Ultimate Challenge

Have you ever found two men of the same name in the county records and tried to figure out which record is for which man. Most genealogists encounter this difficulty sometime in their research. I have several of those conflicts in my tree. However, my Hiram Currey same name challenge is an 'ultimate challenge'.

My great-grandfather, Hiram M. Currey (of Dodge City, Kansas) was the son of Hiram M Currey and Angelina Jane Burke of Leavenworth, Kansas. I believe this Hiram M. Currey was the son of Hiram M. Currey of Peoria, Illinois and the grandson of Hiram M. Currey of Champaign County, Ohio. Thus, I have a potential of four generations of Hiram M Currey's with very little direct evidence tying them together.

My research on this line began with Hiram M. Currey of Leavenworth. Hiram M. Currey married Angelina Burke in 1856 in Weston, Missouri. By 1860, they were living on the Kansas side of the border. Unfortunately, I haven't found any records in Platte County, Missouri or Leavenworth County, Kansas to directly tie Hiram Currey to his parents or siblings. The only information I have that might tie Hiram M. Currey of Leavenworth to parents is from the family Bible. According to the Bible, Hiram Currey was born in 1835 in Peoria, Illinois.

Armed with that one bit of information, I began my search with the census. I didn't find a 15 year old Hiram Currey in Peoria Illinois -- nor any Currey family with a male around 15 in Peoria. I did find a Hiram Currey in the 1840 census in Peoria who had a male child under 5. Thinking this could be the father of Hiram Currey of Leavenworth, I started researching Hiram Currey of Peoria.

According to the Atlas of Peoria County, Illinois, Hiram Currey was a lawyer. The History of Peoria County indicates that Hiram Currey was a member of the Peoria Company during the Black Hawk War in 1832. There are several other mentions of Hiram Currey between 1825 and 1844 in Peoria County. Unfortunately, these histories do not contain a biography, nor do they help in identifying parents or siblings for Hiram Currey, the lawyer. So far, I haven't found any record that might indicate what happened to Hiram Currey after 1844.

I believe the Hiram Currey of Peoria is the same Hiram Currey that was admitted to the practice of law in Rush County, Indiana in 1822 (Illustrated Historical Atlas of the State of Indiana).

With no information on his family, I started looking for potential fathers and found Hiram Mirick Currey of Champaign County, Ohio. This Hiram Currey served as treasurer of Ohio in 1818. As treasurer, he was involved in the court case, Osborn v. Bank of the United States. Because of this court case, there are a lot of references to Hiram Currey in various newspapers of the time until about 1822. Sometime after 1820, Hiram Currey may have moved to Indiana. So far, I haven't found any records that identify Hiram Currey of Peoria as the son of Hiram Currey of Ohio.

In the process of trying to learn more about these Hiram Currey families, I came across a biography for Dr. John Currie of Darlington, Montgomery County, Indiana in the History of Montgomery County, Indiana by Beckwith. This biography names Providence M. as John's father and Thomas as his uncle.

Thus, I started researching several Curry/Currey/Currie families: Hiram of Ohio, Providence and Thomas of Indiana and Hiram of Peoria. It was by researching all of these men that I discovered a land transaction between Hiram Currey of Peoria and Thomas Currey of Carroll County, Indiana.

As I continued researching their families, I found Thomas' widow, Jane in the 1850 census. Living in her household was a 15 year old male, named Hiram.

Since the probate record for Thomas does not include a child named Hiram, I believe this 15 year old Hiram Currey to be the Hiram Currey who married Angelena Burke in Weston in 1854.

Even though my paper research is based on a lot of pieces of indirect evidence, I do have DNA evidence to support my conclusions. I have a match with a descendant of Caroline Kelso, whom I believe to be a sister to Hiram Currey of Leavenworth. I also have a match with a descendant of Hiram Currey of Ohio thru Hiram's daughter Jane Guttridge. These DNA matches are not enough to prove this lineage - but they do support it.

So my ultimate #52Ancestors challenge has been and continues to be collecting data to support (or disprove) a lineage of four Hiram M. Curreys:

• Hiram of Dodge City


• Hiram of Leavenworth


• Hiram of Peoria


• Hiram of Ohio