The Case of the Missing Bellamys
The family of Sarah Jane (Bellamy) Clark
Sarah Jane Bellamy was born in Cabell County, Virginia, on 17 December 1836. She is my maternal grandfather’s paternal grandmother—and she is one of My Sixteen. Since writing about her grandfather, Matthew Bellamy, in The Slaveholders, I have spent some time improving the WikiTree profiles for this family, and most of that time has been focused on learning as much as I can about Sarah’s siblings.
One more NOTE: I have a hard time pinning down who in this family spelled the name “Bellamy” and who spelled it “Bellomy”—I assume it was “Bellamy” unless there is evidence (like a headstone or obituary) that tells me the person had another preference.
Beginning With Bennett
Sarah’s parents were Bennett and Jane (West) Bellamy. Since Bennett’s mother was Nancy West, and both the Bellamy and West families lived in Bedford County, Virginia, we assume that he and Jane were cousins, but we don’t know how distant.
Bennett and Jane were married on 30 Aug 1831 in Cabell County, Virginia, according to unsourced information on public trees. (I recall being told that information was recorded in a family bible, but I don’t have any confirmation.) The 1850 Census1 shows this family living in Greenup County, Kentucky, and indicates that their oldest child was Matthew, age 18 (thus, born about 1832) - and their youngest, Benard F., was born in January 1859. Jane does not appear on the 1860 Census, so we assume she died between Benard’s birth and the enumeration of the 1860 Census on 11 July 1860.2
As far as we know, Bennett Bellamy and Jane West had 14 children in the 28 years between 1832 and 1860:
Matthew Bellamy (1832–?)
Nancy A (Bellamy) Dixon (1832–abt. 1900)
Mary Elizabeth S Bellomy (1835–1912)
Sarah Jane (Bellamy) Clark (1836–1920)
Jesse W Bellomy (1838–?)
Columbia (Bellomy) Whitmore (1839–1927)
Thomas J Bellomy (1840–1862)
Joseph William Bellamy (1843–1904)
Eliza E Bellamy (b. 1847)
Cleopatra "Claspa" Bellamy (b. 1849)
Caroline (Bellamy) Spicer (1853–1893)
James W Bellamy (1853–1853)
Catherine Bellamy (1855–1855)
Benard Franklin Bellomy (1859–1938)
The 1850 and 1860 census records are mostly helpful in confirming what we know about these children. The birth dates and places of birth are not reliable and are sometimes contradicted by what the children later put on their vital records, obituaries, or grave markers. But we see everyone we expect to see on those two records, with two exceptions:
Nancy was married to Peter Dixon by 1860, so she appears in his household in Boyd County, Kentucky.
Jesse W. is simply not found in 1860.
Caroline and Benard were born after 1850, so they are not listed then, but everyone else was in both records.
The Knowns
Later records let us trace ten of the 14 Bellamy children.
Nancy was married to Peter Dixon (as mentioned above).
Mary Elizabeth never married, but from 1880, she took care of her youngest sibling, Benard, and she lived with him and his family (mistakenly listed as his mother, due to their age difference) in Columbus, Ohio.
Sarah Jane Bellamy married Joel Clark (they are my 2nd-great grandparents).
Columbia Bellamy married William Whitmore; she died in Huntington, Cabell County, WV.
Their brothers, Thomas and Joseph, joined the Union Army; Joseph survived and raised his family in Ashland. Thomas was killed early in the conflict.
Caroline married James Spicer in Cincinnati, OH, and died in 1893.
Two children died young - James W at six months in 1853, and Catherine at birth in 1855.
The Known Unknowns
Nancy (Bellamy) Dixon appears to have survived her husband, but I don’t know when she died. They lived in Fayette County, Ohio, about 135 miles northwest of Huntington, WV.
Matthew Bellamy (b. 1832) is a mystery. He appears in the two aforementioned census records, and he may be the unmarried Matthew Bellamy listed in U.S., Civil War Draft Registrations Records, 1863-1865 in 1863 - but I don’t know where he went after that.
The Unkown Unknowns
Jesse W Bellomy (b. 1838) only appears in the 1850 Census. Several trees online confuse him with his brother, Thomas J. Bellomy, the Union soldier - but they are both on the 1850, so that’s not correct. (Thomas is listed as “Jefferson” in 1860, which may explain the confusion.) I don’t know if he died young or moved away, or if he simply appears by a middle name in later records.
& 9. Eliza and Cleopatra Bellamy were probably married by 1880, but there is no evidence of that. They could have died, or been married somewhere other than in Kentucky, and the best place to look for clues would be…
The Missing 1870 Census Record
Bennett Bellamy married Sarah Dixon on 5 June 1862, in Boyd County. I assume he needed help raising his younger children; but after he died in 1867, I can’t find most of his surviving family on the 1870 Census.
I think I found Bennett’s widow living under the name Sarah Bellamy in the home of George O Dixon in Greenup County, KY, but none of the Bellamy children are there.
We’ve already discussed some of the known/married siblings - like Nancy and Sarah - and I’ve looked at other closely related Bellamy families found in the 1870 Census. I have looked carefully at their neighbors on the preceding and following pages to see if I could find evidence that relatives or neighbors took the missing kids in.
I hoped to find that Matthew or Jesse, or perhaps Mary Elizabeth (maybe listed as “Lizzie”) might have stepped into the role of Head of Household. Lizzie was caring for her brother Benard in 1880, and it is possible that in 1870 they might have also lived with their three sisters, Eliza, Cleopatra, and Caroline.
Since Caroline married in 1872, she should have been in that theoretical household, even if the two older sisters married sooner than that. (I didn’t find any Bellamys living in a household with a woman named “Cleopatra” - or “Eliza,” though that one is harder to rule out.)
It’s possible the lot of them moved across the river into Lawrence County, Ohio, or into a neighboring county (Greenup, or Cabell County, WV), but I didn’t find any hits when I searched those three states.
Conclusions
With so many gaps, and so many records either missing or unavailable, it is difficult to reach any conclusions about what happened to the missing siblings, or where everybody else went in 1870. But, for now, I will content myself with documenting what I can on WikiTree and circling back later.
In the meantime, if you’re a Bellamy/Bellomy descendant and you have any insights, email me or:
1850 United States Federal Census; Place: District 2, Greenup, Kentucky; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M432; Roll: 202; Page: 195a; Lehi, UT, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009.
1860 United States Federal Census; Place: Boyd, Kentucky; Record Group Number: 29; Series Number: M653; Roll: M653_356; Page: 751; Family History Library Film: 803356; Lehi, UT, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009.