We begin what will likely be an ongoing series on the Smith family of Mercer County, Illinois. Our work on this family will start out with a somewhat unusual poorhouse entry for 9 women in 1875. We'll see how it suggests a family structure that is partially evidenced by other records.
This is an excellent family where haste in entering relationships in a database is a huge mistake.
Part of the difficulty with this family is that many of the births take place before vital records. It doesn't help that the packet of a papers from a court case in 1875 are missing and will likely never be found either.
This one has several surprises along the way--I know a bit more about the family than appears in the next issue, but not too much.
Stay tuned.
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