About Milton and Rebecca Jane Lukens-Hulburd

Information Passed Down the Family Regarding Milton

Information about Milton Hulburd has turned out to be somewhat elusive.  Most of the information I have on Milton comes from several handwritten notes left by my mother, Elizabeth (Betty) Seward Hulburd-Hine-Alderson, apparently taken while on the phone with her aging great uncle Ernest ("Ernie") A. Hulburd in the late 1960's and early 1970's.  One reads "Milton name of Ernie's father.  Had farm in Ohio - Ernie born in Evansville, Indiana.  Milton gave up farming and moved to Indiana and then to Moberly (Missouri)".  Another reads "Milton - Ernie's father... from Chillicothe, Ohio".  Regarding Ernie.... "Sister Hannah in between Ol Haus and Ernie". [Ol Haus was mother's nick name for her grandfather, Henry E. Hulburd, who was Ernie Hulburd's brother. I interpret this to mean that Hannah was born sometime between Henry (1863) and Ernie (1882).]  Later in the same notes mother writes "Hannah died while Ernie & Hennie were away during the Spanish American War."  This would have been around 1898.

Also, in a letter from Ernest A. Hulburd to my mother dated February 11, 1966 he writes: "......we had another fine person and her name was Hannah. She was our beloved Sister of Hennie and me. Everybody loved her. Hennie, your Grand Father and I as well as, now your Grandmother, often said when you were a sweet little gal that we could see your Grand Auntie Hannah in your mannerisms."  ['Hennie' was Ernie's brother Henry E. Hulburd, my mother's grandfather. 'Grandmother' was Henry's wife Ella]

Milton Hulburd's Possible Parents

Based on the above information suggesting that Milton Hulburd had Ohio roots I suspect, but cannot conclusively prove, that Milton's parent were Augustus and Margaret Hulbert (a common misspelling of Hulburd) who show up in the 1850 census for Clay Township, Knox County, Ohio. with 3 young children, Sarah E. (age 12), Milton W. (age 8),  and Hannah M. (age 6).    Augustus (b. abt. 1812) is shown as a farmer probably born in Vermont (a location my research has shown to have a had number of "Hulburd" families in the 1700's and 1800's) and Margaret (b. abt. 1811) was born in Pennsylvania.  All 3 children were born in Ohio.

I make the circumstantial connection between Augustus and  Milton because 1) both Hulburd and Milton are quite uncommon names, 2) family information (above) suggests that Milton was from Ohio (possibly Chillicothe which is about 100 miles from the census location), 3) one of the children is named Hannah, a name which apparently one of Milton's possible children shared, and 4) Milton's age in this 1850 census record would make him the same age as his future wife Rebecca.  Thus, my indicated birth year for Milton and his middle initial of "W" have come from this 1850 census record.

About Rebecca Jane Lukens' Early Life

A Lukens 4th cousin of mine, Christina Lynn Dodson-Evans ("Tina"), has accumulated and provided me with considerable genealogical information about Rebecca Jane Lukens and her ancestors which traces back to Wilhelm Luykens born in Germany in 1560.

Rebecca was born December 19, 1842 in Madison Township, Guernsey County, Ohio and her parents were Samuel Hamilton Adams Lukens (1822-1878) and Rachel Adair-Lukens (1825-1889) both of whom were born in Ohio.   By the late 1850's the family had settled in Crawford County, Illinois, not far from boarder with Indiana.

Marriage and the thereafter elusive Milton

Illinois marriage records show that Milton Hulburd and Rebecca Jane Lukens were married on October 30, 1858 in Crawford County, Illinois.  The marriage likely took place in the town of Hutsonville, IL which for a number of years was the home of Rebecca's Lukens family.  At the time of the marriage Rebecca was just 16 years old and Milton perhaps the same age or not much older.

After the marriage, information regarding Milton becomes somewhat murky, confusing, or, more specifically, non-existent as he completely disappears from census and other records, at least in combination with Rebecca.   While Ernest A. Hulburd ("Ernie") suggests (see my mothers notes above) that "Milton" moved the family to Indiana and then to Moberly, MO, I can find no evidence that Milton was involved in these moves and think that in fact the available evidence supports the conclusion that Milton was never part of his wife's life after the birth of their first son, Henry E. Hulburd.   Ernie was to young to have had first hand recollections of the moves to Indiana and Moberly and while these events were correct regarding Rebecca and her Lukens family, I think that Ernie was either misinformed by his mother Rebecca, had confused Milton with the Lukens family, and/or just gave my mother a simplified version of events.  It's also possible that my mother incorrectly assumed that Milton moved the family when she took the notes.

On Going Events and the Hulburd Children

Two years after the marriage, the 1860 census for Hutsonville, Crawford Co., Illinois shows that Rebecca was living with her parents and siblings with no mention of Milton nor the Hulburd name as if Rebecca had never been married.  It's certainly possible that Milton was simply away and not living with his wife at the time of the census and the census taker was not given the information that Rebecca was married.

On September 07, 1863 Rebecca gave birth to Henry E. Hulburd in Hutsonville.  The use of the Hulburd name suggests that the marriage was still intact and Milton was possibly still around since the name certainly gives him credit as being the father.

In the 1870 census, Rebecca is still living with her parents in Hutsonville along with her 6 year old son Henry "Hulburd" but her last name appears to have changed to "Duvall" and Milton is again not mentioned.   Could Milton and Rebecca have divorced or had Milton passed away?  Had Rebecca re-married?  I note that in all future records Rebecca again uses the Hulburd last name.

