Genealogy Brick Walls

John Belcher Jr.¹

b. 1805, d. before 20 March 1849

Father*

John T. Belcher Sr.¹ b. 13 Oct 1774, d. Jun 1839

Mother*

(5th Brother) Brick Wall Research

While we were working to organize and understand the information we had been collecting on the Belcher families of Orange and Crawford counties in Indiana, we ran into a serious Brick Wall. Two young girls, Mary Ann Belcher, age 16, and Catharine Belcher, age 11, were enumerated on the 1850 census in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana in the household of William Hollen. Mary Ann and Catharine, whom we suspected were sisters, had both been born in Orange County, Indiana. We had no idea which Belcher family these two young girls belonged with, and wondered why they would be living with the Hollen family.

From previous research, we’ve learned that the two most common circumstances causing children to live with relatives other than their immediate families were the deaths of one or both parents, and/or the arrival of a stepparent into their household.

The Belcher family we were researching had five brothers: James, Jesse, Joseph, Berry, and John. We had initially used the 1850 census as our primary source, and had been in the process of identifying the children of each of the brothers in order to develop each of their five families. We knew, for example, that James, the eldest brother, had died in 1842 leaving a wife and several children, most of whom had been born in Orange County; that the third brother, Joseph, had moved with his wife and children to Illinois by 1830; that the first wife of fourth brother, Berry, had died after giving birth to five children, that Berry had married a second time, had seven more children by 1850, and that his seven children born before 1841 had all been born in Orange County; that the youngest brother, John, as well as his wife and any children they may have had, were all deceased before 1850; and that Jesse, the second brother, had a wife and seven children, five of whom had been born in Orange County. From the 1850 census, we also learned that Jesse’s eldest daughter, Minerva, and Berry’s eldest daughter, Martha Jane, and second son, Jesse, had all been enumerated in separate households on the same census page as our two Brick Wall children, Mary Ann and Catharine Belcher. That was a fair amount of information, we thought, and hoped it provided us with enough clues to identify Mary Ann and Catharine’s parents. We still believed the girls belonged to one, or possibly two, of the five Belcher brothers, so we needed to make a deeper dive, using a variety of sources, into the families of each one. Reviewing all that we already knew, we felt the two most logical Belcher brothers to analyze first were Jesse and Berry because both were enumerated on the 1850 census in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana, the same place where we found Mary Ann and Catharine in the household of William Hollen.

We began our targeted Brick Wall research of the brothers with the family of Jesse Belcher, the second brother, whose household on the 1850 census was a few census pages away from William Hollen’s. Jesse’s widowed daughter, Minerva, was enumerated in 1850 on the same census page as Mary Ann and Catharine in the household of William’s brother, Marcum Hollen. We were hopeful, initially, that we could connect at least one of the girls to Jesse. We tried; then had to admit that the birth years of his children too closely overlapped the birth years of Mary Ann and Catharine and that, if the girls belonged with Jesse and his wife, we would have found them with their parents.

Berry Belcher, the fourth brother, was enumerated in 1850 with his second wife and nine of his sixteen children, two from his first wife and seven from his second. They, too, were enumerated in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana, a few pages away from the subjects of our search, and on the other side of the Hollen household from Berry’s brother, Jesse. Berry’s eldest daughter, Martha Jane, had married Nathan Hollen, a son of William Hollen, and Martha Jane and Nathan were enumerated in 1850 in the next household after Nathan’s father on the same census page. Enumerated with Nathan and Martha Jane was Martha Jane’s brother, Jesse Belcher. Again, we were hopeful as we recognized the intermingling relationships between the Belcher and Hollen families; and again, we were disappointed. Some of the birth years of Berry Belcher’s children either overlapped the birth years of Mary Ann and Catharine, or were too close together to be realistic.

Leaving our research in Crawford County, we moved on to Orange County, Indiana, where Mary Ann and Catharine had both been born. We were hopeful again about James, the oldest of the five Belcher brothers, because most of his six children had likely been born in Orange County. James had died in 1842, and his wife, Nancy, had not remarried. She was enumerated with her younger children, in Jackson, Orange County, in 1850. The birth years of the couple’s six children were consistently spaced at about four to five years apart, which could have left room to insert the two girls. Without any evidence, however, or even workable clues, we realized we were grasping at straws. Hating to let go, though, we decided that, rather than fully eliminate James and Nancy from our dwindling list of parental candidates, we would set them aside until we had completed our research of all of the Belcher brothers.

And, yes, we knew we were running out of brothers because we had already learned that John, the youngest of the Belcher brothers, as well as his wife and any children they may have had, were all deceased before 1850.

That left us with only Joseph, the third Belcher brother, on our list of parental candidates. He and his wife had moved permanently to Illinois by 1830. Additionally, they had a son born in Illinois the same year Catharine was born in Orange County, Indiana. We found it easy and appropriate to eliminate Joseph from our list of potential parents.

After completing phase two of our research on the Belcher brothers, we still had no parents for Mary Ann and Catharine. We had not yet completely given up on the eldest brother, James, and his wife, Nancy, as “possibles” and tried again to see them as plausible. After relooking at everything, and giving them additional consideration, we again determined it just wasn’t working. James and Nancy were not the parents we were searching for. We would have to look elsewhere.

Then later, after working unsuccessfully with other research methods, we discovered a 1904 death certificate for a Catharine (Belcher) Trusty, whose reported date of birth matched the birth year for our 11-year-old Catharine Belcher. The informant for Catharine's death certificate was her widowed husband, Levi Trusty, who reported the name of Catharine's father as Arthur Belcher, and her mother as ______ Pigg. Arthur??? With all of the Belchers we had already researched, we had no Arthur. We did, however, again have hope, and also excitement, as we began to look for Arthur.

We found an Arthur Belcher on the 1840 census in Jackson, Orange County, Indiana. He was between the ages of 40 thru 49 years and his household consisted of seven children, two males and five females. Arthur, we believe, had been widowed by 1840 because his household included no female old enough to be the children's mother. Three of the females were under the age of 10 years, and because Arthur was also enumerated in Orange County in 1830, it was logical to conclude that those three young females on the 1840 census had been born in Orange County, as had Mary Ann and Catharine. This was a Belcher family we had known nothing about, and wondered… Wow! Could this Arthur really be our Catharine’s father? And could one of those other young girls in Arthur’s household in 1840 have been Mary Ann? We definitely hoped so as we set about learning more about Arthur Belcher.

We found him on the 1830 census, also in Orange County, Indiana. His household consisted of seven individuals, three males and four females. We believe that Arthur was the one male between the ages of 30 thru 39 years, and that his wife was the one female between the ages of 20 thru 29 years. Neither Mary Ann nor Catharine were born by 1830, so they wouldn’t have been included among the other females.

Continuing backwards, we found Arthur on the 1820 census in Warren County, Tennessee. His household consisted of three individuals. Arthur and his wife were both between the ages of 16 thru 25, and only one child, a female under the age of 10 years, was enumerated with them. In the next adjacent household on the same census page, William Belcher was enumerated as the head of household. William and his wife were both over the age of 45 years and we suspected they were Arthur's parents. We did not find Arthur enumerated in any other census after 1840, and believe he died before 1850.

We needed earlier information about Arthur's life, and the Bureau of Land Management’s land patent information sent us down another road of exciting research. We learned that not just Arthur, but some of the other Belchers, had also purchased land patents in Indiana about the same time and location. The Belcher brothers’ father, John Belcher Sr., purchased 80 acres in Orange County on 5 August 1837; his fourth son, Berry, purchased 40 acres in Orange County on 1 September 1838; and his fifth son, John Jr., purchased 40 acres in Orange County on 1 August 1839, the same date Arthur purchased 40 acres on the border between Crawford County and Orange County.

We had known, since first discovering Arthur, that he was not a sixth brother of our five Belcher brothers. After completing our research of their land patent purchases, we began to realize that, although not brothers, they were likely related. Our “original” Belcher family began in Tennessee with John Belcher and his wife Martha Johnston, who moved with their five sons, James, Jesse, Joseph, Berry and John, and possibly daughters, to Orange County, Indiana. If there had been another son, Arthur, he would have to have died before 01 August 1839 when the four oldest sons of John Sr., disposed of their shares in their deceased father's property in Orange County by selling it to their youngest brother, John Jr. And we already knew that Arthur was living in 1840 when he was enumerated on that year’s census. So, if Arthur was not a fifth brother of our original Belcher family, who was he?

It was important to remind ourselves that our research objective was to determine the identities of Mary Ann and Catharine Belcher who were enumerated without their parents on the 1850 census in the household of William Hollen in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana.

So far, our most significant find was Catharine (Belcher) Trusty's death certificate reporting that her father's name was Arthur Belcher. Lacking any information to the contrary, we decided to believe it. Her mother’s surname may have been Pigg, as reported on her death certificate, and her full name even Elizabeth Pigg, as surmised on Catharine's Find a Grave memorial page. Not knowing her mother, though, would have to wait; we felt confident in our conclusion that Arthur Belcher was Catharine's father. So far, so good; however we still had found no evidence that Catharine and Mary Ann were sisters or why they would have been living with the William Hollen family in 1850.

Mary Ann, we learned, married Almarine Moore in 1851, and Almarine’s brother, Harral Moore, married Julia Ann Belcher in a double ceremony on the same date. Their marriage was the first time we had any evidence of a Julie Ann Belcher, and wondered if this was a case of brothers marrying sisters? And, if so, where was Julia Ann in 1850? We have not been able to find her anywhere! We knew this was going to take some thinking, as well as additional research. Then, when we learned that Jesse Belcher married Harral and Almarine’s sister, Mary Ann Moore, less than two months after Mary Ann and Julia Ann Belcher married the Moore brothers, our head exploded! To review… Jesse Belcher was Berry Belcher’s son. Jesse was enumerated in the home of his sister, Martha Jane, and her husband, Nathan Hollen, in 1850. Nathan’s father, William Hollen, was enumerated in 1850 one household above his son Nathan, and it was in Willam Hollen’s household that Mary Ann and Catharine Belcher were enumerated in 1850.

We don’t believe in coincidences. Mary Ann Belcher was born about 1834; Julia Ann Belcher was born about 1836; and Catharine Belcher was born in 1838. Mary Ann and Catharine were enumerated together, and we believe they were sisters. Catharine was a daughter of Arthur Belcher, so therefore we believe Mary Ann was also a daughter of Arthur Belcher. We cannot find Julia Ann Belcher anywhere on the 1850 census and believe she was likely also residing, with Mary Ann and Catharine, in the William Hollen household in 1850. We believe she was simply skipped by the census taker. She named her second son Arthur -- also likely not a coincidence. She was married in a double ceremony with Mary Ann, and we believe they were sisters who married brothers. We therefore believe that Mary Ann, Julia Ann and Catharine Belcher were all three sisters and, in 1850, the orphaned daughters of Arthur Belcher.

Okay, fine… But why were they living in the household of William Hollen?... To try to answer that question, we had to find out more about who Willam Hollen was. We learned he had been born in Tennessee, and we actually laughed out loud when we learned that his parents were Nathan Hollen and Elizabeth Belcher. So, there was an earlier connection between the Belcher and Hollen families. We just had to sort out how that early connection evolved into the families' later relationships. We had our original Belcher brothers, whose father was John Sr; we had Arthur Belcher, whose father we had decided was William Belcher; and we thought that John Sr. and William were brothers. Neither John Sr., nor any of his sons, named a son Arthur, while John Sr.’s brother, William Belcher, did name a son Arthur. Nathan and Elizabeth (Belcher) Hollen named a son Arthur, and was therefore likely to be more closely related to William Belcher than to John Sr. So, how was Elizabeth Belcher related to William Belcher? We believe she was Arthur's sister, about 10 years his senior, and possibly William Belcher’s eldest child. She would therefore have been an aunt to Arthur’s daughters, Mary Ann, Julia Ann and Catharine Becher. On the Hollen side, Nathan Hollen married Elizabeth Belcher and their son, William Hollen, was therefore Arthur Belcher’s nephew. And, it was in William Hollen’s household that the Belcher girls were enumerated in 1850. So, if Elizabeth (Belcher) Hollen was an aunt to Mary Ann, Julia Ann and Catharine Belcher, as we believe, it all makes perfect sense. The orphaned Belcher girls were enumerated in 1850 in the home of their 1st cousin, William Hollen, who had children the same ages as the Belcher girls.

Most importantly, at least to us anyway, is that we believe we've finally solved our serious Belcher girls Brick Wall: Mary Ann Belcher, Julia Ann Belcher, and Catharine Belcher were daughters of Arthur Belcher who died between 1840 and 1850.

It was a long and twisting road and, as if all of that wasn't enough to make us crazy... William Hollen had at least three brothers, Markham Hollen, Arthur Hollen and Mitchell Hollen, who married Minerva (Belcher) Belcher, Polly Belcher and Elizabeth Belcher, respectively. William's brother, Markham, married, as his second wife in 1853, Minerva (Belcher) Belcher, eldest daughter of the second Belcher brother, Jesse. Minerva's first husband had also been a Belcher, and she became a widow with four young children when he died before 1850. It concerns us a great deal that we have not been able to learn the given name, or Belcher family connection, of Minerva's first husband, and would greatly appreciate hearing from someone who knows. And, there are other Belcher family members we wonder about. William Hollen's brother, another Arthur, married Polly Belcher in 1835, and their brother, Mitchell, married Elizabeth Belcher in 1836. Additionally, we think that the Moses Belcher who married Eliza Belcher in 1835 was a son of William Belcher, and a brother of Arthur Belcher and Elizabeth (Belcher) Hollen, William Hollen's mother. Unfortunately, we have no idea which Belcher family, or families, Minerva's husband, or Polly, Elizabeth and Eliza belong with, and are hoping that someone reading this knows , and will tell us... Please...^{4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45}

Birth*

1805

John Belcher Jr. was born about 1805, probably in Tennessee.^{12,11,5,2,3,1}

Marriage*

14 December 1826

He married Eunice Pitman, daughter of Lewis Pitman and Nancy Johnston, on 14 December 1826 in Orange County, Indiana.¹¹

Census US 1830*

1830

John Belcher Jr. was enumerated on the 1830 census taken in Orange County, Indiana. Their household consisted of five people: 1 male between the ages of 20 thru 29 years, who would have been John; two females under the age of 5 years; one female between the ages of 20 thru 29 years, whom we believe was John's wife, Eunice; and one female between the ages of 30 thru 39 years.¹²

(5th Son) Land Records

1 August 1839

After their father's death, the five sons of John T. Belcher Sr. inherited equal parts of a specific tract or parcel of land consisting of 80 acres in Orange County, Indiana that their father had owned at the time of his death. Subsequently, each of his four oldest sons sold his inherited share in that land, which would have amounted to about 16 acres each, to their youngest brother. A deed dated 1 August 1839 in Orange County, Indiana, described the transaction, and we note that the description of the 80 acres of land in the deed is not the same as the description of the 80 acres of land their father purchased in 1837 as a Land Patent from the United States Federal Government. Our transcription of the deed follows:

This indenture made 1 August 1839 between James Belcher and Nancy Belcher his wife and Jesse Belcher and Sarah Belcher his wife and Joseph Belcher and Ruth Belcher his wife and Berry Belcher and Mary Belcher his wife, heirs of John T. Belcher Sr., late of Orange County, deceased, each of the County of Orange and State of Indiana, of the one part, and John Belcher Jr. of the County and State aforesaid, of the other part, Witnesseth that the said James Belcher and Jesse Belcher and Joseph Belcher and Berry Belcher, for and in consideration of the sum of $88.89 to them in had paid by the said John Belcher Jr., the receipt whereof they do hereby acknowledge, hath granted, bargained, sold, conveyed and confirmed and doth by these presents grant, bargain, sell, convey and confirm unto the said John Belcher Jr., his heirs and assigns forever, their part of a certain tract or parcel of land in the County of Orange aforesaid, it being the west half of the North west quarter of Section No. 25 in Township No. 1 South of Range No. 2 west, estimated to contain 80 acres, be the same more or less, together with all the appurtenances thereunto belonging, and the reversions, remainders and profits thereof, and all the estate, title and interest of the said James Belcher and Jesse Belcher and Joseph Belcher and Berry Belcher in and to their part of the 80 acres aforesaid, to have and to hold the premises aforesaid, with all the appurtenances, to the only proper use, benefit and behoof of the said John Belcher Jr., his heirs and assigns forever, and the said James Belcher and Jesse Belcher and Joseph Belcher and Berry Belcher for themselves, their heirs, executors and administrators doth covenant and agree to and with the said John Belcher Jr., his heirs and assigns, that they, the said James Belcher, Jesse Belcher, Joseph Belcher and Berry Belcher, is lawfully seized in fee of the premises aforesaid, that they are free from all incumbrance and that they have good right to sell and convey the same in manner and form aforesaid, and further that they and their heirs, executors and administrators shall and will warrant and defend the said premises to the said John Belcher Jr., his heirs and assigns, against the lawful claims of themselves and their heirs and also against the lawful claim or claims of all and every other person or persons whatsoever, and the said Nancy Belcher, the wife of the said James Belcher, and Sarah Belcher, the wife of the said Jesse Belcher, and Ruth Belcher, the wife of the said Joseph Belcher, and Mary Belcher, the wife of the said Berry Belcher, doth hereby relinquish all their right and title of dower of and in the premises aforesaid.

In witness whereof the said James Belcher and Nancy Belcher his wife and the said Jesse Belcher and Sarah Belcher his wife and the Joseph Belcher and Ruth Belcher his wife and Berry Belcher and Mary Belcher his wife have hereunto set their hands and seals the day and year above written.

The deed was signed sealed and delivered in presence of William C. Walls and John Walls Jr.

James Belcher and Nancy Belcher each signed with their X marks
Jesse Belcher and Sarah Belcher each signed with their X marks
Joseph Belcher signed his name and Ruth Belcher signed with her X mark
Berry Belcher signed his name and Mary Belcher signed with her X mark

Jonathan Palmer, Justice of the Peace in and for the County of Orange, wrote that the within named James Belcher and Nancy Belcher his wife and Jesse Belcher and Sarah Belcher his wife and Joseph Belcher and Ruth Belcher his wife and Berry Belcher and Mary Belcher his wife appeared before him personally on 1 August 1839 and acknowledged that they signed, sealed and delivered the written indenture as their act and deed for the purposes therein specified and the said Nancy Belcher and the said Sarah Belcher and the said Ruth Belcher and the said Mary Belcher being at full age and being by the Justice of Peace duly examined separate and apart from their said husbands, and the contents of the said indenture being made known to them declared that they relinquished all their right and title of dower in and to the lands and tenements in the written indenture set forth and that they voluntarily and of their own free will and accord and without any coercion or compulsion of their said husbands signed, sealed and delivered the said indenture as their act and deed for the purposes aforesaid.

Jonathan Palmer, J.P. signed and sealed his name to the document on 1 August 1839, and the indenture was filed on 8 September 1839 and recorded on 14 September 1839 in Orange County, Indiana.^5,25

Land Patent*

1 August 1839

A Land Patent was issued to John Belcher of Orange County, Indiana on 1 August 1839 according to an Act of Congress dated 24 April 1820 which made further provision for the initial sale of public lands by the Federal Government to individuals. After confirming that he had paid in full, John received title to land in Orange County, Indiana, described as:

The South East quarter of the North West quarter of Section Twenty-Four in Township One, South, of Range Two, West, in the District of Lands subject to sale at Vincennes, Indiana, and containing forty acres.

