Some people just disappear without a trace. My Pogue line is filled with mysteries and disappearances.
Oliver Isabel Pogue (1910-1959) was my great-grandmother. Her life is reasonably well documented, although I might have missed a husband. (She was married at least three times.) But things start to get murkier with her father.
Josiah Pogue (1848-1900) had many names: Cyrus, Silas, Si, Cy, Joe, and Josirus. All are variations, and one can understand how these names evolve. In 1850, two-year-old Josiah was living with his parents in Franklin County, Illinois. They are enumerated as Jas and Nancy Pouge. He has three older siblings: Wm. R., age 10, and Geo. W. age 7 and L.E. age 3, who was the only girl. (1)
And then James and Nancy Pogue disappear. In 1860, Josiah, then 12, was living with John M Foster, his wife, Sarah, and their five children. (2) John and Sarah had lived next door to the Pogues in 1850.
But in 1870, Josiah vanishes. No record has been found of him. As a matter of fact, several neighbors appear to be missing, so it's likely their little hollow was just missed in the enumerators' trek.
In 1880, Josirus, now aged 23, is living with William Foster and his wife. William was the son of the above John Foster, and Josirus is listed as a cousin. (3) So was there a relationship? In 1886, John Foster, who is a minister, married Josiah Pogue and Mahala McClerren.(4)
So what happened to Josiah's parents? His father James, has always been a bit of a mystery. Was he married three times or just two? Wives may have been Nancy Taylor, Lydia Medlin, and Nancy Plaster. James served in the Black Hawk War along with others from Franklin County. (5) He moved around, living in Saline, Gallatin, and Franklin Counties. He appears to have purchased land in Franklin County in 1851. (6)
So the mystery grows. Later in 1851, there is a court record that I believe is for James. William Foster (not the same William Foster that Josiah lived with in 1880) went to court to state that James Page, father of George W, aged 9, Lyenin aged 7, and Josiah Page, aged 4, "has for six months last past wilfully neglected to provide for his minor children." He was found guilty, and Joseph Swafford was appointed guardian. (7) This record was an abstract, and I haven't yet tracked down the original. But this would indicate that James's wife had died and he was having trouble taking care of the children.
In April 1852, James sold his land in Franklin County.(8) And that's the last of the records I've found for James Pogue. In 1852, he would have been 45 years old. So where did he go? Did he die? I'm assuming, with no proof, that his wife Nancy had died, perhaps in childbirth, after the 1850 census.
It is possible that James Pogue had two older sons, likely by one of his first wives, David and James. Their lives are a bit of a mystery. Son William R Pogue moved to Lane County, Oregon, by 1860. (9) He married, had a family, and died at the age of 80, in the Oregon State Insane Asylum. (10)
His son, George W Pogue, isn't found in the 1860 census but enlisted in the Civil War. He was court-martialed for selling bootleg liquor in Vicksburg, Mississippi. After the war, he lived in New Mexico, probably working in a gold mine, then moved to Montana as a miner. (11) By 1910, he was living in Malibu, California, in the Pacific Branch of the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.(12) He had a couple of run-ins with the law and eventually ended up in the Leavenworth Soldiers' Home, where he died in 1918. ,(13)
L.E. Pogue is a real mystery. The only female in the family, it's unclear what her name even was. Some say it was Lydia but normal searches have not turned up good candidates. She was three in 1850. Did she die soon after? It appears that she was mentioned in her father's court case in 1851, listed in the abstract as Lyenin.
So where did all these people vanish to? William and George vanished from southern Illinois, but they are both trackable. Josiah is trackable except for 1870. So what happened to the rest of this family? Where did they go? And more importantly, why? These are mysteries that may never be solved.
This week's #52 Ancestors prompt is DISAPPEARED.
(2) 1860 U.S. Federal census, Franklin County, Illinois, population schedule, Township 7S, Range 4E, p 495, dwelling and family 977, Josiah Pogue in John M. Foster household; digital image, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/37996966:7667: accessed 20 May 2024).
Migrating people are the hardest to locate, especially if they don't want to be found.
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