William Downen 1774 - Between 1850 and 1860
William Downen was born in 1774 in Abbeville County, South Carolina, now part of the USA but at that time part of British America. The area where William was born had been known as Granville County but at the time of his birth was known as the Ninety-Six District of South Carolina. Granville County came back into use from 1785 to 1798 but then the name disappeared again. Here is an article that succinctly describes the history of Granville County, South Carolina.
In any event, William was the son of Josiah Downen (1740-1802) and Mary Elizabeth Smith (1747-1835).
William married Margaret Robinson (1780-1834) (perhaps a sister of his older brother Job's wife Mary Elizabeth Robinson?) in 1796 in Kentucky. They had the following children:
Elizabeth Downen (1797-After 1850)
William R. Downen (1798-Unknown)
Josiah Downen (1802-Unknown)
Rebecca Downen (1804-Unknown)
Alfred Downen (1805-(1870-1880))
Allen M. Downen (1809-1880)
Abner Downen (1811-Unknown)
Job Downen (1812-1841)
The 1800 census for Kentucky was lost, but William's name does show up on the tax list which has some of the information that was recorded by the census, though not all. His county of residence was listed as Christian County. His last name was rendered as Downey not Downen but that may be the way the family pronounced it. (tax list image here)
Keeping track of William's whereabouts becomes a bit trickier after this. The last of their children to be born in Kentucky was apparently Allen. Abner is believed to have been born in Indiana, and some sources list Job's birthplace as Illinois. I question the last, however, because I believe William and his family showed up in the 1820 census in Posey County, Indiana. (census image here)
I have been unable to locate William in the 1830 census. This is not a big deal since these early censuses are not terribly useful as they list almost no one in the household by name, just by gender and age ranges. His brother Job was definitely in Posey County, and my suspicion is that his brothers Josiah and David were there as well (His brother Timothy died in Posey County in 1828 and his brother in law James Dixon also died in Posey County the same year). However, it is also possible that William had already moved on to DeWitt County, Illinois, where we find him next.
Before we come to the 1840 census there are three things that may be of significance, although only two of them are sourced. William's wife Margaret is believed to have died in November 1834, in Wayne County, Illinois. I've found no sources to corroborate this information, but it is at least plausible. William's son Job married Alabama Williams in 1835 in Macon County, Illinois, and William remarried after Margaret's death to Lucinda Brewer Shugart in 1837, also in Macon County, Illinois.
In 1840 William didn't show up in the census under his name, but rather as the oldest male in the household of his son Job in DeWitt County, Illinois (Job was listed under Job Downing). The link below is to the census image on Family Search Dot Org, you may have to log in to Family Search to view it, but as of 2019 it is free to have an account there and I don't anticipate that changing. 1840 Federal Census DeWitt County Illinois Town Not Stated Page 39 of 44
When I first wrote this page in 2011 I had found a death date for William of 15 June 1849 in Schuyler County, Illinois but no burial place. As with so many other things I have found on Ancestry that are unsourced that information turned out not to be accurate. The reason I know it's not accurate is because William showed up in the 1850 census in DeWitt County with his 3rd wife, Leodocia (Dicy or Dicey) Spencer French. His second wife Lucinda had died in 1840 and William remarried Dicy in DeWitt County in 1841.
Here's the census image from the 1850 census from Family Search DeWitt County, part of, Page 4 of 103
This census was enumerated on 12 November 1850, so this throws that purported death date from June 1849 onto the ashheap of history. If I had to hazard a guess it would be that something happened in June 1849 to someone else in his family and he was known to be alive then, so it should have been recorded that he died after that date. But that's not how it showed up.
That appears to be the last time William showed up in any paper records. In 1860 his third wife Dicy was living with her son Robert French in Decatur Township, Decatur County, Iowa. It doesn't list her marital status as it would have in later census records but the fact that William isn't listed and I have been unable to find him after 1850 implies that he died between 1850 and 1860. William would have been 75 or 76 in 1850, he had already lived much longer than average for a man of that time, so it's no surprise that he probably died before 1860. Dicy was still alive in 1870 and was still in Iowa, this time living with one of her grandsons, although she dropped out of sight after that.
I have no idea where William is buried, although the most likely place would be DeWitt County, Illinois, where he was living between at least 1840 and 1850. His second wife Lucinda is buried there although that may not mean much.
One other thing I found interesting about William was that even though his father Josiah changed the family name to Downen (apparently from Downing) it doesn't seem to have completely stuck with William's line. In 1840 his son Job was listed as Job Downing in the census, and in 1850 William was listed as William Downing as the census. In addition, his 3rd wife Dicy's family thought well enough of him that one of her grandsons born in 1847 was named William Downing Shelton. I'm going to have to bear that in mind when researching other descendants of William's.
Other Links:
William Downen on Family Search Dot Org
William Downen AKA Downing on Genealogy Locator System database
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