Close - but no cigar! Joel Fox and the census taker.

One of the things that can be so frustrating about brick wall ancestors is their ability to 'elude' the census taker.  Maybe elude is the wrong word to use.  I think it might be more appropriate to say brick wall ancestors are probably recorded in the census, just not necessarily listed in the way we think they should be.  I did find a 'Joel Fox' listed in 1820 in Genesee County, New York.  He is listed in the town of Elba which borders the town of Batavia.  The only thing is there appears to be no Joel Fox listed in the household!

The two boys appear in the household as does Joel's wife.  There are also three female children in the household. Where is Joel?  Did the census taker neglect to record Joel in his own household?  The way my 'family tree' luck tends to fall, I would guarantee it!

I don't find Joel Fox in the 1830 census.  This makes sense if he relocated to Canada by 1823.  1810 also proves to be difficult.  Joel should be in Connecticut in 1810 since his son Gustavus is born there in 1810.  I have posted a clip from the 1810 Hartford County, Connecticut census.  There are two Joel Foxes, living side by side with a Ne? Fox next door.  See if you agree with my take on Joel Fox Junior.

It appears to me that Joel Fox Junior is a probable match to the 1820 census for Joel Fox in Genesee County, New York.  If this is the same family, we can 'narrow' down the birth range for Ethalene Mack to 1775 to 1785 based on her age bracket for the 1820 census.  I also noticed the male could 'fit' the age bracket for my Sarah Ann Fox's father Joel Fox, though just barely, assuming Joel was born in 1795.  That would make Henry's Joel the grandfather of Sarah Ann Fox.  This would mean Henry Fox would be Sarah Fox's uncle.

My next post will look a little closer at the census records in Connecticut...