Where’s Albert Stevens?

I’m new at this genealogy stuff, and must admit that it’s proving to be more difficult than I anticipated. How is it that generation after generation of Caldwells, Hopsons, Tunes and Tiptons (Mom’s family) can be found with relative ease, while the Stevens, Parker, Hockenberry and McMurray clans reveal nothing? It’s as though Dad’s family tiptoed through the nineteenth century undetected.
What little information I have on the Stevens Family is thanks to what I will hereafter refer to as “the family outline”, a compilation of data that my sister Carol gathered many (many) years ago for a school assignment. Our Mother and Father each completed a page outlining their place and date of birth, marriage date, occupation, major place of residence, and religion, with similar pages being completed by, or on the behalf of, the other family members. Access to this type of first-hand information should have put us on the fast-track to a genealogical epiphany, but that has not been the case.
From the family outlines, we have learned that my grandfather, Homer Stevens, was born on January 27, 1888 in Byseville, Ohio. Already we have a snag, as there is no Byseville, Ohio. This left us to conclude that the town was, in fact, Byesville, and for the purpose of this discussion the names will be interchangeable. He married Goldie Irene Parker on June 26, 1913, and his primary place of residence was Cambridge, Ohio. (With a two-and-a-half year stint in Los Angeles, California) Homer worked in coal mines for much of his life, but apparently he was foreman at a cement plant during his California days.
His mother was Mary Hockenberry, a woman for whom little biographical data exists. We don’t know when or where she was born, and don’t know when she married. All the outline tells us is that she had four sons and two daughters. Homer’s father was Albert Stevens, who is also said to have been born in Byseville, date of birth unknown. He too was a coal miner. That is the extent of the information provided by the family outline.
Beyond the outline, what have other sources revealed? The Richland, Ohio (in Guernsey County, as is Byesville) Census of 1860 includes an Albert Stevens, age five, with parents John S. Stevens (age 55, a shoe maker by trade) and Nancy. Eight children, including Albert, are accounted for in the report, and the entire family appears to have relocated from Virginia. I have my doubts about this one, as Albert was supposed to have been born in Byesville.
Twenty years later, in the 1880 Jackson, Ohio (Guernsey County) Census, we have a better prospect. An Albert Stevens is listed as the head of the household, a twenty-five year old farmer. Also listed are a wife, Mary F., and two children, Lewis and William. All are said to have been born in Ohio but, and this is where it gets interesting, Albert’s parents are shown to have been from Virginia. Mary’s father is listed as being from New Jersey, her mother from Ohio. Immediately below Albert & Family on the census sheet (living next door apparently) we have… John J. (farmer, age 67) and Nancy Stevens, both born in the state of Virginia. John’s middle initial doesn’t match that from the 1860 census, and he appears to have only aged 12 years in two decades time, but there are still interesting parallels. Another look at the 1860 census tells me that John’s middle initial could indeed be a “J” that was mistaken for an “S”. If all that weren’t provocative enough, the next family on the list, below John J., is the Hockenberrys. (the maiden name of Albert’s wife Mary) So it’s 1880, eight years before the birth of my grandfather, Homer. Does he make an appearance in later census reports?
In the town of Washington, Wills Township, County of Guernsey, we find 12 year old Homer Stevens on the 1900 census, along with siblings William (b. Sept. 1876), Leander (b. Aug. 1882), Noah (b. July 1885) and Bessie (b. Dec. 1892). Homer’s birth date is said to be January of 1888…a perfect match. His father is listed as Albert, a miner that was born in what appears to be September of 1852. He and his wife Mary, born July 1854, have been married for 32 years.
What does all this mean? It appears that my Great Grandfather Albert Stevens was born in Sept. of 1852 and married my Great Grandmother Mary F. Hockenberry in approximately 1868. My Great, Great Grandfather was John J. Stevens, a cobbler, married to wife Nancy, both originally from West Virginia. The Hockenberry family that appears in the 1880 census that live next to the John J. Stevens and Albert Stevens households, are too young to be Mary’s parents, and is probably the family of her brother. In any event, I need to step back and let all this sink in. It’s so easy to see shapes in the clouds…I need to be sure. I’ve got a lot to think about and, without a doubt, a lot more research to do.

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