Stuck at a Brick Wall - Portrait of Our Peter Wormuth

Brick Wall - A "brick wall" ancestor is one that you are having difficulty finding; or one who's the last in a branch where you cannot identify parents or records or follow geographically any further back.  It's where you're stuck.  Often, there are a variety of inconsistencies in information.  It becomes more and more difficult to follow an ancestor the further back in time their life was because records are fewer and more messy and there were often mistakes in records.

Peter Wormuth:  a portrait of an ancestor.  The link is to his profile @ WikiTree.

Peter Wormuth is our furthest back ancestor in our branch of that family.

There is another Peter Wormuth that we believe we are related to.  There are actually quite a few Peter Wormuths in the family.

So, I'll begin with what we think we know about Peter and try to sketch his life from beginning to end.

Peter was one of my maternal 3rd great grandfathers.

According to calculations from various censuses, Peter was born about 1788.  Where he was born is still in question.

Before 1850, only the names of the Heads of Household were recorded on the censuses.  The rest of the people in the household are recorded as male or female of various age ranges.  From 1850 on, the names of everyone in the house was recorded.

Each census also had some unique bits of information.  There are inconsistencies in census information; some people seemed to be iffy about their age, for instance.

There were federal censuses beginning in 1790 and every 10 years since.  In addition, some states had state censuses and there were special censuses in various places since before the country was established.  New York State had state censuses every 10 years on the 5th year, beginning in 1825 with a change of date with the 1885 census which was done in 1892 and back on schedule with the 1905, 1915 and 1925 when they stopped.  Censuses are expensive projects to accomplish.  This means that, for people who lived in New York, they can be followed every 5 years.

Here, I'm going to do a time line for Peter, from census data and a few other sources:

1862, May 16 - Peter died in Jeffersonville, Sullivan County, NY; from his headstone.

buried in the Wormuth family cemetery on the land that Peter owned in Callicoon, NY.  The headstone is leaning against a tree there, now broken.  We found 10 additional grave stones there but there may be more.

1860 US Census, living in Callicoon, Sullivan County, NY.

Peter Wormouth, age 72, born NY,
Grace, age 40, born England, 
James H., age 8, born NY,
Richard, age 1, born NY.

Peter's son, Joseph also appears on this census on the same page.  What we've learned that Peter either gave or sold parcels of his land to some of his sons who also lived on the original land in Callicoon.  Sons Stephen, Peter, Jr., and John on the next page of that census.

1855 New York State Census, living in Callicoon, Sullivan County, NY.

Peter, age 66, farmer, born in Montgomery County, owned his land, lived there 27 years at the time of that census, married:
Grace, his wife, age 38, born in England, lived there 6 years.
Eliza A, daughter, age 5, born in Sullivan County.
James H., son, age 2, born in Sullivan County.
Mary C., daughter, age  1, born in Sullivan County. 

1850 US Census, living in Callicoon, Sullivan County, NY.

Peter, age 60, farmer, born New York

Mary, wife, (undoubtedly Grace), age 30, born NY, 

Elizabeth, daughter, age 1 month, born NY.

1849, August 31, Sullivan Whig newspaper:  marriage listing:  Peter Wormuth of Callicoon to Grace Ramsey, widow of James Ramsey of Bethel.

NOTES:  So, we see that Peter married Grace Ramsey in 1849.  The 1850 census says that Peter's wife was named, Mary, but his wife in 1855 was Grace.  So Maybe, Grace's middle name was Mary; people often used their middle name.

According to the 1855 New York State Census, Peter was born in Montgomery County, whether that was Montgomery County, NY or Montgomery County, PA is a question.  The 1855 NYS Census column heading for Place of Birth clearly instructs the census taker to ask:  "In what county of this State, or in what other State or Foreign Country born."  Peter's place of birth on this census is recorded as Montgomery.  But, there's also a Montgomery County in Pennsylvania.  His place of birth varies on different censuses.  Peter is also 66 on this census which means that he was born between 1788 and 1789.  It means that he should be 61 on the 1850 US Census.  Had he lived until 1900, that census would have shown a closer birth date for him.

If we follow the pattern of Peter's age from those censuses, Peter should appear on an 1840 US census, age 50.

1840 US Census, living in Liberty, Sullivan County, NY. (Callicoon was formed from Liberty in 1842, so they were living in the same place).  This is a very difficult census to read; very faded.

Peter Wormuth, age 50-60, 
one male, 10-15,
2 males, 15-20,
2 males, 20-30
wife, 50-60; this was before he married Grace,
1 female, 10-15,
1 female 15-20,
1 female, 20-30.

1830 US Census, living in Liberty, Sullivan County, NY.

Peter Womurth, age 30-40, 

one male under 5,

2 males, 5-10,

1 male, 10-15,

1 male, 15-20,

wife, age 30-40,

1 female under 5,

2 females, 5-10.

Then things get interesting and confusing.  The 1855 census says Peter and his family lived on his land in Callicoon/Liberty for 27 years.  Assuming that's accurate, that meant they lived there since about 1828.  Assuming Peter began his own family in his 20s, that would be in the 1820s, but where.  

There is no 1825 NYS census found for Sullivan County.  Peter would have been 30 on the 1820 US Census.

The 1820 US census has no headings to indicate what the data means but forms have been created to clarify that (columns to identify individuals:

Name    Males    Males    Males    Males    Males    Males    Females    Females    Females    Females    

             under 10    10-16    16-18    16-26    26-45    45 up    und 10        10-16        16-26        26-45

                                                                                                 Females

                                                                                                    45 up

1820 US Census, living in Bainbridge, Chenango County, NY?

Peter Wormuth, age 45 or older, (is this our Peter's father?)

2 or 3 males, 10-16,

wife?, age 26-45,

1 female, 10-16.

and, next page, below:

Peter Wormouth, age 26-45, (is this our Peter?)

2 males, 10-16,

wife?, age 16-26,

1 female, 10-16.

Then, nothing.  But, there are name variants...:  Wormuth, Wormouth, Wormoeth, Warmuth, Warmouth, Warmoeth, Wermuth, Wermouth, Wormwood, Wolgemuth, Wohlgemuth, etc.  There are quite a lot of variations of the spelling because there weren't formalized spelling rules until the mid-1800s; and spelling varied depending on the original language:  English, German, Polish, etc.

The next census would be 1810. Peter would have been about 20 then.  He might have started his own family by then or he might have still been with this parents.  There are hundreds of possibilities, just in the State of New York.  Here are a few:

1810 US Census:

Mathew Wormwood, living in Johnstown, Montgomery County, NY, age 45 and older, with a son age 16-35.

Peter Wormwood, living in Canajoharie, Montgomery County, NY, age 45 and older, with a son age 16-25.

I found one Wormwood in 1810 in Pennsylvania but he didn't have a son the right age and he wasn't the right age.

Were either of these our Peter's father?  We don't know.

So, assuming Peter was born around 1788/1789, he would have appeared on the 1790 US census as a "free white male under 16 years." which is one of the headings on that census; and it would show that after the name of his father, whoever that may be.

This is where I stop - for now.