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Thurlbys in America

There are several records of Thurlby´s in America, and  we can now piece enough information together to be able to construct some family trees and discover the spread across America. This is what is known:-

We know that Grice Wade GriceWadeThurlby.JPG (137092 bytes) emmigrated to Americain 1846 and initially settled in Ohio and ended his days in Union County, Iowa, but read the following data for Grice Wade.

How did these people get to Michigan? http://www.geo.msu.edu/geo333/eriecanal.html  

And why? : http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gentutor/rivers.html to Iowa

 
And why Iowa : Iowa was admitted as a state; additional land was opened up and no longer reserved as Indian
lands; Iowa and especially the railroad and land speculators were publishing pamphlets describing the rich
Iowa soil; There were some railroad lines that were eager to get farmers established to use the newly lain
rails.
Iowa was open for settlement after the Indian Treaties of 1832.  There were a few "squatters" here before
that. If the immigrants were miners they headed for the lead mines around Dubuque; a lot of Welsh headed
for what became coal mines of southern and southeast Iowa.  If they were looking for LAND to farm, 
speculate, or were tradesmen who were support for the farmers, they settled closer to the Mississippi River
until that was all filled up, then they moved farther westward.  There were Sioux tribes in NW Iowa, 
officially until 1851, then were pretty much driven out after the Spirit Lake Massacre of 1856.

 

Birth of Alfred (Meredith) Thurlby AlfredTHORLBY2.jpg (32093 bytes) 16th Feb 1841 in England, married Elizabeth M Tait 1863 in Detroit

                            My report on Alfred  :    My Report on Freeman Family   More

Marriage of Grice Thurlby to Harriet Sevenoaks Marriage Date: 9 Jul 1852  County: Wayne State: MI

Florence Wade THURLBY born May 1854 in Iowa, U.S.A., died 24 Dec 1905 in Creston, Union Co., Iowa, U.S.A.

Birth of Harry Hatton Thurlby 19 Oct 1869 at Cromwell, Union, IA son of Grice Wade and Harriet Sevenoaks.

Death of Harry Hatton Thurlby 2 Mar 1936 at Salinas Monterey California, cremated at Santa Cruz Calif 5 Mar 1936

Florence W. Thurlby Marriage, Spouse: A. L. Guthridge 07 JAN 1875 , Union, Iowa (This is Grice Wade´s and  Harriet´s daughter.)

1880 USA Census for Marquette, Michigan Alfred THURLBY, Male, Married, White, age 39, born in England, occ. Telegraph Repairer, father and mother both English

1880 for Creston, Union, Iowa: Grice W. THERLBY, male, married, white, age 62, born in England, occ. Hotel Keeper, father and mother both English Harriet THERLBY, wife, female, married, white, age 47, born in England, occ. Keeping House, father and mother both English Harry THERLBY, son, male, single, white, age 11, born in Iowa, at school, father and mother both English Hattie THERLBY, daughter, female, single, white, age 6, born in Iowa, father and mother both English.

Creston, Iowa 1889 directories - Mrs Harriet Thurlby, r106s Sumner Avenue, Creston IA

Birth of Grice Wade Thurlby 25 Jun 1897 in Iowa and death in Monterey, California 5 Jul 1965 mothers maiden name NYE.

Florence Wade Thurlby

CENSUS: 1900 U.S. Census, Vol. 75, ED 132, Sheet 6, Line 7, 116 W. Union St., Creston, Union Co., Iowa

Adolphus Guthridige, b. Nov 1850 OH/OH/PA Hotel Keeper

Florence W. b. May 1846 IA/England/England md. 25 years, 3 children, 3 living

Mable Guthridge      b. Apr 1876  IA/OH/IA

Ruth Guthridge       b. Jan 1887  IA/OH/IA

Florence Guthridge   b. Feb 1890  IA/OH/IA

OBITUARY: Bedford Times Republican, Bedford, IA, 26 Dec 1905 and 29 Dec 1905

TOMBSTONE: "Florence Wade Guthridge, 1854-1905" in Lot 88

Birth of Helen Louise  Thurlby 4 Jan 1905 Iowa, death 15 Apr 1983 Santa Clara mothers maiden name NYE.

Birth of Harry Hatton Thurlby 14 Aug 1910 Colorado, death 10 Jul 1945 Contra Costa mothers maiden name NYE.

Roster of Men and Women Who Served in The World War From Colorado 1917-1918 Weld County Grice W. Thurlby Private Branch: S. A. T. C. Place: Greeley

Death record in Sacramento California, of Grice Wade Thurlby 11 Jan 1991, mothers maiden name Brown. DOB 27 Aug 1923 Social Security number 567100375

The assumption is that Grice Wade Thurlby married in England, fathered Alfred in 1841 and left for America, the family went with others to Michigan and his first wife must have died as he married Harriet Sevenoaks in 1852  there, they later moved to Iowa and had the children Florence, Harry Hatton and Hattie. 

If anyone has any information that could confirm, deny or add to this theory, then I would be very pleased to hear of it. Thanks to Andrew Thirlby for 1880 census and gedcoms which confirmed some of this information.

1860 census Midland Count y MI William Thorlby (son of William Thorlby and Partheny of Helpringham Lincolnshire, England) 34 Jobber with wife Mary Ann 37 and children Harriet 15, John F 13, Rebecca C 11, Francis 9, Agnes 2, Pethesnia 5 months.

Land record for the above William Thorlby of Oakland County MI at (Genesee) MI 160 acres. 1 Dec 1856

Note: this William Thorlby was the 4th cousin to Grice Wade Thurlby b abt 1818

Marriage of Thomas D Thurlby to Elizabeth Dickinson 19 Apr 1867 Wayne State MI

Marriage of Sarah Thurlby to Isidore Vincent 23 Feb 1869 Wayne State MI

Birth of Alice Ann Lena Thurlby father Thomas D mother Elizabeth (Dickinson) 23 Jul 1870 Highland Park, Wayne County.                Marriage of Alice Ann Lena Thurlby to Walter E Martin.       Death of Alice Ann Lena Thurlby 12 Jun 1934 Trowbridge, Detroit MI

Marriage  of Joseph Thurlby to Sarah Hurd 16 Feb 1871 Branch State MI

(1870 census Joseph Thurlby Wayne State MI)

Extracted and edited from an email to the rootsweb THURLBY mailing list by Andrew Thirlby:-

Joseph Thurlby , Rebecca (SMITH) and their children emigrated to USA around 1856/7 and settled in Ohio, where Matthias was born in 1857 and then Thomas Baker in 1861. The two elder sons (Benjamin and John) enlisted in the Union Army and fought in the Civil War. One died, and the other (John) moved to Lenawee County, Michigan, where he was living in 1870. He married Clara UNKNOWN. Phoebe, the eldest daughter, married in 1872 at Fulton, Ohio, and in 1875 the child Claudia was born in Ohio, who may have been the illegit daughter of Elizabeth THURLBY. Five years later, in 1880, Thomas Baker was living in Lenawee County, Michigan as was his brother John G. but the rest of the family remained in Ohio. Phoebe and her husband had also moved to Michigan (Hillsdale, the next county to Lenawee).