It’s been a while since I wrote about the discoveries I made with my Caple family history, so I am including a brief synopsis of what I have written thus far before moving onto the next chapter.

According to my Grandfather, his father Samuel Hugh Caple and had fought in the Civil War. From Samuel’s Civil War pension papers I learned he had been born in Ohio, his parents were Jacob and Sarah Geary Caple.  While in Monroe my aunt had copied some deed we assumed were for Samuel Hugh Caple. But on closer inspection I noticed the the facts didn’t jibe.  The deeds seemed to be for different Samuel, one who lived in Richland county, Ohio.

—————————————————————————————————————————–Family known so far: Grandfather-William Roy Caple b. 1885 -1971, Great Grandfather- Samuel Hugh Caple 1845-1920, GG Grandfather Jacob Caple 1816- after 1872?  

WHO WAS THIS SAMUEL CAPLE?

After discovering the possibilty another Samuel Caple might be connected to the family I paid a visit to the local “Family History Library” run by the LDS church. There I was met by a friendly volunteer who suggested I start my search with the IGI index.

I typed in Samuel Hugh Caple. Up popped his name along with his parent’s Jacob and Sarah Garey Caple, his first wife Polly Sumpter and their children Milo and Minnie. Information I already had.

Next the volunteer guided me to look in the 1860 census for a Jacob Caple in Iowa. Armed with a page number from the census index book, I soon was whirling through microfilm until I came listing I wanted.

Fairview township, Jasper county, Iowa, PO Monroe, 1860

• Jacob -age 43, born in Maryland, occupation Carriage maker
• Sarah – age 38, keeping house, born in Pennsylavania
• William – age 18, born in Ohio
• Samuel- age 15, born in Ohio
• Mary E.- age 11-born in Ohio
• Anna Bell,- age 8 born in Ohio
• John W.- age 6 born in  Ohio
• Ida -age 2 born in Iowa.

With the H. added to Samuel’s name and his age I was sure I had the right family. Ida’s birth in Iowa placed the family’s move to the state to be around 1857.  So far everything matched the info my aunt and Samuel’s pension file gave. It was time to look in Ohio.

Since the children’s births indicated the family was living in Ohio in 1850 the LDS volunteer suggested I next search for Jacob in that census. It didn’t take long to find him:

Liberty township, Knox county, Ohio -1850.

• Jacob Caple, age 34  born in Maryland, carriage maker
• Sarah born in Pennsylvania,
• William age 9, born in Ohio
• Samuel H. age 6, born in Ohio
• Mary Etta, age 1, born in Ohio.

They had to be my family. But the mystery of the Samuel Caple on the Iowa deeds still remained. If Jacob had POA, there had to be a connection.

Next I searched for a marriage record for Jacob and Sarah in the microfilm copies the library had on file. I found them but the record gave no parents names.

Next she suggested I look for a Samuel Caple in the 1850 census of Richland county. I was thrilled when I found one and he had both a wife named Francis and was old enough to be Jacob’s father.

Butler Township, Richland County, 1850 census

• Samuel, born about 1782 in Maryland, age 68
• wife Francis, age 32
• Samuel, age 15 b. in Ohio
• James, age 6, b. in Ohio
• William, age 3 b. in Ohio

There was that name Samuel again. Now I had three of them. I recalled my grandfather saying his Dad always insisted he was Samuel Hugh Caple not just Samuel Caple. I wondered, was it because their was more than one Samuel in his family tree?

Next I checked for this Samuel of Richland county in the 1860 census.  Would he still be alive?

1860 census, Butler township, PO Shenandoah, Ohio

• Samuel, age 77 born in MD
• Frances age 40, born in PA
• Samuel age 22, born in Ohio
• James age 16.  born in Ohio.

Okay, if he  he was still alive in 1860 maybe he was still alive in 1867 , too.  He was certainly old enough to be Jacob’s parent but his wife wasn’t. Did Samuel perhaps remarry after Jacob’s mother died?

I could look for an earlier census for this Samuel Caple and in fact I did find him but before 1850 no spouse or children were listed by name. The 1840 census  would not help me prove or disprove this Samuel was Jacob’s father. For that I will need a will or some other document that might show the names of his children.

That night I composed and sent a letter to Richland county clerk’s office asking if they might have will on file for this Samuel.

In the meantime I decided to follow my aunt’s suggestion and call a cousin, also named Samuel, who lived locally. I had a lovely chat with his wife. Yes, they too,had been trying to discover the origination of the family. Unfortunately she had no new information to add. But she did have a computer.

Now this was 1993 and the internet was new. On a genealogygroup page someone from a Caple family in Maryland had contacted her. They had compared trees but found no matches. However the Maryland person mentioned a Samuel who was the son of the Revolutionary Samuel I’d found in the library book.  According to her, this Samuel had a disagreement with his brother over slavery and had moved north to Ohio.

The story seemed similar to the one my grandfather told. The one where the family had been from the south but sold the plantation and moved North over slavery. Could the Samuel on the deeds and in the Richland county, Ohio be the person my grandfather spoke of?  And if he was, could he be the same Samuel the person from Maryland spoke of?

Hopefully I would have some answers when I heard back from Richland County, Ohio. For now all I could do was wait.