This week’s #52Ancestors prompt is Migration. Harrison Hiram Greenwood is a perfect example of many who migrated within the United States, moving from one side of the country to the other.
Harrison Hiram Greenwood was born 1 April 1814 in Cortland County, New York, most likely in Solon. The son of Simon and Rebecah (Kenney) Greenwood, Harrison seems to have used the name Harrison most of the time but used the name Hiram in the 1870 census. At some point before 1835, he married Clarissa Welch, the daughter of John S. Welch. Harrison’s brother Moses married Clarissa’s sister, Sarah, around the same time. Harrison and Clarissa’s first child, Hiram, was born in Cortland County in about 1835.
Between 1835 and 1840, the family moved to Medina County, Ohio.
Clarissa’s parents had migrated to nearby Wayne County. Three children were
born in Ohio: Betsey Ann, about 1840; Margaret Ann, about 1841; and Sarah,
about 1843. The family next packed up and moved to Rock County, Wisconsin,
where their daughter Rosetta was born between 1847 and 1849.
By 1860, they had moved again to Owatonna, Steele County,
Minnesota. This is where Rosetta married John B. Norman in December of 1866.
They remained there until shortly after 1870, when Harrison and Clarissa packed
up and made their most significant move – to Placerville, El Dorado County,
California. This would be Harrison’s last move, as he died there in February of
1874. Clarissa remarried and lived until 1900, dying in Tahama County,
California.
Harrison seems to have owned land wherever he went. But it’s
unclear why the family made these moves. Perhaps it was for better land. Maybe
it was just wanderlust. More needs to be uncovered about the Greenwood family.
The Greenwood family is not my family
but belongs to a friend whose family I’m researching.
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