John's father, John Belcher, brother, Berry Belcher, and cousin, Arthur Belcher, also received patents for nearby land. His father purchased 80 acres on 5 August 1837; his brother Berry purchased 40 acres on 1 September 1838; and his cousin Arthur purchased 40 acres on 1 August 1839, the same date as John.^27,25,26,24

Death*

before 20 March 1849

John, his wife, and also their children, had likely all died before 20 March 1849, the date John's father-in-law, Lewis Pitman, prepared his will and did not name or refer to any of them.¹³

Family

Eunice Pitman b. 1808, d. b 20 Mar 1849

Citations

[S748] Find a Grave website, which often provides cemetery and tombstone photos, and sometimes personal biographies, that may be obtained from the site, online at www.findagrave.com, John T. Belcher Sr., Memorial# 63963602. Hereinafter cited as Find a Grave website.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Joseph Belcher, Memorial# 40043678.
[S1686] Virginia, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1660-1800, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage of John Belcher and Martha Johnston on 25 October 1794 in Washington County, Virginia. Hereinafter cited as Virginia, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1660-1800.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of William and Elizabeth Hollen, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 16b, image# 16 of 23. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/… .Caution: This is a beautifully presented collection of "Person Pages" containing a variety of information about specific ancestors submitted by individual contributors -- often, unfortunately, with no sources. If the information we have chosen to pass along here is accurate, we are extremely grateful to the contributor(s) who have shared it. Without documentation, however, we researchers are always forced to question the validity of information. We hope what we have selected to include was originally obtained from family Bible records, or other reliable sources, and is accurate. Although, even when we have found contributed information to be unreliable, inaccurate or incomplete, we consider the information useful as possible clues as we research, citing the Belcher Heirs Deed, 1839, Orange County, Indiana, submitted by Jeannie Watts <e-mail address> with special thanks to Frankie Lu Eads of Princeton, Indiana who sent her a photocopy of the deed which we found attached in three files under Memories for Berry Belcher, online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/LTHD-H2Y. Hereinafter cited as Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Nancy Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Jackson, Orange, Indiana; Roll: 163; Page: 399a.
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/…, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/G6WH-L1P
[S16] 1830 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Joseph Belcher, Year: 1830; Census Place: Crawford, Illinois; Series: M19; Roll: 23; Page: 18; Family History Library Film: 0007648. Hereinafter cited as 1830 United States Federal Census.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Berry Belcher, Memorial# 34936541.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry and Mary Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 18b, image# 20 of 23.
[S2283] Indiana, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1802-1892, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 14 December 1826 in Orange County, Indiana, USA, of John Belcher and Eunice Pitman, referencing FHL Film# 1316696. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1802-1892.
[S16] 1830 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of John Belcher, Junior, Year: 1830; Census Place: Orange, Indiana; Series: M19; Roll: 31; Page: 34; Family History Library Film: 0007720.
[S2294] Will of Lewis Pitman dated 20 March 1849 in Macoupin County, Illinois, submitted for probate on 7 April 1849; transcription originally shared on 28 December 2012 by WLawrence2182, and attached to an Ancestry Tree; viewed on 27 April 2022, online at https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/tree/85867149/…. Hereinafter cited as Will of Lewis Pitman.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Jesse and Sarah Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 13a, image# 9 of 23.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Marcum Hollen, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 16b, image# 16 of 23.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Nathan and Martha Jane Hollen, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 16b, image# 16 of 23.
[S487] 1840 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Joseph Belcher, Year: 1840; Census Place: Jersey, Illinois; Roll: 61; Page: 339; Family History Library Film: 0007642. Hereinafter cited as 1840 United States Federal Census.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Joseph and Ruth Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Point, Calhoun, Illinois; Roll: 99; Page: 335a.
[S1571] Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2017, online at www.ancestry.com, death on 20 November 1904 in Taswell, Crawford, Indiana, USA, of Catharine Trusty, transcribed by Ancestry as "Tensty", age 66, married to Lee Trusty, born 24 September 1838 to Arthur Belcher and ______ Pigg in Crawford Co, referencing Indiana Archives and Records Administration; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Death Certificates; Year: 1904; Roll: 03. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2017.
[S487] 1840 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Arthur Belcher, Year: 1840; Census Place: Jackson, Orange, Indiana; Roll: 89; Page: 29; Family History Library Film: 0007728.
[S16] 1830 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Arthur Belcher, his name spelled "Arter" by the census taker and transcribed as "Aster" by Ancestry, Year: 1830; Census Place: Orange, Indiana; Series: M19; Roll: 31; Page: 36; Family History Library Film: 0007720.
[S468] 1820 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Arthur Belcher, 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Warren, Tennessee; Page: 310; NARA Roll: M33_122; Image: 274. Hereinafter cited as 1820 United States Federal Census.
[S468] 1820 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of William Belcher, 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Warren, Tennessee; Page: 310; NARA Roll: M33_122; Image: 274.
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records (U.S. Department of the Interior), online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land patent for 40 acres in Crawford County, Indiana, purchased by Arthur Belcher of Orange County, Indiana, on 1 August 1839 from the Land Office of the United States at Vincennes, Indiana; viewed 22 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx. Hereinafter cited as Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records.
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land patent for 80 acres in Orange County, Indiana, purchased by John Belcher of Orange County, Indiana, on 5 August 1837 from the Land Office of the United States at Vincennes, Indiana; viewed 25 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land patent for 40 acres in Orange County, Indiana, purchased by Berry Belcher of Orange County, Indiana, on 1 September 1838 from the Land Office of the United States at Vincennes, Indiana; viewed 25 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land patent for 40 acres in Orange County, Indiana, purchased by John Belcher of Orange County, Indiana, on 1 August 1839 from the Land Office of the United States at Vincennes, Indiana; viewed 25 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Catharine (Belcher) Trusty, Memorial# 204517313.
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, database with images, online at www.familysearch.org. Digital collection of microfilmed records located at the Wayne County Courthouse, Richmond, Indiana. Includes surname indexes, marriage licenses were issued on 11 November 1851 by the Circuit Court in Paoli, Orange County for Harral Moore to marry Julia Ann Belcher and for Almarine Moore to marry Mary Ann Belcher, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-9X9F. Hereinafter cited as Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019.
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage on 12 November 1851 in Orange County of Almarine Moore and Mary Ann Belcher and also of Harral Moore and Julia Ann Belcher, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-9X9F
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 12 November 1851 in Orange County of Mary Ann Belcher and Almarine Moore, referencing Orange County, Indiana, original record located in the County Clerk's Office in Paoli, Indiana; Book: C- 3; Page: 389. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941.
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage on 12 November 1851 in Orange County of Harral Moore and Julia Ann Belcher and also of Almarine Moore and Mary Ann Belcher, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-9X9F
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 12 November 1851 in Orange County of Julia Ann Belcher and Harral Moore, referencing Orange County, Indiana, original record located in the County Clerk's Office in Paoli, Indiana; Book: C- 3; Page: 389.
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage on 8 January 1852 in Crawford County of Jesse Belcher and Mary Ann Moore, certifier's name: C. W. Kindle; officiator's name: J. H. McMickle, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:DV77-GZ6Z
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 8 January 1852 in Crawford County of Mary Ann Moore and Jesse Belcher, his given name transcribed as "Isaac" by Ancestry, referencing Crawford County Indiana Marriages, 1818 - 1880, Books A - D, contents: Part I, Index of Grooms, Part II, Index of Brides, Compiled by Ruth M Slevin; Book: B; Page: 148.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Mary Ann (Moore) Belcher, Memorial# 232116375.
[S37] 1870 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Harold and Julia Moore, Year: 1870; Census Place: Madison, Pike, Indiana; Roll: M593_350; Page: 502B. Hereinafter cited as 1870 United States Federal Census.
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/…, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KGCK-1WC
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/…, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KP3F-CTV
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/…, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KP3F-C5V
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/…, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KP3F-CC1
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 2 October 1853 in Orange County, of Markham Holland and Minerva Belcher, referencing Orange County, Indiana.
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage license issued, and marriage performed by William C. Walls, Justice of the Peace, on 3 August 1835 in Orange County between Arthur Hollen and Polly Belcher; viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-96HZ
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage license with written consent issued, and marriage performed by William C. Walls, Justice of the Peace, on 15 August 1836 in Orange County between Mitchell Hollen and Elizabeth Belcher; viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GTMC-9867
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage license issued, and marriage performed by William C. Walls, Justice of the Peace, on 9 July 1835 in Orange County between Moses Belcher, his father's consent verbally given, and Eliza Belcher, consent in writing; viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-96HZ

John T. Belcher Sr.¹

b. 13 October 1774, d. June 1839

Family

Father*

______ Belcher²

Birth*

13 October 1774

John T. Belcher Sr. may have been born about 13 October 1774 in Virginia. His actual date of birth has not been confirmed, and various researchers have reported 1776, 1768 and before 1768.¹

Relationship Note*

John Belcher Sr. and William Belcher were probably brothers. Their relationship was an important conclusion within our Brick Wall research because, by identifying them as brothers, we learned their children were first cousins.²

Marriage*

25 October 1794

He married Martha Johnston on 25 October 1794 in Washington County, Virginia.^3,4

Land Patent*

5 August 1837

A Land Patent was issued to John Belcher of Orange County, Indiana on 5 August 1837 according to an Act of Congress dated 24 April 1820 which made further provision for the initial sale of public lands by the Federal Government to individuals. After confirming that he had paid in full, John received title to land in Orange County, Indiana, described as:

The East half of the South West quarter of Section Twenty-Four in Township One, south of Range Two, West, in the District of Lands subject to sale at Vincennes, Indiana, and containing eighty acres.

John's sons, Berry Belcher and John Belcher, and nephew, Arthur Belcher, also received patents for nearby land. His son Berry purchased 40 acres on 1 September 1838; and his son John and nephew Arthur each purchased 40 acres on 1 August 1839.^5,6,7,8

Death*

June 1839

He probably died about June 1839 at about age 64¹

Burial*

and was probably buried in Highfill Chapel Cemetery, Taswell, Crawford County, Indiana. His Find a Grave Memorial site, created and maintained by Kelly Weirich, contributor# 47036244, provides additional information about John Sr. and his family. She writes, "He may be buried in Eastridge Fairview Cemetery in Taswell, Crawford, Indiana ... or ... He is likely buried in Highfill Chapel Cemetery, just north of Taswell, which has the greatest number of Belcher descendants buried there. Possibly Taswell cemetery , but Highfill is older. It has a large open area on the west side which is the original graveyard. Stephen Tuttle (researcher and descendant) has found a few broken stones buried just under the ground but sticking out. The few he could make out were for children of the 5 sons of John Belcher. Hence, this may be the best location for his and Martha's remains, as well as their sons James, John Jr. and Berry. Son Joseph is buried in Calhoun County, Illinois and Jesse may be in either Daviess or Crawford County, Indiana."¹

Land Records*

1 August 1839

Family

Martha Johnston

Children

James Belcher+^9,3,4,1 b. 1796, d. May 1842

Jesse Belcher+^9,1,3,4 b. 1798

Joseph Belcher+^9,3,4,1 b. 20 Mar 1802, d. 8 Apr 1853

Berry Belcher+^9,3,10,1 b. 22 Sep 1803, d. 9 Mar 1885

John Belcher Jr.¹ b. 1805, d. b 20 Mar 1849

Citations

[S748] Find a Grave website, which often provides cemetery and tombstone photos, and sometimes personal biographies, that may be obtained from the site, online at www.findagrave.com, John T. Belcher Sr., Memorial# 63963602. Hereinafter cited as Find a Grave website.
[S221] Analysis and opinion of researcher, Liz Heaton Brown (Summerlin, Nevada).
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Joseph Belcher, Memorial# 40043678.
[S1686] Virginia, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1660-1800, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage of John Belcher and Martha Johnston on 25 October 1794 in Washington County, Virginia. Hereinafter cited as Virginia, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1660-1800.
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records (U.S. Department of the Interior), online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land patent for 80 acres in Orange County, Indiana, purchased by John Belcher of Orange County, Indiana, on 5 August 1837 from the Land Office of the United States at Vincennes, Indiana; viewed 25 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx. Hereinafter cited as Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records.
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land patent for 40 acres in Orange County, Indiana, purchased by Berry Belcher of Orange County, Indiana, on 1 September 1838 from the Land Office of the United States at Vincennes, Indiana; viewed 25 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land patent for 40 acres in Orange County, Indiana, purchased by John Belcher of Orange County, Indiana, on 1 August 1839 from the Land Office of the United States at Vincennes, Indiana; viewed 25 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land patent for 40 acres in Crawford County, Indiana, purchased by Arthur Belcher of Orange County, Indiana, on 1 August 1839 from the Land Office of the United States at Vincennes, Indiana; viewed 22 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/… .Caution: This is a beautifully presented collection of "Person Pages" containing a variety of information about specific ancestors submitted by individual contributors -- often, unfortunately, with no sources. If the information we have chosen to pass along here is accurate, we are extremely grateful to the contributor(s) who have shared it. Without documentation, however, we researchers are always forced to question the validity of information. We hope what we have selected to include was originally obtained from family Bible records, or other reliable sources, and is accurate. Although, even when we have found contributed information to be unreliable, inaccurate or incomplete, we consider the information useful as possible clues as we research, citing the Belcher Heirs Deed, 1839, Orange County, Indiana, submitted by Jeannie Watts <e-mail address> with special thanks to Frankie Lu Eads of Princeton, Indiana who sent her a photocopy of the deed which we found attached in three files under Memories for Berry Belcher, online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/LTHD-H2Y. Hereinafter cited as Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog.
[S2283] Indiana, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1802-1892, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 11 March 1824 in Orange, Indiana, USA, of Berry Belcher and Jane Trimble, referencing FHL Film# 1316696. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1802-1892.

John W. Belcher¹

b. 1825, d. 19 October 1859

Family

Father*

Joseph Belcher¹ b. 20 Mar 1802, d. 8 Apr 1853

Mother*

Ruth Walls¹ b. 1803

Birth*

1825

John W. Belcher was born about 1825 in Kentucky.¹

Name Variation

His full name was John Wesley Belcher.²

(Son) Census US 1830

1830

John was probably enumerated on the 1830 census in the household of his parents in Crawford County, Illinois. He would have been about 5 years old.³

(Eldest Son) Census US 1840

1840

John was likely enumerated on the 1840 census in the household of his parents in Jersey County, Illinois. He would have been the one male between the ages of 15 thru 19 years.⁴

(Son) Census US 1850

15 November 1850

John W. was enumerated on the 1850 census taken on 15 November 1850 in the household of his parents in Point, Calhoun County, Illinois. He was 25 years of age and working as a farmer with his father cousins, Moses J. Belcher and William H. Belcher, who were also enumerated in the Belcher household in 1850.^1,5

Marriage*

6 May 1852

He married Caroline Stafford, daughter of John M. Stafford and Malinda Copeland, on 6 May 1852 in Jerseyville, Jersey County, Illinois.²

Death*

19 October 1859

He died intestate on or about 19 October 1859 at about age 34, leaving his widow with three very young children.^6,7

Family

Caroline Stafford b. 1836, d. 1916

Children

Charles E. Belcher⁷ b. 1854

Alice Belcher⁷ b. 1856

Laura Belcher⁷ b. 1859

Citations

[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Joseph and Ruth Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Point, Calhoun, Illinois; Roll: 99; Page: 335a. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.
[S1701] Illinois, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1800-1940, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage of John Wesley Belcher and Caroline Stafford on 6 May 1852 in Jerseyville, Jersey County, Illinois, USA. Hereinafter cited as Illinois, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1800-1940.
[S16] 1830 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Joseph Belcher, Year: 1830; Census Place: Crawford, Illinois; Series: M19; Roll: 23; Page: 18; Family History Library Film: 0007648. Hereinafter cited as 1830 United States Federal Census.
[S487] 1840 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Joseph Belcher, Year: 1840; Census Place: Jersey, Illinois; Roll: 61; Page: 339; Family History Library Film: 0007642. Hereinafter cited as 1840 United States Federal Census.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Herman and Celia Page, (transcribed by Ancestry as Harmon and Cela Raye), Year: 1850; Census Place: Point, Calhoun, Illinois; Roll: 99; Page: 335a.
[S1602] Illinois, Wills and Probate Records, 1772-1999, online at www.ancestry.com, probate opened on 24 February 1860 in Jersey County, Illinois, for John W. Belcher, who died intestate on or about 19 October 1859, referencing the Jersey County Probate Records, Volume H, 1919-1931; Administrators Bonds and Letters, 1852-1878, citing image# 517 of 859. Hereinafter cited as Illinois, Wills and Probate Records, 1772-1999.
[S18] 1860 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Caroline Belcher, Year: 1860; Census Place: Grafton, Jersey, Illinois; Roll: M653_188; Page: 86; Family History Library Film: 803188. Hereinafter cited as 1860 United States Federal Census.

John Wesley Belcher^1,2

b. 26 November 1838

Family

Father*

Berry Belcher^1,2,3 b. 22 Sep 1803, d. 9 Mar 1885

Mother*

Mary Ann Trusty^1,2,4 b. 1 Feb 1819, d. 9 Jan 1892

Birth*

26 November 1838

John Wesley Belcher was born on 26 November 1838 in Orange County, Indiana.^1,2

(3rd Son) Census US 1840

1840

John was probably enumerated on the 1840 census in the household of his parents in Jackson Township, Orange County, Indiana. He and his brother Thomas would both have been recorded as under the age of 5 years.⁵

(Son) Census US 1850

27 August 1850

John W. was enumerated on the 1850 census taken on 27 August 1850 in the household of his parents in Patoka Township, Crawford County, Indiana. He was 11 years old.¹

Citations

[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry and Mary Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 18b. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.
[S748] Find a Grave website, which often provides cemetery and tombstone photos, and sometimes personal biographies, that may be obtained from the site, online at www.findagrave.com, John Wesley Belcher, Memorial# 35404205. Hereinafter cited as Find a Grave website.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Berry Belcher, Memorial# 34936541.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Mary Ann (Trusty) Belcher, Memorial# 93495742.
[S487] 1840 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry Belcher, Year: 1840; Census Place: Jackson, Orange, Indiana; Roll: 89; Page: 29; Family History Library Film: 0007728. Hereinafter cited as 1840 United States Federal Census.

Joseph Belcher¹

b. 20 March 1802, d. 8 April 1853

Family

Father*

John T. Belcher Sr.^2,1,3,4 b. 13 Oct 1774, d. Jun 1839

Mother*

Martha Johnston^1,3,4

(3rd Brother) Brick Wall Research

While we were working to organize and understand the information we had been collecting on the Belcher families of Orange and Crawford counties in Indiana, we ran into a serious Brick Wall. Two young girls, Mary Ann Belcher, age 16, and Catharine Belcher, age 11, were enumerated on the 1850 census in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana in the household of William Hollen. Mary Ann and Catharine, whom we suspected were sisters, had both been born in Orange County, Indiana. We had no idea which Belcher family these two young girls belonged with, and wondered why they would be living with the Hollen family.

From previous research, we’ve learned that the two most common circumstances causing children to live with relatives other than their immediate families were the deaths of one or both parents, and/or the arrival of a stepparent into their household.

The Belcher family we were researching had five brothers: James, Jesse, Joseph, Berry, and John. We had initially used the 1850 census as our primary source, and had been in the process of identifying the children of each of the brothers in order to develop each of their five families. We knew, for example, that James, the eldest brother, had died in 1842 leaving a wife and several children, most of whom had been born in Orange County; that the third brother, Joseph, had moved with his wife and children to Illinois by 1830; that the first wife of fourth brother, Berry, had died after giving birth to five children, that Berry had married a second time, had seven more children by 1850, and that his seven children born before 1841 had all been born in Orange County; that the youngest brother, John, as well as his wife and any children they may have had, were all deceased before 1850; and that Jesse, the second brother, had a wife and seven children, five of whom had been born in Orange County. From the 1850 census, we also learned that Jesse’s eldest daughter, Minerva, and Berry’s eldest daughter, Martha Jane, and second son, Jesse, had all been enumerated in separate households on the same census page as our two Brick Wall children, Mary Ann and Catharine Belcher. That was a fair amount of information, we thought, and hoped it provided us with enough clues to identify Mary Ann and Catharine’s parents. We still believed the girls belonged to one, or possibly two, of the five Belcher brothers, so we needed to make a deeper dive, using a variety of sources, into the families of each one. Reviewing all that we already knew, we felt the two most logical Belcher brothers to analyze first were Jesse and Berry because both were enumerated on the 1850 census in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana, the same place where we found Mary Ann and Catharine in the household of William Hollen.

