SECOND FAMILY OF MATHEW CHAPEL, Part 2

Ever since discovering that Mathew had a second set of children, I have wondered if there were cousins of ours out there some place who counted Mathew Chapel as their grandfather. From the census returns we know that Mary at least had a daughter Rosa Ransford. To date, I have located no further information on her sister Agnes. One of the problems with this quest is of course that it is an all female line, making Mathew's descendants from his second family, if there are any, difficult to find. With the discovery of Julie, who was born a RANSFORD, I know that we at least have half-collateral cousins. This isn't a blood relationship at all as Julie descends from the uncle of Mary's husband. It is, though, a start. And it is enough to keep me searching and reading the lists. This discovery was made on a Columbia County list. Julie supplied me with more information regarding the Ransfords. We both had the same census returns, but she had more answers concerning them. She couldn't however, answer the big one which I suddenly noticed yesterday. In the 1860 census when Mathew was an "INMATE" at the County Farm, the address of all inmates was given as "Moffat's Store." Yesterday while reviewing this census with Julie, I noticed that both Albert and his father John were listed as "farmers" in the same household, and that the address given was "Moffats Farm." More expanations needed. Could they have been independent employees of the farm? Were they somehow residents along with Mathew? Any other ideas out there? A month ago Chip and I had found the pauper's field for the County Farm. We went to search in the Columbia County Historical Society in the Van Der Poel house, and while I looked for cemetery records to completely nail down that I had found the tombstone of Mathew's mother Sarah (Smith) Chapel, Chip read the vertical files. He found an article about the field being repaired some years ago, with a description of its location and a picture. We were off and running! We were close but no cigar on our last search. There were no stones in the field, but obviously from the indentations many burials. So we still don't know where Mathew is buried, although our best guess at the moment is with Catherine without a headstone. Plenty of room for an extra grave there. I will send those pictures. If I already have, forgive the duplication. If I haven't written about the search for Sarah, please let me know and I will fill in that missing entry. She was found when I was not into writing in blogs, as I didn't think anyone read them. Now I know I have readers I am trying to be a more frequent writer, especially when I have something worthwhile to report. But I digress. Back to Mathew's second family. Why was their address Moffit's Farm? In the census returns over the years Albert had variously been called a blacksmith or a farmer. We have yet to do a deed search. So we know Mary had at least one child continuing the possibility that she has living heirs, but now we wonder why she resided near the poorhouse with the poorhouse address. As usual answers come with more questions. TO BE CONTINUED