Yesterday, I reviewed the family of George Hobble and mentioned three connections to the Bandy family of Lawrence County, Ohio and Peoria County, Illinois – Samuel Coleman Bandy, Martha (Patsey) Bandy and Lucinda Bandy, daughter of Andrew and Rebecca Bandy.

Let’s begin with the family of Samuel Coleman Bandy and his wife, Sidney Nelson Hobble. First, the family is a bit unusual because Cole, as he was called, was about 21 years old when he not only married a (likely) divorced woman, she arrived with four children in tow!

However, they seemed to have been happy together and expanded their blended family through the years.

Sorting out these people would be a lot easier if any of them remained born close to the same year from census to census. In spite of that issue, generally speaking, in my own experience, the younger a family is in a census enumeration, the closer to accurate the ages are.

It would help immensely if Samuel Bandy could be found in the 1840 census, but he is neither in his father’s house in Lawrence County, Ohio nor in his own household in Peoria County, Illinois.

Perhaps he missed the census taker and was migrating from one place to the other in preparation for his August marriage?

Therefore, the 1850 census of Peoria County, Illinois is the best starting place to examine the family of Cole and Sidney Bandy. I also believe that these children were named in the order they are found for a reason. They are stepchildren followed by Samuel Coleman & Sidney’s children. We have:

Sidney, 38, born Virginia
Samuel, 31, born Virginia
Lucretia, 16, born Ohio (born c1834)
Isaiah, 12 (sic – 14), born Ohio (1900 census & gravestone gives 1836 as birth year)
George, 11, born Illinois (born c1839)
Jane, 12, born Ohio (born c1838)
Samuel C., 6, born Illinois
Nancy, 5, born Illinois
Andrew, 4, born Illinois
Mahalia, 3, born Illinois (Her gravestone gives a birth date of 11 May 1848 and death date of 20 February 1860. The 1860 mortality schedule gives cause of death as scarlet fever.)

Next, in 1860, we find the family in Timber Township, Peoria County:

Samuel, 41, born Virginia
Sidney, 49, born Virginia
Jane, 20, born Ohio
George, 18, born Illinois
Coleman, 18, born Illinois
Nancy, 15, born Illinois
Jackson, 13, born Illinois
Minerva, 8, born Illinois
Sarah, 4, born Illinois

First, we need to examine the Hobble brood. Not in the 1850 home are the young son found in the 1830 census of William Hobble in Lawrence County, Ohio. It could possibly be Benjamin Hobble, born c1831 or else I believe this little boy didn’t survive to adulthood.

Benjamin Hobble did grow up and marry, but he is not with the Bandys in 1850. In his late teens at the time, he was old enough to live on his own. I believe he was the 19 year old laborer, birth place unknown, living with David Deyo, a farmer, his wife Abigail and another young worker, George Simkind, in Peoria County and his name was incorrectly heard by the census taker, who wrote “Rubble” instead of “Hobble.”

Next found in 1850, we have Lucretia Hobble, born c1834. What happened to her? I’m not sure unless she is the LUCINDA Hobble who married George W. Woodworth on 2 November 1851 in Peoria County, Illinois. They had at least one son, James H., born 1857-1861, as he married Sarah Boney in 1883, Champaign County, Illinois. He named his parents as G.W. Woodworth and Lucinda Hubble. Frustratingly, neither George nor Lucinda are found in the 1860 census, nor is James H. found in 1860 or 1870. James is enumerated in Champaign County, Illinois, aged 23, living alone in 1880. It appears that both his parents died young; he might have been an only child.

If this Lucinda is not Lucretia, then Lucretia likely died between the 1850 and 1860 censuses.

As for Lucinda Bandy, daughter of Andrew and Rebecca (Wooldridge) Bandy, she was born 4 March 1842 and married Hiram Reed Wolgamott on 9 August 1861 in Peoria County, Illinois. Lucinda died in Peoria County on 8 May 1920; Hiram survived her by a little over a year, passing away on 16 August 1921. They had a large family of nine children.

Isaiah Hobble was born in March 1836, according to the 1900 census. I won’t go into his family here, but do want to mention that in 1870, he was living in Champaign County, Illinois! Perhaps he migrated there with his sister and her husband, but there is no sign of the Woodworths there in 1870.

Jane Hobble is at home, not yet married in 1860. I find no marriages for a Jane Hobble, but there is a Delphena J. Bandy who married Peter Wolgamott, 29 August 1861, Peoria County, Illinois. I think Jane Hobble is the same person as Delphena Jane Bandy. Sadly, Peter died in battle during the Civil War. Delphena never remarried and she reported giving birth to two children with none surviving in 1910. She died on 25 February 1913 in Kankakee County, Illinois, but was buried in Champaign County, Illinois.

I think we are seeing a pattern here with the Hobble children and Champaign County, Illinois!

Youngest of the possible Hobble children is George, born c1839, in Illinois, based on the 1850 census. There is one other possibility, here, though – that George’s age was incorrect in 1850. I tend to believe this is the case because later censuses and his gravestone all give a birth year of 1842.

With all those kids in the house, I think the census taker erred in 1850 by enumerating George as 11 years old instead of 8 and the 1860 census taker erred in reporting Samuel C. as 18, when he was only 16 years old.

I think the Hobble and Bandy children are now properly sorted out!

For “the rest of the story” on the children of Samuel Coleman Bandy and Sidney Nelson, I blogged about them in 2017.

Tomorrow, we will take a look at the family of Michael Hobble and Martha (Patsey) Bandy.