I don’t know too much about the Eisens. I don’t even know how to spell the name properly.
It occurs in the census as Eison, Eisen, Eason (actually the most common form in the early censuses), as well as Ison, Isan, Isom and so forth.
I had assumed the name was German, maybe even Jewish (although the Eisens in our line certainly married Christians at wll) - and it seems that that is likely. Ancestry.com has a “learning” section, in which you can find factoids about your family name, and according to them Germany and Scandinavia are the main places of origin for Eisens and Eisons. (The Isons, on the other hand, seem to come mostly from Great Britain.)
But of course, the census takers are not so precise about their spelling. And neither, when it comes down to it, am I.
Eisen, according to the ancestry.com site, means iron.
Several of the Eisens I have encountered have been blacksmiths.
We only know the names of two Eisens - Louiza, who married Obediah Roberts, and her father Jacob. Everything else is conjecture.
The Eisens first appeared in Kentucky in 1806 in what would shortly (1809) become Caldwell County. It is possible that our Jacob was one of them, and that he later moved to Livingston County (he first shows up there in 1814).
The Caldwell County Eisens apparently lived in South Carolina before coming to Kentucky.
People:
Jacob
Louiza
her husband Obediah Roberts
her children
Caldwell County Eisens
Information arranged geographically
Kentucky Eisens
Census Listings - by state | by year (1790-1810)
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Questions, comments, additions, corrections? Contact me at: lee@leesgenes.com
Page last updated 21 August 2004