Rev Thomas Hansford's siblings Part 1

Before we go back another generation I need to pursue the siblings of Rev. Thomas Hansford.  There were a lot of them too!  But it isn't easy getting information that I can count on.  So I'm presenting some information which may need to change later, as I may find different information.

Rev. Thomas Hansford (my four times great grandfather) was the son of William Jr. Hansford (that's the way he is listed on various ancestry tree) (1727-1779) and Mary Sarah Hyde (1729-1779).   They had married in Virginia in 1753.

First son was William (Sallis) Hansford born 1754. The Sallis in his name was his father's mother's maiden name. Since it's in parentheses on Ancestry, it was probably added by a descendent, rather than being known a his name.

William S. married someone named Mary, (b. 1752) and they had one son named Thomas (b. 1784). William S. is probably the soldier listed on Revolutionary War Rolls for Dec. 1777 in Virginia.

He and wife Mary Hansford moved to Kentucky by 1800. He died either in 1810 or after 1821.

And now let's look at the first of the confusing attempts to understand who was related to whom.

William Hansford, Jr., son of William and Sarah Hansford, lived in Orange Co., Va., but did not appear on the 1790 census. Researcher Mildred Hansford, however, has concluded that William and wife, Mary Hyde, moved to the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia where they died in a smallpox epidemic. Researcher Penny Fields Gardner in an e-mail of March 2002 noted:"William Hansford and his wife, Mary Sarah Hyde. They both died of a Smallpox epidemic in 1779 in Orange Co., VA. This was just before their daughter, Mary, married John Short.. Their second child and only daughter, Sarah, was my ancestor. She married Stephen Fields and they are buried in the same pioneer cemetery with John and Mary, in Lawrence Co, Indiana, close to where both my parents were born and raised." She identified William, Jr. as an uncle, not the father of William, Jr. The only other possibility then would be John Hansford. "Hansford" has William, Jr. as the father of Benoni Hansford. 

     Known issue:
     1. Benoni Hansford.
     2. Mary Hansford married John Short.  Source: tanjean59, an Ancestry member.

William (Sallis) Hansford, doesn't seem to have married his mother...but again, having a father of the same name makes it hard to discern, and the records now are giving his mother the name Mary Sarah Hyde Hansford...rather than mother being Sarah Hyde and wife being Mary Hyde.  I give up!

Next child (on my Ancestry tree) is Mary Ann Hansford, born 13 Jan 1756, married to John P. Short in 1780.  Here's the entry on Find A Grave.

Name:	Mary Hyde Short
Maiden Name:	Hansford
Gender:	Female
Birth Date:	13 Jan 1756
Birth Place:	Frederick County, Virginia, United States of America
Death Date:	30 Jul 1821
Death Place:	Lawrence County, Indiana, United States of America
Cemetery:	Ferguson Cemetery
Burial or Cremation Place:	Lawrence County, Indiana, United States of America
Children:	Sarah Short Fields Ezekiel Short  Hansford Short Thomas P. Short Wesley Short Samuel Short John Short

There were several other children of the Shorts on my Ancestry Tree...but I won't go into them, as they are about first cousins 5 times removed.

Next comes Benjamin Hansford:
He may have been born in 1763, or maybe 1770 or as late as 1793...but I'll take the average date.

BIRTH APRIL 17,1770 • Culpeper County, Virginia,

DEATH 15 NOV 1853 • Pulaski, Kentucky,

Other Benjamin Hansford's seem to have not had this William and Sarah Handsford as parents, one moving to GA, another staying in Virginia.

But to go backwards in his life, here's a KY hand written list of deaths, and he is there, with his father William P. and mother as Polly Hansford, dying himself on Nov 15. in Pulaski KY.

It states his condition as widower, and I believe the next entry says formerly Baptist pastor, dying of pneumonia.  Though it does clearly state his age as 90, he had been giving his age as 80 in the 1850 census, just 3 years earlier.

I here include the 1850 Census for Pulaski County, KY.  I'm so glad to have some people finally named.

Lydia Hansford at 40 was his daughter. And she had married Samuel Hawk, thus the 2 children with surname of Hawk are Benjamin's grandchildren.

Though Benjamin might have been listed as born in 1763, I believe that he was only 83 when he died, rather than 90.  I doubt that he celebrated many birthdays in his life, or maybe the person (was it Lydia?) who gave the information didn't know his real birth.

There were other children born in the family of William and Sarah Mary Polly Hyde Hansford. But they will have to wait till another date.