Captain Ephraim Deuel
Chapter 6 - Was Ephraim In Dutchess?
Yes, I think it's a pretty good bet that Ephraim4 Deuel was not a Quaker. This may be a part of our problem, because if he was
Quaker there would probably be better birth records for his children.
The thing I have been thinking about is "where was Ephraim Deuel between ca1760, when he gets the powder horn, and 1789,
when he shows up in South Hero?" And secondly, is there a link between him and Jay Clarence Deuel?
My guess is Ephraim spent those years in Dutchess, although I don't have any real proof of it. By the time he is in South Hero is a
somewhat elderly man, by the standards of the times, somewhere in his 60s. I'm thinking that he may have had some children in
Dutchess who were themselves adults by 1789 and who stayed behind, at least temporarily. Maybe one of these is the father of
Henry in 1811, accounting for the New York birth on his internment record.
Like I've said, I don't discount the possibility that Ephraim4 is the father of Jonathan, the great-grandfather of Jay Clarence. Silas4
doesn't seem to fit too well as that Jonathan's father. Samuel6 Deuel, the grandfather of Jay Clarence, is too young to have a child
in 1811, having been born in 1796/97. But Jonathan's wife is young enough to have born a child in 1811. If somehow Henry is a
child of Jonathan, then John James Deuel would be a first cousin once-removed to Jay Clarence, that's close enough for me to
believe that they'd travel around together like they did. I would have to think that they're likely second cousin at the most remote; if
a first cousin to me came and tried to get me to go to SF, I'd give it serious consideration, if it were a say a fourth cousin I'd think
they're nuts. (However, if it were my 8th cousin George W. Bush, I think I'd make an exception).
Wilbur5(Silas4) had a son Ephraim6, he's the guy buried in Amenia, Dutchess. Wilbur5 spent his whole life in Dutchess, as far as I
can tell, I wouldn't think he would name a child after his uncle Ephraim4 unless he had contact with him. Wilbur5 also had a
grandson Ethan Allen7(Stephen6) Deuel, that's interesting given the connection between Ephraim4 and Ethan Allen.
Anyway I'm going to try to get to the NEHGS library in Boston this week. My latest hunch is that Henry was born in Dutchess, I'll
have to exhaust whatever sources for birth records they have for there. Given that his wife was born in Canada, I would have to
say that Missisquoi County trumps other possibilities as the place of his marriage. For John J. Deuel's birth, I guess Missisquoi is in
first place and I still think Winnebago County is a strong second given the Canada connections there and the 1880 census listing.
If you take the surname variants in the 1800 census for New York and lists the number of heads of household per county, you get
the following:
Albany 3
Columbia 1
Dutchess 14
Oneida 1
Otsego 1
Rensselaer 1
Saratoga 14
Washington 8
So the total is 43, of these 28 or about 60% are in either Dutchess or Saratoga, if you throw in Washington you get 36, or well
over 75%. So if Henry Deuel had been born in 1800 you could say that the odds were better than 3-1 that he was born in one of
those three counties. By 1811 there's a little more spread but not too much, and there are very few Deuels who came into NY from
other states between 1800-1811, I think the odds are still about 2-1 for those three counties as of 1811.
Richard Gifford
May 13, 2002
Chapter 7 - Ephraim Deuel Found In Dutchess!
Yes, I think it's a pretty good bet that Ephraim4 Deuel was not a Quaker. This may be a part of our problem, because if he was
Quaker there would probably be better birth records for his children.
The thing I have been thinking about is "where was Ephraim Deuel between ca1760, when he gets the powder horn, and 1789,
when he shows up in South Hero?" And secondly, is there a link between him and Jay Clarence Deuel?
My guess is Ephraim spent those years in Dutchess, although I don't have any real proof of it. By the time he is in South Hero is a
somewhat elderly man, by the standards of the times, somewhere in his 60s. I'm thinking that he may have had some children in
Dutchess who were themselves adults by 1789 and who stayed behind, at least temporarily. Maybe one of these is the father of
Henry in 1811, accounting for the New York birth on his internment record.
Like I've said, I don't discount the possibility that Ephraim4 is the father of Jonathan, the great-grandfather of Jay Clarence. Silas4
doesn't seem to fit too well as that Jonathan's father. Samuel6 Deuel, the grandfather of Jay Clarence, is too young to have a child
in 1811, having been born in 1796/97. But Jonathan's wife is young enough to have born a child in 1811. If somehow Henry is a
child of Jonathan, then John James Deuel would be a first cousin once-removed to Jay Clarence, that's close enough for me to
believe that they'd travel around together like they did. I would have to think that they're likely second cousin at the most remote; if
a first cousin to me came and tried to get me to go to SF, I'd give it serious consideration, if it were a say a fourth cousin I'd think
they're nuts. (However, if it were my 8th cousin George W. Bush, I think I'd make an exception).
Wilbur5(Silas4) had a son Ephraim6, he's the guy buried in Amenia, Dutchess. Wilbur5 spent his whole life in Dutchess, as far as I
can tell, I wouldn't think he would name a child after his uncle Ephraim4 unless he had contact with him. Wilbur5 also had a
grandson Ethan Allen7(Stephen6) Deuel, that's interesting given the connection between Ephraim4 and Ethan Allen.
Anyway I'm going to try to get to the NEHGS library in Boston this week. My latest hunch is that Henry was born in Dutchess, I'll
have to exhaust whatever sources for birth records they have for there. Given that his wife was born in Canada, I would have to
say that Missisquoi County trumps other possibilities as the place of his marriage. For John J. Deuel's birth, I guess Missisquoi is in
first place and I still think Winnebago County is a strong second given the Canada connections there and the 1880 census listing.
If you take the surname variants in the 1800 census for New York and lists the number of heads of household per county, you get
the following:
Albany 3
Columbia 1
Dutchess 14
Oneida 1
Otsego 1
Rensselaer 1
Saratoga 14
Washington 8
So the total is 43, of these 28 or about 60% are in either Dutchess or Saratoga, if you throw in Washington you get 36, or well
over 75%. So if Henry Deuel had been born in 1800 you could say that the odds were better than 3-1 that he was born in one of
those three counties. By 1811 there's a little more spread but not too much, and there are very few Deuels who came into NY from
other states between 1800-1811, I think the odds are still about 2-1 for those three counties as of 1811.
Richard Gifford
May 13, 2002
Chapter 7 - Ephraim Deuel Found In Dutchess!