We began our targeted Brick Wall research of the brothers with the family of Jesse Belcher, the second brother, whose household on the 1850 census was a few census pages away from William Hollen’s. Jesse’s widowed daughter, Minerva, was enumerated in 1850 on the same census page as Mary Ann and Catharine in the household of William’s brother, Marcum Hollen. We were hopeful, initially, that we could connect at least one of the girls to Jesse. We tried; then had to admit that the birth years of his children too closely overlapped the birth years of Mary Ann and Catharine and that, if the girls belonged with Jesse and his wife, we would have found them with their parents.

Berry Belcher, the fourth brother, was enumerated in 1850 with his second wife and nine of his sixteen children, two from his first wife and seven from his second. They, too, were enumerated in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana, a few pages away from the subjects of our search, and on the other side of the Hollen household from Berry’s brother, Jesse. Berry’s eldest daughter, Martha Jane, had married Nathan Hollen, a son of William Hollen, and Martha Jane and Nathan were enumerated in 1850 in the next household after Nathan’s father on the same census page. Enumerated with Nathan and Martha Jane was Martha Jane’s brother, Jesse Belcher. Again, we were hopeful as we recognized the intermingling relationships between the Belcher and Hollen families; and again, we were disappointed. Some of the birth years of Berry Belcher’s children either overlapped the birth years of Mary Ann and Catharine, or were too close together to be realistic.

Leaving our research in Crawford County, we moved on to Orange County, Indiana, where Mary Ann and Catharine had both been born. We were hopeful again about James, the oldest of the five Belcher brothers, because most of his six children had likely been born in Orange County. James had died in 1842, and his wife, Nancy, had not remarried. She was enumerated with her younger children, in Jackson, Orange County, in 1850. The birth years of the couple’s six children were consistently spaced at about four to five years apart, which could have left room to insert the two girls. Without any evidence, however, or even workable clues, we realized we were grasping at straws. Hating to let go, though, we decided that, rather than fully eliminate James and Nancy from our dwindling list of parental candidates, we would set them aside until we had completed our research of all of the Belcher brothers.

And, yes, we knew we were running out of brothers because we had already learned that John, the youngest of the Belcher brothers, as well as his wife and any children they may have had, were all deceased before 1850.

That left us with only Joseph, the third Belcher brother, on our list of parental candidates. He and his wife had moved permanently to Illinois by 1830. Additionally, they had a son born in Illinois the same year Catharine was born in Orange County, Indiana. We found it easy and appropriate to eliminate Joseph from our list of potential parents.

After completing phase two of our research on the Belcher brothers, we still had no parents for Mary Ann and Catharine. We had not yet completely given up on the eldest brother, James, and his wife, Nancy, as “possibles” and tried again to see them as plausible. After relooking at everything, and giving them additional consideration, we again determined it just wasn’t working. James and Nancy were not the parents we were searching for. We would have to look elsewhere.

Then later, after working unsuccessfully with other research methods, we discovered a 1904 death certificate for a Catharine (Belcher) Trusty, whose reported date of birth matched the birth year for our 11-year-old Catharine Belcher. The informant for Catharine's death certificate was her widowed husband, Levi Trusty, who reported the name of Catharine's father as Arthur Belcher, and her mother as ______ Pigg. Arthur??? With all of the Belchers we had already researched, we had no Arthur. We did, however, again have hope, and also excitement, as we began to look for Arthur.

We found an Arthur Belcher on the 1840 census in Jackson, Orange County, Indiana. He was between the ages of 40 thru 49 years and his household consisted of seven children, two males and five females. Arthur, we believe, had been widowed by 1840 because his household included no female old enough to be the children's mother. Three of the females were under the age of 10 years, and because Arthur was also enumerated in Orange County in 1830, it was logical to conclude that those three young females on the 1840 census had been born in Orange County, as had Mary Ann and Catharine. This was a Belcher family we had known nothing about, and wondered… Wow! Could this Arthur really be our Catharine’s father? And could one of those other young girls in Arthur’s household in 1840 have been Mary Ann? We definitely hoped so as we set about learning more about Arthur Belcher.

We found him on the 1830 census, also in Orange County, Indiana. His household consisted of seven individuals, three males and four females. We believe that Arthur was the one male between the ages of 30 thru 39 years, and that his wife was the one female between the ages of 20 thru 29 years. Neither Mary Ann nor Catharine were born by 1830, so they wouldn’t have been included among the other females.

Continuing backwards, we found Arthur on the 1820 census in Warren County, Tennessee. His household consisted of three individuals. Arthur and his wife were both between the ages of 16 thru 25, and only one child, a female under the age of 10 years, was enumerated with them. In the next adjacent household on the same census page, William Belcher was enumerated as the head of household. William and his wife were both over the age of 45 years and we suspected they were Arthur's parents. We did not find Arthur enumerated in any other census after 1840, and believe he died before 1850.

We needed earlier information about Arthur's life, and the Bureau of Land Management’s land patent information sent us down another road of exciting research. We learned that not just Arthur, but some of the other Belchers, had also purchased land patents in Indiana about the same time and location. The Belcher brothers’ father, John Belcher Sr., purchased 80 acres in Orange County on 5 August 1837; his fourth son, Berry, purchased 40 acres in Orange County on 1 September 1838; and his fifth son, John Jr., purchased 40 acres in Orange County on 1 August 1839, the same date Arthur purchased 40 acres on the border between Crawford County and Orange County.

We had known, since first discovering Arthur, that he was not a sixth brother of our five Belcher brothers. After completing our research of their land patent purchases, we began to realize that, although not brothers, they were likely related. Our “original” Belcher family began in Tennessee with John Belcher and his wife Martha Johnston, who moved with their five sons, James, Jesse, Joseph, Berry and John, and possibly daughters, to Orange County, Indiana. If there had been another son, Arthur, he would have to have died before 01 August 1839 when the four oldest sons of John Sr., disposed of their shares in their deceased father's property in Orange County by selling it to their youngest brother, John Jr. And we already knew that Arthur was living in 1840 when he was enumerated on that year’s census. So, if Arthur was not a fifth brother of our original Belcher family, who was he?

It was important to remind ourselves that our research objective was to determine the identities of Mary Ann and Catharine Belcher who were enumerated without their parents on the 1850 census in the household of William Hollen in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana.

So far, our most significant find was Catharine (Belcher) Trusty's death certificate reporting that her father's name was Arthur Belcher. Lacking any information to the contrary, we decided to believe it. Her mother’s surname may have been Pigg, as reported on her death certificate, and her full name even Elizabeth Pigg, as surmised on Catharine's Find a Grave memorial page. Not knowing her mother, though, would have to wait; we felt confident in our conclusion that Arthur Belcher was Catharine's father. So far, so good; however we still had found no evidence that Catharine and Mary Ann were sisters or why they would have been living with the William Hollen family in 1850.

Mary Ann, we learned, married Almarine Moore in 1851, and Almarine’s brother, Harral Moore, married Julia Ann Belcher in a double ceremony on the same date. Their marriage was the first time we had any evidence of a Julie Ann Belcher, and wondered if this was a case of brothers marrying sisters? And, if so, where was Julia Ann in 1850? We have not been able to find her anywhere! We knew this was going to take some thinking, as well as additional research. Then, when we learned that Jesse Belcher married Harral and Almarine’s sister, Mary Ann Moore, less than two months after Mary Ann and Julia Ann Belcher married the Moore brothers, our head exploded! To review… Jesse Belcher was Berry Belcher’s son. Jesse was enumerated in the home of his sister, Martha Jane, and her husband, Nathan Hollen, in 1850. Nathan’s father, William Hollen, was enumerated in 1850 one household above his son Nathan, and it was in Willam Hollen’s household that Mary Ann and Catharine Belcher were enumerated in 1850.

We don’t believe in coincidences. Mary Ann Belcher was born about 1834; Julia Ann Belcher was born about 1836; and Catharine Belcher was born in 1838. Mary Ann and Catharine were enumerated together, and we believe they were sisters. Catharine was a daughter of Arthur Belcher, so therefore we believe Mary Ann was also a daughter of Arthur Belcher. We cannot find Julia Ann Belcher anywhere on the 1850 census and believe she was likely also residing, with Mary Ann and Catharine, in the William Hollen household in 1850. We believe she was simply skipped by the census taker. She named her second son Arthur -- also likely not a coincidence. She was married in a double ceremony with Mary Ann, and we believe they were sisters who married brothers. We therefore believe that Mary Ann, Julia Ann and Catharine Belcher were all three sisters and, in 1850, the orphaned daughters of Arthur Belcher.

Okay, fine… But why were they living in the household of William Hollen?... To try to answer that question, we had to find out more about who Willam Hollen was. We learned he had been born in Tennessee, and we actually laughed out loud when we learned that his parents were Nathan Hollen and Elizabeth Belcher. So, there was an earlier connection between the Belcher and Hollen families. We just had to sort out how that early connection evolved into the families' later relationships. We had our original Belcher brothers, whose father was John Sr; we had Arthur Belcher, whose father we had decided was William Belcher; and we thought that John Sr. and William were brothers. Neither John Sr., nor any of his sons, named a son Arthur, while John Sr.’s brother, William Belcher, did name a son Arthur. Nathan and Elizabeth (Belcher) Hollen named a son Arthur, and was therefore likely to be more closely related to William Belcher than to John Sr. So, how was Elizabeth Belcher related to William Belcher? We believe she was Arthur's sister, about 10 years his senior, and possibly William Belcher’s eldest child. She would therefore have been an aunt to Arthur’s daughters, Mary Ann, Julia Ann and Catharine Becher. On the Hollen side, Nathan Hollen married Elizabeth Belcher and their son, William Hollen, was therefore Arthur Belcher’s nephew. And, it was in William Hollen’s household that the Belcher girls were enumerated in 1850. So, if Elizabeth (Belcher) Hollen was an aunt to Mary Ann, Julia Ann and Catharine Belcher, as we believe, it all makes perfect sense. The orphaned Belcher girls were enumerated in 1850 in the home of their 1st cousin, William Hollen, who had children the same ages as the Belcher girls.

Most importantly, at least to us anyway, is that we believe we've finally solved our serious Belcher girls Brick Wall: Mary Ann Belcher, Julia Ann Belcher, and Catharine Belcher were daughters of Arthur Belcher who died between 1840 and 1850.

It was a long and twisting road and, as if all of that wasn't enough to make us crazy... William Hollen had at least three brothers, Markham Hollen, Arthur Hollen and Mitchell Hollen, who married Minerva (Belcher) Belcher, Polly Belcher and Elizabeth Belcher, respectively. William's brother, Markham, married, as his second wife in 1853, Minerva (Belcher) Belcher, eldest daughter of the second Belcher brother, Jesse. Minerva's first husband had also been a Belcher, and she became a widow with four young children when he died before 1850. It concerns us a great deal that we have not been able to learn the given name, or Belcher family connection, of Minerva's first husband, and would greatly appreciate hearing from someone who knows. And, there are other Belcher family members we wonder about. William Hollen's brother, another Arthur, married Polly Belcher in 1835, and their brother, Mitchell, married Elizabeth Belcher in 1836. Additionally, we think that the Moses Belcher who married Eliza Belcher in 1835 was a son of William Belcher, and a brother of Arthur Belcher and Elizabeth (Belcher) Hollen, William Hollen's mother. Unfortunately, we have no idea which Belcher family, or families, Minerva's husband, or Polly, Elizabeth and Eliza belong with, and are hoping that someone reading this knows , and will tell us... Please...^{5,2,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45}

Birth*

20 March 1802

Joseph Belcher was born on 20 March 1802 in Tennessee.¹

Land Warrant*

29 May 1818

A Land Warrant numbered 16426 was deposited in the name of Joseph Belcher on 29 May 1818 pursuant to the Acts of Congress appropriating and granting land to the late Army of the United States. Joseph was granted 160 acres of land in Pike County, Illinois, for his service as a Corporal in Fowle's Company in the 5th Regiment of the Indiana Infantry, and his land was described as:

The North West quarter of Section Twenty-Five in Township Three, south of Range Four, West, in the Trust appropriated for Military Bounties in the Territory of Illinois.⁴⁶

Marriage*

20 March 1820

He married Ruth Walls on 20 March 1820 in Orange County, Indiana.^47,1

Census US 1830*

1830

Joseph Belcher was enumerated on the 1830 census taken in Crawford County, Illinois. His household included seven individuals consisting of three males and four females. The males were recorded as one male under the age of 5 years, one male between the ages of 5 thru 9 years, and one male between the ages of 30 thru 39 years. The females were recorded as one female under the age of 5 years, two females between the ages of 5 thru 9 years, and one female between the ages of 20 thru 29 years. Joseph would have been the male between the ages of 30 thru 39 years and we believe his wife, Ruth (Walls) Belcher, would have been the female between the ages of 20 and 29 years. Two of the five children would have been their son, John, who was about 5 years old in 1830, and daughter, Celia, who was probably about 3 years old in 1830. We have been unable to identify the other three children enumerated with the couple on the census.⁸

(3rd Son) Land Records

1 August 1839

Census US 1840*

1840

Joseph Belcher was enumerated on the 1840 census taken in Jersey County, Illinois. His household consisted of eight people, five males and three females. The males were recorded as one male under the age of 5 years; one male between the ages of 10 thru 14 years; one male between the ages of 15 thru 19 years; one male between the ages of 20 thru 29 years; and one male between the ages of 30 thru 39. The three females were recorded as one female between the ages of 10 thru 14 years; one female between the ages of 15 thru 19 years; and one female between the ages of 30 thru 39 years. Two members of the household over the age of 20 years, one of which we believe was Joseph's wife, Ruth (Walls) Belcher, were unable to read and write. The couple's first-born son, John Wesley Belcher, would have been the male between the ages of 15 thru 19 years; their older daughter, Celia, would have been the female between the ages of 10 thru 14 years; and the couple's baby son, Joseph, would have been the male under the age of 5 years. From the 1850 census, we learned that Joseph and Ruth periodically housed members of their extended family, farm laborers, and probably household help as well, and we are at a loss to even attempt to identify the other two male and one female members of the Belcher household in 1840.¹⁷

Census US 1850*

15 November 1850

Ruth and Joseph Belcher were enumerated on the 1850 census taken on 15 November 1850 in Point, Calhoun County, Illinois. Joseph was 48 years of age and a farmer with real estate valued at $2,400, and Ruth was age 47 and unable to read or write. They were enumerated with three of their children. John W. was 25 years of age and working as a farmer; Joseph S. was 11 years old; and Emily was age 10. Joseph and Emily had both attended school within the census year. Two additional members of the extended Belcher family, nephews Moses J. Belcher and William H. Belcher, were enumerated in Joseph and Ruth's household in 1850. They were both working with their cousin John and Uncle Joseph as farmers. Moses, whose mother had died and his father remarried, was 23 years of age and the son of Joseph's brother, Berry, and William, who was 25 years of age, is believed to have been the son of Joseph's older brother, James, who had died in 1842. Joseph and Ruth's older daughter, Celia, had married and was enumerated in 1850 with her husband and daughter three households after her parents on the same census page. Two additional individuals were enumerated in the Belcher household in 1850. Henry and Alexander Travis, ages 20 and 18 years, respectively, were both born in Ohio, were probably brothers, and both worked as laborers.^18,48

