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James Mills? Hiteshew (c.1858-1862)

Birth

James Mills? Hiteshew was born sometime between 1857 and 1858, most likely in Cumberland, Allegany, MD. His parents were James M. Hiteshew and Virginia Louise Grey.

What Do We Really Know?

The 1860 census for Cumberland, Allegany, MD includes the household of James Hiteshew (age 22), 1) wife Virginia (age 20), and son James (age 2). This is the only known public record for the young James. Census takers were instructed to record the age of each person as of June 1, 1860, so this census record seems to indicate that young James would have been born after May 1857 but before June 2, 1858. However, this conflicts with family trees on Ancestry.com showing a birth date of 11.Dec.1858.

Finding over a dozen family trees on Ancestry.com, all showing a birth date of 11.Dec.1858, may seem to provide corroboration for the date, but closer examination shows that they all cite one or more other family trees as their information source. Some also cite the 1860 census record, but none cite any other source of information. Ancestry.com makes it very easy to build a family tree by copying from others, so it's not unusual to see information with no known source repeated in many trees. It's usually not possible to determine which Ancestry.com member posted the information first. We can only hope that it was someone who got their information from private family records, and that those records were accurate.

Available public records indicate that James Hiteshew was born in 1837 or 1838 in Cumberland, Allegany, MD. His parents were James M. Hiteshew and Virginia Louise Grey.

Middle Name?

Various family trees on Ancestry.com also show James as having the middle name “Mills.” Again, this information may have been passed down in family conversations or in private records. It's hard to think of any other reason for it appearing in family trees.

Death

While no specific date is given, various family trees on Ancestry.com have his year of death as 1862. This is consistent with later census data in which James does not appear in 1870 or thereafter. It's also consistent with the 1900 census report that Virginia gave birth to nine children, and that four of these are still living.

1) Ancestry.com has transcribed the name on the record as “James H. Hitsten.” However, a visual examination of that record and a study of the handwriting in that record suggests that the correct transcription would be “James Hiteshew.”