Let's see what information I have on Milas.
Milas Milford Robertson is my 2nd great grandfather, the father of Elisha Milford Robertson, who is the father of Homer Ross Robertson who was the father of my mother, Kay Elizabeth Robertson Harms. Milas seems to hail from Kentucky - although I have seen a couple of possible records of his that show he may have been originally from North Carolina, but maybe grew up in Kentucky? Pretty much the census' show Kentucky as his birth place. There are several possible birth dates floating around: 21 Aug 1833, about 1830, 27 Aug 1833 in North Carolina. For place of death, I'm pretty sure he died in Missouri...but was it Daviess County, MO or Gallatin, Clay, MO? The death dates that I find online vary also: 2 Mar 1901, before 1902, 27 Mar 1901. You can see why it's a bit confusing. It appears that Milas was married to Mary Ellen Sexton and that they got married in 1868. All this info needs to be verified. They seem to have had a huge family - even bigger than mine! So far the names I've seen include:
Viola Hasting Robertson, James Perhaten Robertson, Maone Robertson, David Francis Robertson, Samuel Tilden Robertson, Elisha Milford Robertson (my great grandfather),William Gibben Robertson, Lucretia Robertson, Amybelle Robertson, Homer Cleveland Robertson, Clinton Richard Robertson. I would like to find all the children and get this family put together.
Mary Ellen Sexton is the name of Milas' wife, according to ancestry.com. I'll check. It gives her birth date/death date as about 1853-1857 in Missouri - possibly Boone County. Her death is listed as 9 Feb 1918 from the RootsWeb Archives - in Guthrie, Oklahoma.
OK....time to see what I can find to validate any of this information. Let's start with Census information. When I have nothing on an ancestor, I look for a Census. I went to ancestry.com and searched for Milas Milford Robertson. The first census that came up is the one I already posted for his son, Elisha. The 1880 Census. Here it is again:
1880 United States Federal Census
It's very light, but pretty easily read in Ancestry.com. I'm looking at a close-up of it on Ancestry.com while I type. Milas M. Robertson is listed as head of household on this Census which is from Union Township, Daviess County, Missouri...page 23 of ED 236. Here is the family information as of 1880:
Milas M. Robertson - white male age 34 - married to Ellen (wife). Milas was a farmer. It gives his birthplace as Ohio and the birthplaces of both parents was unknown. Ohio?? I'll have to check on that.
Next was listed Ellen Robertson - white female age 23 and wife to Milas M. Robertson. Her occupation was keeping house and it gives her birthplace as MO and both her parents' birthplaces as Ohio. Ellen would work for the name I had - Mary Ellen Sexton. Ellen was her middle name. This happened a lot and still happens today! The baptism I attended yesterday, my grandson Josh, his name is Stephen Joshua Sheber, but he goes by Josh. So I always look for middle names, too. And they often change at different times in their lives. So she may be going by Ellen in 1880, but by Mary or Mary Ellen later in life.
Next come the children:
Viola Robertson seems to be the oldest. She's a white female age 11 - single daughter of Milas. She was stated as born in MO and her father was born in Ohio (Milas's stated birthplace) and her mother was born in MO (Ellen's stated birthplace). Everything seems fine here....except if you take a closer look. Viola's age was 11 and her mother, Ellen's, age was 23. That would mean that Ellen was 12 when she had Viola. Really?? 12?? Milas' age was listed as 34, Ellen's as 23. That's 11 years apart..not an unreasonable age gap. But Ellen having a child at 12 is unreasonable - if she could even conceive that young! It's more likely that the census worker wrote the age down wrong....maybe flipped the numbers? Maybe she was 32 instead of 23, which would make her having Viola at 20 and only two years younger than her husband. Or she lied about her age. Or the person giving the information just got it wrong. So many possibilities! I'll have to look at other census' and see if that age changes!
James Robertson is the next child listed - a white male son age 8. He was listed as born in MO, same as Viola, with father born in Ohio and mother born in MO.
Maone - although it looks more like Marne to me - Robertson comes next. She was a white female daughter age 7 and born in MO also. Same birthplaces for the parents as listed above.
Then we have Frank Robertson, white male age 5 - son of Milas. He as also born in Missouri.
Frank was followed by Samuel - white male son age 2, born in Missouri.
And finally, my great grandfather Elisha Robertson - white male son age 1, born in Missouri.
So our family consists of:
Milas M. and Ellen Robertson with their 6 children: Viola, James, Maone (or Marne) Frank, Samuel and Elisha.
Let's compare these names to the names I had gotten from ancestry.com:
Viola Hasting Robertson - - that would be Viola on the 1880 Census with birth about 1869 in Missouri
James Perhaten Robertson - that would be James on the 1880 Census with birth about 1872 in Missouri
Maone Robertson - that would be Maone or Marne on the 1880 Census with birth about1873 in Missouri
David Francis Robertson - that would be Frank on the 1880 Census with birth about 1875 in Missouri
Samuel Tilden Robertson - that would be Samuel on the 1880 Census with birth about 1878 in Missouri
Elisha Milford Robertson - that would be Elisha on the 1880 Census with birth about 1879 in Missouri
I have 5 more children listed, so let's see if we can find them on another census. I'm going to search the Census & Voter Lists for Milas Milford Robertson in the 1900 Census for Missouri first since there really isn't a surviving 1890 census....darn it all!
I have looked and looked and looked and I cannot find this family on the 1900 Census. How I wish I had the 1890 Census! Maybe there is a State Census for Missouri for around that time. I'll look next time. Goodnight.
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