Death*

8 April 1853

He died on 8 April 1853 in Illinois at age 51¹

Burial*

and was buried in Deer Plain Cemetery, Deer Plain, Calhoun County, Illinois.¹

Family

Ruth Walls b. 1803

Children

John W. Belcher+¹⁸ b. 1825, d. 19 Oct 1859

Celia Belcher+⁴⁹ b. 3 Mar 1827, d. 18 Jun 1918

Joseph S. Belcher¹⁸ b. 1839

Emily Belcher¹⁸ b. 1840

Citations

[S748] Find a Grave website, which often provides cemetery and tombstone photos, and sometimes personal biographies, that may be obtained from the site, online at www.findagrave.com, Joseph Belcher, Memorial# 40043678. Hereinafter cited as Find a Grave website.
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/… .Caution: This is a beautifully presented collection of "Person Pages" containing a variety of information about specific ancestors submitted by individual contributors -- often, unfortunately, with no sources. If the information we have chosen to pass along here is accurate, we are extremely grateful to the contributor(s) who have shared it. Without documentation, however, we researchers are always forced to question the validity of information. We hope what we have selected to include was originally obtained from family Bible records, or other reliable sources, and is accurate. Although, even when we have found contributed information to be unreliable, inaccurate or incomplete, we consider the information useful as possible clues as we research, citing the Belcher Heirs Deed, 1839, Orange County, Indiana, submitted by Jeannie Watts <e-mail address> with special thanks to Frankie Lu Eads of Princeton, Indiana who sent her a photocopy of the deed which we found attached in three files under Memories for Berry Belcher, online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/LTHD-H2Y. Hereinafter cited as Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog.
[S1686] Virginia, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1660-1800, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage of John Belcher and Martha Johnston on 25 October 1794 in Washington County, Virginia. Hereinafter cited as Virginia, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1660-1800.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, John T. Belcher Sr., Memorial# 63963602.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of William and Elizabeth Hollen, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 16b, image# 16 of 23. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Nancy Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Jackson, Orange, Indiana; Roll: 163; Page: 399a.
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/…, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/G6WH-L1P
[S16] 1830 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Joseph Belcher, Year: 1830; Census Place: Crawford, Illinois; Series: M19; Roll: 23; Page: 18; Family History Library Film: 0007648. Hereinafter cited as 1830 United States Federal Census.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Berry Belcher, Memorial# 34936541.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry and Mary Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 18b, image# 20 of 23.
[S2283] Indiana, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1802-1892, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 14 December 1826 in Orange County, Indiana, USA, of John Belcher and Eunice Pitman, referencing FHL Film# 1316696. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1802-1892.
[S16] 1830 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of John Belcher, Junior, Year: 1830; Census Place: Orange, Indiana; Series: M19; Roll: 31; Page: 34; Family History Library Film: 0007720.
[S2294] Will of Lewis Pitman dated 20 March 1849 in Macoupin County, Illinois, submitted for probate on 7 April 1849; transcription originally shared on 28 December 2012 by WLawrence2182, and attached to an Ancestry Tree; viewed on 27 April 2022, online at https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/tree/85867149/…. Hereinafter cited as Will of Lewis Pitman.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Jesse and Sarah Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 13a, image# 9 of 23.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Marcum Hollen, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 16b, image# 16 of 23.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Nathan and Martha Jane Hollen, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 16b, image# 16 of 23.
[S487] 1840 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Joseph Belcher, Year: 1840; Census Place: Jersey, Illinois; Roll: 61; Page: 339; Family History Library Film: 0007642. Hereinafter cited as 1840 United States Federal Census.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Joseph and Ruth Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Point, Calhoun, Illinois; Roll: 99; Page: 335a.
[S1571] Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2017, online at www.ancestry.com, death on 20 November 1904 in Taswell, Crawford, Indiana, USA, of Catharine Trusty, transcribed by Ancestry as "Tensty", age 66, married to Lee Trusty, born 24 September 1838 to Arthur Belcher and ______ Pigg in Crawford Co, referencing Indiana Archives and Records Administration; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Death Certificates; Year: 1904; Roll: 03. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2017.
[S487] 1840 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Arthur Belcher, Year: 1840; Census Place: Jackson, Orange, Indiana; Roll: 89; Page: 29; Family History Library Film: 0007728.
[S16] 1830 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Arthur Belcher, his name spelled "Arter" by the census taker and transcribed as "Aster" by Ancestry, Year: 1830; Census Place: Orange, Indiana; Series: M19; Roll: 31; Page: 36; Family History Library Film: 0007720.
[S468] 1820 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Arthur Belcher, 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Warren, Tennessee; Page: 310; NARA Roll: M33_122; Image: 274. Hereinafter cited as 1820 United States Federal Census.
[S468] 1820 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of William Belcher, 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Warren, Tennessee; Page: 310; NARA Roll: M33_122; Image: 274.
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records (U.S. Department of the Interior), online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land patent for 40 acres in Crawford County, Indiana, purchased by Arthur Belcher of Orange County, Indiana, on 1 August 1839 from the Land Office of the United States at Vincennes, Indiana; viewed 22 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx. Hereinafter cited as Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records.
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land patent for 80 acres in Orange County, Indiana, purchased by John Belcher of Orange County, Indiana, on 5 August 1837 from the Land Office of the United States at Vincennes, Indiana; viewed 25 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land patent for 40 acres in Orange County, Indiana, purchased by Berry Belcher of Orange County, Indiana, on 1 September 1838 from the Land Office of the United States at Vincennes, Indiana; viewed 25 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land patent for 40 acres in Orange County, Indiana, purchased by John Belcher of Orange County, Indiana, on 1 August 1839 from the Land Office of the United States at Vincennes, Indiana; viewed 25 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Catharine (Belcher) Trusty, Memorial# 204517313.
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, database with images, online at www.familysearch.org. Digital collection of microfilmed records located at the Wayne County Courthouse, Richmond, Indiana. Includes surname indexes, marriage licenses were issued on 11 November 1851 by the Circuit Court in Paoli, Orange County for Harral Moore to marry Julia Ann Belcher and for Almarine Moore to marry Mary Ann Belcher, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-9X9F. Hereinafter cited as Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019.
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage on 12 November 1851 in Orange County of Almarine Moore and Mary Ann Belcher and also of Harral Moore and Julia Ann Belcher, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-9X9F
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 12 November 1851 in Orange County of Mary Ann Belcher and Almarine Moore, referencing Orange County, Indiana, original record located in the County Clerk's Office in Paoli, Indiana; Book: C- 3; Page: 389. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941.
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage on 12 November 1851 in Orange County of Harral Moore and Julia Ann Belcher and also of Almarine Moore and Mary Ann Belcher, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-9X9F
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 12 November 1851 in Orange County of Julia Ann Belcher and Harral Moore, referencing Orange County, Indiana, original record located in the County Clerk's Office in Paoli, Indiana; Book: C- 3; Page: 389.
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage on 8 January 1852 in Crawford County of Jesse Belcher and Mary Ann Moore, certifier's name: C. W. Kindle; officiator's name: J. H. McMickle, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:DV77-GZ6Z
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 8 January 1852 in Crawford County of Mary Ann Moore and Jesse Belcher, his given name transcribed as "Isaac" by Ancestry, referencing Crawford County Indiana Marriages, 1818 - 1880, Books A - D, contents: Part I, Index of Grooms, Part II, Index of Brides, Compiled by Ruth M Slevin; Book: B; Page: 148.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Mary Ann (Moore) Belcher, Memorial# 232116375.
[S37] 1870 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Harold and Julia Moore, Year: 1870; Census Place: Madison, Pike, Indiana; Roll: M593_350; Page: 502B. Hereinafter cited as 1870 United States Federal Census.
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/…, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KGCK-1WC
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/…, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KP3F-CTV
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/…, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KP3F-C5V
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/…, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KP3F-CC1
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 2 October 1853 in Orange County, of Markham Holland and Minerva Belcher, referencing Orange County, Indiana.
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage license issued, and marriage performed by William C. Walls, Justice of the Peace, on 3 August 1835 in Orange County between Arthur Hollen and Polly Belcher; viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-96HZ
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage license with written consent issued, and marriage performed by William C. Walls, Justice of the Peace, on 15 August 1836 in Orange County between Mitchell Hollen and Elizabeth Belcher; viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GTMC-9867
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage license issued, and marriage performed by William C. Walls, Justice of the Peace, on 9 July 1835 in Orange County between Moses Belcher, his father's consent verbally given, and Eliza Belcher, consent in writing; viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-96HZ
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land warrant for 160 acres in Pike County, Illinois, issued to Joseph Belcher on 29 May 1818 for his service as a Corporal in Fowle’s Company in the 5th Regiment of the Indiana Infantry; Viewed 26 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx
[S2283] Indiana, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1802-1892, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 20 March 1820 in Orange County, Indiana, USA, of Joseph Belcher and Ruth Wall, referencing FHL Film# 1316696.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Herman and Celia Page, (transcribed by Ancestry as Harmon and Cela Raye), Year: 1850; Census Place: Point, Calhoun, Illinois; Roll: 99; Page: 335a.
[S1727] Illinois, Deaths and Stillbirths Index, 1916-1947, online at www.ancestry.com, entry for Celia Murphy, age 87, born on 3 March 1831 in Indiana, daughter of Joseph Belcher, died on 18 June 1918 in Richwood, Jersey County, Illinois, burial on 19 June 1918, citing FHL Film# 1543999. Hereinafter cited as Illinois, Deaths and Stillbirths Index, 1916-1947.

Joseph S. Belcher¹

b. 1839

Family

Father*

Joseph Belcher¹ b. 20 Mar 1802, d. 8 Apr 1853

Mother*

Ruth Walls¹ b. 1803

Birth*

1839

Joseph S. Belcher was born about 1839 in Illinois.¹

(Son) Census US 1840

1840

Joseph was likely enumerated on the 1840 census in the household of his parents in Jersey County, Illinois. He would have been the one male under the age of 5 years.²

(Son) Census US 1850

15 November 1850

Joseph was enumerated on the 1850 census taken on 15 November 1850 in the household of his parents in Point, Calhoun County, Illinois. He was 11 years old and had attended school within the census year.^1,3

(Son) Census US 1860

11 August 1860

Joseph was enumerated on the 1860 census taken on 11 August 1860 in the household of his widowed mother in Otter Creek, Jersey County, Illinois. He was 20 years old.⁴

Citations

[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Joseph and Ruth Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Point, Calhoun, Illinois; Roll: 99; Page: 335a. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.
[S487] 1840 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Joseph Belcher, Year: 1840; Census Place: Jersey, Illinois; Roll: 61; Page: 339; Family History Library Film: 0007642. Hereinafter cited as 1840 United States Federal Census.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Herman and Celia Page, (transcribed by Ancestry as Harmon and Cela Raye), Year: 1850; Census Place: Point, Calhoun, Illinois; Roll: 99; Page: 335a.
[S18] 1860 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Ruth Belcher, written or transcribed as "Belker", Year: 1860; Census Place: Otter Creek, Jersey, Illinois; Roll: M653_188; Page: 149; Family History Library Film: 803188. Hereinafter cited as 1860 United States Federal Census.

Julia Ann Belcher¹

b. 1836

Family

Father*

Arthur Belcher² b. bt 1790 - 1800

(Sister) Brick Wall Research

While we were working to organize and understand the information we had been collecting on the Belcher families of Orange and Crawford counties in Indiana, we ran into a serious Brick Wall. Two young girls, Mary Ann Belcher, age 16, and Catharine Belcher, age 11, were enumerated on the 1850 census in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana in the household of William Hollen. Mary Ann and Catharine, whom we suspected were sisters, had both been born in Orange County, Indiana. We had no idea which Belcher family these two young girls belonged with, and wondered why they would be living with the Hollen family.

From previous research, we’ve learned that the two most common circumstances causing children to live with relatives other than their immediate families were the deaths of one or both parents, and/or the arrival of a stepparent into their household.

The Belcher family we were researching had five brothers: James, Jesse, Joseph, Berry, and John. We had initially used the 1850 census as our primary source, and had been in the process of identifying the children of each of the brothers in order to develop each of their five families. We knew, for example, that James, the eldest brother, had died in 1842 leaving a wife and several children, most of whom had been born in Orange County; that the third brother, Joseph, had moved with his wife and children to Illinois by 1830; that the first wife of fourth brother, Berry, had died after giving birth to five children, that Berry had married a second time, had seven more children by 1850, and that his seven children born before 1841 had all been born in Orange County; that the youngest brother, John, as well as his wife and any children they may have had, were all deceased before 1850; and that Jesse, the second brother, had a wife and seven children, five of whom had been born in Orange County. From the 1850 census, we also learned that Jesse’s eldest daughter, Minerva, and Berry’s eldest daughter, Martha Jane, and second son, Jesse, had all been enumerated in separate households on the same census page as our two Brick Wall children, Mary Ann and Catharine Belcher. That was a fair amount of information, we thought, and hoped it provided us with enough clues to identify Mary Ann and Catharine’s parents. We still believed the girls belonged to one, or possibly two, of the five Belcher brothers, so we needed to make a deeper dive, using a variety of sources, into the families of each one. Reviewing all that we already knew, we felt the two most logical Belcher brothers to analyze first were Jesse and Berry because both were enumerated on the 1850 census in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana, the same place where we found Mary Ann and Catharine in the household of William Hollen.

We began our targeted Brick Wall research of the brothers with the family of Jesse Belcher, the second brother, whose household on the 1850 census was a few census pages away from William Hollen’s. Jesse’s widowed daughter, Minerva, was enumerated in 1850 on the same census page as Mary Ann and Catharine in the household of William’s brother, Marcum Hollen. We were hopeful, initially, that we could connect at least one of the girls to Jesse. We tried; then had to admit that the birth years of his children too closely overlapped the birth years of Mary Ann and Catharine and that, if the girls belonged with Jesse and his wife, we would have found them with their parents.

Berry Belcher, the fourth brother, was enumerated in 1850 with his second wife and nine of his sixteen children, two from his first wife and seven from his second. They, too, were enumerated in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana, a few pages away from the subjects of our search, and on the other side of the Hollen household from Berry’s brother, Jesse. Berry’s eldest daughter, Martha Jane, had married Nathan Hollen, a son of William Hollen, and Martha Jane and Nathan were enumerated in 1850 in the next household after Nathan’s father on the same census page. Enumerated with Nathan and Martha Jane was Martha Jane’s brother, Jesse Belcher. Again, we were hopeful as we recognized the intermingling relationships between the Belcher and Hollen families; and again, we were disappointed. Some of the birth years of Berry Belcher’s children either overlapped the birth years of Mary Ann and Catharine, or were too close together to be realistic.

Leaving our research in Crawford County, we moved on to Orange County, Indiana, where Mary Ann and Catharine had both been born. We were hopeful again about James, the oldest of the five Belcher brothers, because most of his six children had likely been born in Orange County. James had died in 1842, and his wife, Nancy, had not remarried. She was enumerated with her younger children, in Jackson, Orange County, in 1850. The birth years of the couple’s six children were consistently spaced at about four to five years apart, which could have left room to insert the two girls. Without any evidence, however, or even workable clues, we realized we were grasping at straws. Hating to let go, though, we decided that, rather than fully eliminate James and Nancy from our dwindling list of parental candidates, we would set them aside until we had completed our research of all of the Belcher brothers.

And, yes, we knew we were running out of brothers because we had already learned that John, the youngest of the Belcher brothers, as well as his wife and any children they may have had, were all deceased before 1850.

That left us with only Joseph, the third Belcher brother, on our list of parental candidates. He and his wife had moved permanently to Illinois by 1830. Additionally, they had a son born in Illinois the same year Catharine was born in Orange County, Indiana. We found it easy and appropriate to eliminate Joseph from our list of potential parents.

After completing phase two of our research on the Belcher brothers, we still had no parents for Mary Ann and Catharine. We had not yet completely given up on the eldest brother, James, and his wife, Nancy, as “possibles” and tried again to see them as plausible. After relooking at everything, and giving them additional consideration, we again determined it just wasn’t working. James and Nancy were not the parents we were searching for. We would have to look elsewhere.

Then later, after working unsuccessfully with other research methods, we discovered a 1904 death certificate for a Catharine (Belcher) Trusty, whose reported date of birth matched the birth year for our 11-year-old Catharine Belcher. The informant for Catharine's death certificate was her widowed husband, Levi Trusty, who reported the name of Catharine's father as Arthur Belcher, and her mother as ______ Pigg. Arthur??? With all of the Belchers we had already researched, we had no Arthur. We did, however, again have hope, and also excitement, as we began to look for Arthur.

We found an Arthur Belcher on the 1840 census in Jackson, Orange County, Indiana. He was between the ages of 40 thru 49 years and his household consisted of seven children, two males and five females. Arthur, we believe, had been widowed by 1840 because his household included no female old enough to be the children's mother. Three of the females were under the age of 10 years, and because Arthur was also enumerated in Orange County in 1830, it was logical to conclude that those three young females on the 1840 census had been born in Orange County, as had Mary Ann and Catharine. This was a Belcher family we had known nothing about, and wondered… Wow! Could this Arthur really be our Catharine’s father? And could one of those other young girls in Arthur’s household in 1840 have been Mary Ann? We definitely hoped so as we set about learning more about Arthur Belcher.

We found him on the 1830 census, also in Orange County, Indiana. His household consisted of seven individuals, three males and four females. We believe that Arthur was the one male between the ages of 30 thru 39 years, and that his wife was the one female between the ages of 20 thru 29 years. Neither Mary Ann nor Catharine were born by 1830, so they wouldn’t have been included among the other females.

Continuing backwards, we found Arthur on the 1820 census in Warren County, Tennessee. His household consisted of three individuals. Arthur and his wife were both between the ages of 16 thru 25, and only one child, a female under the age of 10 years, was enumerated with them. In the next adjacent household on the same census page, William Belcher was enumerated as the head of household. William and his wife were both over the age of 45 years and we suspected they were Arthur's parents. We did not find Arthur enumerated in any other census after 1840, and believe he died before 1850.

We needed earlier information about Arthur's life, and the Bureau of Land Management’s land patent information sent us down another road of exciting research. We learned that not just Arthur, but some of the other Belchers, had also purchased land patents in Indiana about the same time and location. The Belcher brothers’ father, John Belcher Sr., purchased 80 acres in Orange County on 5 August 1837; his fourth son, Berry, purchased 40 acres in Orange County on 1 September 1838; and his fifth son, John Jr., purchased 40 acres in Orange County on 1 August 1839, the same date Arthur purchased 40 acres on the border between Crawford County and Orange County.

We had known, since first discovering Arthur, that he was not a sixth brother of our five Belcher brothers. After completing our research of their land patent purchases, we began to realize that, although not brothers, they were likely related. Our “original” Belcher family began in Tennessee with John Belcher and his wife Martha Johnston, who moved with their five sons, James, Jesse, Joseph, Berry and John, and possibly daughters, to Orange County, Indiana. If there had been another son, Arthur, he would have to have died before 01 August 1839 when the four oldest sons of John Sr., disposed of their shares in their deceased father's property in Orange County by selling it to their youngest brother, John Jr. And we already knew that Arthur was living in 1840 when he was enumerated on that year’s census. So, if Arthur was not a fifth brother of our original Belcher family, who was he?

It was important to remind ourselves that our research objective was to determine the identities of Mary Ann and Catharine Belcher who were enumerated without their parents on the 1850 census in the household of William Hollen in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana.

So far, our most significant find was Catharine (Belcher) Trusty's death certificate reporting that her father's name was Arthur Belcher. Lacking any information to the contrary, we decided to believe it. Her mother’s surname may have been Pigg, as reported on her death certificate, and her full name even Elizabeth Pigg, as surmised on Catharine's Find a Grave memorial page. Not knowing her mother, though, would have to wait; we felt confident in our conclusion that Arthur Belcher was Catharine's father. So far, so good; however we still had found no evidence that Catharine and Mary Ann were sisters or why they would have been living with the William Hollen family in 1850.

Mary Ann, we learned, married Almarine Moore in 1851, and Almarine’s brother, Harral Moore, married Julia Ann Belcher in a double ceremony on the same date. Their marriage was the first time we had any evidence of a Julie Ann Belcher, and wondered if this was a case of brothers marrying sisters? And, if so, where was Julia Ann in 1850? We have not been able to find her anywhere! We knew this was going to take some thinking, as well as additional research. Then, when we learned that Jesse Belcher married Harral and Almarine’s sister, Mary Ann Moore, less than two months after Mary Ann and Julia Ann Belcher married the Moore brothers, our head exploded! To review… Jesse Belcher was Berry Belcher’s son. Jesse was enumerated in the home of his sister, Martha Jane, and her husband, Nathan Hollen, in 1850. Nathan’s father, William Hollen, was enumerated in 1850 one household above his son Nathan, and it was in Willam Hollen’s household that Mary Ann and Catharine Belcher were enumerated in 1850.

We don’t believe in coincidences. Mary Ann Belcher was born about 1834; Julia Ann Belcher was born about 1836; and Catharine Belcher was born in 1838. Mary Ann and Catharine were enumerated together, and we believe they were sisters. Catharine was a daughter of Arthur Belcher, so therefore we believe Mary Ann was also a daughter of Arthur Belcher. We cannot find Julia Ann Belcher anywhere on the 1850 census and believe she was likely also residing, with Mary Ann and Catharine, in the William Hollen household in 1850. We believe she was simply skipped by the census taker. She named her second son Arthur -- also likely not a coincidence. She was married in a double ceremony with Mary Ann, and we believe they were sisters who married brothers. We therefore believe that Mary Ann, Julia Ann and Catharine Belcher were all three sisters and, in 1850, the orphaned daughters of Arthur Belcher.

Okay, fine… But why were they living in the household of William Hollen?... To try to answer that question, we had to find out more about who Willam Hollen was. We learned he had been born in Tennessee, and we actually laughed out loud when we learned that his parents were Nathan Hollen and Elizabeth Belcher. So, there was an earlier connection between the Belcher and Hollen families. We just had to sort out how that early connection evolved into the families' later relationships. We had our original Belcher brothers, whose father was John Sr; we had Arthur Belcher, whose father we had decided was William Belcher; and we thought that John Sr. and William were brothers. Neither John Sr., nor any of his sons, named a son Arthur, while John Sr.’s brother, William Belcher, did name a son Arthur. Nathan and Elizabeth (Belcher) Hollen named a son Arthur, and was therefore likely to be more closely related to William Belcher than to John Sr. So, how was Elizabeth Belcher related to William Belcher? We believe she was Arthur's sister, about 10 years his senior, and possibly William Belcher’s eldest child. She would therefore have been an aunt to Arthur’s daughters, Mary Ann, Julia Ann and Catharine Becher. On the Hollen side, Nathan Hollen married Elizabeth Belcher and their son, William Hollen, was therefore Arthur Belcher’s nephew. And, it was in William Hollen’s household that the Belcher girls were enumerated in 1850. So, if Elizabeth (Belcher) Hollen was an aunt to Mary Ann, Julia Ann and Catharine Belcher, as we believe, it all makes perfect sense. The orphaned Belcher girls were enumerated in 1850 in the home of their 1st cousin, William Hollen, who had children the same ages as the Belcher girls.

Most importantly, at least to us anyway, is that we believe we've finally solved our serious Belcher girls Brick Wall: Mary Ann Belcher, Julia Ann Belcher, and Catharine Belcher were daughters of Arthur Belcher who died between 1840 and 1850.

