Notes for: Nancy Williams
1850 Census, Doddridge Co, Virginia (now West Virginia), enumerated on Jul 27 1850:
Henry Ellifrit, 28, farmer, value of real estate $300; Nancy, 28; Flora E, 4; Eleanor, 2; Mary E, 4 months. All born in Virginia except Henry, born in Maryland.
The remaining members of the household all had the surname Dotson:
Elisha Dotson, 55, farmer, value of real estate $500; Ingaby, 34; Elisha Jr, 16, farmer; Irvin, 13; Daniel, 3 months. All born in Virginia.
NOTE: Relationship, if any, between these families is not known. Ingaby is believed to have been a daughter of William Jesse Lowther & Mary (Lowther) Lowther, and to have been made a ward of Warner W. Chapman sometime in the 1830s after the death of her father. In the 1860 and 1870 censuses, this Dotson family was found in Wood County.
1860 Census, Doddridge Co, Virginia (now West Virginia), enumerated on Jul 11 1860:
Henry Ellefitts, 38, farmer, value of real estate $1200, value of personal estate $400; Nancy, 38; F. (female), 14; E. (female), 12; E. M. (female), 10; H. V. (female), 8; S. A. (female), 4. All born in Virginia except Henry, born in Maryland.
NOTE: The next enumerated household was that of James L. & Sarah Susan (Benson) Hickman and their five children.
Consecutive entries on Page 7 in Doddridge County's ledger-style death record book for the year 1861 show that all but one (Harriet V.) of the five Ellifritt children died of diphtheria within a two-week period. Another child, H. F. Ellifritt, gender not given, was born soon after this census and also died of diphtheria in the same period. Name spellings in the death record are as shown:
Oct 24 1861 - Eveline M. Ellifritts, age 11y 9m 8d
Oct 25 1861 - Flored (?) Ellifritts, age 15y 5m 25d
Oct 30 1861 - Sary Ellifrit, age 5y 6m
Oct 30 1861 - H. F. Ellifrit, age 1y 3m 4d
Nov 9 1861 - Eleanor Ellifrit, age 13y 6m 8d
On Nov 26 and Dec 2 1861, the 4-year-old twin daughters of the neighboring Hickman family also died of diphtheria.
Sometime between 1863 and 1865, the Ellifritt family left Doddridge County and moved to Wisonsin. At some point Henry changed the spelling of the family name to Ellifrit, as it appears on his headstone and the headstones of his children Harriet and Porter..
1870 Census, Lafayette Co, Wisconsin (Town of Belmont), enumerated on Jul 29 1870:
Henry Elfrit, 48, b. Md, farmer, value of real estate $5,000; value of personal estate $1,000; Nancy, 48, b. Va; Harriet, 18, b. Va; Porter, 7, b. Va; Alice, 5, b. Wisc; Belle C, 11, b. Va.
1880 Census, Lafayette Co, Wisconsin (Town of Belmont), enumerated on Jun 1 1880:
Henry Ellifritt, 59, b. Md, farmer; wife Nancy, 59, b. Va; dau Harriet V, 27, b. Va; son Porter, 17, b. Va; dau Alice, 14, b. Wisc; adopted dau Belle Calhoun, 21, b. Va, single.
1900 Census, Lafayette Co, Wisconsin (Town of Belmont), enumerated on Jun 16 1900:
Nancy Ellefrit, 78, b. Aug 1821 in W.Va., widowed, mother of 8 children (3 still living); dau Hattie, 45, b. Apr 1855 in W.Va., single, no children.
The next enumerated household was that of Nancy's son Porter and his family:
Porter Ellefrit, 36, b. Jul 1863 in W.Va., farmer, married 7 yrs; wife Florence, 38, b. Oct 1861 in Wisconsin, married 7 yrs, mother of 2 children (both still living); dau Ruby, 5, b. Aug 1894 in Wisc; dau Florede, 2, b. May 1898 in Wisc; servant Roy Magby, 16, b. Apr 1884 in Wisc, farm laborer; boarder Charles D. Burris, 45, b. May 1855 in Wisc, single, day laborer.
1905 Wisconsin State Census, Lafayett Co, Wisconsin (Village of Belmont), enumerated in June 1905:
Ramsey Beaumont, 67, b. England, occuaption landlord; wife Harriet, 52, b. Va; mother-in-law Nancy, 83, b. Va, widowed.