would be 22 at the time "

Endret September 6, 2023 av Anton Hagelee

[Robert Anderson]

Anton, thank you so much for all your assistance. The outpouring of help has been overwhelming but greatly appreciated. I have missed a few posts when several come in at the same time and Josteins post was one of them. 

[Jackie K Marler]

6 hours ago, Robert Anderson said:

The cost shocked me as well. That was a good chunk of change back then. I’ve been going through in detail the family tree on family search and wow have I found some discrepancies. It goes down as far as my dad and it has several siblings and such just completely wrong. I guess that proves why you need multiple sources. 

I always say family history is seldom perfect, but is always being perfected.

[Jackie K Marler]

How about a smoking gun?

This is the 1884 Michigan state census from Sanilac county, Marlette Township.  Ellen Anderson is identified as the mother of Andrew Anderson.  Andrew even has a son named Seymour.

[Robert Anderson]

Wow. I wonder why they don’t list a wife? So he had two sons and two daughters, can’t quite make out the name of the second daughter. This answers some questions but poses a few also. Why is Ellen listed with Andrews family but not Henry. What about Ellen’s other children. I think it all just proves that you were right, you’re never done. Lol

[Robert Anderson]

I also notice that this family was very fond of the name Seymore as Henry and Ellen’s son Seymore also had a son named Seymore. They either liked the name a lot or just gave up on creativity. Lol

[Jostein Stokke]

3 hours ago, Robert Anderson said:

Wow. I wonder why they don’t list a wife? So he had two sons and two daughters, can’t quite make out the name of the second daughter. This answers some questions but poses a few also. Why is Ellen listed with Andrews family but not Henry. What about Ellen’s other children. I think it all just proves that you were right, you’re never done. Lol

The children of Hans and Eli?

Andreas and Syver and Martin

and Hans' daughter Maren.

These 4 children emigrated with their parents in 1853

 

Three children died before 1853:

 Andreas and Martin and Maria

[Jackie K Marler]

3 hours ago, Robert Anderson said:

Wow. I wonder why they don’t list a wife? So he had two sons and two daughters, can’t quite make out the name of the second daughter. This answers some questions but poses a few also. Why is Ellen listed with Andrews family but not Henry. What about Ellen’s other children. I think it all just proves that you were right, you’re never done. Lol

There are at least two marriages for an Andrew Anderson in Sanilac and nearby counties.  Looks to me like he's between wives here in 1884.

[Jackie K Marler]

3 hours ago, Robert Anderson said:

Wow. I wonder why they don’t list a wife? So he had two sons and two daughters, can’t quite make out the name of the second daughter. This answers some questions but poses a few also. Why is Ellen listed with Andrews family but not Henry. What about Ellen’s other children. I think it all just proves that you were right, you’re never done. Lol

Because she is described as widowed in 1884, meaning Henry is dead which is probably his condition in 1882.

[Robert Anderson]

Jostein, this is where the confusion starts to set in. Assuming Andreas is Andrew, he lived well beyond 1853 by some sources. Also, this illegitimate child, Maren, she just disappears from the records it seems. 

[Robert Anderson]

Jackie, I see you’re right. Just checked my Ancestry tree and Henry did die in 1882. Not sure why I was thinking 1885. I have hit a horrible snag trying to research anything on the Norwegian end as all the records and such are in their language. Might be time to learn a second language. Lol

[Jackie K Marler]

Robert perhaps you will want to look at the land records in Sanilac county, yourself?

https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/results?count=20&placeId=200278&query=%2Bplace%3A"United States%2C Michigan%2C Sanilac"

 

At this page you can browse through the grantee / grantor lists and actual deed records excerpted yesterday.  Select "land and property" and look for indexes.

[Robert Anderson]

I have started going through a lot of the information on family search. There’s so much there to go through and digest. I believe I was up till almost midnight last night and then up at 4am for work. I’m addicted!!! 😂

[Jackie K Marler]

8 minutes ago, Robert Anderson said:

Jostein, this is where the confusion starts to set in. Assuming Andreas is Andrew, he lived well beyond 1853 by some sources. Also, this illegitimate child, Maren, she just disappears from the records it seems. 

There were 2 Andreas in the family in Norway, the first one died. 

[Robert Anderson]

That would explain a lot. When I looked at the tree in family search as so two Andreas and two martins and thought that it must just be a typo. Apparently I was wrong. Good lord my family wasn’t very creative with names. 

[Jackie K Marler]

Andrew Anderson in the 1900 census was a little difficult to find, age has changed from earlier, but he says he came to US in 1852, Marlette Township, Sanilac county, Michigan:

 

Same family in 1910 census, Andrew, wife Alberta, son Bernard.  Andrew this time age 62, came to US in 1856, 2nd marriage for both he and Alberta, this marriage has lasted 15 years, living in Moore Twp, Sanilac county Michigan:

 

Andrew's wife Eliza Swinson / Swinton, divorced, living with 3 of her 3 children in 1900 Argyle, Sanilac county, Michigan:

 

 

Endret September 7, 2023 av Jackie K Marler

[Robert Anderson]

I am beginning to see a pattern of small discrepancies in ages and other dates but I believe that can be easily attributed to the passage of time and missing/ incomplete or illegible records.

[Matthias Kolberg]

6 hours ago, Robert Anderson said:

Also, this illegitimate child, Maren, she just disappears from the records it seems. 

Maren was born in 1838 and would be 25 when she arrived in the US. She was four years older than her oldest living half brother, Andreas/Andrew.

 

One would expect that she married soon after arrival, and started her own family. 

[Jostein Stokke]

2 minutes ago, Matthias Kolberg said:

Maren was born in 1838 and would be 25 when she arrived in the US.

Or what about 15?

[Matthias Kolberg]

1 minute ago, Jostein Stokke said:

Or what about 15?

Sorry, 15.

But, by 1860, she would be 22, and not unlikely married.

[Robert Anderson]

That’s possible but you would think there would at least be some record of her somewhere in at least the first 2 or 3 years.