It was a long and twisting road and, as if all of that wasn't enough to make us crazy... William Hollen had at least three brothers, Markham Hollen, Arthur Hollen and Mitchell Hollen, who married Minerva (Belcher) Belcher, Polly Belcher and Elizabeth Belcher, respectively. William's brother, Markham, married, as his second wife in 1853, Minerva (Belcher) Belcher, eldest daughter of the second Belcher brother, Jesse. Minerva's first husband had also been a Belcher, and she became a widow with four young children when he died before 1850. It concerns us a great deal that we have not been able to learn the given name, or Belcher family connection, of Minerva's first husband, and would greatly appreciate hearing from someone who knows. And, there are other Belcher family members we wonder about. William Hollen's brother, another Arthur, married Polly Belcher in 1835, and their brother, Mitchell, married Elizabeth Belcher in 1836. Additionally, we think that the Moses Belcher who married Eliza Belcher in 1835 was a son of William Belcher, and a brother of Arthur Belcher and Elizabeth (Belcher) Hollen, William Hollen's mother. Unfortunately, we have no idea which Belcher family, or families, Minerva's husband, or Polly, Elizabeth and Eliza belong with, and are hoping that someone reading this knows , and will tell us... Please...^{3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,2,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,1,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42}

Birth*

1836

Julia Ann Belcher was born about 1836 in Indiana.^43,44,45

(Daughter) Census US 1840

1840

Julia Ann was probably one of the young females enumerated on the 1840 census in the household of Arthur Belcher, whom we believe was her father, in Jackson, Orange County, Indiana. She was about 4 years old in 1840, and would have been enumerated on the census as one of the two females under the age of 5 years.²

(Cousin) Census US 1850

26 August 1850

Julia Ann Belcher and her sisters, Mary Ann and Catharine, were enumerated on the 1850 census taken on 26 August 1850 in the household of their 1st cousin, William Hollen, and his wife Elizabeth in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana. The orphaned girls were ages 14, 16 and 11 years, respectively, and although Julia Ann was skipped by the census taker, we believe she was there with her sisters.⁴⁶

Marriage License

11 November 1851

A marriage license was issued to Julia Ann Belcher and Harral Moore by the Circuit Court in Paoli, Orange County, Indiana, on 11 November 1851, and also, at the same time and place, another marriage license was issued to Harral's brother, Almarine, and Julia Ann's sister, Mary Ann.²⁷

Marriage*

12 November 1851

She married Harral Moore, son of Jeremiah Moore, on 12 November 1851 in Orange County, Indiana. Harral was 18 years old and Julia was age 15, and their ceremony was likely a double-wedding with their siblings, Almarine Moore and Mary Ann Belcher, who were married on the same day, in the same place, also by Justice of the Peace Thomas Hunt.^1,30

Census US 1870*

16 August 1870

Julia and Harold Moore were enumerated on the 1870 census taken on 16 August 1870 near the Petersburg Post Office, Madison, Pike County, Indiana. Harold was 39 years of age and a farmer with real estate valued at $400 and a personal estate valued at $300, and Julia was 33 years of age and keeping house. Neither of them was able to read or write. Four of their children were enumerated with them in 1870. Arthur was 15 years old and worked as a farm laborer; and Julia A., George W. and Joseph were ages 6, 4 and 2 years, respectively. Also enumerated with the family in 1870 was Martha Moore, who was reported as 14 years old and, we suspect, was a niece, a daughter of Harold's deceased brother, Almarine Moore, and his wife, Julia Ann's sister, Mary Ann (Belcher) Moore.³⁴

Family		Harral Moore b. 1833
Children	1.	Henry M. Moore⁴⁷ b. 1852
	2.	Arthur Moore³⁴ b. 1855
	3.	Jesse Moore⁴⁷ b. 1858
	4.	Jeremiah Moore⁴⁷ b. Dec 1859
	5.	Julia A. Moore³⁴ b. 1864
	6.	George W. Moore³⁴ b. 1866
	7.	Joseph Moore³⁴ b. 1868
	8.	Martha Moore⁴⁸ b. 1871
	9.	Mary Moore⁴⁸ b. 1874
	10.	James Moore⁴⁸ b. 1875
	11.	Charley Moore⁴⁸ b. 1877
	12.	Hattie Moore⁴⁸ b. 1879

Citations

[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 12 November 1851 in Orange County of Julia Ann Belcher and Harral Moore, referencing Orange County, Indiana, original record located in the County Clerk's Office in Paoli, Indiana; Book: C- 3; Page: 389. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941.
[S487] 1840 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Arthur Belcher, Year: 1840; Census Place: Jackson, Orange, Indiana; Roll: 89; Page: 29; Family History Library Film: 0007728. Hereinafter cited as 1840 United States Federal Census.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of William and Elizabeth Hollen, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 16b, image# 16 of 23. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/… .Caution: This is a beautifully presented collection of "Person Pages" containing a variety of information about specific ancestors submitted by individual contributors -- often, unfortunately, with no sources. If the information we have chosen to pass along here is accurate, we are extremely grateful to the contributor(s) who have shared it. Without documentation, however, we researchers are always forced to question the validity of information. We hope what we have selected to include was originally obtained from family Bible records, or other reliable sources, and is accurate. Although, even when we have found contributed information to be unreliable, inaccurate or incomplete, we consider the information useful as possible clues as we research, citing the Belcher Heirs Deed, 1839, Orange County, Indiana, submitted by Jeannie Watts <e-mail address> with special thanks to Frankie Lu Eads of Princeton, Indiana who sent her a photocopy of the deed which we found attached in three files under Memories for Berry Belcher, online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/LTHD-H2Y. Hereinafter cited as Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Nancy Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Jackson, Orange, Indiana; Roll: 163; Page: 399a.
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/…, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/G6WH-L1P
[S16] 1830 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Joseph Belcher, Year: 1830; Census Place: Crawford, Illinois; Series: M19; Roll: 23; Page: 18; Family History Library Film: 0007648. Hereinafter cited as 1830 United States Federal Census.
[S748] Find a Grave website, which often provides cemetery and tombstone photos, and sometimes personal biographies, that may be obtained from the site, online at www.findagrave.com, Berry Belcher, Memorial# 34936541. Hereinafter cited as Find a Grave website.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry and Mary Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 18b, image# 20 of 23.
[S2283] Indiana, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1802-1892, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 14 December 1826 in Orange County, Indiana, USA, of John Belcher and Eunice Pitman, referencing FHL Film# 1316696. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1802-1892.
[S16] 1830 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of John Belcher, Junior, Year: 1830; Census Place: Orange, Indiana; Series: M19; Roll: 31; Page: 34; Family History Library Film: 0007720.
[S2294] Will of Lewis Pitman dated 20 March 1849 in Macoupin County, Illinois, submitted for probate on 7 April 1849; transcription originally shared on 28 December 2012 by WLawrence2182, and attached to an Ancestry Tree; viewed on 27 April 2022, online at https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/tree/85867149/…. Hereinafter cited as Will of Lewis Pitman.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Jesse and Sarah Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 13a, image# 9 of 23.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Marcum Hollen, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 16b, image# 16 of 23.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Nathan and Martha Jane Hollen, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 16b, image# 16 of 23.
[S487] 1840 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Joseph Belcher, Year: 1840; Census Place: Jersey, Illinois; Roll: 61; Page: 339; Family History Library Film: 0007642.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Joseph and Ruth Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Point, Calhoun, Illinois; Roll: 99; Page: 335a.
[S1571] Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2017, online at www.ancestry.com, death on 20 November 1904 in Taswell, Crawford, Indiana, USA, of Catharine Trusty, transcribed by Ancestry as "Tensty", age 66, married to Lee Trusty, born 24 September 1838 to Arthur Belcher and ______ Pigg in Crawford Co, referencing Indiana Archives and Records Administration; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Death Certificates; Year: 1904; Roll: 03. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2017.
[S16] 1830 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Arthur Belcher, his name spelled "Arter" by the census taker and transcribed as "Aster" by Ancestry, Year: 1830; Census Place: Orange, Indiana; Series: M19; Roll: 31; Page: 36; Family History Library Film: 0007720.
[S468] 1820 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Arthur Belcher, 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Warren, Tennessee; Page: 310; NARA Roll: M33_122; Image: 274. Hereinafter cited as 1820 United States Federal Census.
[S468] 1820 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of William Belcher, 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Warren, Tennessee; Page: 310; NARA Roll: M33_122; Image: 274.
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records (U.S. Department of the Interior), online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land patent for 40 acres in Crawford County, Indiana, purchased by Arthur Belcher of Orange County, Indiana, on 1 August 1839 from the Land Office of the United States at Vincennes, Indiana; viewed 22 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx. Hereinafter cited as Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records.
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land patent for 80 acres in Orange County, Indiana, purchased by John Belcher of Orange County, Indiana, on 5 August 1837 from the Land Office of the United States at Vincennes, Indiana; viewed 25 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land patent for 40 acres in Orange County, Indiana, purchased by Berry Belcher of Orange County, Indiana, on 1 September 1838 from the Land Office of the United States at Vincennes, Indiana; viewed 25 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land patent for 40 acres in Orange County, Indiana, purchased by John Belcher of Orange County, Indiana, on 1 August 1839 from the Land Office of the United States at Vincennes, Indiana; viewed 25 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Catharine (Belcher) Trusty, Memorial# 204517313.
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, database with images, online at www.familysearch.org. Digital collection of microfilmed records located at the Wayne County Courthouse, Richmond, Indiana. Includes surname indexes, marriage licenses were issued on 11 November 1851 by the Circuit Court in Paoli, Orange County for Harral Moore to marry Julia Ann Belcher and for Almarine Moore to marry Mary Ann Belcher, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-9X9F. Hereinafter cited as Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019.
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage on 12 November 1851 in Orange County of Almarine Moore and Mary Ann Belcher and also of Harral Moore and Julia Ann Belcher, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-9X9F
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 12 November 1851 in Orange County of Mary Ann Belcher and Almarine Moore, referencing Orange County, Indiana, original record located in the County Clerk's Office in Paoli, Indiana; Book: C- 3; Page: 389.
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage on 12 November 1851 in Orange County of Harral Moore and Julia Ann Belcher and also of Almarine Moore and Mary Ann Belcher, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-9X9F
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage on 8 January 1852 in Crawford County of Jesse Belcher and Mary Ann Moore, certifier's name: C. W. Kindle; officiator's name: J. H. McMickle, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:DV77-GZ6Z
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 8 January 1852 in Crawford County of Mary Ann Moore and Jesse Belcher, his given name transcribed as "Isaac" by Ancestry, referencing Crawford County Indiana Marriages, 1818 - 1880, Books A - D, contents: Part I, Index of Grooms, Part II, Index of Brides, Compiled by Ruth M Slevin; Book: B; Page: 148.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Mary Ann (Moore) Belcher, Memorial# 232116375.
[S37] 1870 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Harold and Julia Moore, Year: 1870; Census Place: Madison, Pike, Indiana; Roll: M593_350; Page: 502B. Hereinafter cited as 1870 United States Federal Census.
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/…, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KGCK-1WC
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/…, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KP3F-CTV
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/…, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KP3F-C5V
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/…, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KP3F-CC1
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 2 October 1853 in Orange County, of Markham Holland and Minerva Belcher, referencing Orange County, Indiana.
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage license issued, and marriage performed by William C. Walls, Justice of the Peace, on 3 August 1835 in Orange County between Arthur Hollen and Polly Belcher; viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-96HZ
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage license with written consent issued, and marriage performed by William C. Walls, Justice of the Peace, on 15 August 1836 in Orange County between Mitchell Hollen and Elizabeth Belcher; viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GTMC-9867
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage license issued, and marriage performed by William C. Walls, Justice of the Peace, on 9 July 1835 in Orange County between Moses Belcher, his father's consent verbally given, and Eliza Belcher, consent in writing; viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-96HZ
[S18] 1860 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Howell and Julia A. Moore, Year: 1860; Census Place: Busseron, Knox, Indiana; Roll: M653_272; Page: 772; Family History Library Film: 803272, estimating Julia's birth year as 1836. Hereinafter cited as 1860 United States Federal Census.
[S37] 1870 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Harrold and Julia Moore, Year: 1870; Census Place: Madison, Pike, Indiana; Roll: M593_350; Page: 502B, estimating Julia's birth year as 1837.
[S23] 1880 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of "Horrel" and Julia A. Moore, Year: 1880; Census Place: Petersburg, Pike, Indiana; Roll: 304; Page: 358C; Enumeration District: 178, estimating the year of Julia's birth as 1836. Hereinafter cited as 1880 United States Federal Census.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of William and Elizabeth Hollen, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 16b.
[S18] 1860 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Howel and Julia A. Moore, Year: 1860; Census Place: Busseron, Knox, Indiana; Roll: M653_272; Page: 772; Family History Library Film: 803272.
[S23] 1880 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of "Horrel" and Julia A. Moore, Year: 1880; Census Place: Petersburg, Pike, Indiana; Roll: 304; Page: 358C; Enumeration District: 178.

Laura Belcher¹

b. 1859

Family

Father*

John W. Belcher¹ b. 1825, d. 19 Oct 1859

Mother*

Caroline Stafford¹ b. 1836, d. 1916

Birth*

1859

Laura Belcher was born about 1859 in Illinois.¹

(Daughter) Census US 1860

14 August 1860

Laura was enumerated on the 1860 census taken on 14 August 1860 in the household of her widowed mother in Grafton, Jersey County, Illinois. She was one year old.¹

(Daughter) Census US 1870

30 July 1870

Laura was enumerated on the 1870 census taken on 30 July 1870 in the household of her widowed mother in Township 6, Range 13, Jersey County, Illinois. She was 11 years old, had attended school within the census year and could read, and not yet write.²

Citations

[S18] 1860 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Caroline Belcher, Year: 1860; Census Place: Grafton, Jersey, Illinois; Roll: M653_188; Page: 86; Family History Library Film: 803188. Hereinafter cited as 1860 United States Federal Census.
[S37] 1870 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Caroline Belcher, Year: 1870; Census Place: Township 6 Range 13, Jersey, Illinois; Roll: M593_233; Page: 802A. Hereinafter cited as 1870 United States Federal Census.

Levi Francis Belcher^1,2,3,4

b. 15 July 1858

Family

Father*

Berry Belcher^1,4,2 b. 22 Sep 1803, d. 9 Mar 1885

Mother*

Mary Ann Trusty^1,2,3 b. 1 Feb 1819, d. 9 Jan 1892

Birth*

15 July 1858

Levi Francis Belcher was born on 15 July 1858 in Indiana.^1,2

Name Variation

He was called Francis.¹

Citations

[S18] 1860 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry and Mary Belcher, Year: 1860; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: M653_250; Page: 482; Family History Library Film: 803250. Hereinafter cited as 1860 United States Federal Census.
[S748] Find a Grave website, which often provides cemetery and tombstone photos, and sometimes personal biographies, that may be obtained from the site, online at www.findagrave.com, Levi Francis Belcher, Memorial# 204463546. Hereinafter cited as Find a Grave website.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Mary Ann (Trusty) Belcher, Memorial# 93495742.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Berry Belcher, Memorial# 34936541.

Lucinda Jane Belcher^1,2

b. 1833

Family

Father*

Berry Belcher^1,2 b. 22 Sep 1803, d. 9 Mar 1885

Mother*

Jane Trimble² d. 1837

Birth*

1833

Lucinda Jane Belcher was born about 1833 in Illinois.¹

(Daughter) Death

1837

She was about 4 years old when her mother died about 1837, leaving Lucinda's father with five young children.²

(Daughter) Marriage

8 February 1838

She was about age 5 when her father married a second time to Mary Trusty on 8 February 1838.^3,4,2

(2nd Daughter) Census US 1840

1840

Lucinda was probably enumerated on the 1840 census in the household of her father and stepmother in Jackson Township, Orange County, Indiana. She would have been recorded as one of the two females between the ages of 5 thru 9 years.⁵

(Daughter) Census US 1850

27 August 1850

Lucinda was enumerated on the 1850 census taken on 27 August 1850 in the household of her father and stepmother in Patoka Township, Crawford County, Indiana. She was 17 years old.¹

Citations

[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry and Mary Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 18b. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.
[S748] Find a Grave website, which often provides cemetery and tombstone photos, and sometimes personal biographies, that may be obtained from the site, online at www.findagrave.com, Berry Belcher, Memorial# 34936541. Hereinafter cited as Find a Grave website.
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 8 February 1838 in Orange County of Berry Belcher and Mary Trusty, referencing Orange County, Indiana, original record located in the County Clerk's Office in Paoli, Indiana, Book C-2, page 84. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Mary Ann (Trusty) Belcher, Memorial# 93495742.
[S487] 1840 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry Belcher, Year: 1840; Census Place: Jackson, Orange, Indiana; Roll: 89; Page: 29; Family History Library Film: 0007728. Hereinafter cited as 1840 United States Federal Census.

Malinda Belcher^1,2

b. 1849

Family

Father*

______ Belcher¹ d. 1849

Mother*

Minerva Belcher¹ b. 1824, d. 9 Jul 1907

Birth*

1849

Malinda Belcher was born about 1849 in Orange County, Indiana.¹

(Child) Census US 1850

26 August 1850

Malinda Belcher was enumerated with her siblings and widowed mother on the 1850 census taken on 26 August 1850 in the household of Marcum Hollen in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana. Malinda was one year old.¹

(Daughter) Marriage

2 October 1853

She was 4 years old when her mother married a second time, on 2 October 1853, to Markham Hollen.^3,4

Name Variation

After her mother's second marriage, Malinda used the surname Hollen.³

(Stepdaughter) Census US 1860

19 July 1860

Malinda was enumerated as Malinda Hollen on the 1860 census taken on 19 July 1860 in the household of her mother and stepfather, Minerva and Marcum Hollen, in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana. Malinda was 10 years old.³

Citations

[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Marcum Hollen, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 16b. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/… .Caution: This is a beautifully presented collection of "Person Pages" containing a variety of information about specific ancestors submitted by individual contributors -- often, unfortunately, with no sources. If the information we have chosen to pass along here is accurate, we are extremely grateful to the contributor(s) who have shared it. Without documentation, however, we researchers are always forced to question the validity of information. We hope what we have selected to include was originally obtained from family Bible records, or other reliable sources, and is accurate. Although, even when we have found contributed information to be unreliable, inaccurate or incomplete, we consider the information useful as possible clues as we research, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L8MK-MBN. Hereinafter cited as Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog.
[S18] 1860 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Marcum and Minerva Hollen, Year: 1860; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: M653_250; Page: 481; Family History Library Film: 803250. Hereinafter cited as 1860 United States Federal Census.
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 2 October 1853 in Orange County, of Markham Holland and Minerva Belcher, referencing Orange County, Indiana. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941.

Martha Jane Belcher¹

b. 19 October 1825, d. 7 June 1898

Family

Father*

Berry Belcher^1,2 b. 22 Sep 1803, d. 9 Mar 1885

Mother*

Jane Trimble² d. 1837

Birth*

19 October 1825

Martha Jane Belcher was born on 19 October 1825 in Orange County, Indiana.¹

(Eldest Daughter) Census US 1830

1830

Martha Jane was probably enumerated with her mother and siblings on the 1830 census in the household of her father in Lawrence County, Illinois. She would have been recorded as the one female under the age of 5 years.³

(Daughter) Death

1837

She was less than 12 years old when her mother died about 1837, leaving Martha's father with five young children.²

(Daughter) Marriage

8 February 1838

She was age 12 when her father married a second time to Mary Trusty on 8 February 1838.^4,5,2

(Eldest Daughter) Census US 1840

1840

Martha Jane was probably enumerated on the 1840 census in the household of her father and stepmother in Jackson Township, Orange County, Indiana. She would have been recorded as the one female between the ages of 10 thru 14 years.⁶

Marriage*

31 May 1849

She married Nathan Hollen, son of William Hollen and Elizabeth __?__, on 31 May 1849 in Crawford County, Indiana.^7,1

Census US 1850*

26 August 1850

Martha Jane and Nathan Hollen were enumerated on the 1850 census taken on 26 August 1850 in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana. Nathan was 20 years old and worked as a farmer, and Martha Jane was 24 years of age. Her brother, Jesse Belcher, who was 19 years old and also worked as a farmer, was enumerated with them in 1850.⁸

(Wife) Death

15 April 1896

Martha Jane became a widow when Nathan Hollen died on 15 April 1896 at age 65.⁷

Death*

7 June 1898

She died on 7 June 1898 in Crawford County, Indiana, at age 72¹

Burial*

and was buried with her husband in Highfill Chapel Cemetery, Taswell, Crawford County.^1,7

Family

Nathan Hollen b. 21 Jun 1830, d. 15 Apr 1896

Citations

[S748] Find a Grave website, which often provides cemetery and tombstone photos, and sometimes personal biographies, that may be obtained from the site, online at www.findagrave.com, Martha Jane (Belcher) Hollen, Memorial# 180962946. Hereinafter cited as Find a Grave website.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Berry Belcher, Memorial# 34936541.
[S16] 1830 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry Belcher, transcribed by Ancestry as "Benj Burke", Year: 1830; Census Place: Lawrence, Illinois; Series: M19; Roll: 25; Page: 267; Family History Library Film: 0007650. Hereinafter cited as 1830 United States Federal Census.
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 8 February 1838 in Orange County of Berry Belcher and Mary Trusty, referencing Orange County, Indiana, original record located in the County Clerk's Office in Paoli, Indiana, Book C-2, page 84. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Mary Ann (Trusty) Belcher, Memorial# 93495742.
[S487] 1840 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry Belcher, Year: 1840; Census Place: Jackson, Orange, Indiana; Roll: 89; Page: 29; Family History Library Film: 0007728. Hereinafter cited as 1840 United States Federal Census.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Nathan Hollen, Memorial# 126542024.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Nathan and Martha Jane Hollen, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 16b. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.

