~1810 - ~1849
Kentucky - Illinois - Kentucky?
If we know little about Obadiah Roberts, we know even less about his wife Louiza. The only documentation I have is a marriage listing and two (possibly three or four) census listings. I would appear from these that she was born in about 1810, and her son later says she was born in Kentucky. Maxine Lacy, the sage among Roberts researchers, says her parents were Jacob and Martha Eisen (Edith Ochs says the names were on her marriage bond). Edith also says that among her siblings were Agnes, Nancy Ann, Jacob, and David, but I have some reservations about that list.
There are two Jacobs and two Jacob juniors in Caldwell County (formed from Livingston County in 1809) in 1810. One of them may have been Louiza's father - but maybe not. Jacob first shows up in Livingston County in 1815, at an estate sale. He is in the 1820 and 1830 censuses, both times living near a Roberts (in 1830 he was right next to son-in-law Obediah Roberts; in 1820 he was on the same page as Stephen, Obediah’s possible brother). Jacob died in 1834. In 1840, Obadiah and Louiza were in Marshall County, near Jesse (Roberts) and his family. And that is the last fragment of information I have on Louiza.
1820 census:
1820 Kentucky Livingston Salem 11 (004)
Jacob Ison 201290 32010 03(A) 2 (C) 5 (M)
2m, 3f under 10 b. 1810-20
2f 10-16 b. 1804-10 Louiza?
1m 16-18 b. 1802-04
2m 16-26 b. 1794-1804
9m, 1f 26-45 b. 1775 - 1794 Jacob and Martha and 8 males (employees?)
In 1827, Louiza married Obadiah Roberts:
Roberts, Obediah - Louiza Eison 20 Nov 1827 by James Johnson
bond 19 Nov 1827 - Bondsman Jacob Eison. groom given as Obid Roberts. license 19 Nov 1827. The consent of the father of Louiza given and sd. Roberts is of age.
Livingston County, Kentucky, marriage records : bonds, licenses, consents and misc. loose papers / by Joyce M. Woodyard for the Livingston Co Historical & Genealogical Society. [Smithland, Ky.] : The Society, c1992-
I don't know what the law was back then, but today the legal age for marriage (without needing parental consent) is 18. If that was the age back then, then Louiza would have been born after 1809, which is consistent with the numbers on the censuses.
Together they had 4 or 5 children, two unknowns (male and female - who may be one child with the sex messed up by the census enumerator), William Livingston (who died when a young man), Caroline and our ancestor James M.(b. 1841).
1830 census:
1830 Kentucky Livingston Salem 005
Jacob Eisen 00112211 0012001
Obediah Roberts 02001 00001
Both Obediah and Louisa are in the 20-30 (born 1800-10) age range; one of the young boys, age 5-10, is possibly William Livingston, born ~1829 (and therefore really only ~1!). The other one is unknown and apparently died before the next census. He might be the unknown female 1830-35 on that census. Since they almost certainly got the ages wrong - boys born 1820-25 and marriage date 1827 - they may have got the sex wrong as well.
1840 census:
1840 Illinois Marshall Lyons Precinct p. 196
Obediah Roberts 0010001 110001
1f under 5 b. 1835-40 Caroline 1838
1f 5-10 b. 1830-35 Unk f.
1m 10-15 b. 1825-30 William Livingston 1829
1f 30-40 b. 1800-1810 Louisa Eisen
1m 40-50 b. 1790-1800 Obediah b. ~1800
Maxine Lacy thought maybe Louiza went back to Kentucky to be with her mother who was ill.
Both Louiza and Obediah probably died before 1849. Their children were given a guardian (brother/cousin Livingston Roberts), who charged the estate for “boarding, clothing and schooling” James from the age of 8 to12. James was born in about 1841, so.
Lots of unknowns - and that’s it.
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Questions, comments, additions, corrections? Contact me at: lee@leesgenes.com
Page last updated 17 August 2005