Skip to main content

Where did Salucia Sophronia Clark Squibb come from?

In genealogy, the female lines are generally more difficult to trace back, because women changed their surname after marriage, and records are generally less prevalent than for men. Salucia Sophronia Clark Squibb (my g.g. grandmother) is no exception. In some ways she should be easier to trace back than most as we have a marriage record for her and know the her maiden name was Clark. The problem is that she just shows up in Clinton county Iowa as a teenager, marries Robert Flemen Squibb, with no sign of relatives around, and few clues to go on.
Salucia Squibb ca 1910
Clark is a fairly common name. There were several families by that name in Clinton county, Iowa in the time around November 26, 1857, when she and Robert married. There was a state census taken in 1856, and Salucia Clark doesn't show up there. She could have come after that, but it seems likely that she would have had family around still, and a thorough study of Clinton county biographies and census data has ruled them all out.

The census records indicate that she was born in the early 1840s in Ohio. She should be in the 1850 census as a young girl, but there are no Salucia Clarks, Sophronia Clarks, or other variations in the 1850 census in Ohio.

So how do we explain how a 15 year old girl shows up in the Iowa frontier, gets married, and has no family ties? Did she run away? Was she an orphan? Did she stay behind as her family continued their move even farther west? Did she change her name? Did she lie about her age? Did her family disown her? Or is she just hard to trace.

To make things even more interesting, family stories describe her as an unfit mother, although she had thirteen children according to her obituary, and ten lived to adulthood. Eleven children have been identified. A daughter, Ellen, died young, and perhaps a couple of others whose names are not known, although there aren't any obvious gaps between known children. 1860 and 1870 census records show that Elizabeth lived with other Squibb family when she was six and sixteen, which is a bit odd, and could indicate some family problems. Some stories even have her being in a mental hospital, but nothing has been found indicating that is true.

One tidbit in the Feb. 10, 1876 issue of The Athens (Ohio) Messenger tells of a Sophronia Clark, resident of the Ross county infirmary, was being held for suspicion of infanticide. But our Salucia Sophronia was married, with the name Squibb, by this time, and lived in Iowa, so this doesn't seem like the right person.

It seems this mystery will remain until new evidence is found. Maybe someone tracing a Clark family will find evidence of her. Maybe some court record will give a clue.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Origins of the Squibb Family

By all accounts, the Squibbs came from England. According to Lawrence G. Blochman, in his book  Doctor Squibb , "The earliest known English Squibb is believed to have been made a yeoman by Edward IV in the fifteenth century. His grandson was Great John the Yeoman of Dorsetshire. Great John's grandson, Nathaniel Squibb, came to Pennsylvania early in the eighteenth century, settled in Chester County and founded a populous family...." Most Squibb families today would trace their ancestry to this Nathaniel or at least to Robert Squibb who is thought to be his son. There are few records of him, despite the generally thorough records kept by his Quaker faith. Nevertheless, later Squibbs were in fact Quakers. But exactly when they took on this faith isn't clear. One early Robert Squibb actually held title to a large part of New Jersey in the late 1600s. Whether he ever set foot on that soil is doubtful. Some of the Squibbs were important officials and served in various
3 comments
Read more

John Griest - A Pennsylvania Pioneer

On my mother's side, is an ancestor named John Griest. He lived in Pennsylvania from 1694 to 1751. John's daughter, Sarah, married William Squibb. While most of us will leave no evidence of our existence, John Griest did leave a few things to remember him by. Probably most significant is the office building at the Susquehanna Memorial Gardens near York, Pennsylvania. This building was originally larger, and at another location in York. This beautiful picture was taken by Diane Bowders and published on Yorkblog.com. John Griest built this building around 1740 at its original location on what is now the Lincoln Highway in York. In 1962 it was taken down to make way for a shopping mall and rebuilt at the cemetery. At that time the building looked something like this: The sturdy building was known as Ye Olde Valley Inn, Beard's Inn, etc. and was originally built to protect John's family from Indians, with whom he didn't always have the best relationship. Gries
Post a Comment
Read more

Where Did That Dark Complexion Come From?

When I got my DNA results back, the biggest surprise I had was in all the people from the southern states who I shared DNA with. I'm pretty sure that a lot of it is from Salucia Sophronia Squibb , but that certainly doesn't explain it all. The only other unknown line, is that of Martha Brennan Davis , mother of Lillian Davis Stephenson, who was mother of my grandfather, Fred Stephenson. I have thought she was Irish, probably an Irish immigrant, and probably related to other Brennans of Galesburg, Illinois, but there is evidence she was from Indiana. Besides the unexplained southern DNA matches, I have little Irish DNA on this line, not enough for Martha Brennan to be full blooded Irish. But more importantly, the Stephensons had dark complexions. I honestly don't know beyond that where the dark hair and eyes came from. Here is a picture of Lillian Davis Stephenson, my great grandmother. Notice the dark hair, deep set, dark eyes. She doesn't look Irish. Her featur
1 comment
Read more