Martin Belcher¹

b. 1833

Family

Father*

Jesse Belcher¹ b. 1798

Mother*

Sarah Kellems¹ b. 1802

Birth*

1833

Martin Belcher was born about 1833 in Illinois.¹

(Son) Census US 1850

21 August 1850

Martin was enumerated on the 1850 census taken on 21 August 1850 in the household of his parents in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana. He was 17 years old and worked as a farmer, probably with his father and brother Enoch.^1,2

Marriage*

11 December 1856

He married Lucinda Armes, daughter of John Armes and Margaret __?__, on 11 December 1856 in Daviess County, Indiana.^3,4

Census US 1860*

14 June 1860

Lucinda and Martin Belcher were enumerated on the 1860 census taken on 14 June 1860 near the Hudsonville Post Office, Harrison, Daviess County, Indiana. Martin was 24 years of age and a laborer, and Lucinda was age 21. Neither was able to read or write. They were enumerated with their two daughters, Mary, who was 3 years old, and Sarah, who was age one. Martin's parents, Sarah and Jesse Belcher, with four of his brothers, were enumerated in 1860 in the next previous household on the same census page.⁴

Family

Lucinda Armes b. 1839

Citations

[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Jesse and Sarah Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 13a. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Marcum Hollen, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 16b.
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 11 December 1856 in Daviess County, of Lucinda Armes and Martin Belcher, referencing Daviess County, Indiana, original record located in the County Clerk's Office, Book 1, Page: 515. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941.
[S18] 1860 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Martin and Lucinda Belcher, Year: 1860; Census Place: Harrison, Daviess, Indiana; Roll: M653_251; Page: 602; Family History Library Film: 803251. Hereinafter cited as 1860 United States Federal Census.

Martin Belcher¹

b. 1836

Family

Father*

James Belcher¹ b. 1796, d. May 1842

Mother*

Nancy Bolling¹ b. 1802

Birth*

1836

Martin Belcher was born about 1836 in Indiana.¹

(Son) Census US 1850

13 September 1850

Martin was enumerated on the 1850 census taken on 13 September 1850 in the household of his widowed mother in Jackson, Orange County, Indiana. He was 14 years old and had attended school within the census year.¹

Citations

[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Nancy Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Jackson, Orange, Indiana; Roll: 163; Page: 399a. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.

Mary Ann Belcher¹

b. 1834

Family

Father*

Arthur Belcher^2,1,3,4 b. bt 1790 - 1800

Brick Wall Research*

While we were working to organize and understand the information we had been collecting on the Belcher families of Orange and Crawford counties in Indiana, we ran into a serious Brick Wall. Two young girls, Mary Ann Belcher, age 16, and Catharine Belcher, age 11, were enumerated on the 1850 census in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana in the household of William Hollen. Mary Ann and Catharine, whom we suspected were sisters, had both been born in Orange County, Indiana. We had no idea which Belcher family these two young girls belonged with, and wondered why they would be living with the Hollen family.

From previous research, we’ve learned that the two most common circumstances causing children to live with relatives other than their immediate families were the deaths of one or both parents, and/or the arrival of a stepparent into their household.

The Belcher family we were researching had five brothers: James, Jesse, Joseph, Berry, and John. We had initially used the 1850 census as our primary source, and had been in the process of identifying the children of each of the brothers in order to develop each of their five families. We knew, for example, that James, the eldest brother, had died in 1842 leaving a wife and several children, most of whom had been born in Orange County; that the third brother, Joseph, had moved with his wife and children to Illinois by 1830; that the first wife of fourth brother, Berry, had died after giving birth to five children, that Berry had married a second time, had seven more children by 1850, and that his seven children born before 1841 had all been born in Orange County; that the youngest brother, John, as well as his wife and any children they may have had, were all deceased before 1850; and that Jesse, the second brother, had a wife and seven children, five of whom had been born in Orange County. From the 1850 census, we also learned that Jesse’s eldest daughter, Minerva, and Berry’s eldest daughter, Martha Jane, and second son, Jesse, had all been enumerated in separate households on the same census page as our two Brick Wall children, Mary Ann and Catharine Belcher. That was a fair amount of information, we thought, and hoped it provided us with enough clues to identify Mary Ann and Catharine’s parents. We still believed the girls belonged to one, or possibly two, of the five Belcher brothers, so we needed to make a deeper dive, using a variety of sources, into the families of each one. Reviewing all that we already knew, we felt the two most logical Belcher brothers to analyze first were Jesse and Berry because both were enumerated on the 1850 census in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana, the same place where we found Mary Ann and Catharine in the household of William Hollen.

We began our targeted Brick Wall research of the brothers with the family of Jesse Belcher, the second brother, whose household on the 1850 census was a few census pages away from William Hollen’s. Jesse’s widowed daughter, Minerva, was enumerated in 1850 on the same census page as Mary Ann and Catharine in the household of William’s brother, Marcum Hollen. We were hopeful, initially, that we could connect at least one of the girls to Jesse. We tried; then had to admit that the birth years of his children too closely overlapped the birth years of Mary Ann and Catharine and that, if the girls belonged with Jesse and his wife, we would have found them with their parents.

Berry Belcher, the fourth brother, was enumerated in 1850 with his second wife and nine of his sixteen children, two from his first wife and seven from his second. They, too, were enumerated in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana, a few pages away from the subjects of our search, and on the other side of the Hollen household from Berry’s brother, Jesse. Berry’s eldest daughter, Martha Jane, had married Nathan Hollen, a son of William Hollen, and Martha Jane and Nathan were enumerated in 1850 in the next household after Nathan’s father on the same census page. Enumerated with Nathan and Martha Jane was Martha Jane’s brother, Jesse Belcher. Again, we were hopeful as we recognized the intermingling relationships between the Belcher and Hollen families; and again, we were disappointed. Some of the birth years of Berry Belcher’s children either overlapped the birth years of Mary Ann and Catharine, or were too close together to be realistic.

Leaving our research in Crawford County, we moved on to Orange County, Indiana, where Mary Ann and Catharine had both been born. We were hopeful again about James, the oldest of the five Belcher brothers, because most of his six children had likely been born in Orange County. James had died in 1842, and his wife, Nancy, had not remarried. She was enumerated with her younger children, in Jackson, Orange County, in 1850. The birth years of the couple’s six children were consistently spaced at about four to five years apart, which could have left room to insert the two girls. Without any evidence, however, or even workable clues, we realized we were grasping at straws. Hating to let go, though, we decided that, rather than fully eliminate James and Nancy from our dwindling list of parental candidates, we would set them aside until we had completed our research of all of the Belcher brothers.

And, yes, we knew we were running out of brothers because we had already learned that John, the youngest of the Belcher brothers, as well as his wife and any children they may have had, were all deceased before 1850.

That left us with only Joseph, the third Belcher brother, on our list of parental candidates. He and his wife had moved permanently to Illinois by 1830. Additionally, they had a son born in Illinois the same year Catharine was born in Orange County, Indiana. We found it easy and appropriate to eliminate Joseph from our list of potential parents.

After completing phase two of our research on the Belcher brothers, we still had no parents for Mary Ann and Catharine. We had not yet completely given up on the eldest brother, James, and his wife, Nancy, as “possibles” and tried again to see them as plausible. After relooking at everything, and giving them additional consideration, we again determined it just wasn’t working. James and Nancy were not the parents we were searching for. We would have to look elsewhere.

Then later, after working unsuccessfully with other research methods, we discovered a 1904 death certificate for a Catharine (Belcher) Trusty, whose reported date of birth matched the birth year for our 11-year-old Catharine Belcher. The informant for Catharine's death certificate was her widowed husband, Levi Trusty, who reported the name of Catharine's father as Arthur Belcher, and her mother as ______ Pigg. Arthur??? With all of the Belchers we had already researched, we had no Arthur. We did, however, again have hope, and also excitement, as we began to look for Arthur.

We found an Arthur Belcher on the 1840 census in Jackson, Orange County, Indiana. He was between the ages of 40 thru 49 years and his household consisted of seven children, two males and five females. Arthur, we believe, had been widowed by 1840 because his household included no female old enough to be the children's mother. Three of the females were under the age of 10 years, and because Arthur was also enumerated in Orange County in 1830, it was logical to conclude that those three young females on the 1840 census had been born in Orange County, as had Mary Ann and Catharine. This was a Belcher family we had known nothing about, and wondered… Wow! Could this Arthur really be our Catharine’s father? And could one of those other young girls in Arthur’s household in 1840 have been Mary Ann? We definitely hoped so as we set about learning more about Arthur Belcher.

We found him on the 1830 census, also in Orange County, Indiana. His household consisted of seven individuals, three males and four females. We believe that Arthur was the one male between the ages of 30 thru 39 years, and that his wife was the one female between the ages of 20 thru 29 years. Neither Mary Ann nor Catharine were born by 1830, so they wouldn’t have been included among the other females.

Continuing backwards, we found Arthur on the 1820 census in Warren County, Tennessee. His household consisted of three individuals. Arthur and his wife were both between the ages of 16 thru 25, and only one child, a female under the age of 10 years, was enumerated with them. In the next adjacent household on the same census page, William Belcher was enumerated as the head of household. William and his wife were both over the age of 45 years and we suspected they were Arthur's parents. We did not find Arthur enumerated in any other census after 1840, and believe he died before 1850.

We needed earlier information about Arthur's life, and the Bureau of Land Management’s land patent information sent us down another road of exciting research. We learned that not just Arthur, but some of the other Belchers, had also purchased land patents in Indiana about the same time and location. The Belcher brothers’ father, John Belcher Sr., purchased 80 acres in Orange County on 5 August 1837; his fourth son, Berry, purchased 40 acres in Orange County on 1 September 1838; and his fifth son, John Jr., purchased 40 acres in Orange County on 1 August 1839, the same date Arthur purchased 40 acres on the border between Crawford County and Orange County.

We had known, since first discovering Arthur, that he was not a sixth brother of our five Belcher brothers. After completing our research of their land patent purchases, we began to realize that, although not brothers, they were likely related. Our “original” Belcher family began in Tennessee with John Belcher and his wife Martha Johnston, who moved with their five sons, James, Jesse, Joseph, Berry and John, and possibly daughters, to Orange County, Indiana. If there had been another son, Arthur, he would have to have died before 01 August 1839 when the four oldest sons of John Sr., disposed of their shares in their deceased father's property in Orange County by selling it to their youngest brother, John Jr. And we already knew that Arthur was living in 1840 when he was enumerated on that year’s census. So, if Arthur was not a fifth brother of our original Belcher family, who was he?

It was important to remind ourselves that our research objective was to determine the identities of Mary Ann and Catharine Belcher who were enumerated without their parents on the 1850 census in the household of William Hollen in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana.

So far, our most significant find was Catharine (Belcher) Trusty's death certificate reporting that her father's name was Arthur Belcher. Lacking any information to the contrary, we decided to believe it. Her mother’s surname may have been Pigg, as reported on her death certificate, and her full name even Elizabeth Pigg, as surmised on Catharine's Find a Grave memorial page. Not knowing her mother, though, would have to wait; we felt confident in our conclusion that Arthur Belcher was Catharine's father. So far, so good; however we still had found no evidence that Catharine and Mary Ann were sisters or why they would have been living with the William Hollen family in 1850.

Mary Ann, we learned, married Almarine Moore in 1851, and Almarine’s brother, Harral Moore, married Julia Ann Belcher in a double ceremony on the same date. Their marriage was the first time we had any evidence of a Julie Ann Belcher, and wondered if this was a case of brothers marrying sisters? And, if so, where was Julia Ann in 1850? We have not been able to find her anywhere! We knew this was going to take some thinking, as well as additional research. Then, when we learned that Jesse Belcher married Harral and Almarine’s sister, Mary Ann Moore, less than two months after Mary Ann and Julia Ann Belcher married the Moore brothers, our head exploded! To review… Jesse Belcher was Berry Belcher’s son. Jesse was enumerated in the home of his sister, Martha Jane, and her husband, Nathan Hollen, in 1850. Nathan’s father, William Hollen, was enumerated in 1850 one household above his son Nathan, and it was in Willam Hollen’s household that Mary Ann and Catharine Belcher were enumerated in 1850.

We don’t believe in coincidences. Mary Ann Belcher was born about 1834; Julia Ann Belcher was born about 1836; and Catharine Belcher was born in 1838. Mary Ann and Catharine were enumerated together, and we believe they were sisters. Catharine was a daughter of Arthur Belcher, so therefore we believe Mary Ann was also a daughter of Arthur Belcher. We cannot find Julia Ann Belcher anywhere on the 1850 census and believe she was likely also residing, with Mary Ann and Catharine, in the William Hollen household in 1850. We believe she was simply skipped by the census taker. She named her second son Arthur -- also likely not a coincidence. She was married in a double ceremony with Mary Ann, and we believe they were sisters who married brothers. We therefore believe that Mary Ann, Julia Ann and Catharine Belcher were all three sisters and, in 1850, the orphaned daughters of Arthur Belcher.

Okay, fine… But why were they living in the household of William Hollen?... To try to answer that question, we had to find out more about who Willam Hollen was. We learned he had been born in Tennessee, and we actually laughed out loud when we learned that his parents were Nathan Hollen and Elizabeth Belcher. So, there was an earlier connection between the Belcher and Hollen families. We just had to sort out how that early connection evolved into the families' later relationships. We had our original Belcher brothers, whose father was John Sr; we had Arthur Belcher, whose father we had decided was William Belcher; and we thought that John Sr. and William were brothers. Neither John Sr., nor any of his sons, named a son Arthur, while John Sr.’s brother, William Belcher, did name a son Arthur. Nathan and Elizabeth (Belcher) Hollen named a son Arthur, and was therefore likely to be more closely related to William Belcher than to John Sr. So, how was Elizabeth Belcher related to William Belcher? We believe she was Arthur's sister, about 10 years his senior, and possibly William Belcher’s eldest child. She would therefore have been an aunt to Arthur’s daughters, Mary Ann, Julia Ann and Catharine Becher. On the Hollen side, Nathan Hollen married Elizabeth Belcher and their son, William Hollen, was therefore Arthur Belcher’s nephew. And, it was in William Hollen’s household that the Belcher girls were enumerated in 1850. So, if Elizabeth (Belcher) Hollen was an aunt to Mary Ann, Julia Ann and Catharine Belcher, as we believe, it all makes perfect sense. The orphaned Belcher girls were enumerated in 1850 in the home of their 1st cousin, William Hollen, who had children the same ages as the Belcher girls.

Most importantly, at least to us anyway, is that we believe we've finally solved our serious Belcher girls Brick Wall: Mary Ann Belcher, Julia Ann Belcher, and Catharine Belcher were daughters of Arthur Belcher who died between 1840 and 1850.

It was a long and twisting road and, as if all of that wasn't enough to make us crazy... William Hollen had at least three brothers, Markham Hollen, Arthur Hollen and Mitchell Hollen, who married Minerva (Belcher) Belcher, Polly Belcher and Elizabeth Belcher, respectively. William's brother, Markham, married, as his second wife in 1853, Minerva (Belcher) Belcher, eldest daughter of the second Belcher brother, Jesse. Minerva's first husband had also been a Belcher, and she became a widow with four young children when he died before 1850. It concerns us a great deal that we have not been able to learn the given name, or Belcher family connection, of Minerva's first husband, and would greatly appreciate hearing from someone who knows. And, there are other Belcher family members we wonder about. William Hollen's brother, another Arthur, married Polly Belcher in 1835, and their brother, Mitchell, married Elizabeth Belcher in 1836. Additionally, we think that the Moses Belcher who married Eliza Belcher in 1835 was a son of William Belcher, and a brother of Arthur Belcher and Elizabeth (Belcher) Hollen, William Hollen's mother. Unfortunately, we have no idea which Belcher family, or families, Minerva's husband, or Polly, Elizabeth and Eliza belong with, and are hoping that someone reading this knows , and will tell us... Please...^{5,6,2,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,4,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44}

Birth*

1834

Mary Ann Belcher was born about 1834 in Orange County, Indiana.¹

(Daughter) Census US 1840

1840

Mary Ann was probably one of the young females enumerated on the 1840 census in the household of Arthur Belcher, whom we believe was her father, in Jackson, Orange County, Indiana. She was about 6 years old in 1840, and would have been enumerated on the census as between the ages of 5 thru 9 years.⁴

(Cousin) Census US 1850

26 August 1850

Mary Ann Belcher and her sisters, Julia Ann and Catharine, were enumerated on the 1850 census taken on 26 August 1850 in the household of their 1st cousin, William Hollen, and his wife Elizabeth in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana. The orphaned girls were ages 16, 14 and 11 years, respectively, and although Julia Ann was skipped by the census taker, we believe she was there with her sisters.¹

Marriage License

11 November 1851

A marriage license was issued to Mary Ann Belcher and Almarine Moore by the Circuit Court in Paoli, Orange County, Indiana, on 11 November 1851, and also, at the same time and place, another marriage license was issued to Almarine's brother, Harral, and Mary Ann's sister, Julia Ann.²⁸

Marriage*

12 November 1851

She married Almarine Moore, son of Jeremiah Moore, on 12 November 1851 in Orange County, Indiana. They were both about 16 or 17 years old, and their ceremony was likely a double-wedding with their siblings, Harral Moore and Julia Ann Belcher, who were married on the same day, in the same place, also by Justice of the Peace Thomas Hunt.^30,29

(Wife) Death

29 March 1864

Mary Ann became a widow when Almarine Moore died before the age of 30 while serving in the Civil War. She filed for her widow's pension on 29 March 1864.^45,46