This arithmetic book belonged to Rebecca's youngest  brother, Ernest A. Lukens (1858-1878) who signed the  inside cover in 1876,  two years before his untimely  death from "brain fever". (Click on image to see an  enlargement and the inside cover.) The book was apparently kept as a memoir by Rebecca and passed down through the Hulburd family to my mother (Rebecca's great grand daughter) Betty Hulburd- Hine-Alderson.  I found it among mother's effects after her 1996 death.

In the 1880 census Rebecca Hulburd (a seamstress) and son Henry are still shown to be living with the Lukens family and she was listed as a widow.   This census record shows the family living in Princeton, Gibson County, Indiana which is about 50 miles directly south of their former home in Hutsonville, Illinois.  Rebecca's father Samuel Lukens is correctly not shown as he is known to have passed away 2 years earlier.   Rebecca (age 37) and son Henry (age 16) were living with her mother Rachel and Rebecca's younger twin brothers David Way Lukens and Jacob Ray Lukens, (both shown as millers, age 25).  I suspect that Rebecca's brothers were probably providing the primary financial support for their mother, sister, and nephew.

Rebecca's next child, Ernest Albert Hulburd, is know to have been born on September 27, 1882 in Evansville, Indiana (which is about 20 miles south of the Lukens family's location in 1880 of Princeton, Indiana).  The 1880 census, having shown Rebecca as a widow, suggests that a child born two years later in 1882 could not have had Milton as the father even  though the child carried the Hulburd name.

1900 census record for Rebecca and her son Henry and family in Ferguson, MO (a suburb of St. Louis) indicates that Ernest A. Hulburd, still living with his mother at age 18, was adopted.  This is the only specific reference to this interesting fact that I've run into and it's possible that not even Ernest knew he was adopted.     If my mother knew this, she never mentioned it that I can recall.  Additional information that tends to support the notion that Ernest was adopted include the fact that Rebecca's second child Ernest was born about 19 years after her first child Henry and when she was almost age 40, somewhat old to be giving birth in those days.  Ernest being adopted is additional confirmation which possibly suggests that Milton could have been long gone many years before Ernest came into the family.

My mother's notes indicate the existence of Hannah Hulburd, another child of Rebecca (and Milton?) who I have not run into in any records.  It could be that Hannah was, like Ernest, adopted.  Since Hannah doesn't show up in census records it's likely that she was born sometime after 1880 and passed away (as suggested in my mother's notes) sometime around 1898 and thus before Rebecca next shows up in a census record in 1900.   I would expect that Hannah would be buried in Moberly, MO with other members of her Hulburd and/or Lukens family but I've run into no indication of this.  With the exception my mother's notes, Hannah is a complete mystery.

What Happened to Milton?

Whatever actually the case may have been, Milton Hulburd never shows up anywhere in the same record as Rebecca except for when they were married in 1858.  He is conspicuously missing for the rest of Rebecca's life and he is certainly not buried with her.  I thus think it possible, perhaps likely, that Milton never played a major part in Rebecca's life or that of the children.

Records searches have turned up a few other Milton Hulburd's (or Hulbert, Hulburt, or  Herlburt, or other common misspellings) which I have been unable to connect.   Civil War rosters show a Milton Hulburt who served with the 10 Michigan Cavalry and the 1880 census shows a Milton Hulbert in Michigan.

Also, and quite suspiciously, the 1880 census shows a Milton W. Hurlburt (about the right age, born in Ohio, and with a father born in Vermont and mother in Pennsylvania) in Pleasant, Lincoln County, Kansas married with a 10 year old son named Henry and 5 other children.    Could Milton have left Rebecca early in the marriage and made a life for himself elsewhere in later years?  The currently available information is inconclusive but this census record suggests the possibility.

Rebecca Jane Lukens-Hulburd in Later Life

At some point Rebecca ended up in Moberly, a railroad town in mid Missouri.  I think she almost certainly came with her Lukens family (and not with Milton as suggested by my mother's notes) as her mother and twin brothers also ended up in Moberly at around the same time (the same family group that was together in Indiana in the 1880 census).  The family would have arrived in Moberly sometime between 1882 when Rebecca's son Ernest was born (and probably adopted) in Indiana and 1888 when her son Henry and his wife Ella Knowles-Hulburd, who had met and married recently in Moberly, gave birth to Rebecca's grandson C. Earl Hulburd there.

1890 census records were lost in a warehouse fire but by 1900, Rebecca was living with her son Henry and his family in Ferguson, MO (a close-in suburb of St. Louis).  In 1900 Rebecca would have been 58 years old and was likely being supported financially by Henry.  Rebecca is again shown as living with Henry in the 1910 census at age 68.

Rebecca Jane Lukens-Hulburd passed away on June 30, 1916 at son Henry's home in Ferguson, MO at the age of 73.   Census records suggest that she had lived her entire life either with her Lukens family or, in her later years, with her son.

Rebecca is buried in the Lukens family plot in the Oakland Cemetery in Moberly, MO near her twin brothers David Way and Jacob Ray Lukens (and one of their wives) and their mother Rachel Adair-Lukens.   The Lukens plot is located a few hundred feet from the Hulburd-Knowles plot where Rebecca's son Henry is buried along with several more generations of her descendents.

(GPS N 39° 25.224’, W 092° 25.198’ ± 10 feet - WGS84 Datum)

 

Click here for descendents lists as I have them in my genealogy database as of July 2008.

Some final genealogical notes: In looking for Milton Hulburd I found on bulletin boards and internet searches a cluster of Hulburds in Vermont, and to a lesser degree, in New York in the 1700 and 1800's.   Milton's "possible" father Augustus, who may have been born in Vermont, suggests that this would be a place to look for previous generations if Milton's connection to Augustus can be substantiated. Finally, I found the following on the internet.  It's was on a web site that makes it's living selling such stuff and I can make no claim as to it's authenticity.

Copyright 2008, 2012 Edward K. Hine, Jr.