Person:Elizabeth Van Camp (10)

Speculative Husbands

The evidence is presently inconclusive about the Elizabeth Van Camp who was wife of Benjamin Mosher of Marlborough and the Elizabeth Van Camp who was wife of Edward Van Arnam (Varnam, Varnum) of Augusta. Each of these two men apparently married an Elizabeth Van Camp (Vancamp) according land petitions and Orders-in-Council (OC 17 mar 1808 for Elizabeth Mosher and OC 11 Nov 1815 for Elizabeth Varnam).^[2]

Reid listed both of these two marriages on separate lines under Hannah and Jacob Van Camp of Matilda.^[2] He was likely presenting the data as he found it, which superficially was that Jacob had two daughters named Elizabeth. Although such duplicate naming of concurrently living children is not unprecedented, it is very unusual. An indication that is was not the case is that Jacob's will mentions a daughter Elizabeth but makes no attempt to distinguish between two daughters named Elizabeth (as with a qualifier such as "the older").^[4]

Another alternative is that Mosher and Varnam were first and second husbands of the same Elizabeth. At least two things suggest otherwise. One is that a single Elizabeth would not be entitled to two grants of land which the two Orders-in-Council indicate happened. (The text of the second petition^[3] contains no special pleading as to why a second petition was in fact appropriate.) The other is that researchers show this Benjamin and Elizabeth having seven children from 1808 to about 1820, several of them occurring after the time at which the Varnam marriage would have taken place. (One such child is David Mosher, b. abt 1819, having Elizabeth Vancamp and Benjamin Mosher as parents.)^[5]

A third alternative is that there were two separate Elizabeths, one marrying Mosher and one Varnam, and at least one of them was not a daughter of the Jacob Van Camp who was born about 1753 and married Annatie (Hannah) Buis. This seems to be the most likely situation.

In that case, the question becomes one of who was Mosher's wife and who was Varnam's wife. We seem to have good evidence that Varnam married an Elizabeth daughter of a Jacob Van Camp.^[5] That this was Jacob b. c1753 is not certain (e.g. it could have been another Jacob, such as his son Jacob), and can't be assumed given the seemingly conflicting information regarding Mosher's wife. We need to verify and extend Reid's data, especially regarding the contents of the OC entries and the Mosher petition. Further research on the families is needed to resolve these issues.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Genealogical information from Mrs. Dale Frelin, Tacoma, WA.
2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Reid, William D. The Loyalists in Ontario: the sons and daughters of the American Loyalists of Upper Canada. (Lambertville, New Jersey: Hunterdon House, c1973).
3. ↑ Land petition of Elizabeth Varnam to Lt. Governor of Upper Cannada. (dated 16 Sep 1815).
4. ↑ Will of Jacob Van Camp, 1798.
5. ↑ ^5.0 5.1 David Mosher marriage record.

   "Ontario Marriages, 1869-1927," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FMK8-LFP : accessed 29 Jan 2013), David Mosher and Christiana Scott, 1895.

6. ↑ ^6.0 6.1 Find A Grave.

   http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Var&GSiman=1&GScid=41833&GRid=95501250& "Elizabeth Varnum, Birth: unknown, Death: Nov. 27, 1860, Wife of Edward."

7. ↑ ^7.0 7.1 See the "Speculative Husbands" discussion on this page.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2} The death and burial data are for the Elizabeth who married Edward Varnam, whether or not that is the daughter of Jacob and Hannah. The birth date is also from a Varnam family researcher, but the source is not known and so it is not known whether it applies to the Elizabeth who m. Varnam or the daughter of Jacob and Hannah (if different), or some other Elizabeth.