Family

Almarine Moore b. 1834, d. 29 Mar 1864

Children

Martha Moore⁴⁷ b. 1852

Nancy K. Moore⁴⁷ b. 1853

John H. Moore⁴⁷ b. 1858

Citations

[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of William and Elizabeth Hollen, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 16b. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Nancy Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Jackson, Orange, Indiana; Roll: 163; Page: 399a.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Jesse and Sarah Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 13a.
[S487] 1840 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Arthur Belcher, Year: 1840; Census Place: Jackson, Orange, Indiana; Roll: 89; Page: 29; Family History Library Film: 0007728. Hereinafter cited as 1840 United States Federal Census.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of William and Elizabeth Hollen, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 16b, image# 16 of 23.
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/… .Caution: This is a beautifully presented collection of "Person Pages" containing a variety of information about specific ancestors submitted by individual contributors -- often, unfortunately, with no sources. If the information we have chosen to pass along here is accurate, we are extremely grateful to the contributor(s) who have shared it. Without documentation, however, we researchers are always forced to question the validity of information. We hope what we have selected to include was originally obtained from family Bible records, or other reliable sources, and is accurate. Although, even when we have found contributed information to be unreliable, inaccurate or incomplete, we consider the information useful as possible clues as we research, citing the Belcher Heirs Deed, 1839, Orange County, Indiana, submitted by Jeannie Watts <e-mail address> with special thanks to Frankie Lu Eads of Princeton, Indiana who sent her a photocopy of the deed which we found attached in three files under Memories for Berry Belcher, online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/LTHD-H2Y. Hereinafter cited as Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog.
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/…, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/G6WH-L1P
[S16] 1830 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Joseph Belcher, Year: 1830; Census Place: Crawford, Illinois; Series: M19; Roll: 23; Page: 18; Family History Library Film: 0007648. Hereinafter cited as 1830 United States Federal Census.
[S748] Find a Grave website, which often provides cemetery and tombstone photos, and sometimes personal biographies, that may be obtained from the site, online at www.findagrave.com, Berry Belcher, Memorial# 34936541. Hereinafter cited as Find a Grave website.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry and Mary Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 18b, image# 20 of 23.
[S2283] Indiana, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1802-1892, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 14 December 1826 in Orange County, Indiana, USA, of John Belcher and Eunice Pitman, referencing FHL Film# 1316696. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1802-1892.
[S16] 1830 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of John Belcher, Junior, Year: 1830; Census Place: Orange, Indiana; Series: M19; Roll: 31; Page: 34; Family History Library Film: 0007720.
[S2294] Will of Lewis Pitman dated 20 March 1849 in Macoupin County, Illinois, submitted for probate on 7 April 1849; transcription originally shared on 28 December 2012 by WLawrence2182, and attached to an Ancestry Tree; viewed on 27 April 2022, online at https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/tree/85867149/…. Hereinafter cited as Will of Lewis Pitman.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Jesse and Sarah Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 13a, image# 9 of 23.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Marcum Hollen, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 16b, image# 16 of 23.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Nathan and Martha Jane Hollen, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 16b, image# 16 of 23.
[S487] 1840 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Joseph Belcher, Year: 1840; Census Place: Jersey, Illinois; Roll: 61; Page: 339; Family History Library Film: 0007642.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Joseph and Ruth Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Point, Calhoun, Illinois; Roll: 99; Page: 335a.
[S1571] Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2017, online at www.ancestry.com, death on 20 November 1904 in Taswell, Crawford, Indiana, USA, of Catharine Trusty, transcribed by Ancestry as "Tensty", age 66, married to Lee Trusty, born 24 September 1838 to Arthur Belcher and ______ Pigg in Crawford Co, referencing Indiana Archives and Records Administration; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Death Certificates; Year: 1904; Roll: 03. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2017.
[S16] 1830 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Arthur Belcher, his name spelled "Arter" by the census taker and transcribed as "Aster" by Ancestry, Year: 1830; Census Place: Orange, Indiana; Series: M19; Roll: 31; Page: 36; Family History Library Film: 0007720.
[S468] 1820 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Arthur Belcher, 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Warren, Tennessee; Page: 310; NARA Roll: M33_122; Image: 274. Hereinafter cited as 1820 United States Federal Census.
[S468] 1820 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of William Belcher, 1820 U S Census; Census Place: Warren, Tennessee; Page: 310; NARA Roll: M33_122; Image: 274.
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records (U.S. Department of the Interior), online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land patent for 40 acres in Crawford County, Indiana, purchased by Arthur Belcher of Orange County, Indiana, on 1 August 1839 from the Land Office of the United States at Vincennes, Indiana; viewed 22 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx. Hereinafter cited as Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records.
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land patent for 80 acres in Orange County, Indiana, purchased by John Belcher of Orange County, Indiana, on 5 August 1837 from the Land Office of the United States at Vincennes, Indiana; viewed 25 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land patent for 40 acres in Orange County, Indiana, purchased by Berry Belcher of Orange County, Indiana, on 1 September 1838 from the Land Office of the United States at Vincennes, Indiana; viewed 25 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx
[S1585] Bureau of Land Management General Land Office Records, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/search/default.aspx, land patent for 40 acres in Orange County, Indiana, purchased by John Belcher of Orange County, Indiana, on 1 August 1839 from the Land Office of the United States at Vincennes, Indiana; viewed 25 April 2022, online at https://glorecords.blm.gov/details/patent/default.aspx
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Catharine (Belcher) Trusty, Memorial# 204517313.
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, database with images, online at www.familysearch.org. Digital collection of microfilmed records located at the Wayne County Courthouse, Richmond, Indiana. Includes surname indexes, marriage licenses were issued on 11 November 1851 by the Circuit Court in Paoli, Orange County for Harral Moore to marry Julia Ann Belcher and for Almarine Moore to marry Mary Ann Belcher, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-9X9F. Hereinafter cited as Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019.
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage on 12 November 1851 in Orange County of Almarine Moore and Mary Ann Belcher and also of Harral Moore and Julia Ann Belcher, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-9X9F
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 12 November 1851 in Orange County of Mary Ann Belcher and Almarine Moore, referencing Orange County, Indiana, original record located in the County Clerk's Office in Paoli, Indiana; Book: C- 3; Page: 389. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941.
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage on 12 November 1851 in Orange County of Harral Moore and Julia Ann Belcher and also of Almarine Moore and Mary Ann Belcher, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-9X9F
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 12 November 1851 in Orange County of Julia Ann Belcher and Harral Moore, referencing Orange County, Indiana, original record located in the County Clerk's Office in Paoli, Indiana; Book: C- 3; Page: 389.
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage on 8 January 1852 in Crawford County of Jesse Belcher and Mary Ann Moore, certifier's name: C. W. Kindle; officiator's name: J. H. McMickle, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:DV77-GZ6Z
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 8 January 1852 in Crawford County of Mary Ann Moore and Jesse Belcher, his given name transcribed as "Isaac" by Ancestry, referencing Crawford County Indiana Marriages, 1818 - 1880, Books A - D, contents: Part I, Index of Grooms, Part II, Index of Brides, Compiled by Ruth M Slevin; Book: B; Page: 148.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Mary Ann (Moore) Belcher, Memorial# 232116375.
[S37] 1870 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Harold and Julia Moore, Year: 1870; Census Place: Madison, Pike, Indiana; Roll: M593_350; Page: 502B. Hereinafter cited as 1870 United States Federal Census.
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/…, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KGCK-1WC
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/…, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KP3F-CTV
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/…, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KP3F-C5V
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/…, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KP3F-CC1
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 2 October 1853 in Orange County, of Markham Holland and Minerva Belcher, referencing Orange County, Indiana.
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage license issued, and marriage performed by William C. Walls, Justice of the Peace, on 3 August 1835 in Orange County between Arthur Hollen and Polly Belcher; viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-96HZ
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage license with written consent issued, and marriage performed by William C. Walls, Justice of the Peace, on 15 August 1836 in Orange County between Mitchell Hollen and Elizabeth Belcher; viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GTMC-9867
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, online at www.familysearch.org, marriage license issued, and marriage performed by William C. Walls, Justice of the Peace, on 9 July 1835 in Orange County between Moses Belcher, his father's consent verbally given, and Eliza Belcher, consent in writing; viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-96HZ
[S1447] U.S. Civil War Pension Index: General Index to Pension Files, 1861-1934, online at www.ancestry.com, Almarin Moore, soldier, Company H, 93 Indiana Infantry, widow Mary A. Moore filed 29 March 1864, application# 48539, certificate# 99810, and James P. Hargrove, guardian for minor, filed 19 May 1876, application# 226188, certificate# 175032. Hereinafter cited as Civil War Pension Index to Pension Files,1861-1934.
[S2292] Web: Indiana, U.S., Civil War Soldier Database Index, 1861-1865, online at www.ancestry.com, data for Almarine Moore, born about 1834, age 28, enrolled on 20 August 1862 in New Albany, Indiana, served in Company H of Regiment 93; notes: Died at Cairo, Illinois, no date. Hereinafter cited as Web: Indiana, U.S., Civil War Soldier Database Index, 1861-1865.
[S18] 1860 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Almarine and Mary Ann Moore, Year: 1860; Census Place: Busseron, Knox, Indiana; Roll: M653_272; Page: 775; Family History Library Film: 803272. Hereinafter cited as 1860 United States Federal Census.

Mary Elizabeth Belcher^1,2,3,4

b. 7 January 1853

Family

Father*

Berry Belcher^1,4,2 b. 22 Sep 1803, d. 9 Mar 1885

Mother*

Mary Ann Trusty^1,2,3 b. 1 Feb 1819, d. 9 Jan 1892

Birth*

7 January 1853

Mary Elizabeth Belcher was born on 7 January 1853 in Crawford County, Indiana.^1,2

Citations

[S18] 1860 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry and Mary Belcher, Year: 1860; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: M653_250; Page: 482; Family History Library Film: 803250. Hereinafter cited as 1860 United States Federal Census.
[S748] Find a Grave website, which often provides cemetery and tombstone photos, and sometimes personal biographies, that may be obtained from the site, online at www.findagrave.com, Mary Elizabeth (Belcher) Conrad, Memorial# 35107879. Hereinafter cited as Find a Grave website.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Mary Ann (Trusty) Belcher, Memorial# 93495742.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Berry Belcher, Memorial# 34936541.

Minerva Belcher¹

b. 1824, d. 9 July 1907

Family

Father*

Jesse Belcher^2,3 b. 1798

Mother*

Sarah Kellems^2,3 b. 1802

Birth*

1824

Minerva Belcher was born about 1824 in Orange County, Indiana.⁴

Marriage*

1840

She married first ______ Belcher about 1840. His given name has not been determined and their family relationship is not known.⁴

(Wife) Death

1849

Minerva became a widow when ______ Belcher died, probably about 1849, leaving Minerva with four young children between the ages of 1 and 8 years.⁴

(Widow) Census US 1850

26 August 1850

Recently widowed Minerva Belcher was enumerated with her four children on the 1850 census taken on 26 August 1850 in the household of Marcum Hollen in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana. Minerva was 26 years of age and her children, William, Sarah, James M. and Malinda, were ages 8, 6, 4 and 1 year, respectively. Minerva and Marcum Hollen would marry three years later.⁴

Marriage*

2 October 1853

She married second, as his second wife, Markham Hollen, son of Nathan Hollen and Elizabeth Belcher, on 2 October 1853 in Orange County, Indiana.^1,5

Census US 1860*

19 July 1860

Minerva and Marcum Hollen were enumerated on the 1860 census taken on 19 July 1860 in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana. Marcum was 52 years of age and a farmer with real estate valued at $200 and a personal estate valued at $133, and Minerva was 40 years of age. Neither of them were able to read or write, and Marcum was recorded as having attended school within the census year. Minerva's four children from her first marriage were all recorded with the surname Hollen. William, Sarah E., James M. and Malinda, were ages 18, 15, 12, and 10 years, respectively; and the three children from the couple's marriage, Martha, Nathan and Mary, were ages 7, 5 and 2 years, respectively.¹

(Wife) Death

1880

Minerva became a widow when Markham Hollen died in 1880 at about age 72.⁶

Census US 1880*

25 June 1880

Minerva and Marcum Hollen were enumerated on the 1880 census taken on 24 and 25 June 1880 in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana. Marcum was 71 years of age and a farmer, and Minerva was 60 years of age and keeping house. Enumerated with them in 1880 were four of their children, a widowed daughter from Minerva's first marriage, and three of their grandchildren. Mary and Nancy Hollen were ages 22 and 18 years, respectively, and worked as housekeepers; and George W. and John H. Hollen were ages 16 and 14 years, respectively, and had both attended school within the census year. Minerva's daughter, Sarah E. (Belcher Hollen) Lankford, widow of Larkin Lankford, was 35 years of age and worked as a housekeeper. Her three children, Nancy J., William H. and Alexander Lankford, ages 12, 10 and 8 years, respectively, were enumerated with their mother in their maternal grandparents' home. The children's paternal grandparents, Nancy and Edmund Lankford, Sarah's in-laws, were enumerated nearby on the same census page.^7,8

Death*

9 July 1907

She died on 9 July 1907 in Sterling, Crawford County, Indiana, at about age 83^2,3

Burial*

and was buried in Highfill Chapel Cemetery, Taswell, Crawford County, Indiana.³

Family 1

______ Belcher d. 1849

Children

William Belcher⁴ b. 1842

Sarah Elizabeth Belcher⁹ b. 1845

James M. Belcher⁴ b. 1846

Malinda Belcher⁴ b. 1849

Family 2		Markham Hollen b. 21 Nov 1810, d. 1880
Children	1.	Martha Hollen¹ b. 1854
	2.	Nathan Hollen¹ b. 1855
	3.	Mary Hollen¹ b. 1858
	4.	Nancy Hollen⁷ b. 1862
	5.	George W. Hollen⁷ b. 1864
	6.	John H. Hollen⁷ b. 1866

Citations

[S18] 1860 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Marcum and Minerva Hollen, Year: 1860; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: M653_250; Page: 481; Family History Library Film: 803250. Hereinafter cited as 1860 United States Federal Census.
[S1571] Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2017, online at www.ancestry.com, death on 9 July 1907 in Sterling, Crawford County, Indiana, USA, of Manervia Holland, age 86, Widow of Marcum Holland, born about 1822 to Jessie Belcher and Sarah Kellems in Tennyson, Warrick County, Indiana, referencing Indiana Archives and Records Administration; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Death Certificates; Year: 1907; Roll: 03. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2017.
[S748] Find a Grave website, which often provides cemetery and tombstone photos, and sometimes personal biographies, that may be obtained from the site, online at www.findagrave.com, Minerva (Belcher) Hollen, Memorial# 181337511. Hereinafter cited as Find a Grave website.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Marcum Hollen, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 16b. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 2 October 1853 in Orange County, of Markham Holland and Minerva Belcher, referencing Orange County, Indiana. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941.
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/… .Caution: This is a beautifully presented collection of "Person Pages" containing a variety of information about specific ancestors submitted by individual contributors -- often, unfortunately, with no sources. If the information we have chosen to pass along here is accurate, we are extremely grateful to the contributor(s) who have shared it. Without documentation, however, we researchers are always forced to question the validity of information. We hope what we have selected to include was originally obtained from family Bible records, or other reliable sources, and is accurate. Although, even when we have found contributed information to be unreliable, inaccurate or incomplete, we consider the information useful as possible clues as we research, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KP3F-Z9C. Hereinafter cited as Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog.
[S23] 1880 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Marcum and Minerva Hollen, Year: 1880; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 271; Page: 363A; Enumeration District: 028. Hereinafter cited as 1880 United States Federal Census.
[S23] 1880 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Edmund and Nancy Lankford, Year: 1880; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 271; Page: 363A; Enumeration District: 028.
[S2283] Indiana, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1802-1892, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 9 January 1834 in Orange, Indiana, USA, of Markham Hollen and Rachael Pilgrim, referencing FHL Film# 1316696. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1802-1892.

Moses Belcher¹

b. between 1811 and 1820

Family

Father-Probable*

William Belcher¹ b. bt 1764 - 1774

Birth*

between 1811 and 1820

Moses Belcher was born between 1811 and 1820.¹

Marriage*

9 July 1835

He married Eliza Belcher on 9 July 1835 in Orange County, Indiana. Consent for Moses to marry was verbally given by his father, and consent for Eliza to marry was provided in writing. They were married by William C. Walls, Justice of the Peace.²

Census US 1840*

1840

Moses Belcher was enumerated as the head of his household on the 1840 census taken in Crawford County, Indiana. His household consisted of four people; one male between the ages of 20 thru 29 years, which would have been Moses; one female between the ages of 20 thru 29 years, which would have been his wife, Eliza; one male under the age of 5 years; and one male between the ages of 5 thru 9 years.¹

Family

Eliza Belcher b. bt 1811 - 1820

Citations

[S487] 1840 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Moses Belcher, Year: 1840; Census Place: Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 76; Page: 456; Family History Library Film: 0007722. Hereinafter cited as 1840 United States Federal Census.
[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, database with images, online at www.familysearch.org. Digital collection of microfilmed records located at the Wayne County Courthouse, Richmond, Indiana. Includes surname indexes, marriage license issued, and marriage performed by William C. Walls, Justice of the Peace, on 9 July 1835 in Orange County between Moses Belcher, his father's consent verbally given, and Eliza Belcher, consent in writing; viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-96HZ. Hereinafter cited as Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019.

Moses Jackson Belcher¹

b. 1824, d. 17 August 1899

Family

Father*

Berry Belcher^1,2 b. 22 Sep 1803, d. 9 Mar 1885

Mother*

Jane Trimble^1,2 d. 1837

Birth*

1824

Moses Jackson Belcher was born about 1824 in Crawford County, Indiana. On the 1830 census, Moses was likely recorded as the one male between the ages of 5 thru 9 years. If correct, he would have been the first child of his parents and not the second, as reported by most Belcher researchers.^3,4,5,6,7,8

(Eldest Son) Census US 1830

1830

Moses was probably enumerated with his mother and siblings on the 1830 census in the household of his father in Lawrence County, Illinois. He would have been recorded as the one male between the ages of 5 thru 9 years.⁹

(Son) Death

1837

He was about 13 years old when his mother died about 1837, leaving Moses's father with five young children.²

(Son) Marriage

8 February 1838

He was about age 14 when his father married a second time to Mary Trusty on 8 February 1838.^10,11,2

(Eldest Son) Census US 1840

1840

Moses was probably enumerated on the 1840 census in the household of his father and stepmother in Jackson Township, Orange County, Indiana. He would have been recorded as the one male between the ages of 15 thru 19, and was likely employed in agriculture with his father and brother.¹²

(Nephew) Census US 1850

15 November 1850

Moses J. was enumerated on the 1850 census taken on 15 November 1850 in the household of his aunt and uncle, Ruth and Joseph Belcher, in Point, Calhoun County, Illinois. Moses, whose mother had died and his father remarried, was 23 years of age and was working as a farmer with his uncle and cousins.^13,14

Marriage*

22 July 1852

He married first Margaret Burton on 22 July 1852 in Calhoun County, Illinois.^1,15,16

(Husband) Death

before 20 July 1860

Moses became a widower when Margaret (Burton) Church Belcher died, probably before 20 July 1860, the date Moses was enumerated on the 1860 census as Jackson Belcher with their only child, 4-year-old William, in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana.¹⁷

Marriage*

16 December 1865

He married second Mary Elizabeth Stroud on 16 December 1865 in Crawford County, Indiana.¹

Children*

Moses and Mary had five children together.¹

(Husband) Death

before 1896

Moses became a widower for the second time when Mary Elizabeth (Stroud) Belcher died, probably in her 50s, before 1896.¹

Marriage*

21 January 1896

He married third, as her second husband, Susan A. Snyder, daughter of Samuel Williams and Margaret H. Love, on 21 January 1896 in Canadian County, Oklahoma.¹⁸

Death*

17 August 1899

He died on 17 August 1899 in Norman, Cleveland County, Oklahoma, at about age 74¹

Burial*

and was buried in Section 2, Lot 50, of the IOOF Cemetery, Norman.¹

Family 1

Margaret Burton d. b 20 Jul 1860

Family 2

Mary Elizabeth Stroud b. 1836, d. b 1896

Family 3

Susan A. Williams b. 1839

Citations

[S748] Find a Grave website, which often provides cemetery and tombstone photos, and sometimes personal biographies, that may be obtained from the site, online at www.findagrave.com, Moses Jackson Belcher, Memorial# 34490032. Hereinafter cited as Find a Grave website.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Berry Belcher, Memorial# 34936541.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Moses Jackson Belcher, Memorial# 34490032, estimating his year of birth as 1825.
[S23] 1880 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Moses J. and Mary Belcher, Year: 1880; Census Place: Sterling, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 271; Page: 381B; Enumeration District: 029, estimating his year of birth as 1826. Hereinafter cited as 1880 United States Federal Census.
[S37] 1870 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Moses and Mary Belcher, Year: 1870; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: M593_306; Page: 86B, estimating his year of birth as 1826. Hereinafter cited as 1870 United States Federal Census.
[S18] 1860 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Archy P. and Matilda J. Brown, Year: 1860; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: M653_250; Page: 487; Family History Library Film: 803250, estimating Moses Jackson (who was enumerated as Jackson) Belcher's birth as 1828. Hereinafter cited as 1860 United States Federal Census.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Joseph and Ruth Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Point, Calhoun, Illinois; Roll: 99; Page: 335a, the year of birth of Moses J. Belcher, Joseph and Ruth Belcher's nephew, was estimated as 1828. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.
[S16] 1830 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry Belcher, transcribed by Ancestry as "Benj Burke", Year: 1830; Census Place: Lawrence, Illinois; Series: M19; Roll: 25; Page: 267; Family History Library Film: 0007650, Moses was likely recorded as the one male between the ages of 5 thru 9 years. Hereinafter cited as 1830 United States Federal Census.
[S16] 1830 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry Belcher, transcribed by Ancestry as "Benj Burke", Year: 1830; Census Place: Lawrence, Illinois; Series: M19; Roll: 25; Page: 267; Family History Library Film: 0007650.
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 8 February 1838 in Orange County of Berry Belcher and Mary Trusty, referencing Orange County, Indiana, original record located in the County Clerk's Office in Paoli, Indiana, Book C-2, page 84. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Mary Ann (Trusty) Belcher, Memorial# 93495742.
[S487] 1840 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry Belcher, Year: 1840; Census Place: Jackson, Orange, Indiana; Roll: 89; Page: 29; Family History Library Film: 0007728. Hereinafter cited as 1840 United States Federal Census.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Joseph and Ruth Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Point, Calhoun, Illinois; Roll: 99; Page: 335a.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Herman and Celia Page, (transcribed by Ancestry as Harmon and Cela Raye), Year: 1850; Census Place: Point, Calhoun, Illinois; Roll: 99; Page: 335a.
[S1689] Illinois, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1851-1900, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 22 July 1852 in Calhoun County, Illinois, of Moses J Belcher and Margret Church, noting that the record may be found at the County Court Records, Film # 1305044 - 1305045. Hereinafter cited as Illinois, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1851-1900.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, William M Belcher, Memorial# 53034296.
[S18] 1860 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Archy P. and Matilda J. Brown, Year: 1860; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: M653_250; Page: 487; Family History Library Film: 803250.
[S2175] Oklahoma, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1890-1995, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 21 January 1896 in Canadian County, Oklahoma, USA, of Moses J Belcher, age 68, born about 1828 in Indiana, son of Berry Belcher and ______ Trimble, and Mrs. Susan A Snyder, age 57, born about 1839 in Kentucky, daughter of ______ Williams and ______, referencing Film# 001398781. Hereinafter cited as Oklahoma, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1890-1995.

