I've lost track of my maternal 2nd Great-Grand Aunt Elizabeth Wilhelm Conatser Whitmire.
Born in Tennessee about 1838, she moved with her family to Arkansas before 1850. She appears in the 1850 Fed. Census with her parents and siblings: Pleasant Wilhelms age 38, Jane Wilhelms age 38, Elizabeth Wilhelms 12, Mary A Wilhelms 9, Welcom Wilhelms 7, Archibald Wilhelms 5, James Wilhelms 1. Yes, that spelling of "Wilhelms" was used in the transcription. The family lives in White Oak township, Franklin County.
The 1860 Fed. Census shows them still in Franklin County as: "P. Wilhelm" age 47, Jane 46, Elizabeth 20, Welcome (my GG-Grandpa) 15, "C" 14 (Archey), James 10, Angelene 9, and Pleasant age 6.
An ugly war soon occurred, and their world turned upside down. Brother Archey was killed. Another fought and was twice taken captive.
Elizabeth meets recently-widowed Daniel Conatser. They marry in August 1871.
Marriage of Daniel Conatser and Elizabeth Willhelm by Lewis B. Phillips, justice of the peace. Daniel was 46, Elizabeth was 33 years old.
Knowing that she was 33 when married in August of 1871 is a strong hint as to her birth year. Census data also gives an approximate birth year. But is not always reliable.
Source Information: Ancestry.com. Arkansas, Compiled Marriages from Select Counties, 1779-1992 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
This marriage popped up in three different records--often misspelled, making CONATSER a challenging surname to research:
After her husband Daniel Conatser died shortly before April of 1880, our 40 year old Elizabeth was left to fend for herself. She appears on the census with her five-year old daughter "M.J.", living with her parents, Pleasant and Virginia Wilhelm. But the spelling on this document. Crimeny!
And next door to the Wilhelms are Bennet Whitmire and his wife, Mary. See the last two lines of this 1880 Federal census page:
Neighbor Mary Whitmire died in February 1891. Bennet later married Elizabeth Conatser in 1897. He was 74, she was 59. He died in 1903 and was buried near his first wife.
I last find Elizabeth in the town of Hill, Johnson County, Arkansas in the 1900 Fed. Census living with "Bennie Whitmire" 77 and her 86 year old mother, Virginia Wilhelm. Elizabeth's age is given as 61. Did her daughter "M.J." live nearby, I wonder?