Finding posters of old forum messages - help with a mystery

Peter's masterclasses have been SUPER helpful to me and the users of this forum have given me great advice in the past, so I thought I would ask about something I'm really stumped on.

I have a family patriarch, Daniel Graves of New York (1794-?). He appears on a couple censuses in New York (1830/1840/1850). He's a mystery man and I've been digging into him for years upon years.

Which brings me to the point of my message - on the 1830 census (I *can't* believe I missed this for so many years!) there is a Walter Graves on the same page as him in Cayuga Co, New York. There's no mention of Walter anywhere in extant records aside from his 1820 and 1830 censuses in Cayuga, and I suspect I may have a brother or close family associate of my Daniel.

The lone reference to a Walter Graves of Auburn, Cayuga, NY online is an OLD Genforum posting from way back in 2002, with no answers and the posters e-mail address hidden.

So my question to the wise forum users here is - what would you guys do next to try and find this descendant or her associated descendants to see if I can find more out about her Walter Graves?

 

Relating back to the US 1830 Census there is also a Henry K Graves immediately above Walter Graves both being some 10 persons distant and above Daniel sequentially. As the Census was only concerned with listing family Heads and 'free white persons' broken down by ages and sex I loosely interpret their families as:

Henry K was between 30 & 40 and his (presumable) wife between 20 & 30. 4 children 1 boy & 3 girls
Walter also 30-40 & his wife the same. 5 Children, 4 boys and 1 girl.
Daniel appears to be between 50 & 60 and his wife also. 8 Children, 6 3 young and 3 over 20. 2 girls one over 10 & 1 over 20.

Without knowing how people are sequenced (presumably by lodgings) and as a pure guesstimate - as they are next to one another - I would have thought it more likely that Henry & Walter might be brothers or cousins. Daniel may or may not be related but in truth without the greater information provided in later US Censuses and given age differences I would not like to say what if any relationship there was between any of them.

Checking Walter Graves (in the same country & area) in the 1840 Census no sign of Daniel or Henry but there is now a Samuel Graves aged 40-50 including wife and children (uncounted) some 5 places below Walter.

The 1850 Census there is a Daniel Graves aged 56 (born c1794) with wife Polly (aged 52) & 6 named family members 12 up to 36. They however are in Gouverneur, St Lawrence, New York (? same people)

None of the above may be of any help but if a further search reveals anything I will post again. I would however caution on assuming relationships just on a surname, but there is always the chance of course.

 

Hi Bob! Henry R Graves is actually not related - he's a son of Daniel Graves and Lavisa Reed and is a known resident of Auburn/Aurelius (if you're curious, our family association has a family lineage on him). I checked into his family, and there doesn't appear to be a related Walter. BUT - this Daniel Graves (with Lavisa) doesn't have parents that are known, so there's always the possibility that he hooks into a family and Walter is indeed a cousin. That's why I'm hoping to track down more information about Walter - previously he is unknown to the GFA and therefore, there's no family lineage on him.

Walter shows up in the 1820 census in Auburn (right next to Aurelius) which is very, very close to where Daniel is in 1820 (Aurelius). In 1830, they're both in Auburn. In 1840, my Daniel moves to Lyme, Walter is in Auburn. In 1850, though, that's where they differ. My Daniel goes to Gouverneur, but I believe Walter may have gone to Port Huron, Michigan, less than a half hour from where Daniels children end up 15 years later.

The reason I am thinking there may be a familial relationship is because of their close paths together, as opposed to other Graves families in New York during the time period. I'm not sure WHAT the relationship may be, but that's why I am trying to figure out where Walter belongs in what's known of the New York Graves families OR if he's part of something new, like my Daniel.

Glad to have another curious person to help me bounce ideas off of! Anything you find is very welcome.

 

I'd see what's on the WorldConnect and Ancestry trees - probably nothing but might be worth a quick look just in case!

 

Hmm, if so, she was posting as recently as 2010, possibly the author of 'Triumphant Banners'.......

 

Yes! Sorry about the typo...