Nancy Belcher¹

b. 1841

Family

Father*

James Belcher¹ b. 1796, d. May 1842

Mother*

Nancy Bolling¹ b. 1802

Birth*

1841

Nancy Belcher was born about 1841 in Indiana.¹

(Daughter) Census US 1850

13 September 1850

Nancy was enumerated on the 1850 census taken on 13 September 1850 in the household of her widowed mother in Jackson, Orange County, Indiana. She was 9 years old and had attended school within the census year.¹

Citations

[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Nancy Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Jackson, Orange, Indiana; Roll: 163; Page: 399a. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.

Nancy Jane Belcher^1,2,3,4

b. 4 November 1848

Family

Father*

Berry Belcher^1,2,4 b. 22 Sep 1803, d. 9 Mar 1885

Mother*

Mary Ann Trusty^1,2,3 b. 1 Feb 1819, d. 9 Jan 1892

Birth*

4 November 1848

Nancy Jane Belcher was born on 4 November 1848 in Crawford County, Indiana.^1,2

(Daughter) Census US 1850

27 August 1850

Nancy was enumerated on the 1850 census taken on 27 August 1850 in the household of her parents in Patoka Township, Crawford County, Indiana. She was one year old.¹

Citations

[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry and Mary Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 18b. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.
[S748] Find a Grave website, which often provides cemetery and tombstone photos, and sometimes personal biographies, that may be obtained from the site, online at www.findagrave.com, Nancy Jane (Belcher) Cox, Memorial# 80290140. Hereinafter cited as Find a Grave website.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Mary Ann (Trusty) Belcher, Memorial# 93495742.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Berry Belcher, Memorial# 34936541.

Polly Belcher¹

b. between 1811 and 1820

Family

Birth*

between 1811 and 1820

Polly Belcher was born between 1811 and 1820.²

Marriage*

3 August 1835

She married Arthur Hollen, son of Nathan Hollen and Elizabeth Belcher, on 3 August 1835 in Orange County, Indiana. They were married by William C. Walls, Justice of the Peace.¹

Name-Spellings

The spelling of the HOLLEN surname was also found in our research as Holland.²

(Wife) Census US 1840

1840

Polly was likely enumerated on the 1840 census in the household of her husband, Arthur Holland, in Lawrence County, Indiana. Their household consisted of three people. Arthur would have been the one male between the ages of 20 thru 29 years, and Polly would have been the one female between the ages of 20 thru 29 years. One male child under the age of 5 years was enumerated with them in 1840. Arthur was employed in agriculture, and one person over the age of 20 years was unable to read or write.²

Family

Arthur Hollen b. bt 1811 - 1820

Citations

[S1501] Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019, database with images, online at www.familysearch.org. Digital collection of microfilmed records located at the Wayne County Courthouse, Richmond, Indiana. Includes surname indexes, marriage license issued, and marriage performed by William C. Walls, Justice of the Peace, on 3 August 1835 in Orange County between Arthur Hollen and Polly Belcher; viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9TMC-96HZ. Hereinafter cited as Indiana Marriages, 1811-2019.
[S487] 1840 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Arthur "Holland", Year: 1840; Census Place: Lawrence, Indiana; Roll: 86; Page: 214; Family History Library Film: 0007727. Hereinafter cited as 1840 United States Federal Census.

Rebecca Emaline Belcher^1,2,3

b. 23 March 1836

Family

Father*

Berry Belcher^1,2,3 b. 22 Sep 1803, d. 9 Mar 1885

Mother*

Jane Trimble^2,3 d. 1837

Birth*

23 March 1836

Rebecca Emaline Belcher was born on 23 March 1836 in Lawrence County, Illinois.^1,3

(Daughter) Death

1837

She was an infant when her mother died about 1837, leaving Rebecca's father with five young children.²

(Daughter) Marriage

8 February 1838

She was one year old when her father married a second time to Mary Trusty on 8 February 1838.^4,5,2

(3rd Daughter) Census US 1840

1840

Rebecca was probably enumerated on the 1840 census in the household of her father and stepmother in Jackson Township, Orange County, Indiana. She would have been recorded as the one female under the age of 5 years.⁶

(Daughter) Census US 1850

27 August 1850

Rebecca was enumerated on the 1850 census taken on 27 August 1850 in the household of her father and stepmother in Patoka Township, Crawford County, Indiana. She was 14 years old.¹

Citations

[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry and Mary Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 18b. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.
[S748] Find a Grave website, which often provides cemetery and tombstone photos, and sometimes personal biographies, that may be obtained from the site, online at www.findagrave.com, Berry Belcher, Memorial# 34936541. Hereinafter cited as Find a Grave website.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Rebecca Emaline (Belcher) Trusty, Memorial# 93494982.
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 8 February 1838 in Orange County of Berry Belcher and Mary Trusty, referencing Orange County, Indiana, original record located in the County Clerk's Office in Paoli, Indiana, Book C-2, page 84. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Mary Ann (Trusty) Belcher, Memorial# 93495742.
[S487] 1840 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry Belcher, Year: 1840; Census Place: Jackson, Orange, Indiana; Roll: 89; Page: 29; Family History Library Film: 0007728. Hereinafter cited as 1840 United States Federal Census.

Samuel Belcher¹

b. 1699, d. 1738

Family

Father*

Gregory Belcher¹

Mother*

Elizabeth Ruggles¹

Birth*

1699

Samuel Belcher was born in 1699.¹

Marriage*

1726

He married Sarah Hayward, daughter of Deacon Jonathan Hayward and Hannah Hobart, in 1726.¹

Death*

1738

He died in 1738.¹

Family

Sarah Hayward b. 1705

Citations

[S869] Marcus Taft Jones, Hayward-Howard genealogy and family history: descendants of William and Margery Hayward of Braintree, Massachusetts, 1648; earlier of Weymouth. Microfilm of typescript at the Rhode Island Historical Society in Providence, Rhode Island. Hayward genealogy 1648-1690: pages 1-13; FHL Film# 22344, Item 2, LDS Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah. Hereinafter cited as Hayward-Howard genealogy and family history.

Sarah C. Belcher¹

b. 22 March 1869, d. 13 April 1958

Family

Father*

Jeremiah Belcher¹ b. 20 Dec 1821, d. 18 Sep 1905

Mother*

Nancy Jane Pace¹ b. 6 Aug 1830, d. 15 Feb 1885

Birth*

22 March 1869

Sarah C. Belcher was born on 22 March 1869 in Dubois County, Indiana.¹

Marriage*

1886

She married Albert G. Thorn about 1886.^2,1

(Daughter) Death

18 September 1905

Sarah provided the information as the informant on her father's death certificate. He died on 18 September 1905 in Harrison Township, Knox County, Indiana, at age 83.^3,4,5

(Wife) Death

16 April 1906

Sarah became a widow when Albert G. Thorn died on 16 April 1906 at age 53.²

Death*

13 April 1958

She died on 13 April 1958 in Monroe City, Knox County, Indiana, at age 89.¹

Burial*

She was buried with her husband in Reels Chapel Cemetery, Wills, Knox County.^1,2

Family

Albert G. Thorn b. 28 Nov 1852, d. 16 Apr 1906

Citations

[S748] Find a Grave website, which often provides cemetery and tombstone photos, and sometimes personal biographies, that may be obtained from the site, online at www.findagrave.com, Sarah C. (Belcher) Thorn, Memorial# 81724021. Hereinafter cited as Find a Grave website.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Albert G Thorn, Memorial# 81724015.
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/… .Caution: This is a beautifully presented collection of "Person Pages" containing a variety of information about specific ancestors submitted by individual contributors -- often, unfortunately, with no sources. If the information we have chosen to pass along here is accurate, we are extremely grateful to the contributor(s) who have shared it. Without documentation, however, we researchers are always forced to question the validity of information. We hope what we have selected to include was originally obtained from family Bible records, or other reliable sources, and is accurate. Although, even when we have found contributed information to be unreliable, inaccurate or incomplete, we consider the information useful as possible clues as we research, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KCS4-9FN. Hereinafter cited as Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog.
[S1571] Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2017, online at www.ancestry.com, death on 18 September 1905 in Knox County, Indiana, USA, of Jerry Belcher, age 83, single, farmer, born on 20 December 1821 to James Belcher and Nancy "Brock" in Indiana, informant Sarah Thorn, burial in Baptist Cemetery, referencing Indiana Archives and Records Administration; Indianapolis, IN, USA; Death Certificates; Year: 1905; Roll: 06. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Death Certificates, 1899-2017.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Jeremiah Belcher, Memorial# 34844519.

Sarah Elizabeth Belcher¹

b. 1845

Family

Father*

______ Belcher² d. 1849

Mother*

Minerva Belcher³ b. 1824, d. 9 Jul 1907

Birth*

1845

Sarah Elizabeth Belcher was born about 1845 in Orange County, Indiana.^4,2

(Child) Census US 1850

26 August 1850

Sarah Belcher was enumerated with her siblings and widowed mother on the 1850 census taken on 26 August 1850 in the household of Marcum Hollen in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana. Sarah was 6 years old.⁴

(Daughter) Marriage

2 October 1853

She was 8 years old when her mother married a second time, on 2 October 1853, to Markham Hollen.^2,5

Name Variation

After her mother's second marriage, Sarah used the surname Hollen.²

(Stepdaughter) Census US 1860

19 July 1860

Sarah was enumerated as Sarah E. Hollen on the 1860 census taken on 19 July 1860 in the household of her mother and stepfather, Minerva and Marcum Hollen, in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana. Sarah was 15 years old.²

Marriage*

16 November 1862

She married Larkin Lankford, son of Edmund Lankford and Nancy Tucker, on 16 November 1862 in Crawford County, Indiana.¹

(Wife) Death

1878

Sarah became a widow with three young children when Larkin Lankford died in 1878 at about age 37.⁶

(Widowed Daughter) Census US 1880

25 June 1880

Sarah was enumerated with her three children on the 1880 census taken on 24 and 25 June 1880 in the household of her mother and stepfather, Minerva and Marcum Hollen, in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana. Sarah was a widow, 35 years of age and worked as a housekeeper. Her children, Nancy J., William H. and Alexander Lankford, ages 12, 10 and 8 years, respectively, were enumerated with their mother in their maternal grandparents' home. The children's paternal grandparents, Nancy and Edmund Lankford, Sarah's in-laws, were enumerated nearby on the same census page.^7,8

Family

Larkin Lankford b. 1841, d. 1878

Citations

[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 16 November 1862 in Crawford County, of Sarah E. Hollin and Larkin Lankford, referencing Crawford County Indiana, original record located in County Clerk's Office, Book C, Page 74. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941.
[S18] 1860 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Marcum and Minerva Hollen, Year: 1860; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: M653_250; Page: 481; Family History Library Film: 803250. Hereinafter cited as 1860 United States Federal Census.
[S2283] Indiana, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1802-1892, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 9 January 1834 in Orange, Indiana, USA, of Markham Hollen and Rachael Pilgrim, referencing FHL Film# 1316696. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1802-1892.
[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Marcum Hollen, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 16b. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 2 October 1853 in Orange County, of Markham Holland and Minerva Belcher, referencing Orange County, Indiana.
[S2244] Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog, online at https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/… .Caution: This is a beautifully presented collection of "Person Pages" containing a variety of information about specific ancestors submitted by individual contributors -- often, unfortunately, with no sources. If the information we have chosen to pass along here is accurate, we are extremely grateful to the contributor(s) who have shared it. Without documentation, however, we researchers are always forced to question the validity of information. We hope what we have selected to include was originally obtained from family Bible records, or other reliable sources, and is accurate. Although, even when we have found contributed information to be unreliable, inaccurate or incomplete, we consider the information useful as possible clues as we research, viewed online at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/L44Z-R9Z. Hereinafter cited as Family Search Ancestry Discovery Blog.
[S23] 1880 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Marcum and Minerva Hollen, Year: 1880; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 271; Page: 363A; Enumeration District: 028. Hereinafter cited as 1880 United States Federal Census.
[S23] 1880 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Edmund and Nancy Lankford, Year: 1880; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 271; Page: 363A; Enumeration District: 028.

Sarah Malinda Belcher^1,2,3

b. 1843

Family

Father*

Berry Belcher^1,2 b. 22 Sep 1803, d. 9 Mar 1885

Mother*

Mary Ann Trusty^1,3 b. 1 Feb 1819, d. 9 Jan 1892

Birth*

1843

Sarah Malinda Belcher was born about 1843 in Crawford County, Indiana.¹

(Daughter) Census US 1850

27 August 1850

Sarah was enumerated on the 1850 census taken on 27 August 1850 in the household of her parents in Patoka Township, Crawford County, Indiana. She was 7 years old.¹

Citations

[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry and Mary Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 18b. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.
[S748] Find a Grave website, which often provides cemetery and tombstone photos, and sometimes personal biographies, that may be obtained from the site, online at www.findagrave.com, Berry Belcher, Memorial# 34936541. Hereinafter cited as Find a Grave website.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Mary Ann (Trusty) Belcher, Memorial# 93495742.

Thomas B. Belcher^1,2

b. 9 April 1840

Family

Father*

Berry Belcher^1,2,3 b. 22 Sep 1803, d. 9 Mar 1885

Mother*

Mary Ann Trusty^1,2,4 b. 1 Feb 1819, d. 9 Jan 1892

Birth*

9 April 1840

Thomas B. Belcher was born on 9 April 1840 in Orange County, Indiana.^1,2

(4th Son) Census US 1840

1840

Thomas was probably enumerated on the 1840 census in the household of his parents in Jackson Township, Orange County, Indiana. He and his brother John would both have been recorded as under the age of 5 years.⁵

(Son) Census US 1850

27 August 1850

Thomas was enumerated on the 1850 census taken on 27 August 1850 in the household of his parents in Patoka Township, Crawford County, Indiana. He was 10 years old.¹

Citations

[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry and Mary Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 18b. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.
[S748] Find a Grave website, which often provides cemetery and tombstone photos, and sometimes personal biographies, that may be obtained from the site, online at www.findagrave.com, Thomas B. Belcher, Memorial# 34925649. Hereinafter cited as Find a Grave website.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Berry Belcher, Memorial# 34936541.
[S748] Find a Grave website, online at www.findagrave.com, Mary Ann (Trusty) Belcher, Memorial# 93495742.
[S487] 1840 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Berry Belcher, Year: 1840; Census Place: Jackson, Orange, Indiana; Roll: 89; Page: 29; Family History Library Film: 0007728. Hereinafter cited as 1840 United States Federal Census.

Timothy Belcher¹

b. 1830

Family

Father*

James Belcher¹ b. 1796, d. May 1842

Mother*

Nancy Bolling¹ b. 1802

Birth*

1830

Timothy Belcher was born about 1830 in Indiana.¹

Marriage*

11 July 1850

He married Sarah Wilson on 11 July 1850 in Crawford County, Indiana.²

(Married Son) Census US 1850

13 September 1850

Timothy was enumerated with his wife on the 1850 census taken on 13 September 1850 in the household of his widowed mother in Jackson, Orange County, Indiana. He was 20 years old and doing the farming for his mother. His wife, Sarah, was age 17.¹

Family

Sarah Wilson b. 1833

Citations

[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Nancy Belcher, Year: 1850; Census Place: Jackson, Orange, Indiana; Roll: 163; Page: 399a. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.
[S2283] Indiana, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1802-1892, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 11 July 1850 in Crawford County, Indiana, USA, of Timothy Belcher and Sarah Wilson, referencing FHL Film# 1377775. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Compiled Marriages, 1802-1892.

William Belcher¹

b. 1842

Family

Father*

______ Belcher¹ d. 1849

Mother*

Minerva Belcher¹ b. 1824, d. 9 Jul 1907

Birth*

1842

William Belcher was born about 1842 in Orange County, Indiana.¹

(Child) Census US 1850

26 August 1850

William Belcher was enumerated with his siblings and widowed mother on the 1850 census taken on 26 August 1850 in the household of Marcum Hollen in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana. William was 8 years old.¹

(Son) Marriage

2 October 1853

He was 11 years old when his mother married a second time, on 2 October 1853, to Markham Hollen.^2,3

Name Variation

After his mother's second marriage, William used the surname Hollen.²

(Stepson) Census US 1860

19 July 1860

William was enumerated as William Hollen on the 1860 census taken on 19 July 1860 in the household of his mother and stepfather, Minerva and Marcum Hollen, in Patoka, Crawford County, Indiana. William was 18 years old.²

Citations

[S17] 1850 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Marcum Hollen, Year: 1850; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: 139; Page: 16b. Hereinafter cited as 1850 United States Federal Census.
[S18] 1860 United States Federal Census, online at www.ancestry.com, household of Marcum and Minerva Hollen, Year: 1860; Census Place: Patoka, Crawford, Indiana; Roll: M653_250; Page: 481; Family History Library Film: 803250. Hereinafter cited as 1860 United States Federal Census.
[S1444] Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941, online at www.ancestry.com, marriage on 2 October 1853 in Orange County, of Markham Holland and Minerva Belcher, referencing Orange County, Indiana. Hereinafter cited as Indiana, U.S., Marriage Index, 1800-1941.