Harshbarger line: Barbara Burkholder Long Buchtel Kemery keeps us guessing

 I was on line again, trying to see if there were any new clues I could find as to the parentage of Barbara's mother, Elizabeth Miller Burkholder.  I regret to say I think I eliminated a few Miller families, which leaves me with thousands yet to research.  But...In reviewing documents attached to Barbara, in public trees, I found something interesting.  Someone had attached a death certificate for Joseph Hively, in which his parents were named as John Hively and Barbara Burkholder.  Say what?

Joseph was reported as being 6 years old in the 1850 census, in the household of Benjamin and Barbara Buchtel.  Benjamin and Barbara had married in March of 1844 and Joseph was born May 1, 1844 in Portage County, Ohio, so there was no reason to suspect anything other than the birth followed the marriage date by only a few weeks.  No big deal; it happens.  But, I noticed that this Joseph was the only one of the children to be listed with a middle initial.  He was Joseph H. "Booken", as the name was mis-spelled.  

So what is the story here?  I have not found a marriage record for a John Hively and Barbara Long, and Barbara's name is given as Barbara Long when she married Benjamin on March 22, 1844.  Joseph's son, John Hively, knew his father's surname to provide it for the death certificate, so it was not a secret within the family.  Yet, Joseph probably traveled with the Buchtels to Whitley County, Indiana in 1858.  His obituary gives the date, but not the family he lived with.  

I'm unable to locate Joseph in the 1860 census.  He was not with the Buchtels and he doesn't seem to have been with any of the Hively families that had also settled in Whitley County.  There are 49 entries with Hively surnames in the 1860 census there, in Columbia City and in Thorncreek Township, but I didn't note a Joseph.

There was a John Hively who married Christena Smith in Summit County, Ohio in 1817, and he had a son John who was born in 1819.  Either of these men could be Joseph's father, although both of those Hively families stayed in Ohio.  The senior John went to Richland County, Ohio, where he died in 1855 and a younger John died in 1908 in Knox County, Ohio.  The younger one left an estate record mentioning all his heirs, and Joseph is not one of them.  The older John seems to have died without a will, and the settlement papers are not available on line.  Was one of these men Joseph's father?  

We will never know what happened.  Was the child conceived in love, or otherwise?  Why did Benjamin marry Barbara, knowing she was carrying another man's child-or did he know? (I have always suspected that Benjamin may have been married earlier, but have not found any proof. He was 20 years older than Barbara.) And why did Joseph know who his true father was, or at least, he knew the name?  His obituary lists surviving half sisters and a half brother, three with the name of Kemery or Buchtel, but there is no mention of Hively siblings.  

Joseph died in Richland Township, Whitley County, on October 27, 1913.  He "followed teaming and farming" and was well known throughout the county.  He played the violin in his earlier days, at various entertainments. He had married Sophia J. Tannehill, and had four children with her. 

There was a Joseph Hively from Indiana in the 54th Regiment during the Civil War, who served a one year enlistment.  The 54th was formed in Indianapolis by men from all over the state, so it's hard to know whether or not this is our Joseph.  The obituary didn't mention Civil War service and his name is not on the monument at the courthouse at Columbia City so probably this isn't this Joseph, but I wanted to mention this as still being open to research.  

Joseph is not a direct ancestor.  He's the son and half-brother of direct ancestors, though, and that death certificate is our clue that his life was not what we thought.  Neither is Barbara's!