Thomas William VAN BUREN married Phebe Marie JERVIS on 22 September 1841 (New York)

(original post October 2011, updated January 2022 with info from Phebe's papers, updated again November 2024)

My great-great-great Aunt Phebe Marie JERVIS married Thomas William VAN BUREN on 22 September 1841. His name is recorded in his father-in-law Joel Jervis's bible along with their marriage date. Phebe and Thomas had 3 children and he was born in New York (according to his children's census records). That is all I knew about him until receiving scans of some of Phebe's papers. In Phebe's papers she also has his name and their marriage date recorded. 

According to her papers, her husband was born in 1812. She does not list his death date, but in the early 1850s, she says that she was a widow with three young children, but we have not been able to find Thomas's death date. It is not in her papers.

In 1850, Phebe VAN BUREN and her 3 young children are living with Phebe's parents, Joel and Elizabeth (SMITH) JERVIS in Huntington, Suffolk, New York, so it looks like Thomas died between 1847 and 1850. Phebe is also listed with 2 of her children in the 1850 census in Brooklyn Ward 5, Kings, New York. Here she is misnamed as Phebe Van Benson. Enumeration:

1850 census Huntington, Suffolk, New York
house 239:
Joel Jarvis age 59
Elizabeth Jarvis age 56
Ann E Jarvis age 29
Charlotte R Jarvis age 21
William I Jarvis age 17
Edna A Jarvis age 13
Phebe M. Van Buren age 34
Isabel J. Van Buren age 7
Edna L Van Buren age 5
William H Van Buren age 2


1850 census in Brooklyn Ward 5, Kings, New York

house 259:
Phebe Van Benson age 32
Josephine J Van Benson age 7
William H Van Benson age 2
Clark Jarvis age 22 [Phebe's brother]
Charlotte Jarvis age 20 [Phebe's sister]
Joseph Austin age 63
Harriet E F  Austin age 29

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My cousin Eric (4th cousins once removed), who is a direct descendant of Phebe, is the one who generously shared her papers with me almost 3 years ago. We have since started conversing again as on geni.com he found a Thomas Van Buren born in 1812 whose wife is listed as Phoebe. There is no source listed that I can see for this entry.

The entry on Geni.com says that Thomas was born in Livingston, Columbia, New York. Phebe's papers at first seemed to say that her husband was born in Huntington South... but the page where Phebe says her husband was born in Huntington South is a bit ambiguous since she is listing the people who have married into her family and their birth places... only there's 7 names in the left column and 8 places named in the right column. There is a weird bracket looking thing on the right side. I'm wondering if the first 2 items belong to Thomas. The first name on the left is Thomas's name and on the right side it says "Huntington South," but just below that it says "Livingston Manor." So maybe he was born at Livingston Manor but lived in Huntington South when Phebe met him?

The name under Thomas's is Gilbert Smith and Gilbert was born in Huntington,  which is the 3rd one down in the right column, so it basically fits. (However Mary Lockhart was born in Manhattan and not Kentucky. Diedrich Vogt was born in Germany, and the others were born on Long Island, though not necessarily at the places Phebe has listed).

The geni file lists Thomas's birthplace as Livingston, Columbia, New York. 

I looked up Livingston Manor and the info is that it is a small hamlet "in the southern part of the town of Rockland" in Sullivan county, New York. So maybe the family was from Livingston Manor, but someone made the jump that it was the town of Livingston in Columbia county? I've seen things like that happen before.

Anyway, I don't know if the above is truly helpful at all, but to me it does lead a little credence to the Geni file being correct.

*****

Been looking into it more, and this is what I am thinking. Our Thomas William Van Buren is probably the son of Henry Sr and Sarah Williams. In FamilySearch, the Thomas Smith Van Buren listed as a child of Henry and Sarah is really the child of Charles Van Buren and "Catherine" Mynderts. 

I really would like to find concrete proof... maybe there's a will out there somewhere that would firm things up a bit.