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Sewell W Backus
b. circa 1843, #73
Pop-up Pedigree

Father   Benjamin Backus1 b. circa 1813
Mother   Rhoda Z Houseman1 b. circa 1823

Relationsh Sewell W Backus was the husband of 2nd C 4xR of the children of Leslyn and Pomala Black. 
Name Variation Sewell W Backus was also found as Sewell Bachus.2 
Name Variation Sewell W Backus was also found as Suel Buckus. 
Birth circa 1843 Sewell W was born circa 1843 at New York. He is on the 1850 census with parents in Orange township, Ionia county, Michigan as 7 years old, born in New York. He may have been born in Orleans county New York. Electra Petit and Martha Houseman, the mother of his first wife were also from Orleans county, New York.3,1  There is a possibility that  mother Rhoda and Martha Houseman, mother of his first wife were related.
Marriage #1 20 May 1866 Sewell W Backus married Barbara E Havens, daughter of Thomas Robert Rowley Havens and Martha Houseman, 20 May 1866 in Ionia county, Michigan.4,5,6  
Cen1870 5 July 1870 Sewell W Backus appears on the 1870 census taken on 5 July 1870 in Berlin, Ionia county, Michigan Sewell Backus is 27 years old, born in New York. He owns $2000 of real estate and $550 of personal property. Wife Is Barbara, 26, born in Michigan. Daughter Eva is 3 but she is listed after the hired help, which is unusual. There are other Backus' families on the same page as well as two Petit families.7 
Marriage #2 21 May 1871 Sewell W Backus married Laura Elizabeth Dysinger 21 May 1871 in Sebewa township??, Ionia county, Michigan. Sewell's first wife died in 1871 and this couple had a daughter born in 1874, therefore they were likely married between those two dates.8,9 
Cen1880 10 June 1880 Sewell W Backus shows on the 1880 census for Odessa, Ionia county, Michigan taken 10 June 1880.

Sewell appears on the index as Lowell Bacus. He is 38 years old. Married to Laura (his second wife) who is 25 years old. Daughter Eva (mother was Barbara Havens) is 13, son Marcena is 6 years old, daughter Minnia or Irmia is 5 and daughter Mary is 2. They are on the same page of the census as Reuben Petit and wife Sarah. Reuben is the brother of Solomon Petit who married a Havens girl.

Marcena married a woman named Emma V........ They lived at some time in Genessee county, Michigan and that is where she died on 30 July 1953. Marcena died 3 Dec 1946 at the age of 73. Neither Marcena or Emma appear on the SSDI so it is likely that he was a farmer and not yet covered by Social Security. Marcena and Emma are on the 1930 census in Campbell, Ionia county. He is a farmer, 58 years old, first married when 35 which would be about 1907 to Emma V who is also 58 years old. There are no children in this household and they have not been found on any other census. On 12 Sept 1918 he registered for the draft. He gave his birth date of 14 Nov 1873. He was Blond with grey eyes, of medium height and broad build. He was employed as a carpenter for Bert Roger and was living in Ionia county, Michigan, Married to Emma. Marsena died 3 DEC 1946 in Lake Odessa Township, Ionia County, MI


Marcena and Emma are buried in Lakeside cemetery in Odessa, Ionia county, Michigan.

Mary died 24 Dec 1883 at the age of 6 years 4 months and 14 days in Ionia county. She is buried in Lakeside cemetery in Odessa.

From a GedCom with no original sources were learn that the child that we thought was Minnie is really Amanda May, born 24 JAN 1875 in Lansing, Ingham County, MI . Death: 30 MAR 1962 in Ionia, Ionia County, MI
married Archie L VAN HOUTEN b: ABT 1872 on the 1 JUL 1896. They had at least the following children:
Hattie VAN HOUTEN b: ABT 1896
Laverne Owen VAN HOUTEN b: 18 SEP 1897 in Ionia, Ionia County, MI
Merle VAN HOUTEN b: 11 NOV 1901
Frieda Illene VAN HOUTEN b: 13 JUL 1917

Yet another gedcom on Ancestry who does not want any contact calls this woman Minerva which is closer to what the census Appears to read in 1880.8

 
Marriage #3 20 October 1892 Sewell W Backus married Mary A Snook 20 October 1892 in Ionia county, Michigan. His parents are listed as Benjamin and Rhoda Z Houseman Backus on this marriage registration.1 
Cen1900 4 June 1900 Sewell W Backus shows on the 1900 U.S. census in Odessa, Ionia county, Michigan. On this census Sewell appears as SUEL BUCKUS. He is married to his third wife, Mary, tho' her name appears to be Marilyn. Suel is 57, born in New York and Mary is 48. They have been married for 8 years. There are no children in this household, tho Mary has had two children with only 1 living. She may have been married previously.10 

Family 1  Barbara E Havens b. 1843, d. 26 March 1871
Child  1. Eva Florence Backus+ b. 14 May 1867

Citations
  1. [S183] "Email, no hard copy" , Robin Floyd.
  2. [S1308] Download, Ancestry.com user submitted tree with no name.
  3. [S1308] Download, US 1850 census, Orange township, Ionia county, Michigan,, page 132 of printed numbers..
  4. [S183] "Email, no hard copy" , Mike Schroeder Oct 2001.
  5. [S385] ""A Havens line of New York and Michigan" by Eva Murrell Harmison; via Havens Harbor by Jo Havens Wright in 1992. Appears to have been from 1966 info of LDS.".
  6. [S1308] Download, Rootsweb/~miionia/early marriages.
  7. [S1308] Download, 1870 US census, Berlin, Ionia county, Michigan page 28 line 30 res 222 fam 225.
  8. [S1308] Download, 1880 US census, Odessa, Ionia county, MI ED 103 p323A, line 1.
  9. [S1308] Download, http://awt.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=dickdutton&id=I197199 Richard A Dutton e-mail address He is deceased. File static..
  10. [S1308] Download, 1900 US census Odessa, Ionia Michigan, ED 21, page 217A, rs 34/35.
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Compiler: Pomala Black

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